module 6 notes

lesson 1

postwar boom

• gi bill of rights: aka the servicemen’s readjustment act of 1944, helped returning veterans secure education and access to home purchases at government expense

• organized labor had prosperity, many working class americans had salaries that placed them in the middle class

• unions peaked in 1950s

• economic boom came baby boom

• builder william levitt took advantage of housing boom and made levittowns in the suburbs of new york and philadelphia, sold for under 10 grand and no down payment for veterans

• eisenhower was elected 34th president of the us in 1952

  • signed into law the highway revenue act in 1956 (provided funding to build a national system of highways called the interstate highway system)

impact of television

• engineers developed first television in 1920s

• television programs played a key role in the religious revival of 1950s

• in 1960s television was used to influence voters, democrats benefited

youth culture

• economic freedom

  • american youth of the 50s had a powerful force on society because of disposable income

  • parents worried about the freedom it gave their children

• rock and roll

• crossing the color line

  • parents were disturbed in kids passion for rock because it had african american roots

  • many white and african americans listened to the same music

  • music and sports began to mix fields in the 1950s

effects on african americans

• entered sports and music in 50s

• us was still widely segregated and they kept trying to move toward equality

effects on women

• women had no ambitions beyond getting married and having kids

• ww2 changed job force and women entered the workforce in jobs traditionally reserved for men

• working women remained invisible in the media

• in the 50s women were only seen as taking care of the men and children

• in the 60s women were challenging cultural assumptions about their roles and demanding an equal rights amendment to the constitution

the beat generation

• word for the postwar boom was conformity

• first group to challenge conformity viewed suburbia and material possessions as alienating and destructive to the human spirit

  • called the beats, defined by despising materialism and personal ambition

  • became more well knows during the 50s

  • by the 60s, the beats had become role models for the baby boomers who reached college age

lesson 2

the early cold war

nuremberg trials

• court proceedings of german war criminals and nazi leaders after ww2

• military officers, government officials and party leaders were all tried for participation in the holocaust

• tried 22 nazi defendants, sentenced 12 to death, 3 to life in prison and 4 got terms from 10-20 years, 3 were acquitted

  • number of war criminals were never tried

• established principles for future conflicts like individuals are responsible for their actions during the war

the united nations

• dumbarton oaks conference: late 1944, international peace conference in washington dc where the plan was made to create the united nations

• in april 1945, representatives from 50 nations met in san fransisco to formally create the united nations

• in 1948 delegates formed a commission on human rights, named eleanor roosevelt as chairperson

  • drafted universal declaration of human rights

the iron curtain

• soviets wanted to rebuild eastern europe using their own raw materials and manpower, wanted to prevent democracy and spread communism

• leaders agreed to divide germany and austria into 4 zones at yalta conference

• churchill said that an iron curtain has descended upon europe, summarized division of eastern and western powers during the cold war

• historians mark 1946 as beginning of cold war

• during cold war us and soviet union engaged in a nuclear arms race

containing communism

• truman doctrine: providing american aid to any country whose welfare deemed essential to the safety of the us, support to nations threatened by authoritarian powers and assisted democratic nations

• marshall plan: economic aid sent by us to european nations after ww2 to help rebuild their economies and win their loyalty

• berlin airlift: soviet blockaded roads and railways to berlin so us and britain used aircraft to supply city during the war

cold war alliances

• both sides of cold war begin to compile weapons, race to militarize

• north atlantic treaty organization (nato): defensive military alliance formed by us and allies in 1949

• warsaw pact: military alliance between soviet and 7 other communist nations

lesson 3

the cold war at home

intro/objective

• senator joseph mccarthy came to fame in america for his wild accusations

  • macarthyism: name given to his tactics of spreading fear of communism through false charges of radical activities

  • one of the most dishonorable terms in american political history

another red scare

• as stalin’s rule emerged, americans became fearful of communism

• huac: house un-american activities committee, formed by reps to investigate people thought to be disloyal to the us, especially those believed to be communist

  • led investigation in 1945

  • many people appeared before the huac in oct 1947

  • lots of actors, screenwriters and directors were commonly accused of being communist and were permanently blacklisted from working in hollywood

politics and the red scare

• candidates used the red scare for political elections in 1946

• federal employee loyalty program: program created by president truman in 1947 to investigate all federal employees in order to establish their loyalty to the us

