Cold War Dbq

The Cold War was a high-tension conflict between two extremely powerful nations, leading to a great deal of fear and insecurity. The conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union was not a typical one. A conflict with direct fighting would be considered a hot war/shooting war, where soldiers engage in combat, but since there was no direct fighting, it is known as a cold war (“Beginnings” par. 3). Bernard Baruch, a presidential advisor, had come up with the term “cold war” in a speech he gave in April 1947. Baruch said, “Let us not be deceived- today we are in the midst of a cold war” (Fogarty par. 1). The Cold War was disagreement between the U.S. and the Soviet Union over economic and political differences. It was a clashing between

Congress adopted a resolution recommending that the United States join the North Atlantic Treaty. Starting in May 1948, Republican Senator Arthur H. Vandenburg proposed a resolution suggesting that Truman search for a security alliance with Western Europe that would bond to the United Nations charter, but occur outside of the Security Council where the Soviet Union help veto power. The Vandenburg Resolution passed and negotiations soon began to join the North Atlantic Treaty. However, it took several months to work out the exact terms before the treaty was officially signed (“NATO” par. 3-4). President Truman advocated national participation in NATO as a very important part of his policy of containment of Soviet growth (Chambers par. 2). The United States saw Eastern Europe as economically strong, rearmed, and integrated. In forming an alliance with Eastern European nations opposing the Soviet Union, it would greatly slow the expansion of communism in Europe. The U.S. Congress had accepted the dream of international alliance, but remained worried about the wording of the treaty. The nations of Western Europe wanted to make sure that the United States would help defend any allied nation under attack. However, the problem was that under the U.S. Constitution, the power to declare is under Congress authority. Finally, after a considerable amount of negotiations, the United States finally signed the treaty, thus joining the organization (“NATO” par. 2, 4, and 5). In October 1949, the U.S. Congress authorized $1.3 billion in military aid for NATO. This fund was the Mutual Defense Assistance Act (Chambers par. 2). U.S. Congress, recognizing that the United States could use some allies, joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in order to hinder the spread of