Davis Unit 6-7

6-777777

The Red Scare Mentality

existential fear of communism → “any means necessary” justified to eradicate it, presuming people guilty by association

Immigrant Restriction

Emergency Quota Act + National Origins Act, limit Eastern European and Italian migration in particular bc they’re associated with subversive political ideologies, ethnicities and religious groups

tie between Red Scare and anti-immigrant sentiment

Italians associated with anarcho-syndicalism, Russians (and specifically Russian Jews) with communism

2nd KKK

extremely popular, function as a social organization rather than just a political one, centered around anti-immigrant sentiment AND anti-blackness, functionally achieve redemption in the South

2nd KKK Conception of Americanness

excludes immigrants, political radicals, jews, POC etc → 100% American is Anglo-Saxon not just ethnically BUT ideologically

Prohibition causes + meaning

no more alcohol! popular among women’s rights advocates + religious people

Prohibition results

increased mob influence, underground speakeasies

Hoover + Rugged Individualism

“pull yourself up by your bootstraps” ideology, believes the market will regulate itself → deeply unpopular in the beginning of the Great Depression

Big Rock Candy Mountain

popular 20s song → speaks to discontent with rugged individualism and laissez-faire policies, sense of escapism and wishing for government aid

Fordism

mass production, employees should earn enough to buy their products

Mass Consumption

shift from consumer republic to purchaser-consumers, defining American identity through consumption → movies, cars, radios, etc define a Suburban identity that becomes the popular image of America and the “Four Freedoms”

causes of the Great Depression

overproduction and market saturation → people HAVE these new consumer goods and they don’t need more. AND the introduction of the credit system spiked the average Americans debt. AND heavy investment in high risk high reward stocks leads to a stock market crash.

Great Depression proper

mass unemployment, banks shut down, bankrupting Americans, banks come to seize people’s possessions to pay off debts, Hoovervilles form (‘hobos’ and homeless people creating mass encampments), the Bonus Army (WW1 Vets march on Washington demanding early bonuses, get brutally suppressed by MacArthur, losing Hoover the reelection)

Harlem Renaissance + Great Migration

mass migration of black southern Americans up to enclaves like Detroit, Chicago, Harlem etc→ development of jazz clubs, poetry, uniquely black culture in ethnic enclaves driven by black church and Southern cultural developments like the blues

The Dust Bowl + The Grapes of Wrath

overharvested soil becomes brittle and blows away with the WORST TIMED dust storms. after rain declines, wind blows unanchored topsoil across the entire midwest and southwest, killing people who CANNOT breathe→ over 3.5 million move out of the Plains states and into California, where they earn very little and ethnic tensions rise with Mexican workers. the Grapes of Wrath is a work of realistic fiction about this.

New Deal response to the Dust Bowl

Franklin DaGoat Roosevelt plants huge swathes of 200 million + trees between Canada and Texas, creating JOBS, acting as a windbreak and rooting the topsoil + water in the ground. gov workers teach farmers how not to f*** their soil and the Drought Relief Service brings livestock + food.

Cultural Responses towards the Depression

escapism → radio “soap operas”, comedy, kid shows, the War of the Worlds (pre-disinformation time), King Kong. people are anti-government (think it’s incompetent) and crave its assistance, leading to a shift in political culture towards New Deal policies, and they seek drama that helps them dissociate from their real lives.

Keynesian Economics

spend on direct aid + jobs, raise taxes to reduce debt from spending, then lower them. rinse and repeat as necessary

New Deal goals

RRR → relief (checks + job programs), recovery (stimulating the economy), reform (long term fixes to prevent future depressions)

Major New Deal Programs

AAA, NRA (NOT the gun lobby, the national recovery administration), WPA, CCC, FDIC, FERA, Social Security

NRA

created to stimulate industry, create fair wages + hours AND fair prices. SCOTUS strikes down

the AAA

Agricultural Adjustment Act, pays farmers NOT to overproduce. SCOTUS strikes it down AGAIN

