All language subtitles for 04-The Cold War 1945-1950

( theme music playing )

( rumbles )

( flames crackle )

( cheers )

- ( jazz music plays )
- newsreel: Pushing through germany,

The United States
and soviet armies

Met at the river ill.
Americans and russians joined hands

Joined hands in
celebration of victory.

Successful partners in war,

The hope flamed among all men
that the United States

And the soviet union,
with their allies,

Would form
a successful partnership

Against any future
threat of aggression.

The news of final surrender,
the news that peace had at last been won,

Penetrated to every
corner of the globe.

Peace, the hope of mankind,
had arrived.

Men rejoiced, cheered
the end of world war ii.

( "in the mood" playing )

Stone:
There was a brief
moment in time

When the United States,
alone among the victors,

Was on top of the world.

Its death toll was 405,000,

Compared to the soviet union's
27 million.

The economy was booming.
Exports more than doubled
pre-war levels.

Industrial production
had grown 15% annually.

The U.S. Held two-thirds
of the world's gold reserves

And three-fourths
of its invested capital.

It was producing
an incredible 50%

Of the world's
goods and services.

In 1945 at bretton woods,
new hampshire,

The U.S. Established
the two new

Major economic institutions
of capitalism--

The world bank
and the international
monetary fund--

Each budgeted at approximately
seven to eight billion dollars.

President harry truman,

Who had made his name
investigating excess spending
in the senate,

Was overseeing
a gigantic demobilization.

And yet there was a lingering
unease in a new society

Where the home front
had prospered

While the servicemen
were away.

I can see that you had
a splendid war record, derry.

Just average,
mr. Thorpe.

But you'll understand that
since this business
changed hands,

We're under no legal
obligation to give you
your old job back.

I wasn't thinking
of getting my old job
back, mr. Thorpe.

- I'm looking for a better one.
- What are your qualifications?

- Your experience?
- Two years behind
a soda fountain

And three years behind
a norden bombsight.

Yes.
While in the army,

Did you have
any experience
in procurement?

- No.
- Purchasing
of supplies, materials?

No, I didn't
do any of that.
I just dropped bombs.

- Did you do any
personnel work?
- No.

But as an officer,
you surely had to act
in an executive capacity.

You had to command men.
Were you responsible
for their morale?

No, I was only responsible
for getting the bombs
on the target.

- I didn't command anybody.
- I see.

I'm sure that work
required great skill.

But unfortunately
we've no opportunities
for that

- With midway drugs.
- Yeah.

Stone:
World war ii
left as many

As 70 million people dead
in europe and asia--

Two-thirds of them
civilians.

Hiroshima was
an ominous forewarning.

The depression was
perhaps over,

But america's business
and social planners

Feared a relapse

And fretted over
the consequences
of worldwide poverty,

With populations uprooted,
homeless and unemployed.

Would revolution
sweep the globe?

What would happen
to american trade
and investment?

In France
the communist party,

Which had half
a million members
and fought bravely

In the resistance
to the nazis,

Won 26% of the vote
in 1945.

In Italy
1.7 million people

Joined the party.

Even in britain
the people, exhausted and
broke from two world wars,

Were uncharacteristically
turning to the state

To make their lives
tolerable.

And fortune, which had
made winston churchill

One of the most respected
statesmen of his era,

Now cast him aside

With a reversal
befitting greek tragedy.

( trumpets playing )

Newsreel:
Winston churchill,
touring the ruins of berlin

As the curtain rings down
on his career as prime minister

Of great britain.

Beneath flags of the big three,
the 70-year-old leader

Stands at last
in the heart of berlin

As he vowed he would
five years ago.

Admiral king
and general marshall come up
to greet the old warrior.

Next to general marshall
can be seen balding, mustached
clement attlee,

New labour prime minister.

Stone:
Attlee embodied
the new socialist european,

Promising to build a free
health-care system for all

And advocating
the complete nationalization

Of many of britain's
oldest industries--

A man preoccupied
not with empire

But with a massive
social welfare state.

By contrast,
churchill was offering empire.

He had said in late 1942,

At a time when England's
very existence was
threatened...

Churchill's voice:
I have not become the king's
first minister

To preside over the liquidation
of the british empire.

Stone:
But dismemberment is exactly
what he would live to see.

Atlee would administer
the independence of india,

Pakistan, burma,
sri lanka,

Jordan and palestine.

Attlee understood that there
was a new american world order.

The U.S. Extended almost
a $4 billion loan to britain,

Not to be repaid
for 50 years,

And was now leasing
military bases on english soil.

Britain in essence
was to become

A new client-state
of the U.S.

Franklin roosevelt--
who had always disliked

The concept
of king and empire

And reflected much
of the american disapproval

Of its repressive policies
in india,

Greece
and throughout the world--

Had successfully steered
a middle course

Between great britain
and the soviet union.

The prospect of a large
american credit to help
the soviets

Rebuild had been encouraged
and discussed openly
during the war.

But harry truman showed
none of roosevelt's dexterity,

As he tacked, at a time
of maximum U.S. Strength,

Increasingly towards
the british camp.

When the soviet union
did not receive anything close

To the aid package
given the british,

They were
greatly disappointed.

They already sensed
the wartime alliance

Would be the first casualty
of the postwar era.

