THE MAKING OF A NATION 207 - Cold War

THE MAKING OF A NATION - August 22, 2002: Cold War

By Jeri Watson

VOICE 1:
This is Doug Johnson.
VOICE 2:
And this is Phil Murray with THE MAKING OF A NATION, a VOA Special English program about the history

of the United States.
(Theme)
Today, we tell about the period known as the cold war.
VOICE 1:
The cold war began after World War Two. The main enemies were the United States and the Soviet¹ Union.
The cold war got its name because both sides were afraid of fighting each other directly. In such a "hot war,
"

nuclear weapons might destroy everything. So, instead, they fought each other indirectly². They supported
conflicts in different parts of the world. They also used words as weapons. They threatened and denounced each
other. Or they tried to Make each other look foolish.

VOICE 2:

Over the years, leaders on both sides changed. Yet the cold war continued. It was the
major force in world politics for most of the second half of the twentieth century.

Historians disagree about how long the cold war lasted. Some believe it ended when the
United States and the Soviet Union improved relations during the nineteen-sixties and
early nineteen-seventies. Others believe it ended when the Berlin Wall was torn down in
nineteen-eighty-nine.

VOICE 1:

The cold war world was separated into three groups. The United States led the West. This group included
countries with democratic political systems. The Soviet Union led the East. This group included countries with
communist political systems. The Non -Aligned group included countries that did not want to be tied to either the
West or the East.

VOICE 2:

Harry³ Truman was the first American president to fight the cold war. He used several policies. One was the
Truman Doctrine⁴. This was a plan to give money and military aid to countries threatened by communism. The
Truman Doctrine effectively stopped communists from taking control of Greece and Turkey.

Another policy was the Marshall Plan. This strengthened the economies and governments of countries in western
Europe.

VOICE 1:

A major event in the cold war was the Berlin Airlift. In June nineteen-forty-eight, the Soviets⁵ blocked all ways
into the western part of Berlin, Germany. President Truman quickly ordered military planes to fly coal, food, and
medicine to the city.


The planes kept coming, sometimes landing every few minutes, for more than a year. The United States received
help from Britain and France. Together, they provided almost two and one-half million tons of supplies on about
two-hundred-eighty thousand flights.

VOICE 2:

The United States also led the formation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in nineteen -forty-nine. NATO
was a joint⁶ military group. Its purpose was to defend against Soviet forces in Europe. The first members of
NATO were Belgium, Britain, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal,
and the United States.

The Soviet Union and its east European allies formed their own joint military group -- the Warsaw Pact⁷ -- six
years later.

VOICE 1:

In nineteen -fifty-three, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin died. His death gave the new American president, Dwight
Eisenhower, a chance to deal with new Soviet leaders.

In July, nineteen-fifty-five, Eisenhower and Nikolai Bulganin met in Geneva, Switzerland. The leaders of Britain
and France also attended.

Eisenhower proposed that the Americans and Soviets agree to let their military bases be inspected by air by the
other side. The Soviets later rejected the proposal. Yet the meeting in Geneva was not considered a failure. After
all, the leaders of the world's most powerful nations had shaken hands.

VOICE 2:

Cold war tensions increased, then eased, then increased again over the years. The changes came as both sides
actively⁸ tried to influence political and economic developments around the world.

For example, the Soviet Union provided military, economic, and technical aid to communist governments in
Asia. The United States then helped eight Asian nations fight communism by establishing the Southeast Asia
Treaty Organization.

In the middle nineteen -fifties, the United States began sending military advisers⁹ to help south Vietnam defend
itself against communist North Vietnam. That aid would later expand into a long and bloody¹⁰ period of American
involvement in Vietnam.

VOICE 1:

The cold war also affected¹¹ the Middle East. In the nineteen-fifties, both East and West offered aid to Egypt to
build the Aswan High Dam on the Nile River. The west cancelled its offer, however, after Egypt bought weapons
from the communist government of Czechoslovakia.

Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser then seized control of the company that operated the Suez Canal. A few
months later, Israel invaded Egypt. France and Britain joined the invasion.

VOICE 2:

For once, the United States and the Soviet Union agreed on a major issue. Both supported a United Nations
resolution demanding an immediate¹² ceasefire.

The Suez crisis was a political victory for the Soviets. When the Soviet Union supported Egypt, it gained new
friends in the Arab world.

VOICE 1:

In nineteen -fifty-nine, cold war tensions eased a little. The new Soviet leader, Nikita Khruschchev, visited


Dwight Eisenhower at his holiday home near Washington. The meeting was very friendly. But the next year,
relations got worse again.

An American military plane was shot down over the Soviet Union. Eisenhower admitted that such planes had
been spying on the Soviets for four years. In a speech at the United Nations, Khruschchev got so angry that he
took off his shoe and beat it on a table.

VOICE 2:

John Kennedy followed Eisenhower as president in nineteen-sixty-one. During his early days in office, Cuban
exiles invaded Cuba. They wanted to oust¹³ the communist government of Fidel Castro. The exiles had been
trained by America's Central Intelligence Agency. The United States failed to send military planes to protect
them during the invasion. As a result, almost all were killed or taken prisoner.