WPA

Works Progress Administration, provides jobs in infrastructure + the arts

CCC

civilian conservation corps→ builds roads and parks, integrated ish

FDIC

consumer protection agency, created to guarantee consumer bank accounts. reason why the gov ensures up to 250000 in every bank account, reaction to broke banks making people lose everything

FERA

Federal Emergency Relief Agency → gives people checks

Social Security Act

old age pensions at 65, welfare for the blind, handicapped and needy children

The Wagner Act

protects the right to strike and collectively bargain, creates the Fair Labor Practices Commission. as a result, union membership + wages skyrocket.

the Roosevelt Coalition

Northern black people, poor Southerners, farmers, urban workers, small business owners

who opposes the New Deal

big business → STRONGLY.

New Deal impact on African-Americans and Mexican-Americans

African Americans → direct relief, job opportunities, government positions BUT segregated houses and jobs.

Mexican Americans → lower deportation rates and SOME federal protection, but less than others bc of opposition from agribusiness

The Quarantine Speech

FDR in 1937 - compares fascism to a contagion that must be actively “quarantined” and fought, rather than left to spread

The Arsenal of Democracy

redirecting American production efforts to the war effort → building tanks, planes, bombs etc

4 Freedoms

freedom from want, freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from fear

The Atlantic Charter

1941 - Churchill and FDR lay out their vision of the Anglosphere and sing “onward christian soldiers”

Lend-Lease Act

US productive capacity sustained allies through the lend-lease program- selling them arms through LOANS and unlimited aid

The Convoy System

US provokes Germany by escorting British vessels across the Atlantic, attacking German subs when they see them (violates War Powers)

the America First Committee

celebrities like Charles Lindbergh, Hoover and 1 million members object to entering WW2 on the grounds of anti-imperialism and neutrality

the Nye Committee

Senator Gerald Nye’s committee holds hearings about US involvement in WW1 and concludes it was a mistake - he applies these findings to US fopo with Germany

the Neutrality Acts

when the president proclaimed the existence of a foreign war, congress automatically 1. prohibited sales of arms to involved nations 2. prohibited loans to involved nations 3. non-military goods had to be bought on a cash and carry basis 4. bans Americans from traveling on ships for nations at war

economic impacts of WW2 on America

very good! wartime production stimulates the economy, creates jobs and halts previous overproduction of consumer goods

Double V

double victory campaign, the expectation that black service abroad would lead to equality domestically

Detroit Riots

black activists targeted economic discrimination and threatened a national protest if they didn’t access defense jobs equally → angry white workers attacked African Americans in Detroit → black residents looted businesses that excluded/exploited them → the cops only kill black people

Zoot Suit Riots

zoot suits → trendy mexican-american clothes that use a good deal of fabric. in LA, 1943, sailors start attacking “Zoot-Suiters” they claim had stabbed a sailor. cops take the side of the sailors, and violence escalates, with servicemen attacking literally any person of color. the government of LA holds Zoot Suiters responsible and bans the wearing of Zoot Suits.

Japanese internment

concern that Issei (first generation Japanese immigrants) and Nisei (second gen) were a Fifth Column, based on no evidence. FDR orders detainment of all West Coast Japanese Americans in “relocation centers” (concentration camps)

Korematsu v US

sues the gov, argues that Japanese Americans have committed no crime and gov has violated due process rights. decision is not on Korematsu’s side, which seems like a political rather than legal decision

Communist spy network in the US

Alger Hiss → state department official convicted of spying for the USSR during the 30s
Klaus Fuchs → found to have passed information about the atomic bomb to the USSR

the Rosenbergs → put on trial, convicted of giving atomic secrets to the Soviets, executed by electric chair. NO evidence against ethel

Cambridge 5 - 5 MI6 members who pass information to the USSR from WW1 onwards, 3 defect

