Background to the Cold War

The US and the USSR were allies throughout the Second World War. Even though their ideologies were directly opposed, they shared a common aim and ambition - to defeat the enemy. Therefore, we need to consider where their alliance diminished and why. Martin J. Sherwin argues in the Origins of the Cold War that the atomic bomb is to blame for the post war tensions between the two superpowers. Judging from his iron curtain speech, Churchill was already very anti-Soviet and wanted an atomic bomb monopoly, he influenced Franklin Roosevelt in this way.

Roosevelt and the Atomic Bomb

Sherwin - “Nevertheless it is clear that he (Franklin Roosevelt) pursued policies consistent with Churchill’s monopolistic, anti-Soviet views”. Franklin Roosevelt saw that the atomic bomb was the key in affecting the way America carried out diplomacy with the Soviet Union, and he acknowledged the importance of it in the global climate after the Second World War. The atomic bomb would have created a sense of power for the country possessing it.
Arguably, it shaped policy making and the way superpowers interacted, however, it would also shape Soviet-American post-war relations which Franklin Roosevelt had to consider carefully. The Origins of the Cold War makes it clear that Roosevelt took no action in salvaging some sort of Soviet-American post-war relationship; “effect the atomic bomb would have on Soviet-American post-war relations, he (Franklin Roosevelt) took no action to remove the potential danger, nor did he make any effort to explore the possibility of encouraging Soviet post-war cooperation on this problem.” This will contrast Gaddis, description of Franklin Roosevelt as highly pragmatic and “Vine like” but supports the stubbornness of American ideology suggested by Williams’.
The lack of cooperation with the Soviets therefore eradicated any chance of potential future peace. This suggests that Roosevelt supported “Churchill’s monopolistic, anti-Soviet position” in regards to the atomic bomb and in this sense it laid the foundations of the Cold War.

Truman and the Atomic Bomb

Many hold Truman accountable however; it is effective given the above to see Churchill’s leadership as a key influence. This furthermore places the origins of the Cold War to World War II, consider for instance that an “aide-memoire” that was signed in Hyde Park in 1944 revealed the extent of secrecy between the US and USSR and the Anglo-American collaboration. Ultimately, this agreement showed the real divisions within the wartime alliance and that the split was inevitable. It is in the failures of the wartime alliances that one can argue the origins of the Cold War started.

Roosevelt and the Open Door Policy

When dealing with Franklin Roosevelt, we have to not only consider the significance of the atomic bomb, but also analyse the significance of the ‘open door policy’, which is adopted by him at a crucial stage in terms of the origins of the Cold War. The ‘open door policy’ is an American foreign policy, which allows for equal rights for countries when talking about commerce.

The ‘open door policy’ is a recurrent argument portrayed by Williams. Williams’ line of argument shows that Franklin Roosevelt’s personality was against the traditional American foreign policy however, this conflict was never resolved. “Contradiction between his (Franklin Roosevelt) intellectual, emotional, and policy commitment to America’s traditional strategy of open door” this shows that it the policy conflicted with Franklin Roosevelt’s personal traits and also that he did not resolve the conflict in the heat of the ideological split with the Soviet Union – “Roosevelt did not resolve the dilemma”.

The ‘open door policy’ was very important as it was becoming more prominent with the Chinese communist party gaining more significance in China at this time. This was a significant problem for American economic motivations as is argued in the ‘origins of the Cold War’ – “Soviet power in North East Asia would constrain the functioning of the free enterprise and jeopardize American economic interests”. Therefore, this would suggest that the ‘open door policy’ is a turning point as Soviet influence on China would threaten the American foreign policy, increasing tensions and increasing the importance America placed on maintaining future trade interests and commerce.
Combining both interpretations from both books we could suggest that Franklin Roosevelt’s failure to resolve the conflict between his own personal traits and the American foreign policy is what led to the possibility of Soviet Power restricting enterprise and therefore restricting American economic interests.
Analysing Gaddis’ ‘We Now Know’ we can say that if there was economic prosperity and unrestricted trade, there would be no tensions, thus freedom – “use a Rooseveltian term, freedom from fear; open markets – the assumption was that an unrestricted flow of commodity and capital would ensure economic prosperity, hence freedom from want; and collective security”. Considering this and the other interpretations the ‘open door policy’ is a major event when discussing the origins of the Cold War. It was something that, if dealt with wrongly, would have threatened American culture that is commerce and capitalism. The way that Franklin Roosevelt handled, or failed to handle the ‘open door policy’ caused superpower relations to result in tension.
Previously, the two superpowers would have concomitant races as such in expansion, whether it be in the military or other areas like industry as seen in Stalin’s five year plans, however this was the first time they were at dispute and that the principles on which the ‘open door policy’ was based was at its heart. Consequently, one should consider the ‘open door policy’ as a turning point, which harboured the foundations of the Cold War as it divided economic and political interests of the US and the USSR outside their domestic influence’s. The ‘open door policy’ formed the basis of American foreign policy from 1899 and was ingrained in their diplomacy throughout the 20th century.
It seems to answer the question at hand by suggesting that the origins of the Cold War predate the Second World War as the policy was founded in 1899, however, it did not affect relations between the superpowers until the 1940’s. The Chinese revolution was when the ‘open door policy’ became significantly important as tensions were not just ideological, it became an economic issue. This can be seen as dating back to Franklin Roosevelt’s inaction in resolving the differences between policy and personality. “He (Franklin Roosevelt) occasionally spoke candidly of the problem” – Williams highlights that Franklin Roosevelt knew about the dilemma and actively did nothing for it, therefore this made the ‘open door policy’ a hindrance for American diplomacy when the nature of world ideology was changing after Second World War.
Furthermore, this could have been prevented if Franklin Roosevelt dealt the problem, so we can suggest that the origins of the Cold War lie in the latter end of Franklin Roosevelt’s presidency when the alliance with the USSR was still existent. In this sense, there is a strong suggestion that the origins of the Cold War do not predate the Second World War.

References used

William Appleman Williams - The Tragedy of American Diplomacy.
John Lewis Gaddis - We Now Know.
Painter & Leffler - The Origins of the Cold War