America in History 3 Chapter 35.1-35.4 Notes and Political Theory flashcards

35.1 Truman: The “Gutty” Man from Missouri (pg. 820)

What does “gutty” mean?

  • headstrong, determined; being courageous and having spirit

Why was Truman an “accidental president”?

  • He was FDR’s vice president; FDR died suddenly
  • Seemed to be an average nobody, which is why Roosevelt chose him as VP

Why was he considered “average”?

  • Lived like many other Americans
  • never went to college
  • farmed and sold men’s clothing before going into politics
  • served in WW11
  • average height

What is a haberdasher?

  • a men’s clothing dealer

What is a protege?

  • someone who is guided by an older, more experienced mentor

What is a cuss?

  • Someone who is stubborn and/or annoying

How did Truman’s mood change and why? How did he approach the Soviets?

  • At first, he “approached his tasks with humility”, but he gradually became cockier   * Likely because he got used to being president; power got to his head
  • He was not very friendly with the Soviets and spoke to the foreign minister brashly

Who was the “Missoury gang”? How did they influence his presidency?

  • “old associates” close to him, likely from his time as a Senator for Missouri; Truman was very loyal to this group
  • they were members of a literal gang/political machine; controlled some of Truman’s decisions and tarnished his reputation
  • corruption in his presidency

What does probity mean?

  • having strong moral principles; honesty and decency

What does moxie mean?

  • courage, determination; energy

What does mettle mean?

  • someone’s ability to face difficult situations; spirit/fortitude

Why did Truman put a sign on his desk reading “the buck stops here”?

  • It was built off the phrase, “passing the buck” (handing responsibilities off to someone else)
  • Implies that Truman intended to face his responsibilities rather than pass them on for others to deal with

\ Reflection/Summary: what did you learn about Harry Truman? What are the most important facts or ideas surrounding Truman becoming President, i.e., what makes him “gutty”? How could these personality traits and experiences help or HInder America’s relationship with the USSR?

\ 35.2 Yalta: Bargain or Betrayal?

What does “enigma” mean?

  • someone or something that is mysterious, puzzling, or hard to understand

Who met in Yalta?

  • Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Joseph Stalin   * they were known as the “Big Three”   * However, Stalin and FDR pretty much invited Churchill just to be nice; the UK had lost most of its former glory by this time and was no longer a global superpower, certainly not to the extent that America and the USSR were

When was Yalta?

  • February of 1945

Where was Yalta?

  • In Crimea, a former Tsarist resort, on the shores of the Black Sea

What was the importance of Yalta?

  • FDR was in failing health but still managed to travel halfway around the world to meet Stalin   * Stalin could easily have gone to meet FDR, but this was Roosevelt’s gesture of goodwill to the Soviets

What was decided about Germany?

  • Final plans were made to defeat the last of the German lines
  • Agreements were made to split Germany into zones occupied by the winning countries   * done to “de-Nazify” the country; didn’t want another Hitler rising to power like the WW1 aftermath   * 4 zones occupied by France, USA, UK, and USSR

What did Stalin promise?

  • Poland, Romania, and Bulgaria would be allowed to have free elections   * He broke this promise.

What new organization was agreed upon at Yalta and created after WW2?

  • Vague plans for some kind of international peace-keeping organization were made at Yalta
  • Would become the United Nations

What did FDR want from Stalin in Asia?

  • Wanted him to “enter the Asian War” to help stop Japan; USSR had been focused on Europe
  • Open up a second front and fight Japanese troops in Manchuria and Korea; “lighted American losses”

What did Stalin want in return?

  • Southern half of Sakhalin Island and Kurile Islands, which were lost in the Russo-Japanese War
  • Control of railroads and 2 seaports in Manchuria   * Warmer water in China than in Russia

What did critics accuse FDR of?

  • said that he’d “sold Jiang Jieshi down the river” when giving Manchuria to Stalin   * undermined Chinese morale and contributed to communists overthrowing Jiang later on     * started current US-China relations
  • criticized “sellout” of Poland and other Eastern-European nations to Stalin

How did supporters of FDR counter to criticism?

