The Cold War

Find old cold war articles here. We have free newspaper articles from the 1950s cold war check them out today!

Should Truman Have Fired MacArthur?
(Pathfinder Magazine, 1951)

Had the five-star general, brilliant military servant of his country for 50 years, been a sincere, farsighted prophet advocating the only course which could halt Communist Imperialism and save the free world? Or had he been an egotistical, arbitrary, insubordinate soldier, deliberately undercutting his Commander-in-Chief in pursuit of a policy to which no United States or United Nations official would give endorsement?


The author lists numerous instances indicating that the General had been insubordinate.

Stalin Dies and Power Changes Hands
(Quick Magazine, 1953)

Stalin’s death on March 5, 1953 generated a tremendous amount of uncertainty in the West, and a good deal of it is reflected in the attached column. A list of possible successors was provided; two of the names played an immediate roll in the governance of the Soviet Union: Georgy Malenkov (1902 – 1988) – who ruled for three days, until he was replaced by Nikolai Bulganin (1895 – 1975). Bulganin ran the shop until he, too, was replaced by Stalin’s right-hand man: Nikita Khrushchev
(1894 – 1971) – who was known in some corners as the hangman of the Ukraine.


Read about the Soviet Congress

‘The Hell Bomb”
(Pathfinder Magazine, 1950)

This article from February, 1950 goes on in some detail explaining why Americans should not be worried in the least about the fact that the Soviets now have atomic capability because the U.S. military has bigger and far more destructive bombs.

A hydrogen bomb could cause damage almost without limit. The Nagasaki plutonium bomb affected an area of 10 square miles. The new weapon could destroy an area of 100, or 1,000 square miles.

Advertisement

Use shortcode [oma_ad position="summary_top"] (or other position) in your theme or widgets to display OMA Promotions here.

In Search of a Truce
(Quick Magazine, 1953)

During the final months of the Korean war, when it seemed that both sides were willing to make an arrangement that would bring the hostilities to an agreed upon end, the Chinese diplomats upped the ante

… the Red regime in Peiping [Beijing] wanted a Great Power conference on Korea’s future as a preface to new truce talks… Zhou Enlai, premier in Mao Tse Tung’s government, has secretly proposed tossing all disputes – the prisoner exchange issue as well as the political future of Korea – into a conference of 11 nations.


Watch an informative Christian documentary on Korea in 1953 (- its in color).

Early Cold War Events: 1948 – 1956

Attached herein is an essay written during the mid-Fifties that briefly summarizes the primary global events spanning the end of World War II through 1955 which set the stage for that period in Twentieth Century history called the Cold War: the global containment of Soviet expansion.


Click here to read about espionage during the Cold War.

Comrade Spy
(Pathfinder Magazine, 1947)

Fingered as the premier Soviet agent working in the United States by a former communist and editor of THE DAILY WORKER and PEOPLE’S WORLD, Gerhart Eisler (1897 – 1968) – was arrested in the Fall of 1947 and charged with espionage.


Standing before the House Committee on Un-American Activities, Eisler refused to take the oath, preferring instead to read a prepared statement. The committee refused to play along and the Justice Department soon leveled Eisler with additional charges. By 1949 things were looking dark for Eisler; jumping bail he made good his escape and secured passage across the Atlantic. Welcomed in East Germany as a hero, Eisler was soon named director of East German radio and became a prominent voice for the Communist government.

Advertisement

Use shortcode [oma_ad position="summary_top"] (or other position) in your theme or widgets to display OMA Promotions here.

Berlin Becomes the Center of Global Espionage
(See Magazine, 1948)

ESPIONAGE is big business in Berlin and has it’s painstaking, pecuniary bureaucracy. It is practiced by small fry (who is willing to procure for you anything from the latest deployment plan of the Red Army to a lock of Hitler’s hair) and by big-time operators who deal nonchalantly and lucratively in international secrets.

Advertisement

Use shortcode [oma_ad position="summary_top"] (or other position) in your theme or widgets to display OMA Promotions here.

Fingers Crossed for a Lasting Peace
(Weekly News Review, 1953)

Fighting in Korea ended under a truce effective July 27. It is a well known fact, though, that the truce is no guarantee that fighting won’t start again. The UN wants to work out an agreement with the Reds that will mean no more war for Korea.


– and work it out they did; the truce has held for some sixty-five years. This article concerns all the various minutia both sides had to agree to in order to reach the agreement.