In mid-September 1945

At a foreign ministers
meeting in london,

Secretary of state
jimmy byrnes

Berated soviet policies
in eastern europe.

Foreign minister molotov
pointed to

Exclusionary U.S. Policies
in Italy,

Greece and japan,

And, tired
of byrnes's belligerence,

Asked if he was hiding
an atomic bomb in his pocket.

Byrnes actually replied...

Byrnes' voice:
You don't know southerners.

We carry our artillery
in our pocket.

If you don't cut out
all this stalling,

I'm going to pull
an atomic bomb out of my pocket
and let you have it.

Stone:
In December, secretary
of commerce henry wallace

Pressed truman to take control
of america's atomic weapons

Away from soviet-hater
leslie groves,

Who still had
unilateral control over them.

Groves had advocated

A preemptive attack
against...

The soviet union,
with the largest army
in the world

And having
played the leading role
in the anti-fascist movement,

Was now
a frightening prospect

For some U.S. Officials.

In early 1946

A gallup poll found that
26% of americans

Thought the soviets
sought world domination.

13% thought
the british did.

The soviets, though aware
of the rightward shift

In the truman
administration,

Were hoping still to maintain
the wartime alliance

And actually went out
of their way to restrain

Their frustrated
communist allies in china,

Italy, France and greece.

Stalin, whose major
foreign policy goal

Was to make certain
germany or japan never again

Posed a threat
to his country,

Had enormous problems
at home.

His nation was in the grip
of a crushing poverty,

Engaged still in extensive
ongoing partisan warfare

In its western sectors,
particularly ukraine,

Which was soon to be
wracked with famine.

The soviets were
isolated at the u.N.

And the U.S. Had
a monopoly on the bomb.

Yet the U.S. Was
building an image

Of the soviet union as being
out to conquer the world.

In germany the two systems
were already at odds.

Roosevelt's policy
of pastoralizing germany

Was reversed
to one revitalizing
the german economy

As a key to an overall
european recovery.

This was not in itself
a bad decision,

Given what happened
to west germany in later years,

But at the time
it was highly insensitive

To the concerns
of a country that had been

Twice cornered
in ruthless wars
with germany.

There was in fact a profound
conflict of interest,

And the stark images
of the soviets stripping
the eastern zone

Of everything
to ship back to its own
impoverished land was,

To most americans,
perceived not incorrectly
as looting.

As far back
as the 19th century,

The pre-communist russian
empire had been in conflict
with the british empire,

Both seeking influence
in turkey and iran.

Russia had repeatedly
sought access

To the warm-water ports
of the mediterranean.

( fanfare )

In the 1917
russian revolution,

Churchill, as lord
of the admiralty,

Had been a fierce foe
of communism,

Which he proclaimed "ought
to be strangled in its cradle."

He'd wanted to draw
the United States

Into a military engagement
with the new communist regime.

And in the fierce
counter-revolution against it

40,000 british
and 15,000 american troops

Actually participated,

Poisoning relations
from the start.

It had been roosevelt
who finally recognized

The soviet union in 1933.

Churchill,
out of office and favor,

Was now itching
for a confrontation.

It would happen,
not unsurprisingly,

In the middle east.

Great britain controlled 72%
of middle eastern oil,

The U.S. Had 10%
and wanted a bigger share.

The soviet union
wanted a piece too.

Having stationed troops
during the war

Across its border
in northern iran

To keep oil supplies
out of nazi hands,

The soviets now
came into conflict

With britain
in the south.

Churchill additionally
felt threatened

By soviet probes in turkey,

Threatening britain's sphere
of interest in the middle east.

The exposure of a soviet
espionage ring in canada

In early February added
credibility to his warnings.

And a speech by stalin
in which he proclaimed

A new postwar
five-year plan

To rebuild
the soviet union

Was misunderstood
as incendiary

And predicting
the inevitability of a war

Between the two systems--
which it had not.

It was in this context
in early March 1946

That winston churchill
would remind the world

That he was still a power
to be reckoned with.

He traveled
to truman's home state--

Fulton, missouri--

To make one of the most
devastating speeches
of the cold war,

Words that would
condemn forever

In the minds of many
the soviet union.

( cheering )

Truman:
Mr. Churchill-- he's one
of the great men of the age.

He's a great englishman,

But he's half-american.

( laughter, applause )

( churchill speaking )

( applause )

Stone:
This was a quantum leap
in belligerence

Towards the soviet union.

"the new york times"
applauded the speech,

Saying it was spoken
"with the force of the prophet
proved right before."

Visibly upset,
stalin accused churchill

Of being in bed
with the "war mongers"

Who followed
the "racial theory"

That only english speakers
could "decide the fate
of the whole world."

The "chicago tribune,"
although agreeing

With his assessment
of eastern europe,

Sharply questioned
churchill's...

Florida's senator
claude pepper observed

That churchill was,
"as much opposed to russia

As to a labor government
in his own country.

It is shocking to see
mr. Churchill align himself

With the old chamberlain tories
who strengthened the nazis

As part of their
anti-soviet crusade."

The following month,
on the first anniversary
of roosevelt's death,

Wallace offered
a different vision.

Wallace's voice:
The only way to defeat
communism in the world

Is to do a better
and smoother job of production
and distribution.

