About the lecture

In this module, we look at what the US Cold War policy of containment looked like before the Korean War from 1945-50. In particular, we will focus on: (i) what the Cold War consensus was in American politics, including a discussion of the Marshall Plan and George Kennan's view of containment; (ii) the breakdown of bipartisanship in 1948 as a result of the defeat of Thomas Dewey to Harry Truman in the election; (iii) the impact on US politics of the nationalist defeat in the Chinese Civil War and the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949; (iv) the growth of McCarthyism in the United States and its effect of politics; and (v) the impact of the testing of a soviet nuclear weapon in 1949.

About the lecturer

Steven Casey is a Professor of international history at the London School of Economics. He specialises in 20th century United States history and the history of United States foreign relations. With this in mind, he has published widely, including Cautious Crusade: Franklin D. Roosevelt, American Public Opinion, and the War against Nazi Germany, 1941-1945 (Oxford University Press, 2001), Selling the Korean War: Propaganda, Politics, and Public Opinion, 1950-1953 (Oxford University Press, 2008), and When Soldiers Fall: How Americans have Debated Combat Casualties, from World War I to the War on Terror (Oxford University, 2014).