Links to Bill Whittle's Cold War series on your favorite podcast app.
So now the board is set and the pieces are in place. In the East, the battle-hardened, seemingly endless divisions of the Red Army, backed by the ruthless and pitiless Joseph Stalin and his state-driven terror. In the West, the idealistic to the point of naïveté allies and their game-changing pika-dons, the nuclear flash-booms that had turned Stalin’s relentless ambition into a pillar of salt. As he tapped his unlit pipe and smoothed his iconic mustache, Stalin was sure that while the West had the Bomb, they did not possess the will to use it; the Americans would not trade Boston for Berlin. Stalin wouldn’t invade because he wouldn’t have to; he’d move the Iron Curtain to keep the Allies out of Berlin. It was a blockade that the West could never get through… but one that they just might be able to get over.
12 replies on “The Cold War: What We Saw | The Thing Begins – Episode 3”
My mother was born in Berlin in 1943. Thankfully, when the city was divided, she resided in the American Sector. She was a beneficiary of the Berlin Airlift and the Marshal Plan. Stories of her childhood were very illuminating. Other things that opened my eyes to the horrors of communism was taking the Army troop train with my family thru East Germany to visit relatives in West Berlin & visiting Checkpoint Charlie during the height of the Cold War. My grandmother once took me to a tower that overlooked the Berlin Wall. I saw doors & windows too close to the wall bricked in; in an open field, there was a maze of razor wire & other obstacles, and you just knew that it was also mined. And I just remembered that it felt like there was a dark cloud that lingered permanently over the eastern half of the city. I just don’t know how anyone can see images such as these and still support socialism.
Just one word: SUPERB!!!
Bill – these are tremendous. Well done, sir.
I don’t come here as often as I should, but I just want to say that it’s amazing how both Bill and I have a degree/background in the “liberal arts” media and became conservatives after harshly coming to terms with reality.
His content is why I became a member and will continue to be.
P.S. MAD-props to Scott for revamping this website into being what it is today.
Thanks, John. We’re glad you’re here, and hope to see you more often.
Bill, these are magnificent.
Bill, this series of podcasts should be required listening in high schools and college courses! I am learning so much — thank you.
I too had never heard of the Kennan Long Telegram, and while I did know that the Berlin Airlift was an impressive feat, I didn’t know the magnitude of it, or more specifically how our American can-do attitude solved the seemingly impossible problems to make it happen. I also didn’t understand it in the context of its being the bridge between WWII and the Cold War.
Great writing, congratulations.
Bill, I just listened to episode 3 of the cold war podcast. I’ve never heard anything about the long telegram, but the portion included in the podcast seems to lay out postmodernism 25 years before its time with the rejection of objective truth. I think it would be great if you read the entire long telegram in its own separate video.
Hi Brad
.pdf copy posted in blog if you want to check it out.
Thanks, Buck.
As I listened to that part of this episode, my first thought was I hope someone on BW(dot)com posts the whole telegram. Look forward to reading it.
Awesome, Bill, your ability to put this history into a clear complete story with the very important facts is uncanny. This series links things together that need to be understood by all Americans, especially with the upcoming election. The Kennan cold war telegram is amazing. He is writing exactly what we are watching happen. I downloaded to copy to read the whole thing.