Let's make it a clean race,
a determined race,

But above all a peaceful race
in the service of humanity.

The source of all
our mistakes is fear.

Russia fears
anglo-saxon encirclement.

We fear communist penetration.

Out of fear,
great nations have been acting

Like cornered beasts,
thinking only of survival.

The common people of the world
will not tolerate imperialism,

Even under
enlightened anglo-saxon
atomic-bomb auspices.

The destiny of
the english-speaking people

Is to serve the world,
not dominate it.

Stone:
Following churchill's speech,

Conditions
deteriorated rapidly.

When soviet troops stayed
in northern iran

Beyond their March deadline,

Truman threatened war.
He wrote...

Truman's voice:
If the russians were
to control iran's oil,

Either directly or indirectly,
it would be a serious loss

For the economy
of the western world.

Stone:
Truman later privately claimed
to a hard-line senator

That he gave the soviets
a nuclear warning,

Telling their ambassador,
if soviet troops are not
out in 48 hours,

"we're going
to drop it on you."

They were out,
he claimed, in 24.

The soviets did withdraw,

But probably for reasons
other than atomic blackmail.

Less than
two months later,

The U.S. Cut off
desperately-needed
reparation payments

From west germany
to the soviet union.

And in July of '46,
sending another

Chilling message about
its intentions,

The U.S. Decided to proceed
with an atomic bomb test

In the marshall islands.

( applause )

In September '46
in front of 20,000 people

At new york's
madison square garden,

Henry wallace tried
to put a stop

To the growing madness.

Wallace's voice:
The tougher we get,

The tougher
the russians will get.

We can get cooperation

Once russia understands
that our primary objective

Is neither saving
the british empire,

Nor purchasing oil
in the near east

With the lives
of american soldiers.

Under friendly,
peaceful competition

The russian world
and the american world

Will gradually become
more alike.

The russians will be forced
to grant more and more

Of the personal freedoms
and we shall become more
and more absorbed

With the problems
of social-economic justice.

Stone:
The speech became world news,

Deeply embarrassing
to secretary of state
jimmy byrnes

Who told truman either
he or wallace had to go.

Support for wallace
poured in throughout
the ensuing controversy

From such as eleanor roosevelt
and albert einstein,

But not from the truman
administration.

James forrestal
regarded wallace as
at best a security risk,

And secretly had
his naval intelligence unit

Monitoring the secretary
of commerce,

And shared information
with the f.B.I.'s
j. Edgar hoover

Who harbored deep suspicions
about wallace's loyalties.

Wallace in turn
considered hoover
an "american himmler."

Truman later denied
he had read

And approved
the entire speech in advance,

Which he had.
He wrote in his diary...

Truman's voice:
Wallace is a pacifist 100%.

He wants us to disband
our armed forces,

Give russia
our atomic secrets,

And trust
a bunch of adventurers
in the kremlin politburo.

I do not understand
a "dreamer" like that.

Stone:
Truman fired wallace.

And with his departure,
the best chance

To avert a nuclear
arms race was gone.

1947 would be
the turning point,

As the U.S. Plunged
headlong

Into the cold war
at home and abroad.

Behind the ongoing
liberation movements

In places
such as british malaya,

French indochina
and dutch indonesia,

U.S. Leadership painted
a dire picture of stalin

Spreading world revolution,

Ruling out negotiations
and ignoring any grays

In its black-and-white
conclusions.

In greece,
the british army

Toppled the popular leftist
national liberation front

And restored the monarchy
and right-wing dictatorship,

Sparking
a communist-led uprising.

Following the severe winter
of 1946-7,

The financially-strapped
british could not
control the revolt

And asked the United States
to take the lead

In defeating
the greek insurgents

And modernizing
the turkish army.

One state department official
later summed it up:

Great britain had
within the hour

Handed the job
of world leadership
to the United States.

A war-weary public
had no appetite

For costly initiatives.

But truman, addressing
both houses of congress,

Appealed for $400 million,

Laying out a new vision

For america as
the world's policeman.

( truman speaking )

Stone:
Truman in not
distinguishing vital threats

From peripheral ones
and by linking the fate

Of people all over the world
to the security of
the United States

Was making a momentous
statement.

These words could in fact
be transposed to korea,

To vietnam, to iraq
and afghanistan.

After a heated debate,

Congress fell into line.

Moscow was stunned
by this war-like language,

Accusing the U.S.
Of imperialist expansion
under the guise of charity

And trying to extend
the monroe doctrine
to the old world.

From outside
the government

Henry wallace led
the opposition,

Decrying the utter nonsense
of describing...

...And accusing truman
of betraying roosevelt's
vision for world peace.

Wallace's voice:
President truman cannot
prevent change in the world

Any more than he can prevent
the tide from coming in

Or the sun from setting.

But once america stands
for opposition to change,

We are lost.

America will become the most
hated nation in the world.

Stone:
Anticipating that the soviets

Would reply in kind,
he warned...

Wallace's voice:
Truman's policy will
spread communism

In europe and asia.

Stone:
Two months later
the soviets sponsored

A communist coup
overthrowing

The democratically-elected
government of hungary.

"the new york times" wrote

"the coup in hungary
is russia's answer

To our action
in greece and turkey."

