Introduction to this collection

This collection explores the emergence and intensification of the Cold War. It provides sources that help us see how the conflict was framed in its early days by political officials. The collection also brings in “popular” sources to give a sense of how propaganda played a role in creating Cold War sensibilities on both sides. Finally, there are sources which examine important events, policies, and political programs that occurred during the Cold War, helping students see the “hot” aspects of a multi-decade tension.

Guiding question to think about as you read the documents: What were the causes and consequences of the Cold War?

WHP Primary Source Punctuation Key

When you read through these primary source collections, you might notice some unusual punctuation like this: . . . and [ ] and ( ). Use the table below to help you understand what this punctuation means.

Contents

Source 1 – Churchill’s “The Sinews of Peace” Speech, 1946 (1:00)

Source 2 – Stalin Victory Speech, 1946 (5:55)

Source 3 – Kennan’s Long Telegram, 1946 (9:35)

Source 4 – Is This Tomorrow? America Under Communism, 1947 (15:10)

Source 5 – Meet King Joe, 1949 (19:05)

Source 6 – Berryman’s cartoons, 1953–1957 (23:20)

Source 7 – American Imperialist: The Millionaire, 1963 (25:45)

Source 8 – Europe and Its Role in World Affairs, 1964 (29:45)

Source 9 – Soviet Poster, c. 1970s (34:45)

Source 10 – Documents from Operation Condor, 1976 (35:30)

Source 11 – Reagan’s Address to the Nation on National Security, 1986 (40:30)

Source 12 – American military spending data, 1996 (44:30)

Source 1 – Churchill’s “The Sinews of Peace” Speech, 1946 (1:00)

Guiding question

What were the causes and consequences of the Cold War?

Excerpt

The United States stands at this time at the pinnacle of world power. It is a solemn moment for the American democracy. With primacy in power is also joined an awe-inspiring accountability to the future. …

A shadow has fallen upon the scenes so lately lighted by the Allied victory. Nobody knows what Soviet Russia and its Communist international organization intends to do in the immediate future or what are the limits if any to their expansive and proselytizing tendencies. I have a strong admiration and regards for the valiant Russian people and for my wartime comrade, Marshal Stalin. … We understand the Russian need to be secure on her western frontiers by the removal of all possibility of German aggression. We welcome Russia to her rightful place among the leading nations of the world. Above all we welcome constant, frequent and growing contacts between the Russian people and our own people on both sides of the Atlantic. It is my duty however, for I am sure you would wish me to state the facts as I see them to you, to place before you certain facts about the present position in Europe.

From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic an iron curtain has descended across the Continent. Behind that line lie all the capitals of the ancient states of Central and Eastern Europe. Warsaw, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Belgrade, Bucharest and Sofia, all these famous cities and the populations around them lie in what I must call the Soviet sphere, and all are subject in one form or another, not only to Soviet influence but to a very high and, in some cases, increasing measure of control from Moscow. … The Communist parties, which were very small in all these Eastern States of Europe, have been raised to pre-eminence and power far beyond their numbers and are seeking everywhere to obtain totalitarian control. … If now the Soviet Government tries, by separate action, to build up a pro-Communist Germany in their areas this will cause new serious difficulties in the British and American zones, and will give the defeated Germans the power of putting themselves up to auction between the Soviets and the Western Democracies. Whatever conclusions may be from these facts—and facts they are—this is certainly not the Liberated Europe we fought to build up. Nor is this one which contains the essentials of permanent peace. …

From what I have seen of our Russian friends and Allies during the war, I am convinced that there is nothing they admire so much as strength, and there is nothing for which they have less respect than for weakness, especially military weakness. For that reason the old doctrine of a balance of power is unsound. … If the Western Democracies stand together in strict adherence to the principles of the United Nations charter, their influence for furthering these principles will be immense and no one is likely to molest them. If however they become divided or falter in their duty and if these all-important years are allowed to slip away then indeed catastrophe may overwhelm us all.

Citation

Notes or additional materials

This video provides some brief context: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZA5ISi9yhhs
Audio version of the speech here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZBqqzxXQg4

Source 2 – Stalin Victory Speech, 1946 (5:55)

Guiding question

What were the causes and consequences of the Cold War?

Excerpt

The Chairman: Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin has the floor.

(Loud cheers lasting several minutes. The entire audience in the Bolshoi Theatre rose to its feet to greet Stalin.)

