Cam & Ray's Cold War Podcast

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#94 – Marshall Plan I Sep 28, 2018

Show notes

* One of the greatest pieces of mythology to ever be produced in America is the “Marshall Plan”.* It’s right up there with the idea of glorifying the “Founding Fathers”, who were actually just tax dodgers who orchestrated a bloody coup.* It’s also of course one of America’s greatest pieces of foreign policy.* The Marshall […]

#93 – The X Article Sep 14, 2018

Show notes

* The X Article.* George Kennan, the Soviet expert who wrote the Long Telegram, wrote another piece, but this time published publicly and anonymously, in July 1947, just after Truman’s “Truman Doctrine” speech.* The actual title of the article was “The Sources of Soviet Conduct”.* It was published in Foreign Affairs magazine.* He used the […]

#92 – The Truman Doctrine Sep 06, 2018

Show notes

* And so on March 12, 1947, before a joint session of Congress, President Truman articulated, for the first time, a comprehensive American foreign policy for the postwar world.* He did not mention the Soviet Union by name, or refer to the need to contain its power in Europe, though he did place American freedom […]

#91 – The Baruch Plan Sep 03, 2018

Show notes

* So here we are in 1946.* The Truman administration has decided on a “containment” policy.* But who is going to contain the containers?* According to the Novikov telegram, the Soviets felt like they had to contain the US.* And the U.S. felt like they had to contain the Soviets.* So the Americans were trying […]

#90 – The Novikov Telegram. Aug 17, 2018

Show notes

* The last, and certainly most conspicuous, of the four events that transformed the political culture of Washington in 1946 was a speech given in early March by Winston Churchill at Westminster College in Truman’s home state of Missouri.* Like Stalin’s speech of four weeks earlier, it was prepared for public consumption.* Truman had read […]

#89 – The “Long Telegram” Aug 07, 2018

Show notes

* Stalin’s speech in February 1946 wasn’t a declaration of war.* It wasn’t anything that couldn’t have been said in the past.* He issued no direct threats toward the United States, and emphasized above all else the security of the Soviet state and the communist experiment.* Rather, Stalin showed, if his previous words and actions […]

#88 – Mine All Mine Jul 29, 2018

Show notes

* In October 1945, Navy Day 1945 in New York City, at the Commissioning of the aircraft carrier USS Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry Truman gave a speech.* Here’s a clip.* https://youtu.be/BjUz4BPWwbc?t=2m21s* FAKE TRUMAN ACCENT: “We don’t seek any more land – because we already took as much as we could from the Native Americans, and […]

#87 – The Aftermath Part 2 Jul 06, 2018

Show notes

* The military had long declared that radiation dissipated quickly in the atomic cities and posed little threat to the soldiers.* A 1980 Defense Nuclear Agency report concluded, “Medical science believes multiple myeloma has a borderline relationship with exposure to ionizing radiation. That is, there are some indications that exposure to radiation may increase the […]

#86 – The Aftermath Part 1 Jun 29, 2018

Show notes

* TRUMAN ANNOUNCES THE BOMB https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FN_UJJ9ObDs* On August 6, 1945, the United States dropped an atomic bomb over the center of Hiroshima, killing at least 70,000 civilians instantly and perhaps 50,000 more in the days and months to follow.* Three days later, it exploded another atomic bomb over Nagasaki, slightly off target, killing 40,000 immediately […]

#85 – The Decision Part 3 Jun 22, 2018

Show notes

* Truman met often with Byrnes in the first few months of his Presidency.* But there are almost no records or notes of what they discussed.* And that was apparently Byrnes’ preference.* He was known as being paranoid about leaks.* a very devious politician* Truman referred to him as his “conniving” secretary of state* Historian […]

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