PERSPECTIVES: NCEA INTERNAL 2013

Lucius Clay

Tension

How did you see tension building before the Berlin Blockade?

CLAY: I believe the tension started after World War One. After the Communist Party took control of Russia, they declared that they wanted to spread communism on a global scale. This is an idea that goes against America’s traditional views of freedom and capitalism. I believe this was the start of the tension between the USA and Russia.

America developing the first nuclear weapon unsettled Russia. After the Manhattan Project had developed the first atomic bomb, and tested it in New Mexico on July 15 1946, Truman informed Stalin of the new weapon.

Truman said:

“On July 24 I casually mentioned to Stalin that we had a new weapon of unusual destructive force. The Russian Premier showed no special interest. All he said was he was glad to hear it and hoped we would make "good use of it against the Japanese."”

-- President Truman

I believe that at the time Stalin did not understand the significance of the bomb and once he realised its power, he felt threatened by the US. Russia probably thought they were the most powerful nation as they had the biggest army, our nuclear weapon took away their power.

During the war, the main focus was on defeating Germany. After the war, Russia was not distracted and so they continued their power plays towards us. One of these power plays was the Berlin Blockade. They wanted to see how far they could push us.

London Conference

Why was Soviet Russia not invited to the London Conference in 1948, a critical meeting for the future of Berlin?

CLAY: The conferences were about the future government of Germany and plans to make Germany a democratic nation. It was important for us to not have Stalin involved in these talks as he would surely want a communist Germany and this was against what we were trying to achieve.

What did you think of Russia’s decision to leave the Allied Control Council after you didn’t tell them the results of the conference?

CLAY: I could see why Vasily Sokolovsky, who was the Soviet representative, left the Council, but I didn’t approve of it. The Council was important as it was a way for countries to work together to reconstruct Germany but once Russia had left there wasn’t much point for it.

In the end, Russia could not trust us to involve them in decision making and we couldn’t trust the Soviets to make good decisions for Germany.

Truman Doctrine

What led to Truman’s speech?

CLAY: Communism was expanding after the war due to hard times, as communism seemed like the solution. Greece and Turkey were in need of financial aid and Truman was worried that without aid, they would both turn to communism.We believe that Russia was trying to expand communism into Greece. I believe Truman’s speech in 1947 was about containing communism and taking a harsh line on Russia who were pushing communism out as a solution. Churchill’s “Iron Curtain” speech from the year before reinforced the idea that communism was spreading in Europe and Truman wanted to contain it.

I believe Churchill's Speech 1946 showed the need to aid to Turkey and Greece.

“A shadow has fallen upon the scenes so lately lighted by the Allied victory….an Iron Curtain has descended. The Communist Parties have been raised to power far beyond their numbers and are seeking everywhere to obtain totalitarian control. This is certainly not the liberated Europe we fought to build. Nor is on that allows permanent peace”

Winston Churchill - 1946

Following this speech, Congress passed bills to give aid to Turkey and Greece. The aid lasted from 1946-1948.

Marshal Plan

What was your opinion of the Marshall Plan?

CLAY: I believe it was the only way to contain communism without going to war. We had to show that communism was not the solution to tough economic times, which many countries in Europe were facing after the war due to ruined cities and large debt.

How did you implement the Marshall Plan?

CLAY: On the 5th of June 1947, we started giving aid as part of the Marshall Plan to capitalist countries within Europe. In four years we gave $15,000,000,000 worth of aid to Europe. This created an economic gap between capitalism and communism as the countries we had given aid to were able to easily repair their cities and industries.

Did the Marshall Plan work in your opinion?

CLAY: Yes, it created a wide enough gap to separate communism from capitalism and show capitalism as superior but the gap wasn’t wide enough to completely eradicate communism from Europe. The power of Stalin prevented that from happening.

Deutschmark

Why did you decide to introduce a new currency into West Germany and West Berlin?

CLAY: We had failed to convince Britain and France away from the harsh terms in The Treaty Of Versailles after World War One. Everyone paid the price as we went into another war. We wanted Germany to recover and the first step was to rebuild the German economy by replacing the old weak currency with a stronger currency.