…

Joseph Stalin: Comrades! Eight years have passed since the last elections to the Supreme Soviet. This has been a period replete with events of a decisive nature. … [T]he uneven development of capitalist countries usually leads, in the course of time, to a sharp disturbance of the equilibrium within the world system of capitalism, and that group of capitalist countries regards itself as being less securely provided with raw materials and markets usually attempts to change the situation and to redistribute “spheres of influence” in its own favor—by employing armed force. As a result of this, the capitalist world is split into two hostile camps, and war breaks out between them.

…

This historic transformation [of the Soviet social system] was brought about in the course of three five-year plans, beginning with 1928 with the first year of the First Five-Year Plan. Up to that time we had to restore our ruined industries and heal the wounds inflicted upon us by the First World War and the Civil War. …

Now a few words about the Communist Party’s plans of work for the immediate future. As you know, these plans are formulated in the new five-year plan, which is to be adopted in the very near future. The main tasks of the new five-year plan are to rehabilitate the devastated regions of our country, to restore industry and agriculture to the prewar level, and then to exceed that level to a more or less considerable extent. Apart from the fact that the rationing system is to be abolished in the very near future (loud and prolonged applause), special attention will be devoted to the expansion of the production of consumers’ goods, to raising the standard of living of the working people by steadily reducing the prices of all commodities (loud and prolonged applause), and to the extensive organization of scientific research institutes of every kind (applause) capable of giving the fullest scope to our scientific forces. (Loud applause.)

Citation

Source 3 – Kennan’s Long Telegram, 1946 (9:35)

Guiding question

What were the causes and consequences of the Cold War?

Excerpt

The Charge in the Soviet Union (Kennan) to the Secretary of State

SECRET

Moscow, February 22, 1946--9 p.m. [Received February 22--3: 52 p.m.]

…

Part 1: Basic Features of Post War Soviet Outlook, as Put Forward by Official Propaganda Machine Are as Follows:

1. USSR still lives in antagonistic “capitalist encirclement” with which in the long run there can be no permanent peaceful coexistence. …
2. Capitalist world is beset with internal conflicts, inherent in nature of capitalist society. …
3. Internal conflicts of capitalism inevitably generate wars. …
4. Intervention against USSR, while it would be disastrous to those who undertook it, would cause renewed delay in progress of Soviet socialism and must therefore be forestalled at all costs.
5. Conflicts between capitalist states, though likewise fraught with danger for USSR, nevertheless hold out great possibilities for advancement of socialist cause, particularly if USSR remains militarily powerful, ideologically monolithic and faithful to its present brilliant leadership.

…

Part 5: [Practical Deductions From Standpoint of US Policy]

… [W]e have here a political force committed fanatically to the belief that with US there can be no permanent modus vivendi [way of living] 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. This political force has complete power of disposition over energies of one of world’s greatest peoples and resources of world’s richest national territory, and is borne along by deep and powerful currents of Russian nationalism.

…

For those reasons I think we may approach calmly and with good heart problem of how to deal with Russia. As to how this approach should be made, I only wish to advance, by way of conclusion, following comments:

1. Our first step must be to apprehend, and recognize for what it is, the nature of the movement with which we are dealing. …
2. We must see that our public is educated to realities of Russian situation. I cannot over-emphasize importance of this. Press cannot do this alone. It must be done mainly by Government, which is necessarily more experienced and better informed on practical problems involved. …
3. Much depends on health and vigor of our own society. World communism is like malignant parasite which feeds only on diseased tissue. … [T]o solve internal problems of our own society, to improve self-confidence, discipline, morale and community spirit of our own people, is a diplomatic victory over Moscow …
4. We must formulate and put forward for other nations a much more positive and constructive picture of sort of world we would like to see than we have put forward in past. It is not enough to urge people to develop political processes similar to our own. Many foreign peoples, in Europe at least, are tired and frightened by experiences of past, and are less interested in abstract freedom than in security. They are seeking guidance rather than responsibilities. We should be better able than Russians to give them this. And unless we do, Russians certainly will.
5. Finally we must have courage and self-confidence to cling to our own methods and conceptions of human society. After All, the greatest danger that can befall us in coping with this problem of Soviet communism, is that we shall allow ourselves to become like those with whom we are coping.

Citation

Source 4 – Is This Tomorrow? America Under Communism, 1947 (15:10)

Guiding question

What were the causes and consequences of the Cold War?