• subversive activities control act/mccarran act: legislation passed by congress in 1950 over truman’s veto that required communists to register with the federal government, outlawed any group for making a plan to prevent dictatorship and prevented communists from obtaining a passport or entering the us

lesson 4

the korean war

korean war: cold war conflict between north korea and south korea that included the united states, soviet union and china

beginning of the war

• japan annexed korea in 1910

• during ww2 thousands of koreans were forced into the japanese army

• 38th parallel: international boundary between north and south korea in 1945 established at the end of ww2

• soviet leaders installed a communist government in korea led by kim ii sung

  • communist north and democratic south

• republic of south korea was formed in may of 1948 in seoul

• people’s republic of north korea was formed in sept in pyongyang

• north korea launched a surprise attack on june 25, 1950

• south korea asked the un to intervene and they sent a force to korea, forced us troops back into action

  • truman quickly moved american troops stationed in japan to korea, 15 other nations also sent troops

    • general douglas macarthur took charge of the un forces

seesaw conflict

• north korean invasion was immediately successful and they captured the capital

• on sept 15, 1950 macarthur surprised NK with an attack from behind their lines by sea, successful

• late 1951, seesaw from south to north and again ended in a stalemate, general douglas macarthur’s career was over

end of war

• june 1951 proposed cease-fire

• fighting continued for much of the next 2 years but they eventually agreed on a cease-fire line and created a demilitarized zone (dmz)

• july 1953 signed an armistice that ended the fighting, korean war ended in a stalemate

lesson 5

the cold war

arms race

• us chose cape canaveral florida in 1948 as a testing site

  • chose it because of location and missiles could be tested without concern that they would harm populated areas

• worked on building an intercontinental ballistic missile (icbm) that could hit targets in the soviet union

space race

• oct 4, 1957 was when the soviet union launched a rocket that put the world’s first satellite into orbit called sputnik 1

  • soviet union launched a second sputnik into orbit with a dog on board

• us got worried because if they had a rocket that could launch a satellite into orbit, what could stop them from building an ICBM that could deliver a nuclear bomb

• us gets into the race

  • on dec 6 a vanguard rocket carrying america’s first satellite was ready to be launched

  • as the rocket fired it blew up in a fireball televised all across america

  • was very small triumph when the did succeed a month later

  • now were in a space race (competition between us and ussr over achievements in space tech and exploration) to match the arms race

  • russian cosmonaut yuri gagarin was the firrst man to travel into space in 1961 and american navy commander alan b shepard succeeded less than a month later

• funding the space program

  • on july 30k, 1958 eisenhower asked congress to fund space organizations, nasa

  • initiated a program called project mercury to select and train america’s first group of space travelers

  • 7 men were chosen and all were designated astronauts

  • eisenhower started the space program but jfk inspired americans to beat the russians in space

  • after kennedy took office, soviets sent the first human into space beating the us

  • 2 soviet cosmonauts were launched into orbit around the earth before the first mercury astronaut was sent on a 10 min flight out of florida

kennedy and the cold war

• in his first weeks in office kennedy established the peace corps, organization of various jobs that worked in 48 underdeveloped countries

• alliance for progress, initiated in may 1961, was less successful

  • aid program for latin america but ended up as a way to stop communism

communist cuba

• us relationship with cuba dated back to the spanish american war on 1898

• on may 1, 1969 castro announced an end to democratic elections

• on feb 7, 1962 the us declared a trade embargo on cuba

• castro responded by seeking further economic and military aid from russia

• in october soviets brought missiles to cuba and caused the world to be on the brink of nuclear war

cuban missile crisis

• on oct 15, 1962 a us pilot saw soviet bases on cuba capable of launching missiles

• 13 day standoff between us and russia

• kennedy imposed a naval blockade around the island

• in the end both sides agreed to remove the missile and it was cleared by negotiations, closest to direct military conflict in the cold war

assassination

• jfk was assassinates on nov 22, 1962 in dallas

• 3 shots were fired from a local building and 2 struck the president

• lee harvey oswald shot kennedy, he was a troubled ex marine married to a russian and lived in the soviet union

• oswald was murdered 2 days after he killed kennedy

• assassination shocked the nation and the us was at a standstill for 4 days until his funeral

quiz questions

• what event was the bay of pigs invasion a response to

  • castro’s rise to power in cuba

• what was a propaganda victory for the ussr

  • launching of sputnik

• what limits did the us ussr and great britain agree to regarding nuclear weapon testing in 1963

  • testing could only occur underground

• what was not a result of the cuban missile crisis

  • increase in refugees from cuba to the us

• what led to the establishment of nasa

  • soviets launching sputnik 1

• according to the warren investigation who was responsible for assassination of jfk

