Tension and Suspicion Between U.S. and Russia

Name Teacher AP U. S. History October 8, 2012 DBQ From the years of 1941 to 1949, there was an increase in suspicion and tension between the United States and the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union was a Communist country ruled by a dictator while America was a capitalist democracy that valued freedom. Their completely different beliefs and aims caused friction to form between them, which contributed to the creation of the Cold War. At the start of the first world war, Germany and the Soviet Union signed a nonaggression pact.

With Germany and the Soviet Union being allies, the rest of the world had their suspicions. In the U. S. , Senator Truman expressed his dislike of both countries and his view of them as potential enemies(Doc A). Unfortunately for the Soviet Union, the pact between him and Hitler was soon broken by a German invasion. The invasion of the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941 was a surprise to everyone, especially Stalin who was not prepared for it. According to Churchill, it was the turning point of the war. This turn on Stalin seemed like a great thing, if the Soviet Union hadn’t collapsed so quickly.

With the fear of the Soviet Union’s surrender, Churchill and Roosevelt secretly met in the historic Atlantic Conference in August 1941. An outcome of the conference was the eight-point Atlantic Charter, where Churchill and Roosevelt agreed to defeat Germany before turning to Japan, and they planned for a new world organization, and affirmed their commitment to self-determination for all nations. In the midst of war, tensions were expressed in terms of which nation will emerge as world leader after the war.

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By 1943, the Allied nations were all committed to winning the war and creating a world in which “men in all lands may live out their lives in freedom from fear and want. ” That was there goal even though they had yet come up with the basis for a world organization. In 1943, the foreign ministers of the United States, the Soviet Union, and Great Britain all met to discuss and define their goal. The United States Secretary of State, Cordell Hull, made the flight to journey to Moscow for the conference(Doc B). The Moscow Declaration was signed on October 30, 1943.

In December, two months later, the three leaders issued a "Declaration of the Three Powers Regarding Iran. " The Soviet Union had committed to joining the war against Japan and expressed support for Roosevelt's plans for the United Nations. Roosevelt felt confident that he had won Stalin's trust by proving that the U. S. was willing to negotiate directly with the Soviet Union and by guaranteeing the opening of the second front in France by the spring of 1944. However, Stalin also gained tentative concessions on Eastern Europe that would be confirmed during the later wartime conferences.

In 1945, the famed meeting of the heads of government of the United States, Britain, and the Soviet Union was held to discuss the reestablishment of the nations of a war-torn Europe. The Yalta Conference, held near Yalta in the Crimea, was the second of three wartime conferences held among the Big Three. The Yalta conferees, Roosevelt, Stalin, and Churchill, confirmed the policy adopted at the Casablanca Conference of demanding Germany's unconditional surrender. There they made plans to divide Germany into four zones of occupation under a united control commission in Berlin for war crimes trials.

The Polish eastern border would follow the Curzon Line, and Poland would receive territorial compensation in the West from Germany. Discussing Poland, Churchill wanted to ensure free elections. He pointed out that the U. K. "could never be content with any solution that did not leave Poland a free and independent state. " Stalin pledged to permit free elections in Poland, but forestalled ever honoring his promise. Stalin talked with Roosevelt and concluded that Churchill didn’t understand the Russian’s fears regarding Germany(Doc C).

These misunderstandings caused new suspicions on both sides. The Big Three asked China and France to join them in sponsoring the founding conference of the United Nations. The USSR secretly agreed to enter the war against Japan within three months of Germany's surrender and was promised S. Sakhalin, the Kuril Islands, and an occupation zone in Korea. The secret agreement also provided that the Manchurian railroads should be under joint Chinese-Soviet administration. The subsequent outbreak of the cold war and Soviet successes in Eastern

Europe led to much criticism in the United States of the Yalta Conference and of Roosevelt, who was accused of delivering Eastern Europe to Communist domination. In the Soviet Union, foreign minister V. M. Molotov made a broadcast following the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan(Doc E). Molotov felt compelled to take preventive actions in response. Molotov condemned the Marshall Plan as imperialistic and he claimed it was dividing Europe into a capitalist and communist camp. In response he initiated the Molotov Plan.

This plan created several bilateral relations between the states of Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union and later evolved into the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance. Molotov was expressing the views of many Russians, that they saw the West as reneging on its promises made at Yalta and Potsdam. In the United States, an article was published in The New York Times announcing that Czechoslovakia had become a communist state(Doc F). Under pressure from the Czechoslovakian Communist Party, President Eduard Benes allows a communist-dominated government to be organized.

In response, America eliminated a large loan to Czechoslovakia that outraged parties in Czechoslovakia. In the London Evening Standard, a cartoon was published portraying Stalin plotting to conquer the rest of Europe(Doc G). The symbolism of the cartoon in Great Britain was the heightened distrust of Russian leaders and it was concrete evidence of the tensions that sparked the Cold War. Although the Soviet Union did not physically intervene, Western observers decried the virtually bloodless communist coup as an example of Soviet expansion into Eastern Europe.

Even though the United States and Great Britain denounced the communist seizure of power in Czechoslovakia, neither took any direct action. Throughout the years of 1945-1948, there was a poll conducted in the United States(Doc H). Each year, a person was asked a question about their feelings toward the Soviet Union. In 1945, a little more than half of the people voted that yes, they believe Russia could be trusted to cooperate with us after the war. In early 1946, the question was if they thought Russia could cooperate with us in world affairs. Half said no. Later that year, 60% voted hat they saw Russia was trying to build herself up to be the ruling power of the world. In May 1948, almost 70% saw the U. S. as being to soft in its policy toward Russia. The heightened tensions, suspicions, and fears that became associated with the Cold War can be seen in the dramatic shifts in public opinion. With the Soviet Union now a threat, 10 European nations, Canada, and the U. S. established the North American Treaty Organization (NATO) to resist Soviet aggression in Europe. With the Soviet Union somewhat humiliated by the success of the Berlin airlift, they finally ended the Berlin Blockade.

It was a success for the West until tension was again increased when the U. S. S. R. sets off its first atomic bomb. Now that the Soviet Union had successfully developed and conducted nuclear tests, the U. S. monopoly was over. Suspicions and tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union were seen dramatically from 1941 to 1949 in conferences, public announcements, newspaper articles, and even public surveys. Countries as a whole distrusted each other because of their different beliefs. Each side was engaged in hostility that kept the Cold War brooding.

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