The Superpower, 1945–1975

**1960 general election**

One of the closest elections in history with JFK winning by only a margin of approximately 100,000 votes

**JFK and Domestic policy?**

* After almost two years of mostly avoiding the issue of ==civil rights==, he delivered a speech and launched a drive for a civil-rights bill that he hoped would end racial segregation
* He also proposed a ==voting-rights bill== and federal programs to provide ==health care== to the elderly and the poor. Few of these proposals became law in his lifetime
* Kennedy oversaw the ==desegregation== of the ==University of Mississippi in 1962==, and of the University of ==Alabama== the following year - despite each state's political establishment

opposing this policy

* He supported ==James Meredith’s== attempts to enrol at the University of Mississippi

**JFK and foreign policy?**

* The Bay of Pigs Cuban communist invasion in 1961 which failed
* JFK announced a ==naval blockade of Cuba==. The tense standoff lasted nearly two weeks

before Khrushchev agreed to dismantle Soviet missile sites in Cuba in return for America’s promise not to invade the island and the removal of US missiles from ==Turkey== and other sites close to Soviet borders
* Most of his military advisors though bombing the missiles was the best course of action but JFK was against this believing it would escalate the situation into danger. The blockade lead to a peaceful agreement to be reached


* In July 196l, Kennedy won his greatest foreign afairs victory when Khrushchev agreed to join him and Britain’s Prime Minister Harold Macmillan in signing a ==nuclear test ban treaty==
* In Southeast Asia, however, Kennedy’s desire to curb the spread of communism led him to ==escalate== US involvement in the conflict in ==Vietnam==

**LBJ and domestic policy?**

* As he campaigned in 1964, Johnson declared a ==‘war on poverty’.== He challenged Americans to build a ==‘Great Society’== that eliminated the troubles of the poor
* the ==Civil Rights Act of 1964== was part of Lyndon B. Johnson’s ‘Great Society’ reform package - the largest ==social improvement agenda== by a President since FDR’s ‘New Deal.

**LBJ and foreign policy?**

* As part of the efort to stop communism from spreading, Johnson steadily ==escalated== US military involvement in the ==Vietnam== War. The number of American troops in Vietnam soared from ==16,000== when he took office in 196l to more than ==500,00==0 in 1968, yet the confict remained a bloody ==stalemate==

**How did the Cold War efect American society?**

* =="Nuclear preparedness"== became a way of life. Communities installed ==air raid sirens==. Ordinary folks built and stocked ==bomb shelters== in their suburban backyards.
* ==Schools== practiced duck-and-cover drills where children hid under their desks, covering their heads
* The government started construction of the ==interstate highway system== (Although this road network had been proposed years earlier, President Eisenhower secured its approval by pointing out that the interstate highways could move ==troops== if the US was invaded)

**How did civil rights progress?**

*  Harry Truman initiated a civil rights agenda, and in 1948 issued ==Executive Order 9981== to end discrimination in the military. These events helped set the stage for grass-roots initiatives to enact racial equality legislation and ==incite the civil rights movement==
* ==Rosa Parks== became the “mother of the modern day civil rights movement.” Black community leaders formed the ==Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA)== led by Baptist minister Martin Luther King Jr., a role which would place him front and centre in the fight for civil rights
* Eisenhower intervened and ordered federal troops to escort the ==Little Rock Nine== to and from classes at Central High in 1957. *Still, the students faced continual harassment and prejudice*
* Their efforts, however, brought much-needed attention to the issue of desegregation and fuelled protests on both sides of the issue
* The ==1963 March on Washington== was the most ==famous== civil rights event because it attracted 20,000 people and the ==‘i have a dream’== speech was made. The purpose was to establish job equality and civil rights for all
* However, in 1965 the peaceful march from ==Selma to Alabama== turned into a violent clash with racist police officers. The aim was to encourage legislation to enforce the 15th amendment. This event became known as ==‘bloody Sunday’==
* The efforts of civil rights activists and countless protestors of all races brought about legislation to ==end segregation, black voter suppression== and ==discriminatory== employment and housing practices
* *However, as the 1960s progresses, a radical wing/ black nationalists/ Malcom X demanded separation from whites, violence and blacks only dependant on blacks*

**How did the counter culture develop?**

* The anti-war movement began mostly on college campuses, as members of the leftist organisation ==Students for a Democratic Society (SDS)== began organizing “teach-ins” to express their opposition
* They gained national attention when the US ==bombed== North Vietnam in ==1965==


* Though the vast majority of the American population still supported the administration policy in Vietnam, a small but outspoken ==liberal minority== was making its voice heard
*   This minority included many students as well as prominent artists and intellectuals and members of the ==hippie movement==, a growing number of young people who rejected authority and embraced the drug culture
* The Vietnam War was costing the US some ==$25 billion per year,== and disillusionment was beginning to reach greater sections of the taxpaying public
* ==The Beat generation== refused to submit to conformity, dissatisfied with America’s materialistic and consumer culture. They embraced jazz and drugs
* As the ==media== helped create a ==single== notion of an idyllic American lifestyle, a vocal ==minority== of social critics expressed their discontent

**What is the evidence to suggest there was less divisions**

* In a nation once marked by strong regional diferences, network television programming blurred these distinctions and helped forge a national popular culture. By the end of the 50s, 2/3 of homes had one

**What was the** ==**Truman Doctrine?**==

* The USA would intervene to support any nation that was being threatened by.a takeover by an armed minority
* ==National Security Council== report known as ==NSC-68== recommended that the US use military force to “contain” communist expansionism anywhere it seemed to be occurring
* Truman Doctrine was not just about supporting the rights of a majority against the armed might of a minority, it also had a strategic bearing to it. Truman stated that it would be “the policy of the United States to support free people who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures.” It effectively ==reoriented US foreign policy==, away from its usual stance of withdrawal from regional conflicts not directly involving the US to one of the possible interventions in faraway conflicts.

**What was the** ==**NATO 1949?**==

* Against the threat of communism in western Europe, the ==collective defence arrangements== served to place the whole of Western Europe under the American ‘nuclear umbrella’
* It was the ==first peacetime military alliance== they entered into ==outside== of the Western Hemisphere. After the destruction of WWII, the nations of Europe struggled to rebuild their economies and ensure their security their economies and ensure their security


* The creation of these two new alliance systems symbolised clear ==split== ideologies of democracy and communism

**What was the** ==**Marshall Plan?**==

* The USA viewed an economically strong, rearmed and integrated Europe as vital to the prevention of communist expansion across the continent


* The theory was that if a country was prosperous and its people were happy, then support for communism would not exist


* The Cold War had solidified by 1947–48, when US aid provided under the Marshall Plan to western Europe had brought those countries under American influence under American influence