APUSH Unit 9 - Cold War

Harry S. Truman

• 33rd President; 1945-1953

Fear of Economic Collapse after WW2

• GI (WW2 veterans) were returning & needed jobs

• Feared the return of the Great Depression (no factories producing for war anymore)

GI Bill of Rights

• Provides economic benefits to WW2 veterans

• Paid-for education to get a highschool diploma & college

• Give low interest loans so they can buy cars and homes; stimulates the economy

• Expansion in middle class by 50%; growth mostly in Sunbelt

Baby Boom (1945-60)

• Example of confidence in the economy; younger marriages & larger families resulted in 50 million babies being born

• Trend of more women working outside of the workplace continued; 1/3rd of women

• Move to suburbs & Levittowns; William Levitt introduced suburbs

• Expansion of cities

Discrimination Challenges (1940s)

• Committee on Civil Rights (1946)

• Truman desegregated the military

Taft-Harley Act

• Made closed shops illegal; employers can’t require employees to be in unions

• No secondary boycotts

• Reduced power of unions

Election of 1948

• Democrats were divided

• Republicans nominated Thomas Dewey

• Democrats nominated Truman

• Dixiecrats nominated Strom Thurmond

• Most analysts expected Truman to lose; surprised when he actually won

• Truman campaigned vigorously while Dewey didn’t do much

Fair Deal

• Social Security & increase minimum wage (only one that was passed)

• Truman wanted national health insurance, education & housing, farm and labor reforms

• Most Fair Deal programs were blocked due to a Conservative Congress

IMF & World Bank (1940s)

• United States joins United Nations in 1945

• International Monetary Fund (IMF) & World Bank: rebuild war-torn world and promote trade; provide assistance to governments that are broke

• Aimed to prevent another fascist government from rising (especially in Europe)

• Soviets rejected membership; believed it was capitalist

Cold War (1945-1991)

• An ideological, political, & military struggle between the U.S. and Soviet Union

Tensions during WW2 (Yalta Conference)

• Stalin angry over the delays opening the 2nd front; experienced lots of casualties

• Soviets not included in the development of the A-bomb

• The U.S. and Soviets had very different visions for Eastern Europe

Containment

• Winston Churchill’s 1946 “Iron Curtain” speech: wanted Western democratic nations to stop Soviet expansion together

• George Kennan & Marshall’s Containment Policy (1946) - the United States should stop Soviet expansion

• Greece & Turkey under Communist pressure

Truman Doctrine (1947)

• The United States would provide economic and military aid to countries that were under pressure from Communism

• Greece & Turkey receive economic aid

• Truman doesn’t send any troops

Marshall Plan

• Billions of aid sent to Europe

• Wanted to stop Communism and rebuild Western Europe

• Soviets reject the aid

Germany Divided

• June 1948: Stalin decides to blockade Berlin

• Truman doesn’t want to back down and look weak

• Berlin Airlift - U.S. sends supplies for nearly a year ends May 1949)

• Germany split into Federal Republic of Germany & German Democratic Republic (Communist)

National Security Act (1947)

• Department of Defense (merger of 2 other departments): unify armed forces under one Cabinet

• National Security Council (NSC): advised the President on domestic or international policies for the Cold War

• Central Intelligence Agency (CIA): conducting secret operations for U.S.

Arms Race between Soviets & Americans

• 1949: Soviet creates their first atomic bomb; urged the U.S. to increase federal funding for nuclear research

• 1950: NSC-68 called for massive military buildup; implemented in & justified Korean War and Vietnam War

• 1952: U.S.’ first hydrogen bomb

Chinese Civil War

• Chiang Kai-shek & Nationalists vs Mao Zedong & Communists

• U.S. provided aid to the Nationalists; much of it lost due to rampant corruption & incompetence

Two Chinas

• Mao Zedong declared China a Communist state (PRC)

• Nationalists pushed to Taiwan (Formosa)

• Republicans blamed Truman for the “loss of China” to the Communists

2nd Red Scare

• Federal Employee Loyalty Program (1947): conducts background investigations on all federal government employees to see if they’re Communists

• House of Un-American Activities Committee: investigate suspected Communists

Spies in the U.S. (Alger Hiss case, HUAC investigation)

• Alger Hiss case: statement department member accused of being a Communist by Whittaker Chambers (a Communist himself)

• HUAC investigation: congressman Richard Nixon created a name for himself

• Hiss was convicted of perjury & sent to jail

• Julius & Ethel Rosenberg convicted of espionage in 1951 & executed; became a globally controversial case

Julius & Ethel Rosenberg

• Convicted of espionage in 1951 & executed in 1953

• The married couple was accused of giving away top-secret info to the Communists

• The case gained global popularity & controversy; many believed that they were wrongly convicted & executed

Joseph McCarthy & McCarthyism

• McCarthyism: unjustly accusing others of connections to Communists

• McCarthy wrongly accused government/military people of Communism

• Eventually lost popularity and support because his aggressive behavior was televised & he was seen as a ‘bully’

