In many ways the history of the immediate postwar years was as much about adjusting to the past as to the present or future. This chapter thus begins with individual stories of people making their peace with their war experiences and then proceeding with their lives. Much, of course, could never be the same. In particular, the growing antagonism between the Soviet Union and the United States shaped the way the nation adjusted to the postwar world.

The Rise of the Cold War

The cold war had its roots in the unresolved issues of World War II, especially the questions of German reparations and boundaries, Poland's government, the future of China, and the relationship of the Soviet Union to its bordering nations. As president, Truman lacked Roosevelt's experience in foreign affairs. He felt compelled to take a much harder line with the Russians, lest Stalin underestimate his resolve to strike tough bargains. Early tensions between the two leaders arose over the political fates of Greece and Turkey.

For Americans, old hostilities toward the Bolsheviks and new fears raised by Stalin's aggressive posture toward Eastern Europe aroused profound suspicions about the Soviets' postwar territorial agenda. Persuaded that those ambitions were global, the Truman administration adopted a policy of containment, outlined in George Kennan's 1946 "long telegram" from Moscow. Events in Iran helped to persuade government officials of the importance of Kennan's views. Containment had its first real test when Truman convinced Congress to support aid for Greece and Turkey. Political and economic turmoil in both Eastern Europe and Western Europe made a compelling case for the Truman Doctrine's theory of bipolar conflict. In 1948, Congress authorized massive aid to Europe under the Marshall Plan. Stalin's effort to consolidate the Soviet sphere in Eastern Europe encouraged reluctant members of Congress to counteract his aggression by supporting economic and military initiatives in Europe. After the fall of Hungary and Czechoslovakia and a crisis in Berlin, the United States formed NATO. All of these events took place under the shadow of the atomic bomb. The United States rejected any UN oversight that might compromise its nuclear monopoly. Military planners viewed the expansion of that monopoly as a way to deter possible Soviet aggression.

Postwar Prosperity

The end of the war brought wrenching readjustments as the government, industry, and individual citizens converted from war to peace. Women and minorities often lost their jobs. Inflation, shortages, layoffs, strikes, and a host of inconveniences and crises created political headaches for the Truman administration. Voters took their revenge against Democratic candidates in the 1946 elections, and the new Congress resisted any attempts to revive the New Deal, with the exception of the "GI Bill of Rights" that gave generous benefits to former soldiers.

Prosperity did not automatically result in political success for Harry Truman, for a new conservative spirit threatened to splinter the once-dominant New Deal coalition. Yet the defection of northern liberals and southern segregationists from the Democratic party actually helped Truman defeat Thomas Dewey in the 1948 election. After his shocking upset win, Truman tried to revive social reform with his Fair Deal program. Congress blocked the way, forcing Truman to use executive authority to make gains on civil rights, such as the desegregation of the armed forces.

The Cold War at Home

A combination of conservative and liberal anticommunists brought the atmosphere of the cold war home. Fear of domestic subversion led the government to launch a massive loyalty review program. The House Un-American Activities Committee investigated the Hollywood film industry; labor unions expelled radicals. The 1947 Taft-Hartley Bill forced labor leaders (though not management) to take loyalty oaths. The mood of conspiracy influenced the tone of many popular movies in the film noir genre. The espionage cases of Alger Hiss, Klaus Fuchs, and the Rosenbergs all fed the growing hysteria. In 1950, Congress passed the McCarran Act to bar entry of subversives into the country.

Senator Joe McCarthy captured this tide of anticommunism and lent his name to the postwar "Red scare." The Wisconsin senator made spectacular charges, though he never authenticated any of them. His reckless style made him effective at first, but McCarthyism also owed some of its credibility to Truman's own anti-Red crusade.

Frustrated at home, Truman looked to foreign policy to assert his leadership. The new NATO alliance promised to strengthen Europe's defenses. But then came the two shocks of 1949: the Communist overthrow of Chiang Kai-shek, and the Soviet detonation of an atom bomb. With the prospect of a hotter cold war, the National Security Council proposed to accelerate national defense spending under the doctrines of NSC-68. Congress resisted the huge costs until war erupted, as North Korea invaded South Korea.

From Cold War to Hot War and Back

Truman did not hesitate to commit American forces to the United Nations effort. General Douglas MacArthur reversed the initial North Korean successes with a brilliant amphibious operation at Inchon. But the decision to move across the 38th parallel to reunite North and South Korea brought China into the war. Truman eventually fired MacArthur for insubordination, but the Korean stalemate undermined the president's political position at home. In the election of 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.

Ike's popularity complicated Senator McCarthy's efforts to extend his crusade. The senator's excesses embarrassed the president and the Republican party. Eisenhower never openly attacked McCarthy, though he did criticize the "book burners" inspired by the excesses of McCarthy's aides, Roy Cohn and David Schine. Some of Eisenhower's actions actually encouraged McCarthy, especially the execution of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg and the security case against nuclear physicist Robert Oppenheimer. McCarthy went too far, however, in attacking the United States Army. When the Senate finally condemned him in 1954, the Red scare began to wane.

By the early 1950s it had become clear that no matter whether the Republicans or Democrats sat in the White House, the nation's economic and military concerns were tied more than ever to global interests and issues.