Why do you think the soviets reacted so aggressively against the new currency?

CLAY: We introduced the Deutschmark on June 20, 1948. I believe that Russia was angered because the introduction of a stronger currency would strengthen the German economy and this was against what the Russians were trying to achieve.

What were the Soviets trying to achieve?

CLAY: The Soviet Union wanted revenge against Germany for all they had lost in World War Two. Out of all the countries in the war, Russia lost the most so they were the most angry. Russia has been invaded by Germany twice in recent history and they wanted to hold Germany back to end the threat of another war. This was the complete opposite of what we were trying to achieve which was to empower Germany to rebuild the economy so we wouldn’t repeat the Treaty of Versailles failures. Russia should have learned from World War Two holding a country back can lead to another war.

These conflicting views about the German economic recovery in terms of strong and weak currency had to be addressed at some point and this came through a blockade for Berlin.

Blockade

What did you think of Stalin’s blockade of West Berlin?

CLAY: I believe it was a very aggressive move to regain some of the power he had lost with the Deutschmark and the Marshall Plan. His decision to block off the autobahn into Berlin in theory meant that he had full control of West Berlin. I believe he also wanted to control the economic recovery of West Berlin and with the Blockade he could ensure a slow recovery.

Why was the blockade a problem?

CLAY: The main issue with the blockade was that 2,000,000 Berliners would be without food and supplies. The Soviets had blocked all land routes into Berlin and our people in West Berlin were trapped 110 miles from West Germany. The city of Berlin could only provide 2% of its own food and so we had to get supplies in or people would starve.

The blockade was a problem for me personally as I felt responsible for these people's lives.

What was your opinion of the way Stalin implemented the Blockade?

CLAY: Stalin did not warn us of the Blockade until our trucks and trains had been stopped at the gates on June the 19th, 1948. His decision to block off food from all of West Berlin was not unlike other brutal decisions he had made in Russia such as the decision to kill millions of Soviet troops killed their own officers, but I was surprised as this was the first time we had seen brutal decisions in Germany. Stalin implemented the blockade the day after we introduced the new currency which I thought was a very aggressive reaction. Berlin only had 36 days worth of food and only 45 days worth of coal so we had to act quickly to support the people.

What do you think Stalin was trying to achieve with the Blockade?

CLAY: Aside from starving the population, he probably thought the roadblocks would give him control of Berlin as people would turn to East Berlin to get food. Communism would then seem superior. He wanted to create his own gap between communism and nationalism and he wanted to be able to control it, just like we had tried to do with the Marshall Plan in 1948. I believe it was a power play against Britain and America and the USSR put people’s lives on the line to do so.

A speech by Truman in 1949 reinforced my viewpoint that we had to stop Russia from taking control of Berlin.

“A move to test our ability and our will to resist.”

President Truman, 1946

We had tried appeasing Hitler in 1939 and it was seen as a failure as he just went on to take more. Russia were testing us and we couldn’t let them win or they would try to take control of Germany completely. This was a policy of ours which was described as an “Iron Fist”  by Truman towards communism.

Air Lift

What actions did you take to address this issue and why did you take them?

CLAY: I initially wanted to clear the blockade made by the Soviets to let the supply trucks go through. We needed to supply 5000 tonnes a day to feed Berlin and supplies were running low. The reason we did not break the blockade down with an armed convoy was because even though the Blockade restricted our control of Berlin and was effectively undermining our control, the Russians had not broken any laws or agreements that had been signed at Potsdam or Yalta so they were technically allowed to do it. They weren’t breaking any rules but if we had smashed down the blockade we would have broken agreements and started a war.

The eventual decision was to fly supplies in by plane to Berlin. This was known as the Berlin Airlift and we started it on June 25th 1948.

Why did you choose to supply food via air rather than via ground?

CLAY: The Soviets had allowed us three air corridors into West Berlin 20 miles wide from already existing treaties before the blockade so we had the right to use these corridors without the threat of a war.

Why was the airlift successful in your opinion?

CLAY: I believe the airlift was successful because the Soviets had tried to outsmart us and take control of Berlin but we adapted and were able to put the Soviets in their place. On the 12th of May 1949, the USSR lifted the Blockade.