Korean War

• Korea was divided on the 38th Parallel (North was Soviets, South was U.S. & U.N)

• 1949 - both countries withdrew troops

• June 1950 - North Korea invades South Korea, initially very successful (pushed U.S. and South Korea back to Busan)

• 1953 Armistice: Korea divided at 38th Parallel

• MacArthur suggested the use of a bomb; Truman didn’t want to; MacArthur criticized him and was fired for insubordination

• Outcome: U.S. increases defense spending & containment is successful

Dwight D. Eisenhower

• Nicknamed “Ike”

• 34th President; 1953-1961

• Vice President was Richard Nixon

• Later warned of the Military Industrial Complex; discussed how the defense and military industry can have great influence on the U.S.’ decision to go to war

Interstate Highway Act of 1956

• 42000 miles of interstate highways

• Necessary for national defense

• Impact: created more jobs & resulted in growth of suburbs

1950 Society & Economics

• White collar workers outnumber blue collars

• Credit cards result in consumerism

• Televisions in every house

Cultural Change & Tensions

• Cult of domesticity celebrated & re-enforced: Dr. Spock

• The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan - questioned the status of women in society

• Rock n’ Roll music & Elvis Presley

• “Beatniks” such as Jack Kerouac (wrote On the Road) and Allen Ginsberg (Howl) criticized consumerism and materialism

Brown v. Board of Education

• Brown v. Board of Education (1954) ruled “separate facilities are inherently unequal”

• Declared Plessy v. Ferguson unconstitutional; ruled that schools must be desegregated with “all deliberate speed”

Civil Rights Movement

• Southern Manifesto; signed by 101 Congress members & denounced Brown v. Board

• Little Rock 9; Governor of Arkansas Fabus prevented African Americans from going into the school; the children protested by taking their lunch seats

• 1955; Rosa Parks arrested & sparked bus boycotts

Other Civil Rights Movements

• Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) - African churches and priests help coordinate and organize civil rights movement

• (1960) Greensboro, NC - college students start the “sit in” movement because Woolsworth lunch counter denied them service

• Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)

New Look

• Secretary of State John Foster Dulles - brinkmanship

• Massive Retaliation - reliance buildup of nuclear weapons to deter Communist aggression; “more bang for buck”

Cold War (Atoms for Peace, Hungarian Revolution, Sputnik, NASA)

• 1953 - Stalin dies

• “Atoms for Peace” plan proposed

• 1955 - Ike met with Soviet Union at Geneva; proposal

• Hungarian Revolution (1956): U.S. doesn’t aid anti-Soviet rebellion; put down by USSR

• 1957 - USSR launched Sputnik; U.S. technologically behind USSR

• 1958 - National Defense of Education Act: provide federal money to improve education

• 1958 - Creation of NASA; “Space race” starts

• U-2 Spy Plane shot down by USSR in 1960

Cold War: Middle East

• Suez Crisis: President Nasser of Egypt nationalizes Suez Canal which was controlled by Britain and France; wanted federal funding and build a dam

• France, Britain, and Israel launch surprise attack

Cold War: Latin America

• Batista was a dictator that allowed American-owned businesses to settle in Cuba; allowed the United States to heavily influence Cuba

• 1959: Fidel Castro leads a revolution to overthrow Batista & later nationalized American-owned businesses

• Cuba allied with the Soviet Union; caused Eisenhower to order an embargo

1960 Election

• John F. Kennedy vs Nixon

• 1st time of televised debates between two candidates; analysts believe it helped Kennedy win because he seemed more composed & ready

• 1st Roman Catholic president; many expected Nixon to win because majority of U.S. was Protestant

• Kennedy also focused on the space race, which helped

John F. Kennedy

• 35th President; 1961-1963

• “New Frontier”: money to expand education, healthcare programs, civil rights, space exploration

• Biggest concern was poverty

• Advocated for more focus towards NASA; most of his programs were blocked because of the Cold War

Peace Corps

• One of JFK’s biggest achievements

• Voluntary program; provided assistance to 3rd world countries (e.g. education in agriculture & environment)

Bay of Pigs Invasion

• 1961; Cuban exiles attempt to overthrow Castro’s government

• They landed in a coastal city (aka Bay of Pigs); invasion failed because JFK retracted air and naval support last second

• JFK’s biggest failure; accepted full responsibility after

• Caused Cuba to grow closer with Soviets in fear of American invasion

Cuban Missile Crisis

• Closest we’ve ever gotten to nuclear war

• JFK flies U-2 spy planes and discovers the Soviet has missiles implanted in Cuba cuz U.S. has missiles in Turkey and Greece

• JFK orders naval blockade of Cuba to pressure Soviets to remove missiles

• Khruschev requests JFK to not invade Cuba & remove missiles from Turkey

• Kennedy agrees to not invade Cuba & removes some missiles from Turkey; creation of hotline in D.C. & Moscow to prevent a nuclear attack