The Importance of Winning
(Quick Magazine, 1950)

Policy makers in Washington were divided into two groups during the early Cold War days: one held that Communist expansion was most dangerous in Asia while the other believed that Europe was the spot most deserving of attention. This short editorial by John Gunther (1901 – 1970) argued that Asia was the vulnerable zone and if Korea was lost to the Reds – the whole world would follow.

A Warning to the West
(Pathfinder Magazine, 1948)

This is a 1948 Soviet poster that foreign correspondents of the day reported as having been widely distributed across the Worker’s Paradise. A veiled piece of patriotic pageantry, it was clearly intended to intimidate the Western democracies; it made its appearance a few weeks into the Berlin Blockade (June, 1948 – May, 1949) – an international stunt that gained the Soviets nothing.

From Amazon:
Iconography of Power: Soviet Political Posters Under Lenin and Stalinstyle=border:none

Advertisement

Use shortcode [oma_ad position="summary_top"] (or other position) in your theme or widgets to display OMA Promotions here.

Why America Could Win A War Against Russia
(Pathfinder Magazine, 1951)

When this article first went to print, American forces had been slugging it out on the Korean peninsula for the past six months – and the American people had genuine concerns about that dust-up snowballing into a much larger conflict. This article was written to remind them that mighty air armadas do not simply appear when necessary; they must be planned and budgeted. The author goes into great depth concerning all the impressive aircraft that was both available in limited numbers and on the drawing boards – but the military-industrial complex would need a lead time of 18 months to produce them in effective numbers.

If we win this war or any part of it, it won’t be due to the wisdom or foresight of our political leaders but to what U.S. industry has heretofore conclusively proved itself capable of – an outright production miracle.


Were Russian MIGS Better Than American Fighter Jets?

George F. Kennan: Mr. X
(Pathfinder Magazine, 1949)

George F. Kennan was an American diplomat who is remembered as being one of the most insightful analysts of Soviet foreign policy during the cold war.


Click here to read about the Cold War prophet who believed that Kennan’s containment policy was not tough enough on the Soviets…

The Battle of Heartbreak Ridge
(Collier’s Magazine, 1951)

There is a set of rocky hills close to the 38th Parallel that came to be known as Heartbreak Ridge in the Fall of 1951. It came to pass when a plan was made to secure these hills for the U.N Forces – they thought this would be done in one day – but it continued for a full month. At long last, the 23rd Regiment of the 2nd U.S. Infantry Division finally wrested Heartbreak Ridge from a numerically superior enemy on October 12 – and in so doing, lost half their strength (1,650 men).

Advertisement

Use shortcode [oma_ad position="summary_top"] (or other position) in your theme or widgets to display OMA Promotions here.

The Hungarian Uprising of 1956
(Collier’s Magazine, 1957)

The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 was a nationwide revolt against the government of the Hungarian People’s Republic and its Soviet-imposed policies, lasting from 23 October until 10 November 1956. Though leaderless when it first began, it was the first major threat to Soviet control since the USSR’s forces drove Nazi Germany from its territory at the end of World War II.

Hiding A Military Error
(Pathfinder Magazine, 1946)

This 1946 article puts a nice face on a subject that both American diplomats and military men were eager to hide from the world – the issue involving a total lack of military preparedness. The journalist reported on the military’s push to bulk-up the reserves to an acceptable level, but the real story was that all branches of the armed services were on a recruiting drive for more men (and women) to make up for the fact that the post-war deployment program had drastically reduced the combat effectiveness of practically every unit. Under heavy pressure from civil authorities to save money, military planners failed to retain the services of numerous combat veterans to train the newest recruits. This partially explains the lack of accomplishments attained by the earliest divisions deployed to halt the North Korean advances in 1950.

The Soviets at the U.N.
(Pathfinder Magazine, 1949)

In 1949 there still existed such hope and optimism for the future of the United Nations as a force for good in the world – and a profound disappointment can clearly be sensed in this writer’s voice as you read this column that reported as to how the Soviets were manipulating the organization to benefit their espionage efforts.


CLICK HERE to read about the beautiful Blonde Battalions who spied for the Nazis…


Click here to read about the blackmail and extortion tactics that American Communists used in Hollywood during the Great Depression…

Advertisement

Use shortcode [oma_ad position="summary_top"] (or other position) in your theme or widgets to display OMA Promotions here.

Scroll to Top