In total we delivered 1,783,573 tonnes of supplies to West Berlin through 278,228 flights which was enough to save the people of Berlin and make Stalin give up. He had failed to take control of Berlin with the Blockade. The cost of the airlift for us was up to 500 million dollars and was an expensive solution but it worked.

Organising the airlift was very complicated as we had to have planes landing every 90 seconds and we then had to unload these planes. The Russians probably didn’t believe we would be prepared to supply food for that amount of time. Despite these complications, we successfully saved West Berlin from Soviet control.

Consequences

What was your opinion on NATO?

CLAY: NATO (the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) was a way for us to more effectively deal with threats from the USSR like the Berlin Blockade. In April 1949, we starting talking with Canada and countries in Europe with the prospect of a military alliance. The idea behind NATO was that if one member was attacked, it was seen as an attack on all. NATO was significant because it could stop Russia from spreading communism to countries within NATO as these countries now had protection from being invaded. It also gave Russia more consequences for their actions as they were no longer fighting just one country.

Joseph Stalin

Tension and the Atomic Bomb

How did you see tension building up to the blockade and what do you think caused this tension?

STALIN: I wanted to secure the safety of Russia from attack and invasion. We had been invaded three times in the twentieth century: World War One, the Russian Civil War and World War Two. In World War Two we had suffered particularly heavy casualties with 30 million Russians killed, over three times more than any other country. To prevent another invasion I wanted to increase our influence in Europe, specifically in countries near our border so we could be protected. I wanted Pro-Soviet governments to border Russia in Europe.The USA’s fear of communism led them to believe my only goal was the spread of communism, but the survival of the USSR was more important to me.

How did the atomic bomb affect relations between the USSR and America?

STALIN: Truman had informed me casually that they “had a new weapon of unusual destructive force” in 1945. However, the USA failed to inform the Soviet Union of their plan to use the atomic bomb on Hiroshima on the 6th of August 1945 when “Little Boy” was dropped and killed up to 160,000 people from short and long term effects. Shortly before the bomb was dropped, we had been in negotiations with the USA to join the fight against Japan. They could have informed us at this meeting. This showed me that I could not trust the US to inform us of major attacks with atomic bombs despite the fact we were Allies. The mistrust the USA had toward us, gave me no other choice but to develop my own atomic bomb so that I could ensure the security of the USSR. This may have led to the USA think we were aggressive when we in fact only wanted security.

London Conference

How did you feel about not being invited to the London Conferences?

STALIN: The London Conferences that ran from February to June in 1948 were secret conferences to discuss the future of Germany including its economy and political systems. The Soviet Union was not invited. This was an outrage to me as the Soviet Union were part of the Allied Control Council, the council set up for the future of Germany after World War Two, and we should have been involved. We had discussed the future of Germany on other occasions such as at Yalta and Potsdam so I don’t see why we weren’t invited to these conferences. The US were trying to push us out of the future of Germany but we had the right to be involved.

How did you feel about Vasily Sokolovsky being denied the results of the conference?

STALIN: We had the right to know what went on at the conferences as it directly concerned us. On the 20th of March 1948 at the Allied Control Council, Vasily Sokolovsky asked what happened at the conferences but the other members refused to tell him so he declared “I see no sense in continuing this meeting, and I declare it adjourned”. There was no point us being at the council any longer, we were not being involved in decision making and so we left it. We would make out own decisions for Germany and Berlin.

I have previously stated:

“What they want is not agreement and co-operation, but talk about agreement and co-operation, so as to put the blame on the U.S.S.R. is impossible.”

Stalin 1948, October 28.

What the USA wanted was for us to seem like the bad guys when we left the Allied Control Council but they left us no other choice. They wanted to make it look like we were unwilling to cooperate.

Truman Doctrine and Marshall Plan

How did you feel about the “Truman Doctrine”?

STALIN: Truman saw communism as such a threat that he believed he had to bribe Greece and Turkey into capitalism. This is an attack on communism. Turkey and Greece should be left to find their natural paths without foreign intervention. The aid is not in the interests of Greece or Turkey, it only protects the US's interests.

