Podcast: The Cold War
Introduction: In this podcast, brought to you buy a Title II D grant Voices in History and the Queens office of Technology, you will hear conversations between world leaders that were instrumental in shaping the Cold War. You will hear two separate conversations, one between communist world leaders and one between leaders of democratic western nations. The statements made reflect ideas and events that shaped the cold war.
Narrator: From the smoke filled cabinet war rooms in London in the fall of 1945 voices could be heard discussing the balance of world power.
Pres. Harry Truman: Well General Marshall, Prime Minister Churchill, a dangerous hour is upon us. The dividing lines are clear. This war has reshaped the world. We must stop the spread of communism in Western Europe and around the world. How will we make the world safe for democracy?
General Marshall: President Truman I believe we must help to rebuild Europe if we are to keep communists out of power. I want to start a program of relief to give money and food to the nations of Western Europe. We must rebuild the cities and put the jobless and the veterans to work. This is my plan. What do you suggest Prime Minister Churchill?
Prime Minister Churchill: We must make the dividing lines clear to the Soviets and the rest of the world that we intend to keep communism out of Western Europe. I intend to make this point in a speech to be broadcast around the world. I will state clearly that from Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in in the Adriatic, an Iron curtain has descended across the continent.
Pres. Truman: I agree Prime Minister we must make it clear we will use every resource we have to stop the spread of communism. As President I will make this the official foreign policy of the United States. We will give aid to all nations seeking to build democratic governments. We will also give aid to national movements that seek to prevent communist takeovers. The containment of communism will be our first priority. In order to this we must build an alliance of the free democratic nations of the North Atlantic. Together we will stop this great evil.
Narrator: Across the continent in Moscow several voices could be heard discussing the new balance of world power from a secret heavily guarded room deep in the Kremlin. The voices represent very different goals from the western democracies.
Josef Stalin: Well Comrade Mao, Comrade Ho Chi Min we are at a critical moment. The vicious imperialists of the west are meeting right now to plot the downfall of the Soviet Union. I look to you the oppressed and the colonized to join me in the fight to protect the workers of the world. You must build a dictatorship of the proletariat in your own nations.
Mao Zedong: I assure the communist party of China is committed to such goals. With the help of China’s millions of peasants we have driven the capitalists from our land. Now we want to create a new nation with out classes to serve as an example to the world of the justice of communism. We need your help comrade Stalin. We need economic aid and technical expertise.
Ho Chi Minh: The people of Vietnam have been held down by the French for too long. We want to drive them from our land and European domination of southeast Asia. We are committed to fihting but we need help. We need weapons and we need military advisers. The National Liberation Front is committed to these goals. Can you help us Comrade Stalin?
Stalin: Very well you both have what you need. Together we will carry on the global struggle against capitalist exploitation. I will help these efforts by building a new alliance of communist nations and I will strengthen the borders of the Soviet Union by creating a buffer zone of satellite nations. But Comrades our survival in this new world depends on one great question. Can we, the Soviets build our own bomb? We can and we must.