Flexible Response Policy

• Many other proxy wars in Southeast Asia & Africa; insurgent forces aided by Soviets

Vietnam War

• JFK adopted “Domino Theory'“ by Eisenhower; if one Southeast Asian country falls to Communism, then the rest will

• Increased military aid & advisors to South Vietnam; trained many of the citizens

• 1963: over 16,000 military advisors to support South Vietnam

• President of South Vietnam Ngo Dinh Diem was corrupt & lost support by many peasants; persecuted & killed Buddhists

• November 22, 1963 - JFK is assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald; Ngo Dinh Diem assassinated in the same month

Lyndon B. Johnson

• 36th President (Democrat); 1963-1969

• Passed the Tax Reduction Act early on; sparked Consumerism & economic expansion

1964 Election

• LBJ ran in 1693

• Republicans nominated conservative Senator Barry Goldwater from Arizona; his nomination marked a shift towards conservatism

• Conservatives didn't like social welfare programs such as the New Deal or Great Society; Goldwater promised to end programs such as TVA or Social Security

• Democrats painted Goldwater as an extremist who would bring the United States to nuclear war

• LBJ won in a landslide because of his popularity as a vice president

Great Society

• Office of Economic Opportunity: fund anti-poverty programs

• Medicare: healthcare for people over the age of 65+

• Medicaid: healthcare for poor and disabled

• Food stamps, federal funding for arts and housing; people living poverty get money to buy basic necessities

• Clean air and water acts

• Endangered Species Preservation Act

• Critics said it was too costly, inefficient, and created dependence

Civil Rights

• JFK sent troops to escort James Meredith at UMississippi

• Meredith uses GI bill (he was a veteran); JFK didn’t want to alienate voters and abide by court rulings

• Freedom rides: register African Americans & help integrate public transit

• Birmingham, Alabama: MLK & activists jailed; MLK’s Letters from Birmingham Prison

March on Washington

• 1963; MLK, people from CORE, NAACP, and SCLC protest

• MLK performs his "I Have a Dream” speech

• Civil Rights Act (1964): made segregation illegal in public facilities & established Equal Employment Opportunity; passed in response to Washington March

Civil Rights cont’d (24th Amendment)

• 24th Amendment: outlawed collection of poll taxes as a requirement to vote

• Originally, states implemented education and tax requirements to keep Africans from voting

March from Selma to Montgomery

• 1965; a voting rights march from Selma to Montgomery was met with violent beatings & tear gas, aka “Bloody Sunday”

• Televised pictures of the violence was a crucial point in civil rights; national outrage moved President LBJ to send troops to protect King & others

• Voting Rights Act of 1965 passed; literacy tests and poll taxes were banned

Black Muslims & Malcolm X (radicalized Civil Rights)

• Elijah Muhammad, a black Muslim priest preached black nationalism, separatism, and self-improvement

• Malcolm X, an extreme civil rights activist, protested for black nationalism, separatism, and black power; left prison in 1952 and became the movement’s most controversial figure

• Malcolm X criticized MLK as an “Uncle Tom” (being subservient to whites) and wanted black violence

Race Riots & Black Power (Carmichael, Black Panthers,

• Radicalism of Malcolm X heavily influenced other organizations like the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)

• Stokely Carmichael (leader of SNCC): advocated for black separatism & economic power; refused nonviolence

• Black Panthers: based in Oakland & founded by Huey Newton & Bobby Seale; wanted to patrol African neighborhoods, protect them from police brutality, & provide healthcare and education

Vietnam War

• 1954 Gulf of Tonkin Incident: LBJ claimed U.S. ship attacked by North Vietnamese; Congress issued a “blank check” for LBJ to send group troops

• Critics said that it was unlawful of the United States to send full-force troops to Vietnam when Congress didn’t allow it; but Congress didn’t do anything

• Senator Goldwater criticized LBJ for the weak support for the North Vietnamese against the Vietcong

• Tet Offense (1968): surprise attack by North Vietnam; nobody expected them to attack because it was a traditional holiday; televised and had many casualties which shifted U.S. public opinion towards withdrawal

• LBJ didn’t run for a 2nd term & lost support because of the damage from the Tet Offensive

Movements against Vietnam War

• Vietnam divided U.S. opinion; War Hawks wanted interference in Vietnam, Doves wanted peace

• UC Berkeley Free Speech Movement: president bans protesting, students setup tables and protest anyway

• Student activism spread across college campuses

• Betty Friedan creates National Organization for Women (NOW); wanted fair pay, equal opportunities for jobs, abortion rights, and campaigned for Equal Rights Amendment (ERA)

• Stonewall Inn became a safe space for LGBTQ members; states pass laws banning these bars

• Stonewall Riots (1969) paved the way for the modern LGBTQ rights movement