US History: Unit 8 Notes (1945-1980)

The Cold War (1945-1980)

• America emerged from World War II as the most powerful nation.
• This unit covers America's involvement in the Cold War, the rise of the Civil Rights Movement, and postwar demographic and economic changes.

Definition of the Cold War

• A conflict between two belligerents where neither engages in open warfare.
• Long-standing tension that could lead to war but doesn't.
• Indirect fighting occurred, despite no direct fighting between the US and the Soviet Union.

How the Cold War Started

• Harry Truman took office after FDR's death and oversaw the final negotiations for the World War II peace settlement.
• The Cold War centered on the rivalry between the US (democratic and capitalist) and the Soviet Union (communist).
• They were allies during World War II out of necessity to stop Hitler's expansionism.
• Mistrust and suspicion existed even before the war ended.
• Agreements were made for Central and Eastern European countries to hold free elections after the war, but Stalin kept them under Soviet control as a buffer zone.
• These countries became communist and served the Soviet Union's purposes.
• The US saw this as a violation of self-determination and democracy.

Post-War Handling of Germany

• Germany was divided into four occupation zones: Soviet, American, British, and French.
• The eastern section, dominated by the Soviets, became a communist state.
• The Soviets wanted to keep Germany weak and extract reparations.
• Western powers wanted economic recovery for Germany for a stable Europe.
• The Soviets tightened their control on East Germany, leading to ideological and political division.
• Winston Churchill termed this division as an "iron curtain" descending across the continent.

American Policies to Deal with Communism

• The main policy was containment to prevent the spread of communism.
• The Truman Doctrine committed the US to provide military and economic support to nations threatened by communism.
• First implementation: US support of Greece during a communist uprising and in response to Soviet demands for control of the Dardanelles.
• Congress allocated 400,000,000 in economic aid and military support.
• The Marshall Plan aimed to help European nations rebuild their economies, assuming healthy economies would opt for democracy over communism.
• 12,000,000,000 in aid was approved, and it worked.
• The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was formed as a military pact for the defense of Western Europe.
• The Soviets formed the Warsaw Pact for communist nations of Eastern Europe.

Arms Race

• A race to develop superior weapon systems between the US and the Soviet Union.
• The Soviets tested their first atomic bomb in 1949 after the US dropped atomic bombs at the end of WWII.
• Truman approved the development of a hydrogen bomb in 1952, which was 1000 times more destructive than the atomic bomb.
• The Soviets tested their hydrogen bomb the next year.
• This escalation led to the concept of mutual assured destruction, deterring either side from launching weapons.

Indirect Fighting: The Korean War

• Korea was formerly a colony of Japan and was divided along the 38th Parallel after World War II.
• The Soviets occupied the North (communist), and the US occupied the South (democratic).
• In June 1950, North Korea invaded South Korea.
• It became a proxy war for the US and the Soviet Union.
• Truman applied the containment policy, and the United Nations sent troops to support the South, mostly American.
• UN forces were pushed to the southern tip initially but pushed back to the Chinese border under General Douglas MacArthur.
• Chinese forces intervened, pushing UN troops back below the 38th Parallel.
• Ended in a stalemate along the initial dividing line with massive civilian casualties.

The Red Scare

• A second Red Scare occurred during the Cold War with fears of communist spies infiltrating American society.
• The House Un-American Activities Committee searched for communist influence.
• Joseph McCarthy claimed to have a list of 205 communists in the State Department.
• McCarthy's influence waned after televised hearings (Army-McCarthy hearings) failed to prove his claims, and the Senate censured him in 1954.

Higher Education and the GI Bill

• The Serviceman's Readjustment Act of 1944 (GI Bill) gave World War II veterans the opportunity to attend college.
• Over 2,000,000 veterans attended college.
• Veterans received 16,000,000,000 in low-interest government-insured loans for housing and businesses.

Post-War Demographic and Economic Changes

• A baby boom occurred between 1945 and 1960, adding 50 million people to the US population.
• Increased demand for housing led to suburban growth.
• Levittown was a significant milestone in suburban development, featuring mass-produced, low-cost homes.
• Suburbanization led to the middle class moving to suburbs, leaving urban areas poor and racially divided.

Internal Migration

• A spike in internal migration occurred during this period, with people moving to the Sunbelt states (South and West).
• Reasons include warmer climate and economic opportunities in the defense industry.
• Sunbelt states became powerful economic engines and influential voting blocks.

Rise of Mass Culture

• Mass culture became increasingly homogenous.
• The proliferation of television replaced radio as the chief entertainment device (55 million TV sets by 1961).
• Television provided a common language and cultural norm through shared programming.
• Advertising entered its golden age, appealing to Americans' emotional needs and leading to a boom in consumer spending.
• Credit cards made spending easier.

Rebellions Against Homogenization

• Artists rebelled against homogenization.
• J.D. Salinger's "Catcher in the Rye" expressed disgust with the blandness of American culture.
• Beat poets (Beatniks) like Jack Kerouac rejected conformity through free-form poems, drug use, and rejection of societal norms.

Civil Rights Movement

• Racial segregation was still prevalent, especially in the South, due to the Plessy versus Ferguson case in 1896.
• The fight against communism highlighted racial inequality.
• Brown versus the Board of Education overturned Plessy, arguing separate schools were inherently unequal based on the Fourteenth Amendment.
• Resistance in the South included the Southern Manifesto, school shutdowns, and the National Guard preventing black students from entering Little Rock High School.
• Eisenhower sent federal troops to protect black students.
• School integration was slow, with only 2% of Southern schools integrated a decade after the Brown decision.