And it clearly contributed
to the soviet decision

To impose a new, stricter order
across eastern europe.

The greek civil war
grew bloody,

And U.S. Personnel
identified as "advisors"

Arrived in the war zone
in June of '47.

The United States amply armed
the right-wing monarchy

And tolerated
their client's mass political
arrests and executions.

It was an especially
savage conflict,

With tactics--
some old, some new--

That previewed those
later used in vietnam,

Such as mass deportations
to camps,

Mass imprisonment of wives
and children of subversives,

Executions,
the destruction of unions,

Torture
and napalming villages.

Greece was kept in the hands
of wealthy businessmen,

Many of them
nazi collaborators,

And the victims were
primarily workers

And peasants who'd
resisted the nazis.

The soviet union temporarily
assisted the left-wing forces,

But in February of '48

Stalin ordered
yugoslavia's josip tito,

As well as neighboring
albania and bulgaria,

To stop supporting
the guerilla movement.

( stalin speaking )

Stone:
The tough tito, who'd fought
his own grueling war

Against the nazis
and had no fear of
stalin's assassins,

Refused, and stalin
excommunicated him

From the international
communist movement,

Antagonizing hard-line allies
like mao in china.

The state department
reported

"for the first time
in history we may now have

Within the international
community

A communist state
independent of moscow."

But despite providing
covert support for tito,

The United States never
adjusted its rhetoric
to reflect that.

In the public's mind,
the soviet union remained

At the center
of a communist conspiracy

To dominate the world.

In 1956,
out of office a second time
and in retirement,

The old lion churchill
confirmed in an interview...

Churchill's voice:
Stalin never broke
his word to me.

We agreed on the balkans.
I said he could have

Romania and bulgaria

And he said
we could have greece.

He signed a slip of paper
and he never broke his word.

We saved greece that way.

Stone:
Stalin's lack of support
for the greek uprising

Doomed the rebels,

And the war ended
with victory in 1949

For the national
government.

Though U.S. Officials
cheered the victory,

The greek people
weren't so sure--

More than 100,000 died

And 800,000
became refugees.

Successive greek governments
would use the state apparatus--

The police,
military, decrees

And an intelligence agency--

To systematically
rule the country.

Domestically, pressured by
the republican right,

Truman found it necessary
to appease

The public's growing unease
with communism,

Thus he mandated loyalty checks
on all government employees

To root out "subversives."

Having the wrong views
on religion,

Sexual behavior,
foreign policy or race
could make one suspect.

Through 1952 loyalty boards

Reviewed more than
22,000 cases

And more than 4,000 employees
were fired or resigned.

Newsreel:
The growing menace
of communism

Arouses the house
of representatives'

Un-american activities
committee.

Stone:
In October 1947

The house un-american
activities committee

Held highly-publicized
public hearings

On communist influence
in hollywood.

It was an easy target.

Have you ever been a member
of the communist party?

I have told you that
I will offer my beliefs,

- My affiliations
and everything else...
- Excuse the witness!

...To the american public
and they will know
where I stand,

- As they do
from what I have written.
- Stand away from the stand!

- I have written for
americanism for many years...
- Stand away from the stand!

...And I will continue to fight
for the bill of rights, which
you are trying to destroy.

Officer, take this man
away from the stand.

Stone:
Hollywood studio executives

Shamefully denounced
those accused

And pledged not to hire anyone
with suspect affiliations.

Although a great number
of hollywood stars

Publically criticized
the witch-hunts,

The "blacklist" gave way
to the "graylist"

And hundreds more
were denied work.

Among the friendly witnesses
who testified

Were screen actors guild
president ronald reagan,

Actors robert taylor
and gary cooper

And studio executive
walt disney.

I-- I don't believe
it's a political party.

I believe it's
an un-american thing

And the thing that I resent
the most is that they

Are able to get into these
unions and take them over.

Stone:
From 1948 through '54,

More than 40
strongly anti-communist
motion pictures were made,

Not including terrifying
science-fiction parables

Like h.G. Wells'
"the war of the worlds,"

Which implied
the threat of communism.

Announcer:
This could be the beginning
of the end for the human race.

For what men first
thought were meteors

Are in reality the flaming
vanguard from the red planet.

- ( screams )
- ( siren wails )

Stone:
The f.B.I. Under
publicity-conscious

J. Edgar hoover,

Whose single greatest
obsession in life

Was communism,

Conducted most
of the investigations

Into its existence
in america.

Those accused could not know
the basis of the accusations.

In his paranoia,
hoover distrusted

Even the white house,
the pentagon and justice
department,

And hid what he did--
both inside and outside
the law--

Drawing up plans
for mass detentions
of communists

In the event
of an anticipated
soviet attack.

In July of '47
truman pushed through

The national security act,
which created a vast
new bureaucracy

Headed by the anti-soviet
hardliner james forrestal

As this country's first
secretary of defense.

The act also
created the central
intelligence agency,

Which was given
four functions--

Three of them dealing
with the collection,

Analysis and dissemination
of intelligence.

It was the fourth
function that would prove
the most dangerous--

A vaguely-worded passage

That allowed the c.I.A.
To perform...

...As the president saw fit.

The c.I.A. Would use
that vague wording

To conduct hundreds of covert
operations around the world,

Including more than 80
during truman's second term.

