The Long Telegram and Cold War Containment

Long Telegram

• On February 22, 1946, George Kennan sent the Long Telegram.
• The Long Telegram was a 5,540-word cable explaining Kennan's views on Soviet goals.
• State Department officials asked the American Embassy in Moscow to explain Soviet behavior because they were increasingly exasperated by the Soviets' refusal to cooperate.
• Kennan stated that the Soviets' view of the world came from a traditional "Russian sense of insecurity" and fear of the West and was intensified by the Communist ideas of Lenin and Stalin.
• Kennan argued that because Communists believed that they were in a long-term historical struggle against capitalism, it was impossible to reach any permanent settlement with them.
• Kennan proposed what became the basic American policy throughout the Cold War: "a long term, patient but firm and vigilant containment of Russian expansive tendencies."
• Kennan believed the Soviet system had several major economic and political weaknesses.
• If the United States kept the Soviets from expanding their power, it was only a matter of time until the Soviet system would fall apart.
• The Long Telegram gave rise to the policy of containment which meant keeping communism within its present territory through diplomatic, economic, and military actions.

Crisis in Iran

• A series of crises erupted in the spring and summer of 1946.
• These crises seemed to prove that Kennan was right about the Soviets.
• The first crisis began in Iran in March 1946.
• During World War II, the United States had troops in southern Iran while Soviet troops occupied northern Iran to secure a supply line from the Persian Gulf.
• After the war, Soviet troops remained and Stalin began demanding access to Iran's oil supplies.
• To increase the pressure, Soviet troops helped local Communists in northern Iran establish a separate government.
• Secretary of State James Byrnes sent Moscow a strong message demanding that they withdraw.
• The battleship USS Missouri sailed into the eastern Mediterranean, signaling a Soviet push into the Middle East.
• The pressure seemed to work, and Soviet forces withdrew, having been promised a joint Soviet-Iranian oil company, but the Iranian parliament later rejected the plan.

Truman Doctrine

• The straits of the Dardanelles were a vital route from Soviet Black Sea ports to the Mediterranean and Russia wanted to control this strategic route for centuries.
• Frustrated in Iran, Stalin turned to Turkey.
• In August 1946, Stalin demanded joint control of the Dardanelles with Turkey.
• The president ordered the new aircraft carrier Franklin D. Roosevelt to join the Missouri in protecting Turkey and the eastern Mediterranean.
• The move was seen as the first step in a Soviet plan to control the Mideast, and Truman was advised to make a show of force.
• While the United States supported Turkey, Britain tried to help Greece.
• In August 1946, Greek Communists launched a guerrilla war against the Greek government.
• The British helped the Greeks fight the guerrillas for about six months, but the effort strained Britain's economy, which was still weak from World War II.
• In February 1947, Britain informed the United States that it could no longer afford to help Greece.
• On March 12, 1947, Truman asked Congress for $400 million to fight Communist aggression in Greece and Turkey.
• Truman's speech outlined a policy known as the Truman Doctrine.
• The goal was to aid "free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures."
• It pledged the United States to fight communism worldwide.
• The immediate effects were to stabilize the Greek government and ease Soviet demands in Turkey.

Marshall Plan

• In June 1947, Secretary of State George C. Marshall proposed the European Recovery Program, or Marshall Plan.
• The Marshall Plan would give European nations American aid to rebuild their economies.
• Postwar Western Europe faced grave problems including ruined economies, people near starvation, and political chaos.
• The winter of 1946 made things worse.
• Truman saw the Marshall Plan and the Truman Doctrine as “two halves of the same walnut,” both essential for containment.
• The Soviet Union and its satellite nations in Eastern Europe rejected the offer, and the Soviets developed their own economic program.
• The rejection further separated Europe into competing regions.
• The Marshall Plan pumped billions of dollars worth of supplies, machinery, and food into Western Europe.
• Western Europe's recovery weakened the appeal of communism and opened new markets for trade.

Brink of War

• President Truman and his advisers believed that Western Europe's prosperity depended on Germany's recovery.
• The Soviets wanted Germany to pay reparations to the Soviet Union.
• The Marshall Plan was only one part of the American strategy to rebuild Europe.
• Eventually, the dispute over Germany brought the United States and the Soviet Union to the brink of war.
• By early 1948, U.S. officials had concluded that the Soviets were deliberately trying to undermine Germany's economy.
• The United States, Great Britain, and France announced that they were merging their zones in Germany and allowing the Germans to have their own government.
• They also agreed to merge their zones in Berlin and to make West Berlin part of the new German republic.
• The new nation was officially called the Federal Republic of Germany, but it became known as West Germany.
• West Germany's economy was completely separate from the Soviet zone, which eventually became known as East Germany.
• West Germany was not allowed to have a military, but in most respects, it was independent.
• The decision to create West Germany convinced the Soviets that they would never get the reparations they wanted.
• In late June 1948, Soviet troops cut all road and rail traffic to West Berlin, which provoked a crisis.
• Truman sent long-range bombers with atomic weapons to bases in Britain.
• General Lucius Clay, the American commander in Germany, warned that if Berlin fell, West Germany would be next.
• The challenge was to keep West Berlin alive without provoking war with the Soviets.
• In June 1948, Truman ordered the Berlin airlift to begin.
• For 11 months, cargo planes brought in over 2 million tons of supplies, providing Berliners with food, medicine, and coal.
• Stalin lifted the blockade on May 12.
• The Berlin airlift became a symbol of American determination to stand by the divided city.
• The Berlin blockade convinced many Americans that the Soviets were bent on conquest.
• The public and Congress began to support a military alliance with Western Europe.
• By April 1949, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)—a mutual defense alliance—had been created.
• NATO initially included 12 countries: the United States, Canada, Britain, France, Italy, Belgium, Denmark, Portugal, the Netherlands, Norway, Luxembourg, and Iceland.
• NATO members agreed to come to the aid of any member who was attacked.
• Six years later, the United States and its allies decided to allow West Germany to rearm and join NATO.
• The decision to allow West Germany to rearm alarmed Soviet leaders, who responded by organizing a military alliance in Eastern Europe, known as the Warsaw Pact.
• The United States also joined other alliances, including the Organization of American States (OAS) started in 1948, and the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) formed in 1954.

Questions

• The Long Telegram was a cable message sent by George Kennan explaining his views of Soviet goals, and it affected the Cold War by leading to the policy of containment, which aimed to prevent the spread of communism.
• The crisis in Iran occurred because Soviet troops did not withdraw after WWII and Stalin began to demand access to Iran's oil supplies; to solve this, Secretary of State James Byrnes sent Moscow a strong message demanding that they withdraw.
• The goal of the Truman Doctrine was to aid "free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures."
• The goal of the Marshall Plan was to give European nations American aid to rebuild their economies.
• The Berlin Airlift was triggered by Soviet troops cutting off all road and rail traffic to West Berlin.