Chapter 37 APUSH Notes
Affluence and Its Anxieties
Prosperity in the post WWII period led to more home renovations and innovations in science and technology
The transistor created in this period would help make the computer later.
More people are starting to work “white collar jobs” now more than “blue collar jobs”. White collar jobs are service-based jobs.
This meant the economy was more about providing people with a service over a physical good
A “Cult of Domesticity” showed up in post-World War II society, where television programs showed a typical family with the wife usually being confined to roles in the household
Of the 30 million service based jobs created after World War II, women joined the majority of these
Women working jobs and being the providers for their families raised questions about gender differences
Betty Friedran wrote the Feminine Mystique, a book about working women struggling with the “Cult of Domesticity”
Consumer Culture in the Fifties
The fancy lifestyle that the middle class was living had many developments to it
Television- by 1960 almost every American had one TV in their house. Economically businesses were able to make a lot of more $ from ads on tv. Socially, it would promote the development of sports or religion
Sports- population would move to the South, so would sports teams
Music- Elvis Presley creates a new genre of music (Rock N Roll). It mixes blues and country styles of music.
Marilyn Monroe popularized new standards of sexuality
Many people against this new consumerist lifestyle, Americans had luxury amenities but the actual environment of America remained poor
The Advent of Eisenhower
Dwight D Eisenhower won the election of 1952 easily
President Eisenhower ended the Korean War
The Korean War resulted in lots of deaths, yet nothing changed, Korea after the war remained to be divided at the 38th parallel (Communism was still prevalent in the North)
Dwight D Eisenhower could be described as fair, sincere, and optimistic
He would help calm down anxious Americans
The Rise and Fall of Joseph McCarthy
McCarthyism: Senator Joseph McCarthy wrongly accused many Americans of being communists
This was popular during the Cold War and started out when Joseph McCarthy accused 205 Communist employees, when he had no evidence
The president decided to do nothing about Joseph McCarthy
Joseph McCarthy later accuses many men in the military at the Army-McCarthy hearings
Desegregating American Society
The Jim Crow Laws legalized segregation, and kept the blacks inferior to whites
Emmett Till was accused of offending a white woman, and as a result got lynched.
After the war, African Americans protested and successfully got what they wanted in Northern states
Had equal access to public accommodations- theaters, restaurants, hotels, etc. However, segregated schools still remained as the law during this time
Rosa Parks makes history in Montgomery, where she takes a seat in the “whites only” section and refuses to give up her seat. She later got arrested. This sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott, where blacks would not take buses for a year to show the foolishness of segregation.
Martin Luther King rose to power during the Montgomery Bus Boycott
Seeds of the Civil Rights Revolution
When Truman heard about the lynching in the military in 1948, he ordered an equality of treatment/opportunities in the army
President Eisenhower didn’t really care about racial issues
In Brown v Board of Education it was ruled that segregation of schools was unequal, therefore unconstitutional
This reversed the “separate but equal” in Plessy v Ferguson. However, the South would not let the Supreme Court reverse the “separate but equal” and keep segregation
The governor of Arkansas had used the National Guard to prevent 9 black students from enrolling in school. Eisenhower sent troops to send the kids to their classes
Martin Luther King created the Southern Christian Leadership Conference to make black churches more powerful on behalf of their rights.
September 1, 1960- four black people sat in at a whites only restaurant and tried to get served. This started a trend as more and more blacks started to do this to advocate for their rights/against segregation
Southern black students would form the SNCC that devoted energy towards blacks receiving their rights.
Eisenhower Republicanism at Home
Eisenhower wanted to be liberal with people and conservative with the government/economy
Eisenhower reversed many of the New Deal programs- got rid of the Indian New Deal and forced the Indians to go back to assimilating to American culture.
The Interstate Highway Act would lay down 42k miles of a fast motorway. This would be necessary as US troops could mobilize anywhere.
It helped to increase suburbanization and increase the amount of jobs for citizens.
As more cars would be on the highway (gas), it would lead to environmental issues.
A “New Look” in Foreign Policy
Republicans wanted to “rollback” communism and liberate the people held captive for their support with communism
Dulles came up with this idea
Dulles created a policy of boldness, it would build up an army of superbombers who were equipped with nuclear bombs. They could inflict “massive retaliation” on the Soviet Union or China if they got out of hand
Eisenhower tried to make peace with the new USSR leader, Nikita Khruschev, but he rejected this offer though.
Hungary rebelled against the USSR to be free of communism. The US however gave them no aid.
The Vietnam Nightmare
Vietnam War was a nationalist movement against the French colonialism of Southeast Asia
Ho Chi Minh was a supporter of the nationalist side in Vietnam. The US would not aid his side because the nationalists were becoming communists. This would make the US give much economic assistance to the French army
The nationalist side was much stronger than the French army, and at the Geneva Conference, Vietnam was split into two (North was communist, South was democratic)
Ho Chi Minh (which side does he support in Vietnam)
Cold War Crisis in Europe and the Middle East
Krushchev gave a speech that denounced the behaviors of Joseph Stalin and said he was hoping for more peace in the West
The Suez Crisis begins when the leader of Egypt would nationalize the Suez Canal that was controlled by the British and French
French and British angry attack Egypt on the Sinai Peninsula
The communists were trying to take over the Suez Canal, and as a result, the US passes the Eisenhower Doctrine (US would provide military aid to Middle East countries threatened by communism)
The OPEC was made to equally distribute oil and petroleum resources across its members (bunch of Middle Eastern countries and Venezuela)
Round Two for Ike
Soviet scientists launched two Sputniks (satellites into space).
Americans were concerned about this because if the Soviets could launch satellites into space, it might be able to launch nuclear weapons into space and destroy the US.
This is why Eisenhower funded much money into NASA, that is an organization about creating technologies to launch into space
Pretty soon after NASA the US itself would have a couple of satellites sent into space
Because the Soviet Union had discovered how to make space technologies first, America thought their education system was better. This is why they funded more money for needy students.
The Continuing Cold War
The U-2 incident was where an American plane was shot in Russia. This weakened relationships between America and the USSR, and ended the possibility of a peace agreement between the two.
Cuba’s Castroism Spells Communism
Fidel Castro in Cuba started a revolution to overthrow the American government that was controlling Cuba at the time
Castro then decided to align with the Soviet Union, which the US would then give $500 million to Latin American countries, so they wouldn’t become communist
Kennedy Challenges Nixon for the Presidency
Kennedy was a Catholic (first to be nominated since Al Smith in 1928)
Television displayed four debates between Kennedy and Nixon. No one won the debate, but viewers saw Kennedy as more energetic than Nixon