HUAC

House Unamerican Activities Committee - actors and Hollywood personnel testify for communist influence

the Hollywood 10

10 screenwriters and directors who refuse to testify to HUAC, blacklisted

the Lavender Scare

firings of gay officials by Eisenhower and earlier based on fear that they could be blackmailed with their sexuality by the Soviet Union to pass on classified information

the Loyalty Oaths

mandatory pledges required of public employees to swear they were not members of the communist party

McCarthy

republican senator from Wisconsin → launches investigations into supposed communists, violent anti-communist fervor leads him to proclaim he knows 205 members of the state department who are secretly communist, drinks himself to death after losing popularity through alleging communists run the army

Berlin Airlift

bringing food + supplies over Berlin blockade, “candy bombing” to advertise US lifestyle

Marshall Plan

17 billion dollars of economic aid to western Europe where communism is gaining ground

NATO

Northern Atlantic Treaty Organization - nuclear allies meant to contain Russia

Eisenhower’s brinkmanship

you can risk nuclear war to deter adversaries

CIA covert action in Guatemala and Iran

overthrowing Arbenz and Mossadegh, neither of whom are like… actually communist! yike

Domino theory

1 country “falling” to communism spills over

magnet theory

idea that western cultural superiority will lead to the best minds of the Soviet Union coming to the US → this will destroy the USSR

Nixon + Detente

lowering of tensions → involves restraining India from intervening in US ally Pakistan’s genocide + letting China gain a bit of hegemony

Carter Doctrine

about the Middle East → declares the US would use any means necessary to prevent an external power from controlling the Persian Gulf. prompted by Soviet expansion into Afghanistan

Camp David Accords

brokers deal between Israel and Egypt → mind you that Sadat proceeds to get shot

Reagan-Gorbachev meetings

Geneva → no arms control agreement signed, but Reagan believes Gorbachev is sincere about it

Reyjkavik → discussion over the abolition of nuclear weapons, Reagan promises to share SDI with the USSR

INFT-1987 → eliminates all intermediate missiles from Europe, 4% reduction in nuclear arsenals

Iran-Contra Scandal

Reagan is banned from funding Nicaraguan anti-communist forces directly. Lebanon holds US hostages, and Iran wants US anti-tank missiles. the US sells Iran arms through Israel, which gets the hostages freed (Iran convinces Lebanon), and they pass the extra money and arms to the “Contras”. Reagan somehow avoids impeachment

SNCC

Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee - guided by Ella Baker, horizontally organized student organization that organizes protests and boycotts

Blank Panther Party

more militant, founded by Huey Newton, Bobby Seal etc… carries guns to “police the policy” and feeds low-income black students

Nation of Islam

follows a cultish version of islam that incorporates numerology, believes that white people are devils sent to oppress black folks. preaches racial separation and is very “end days” oriented, pushes buying within the community. Malcolm X becomes the face of it before getting pushed out

Brown v Board and Little Rock Crisis

ruling that strikes down Plessy v Ferguson, Orbal Faubus doesn’t want to enforce it and Eisenhower sends in the army

Sit-ins

protests organized largely by SNCC, black customers come and sit in the counter at diners to force them to enter close or serve them

Black Power Ideology

fungible concept → but core themes are racial solidarity, community control, self-defense and cultural pride. generally skeptical of integration

Native Americans + AIM

American Indian Movement → motivated by the Black Panthers, overtly anti-colonial, focused on poverty, discrimination and police brutality.

NIYC

National Indian Youth Council - radical, confrontational “Red Power” organization that marches on Olympia and hosts “fish-in”, supposed by Marlon Brando, participates in the poor people’s campaign

Termination

policy that kicks indigenous people off their land and into cities because the USFG wanted 1. to end a socialist seeming reservation system 2. uranium from indigenous lands

The Feminine Mystique

reveals common discontent around housewives + the “shadow” that Mrs Pontellier had talked about

Ms Magazine

founded by gloria Steinem, catered towards women and focused around politics, publishes the I Had an Abortion letter