What do you think the USA were trying to achieve with the Marshall Plan?

STALIN: They were trying to further deepen their ties into a Europe that didn’t want them but could not refuse aid. “This is a ploy by Truman. They don't want to help us. What they want is to infiltrate European countries.”. The USA was trying to take away Soviet Union influence with money.

Deutschmark and Eastern Zone Mark

Why do you the West introduced the Deutschmark?

STALIN: I believed the West introduced the Deutschmark to weaken my control over East Berlin by undermining the existing currency without my consent.

The introduction of 250,000,000 Deutschmarks was an act of forcing capitalism down East Berliner’s throats. It was well known we supported communism and communist expansion whereas America supported capitalism. This situation was purposely made to create tension.

What action did you take in response to the new currency?

STALIN: My immediate reaction was to form a blockade of West Berlin to force the West out. They had tried to take away my control with the currency and now I wanted to take away their control. I ordered the blockade to go up the day after the introduction of the Deutschmark on June 21, 1948. I blocked all road, water and train routes into Berlin so that no supplies could get in or out. This would get my control back.

I also decided to introduce my own currency called the East German Mark which was otherwise know as the “Ostmark”. This currency was introduced on June 22, 1948 and was a currency only to be used in Berlin. The Deutschmark became the stronger currency to the point where 5 Ostmarks was equal to one Deutsche Mark.  

Some say you tried to hold the German economy back and that is why you didn’t want the stronger currency? Is this true?

STALIN: The West failed to understand the Soviet Union's need for security. If the German economy were to become united then East and West Germany would also be united and we would lose control. As seen in World War Two, a united Germany is a threatening Germany. We could not let Germany unite so we had to introduce a blockade to separate East from West.

Blockade

Why did you introduce the blockade?

STALIN: I had to show the West that I would not let them undermine my control of East Berlin. Factors such as tension caused by Truman and the USA, the Marshall Plan and mistrust with the London Conferences and the atomic bomb, made me not trust the USA so I took decisions into my own hands to make sure Russia would never be attacked by Germany again.

I knew I could blockade the road and train tracks because I had a larger military force within Germany. I had 1,500,000 troops compared to the USA’s 500,000. They didn't have enough manpower to stop me.

On 19th of June 1948 I blocked Berlin by closing of road, train and water connections.

What was your intention with the blockade?

STALIN: By creating a blockade I could control the economy in Berlin and the people were 110 miles from the West so I could also control food and supplies to the West. In the terms set at Yalta and Potsdam in 1945 there were no terms that said land routes had to stay open and so I was legally able to create the blockade. By starving the people of West Berlin, they would come to the East to live because there was food and supplies and I would re-establish control and kick the West out of Berlin. I would have a heavy influence on Germany if I could control the entire of Berlin as it was the capital.

Air Lift

What was your opinion on the Berlin Airlift?

STALIN: I did not think the USA could supply the amount needed to support the 2,000,000 West Berliners. The USA only had enough planes at the time to supply 1000 tons a day and 5000 tons a day was necessary. Furthermore, the operation would have very expensive. I personally did not think a city could be entirely supplied by air so initially waited for the USA to give up.

What actions did you take?

STALIN: When I realised the Airlift was working I sent planes into the air with the aim of harassing pilots so that the airlift could not continue. I could not attack as this would be a declaration of war and Russia was just recovering from World War Two. When my harassment didn't work i had no choice but let the air lift continue.

Why did you end the Blockade?

STALIN: On 4 May 1949 we reached an agreement with the Allies to end the blockade. The Blockade was lifted on the 12th of May 1949. The USA had successfully supplied the city in spite of my blockade and so I gave up. My plan to take control of Berlin had not worked.

NATO

What did you think about NATO?

STALIN: I believe the NATO alliance of April 1949 was a provocative move to show the USA’s power and popularity with other countries. The alliance also highlighted the USA’s fear of the Soviet Union as this was the first peacetime alliance in history and it showed the the USA will always fear Russia. My response was to form the Warsaw Pact, signed on 14 May 1955, which was an extension of an already existing pact I had called Comecon. This new alliance strengthened the force of communist countries as we were now united and could stand up to the USA and NATO.