In Europe, tens of thousands of East Germans had fled to the West. East Germany's communist government
decided¹⁴ to stop them. It built a wall separating the eastern and western parts of the city of Berlin. Guards shot at
anyone who tried to flee by climbing over.

VOICE 1:

During Kennedy's second year in office, American intelligence reports discovered Soviet missiles in Cuba. The
Soviet Union denied they were there. American photographs proved they were.

The Cuban missile crisis easily could have resulted in a nuclear war. But it ended after a week. Khruschchev
agreed to remove the missiles if the United States agreed not to interfere¹⁵ in Cuba.

VOICE 2:

Some progress was made in easing cold war tensions when Kennedy was president. In nineteen-sixty-three, the
two sides reached a major arms control agreement. They agreed to ban tests of nuclear weapons above ground,
under water, and in space. They also established a direct telephone line between the White House and the
Kremlin.

Relations between East and West also improved when Richard Nixon was president. He and Leonid Brezhnev
met several times. They reached several arms control agreements. One reduced the number of missiles used to
shoot down enemy nuclear weapons. It also banned the testing and deployment¹⁶ of long -distance missiles for five
years.

VOICE 1:

A major change in the cold war took place in nineteen-eighty-five. That is when Mikhail Gorbachev became
leader of the Soviet Union. Gorbachev held four meetings with President Ronald Reagan. He withdrew Soviet
forces from Afghanistan. And he signed an agreement with the United States to destroy all middle -distance and
short -distance nuclear missiles.

VOICE 2:

By nineteen-eighty-nine, there was widespread unrest in eastern Europe. Gorbachev did not intervene as these
countries cut their ties with the Soviet Union.

The Berlin Wall, the major symbol of communist oppression, was torn down in November. In less than a year,
East and West Germany became one nation again. A few months after that, the Warsaw Pact was dissolved. The
cold war was over.

(Theme)

VOICE 1:

This program of THE MAKING OF A NATION was written by Jeri Watson and produced by Paul Thompson.
This is Doug Johnson.


VOICE 2:

And this is Phil Murray. Join us again next week for another VOA Special English program about the history of
the United States.

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1 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。

2 indirectly   

adv.间接地，不直接了当地

参考例句：

• I heard the news indirectly.这消息我是间接听来的。
• They were approached indirectly through an intermediary.通过一位中间人，他们进行了间接接触。

3 harry   

vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼

参考例句：

• Today,people feel more hurried and harried.今天，人们感到更加忙碌和苦恼。
• Obama harried business by Healthcare Reform plan.奥巴马用医改掠夺了商界。

4 doctrine   

n.教义；主义；学说

参考例句：

• He was impelled to proclaim his doctrine.他不得不宣扬他的教义。
• The council met to consider changes to doctrine.宗教议会开会考虑更改教义。

5 soviets   

苏维埃（Soviet的复数形式）

参考例句：

• A public challenge could provoke the Soviets to dig in. 公开挑战会促使苏联人一意孤行。
• The Soviets proposed the withdrawal of American ballistic-missile submarines from forward bases. 苏联人建议把美国的弹道导弹潜艇从前沿基地撤走。

6 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

7 pact   

n.合同，条约，公约，协定

参考例句：

• The two opposition parties made an electoral pact.那两个反对党订了一个有关选举的协定。
• The trade pact between those two countries came to an end.那两国的通商协定宣告结束。

8 actively   

adv.积极地，勤奋地

参考例句：

• During this period all the students were actively participating.在这节课中所有的学生都积极参加。
• We are actively intervening to settle a quarrel.我们正在积极调解争执。

9 advisers   

顾问，劝告者( adviser的名词复数 )； （指导大学新生学科问题等的）指导教授

参考例句：

• a member of the President's favoured circle of advisers 总统宠爱的顾问班子中的一员
• She withdrew to confer with her advisers before announcing a decision. 她先去请教顾问然后再宣布决定。

10 bloody   

adj.非常的的；流血的；残忍的；adv.很；vt.血染

参考例句：

• He got a bloody nose in the fight.他在打斗中被打得鼻子流血。
• He is a bloody fool.他是一个十足的笨蛋。

11 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

12 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

13 oust   

vt.剥夺，取代，驱逐

参考例句：

• The committee wanted to oust him from the union.委员会想把他从工会中驱逐出去。
• The leaders have been ousted from power by nationalists.这些领导人被民族主义者赶下了台。

14 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

15 interfere   

v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰

参考例句：

• If we interfere, it may do more harm than good.如果我们干预的话，可能弊多利少。
• When others interfere in the affair,it always makes troubles. 别人一卷入这一事件，棘手的事情就来了。

16 deployment   

n. 部署,展开

参考例句：

• He has inquired out the deployment of the enemy troops. 他已查出敌军的兵力部署情况。
• Quality function deployment (QFD) is a widely used customer-driven quality, design and manufacturing management tool. 质量功能展开(quality function deployment,QFD)是一个广泛应用的顾客需求驱动的设计、制造和质量管理工具。