Question

Did we “win” the Cold War? Communism in Russia is now dead and hated and yet many Americans think of Russians as enemies. Where do you see our relationship with this country in the future?

Answer 1

I think we won the cold war.

Historians have argued long about when the "Cold War" between the United States and the Soviet Union began. Some cite Churchill's "Iron Curtain" speech at Fulton, Missouri in March 1946. Others cite the decision by the United States to offer "mutual assistance" to Greece and Turkey in 1947 to combat Communist guerrilla forces, while others would state it was the recognition by US policy officials that Communist stated goals had not changed since 1918, only their tactics. Regardless of exactly when the "Cold War" began, in about 1947 the US policy with regards to the Soviet Union changed from cooperation or, at least, attempting to get along with Soviet Communism, to a policy of "containment."

Charles E. Bohlen, who served as translator/interpreter at Teheran, Yalta, and Potsdam and later as US Ambassador to the Soviet Union, has had rare insight into Soviet-American relations. He traces some of the first US misgivings concerning Soviet post-war goals to Yalta and the Soviet handling of the Polish question, followed by the failure of the Soviets to live up to the Declaration of Liberated Europe whereby they systematically installed Communist regimes in the eastern European countries. This was followed by the failure of the Soviets to withdraw their forces from Iran in 1945.

In 1941, the British and the Soviets had jointly occupied Iran to prevent possible enemy occupation. The agreement with the Iranian government provided for withdrawal of these troops within six months after hostilities ended. The British withdrew as provided, but the Soviets continued to occupy the northern half of Iran well into 1946 and only yielded after the US brought the issue before the UN Security Council.

This was followed by Communist attempts, supported by the Soviet Union, to take over Greece and Turkey. Great Britain, which had been supporting these two governments, came to the United States in February 1947 and stated they could no longer afford to support this effort. This came as a shock to US foreign policy makers, who, until then, had not realized the extent of Great Britain's decline as a Great Power. Truman, supported by a bipartisan Congress, took up the challenge. Bohlen maintains: "It was in the face of such realization that the United States, in the person of President Truman, made probably the biggest decision for the future of American policy."⁽⁴²⁾