Chapter Overview

Returning veterans and uprooted civilians had to build new lives in the new postwar world. Yet in many ways life in the immediate postwar years was about adjusting as much to the past as to the future. The growing antagonism -- the Cold War -- between the Soviet Union and the United States shaped that adjustment. So did voter willingness to maintain an active role in the economy. Both of these impulses were the result of vividly remembered experiences.

The Rise of the Cold War

For Americans, old hostility toward the Bolsheviks, unresolved issues of World War II, and new fears raised by Stalin's aggressive posture toward Eastern Europe aroused profound suspicions about the Soviets' postwar ambitions. For his part, Joseph Stalin may have had good reason to fear his former allies.

The Truman Administration adopted a policy of containment, suggested by George Kennan. Containment had its first real test when Truman persuaded Congress to give aid to Greece and Turkey. Then in 1948, Congress authorized massive aid to Europe under the Marshall Plan. Thirdly, Stalin's effort to consolidate control in Eastern Europe prompted the United States to form NATO. All of this took place under the shadow of the atomic bomb. Rejecting any United Nations oversight that might compromise their nuclear monopoly, U.S. leaders saw atomic weapons as the only way to deter Soviet aggression.

Postwar Prosperity

The end of the war brought fears of a new depression as the economy converted from war to peace -- and the economy did experience some dislocation. Yet the United States soon entered a quarter-century of sustained prosperity. Civil rights activists found a friend in the White House. Truman was able to hold on to most of the New Deal structure. The 1944 "G.I. Bill of Rights" gave generous benefits to former soldiers.

Nevertheless, the country was in a conservative mood. Voters took revenge against Democrats in the 1946 elections. But in 1948, the defection of northern liberals and southern segregationists from the Democratic Party actually helped Truman win re-election. He tried to revive social reform with his Fair Deal program, but Congress blocked the way.

The Cold War at Home

Fear of communism brought the atmosphere of the cold war home. Fears intensified in reaction to the shocks of 1949. The Alger Hiss case -- and others like it -- seemed evidence of conspiracy. Fear of domestic subversion led to a massive loyalty review program. The House Un-American Activities Committee investigated the Hollywood movie industry. In 1950 Congress passed the McCarran Act to bar subversives.

Senator Joe McCarthy captured the tide of anticommunism and lent his name to the postwar "Red Scare." McCarthyism owed some of its credibility to Truman's own anti-red crusade.

From Cold War to Hot War and Back

The National Security Council proposed to accelerate national defense spending under the doctrines of NSC-68. Congress resisted the huge costs until war erupted in South Korea. Truman immediately committed American forces. General Douglas MacArthur reversed the initial North Korean successes, but the decision to move across the 38th parallel brought China into the war. Truman's dismissal of MacArthur and the Korean stalemate undermined the President's political position at home. In 1952, war hero Dwight D. Eisenhower and his anticommunist running mate, Richard Nixon, used the formula of "K1C2" (Korea, Communism, and Corruption) to defeat Adlai Stevenson.

McCarthy's excesses embarrassed the new president and finally the Republican Party. Eisenhower never openly attacked McCarthy, and some of his actions may actually have encouraged the senator. McCarthy went too far, however, in attacking the United States Army. When the Senate finally censured him in 1954, the second Red Scare began to wane.

It was clear by the early 1950s that no matter whether a Republican or Democrat sat in the White House, the nation's economy and its defenses were tied more than ever to a global order and an active government.