  • said that Stalin could have taken more of China if he wanted to; Yalta limited his ambitions
  • at the time of Yalta, Soviet troops already occupied Eastern Europe; unthinkable to declare war just to eject them

What did apologists of FDR’s policies claim?

  • Said that if Stalin kept his promise of free elections in Poland and co., then future US-Soviet relations would be different

What did the meeting at Yalta not do?

  • did not draft an actual peace settlement
  • at most, the three were making vague suggestions and testing to see each other’s reactions
  • more specific understanding among wartime allies awaited the arrival of peace

\ Reflection/Summary: what did you learn about the relationship between the Big Three leaders? Who had the strongest personality? Who was the strongest leader? Which country benefited the most from Yalta? Do you think this was a successful meeting? Explain your answer.

\ 35.3 The United States and the Soviet Union (pg. 822-823)

Why did the Soviets distrust the U.S.?

  • America and the UK stalled opening the 2nd front against Germany while the USSR army struggled in Eastern Europe
  • USSR was kept out of USA and UK’s atomic weapon project
  • Washington government suddenly terminated lend-lease aid to USSR in 1945; refused $6 billion loan to USSR but lent $3.75 B to UK in 1946
  • America didn’t recognize Bolshevik government until it was 16 years old

How did Stalin and the Soviets view the world after the war?

  • Wanted to guarantee Soviet security above all else
  • determined to make friendly governments along Soviet west border to create a safe sphere of influence; buffer

Why did Americans distrust the Soviets?

  • USSR’s sphere of influence looked more like a poorly-built empire
  • Doubted that Soviet goals were only defensive
  • Stalin’s “sphere” goal clashed with FDR’s “open world” ideas

How did Roosevelt and the US view the world after WW2?

  • similar to Wilson, FDR wanted an “open world”; decolonized, democratized, and demilitarized with a strong international union to enforce global peace

How were the two countries similar to one another?

  • both isolated from international affairs pre-WW2   * US by choice; USSR through rejection by others
  • HIstory of “missionary diplomacy” - trying to spread respective political ideologies throughout the world
  • \   * tried to “free” other countries from the other’s influence
  • Naturally conflicting ideologies set them up to antagonize each other   * Communistic, despotic Russia vs. capitalistic, democratic America
  • Suspicion and rivalry grew because of misperceptions and genuine conflict of interest between them

What made the US, UK, and USSR allies in the first place?

  • common enemy was Nazi Germany; common goal of defeating Hitler
  • grand alliance - “the enemy of my enemy is my friend”

What was the Cold War?

  • 45-year period of hostility between USA and USSR
  • many misunderstandings/misinterpretations, but also genuine threats and conflicts
  • “tense standoff”
  • repercussions felt all over the world; shaped US-Soviet relations   * many third-world countries became puppets of either US or USSR (Korea, Germany, Vietnam, etc.)

\ Reflection/summary: what are the biggest reasons explaining why the US and the USSR went from allies to enemies at the end of WW2? What did each country want for itself after the war? How did this impact the rest of the world?

\ 35.4 Shaping the Postwar World (pg. 823-824)

What did the Atlantic Charter proclaim in 1941?

  • proclaimed for all nations the rights to self-determination and free access to trade
  • postwar international system designed to ensure human rights to “freedom from fear and want” for everyone, everywhere
  • gave rise to globalization

What does “promulgated” mean?

  • promoted; made widely known

\ What did the Bretton Woods Conference establish? Define what each organization does.

  • Established several organizations to help globalize the world:

  • International Monetary Fund (IMF)   * encourages world trade by regulating currency exchange rates

  • International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (World Bank)   * promotes economic growth in war-ravaged & underdeveloped countries

  • General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT)   * reduces trade barriers between member nations   * helped form bases for spread of economic globalization in late 1900s

\ What was the role of the US in creating these organizations and why did it do so?

  • Lead the creation of those organizations and supplied most of their funding   * Left WW2 victorious and practically unscathed; positioned to shape post-war world

\ How was the United Nations different from the League of Nations?

