Cold War

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Cold War

The Cold War (1945-1990) was the era of conflict, tension, and competition between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies. There was never a direct military engagement between the U.S. and the USSR, but there was an enormous expansion of military hardware and infrastructure, as well as political battles for support around the world, including significant involvement of allied and satellite nations in proxy wars.

updated 2010-07-17 01:56:31

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Harry Truman

Truman, facing pressure at home from Zionists and Jewish leaders, was integral in the formation of a Jewish state in Israel. (Urban Jewish voters were an important and influential group of supporters for Truman). Truman had recommended that 250,000 Holocaust refugees be located to Israel, against the wishes of his Secretary of State, George Marshall. Truman officially recognized the State of Israel on May 14, 1948.

updated 2010-07-17 07:16:30

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Whittaker Chambers

Growing up in Long Island, Whittaker Chambers attended Columbia University. His mentor was English professor Mark Van Doren. Classmates included Meyer Schapiro, Lionel Trilling, Herbert Solow, Clifton Fadiman, and Louis Zukofsky. Before the university president could expel him, Chambers left for a year after publishing a blasphemous play in The Morningside literary magazine which he was editing (now Columbia Review). He returned to college studies after a trip to Europe in 1923, shocked by the post-WWI misery he saw.

Chambers joined the American Workers Party (aka the Communist Party of the USA) in 1925 while studying at Columbia University. After writing for The Daily Worker newspaper and becoming an editor (1931) of The New Masses magazine, the GRU recruited him into the Soviet underground (1932).

By the mid-1930s, Chambers had taken over one Federal espionage apparatus in Washington, DC, and begun a second. The Spanish Civil War and Great Purge helped lead Chambers to defect (1938). He hid with his family for many months. He shared his story with FDR Brain Trust member Adolph Berle, who disregarded the matter.

By 1939, Chambers resurfaced with a job at TIME magazine. There, he rose to become senior editor and special projects editor. He wrote numerous cover stories and essay. By 1947-1948, he was rising to the top of his career. The FBI occasionally interviewed him during the 1940s, but by then Chambers no longer wished to seek government intervention.

Following the Hollywood trials (1947), the House on Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) subpoenaed ...

updated 2010-07-18 02:31:09

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