The Reluctant Empire? U.S. Foreign Relations in the 20th Century

Historisches Seminar der Universität Heidelberg Historisches Seminar der Universität Heidelberg

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Ruprecht-Karls-Universität HeidelbergCurt-Engelhorn Chair in American History Prof. Dr. Manfred BergWinter Term 2008/2009

The Reluctant Empire?

U.S. Foreign Relations in the 20th Century

Historisches Seminar der Universität Heidelberg

The Origins of the Cold War Containment and the Division of Europe

The “Loss of China” and the Soviet Bomb

The Cold War at Home

The Historiographical Debate


George F. Kennan, 1904-2005 Deputy head of the U.S. mission in

Moscow, 1944-1946

Director of the State Department Policy Planning Staff, 1947-1949

U.S. Ambassador to the Soviet Union, 1952

U.S. Ambassador to Yugoslavia, 1961-1963


Kennan’s “Long Telegram,” Feb. 1946

“In summary we have here a political foe committed fanatically to the belief that with U.S. there can be no permanent modus vivendi, that it is desirable and necessary that the internal harmony of our society be disrupted, our traditional way of life be destroyed, the international authority of our state be broken, if Soviet power is to be secure.”


Churchill’s “Iron Curtain Speech,”

March 5, 1946

“From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the Continent.”


The Truman Doctrine, March 1947

“It must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or outside pressures.” President Truman and newly appointed

Sec.of Def., James Forrestal, 1947


George C. Marshall, 1880-1959

US Army General, Chief of Staff, 1939-1945

US Sec. of State, 1947-1949

US Sec. of Defense, 1950-1951

Nobel Peace Prize Winner, 1953


Lucius D. Clay, 1897-1978

Deputy Governor of Germany, 1945-1947

Theater Commander and Governor of Germany, 1947-1949


The Berlin Air Lift, 1948/49


Founding of NATO, 1949


Chiang Kai-shek, 1887-1975 Assumed the leadership of the

Kuomintang (KMT), 1925

Generalissimo of all Chinese forces & Chairman of the National Government, 1928-1932/1943-1948

President of the ROC (Taiwan), 1950-1975


Mao Zedong, 1893-1976 Chairman of the Politburo of the

Communist Party of China, 1943-1976

Chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, 1945-1976.


NSC 68, 1950

Militarization of Containment

Global definition of U.S. security interests

Call for tripling U.S. military budget


House Un-American Activities Committee, 1947


Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, (J.)1917-1953 (E.)1916-1953


Joseph S. McCarthy, 1908-1957

U.S. Senator 1947-1957


The Historiographical Debate

Who was responsible for the Cold War? What were the key motives and

interests driving U.S. and Soviet policy, respectively?

Was the Cold War inevitable or were there alternatives, and if so, why were they not taken?


The “Traditionalists”

Soviet aggression started the Cold War!

U.S. action was defensive and largely appropriate!

It was an inevitable conflict of systems and ideologies which began in 1917/18!


The “Revisionists”

The driving force of the Cold War was the expansion of American capitalism!

The Soviet Union wanted most of all security!

Hiroshima and Nagasaki were the first salvos of the Cold War!


Post-revisionism

The Cold War was a process shaped by mutual misperceptions and the security dilemma!


Post-Cold War Approaches

The National Security State in the U.S.

The Soviet Perspective

Allies, client states, neutrals

Documents

The Reluctant Empire? U.S. Foreign Relations in the 20th Century