Excerpt

Citation

Notes or additional materials

Students can read the entire pamphlet here: https://archive.org/details/IsThisTomorrowAmericaUnderCommunismCatecheticalGuild/mode/2up

Source 5 – Meet King Joe, 1949 (19:05)

Guiding question

What were the causes and consequences of the Cold War?

Excerpt

NARRATOR: Meet Joe, the king of the workers of the world.

…

NARRATOR: Joe is the king because he can buy more with his wages than any other worker on the globe. Now what makes it possible for Joe to earn such a good living? He is no smarter than workers in other countries.

JOE: Are you kidding?

NARRATOR: He is no stronger than workers in other lands.

…

Sure, being an American is great, but how can you be superior than any farmer when you or your folks might be one of any of a dozen different races or religions? So, if you are no superman, it must be the American way of doing things that makes you the luckiest guy the world.

JOE: I don’t think I am so lucky.

NARRATOR: You don’t? Well, let me show you …

[M]ost of the investing capital that buys the tools you use comes from your fellow Americans. 40 million of us have money in the bank. 70 million of us own insurance policies. Over 15 million of us invest savings in corporation stocks and bonds, which helps to finance industry. Each year the people of America invests billions of dollars to create new plans and equipment. This invested capital buys the tools which make a man’s labor worth more because he produces more. In China, for example, where there is practically no capital available for investment in plants or tools, a man’s labor is not worth very much. …

The American way of doing things makes it possible for more people to own their own homes. We are only 7% of the world’s population, but we have 50% of the radios. We have 54% of the world’s telephones. Americans own practically all refrigerators in existence to give them plenty of ice quickly and easily. Bathtubs? We’ve got 92% of them. Most of us have the leisure time to enjoy the peace and quiet of the beautiful countryside as we drive about in 72% of the world’s automobiles. Under the protection of our freedoms, American labor, management and capital, the greatest production team in the history of mankind have made the United States the industrial master of the world. Capital must continue to provide industry with the funds to create new tools and plants. Labor and management must continue to increase the production of better goods at lower prices so that more people will be able to buy the things that make life easier and happier for all of us. Then Joe will continue to be the king of the workers of the world.

JOE: You said it, brother.

Citation

Notes or additional materials

Students can also view another Harding College cartoon called “Make Mine Freedom” created in 1948 by John Sutherland for Harding College at this link: https://tinyurl.com/2zusk4bw.

Source 6 – Berryman’s cartoons, 1953–1957 (23:20)

Guiding question

What were the causes and consequences of the Cold War?

Excerpt

Citation

Source 7 – American Imperialist: The Millionaire, 1963 (25:45)

Guiding question

What were the causes and consequences of the Cold War?

Excerpt

A very rich old lady in “Some Land” did reside,
But all at once this rich old lady, without warning … died.

Leaving, without his owner, alone, in gloomy shock,
exactly like his mistress, a pedigreed Bulldog

This rich old lady, naturally, had relatives galore,
Nephews and other claimants to her fortune—Many more!

For that old lady had, by now, acquired a goodly sum,
But when the time to share the spoils at last had truly come

The eager heirs found out, to their unending shame,
Their lady’s wealth, alas, was left just to Bulldog, by name!

The lawyers couldn’t argue. The will was fairly signed, and notarized.
The seal was real and she was in her sound mind. …

All witnessed by a law firm, no clearer could she get.
She left exactly all she had to her beloved pet!

What use have dogs for money? To go to stores? To shop?
Who’s ever heard of cats and dogs who “shop until they drop”?

But anyway, this dog indeed became a millionaire,
and ever higher snubbed his snubby nose into the air!

He lived smack in the center, right on Fifth Avenue!
And every day his own grand chef designed his grand menu!

For breakfast, special pork chops … and different steaks for lunch …
For dinner, spicy meatballs, fresh liver, and sardines were what he liked to munch!

He frequented resorts and spas, preserved his precious health,
And, every Wednesday, his coiffeur shaved round his snout himself!

The bulldog had a villa, a brand new Cadillac
Brand new hand-tailored doggy suit (He won’t buy it off the rack!)

According to the mistress’ will, a servant lived with him,
who took him to the races amidst the thrills and din!

Above the city, neon lights do blaze with glittering flame—
The hound goes to a fancy club where he’ll be entertained.

…

He goes to A-list parties and drinks the best cocktails,
Ignoring dogs he used to know who bark and wag their tails!

