Militarizing the Cold War

I. Boosting of Tensions

1. Unresolved Issues (future of Germany: Kennan and possibility of unity under neutralism; tightness of “Iron Curtain”: Czech coup, Stalin-Tito split, Finland and Austria; importance of East Asia: MacArthur in Japan, U.S. role in Chinese civil war; U.S. government: federal role—retrenchment or permanent commitment?; the internal challenge: HUAC and different type of Cold War—Nixon, Hiss, and the Pumpkin Papers)

2. NSC 68 (Truman election and renewed domestic focus; Johnson as defense secretary and budget cuts; Nitze, “official class,” and changing definition of containment; international events and increased pressure for militarization—Soviet A-Bomb, creation of NATO, spy scares, Mao triumph in China; budget implications)

3. Korea (Korea and the postwar world; model for Germany; importance of Japan; decision to intervene; civil war or international conflict?; decision for limited war; Truman-MacArthur controversy; stalemate and national ambivalence; other East Asian initiatives—Seventh Fleet to Taiwan; reverse course Japan; military aid to France in Indochina; Great Crescent theory; domestic fallout—attacks against Acheson, growing power of military)

II. A Hardened Conflict

1. H-Bomb (legacy of arms control efforts—Acheson-Lilienthal Plan to Baruch Plan; AEC and principle of civilian control; role of McMahon and congressional pressure; opposition claims: length to construct, military use?, morality, psychological/diplomatic effect; Teller presumptions: USSR working intensively on weapon and will develop it; decision can’t be kept secret; Korea and HST decision)

2. Constitutional Uncertainty (President/Congress: NATO and Great Debate; decision to intervene Korea; President/Supreme Court: steel mill cases, communist cases—FELP)

3. Consolidations (U.S.: Pat McCarran and American politics; internal security, immigration, and battle for American culture; origins of McCarthyism—McCarthy background, partisan environment, changing nature of Senate, path to Wheeling address, Tydings Committee and Senate response; 1950 elections—Tydings defeat, Nixon triumph, origins of McCarthy myth; spy rings—Fuchs, Cambridge Five, Rosenbergs; Eastern Europe—imposition of Stalinist regimes; from Rajk to Slánský)

	1950	1951	1952
Defense budget	$13.3 B	$60.4B	$44 B
Army	591,000	1.55 million	1.595 million
Navy	451,000	1.01 million	1.05 million
Air Force	411,000	1.06 million	973,000