TRUMAN. DOMESTIC, FOREIGN & CIVIL RIGHTS

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  • Created by: Megan1900
  • Created on: 14-04-18 14:33

TRUMAN (1945-1952)

FOREIGN POLICY

Potsdam (July 1945) - Attlee, Stalin + Truman

   At Potsdam there were; 

             - Arguments about the details of boundaries between the zones

             - Disagreements about the amount of reparations Russia wanted to take from Germany

             - US and UK were alarmed because of the communist expansion in Eastern Europe

             - Truman told Stalin that the US had an atomic bomb after they had tested out another bomb to see if it actually worked. 

Reasons For Hostility Between The US and USSR

      - There opposing ideologies 

       - Long Term Tensions

       - Disagreements during WWI about Poland 

       - American secrecy over possession of the atomic bomb 

       - The imbalance of Power 

       -  The personalities of Truman and Stalin 

Reasons For Dropping The Atomic Bomb (6 August 1945)

Military Motive: 

  • “the Japanese in the summer of 1945 were as determined as ever, using Kamikaze fighting tactics, they would die to protect their emperor” (MacArthur)
  • To stop the Russian invasion, if the Soviets were to invade Japan they may have been seen as the ‘superpower’ as the Soviets would have ended the Japanese war whilst also being credited for pushing the Nazis back. 

    Political Motive:

  • First bomb dropped in Hiroshima killed 3,450 Japanese soldiers but 70,000-146,000 civilians. Second bomb dropped in Nagasaki killed 280 Japanese soldiers but 39,000-80,000 civilians. 
  • “The Japanese were prepared to negotiate all the way from February 1945, up and before the bomb was dropped” (Admiral William D. Leahy) 

Atomic Bomb Contributing To The US As A Superpower

 To A Large Extent:

 - The power the US had by dropping the bomb other countries were intimidated and they would try and build their own nuclear bomb to use if they ever felt threatened by America. 

  • The second bomb did make Japan surrender which ended the war. The US could claim that they stopped the war and saved the world. 
  • Other countries wanted to be close to the US as they were afraid a bomb would be used against them. 

To A Minimal Extent:

  • The first bomb dropped didn’t end the war and the Japanese didn’t surrender, the war carried on. 
  • America had now shown the atomic bomb and other countries would build one for themselves.

Problematic Post-War Peacemaking 

September 1945 - The first meeting of the council and foreign leaders held in London to draft peace treaties with defeated enemy states, they broke down after nearly one month of unproductive promotions dominated by disagreements between the Soviets and the Western States. 

December 1945 - The US, UK and Soviet foreign ministers mer in Moscow but the prospect of a peace treaty with Germany was poor, because of the disagreements about Iran, with both the Soviet Union and America sought to

Comments

RebeccaNimmo

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Great set of summary notes on the Truman presidency. Easy to read, evaluative and analytical.