National Organization of Women

founded by Betty Friedan to fight for equal rights and specifically women’s rights, inclusion in the workplace in ALL fields

Phyllis Schlafly

believed that the ERA would end the traditional family unit as it were, and disdained those who CHOSE to work. endorsed trump before promptly dropping dead

LBJ + The Great Society

built around FDR’s legacy → aim to reform capitalism, eradicate poverty, revive the Consumer’s Republic

War on Poverty

a series of policies launched by Johnson to lower poverty, partially in response to the major race riots of the 60s. spends on welfare, starts Medicare and Medicaid, lowers poverty by a substantial amount but hated by conservatives til this day

LBJ and race relations

passes the Civil Rights and Voting Rights acts, abolishes national origins act and bases immigration on job skills and family ties

Students for a Democratic Society and the Port Huron Statement

SDS is anti-vietnams war, anti-anti-communist and disillusioned with American bureaucracy. Port Huron statement outlines their values → they believe in the abolishment of the nuclear bomb, southern bigotry and proxy wars. perceived as out of touch and privileged by the “silent majority”

Cambodia + Kent State

Nixon’s invasion of Cambodia triggers mass student protests, 1 million + students. in Kent State Ohio, protestors burn the ROTC building, and the national guard kills 4 protestors

the Hard Hat Riot

the Silent Majority attacks anti-war protestors in the streets of New York, which Nixon is VERY happy about

reactions to the Civil Rights Movement + Counter Culture

reactionary Silent Majority springs into action → backlash, specifically to mandated busing, drives southerners to vote for republicans + Wallace who promise to maintain the radicalized status quo. working class white people view opposition to Vietnam as unpatriotic, the counter culture as drug attacked and insane, and the Civil Rights movement as dangerous un-American agitation

causes of Vietnam

when Americans fear that Vietnam will collapse to Ho Chi Minh, who they see as a stooge of Stalin and Mao (stupid historical misreading). they prop up Diem, a catholic dictator who establishes an authoritarian south, and then kill them and replace him with Minh. with renewed fear of communist takeover, Johnson (also motivated by conservative aggravation) decides to escalate in Vietnam.

initial political perceptions of Vietnam

extremely popular → 88-2 vote in the senate.

the Viet Cong/National Liberation Front

Southern Vietnamese communists who coordinate efforts with the North Vietnamese

the Pentagon Papers

reveal that far before the Tet Offensive, the Pentagon knew they were going to lose → causes HUGE shift in American political culture

Gulf of Tonkin

Congress grants LBJ the ability to use force in Vietnam without any further Congressional supervision

Vietnamization

Nixon’s policy: replacing US troops with South Vietnamese soldiers

why invade Cambodia?

Nixon wanted the North Vietnamese to think he was willing to use nukes to end the war → accidentally triggers Pol Pot to kill a great number of people

the GI Bill

guarantees money for GIs after the war → helps establish suburban American life, but also enforces heteronormative patriarchy

OPEC Embargo

Arab nations punish the US for supporting Israel in 1967 → makes oil EXTREMELY expensive and causes stagflation (partially)

Nixon’s response to stagflation

tries government-sponsored wage and price controls → sure seems like communism!

Ford’s response to stagflation

WIN!: Whip Inflation Now, asking people not to spend → offensive in a consumer republic

Carter’s response to stagflation

extreme honesty → asking people to conserve energy

Watergate

Nixon is extremely paranoid and hires the “Plumbers” to look into the dirty secrets of his extensive Enemies List → they break into the Watergate Hotel to get dirt on his dem enemies who are (certainly) going to lose anyway → he covers it up and edits subpoenaed tapes → impeachment!

Carter Anti-Nixon

promises not to lie to the people, and gives the Crisis of Confidence speech (very honest, but turns out people don’t actually WANT honesty)

Reagan personality

the “Great Communicator”→ TV host, very sociable and open

Reagan, the New Right + Fusionism

evangelical, believes in Christian morality, anti-communism and laissez-faire economics