  • Unlike Wilson, FDR made plans for the UN before the war ended to take advantage of the wartime spirit of cooperation and insulate planning for UN from divisive issues on the peace settlement
  • LoN was made in idealism & designed to prevent another world war; UN provided that no member of Security Council (made up of Big 5 - France, USA, USSR, China, UK) could have action taken against it without its consent   * Security council now has 15 members - the permanent big 5 and 10 monthly-rotating members
  • LoN presumed great-power conflict while UN presumed great-power cooperation
  • UN had the General Assembly, which gave smaller nations control.

  \

Who are the permanent members of the UN Security Council?

  • USA, UK, France, China, and USSR(now Russia)

\ Who controls the UN General Assembly?

  • Smaller countries (basically the rest of the UN)

\ What were early successes of the UN?

  • Helped preserve peace in Iran, Kashmir, and other troubled areas
  • Helps create state of Israel
  • UN Trusteeship council helped former colonies gain independence
  • UNESCO, FAO, WHO, and other UN organizations helped people all over the world

\ What was a big failed of the UN at its inception and why?

  • Atomic weaponry   * US delegate Baruch wanted a UN agency (free of great-power veto) with worldwide authority over atomic weaponry, energy, and research   * Soviet delegates wanted nuclear weapons should be outlawed in all countries   * US-Soviet suspicion caused the opportunity to “tame the nuclear monster” to be lost

\ Reflection/Summary: Who influence what the world would look like after WW2 the most? How could this nation do so? Why did this nation do so? How was this different from this nation’s previous role in the world? Is the world a better place because of this nation?

\ Communism vs. Socialism vs. Capitalism

\ Types of Government (political systems associated with each term)

Communism: totalitarian state with a single authoritarian party; the goal is a transition from big government to no government (anarchy). Doctrine based Marxian Socialism and Marxism-Leninism (ideology of USSR)

Socialism: Associated with a wide variety: utopianism, anarchism, social democracy, and Soviet communism. Sort of a transitional stage between communism and capitalism, but often confused/used synonymously with communism

Capitalism: Government is, ideally, completely hands-off; supply/demand is key. Associated with: fascism, representative democracy, oligarchy, and limited government. Democracy, personal choice, individual freedoms

Type of ownership of property (economic system)

Communism: The state(government) owns all means of production and distribution; in theory, the people are the state(but not the case in real life). According to Marx’s theory, the state eventually dissolves and goods are distributed evenly

Socialism: Economic system focuses on wealth distribution; part command and part market economy

Capitalism: Citizens own the means of production; supply and demand/market economy. System founded on private ownership of wealth

Theorists//philophers

Communism: Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Lenin, Stalin, Mao

Socialism: Plato, Thomas More, Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Eugene Debs, Henri de Saint-Simon, Charles Fourier, Robert Owen

Capitalism: Adam Smith (wrote “The Wealth of Nations”, essentially the bible of modern economics

Countries exemplifying each

Communism: USSR, China, North Korea(severest example), Cuba, Vietnam, Laos

Socialism: Scandinavian countries, UK, Canada (all these are democratic socialism), USSR, Venezuela

Capitalism: USA, Germany, Japan, UK

Advantages

Communism: Equality for everyone; equal wealth distribution and benefits. Classless society

Socialism: Equalitarian (social and political equity) - allows people to be rich/poor but also tries to minimize that gap by redistributing wealth. Society is controlled by the masses/workers

Capitalism: Private property ownership and protection, individual freedoms; free market regulates itself through “the invisible hand” and competition stimulates growth and advancement. No central authority dictating how you spend money; big winners

Disadvantages

Communism: Communist leaders tend to disregard human rights; communism is considered unattainable in today’s world (at least the Soviet version of it). Loss of property; usually occurs through revolutionary violence; doesn’t work large-scale(like in Russia)

Socialism: Can overlap with communism/communist methods; true socialism hasn’t been very successful, democratic socialism seems to work better. Redistributes wealth through taxation, the wealthy pay large taxes--penalizes successful individuals. Some argue that this is taking away the incentive for money/punishing success, and that is “un-American”

Capitalism: too many losers social and political inequality; no safety net for failure, too harsh; creation of monopolies that eliminates economic competition and thus lowers consumer prices and better-quality products. Keynes argued that capitalist economies cannot function without government intervention; powerful capitalists could take control of the entire economy