  • lee harvey oswald

• what ended the cuban missile crisis

  • us agreed to not invade cuba and soviets agreed to remove all missiles from cuba

• why was cape canaveral chosen as a launch site for rockets

  • favorable geographic location for launches

• what development was made during the 1950s that made long-range bombers obsolete

  • icbm, intercontinental missiles

lesson 6

vietnam war

us involvement

• france created indochina during the 19th century but after ww2 french control of indochina weakened

• ho cho minh declared vietnam independent in 1945

  • us believed in domino theory and thought communist vietnam would spread communism

• in 1954 us + 7 other nations formed the southeast asia treaty organization (seato) to fight the spread of communism

• because of containment us leaders supported france to help the french maintain control in vietnam and prevent communist victory, billions of dollars in us military aid went to france

• vietnam divided

  • battle of dien bien phu, vietnamese siege on french military base, french surrendered after a 55 day siege

  • geneva accords (peace treaty ending the indochina wars between france and vietnam) granted independence to indochina

  • due to treaty, vietnam was divided into 2 nations - communist north (led by ho chi minh) and non-communist south (led by ngo dinh diem)

  • us provided lots of support to diem although he was less popular

  • vietcong: south vietnamese communists who fought against us and south vietnamese troops with help from the north vietnamese, use guerilla tactics

• us support of south vietnam

  • diem was a bad political leader

  • only kept his government in power by us support

  • when jfk took office he increased us troops to vietnam but by 1963 the us ceased support

  • diem was assassinated in november 1963 and kennedy was weeks after

johnson and vietnam

• lyndon b johnson took office after kennedy’s assassination

• johnson increased direct us support for the war and gained unprecedented control over military involvement

• august 1964 north vietnamese torpedo ships fired on us destroyer uss maddox in the gulf of tonkin off north vietnam

• congress passed the gulf of tonkin resolution

  • act granting the president the power to send us troops into battle without a formal declaration of war

end of us involvement

• vietnamization: process of shifting control of the war from the us military to the south vietnamese military

quiz questions

• what was the policy of vietnamization

  • South Vietnam took on a greater military role in the conflict

• What was the most immediate result of Diem's refusal to hold elections?

  • The Vietcong formed to resist the government

• what country controlled vietnam prior to the vietnam war

  • france

• what was weakened by the outcome of the vietnam war

  • popular support for cold war theories

• Which event most directly contributed to the end of U.S. involvement in Vietnam?

  • U.S. public opinion against the war became very high during an election year

• What was the effect of the Twenty-Sixth Amendment?

  • The voting age was lowered

• How did the Tet Offensive mostly affect the course of the Vietnam War?

  • It greatly damaged American popular support for the conflict

• How did the media shape public perception of the Vietnam War?

  • For the first time, people saw up-to-date news coverage of war on television

• What position did the United States take during the Indochina Wars?

  • It supported France because it wanted to limit communism in Southeast Asia

lesson 7

disillusionment: being confronted with reality after believing in a false ideal

effects of vietnam war

• television had a big impact on how americans saw the war, they could compare what they saw on screen with what they were told by government officials

• television created a credibility gap between government statements and media reports

• many people protesting us involvement in vietnam war were from the baby boom and born after ww2

• vietnam war had been part of american life for almost 10 years

• 1968 nixon won the presidential election and in 1969 he announced the policy of vietnamization

• nixon also approved the secret bombing of cambodia and a raid in 1970

the pentagon papers

• in 1971 us support for war diminished when the new york times published a series of articles about leaked secret government documents

• pentagon papers: secret government documents about us involvement in vietnam

• daniel ellsberg leaked the contents and was a researcher who helped compile the 3000 page document

• finally a supreme court ruling found that the newspapers had the right to publish the documents

• war powers act: law required the president to consult with congress within 48 hours of committing us troops to foreign conflicts

the watergate scandal: scandal that resulted from a politically motivated break-in and government cover-up that led to the resignation of president nixon

effects of watergate

• nixon was accused of accepting illegal campaign contributions

• In October 1973, during the Watergate turmoil, the FBI charged Vice President Spiro Agnew with several felonies, including taking bribes while in office

  • became the first vice president to resign over criminal charges

  • nixon appointed congressman gerald ford as vp

• during investigations, investigators found that nixon had used federal agencies to target personal enemies

• faced with impeachment, nixon resigned in august 1974 and gerald ford became president