Its earliest success
was to subvert Italy's
1948 election

To ensure victory
over the communist party.

Democracy was
apparently a virtue

When it served
U.S. Interests.

Sometimes referred to as

"capitalism's
invisible army,"

The c.I.A. Was truly
the beginning of
a new america,

Built upon a secret state
that would grow exponentially

Over the following
decades.

Despite his public face,
truman had feared
from the start

That the c.I.A. Could
turn into a "gestapo"

Or "military dictatorship."

In 1963,
shortly after john kennedy
had been assassinated,

Truman, surprisingly
but explicitly,

Called for the c.I.A.
To end operations

And simply
gather intelligence.

His op-ed appeared
in the "washington post,"

But strangely generated
little discussion

In other media outlets
and disappeared from
public attention.

General george marshall,

Having led the allied
armies to victory

In the second world war,
was named man of the year again

By "time"
in January of '48

And planned
a quiet retirement.

But truman, who'd had
more than enough of byrnes,

Forced his resignation
and made marshall

His new
secretary of state.

Privately believing
that truman's descriptions

Of a communist threat
were exaggerated,

Marshall's common sense
dictated

That the best way
to win a war

Was to prevent it
from occurring.

What was needed in a ruined
and destitute europe

Was not a military response,
but a humanitarian one.

In that spirit

At harvard university's
graduation ceremony
in June 1947,

America's most
prestigious general

Invited european leaders
to submit a plan

For economic recovery.

Out of this was born
the famous marshall plan.

Our policy is directed not
against any country

Or doctrine,

But against hunger,
poverty,

Desperation and chaos.

Stone:
What the United States did
after the second world war

Was rare in imperial history.

It restored its old rivals
germany and japan

And made them
economically-powerful
satellites

Of the United States.

It is a difficult program.

And you know
far better than I do

The political difficulties
involved in this program.

But there's no doubt
whatever in my mind

That if we decide
to do this thing,

We can do it successfully.

Stone:
The U.S. Eventually
spent $13 billion

Between 1948 and '52,

With britain, France
and germany

Being the largest
recipients,

Adding greatly
to soviet fears

Of german power restored.

The soviets turned down
an offer to join the plan,

As it called for
too much american control

Over the soviet economy.

When czechoslovakia--
a freely-elected coalition
government headed,

Interestingly enough,
by a communist party--

Accepted marshall's offer
of aid,

That went too far
for the mistrustful stalin

Who demanded the czechs
reject the plan.

In February of '48

A stalinist regime was
imposed on czechoslovakia.

The U.S. And many liberals
in europe

Were shocked.

Famous actor james cagney

Voiced following explanation
of the western point of view.

James cagney:
Subversion is of course

An important technique
of communist conquest.

Czechoslovakia in 1948
is an established democracy
in eastern europe.

Suddenly a rash of strikes.

Conservative elements
resign from the capitol.

But jan masaryk,
son of the country's
greatest hero,

Will not go along and remains
in the foreign office.

Two weeks later his dead body
is discovered.

Whether he was murdered
or killed himself

Is not known to this day.

Stone:
Masaryk's manner of death--

Falling out
of his bathroom window--

Would come to particularly
haunt forrestal

And vindicated the darkest view
of soviet intentions.

Marshall, however,
had told a cabinet meeting

The previous November
that the soviets would soon

"clamp down"
on czechoslovakia

As a "purely defensive move."

But truman seized
on the outrage

To press the marshall plan
through congress,

As well as
a rearmament program

The pentagon had
long been pushing.

Truman:
The soviet union
and its agents

Have destroyed
the independence
and democratic character

Of a whole series of nations
in eastern and central europe.

It is this ruthless
course of action

And the clear design
to extend it to the remaining
free nations of europe

That have brought about
the critical situation
in europe today.

Stone:
The U.S. Also at this point

Made the fateful decision
to press

For an independent
west german state.

Truman described
the marshall plan

And the truman doctrine
as two halves of
the same walnut.

Although the plan fueled
european recovery,

Much of the aid was used
to purchase exports from U.S.
Multinational corporations.

Little aid was given
to rebuild

Europe's own indigenous
refining capacity,

Allowing the american
oil majors to dominate
the european market.

The plan was secretly
generous to the c.I.A.,

Which diverted large amounts
of marshall aid money

For covert operations.
In the summer of '48

Following
the czechoslovakian coup,

Truman approved
a dramatic escalation

Of global covert action
to include

Guerilla operations
in the soviet union

And eastern europe.

One project went
to creating a guerilla army

Codenamed "nightingale"
in ukraine,

Which had originally been
set up by the nazis in 1941,

Made up of ultranationalist
ukrainians.

These groups now wreaked havoc
in the famine-wracked region

Where soviet control
was loose,

Carrying out the murder
of thousands of jews,

Soviets and poles
who opposed

A separate
ukrainian state.

Beginning in 1949,

For five years
the c.I.A. Parachuted

Ukrainian infiltrators
back into the region.

To the soviet mind,

It was as if they had
infiltrated guerillas

Into the canadian
or mexican border areas
of the United States,

And signaled the lengths
to which the U.S.
Was willing to go

To dislodge soviet control

Of their own border areas
and sphere of interests.

