Period 8 (1945-1980)

Key Concept 8.1 —The United States responded to an uncertain and unstable postwar world by asserting and working to maintain a position of global leadership, with far-reaching domestic and international consequences.

I. United States policymakers engaged in a Cold War with the authoritarian Soviet Union, seeking to limit the growth of Communist military power and ideological influence, create a free-market global economy, and build an international security system. 

• US alarmed by Soviet takeover of Eastern Europe - communist dictators had come to power

• Soviet controlled section of Germany turned into a communist state

• Iron curtain - Soviet satellite states

  • Speech called for democracies to stop spread of communism

• Truman containment policy/ Truman Doctrine

  • Response to Communist-led uprising in Greece and Soviet demands for control of water route in Turkey

  • Assisted people in Greece and Turkey against Communists

• Marshall Plan helped Western Europe achieve self-sustaining growth

  • Soviets refused plan - increased tensions

• Berlin Airlift - Soviet blockade of East Germany - US planes fly in supplies to West Berlin

  • Creation of West and East Germany

• Warsaw Pact - military alliance for the defense of Communist states in Eastern Europe

• 1949 - US joined NATO

  • NATO effectively checked Soviet expansion in europe 

• National Security Act - centralized department of defense, creation of national security council and central intelligence agency

• Arms race between US and Soviet Union to develop superior weapons systems

• Japan surrendered claims to Korea and islands in the Pacific

• Domino theory - if South Vietnam fell to Communists, one nation after another is Southeast Asia would also fall

• Eisenhower Doctrine - US economic and military aid to Middle Eastern nations threatened by Communism

• 1958 - US created NASA to direct US efforts to build missiles and explore outer space

• Castro set up a Communist totalitarian state after taking over Cuba

• Failed Bay of Pigs invasion led to Castro seeking more aid from Soviets

• Soviets created Berlin Wall to stop migration from East to West Germany

• Cuban Missile Crisis came close to nuclear warfare - led to Nuclear Test Ban Treaty

  • Kennedy increased spending on nonnuclear arms and mobile military forces

• Nixon’s visits to China led to US recognition of their communist government in 1979

  • Used this relationship to pressure Soviet Union into a treaty limiting missiles - significant step toward reducing Cold War tensions 

II. Cold War policies led to public debates over the power of the federal government and acceptable means for pursuing international and domestic goals while protecting civil liberties.

• Communists took over in China by appealing to the poor and landless 

  • Republicans blamed Democrats for loss of China to Communists

• Korean War - US controlled South Korea conflict with North Korea

  • Further conflict between political parties over expanding the war

• Public belief that Communist conspirators and spies had infiltrated American society

  • Loyalty Review Board - investigate background of federal employees

• Smith Act and McCarran Internal Security Act - reflected second Red Scare

  • Some attacked for being anti-America, loyalty oaths required by teachers and writers

  • Methods used to identify Communists raised questions about government violating civil liberties

  • mcCarthy gained political power by appealing to anti-Communist hysteria

• CIA operations fueled anti-American feelings in Latin American and damaged US-Iran relations

• Nixon focused more on international relations rather than domestic policy

• Nixon doctrine - in the future, Asian allies would receive US support without extensive use of US ground forces 

• 1970 - Nixon used US forces to invade Cambodia 

  • Led to a nationwide protest on college campuses against this action - federal violence against protestors 

  • US public learned about the 1968 massacre of women and children by US troops

• Economy in 1970s faced economic slowdown and high inflation

Key Concept 8.2 — New movements for civil rights and liberal efforts to expand the role of government generated a range of political and cultural responses.

I. Seeking to fulfill Reconstruction-era promises, civil rights activists and political leaders achieved some legal and political successes in ending segregation, although progress toward equality was slow.      

• 1948 - Truman desegregated the military

• Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka - segregation of schools was unconstitutional because violated the 14th amendment - Supreme Court agreed with argument and overturned Plessy case 

  • States fought decision by setting up private schools, closing down public schools, and violence against Black people increased 

• Rosa Park’s arrest sparked boycott of city buses

• Emergence of Baptist minister Martin Luther King Jr. as a leader of nonviolent protests

• Civil Rights Laws of 1957 and 1960 - gave justice department power to protect voting rights of Black people

• African Americans used sit-in techniques and to integrate restaurants, hotels, buildings, libraries, pools, and transportation in the south 

• 1964 Civil Rights Act - made segregation illegal in all public facilities and gave the federal government powers to enforce school desegregation 

• Martin Luther King Jr. emerged as national leader of nonviolent Civil Rights movements 

  • His “Letter From Birmingham Jail” inspired Kennedy to support a tougher civil rights bill

  • March on Washington - largest and most successful demonstration in US history - in support of Kennedy’s civil rights bill

• March to Montgomery - voting rights march - met with beatings and teargas - became known as “Bloody Sunday”

  • Media coverage led Johnson to offer federal protection to King and marchers 

• Elijah Muhammad preached black nationalism, separatism, and self-improvement 

• Malcolm X led Black Muslims and advocated for self-defense

  • Inspired SNCC to advocate for “black power” and some separatism (Black Panthers)

II. Responding to social conditions and the African American civil rights movement, a variety of movements emerged that focused on issues of identity, social justice, and the environment.

• Congress dropped bans on Chinese and other Asian immigratio and eliminated race as a barrier to naturalization 

  • However, Mexican immigrants faced immigration restriciton, deportion, and discrimination

• Lady Bird Johnson’s “Beautify America” project

• Equal Employment Opportunity Commission - end discrimination in employment of basis of race, religion, sex, or national origin 

  • Stopped practice of collecting poll taxes 

• Voting Rights Act of 1965 - ended literacy tests and provided federal registrars

• Title IX - end sex discrimination in schools that recieve federal funding - equal athletic opportunities for girls 

III. Liberalism influenced postwar politics and court decisions, but it came under increasing attack from the left as well as from a resurgent conservative movement. 

• Eisenhower’s modern Republicanism - balancing government budget, creation of HEW, extended social security, opposed ideas of federal health care insurance and aid to education

• Warren court - state could not prohibit use of contraceptives, separation of church and state, protected radical and revolutionary speech

• SDS - students for a democratic society - led to student antiwar protests and the New Left

• Counterculture - music, increased drug use, clothing style, democratic ideas 

• Women’s rights movement accomplished changes in attitudes and hiring practices 

Key Concept 8.3- Postwar economic, demographic, and technological changes had a far-reaching impact on American society, politics, and the environment.

I. Rapid economic and social changes in American society fostered a sense of optimism in the postwar years.

• Highest standard of living

• GI Bill of Rights - education to veterans

  • Postwar boom in higher education

  • Federal gov. Stimulated postwar economic expansion

• Baby boom - women’s attention on raising children and homemaking

  • More women still entered workforce

• Growth of suburbs - cities became increasingly poor and racially divided

• 1948 - Truman ordered end of racial discriminaation in fed. Gov. and armed forced

• 22nd amendment - limited president to 2 terms

• Taft-Hawley Act - check growing power of unions

• