Communism in the Cold War "The seeds of totalitarian regimes are nurtured by misery and want, they spread and grow in the evil soil of the poverty and strife. They reach their full growth when the hope of a people for a better life has died. We must keep that hope alive." as said by Harry S. Truman on march 12, 1947 in The Truman Doctrine. While Truman, Eisenhower, and Kennedy all had the same same Cold War intention of ending communism, their ways of achieving their goal were different.The Cold War was an angry dispute between the United States and the Soviet Union about whether we should spread or contain communism (Ayres 817).
Moreover, other countries claimed the right of nuclear weapons to defend their citizens. Consequently, the tragic bombings became the example of an arm’s race instead of peace. Furthermore, since Japan was already on the brink of collapse the bombing was unnecessary, and peace talks would have taken place within a decent time frame (even after the cancelled Hawaii summit). The millions of deaths calculated by Operation Downfall [the codename for the Allied plan for the invasion of Japan near the end of the Second World War, which was abandoned when Japan surrendered following the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki] actually show that only desperation and honour stood between Japan and unconditional
Kelly Shaver AMH 2030 Week 7 Individual Work What factors likely motivated President Truman to authorize the use of atomic bombs against Japan in August 1945? President Truman did not trust the Soviets. The Potsdam Declaration – July 26 listed U.S. policy also giving Japan a chance to surrender without guaranteeing that Emperor Hirohito would not be tried for war crimes committed by Japan. Japan was so cautious about their response that is was seen as a refusal on their part. The Japanese were seen as bloodthirsty savages willing to die rather than give up.
political (defeat of the right –Bukharin), • Ideological (NEP hated by communists; class war against the kulaks; socialism in one country), • Strategic (i.e. defence of Russia)? Conclusion– Economic reasons provided one set of motives –but there were others. Were they connected? Which motives were most decisive?
Although, she does admit even she was shocked when listening to the speech, as she explains “the line was not believable”. From this I can conclude that source one doesn’t wholly hold Churchill responsible for the 1945 election defeat, however the reliability of the source is questionable as it is bias towards the conservative party. Source two, an extract from Lord Butler’s memoirs, clearly shows opposition to not only Churchill but also the conservative party, Lord Butler for example describes Churchill’s speech as a “negative attack on the labour party” and believed that he should have instead focused on “post-war policies”. By describing Churchill’s use of the word “Gestapo” as a “strategic blunder” shows that Butler is blaming Churchill in having played a role in the defeat of the 1945 election. Although both members of the conservative party, Butler and Churchill were political enemies, this is evident when looking at the extract: “a poor third place to the concentrated exploitation of Churchill’s personality” – this is a personal attack on Churchill’s actions.
He also said that it will be impossible to persuade Russia to remove her troops from Poland and China and the island of Sakhalin unless they are shocked and impressed by American military strength. So in short words, James Byrnes believes that dropping the atomic bombs might make Russia more manageable and force Japan to surrender. If the USA did drop the bombs on japan, it will stop the USSR from advancing too far, plus halted the war quickly so that Stalin’s Soviet Russia did not demand joint occupation of
Fussel versus Walzer I believe that dropping the atomic bomb on Hiroshima was inhumane and that the happenings of that war could have been solved in a different manner. Before reading both Fussel and Walzer’s opposing opinions on the droppings of the atomic bombs on Japan, I can confidently say that I agreed with Fussel to a certain extent. Many people’s gut reaction to something as huge as this would be “Better him/her than me”. What was so wrong with killing 100,000 to potentially save hundreds of thousands of American lives? That is what a lot of people asked themselves and still ask themselves until this day.
After Roosevelt died Truman became the American president. One of the reasons is the dropping of the atomic bomb. During the Potsdam Conference Truman attempted to show he’s authority to other countries by dropping a bomb in Japan. Truman believed that America was one of the most powerful countries in the world and wanted to prove it. Another reason to why America is to blame is after the success of the atomic bomb the members of the Grand Alliance began to see changes in Truman’s behaviour as he started to control the meetings they had and Stalin refused to be bossed around so arguments between Stalin and Truman started, they started.
Running head: ANTI-COMMUNISM AND MCCARTHYISM Anti-communism and McCarthyism Melissa Guzman University of Phoenix Anti-communism and McCarthyism Anticommunism was a belief that if you followed the same ideas of the Russians you did not belong here in the United States and should go to Russia. Anticommunism was a major issue in the thirties and forties. It was considered that all anticommunist were liberals. There were two kinds of liberals, the anticommunist liberals, and the fellow-traveling liberals. McCarthyism was a crusade started by Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin.
In other words, the moral issues to not use nuclear warfare fails to meet the argument for dropping the bomb and changes the subject from the immediate decision to the long-term consequences of the decision (Truman Library). But even if one grants the point about fear of annihilation, it is not clear that the world has fundamentally changed nor that the whole world is always in danger of nations from time immemorial. For example, ancient Rome sacked Carthage, plowed it under and salted the earth (Sherrow 72). Medieval and modern religious wars have annihilated millions. More recently, there was Hitler's genocidal six-million-death final solution to the Jewish problem, and the Communists' ten of millions of mass murders continue to this day.