The c.I.A. Was equally
active in germany,

Taking over
the gehlen organization
from the U.S. Army.

Gehlen, a former nazi
who'd run intelligence

In eastern europe
and the soviet union
for hitler,

Recruited a network of nazis
and war criminals

Drawn in part
from the gestapo and s.S.

And in the ensuing years,

It painted the worst-possible
picture of soviet actions.

A retired c.I.A. Official
acknowledged,

"he fed us
what we wanted to hear.

We used his stuff
constantly

And we fed it
to everyone else--

The pentagon,
the white house,
the newspapers.

They loved it too.

But it was hyped-up
russian bogeyman junk,

And it did a lot of damage
to this country."

When in June of 1948,

The U.S. Instituted
currency reform

In the three western sectors
of berlin--

Which was 100 miles
inside eastern germany--

In order to replace
the popular black-market
american cigarette,

The soviets saw this
as a major step

In establishing an independent
west german state,

As well as a betrayal
of the U.S. Promise

To provide reparations

From the inherently
more prosperous western zones.

The soviets cut off rail
and road access to berlin.

Stalin said
the western powers

Had forfeited
their right of access

Because they were shattering

The postwar framework
of a unified germany.

The western media decried
the savage cruelty

Of the soviets' berlin
blockade, trying to starve
civilians into submission.

But contrary to this
widely-held view,

The soviets,
for all their faults,

Guaranteed west berliners
access to food and coal

From the eastern zone.

U.S. Military intelligence
confirmed this.

What most people
do remember, however,

Is that over
the next 15 months

In a heroic defensive maneuver
against soviet aggression

The massive berlin airlift
organized by general
curtis lemay

Delivered food and fuel
to 2.2 million people

In a besieged city.

Truman, who was willing
to approve the use
of atomic weapons,

Wrote in September,
"we are very close to war."

France had little enthusiasm
for this U.S. Initiative,

Fearing a re-militarized
germany.

Nor did britain.
But the U.S. Gambled

That its atomic monopoly
would win out,

Rejecting soviet attempts
to compromise

Until it achieved
both a basic law

Outlining
a west german state

And the creation
in April of 1949

Of the north atlantic
treaty organization.

This, for the first time
in its history,

Committed the United States
to a peacetime

Military alliance
with western europe.

Its objectives won,
the U.S. Now agreed

To talks on the future
of germany,

And it was then that
the soviets lifted
the blockade.

Newsreel:
And the soviets gave up.

Their blockade was lifted.
The United States and britain

Had kept faith
with the people of berlin.

The lifeline of supply
remained open.

Stone:
Germany was now
officially divided.

And in return
for its foreign aid,

The U.S. Would, with nato,
militarize France,

England, Italy, germany

And later station nuclear
weapons on german soil.

In effect
the U.S. Was declaring

Western europe
the first line of defense

And potential launching pad
for world war iii.

As the 1948 election loomed,

And the republicans
were heavily favored,

Henry wallace declared himself

The progressive party's
candidate.

Wallace's voice:
The bigger the peace vote,

The more definitely
the world will know

That the United States is
not behind the bipartisan
reactionary war policy

Which is dividing the world
into two armed camps.

The people of the world
must see

That there is another america
than this truman-led,

Wall-street-dominated,
military-backed group

That is blackening
the name of democracy
all over the world.

Stone:
Truman's political people

Unleashed a vicious
red-baiting campaign

Using liberals
to accuse

The former vice-president
of being a tool of moscow.

Truman:
I do not want
and I will not accept

The political
support of henry wallace
and his communists.

( applause )

Stone:
Although wallace repeatedly
denied any involvement

With communism and warned
that charges of it

Were being used to undermine
american freedoms,

Mobs broke up his rallies,
universities denied him

The right to speak on campuses

And his supporters
were sometimes fired
from their jobs.

Glen, I think
the american people are
going to surprise us

Very very pleasantly
next fall.

- So do I.
- ( chuckles ) boy.

Stone:
Wallace's running mate,

Idaho senator glen taylor,

Was arrested
and beaten up by police
in birmingham, alabama,

For entering the gathering
of a southern negro
youth congress

Through a door
marked "colored."

Wallace wired taylor.

Wallace's voice:
This dramatizes the hypocrisy
of spending billions for arms

In the name of defending
freedom abroad,

While freedom is
trampled on here at home.

Stone:
The communist charges

And the dismissive
treatment of wallace

By the major newspapers
took its toll.

Wallace's campaign
was a disaster.

He came in fourth
behind a south carolina
segregationist.

But his progressive agenda
on domestic issues,

Especially civil rights,

Seems to have
influenced truman.

In the end there was
a surprising last-minute rush

To truman
by democratic voters

Now fearing
a republican victory.

And allowing truman to upset
heavily-favored thomas dewey.

Though it was one of the great
come-from-behind miracle tales

Of U.S. Politics,
harry truman, like churchill,

Would watch
his presidency crumble.

In the next four years,
he would see his
support plummet,

Leaving office with
historically low

George w. Bush-level
approval ratings.

In September 1949

Came the first
of three major events--

None of them unforeseen
by the laws of cause
and effect.

Truman shocked the nation.

Truman's voice:
We have evidence that
within recent weeks

An atomic explosion
occurred in the U.S.S.R.