He’s in the millionaire’s club now, a banker if you please—
From bankers he has learned to growl when someone mentions: “Peace!”

His snout’s in all the papers—in stop press interviews! —
The bulldog always lets them know his special point of view.

The canine stand on outer space, on what this country needs!
And now he been elected … a Congressman with teeth!

Yes, now he’s been elected a member of the Senate,
Now that’s what crooked money does—if only you can get it!

Citation

Source 8 – Europe and Its Role in World Affairs, 1964 (29:45)

Guiding question

What were the causes and consequences of the Cold War?

Excerpt

In discussing Europe and in trying to distinguish what it should be, it is always necessary to ascertain what the world is. At the end of the last World War, the distribution of forces in the world was as simple, as brutal as possible. …

It is clear that things have changed. The Western States of our old continent have rebuilt their economies. They are rebuilding their military forces. One of them—France—is becoming a nuclear power. Above all they have become aware of their natural ties. In short, Western Europe appears likely to constitute a major entity full of merit and resources, capable of living its own life, indeed, not in opposition to the New World, but right alongside it. On the other hand, the monolithic nature of the totalitarian world is in the process of dislocation. China, separated from Moscow, enters on the world scene by its mass, its needs and its resources, avid for progress and consideration.

The Soviet Empire, the last and the largest colonial power of this time, is seeing first the Chinese contest the domination it exercises over vast regions of Asia and second is seeing the European satellites which it had subjugated by force moving further and further away. At the same time the Communist regime, despite the enormous effort it has been making in Russia for a half a century and despite the results it has achieved in certain massive undertakings, is meeting with failure with respect to the standard of living, the satisfaction and the dignity of men in comparison with the system applied in Western Europe …

Lastly, great aspirations and great difficulties are deeply agitating the developing countries. The result of all these new factors, complicated, and interrelated, is that the division of the world into two camps lead by Washington and Moscow respectively corresponds less and less to the real situation. With respect to the gradually splitting totalitarian world or the problems posed by China, the conduct to be adopted toward many countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America, or the remodeling of the United Nations Organization that necessarily ensues, or the adjustment of world exchanges of all kinds, etc., it appears that Europe, provided that it wishes it is henceforth called upon to play a role which is its own. Undoubtedly it should maintain an alliance with America, in which, in the North Atlantic, both are interested so long as the Soviet threat remains. …

That is why the United States declares that it wishes to see the old continent unite and organize itself while many among the Gallic, Germanic and Latin peoples cry out “Let us build Europe!” But which Europe? That is the question … It is of course not forbidden to imagine that a day will come when all the peoples of our continent will become one and that then there could be a Government of Europe, but it would be ridiculous to act as if that day had come. … In wanting and in proposing the organization of a Europe having its own policy, France is sure of serving the balance, the peace and the progress of the world.

Citation

Source 9 – Soviet Poster, c. 1970s (34:45)

Guiding question

What were the causes and consequences of the Cold War?

Excerpt

Citation

Source 10 – Documents from Operation Condor, 1976 (35:30)

Guiding question

What were the causes and consequences of the Cold War?

Excerpt

Document 1

CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Weekly Summary APPROVED FOR RELEASE

DATE: SEP 1999

SECRET [redacted] 49

July 2, 1976

No 1396

July 2, 1976

[redacted] [I]ntelligence representatives from Bolivia, Uruguay, Paraguay, Brazil, Chile, and Argentina decided at a meeting in Santiago early in June to set up a computerized intelligence data bank—known as operation “Condor”— and to establish an international communications network. In a separate agreement, Uruguayan intelligence [redacted] agreed to operate covertly in Paris with its Argentine and Chilean counterparts against the Revolutionary Coordinating Junta and other leftist Latin American subversive groups.

[redacted] these security services are already coordinating operations against targets in Argentina. In May armed men ransacked the offices of the Argentine Catholic Commission on Immigration and stole records containing information on thousands of refugees and immigrants. Argentine police did not investigate the crime and dismissed it as a simple robbery. Two days later, 24 Uruguayan and Chilean refugees, many of whom were the subjects of commission files, were kidnapped and tortured for several hours. Some of the refugees later said their interrogators were security officers from Chile and Uruguay. Presumably, a Chilean-Uruguayan operation could not have been undertaken without the cooperation of the Argentine security forces.