Montgomery Bus Boycott

• In 1955, civil rights leaders organized the Montgomery bus boycott to attack segregation on public transportation.
• Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat, sparking the boycott and demonstrations.
• Martin Luther King Jr. rose to prominence as a voice for nonviolent civil disobedience.

Sit-In Movement

• Black college students sat at segregated food counters and refused to move until they were forcibly removed.
• Jails began to fill up, and segregation laws were slowly overturned.

March on Washington

• The March on Washington in August 1963 featured peaceful protests at the Lincoln Memorial.
• Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech.
• The Civil Rights Act of 1964 made discrimination based on race, religion, or sex illegal.
• The Voting Rights Act of 1965 prohibited racial discrimination in voting.

Tensions Within the Movement

• Not all black Americans agreed with nonviolent tactics.
• Malcolm X advocated separatism and militarism, countering white violence with black violence.
• The Black Panthers advocated violence in defense of black rights.
• Race riots broke out in Los Angeles in 1965 after the arrest of a black motorist.

Expansion of the Civil Rights Movement to Include Other Groups

Women's Rights Movement

• Betty Friedan's “The Feminine Mystique" explored the imprisonment of housewives and advocated for professional careers.
• The National Organization for Women (NOW) was founded in 1966, advocating for equal opportunity and pay.
• The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) fell short of ratification due to conservative backlash.

Latino Rights

• Mexican workers, deported during the Great Depression, returned in the fifties and sixties and faced exploitation.
• Boycotts and protests led by Cesar Chavez resulted in collective bargaining rights for agricultural workers in 1975.

American Indian Movement

• The American Indian Movement was founded in 1968 to reclaim tribal traditions and achieve self-determination.
• The occupation of Alcatraz Island led to the Self-Determination Act of 1975, granting greater control over lands, education, and law enforcement.

Gay Liberation Movement

• The Stonewall Inn raid in 1969 sparked resistance and protests.
• Activists encouraged openness and worked to end discriminatory practices.
• Homosexuality transitioned from a mental illness to a legitimate sexual orientation in the 1970s.

Counterculture

• A movement among young people rejecting societal restraints with rebellious styles, drug use, and free love.
• The Woodstock Music Festival in 1969 gathered 400,000 people.
• The counterculture fizzled out due to excesses and drug addictions, but changed attitudes toward sexuality persisted.

Supreme Court Under Earl Warren

• Expanded civil liberties through multiple decisions.
• Baker versus Carr (1962) mandated representative districts be drawn to include all citizens, addressing rural skew.
• Engel versus Vitale argued that required bible reading and teacher-led prayers in schools violated the separation of church and state.

Decolonization

• Massive decolonization occurred after World War II.
• Newly independent nations needed aid and became assets in the US-Soviet conflict.

Latin America: Guatemala

• The US led a coup in 1954 to overthrow a socialist government encroaching on US business interests.
• CIA planned assassinations of communist leaders like Fidel Castro.
• Anti-American sentiment increased due to anti-socialist interventions.

Middle East: Iran

• The CIA aided the overthrow of a socialist government wanting to nationalize oil.
• A new leader sympathetic to American interests was installed, lowering oil prices and purchasing American arms.

Asia: Vietnam (Indochina)

• Vietnam was divided into North and South at the 17th Parallel after liberation from French colony.
• Ho Chi Minh established a communist government in the North, and a democratic government was established in the South.
• Eisenhower gave billions in economic aid to stabilize the South, arguing the domino theory.
• Eisenhower warned against the growing military-industrial complex in his farewell address.
• John F. Kennedy increased the number of military advisors sent to Vietnam.

Escalation in Vietnam

• Lyndon Johnson became president after Kennedy's assassination.
• The Gulf of Tonkin incident was allegedly used as justification for US military escalation.
• Congress gave Johnson a blank check in the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution.
• The US got involved in a war without an official declaration from Congress.
• By 1965, nearly 200,000 American troops were fighting in Vietnam, doubling over the next two years.

Anti-War Protests

• Secrecy and misinformation fueled intense anti-war protests.
• Americans opposed the war due to the waste of lives and money.
• College students staged massive demonstrations.

The Great Society

• Johnson struggled to create the Great Society, an expansion of FDR's New Deal.
• The war on poverty aimed to address 40 million Americans living in poverty.
• The Office of Economic Opportunity implemented self-help programs.
• Medicare provided health insurance to those over 65.
• Medicaid provided health insurance to those in poverty.
• A new Immigration Act abolished immigration quotas.
• Liberalism reached its high point of efficacy and influence in the mid-1960s.

Conservatism and Decline of the Great Society

• President Nixon was elected in 1968 and would eventually end America's involvement in Vietnam.
• A recession began in the 1970s, combining inflation and economic stagnation (stagflation).
• Nixon cut federal spending, leading to an increased economic downturn.
• Public confidence in government eroded.

Watergate Scandal

• Nixon's reelection committee was caught breaking into the Democratic Party's headquarters at the Watergate office complex.
• Nixon initially denied involvement but was later implicated by secret tape recordings.
• Nixon resigned to presidency.

Supreme Court and Social Issues

• Nixon appointed conservative judges to the Supreme Court.
• Roe versus Wade ruled in favor of the constitutionality of abortion in all 50 states.
• This led to the fusion of evangelical Christians who opposed abortion with the Republican Party.

Environmental Movement

• Growing concern over human damage to the environment.
• The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was created in 1970 to regulate the environmental impact of industry.