Stone:
In 1948 oppenheimer had said,

"our atomic monopoly
is like

A cake of ice
melting in the sun."

As henry wallace
had warned in 1945,

Truman and his group were
terribly wrong to assume

The U.S. Would have
an ongoing monopoly
on the bomb.

Americans felt more
vulnerable than ever,

And the nuclear arms race
that wallace and the scientists
had so feared

Now escalated as the U.S.
Hastened development

Of a hydrogen bomb.

As 1949 ended,

The world's largest
and most populous nation,

China,
turned communist.

When mao zedong

Routed the corrupt nationalist
forces of jiang jieshi,

It was unquestionably
the most important revolution

Since russia's 1917
overthrow of the tsar.

"time" magazine warned
of the "red tide

That threatens
to engulf the world."

General douglas macarthur
wrote in "life" magazine,

"the fall of china imperils
the United States."

Acting outraged as if
the corrupt nationalists' loss

Had not been anticipated,

The conservative
china lobby in the U.S.

Found guilty not only
the soviet union, democrats,

State department china experts,

But also secretary
of state george marshall.

These would prove
to be false accusations.

In subordinating
world revolution

To their own immediate
security concerns,

The soviets had provided
minimal assistance

To the revolutionaries
and little encouragement.

Stalin did finally form
an alliance with mao
in February of 1950,

But urged the radicalized
chinese leader

To maintain cordial relations
with the U.S.

Both sides made exaggerated
claims against each other,

But china's commitment
to revolutionary change

And U.S. Refusal
to recognize the legitimacy

Of the new government with
a seat at the united nations

While recognizing
dictator-run countries,

Doomed any efforts
at peace.

In June of 1950,

North korea invaded
south korea,

And the cold war
now turned hot for real.

Both soviet-installed dictator
kim il-sung in the north

And U.S.-Backed dictator
syngman rhee in the south

Had been threatening
to unify the country by force.

Distressed by the U.S.'s
rebuilding of japan,

With whom the soviets
had fought two bloody wars,

Stalin gave kim
the green light to beat
the south to the punch.

Stalin told kim il sung
the war was a way

To get back
at the "arrogant behavior
of the United States in europe,

The balkans, the middle east,

And especially
its decision to form nato."

On the other hand,
knowing the industrial power
of the U.S.,

Stalin did not want
a wider war.

Importantly, the joint chiefs
and the state department

Had openly acknowledged korea
to be outside

The U.S. Defense perimeter
in east asia.

But with communist victory
in china

And revolutionary forces
threatening to overthrow

Western-backed regimes

In vietnam, malaya,
and the philippines,

Truman felt he had
to make a stand somewhere,

And korea was
the newly-appointed place.

Truman's voice:
If we let korea down,
the soviets will keep on going

And swallow up one piece
of asia after another.

If we were to let asia go,

The near east would collapse

And no telling what would
happen in europe.

Stone:
Despite deploying tens
of thousands of troops,

Truman refused to call
the intervention a war,

Labeling it instead
a "police action."

Although it was nominally
a united nations effort,

The U.S. Provided
half the ground forces

And almost all
of the naval and air power.

Most of the other ground forces
were south korean.

Truman opted as well to bypass
congressional authorization,

Setting the stage
for future interventions.

The war and its bloody,
indecisive, three-year course

Would cost truman dearly.

As for james forrestal,
though his views
had helped shape

The poisonous anti-soviet
climate in washington,

He'd been on the losing end
of several policy battles
with truman,

And was relieved of duty

With a ceremony
in March of '49.
He was "shattered."

When friend and future
c.I.A. Director john mccone
came to call,

Forrestal,
becoming increasingly paranoid,

Pulled down the shades
and sat away from the window

So as not to give
a sniper an easy target.

Who he was afraid of,
he never specified.

Rumors hit the press
and went worldwide

That forrestal was discovered
in the streets in his pajamas

Shouting,
"the russian are coming!"

They're here already!
You're next!

Stone:
The pentagon announced
forrestal had gone

For a routine check-up
at the bethesda naval hospital
in maryland.

He was diagnosed
with reactive depression.

Doctor! Will you tell
these fools I'm not crazy!

Make them listen to me
before it's too late!

Listen to me.
Please listen.

If you don't,
if you won't,

If you fail to understand,
then the same incredible terror

That is menacing me
will strike at you!

Stone:
Alone in his room
on the 16th floor,

He suffered constant
nightmares of persecution.

He thought he would suffer
the same fate

As czechoslovakian
foreign minister jan masaryk--

To be pushed out
of a window.

But his condition
began to improve

And on the night
of may 22, 1949,

He stayed up late copying
sophocles' "the chorus"
from "ajax,"

Where the hero ponders
his fate far from home.

At the word "nightingale,"
he put his pen down.

16 floors up, he jumped.

Philosopher and newspaper
columnist walter lippmann

Wrote of forrestal:

"he was like a doctor
who studies a disease

And then contracts it himself."

Behind him,
forrestal left a newborn
pentagon establishment,

Which, faced with
those struggling for
a different world,

Saw only
communist conspiracies.

There is still today
a fundamental misunderstanding

That the United States
entered the cold war

In response
to soviet aggression worldwide.

