V-E Day marked the end of World War II in Europe and supposedly the beginning of world peace and reconstruction. Germany had lost the war, a war which caused millions of casualties and a devastated Europe. The once hostile and aggressive Nazi Germany was also destroyed and defeated but its economic potential laid under the rubble. Its land was still valuable, its geographical position between East and West was still strategic, and its industry could be rebuilt on the basis of its educated and

more »

... illed workforce, while a new war was being launched, the Cold War. This thesis examines the way the rapid and extreme shift of American foreign policy toward (Western) Germany from 1945 until 1950 was justified to the American people and in turn accepted by them. The author of this study will examine whether the American press was the medium that changed American public opinion in order to garner support for a transformed American foreign policy or whether public opinion was the medium to change the position of the press toward American foreign policy. A related question is how they each influenced foreign policy and how foreign policy-makers tried to shape public opinion through the press. To study this triangular relationship (US foreign policy, US press, US public opinion) the author has chosen some press outlets of wide circulation (Washington Post, The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, TIME, LIFE) and some press outlets of special interest and particular political orientation (Commentary, Human Events, Nation) and the survey results of the Gallup polls measuring American public opinion. The study revealed that the threat of the Cold War and the danger of communist expansion overshadowed Germany's past rapidly and transformed the country from an enemy to an ally without any resistance by the vast majority of the American people and the press outlets under examination. In particular, some press outlets did not even hesitate to begin their Cold War propaganda even before the end of the Second World War, while others bar [...]