Document 2

DEPARTMENT OF STATE

EXCISE

UNCLASSIFIED

CHILE PROOJECT (#S1999000030)

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE

RELEASE ____ EXCISE X DENY____

DECLASSIFY: IN PART X IN FULL ____

EXEMPTION(S) B1, B3, YR

August 2, 1976

MEMORANDUM FOR THE RECORD

SUBJECT: ARA-CIA Weekly Meeting – 30 July 1976

PARTICIPANTS: ARA – Mr. Shlaudeman, Mr. Luers, Amb. Ryan; CIA – [redacted] INR/DDC- - James R. Gardner.

[redacted] introduced [redacted] who is to serve as his deputy.

Operation Condor

[redacted] spoke about the growth of this organization of security services of the Southern cone countries¹ and of accompanying disturbing developments in its operational attitudes. Originally designed as a communications system and data bank to facilitate defense against the guerilla Revolutionary Coordinating Junta, the organization was emerging as one with a far more activist role, including specifically that of identifying, locating, and “hitting” guerilla leaders. This was an understandable reaction to the increasingly extra-national, extreme, and effective range of the Junta’s activities. [redacted] [redacted]

Citation

1 The Southern Cone’s geographical area includes the countries of Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay.

Source 11 – Reagan’s Address to the Nation on National Security, 1986 (40:30)

Guiding question

What were the causes and consequences of the Cold War?

Excerpt

We knew immediate changes had to be made. So, here’s what we did: We set out to show that the long string of governments falling under Communist domination was going to end, and we’re doing it. In the 1970’s one strategic country after another fell under the domination of the Soviet Union. The fall of Laos, Cambodia, and South Vietnam gave the Soviet Union a strategic position on the South China Sea. The invasion of Afghanistan cut nearly in half Soviet flying time to the Persian Gulf. Communist takeovers in South Yemen and Ethiopia put the Soviets astride the Red Sea, entryway to the Suez Canal. Pro-Soviet regimes in Mozambique and Angola strengthened the Soviet position in southern Africa. And finally, Grenada and Nicaragua gave Moscow two new beachheads right on the doorstep of the United States.

In these last 5 years, not one square inch of territory has been lost, and Grenada has been set free. When we arrived in 1981, guerrillas in El Salvador had launched what they called their final offensive to make that nation the second Communist state on the mainland of North America. Many people said the situation was hopeless; they refused to help. We didn’t agree; we did help. And today those guerrillas are in retreat. El Salvador is a democracy, and freedom fighters are challenging Communist regimes in Nicaragua, Afghanistan, Angola, Cambodia, and Ethiopia. …

Finally, we set out to reduce the danger of nuclear war. Here, too, we’re achieving what some said couldn’t be done. We’ve put forth a plan for deep reductions in nuclear systems. We’re pushing forward our highly promising Strategic Defense Initiative [SDI], a security shield that may one day protect us and our allies from nuclear attack, whether launched by deliberate calculation, freak accident, or the isolated impulse of a madman. Isn’t it better to use our talents and technology to build systems that destroy missiles, not people?

Our message has gotten through. The Soviets used to contend that real reductions in nuclear missiles were out of the question. Now they say they accept the idea. Well, we shall see. Just this week, our negotiators presented a new plan for the elimination of intermediate-range nuclear missiles, and we’re pressing the Soviets for cuts in other offensive forces as well. One thing is certain: If the Soviets truly want fair and verifiable agreements that reduce nuclear forces, we will have those agreements.

Citation

Source 12 – American military spending data, 1996 (44:30)

Guiding question

What were the causes and consequences of the Cold War?

Excerpt

U.S. Military Spending, 1945–1996 / Annual Military Spending Billions of 1996 Dollars in Outlays

Total cost of the Cold War (1948–1991) in 1996 dollars = $13.1 Trillion.

Average annual military spending during Cold War = $298.5 Billion.

Average annual military spending during peacetime Cold War (excluding Korean and Vietnam War years) = $285.4 Billion.

Citation

Notes or additional materials

There is much debate among scholars about how to determine Soviet military spending data, and reliable data is limited. An independent researcher has put together some data that may serve as a potential comparison, although it is also limited. Ricon, Jose Luis. “The Soviet Union: Military Spending.” Nintil, May 2016. https://nintil.com/the-soviet-union-military-spending. For more international data, students can explore the SIPRI Military Expenditure Database: https://www.sipri.org/databases/milex.