There is no doubt
the soviet leadership
imposed repressive

And, when challenged,
brutal dictatorships

On poland, hungary,
romania, bulgaria,

East germany, albania
and czechoslovakia.

But it is equally clear
that the soviets were
initially willing

To accept governments friendly
to them in these countries,

Until the west began
to make threatening moves

Both on their ideology
and their security.

During this postwar period,
it was the United States

With its atomic monopoly,
not the soviet union,

Which bears the lion's share
of responsibility

For starting the cold war.

The pacifist a.J. Muste
wrote in 1941,

"the problem after a war
is with the victor.

He thinks that
he has just proven
that war and violence pay.

Who will now
teach him a lesson?"

Beginning with truman's
first day in office,

His receptiveness to the views
of hard-line anti-communists,

His denial of roosevelt's
understanding with stalin,

The provocative
and unnecessary dropping
of the atomic bombs,

His spreading a network
of military bases
around the world,

Churchill's speech
at fulton,

Truman's call
for fighting communism
in greece,

The division
and remilitarization
of germany,

The continued testing
of bigger and bigger atomic
and hydrogen bombs

Which he used to threaten
the soviet union,

Truman's deliberate
exaggerations of the
communist threat

Both overseas and at home,

And his persecution
and silencing

Of those who challenged
these distortions--

In all of these matters,
with few exceptions,

The United States,
after successfully
liberating western europe,

Was now signaling fear
and aggression.

Why this fear?

It has been said,
that as americans we are

An immigrant people
to a new country,

People who
in one way or another

Have escaped persecution
and poverty and fear,

And though separated
by two enormous oceans,

Are still subject
to that incessant fear--

Even our sons
and grandsons.

North americans have been
taught and enamored

Of the myth
of starting over with
a new purity in a new land--

The myth of american
exceptionalism

In a new jerusalem,
a city on the hill.

Is it necessary then
to exaggerate the fear

Of persecution from abroad,

From the corrupt foreigner
who would always represent
the old and evil ways?

Man over radio:
Hordes of grasping,
pushing foreigners

Who are stealing jobs
from american workmen

And bread
from american homes.

It is to combat this peril

That we, the challengers,
have raised our rallying cry

"america for americans!"

Are you willing
to protect your job?

- Well, you bet, sir.
- I'm glad to hear that.

Because we got
a pretty bad problem
here in this state--

It's full of foreigners,
all trying to chisel jobs

Out of americans
like you and me.

Well, I certainly
am obliged to you
for telling me, mr. Taylor.

The first one of them
foreigners that comes
messing around my job

Is gonna find himself
in a heap of trouble.

Oh, it ain't gonna
be one, metcalf.

You gotta fight
all of them.

You see, they stick together,
these foreigners.

And they'll knife you
in the back before you even
know who they are.

An american alone
ain't got a chance.

Stone:
In the early 21st century,

There would be
almost 300 million guns
in american homes.

We are the most heavily armed
nation in the world.

But when any nation goes

To an extreme degree
to protect itself,

It's inevitable that
that protection

Will never seem,

Psychologically,
to be enough.

It is also often true

That the image of the enemy

Will grow proportionate
to the size of the defense,

Resulting in
an overreaction and accelerated
spending of energies

In a futile attempt
to liquidate that fear

Which never seems to erode.

Fear and uncertainty are
two inescapable elements

In all human life
since the beginning of time.

They are to be accepted
as one accepts birth and death.

It was alexander the great
who reportedly addressed
the notion that

"if you can conquer your fear,
you can conquer death,"

And in co-enduring with

And containing
our fear and uncertainty,

We become
naturally stronger.

The irony of life--
personal and public--

Is that often
with the changing of time,

The object of fear,
the enemy, becomes,

To the surprise
of former enemies,

A friend,
often a best friend
or ally.

Clearly in hindsight,
U.S. Leaders had exaggerated

The threat from an enemy
they felt they needed,

Wanting to frame the world
as an existential clash

Between two antagonistic
social systems.

Henry wallace,
who warned that the source

Of all of our mistakes
is fear,

Had said it could be
a healthy competition
between those systems.

But the hardliners
of american society

Felt that this was impossible,

And henry wallace was
dismissed as naive.

James forrestal,
one of those hardliners,

The first secretary of defense,

Thus ended his life
in a violent fashion

That would become
a strange omen

For an american foreign policy

That was increasingly terrified
of its own shadow.

50 years into this century,

Halfway from 1900 to 2000,

The United States had
forged the foundation
of a new mindset.

It had developed
into a full-fledged

If unique kind of empire,

Economically supreme
and massively armed,

Policing the world
while professing liberty
and democracy.

For a policeman,
it's necessary to locate

And arrest enemies
of its social system.

Thus the story of the next
60 years of american history

Will resemble a pattern
that has already occurred,

In the shape of increasing
covert activities

Unknown to the people
of the empire,

More and more regional wars,

And a form of control
that is imposed over
and over again.

George h.W. Bush:
If history teaches us anything,

It is that
we must resist aggression

Or it will destroy
our freedoms.

Announcer:
You are in the crosshairs
of the bomb sights

An enemy is
centering on you.

You are a citizen
of the free world,

A citizen
of the United States
of america.

You are the target.

( dramatic music playing )