10: COLD WAR: TRUMAN, EISENHOWER, KENNEDY, LBJ, NIXON. The issue of the shape of the postwar world began to overshadow questions of wartime contribution. From the moment that the allies began to push, the Nazi’s began to be pushed back. On paper the allies promised to consult with each other and establish governments in liberated areas that represented the popular will. In reality, however, liberating armies established peace terms unilaterally and without consultation. In Italy, the United States negotiated with the fascist government and established peace terms with Britain and, in effect, squeezed Russia out. Russia, of course, did the same. As 1944 drew to a close, the central conflict between the allies laid over the future of the rest of Eastern Europe. The problem was that Russia had now been attacked from the East twice in one generation, and they were determined not to let this happen again. Therefore, they were determined to dominate the new governments in these areas. Russia wanted a sphere of influence not unlike what we had in Latin America. The United States and Britain in particular wanted western style governments in these regions, especially in Poland; after all, it was Hitler’s invasion of Poland that had sparked the original British and French entry into the war. At the Yalta Conference in February 1945, Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin were able to sit down and deal with these conflicts. FDR was a realist, and he accepted Russian annexation of a section of Poland and worked for compromises. Russia agreed to concrete plans to help us defeat Japan. Russia also agreed to recognize Chiang Kai-shek in China and to come to San Francisco to form the United Nations. FDR held hope that an accord with Russia could be worked out. There was a chance for constructive postwar partnership based on realistic compromises if both sides recognized each other’s geopolitical concerns. FDR recognized the legitimacy of Russia’s concern for security and insistence on a sphere of influence in Eastern Europe, even as he detested the totalitarian nature of the Soviet system.1
