Speech Delivered at a Meeting of Voters of the Stalin Electoral District, Moscow, 1946

Stalin gave his “election” speech on February 9, 1946 and spoke about coming out victorious in the second world war due to their strength militarily and economically. He mentioned how World War II happened as a result of capitalism and declared that there would be another war because of capitalism. Certain people in the United States saw these statements as an aggressive intention to declare war. This speech relates to my project because it is at the beginning of the cold war and it shows Stalin throwing indirect jabs at the United States. The difference in political ideologies lead to conflict and the Cold War. This speech shows how tense the relationship between Soviet Union and the United States was after WWII. I got this source from a university archive of primary sources.

Kennan, George. “The Charge in the Soviet Union (Kennan) to the Secretary of State.” George Kennan’s “Long Telegram”. February 22, 1946. Accessed April 26, 2019. https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu//coldwar/documents/episode-1/kennan.htm.

George Kennan’s “Long Telegram”, 1946

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

American diplomat George Kennan put forward the notion that the Soviets were looking to expand and that they feared and were suspicious of the west. Kennan said that since the USSR was determined to spread communism, there could not be a peaceful co-existence between the Unites States and the Soviet Union. Kennan also suggested that the only way to stop the Soviet Union from spreading communism is to develop the ideology of containment. He thinks that the United States are much stronger than the Soviet Union, so he believes that communism can be contained from expansion. This source relates to the theme of my project because it shows the tension and fear that both countries had on each other. I got this source from a university website that has an archive on primary sources.

Winston Churchill “Iron Curtain” Speech, 1946

Winston Churchill who had been United Kingdom’s prime minister during WWII, gave a speech in Missouri on March 5, 1946. During his speech he condemned Soviet Union’s policies and aimed to have a closer relationship to the United States. He states that the United States stood at “the pinnacle of world power”. This speech provides information needed for my project because it shows the formation of allies that the United States and the Soviet Union were forming against each other. I took this speech from a university website that archives historical content.

The Cuban Missile Crisis Audio Recrodings,1962

During the Cuban Missile Crisis, leaders of the U.S. and the Soviet Union engaged in a tense, 13-day political and military standoff in October 1962 over the installation of nuclear-armed Soviet missiles on Cuba, just 90 miles from U.S. shores. In a TV address on October 22, 1962, President John Kennedy (1917-63) notified Americans about the presence of the missiles, explained his decision to enact a naval blockade around Cuba and made it clear the U.S. was prepared to use military force if necessary to neutralize this perceived threat to national security. Following this news, many people feared the world was on the brink of nuclear war. However, disaster was avoided when the U.S. agreed to Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev’s (1894-1971) offer to remove the Cuban missiles in exchange for the U.S. promising not to invade Cuba. This audio recording shows how tense and frantic these moments were. This is the point where the tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union were the highest. In this particular audio recording, the president is being told about possible existence of missiles in Cuba. The president then asks several questions about the images. With some concern, the president then asks when the missiles will be ready to fire.  Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara then joins the discussion, he states that the missiles are not ready to fire since there is no indication that nuclear warheads are present.