Charles L Mee, Jr’s article “A Good Way to Pick a Fight” (1977) focuses primarily on the Cold War and the events that led up to a tremulous time in American history. Mee begins his article with the death of President Roosevelt and the beginning of Truman’s presidency in which, one could argue, the relationship between America and Russia became strained as Truman chewed Russian foreign minister Motov out because of what Russia was doing in Poland (1). Mee then goes on to state “most people, most of the time, want peace in the world, and they imagine that most politicians being human, share the same wishes” (1). One can clearly see by how he treated Motov the second he arrived in DC to pay his respects to his predecessor, however, that Truman did not feel this way as he continued to antagonize Russia which would eventually escalate to the Cold War (1).
In fact it was Truman who initiated the arms race as he emphasized the use of the atomic bomb on Japan even after he was advised by multiple sources that they could end the war without utilizing a nuclear weapon (Mee 4). This fact is shocking to me, though not altogether surprising, because I know what happened after the atomic bombs hit Japan and to learn that we could have stopped the war without killing all of those people and devastating an entire country is just mindboggling. If there was another way then they should have used that instead of starting yet another war as soon as the first one was over which Mee seems to agree with as he points out various ways the Big Three could have avoided this mess altogether. Instead, however, they choose to play one against the other in order to suit their own means at the expense of those they are responsible for.
For example, when Truman received the news that the H-bomb was ready to be used, he informed Churchill what his plans were while he chose to tell Stalin only part of the truth because he did not want Russia to help them win the war, “Presumably, as allies of the Americans and British, they needed to be told of this new weapon in which Truman and Churchill placed such tremendous hopes. Yet, if the Russians were told, they might rush to enter the war against Japan and so share in the victory” (Mee 5). In other words due to Truman’s and Churchill’s selfishness, not only were a lot of Japanese killed senselessly but their relationships were strained with Russia which would lead Stalin to distrust them even more as he utilized the Cold War to show who was truly in charge (Mee 1).
Two countries, Poland and Germany, would become important battlefields as America and Russia fought over them for they proved advantageous as buffers. This is why when the Big Three were preparing for the peace that would come when the war was over; they developed “spheres of influence” which would help decide who got what particularly in terms of Germany and Poland (Mee 2). As a result, Russia was left with Poland and the eastern half of Germany while America was given the western half which would have been fine if the two powers had trusted each other enough and stayed out of the other’s way but that was most certainly not the case. Furthermore when going through the conversations and accounts that are cited in the article it is clear that even if there was a way to avoid more conflict both leaders did not want to even discuss them thus demonstrating how devastatingly single-minded they were.
When discussing this complex topic, Mee does an extraordinary job of showing all sides of the issue by instead of dedicating a whole section to one country, he takes a particular instance like the atomic bomb and shows all sides of that instance by starting with Truman and Churchill and moving on to Stalin (5). This way the reader does not get only Truman and Churchill’s views but Stalin as well especially after the H-bomb goes off and he realizes he had been played making him retaliate so that he does not appear weak (Mee 6). During an interview which he was no doubt completely in control of, Stalin even declares that “‘Mr. Churchill now takes the stand of the warmongers, and in this Mr. Churchill is not alone. He has friends not only in Britain but in the United States of America as well’” (Mee 6). Thus by targeting Churchill and Truman, Stalin is creating a cause for the Cold War which he no doubted needed considering how tired his people must have been. Being a dictator who controls everything and anything probably helps too.
Overall the article is an amazing compilation of information pertaining to a time in history that can often be considering especially when one is trying to figure out what caused the Cold War in the first place. This article, however, is not confusing as it gives a timeline of events that we are all aware of but digs deeper into them as Mee provides facts one does not normally learn about in school. For me, as noted before, this was the startling revelation that Truman had multiple options when deciding how to end the war that did not result in the death of thousands of Japanese and chose to ignore it in order to prove to Stalin that they did not need him after all (Mee 4). Thus this article has made me feel even more negative about the time period which covers WWII and the Cold War as I find myself agreeing with Mee even more vehemently that the Cold War could have been avoided allowing the world which was still recovering from Hitler to live in a momentary peace.
Work Cited
Mee, Charles L., Jr. "A Good Way to Pick a Fight." American Heritage. (1-7)., Aug. 1977. Web. 24 June 2016.
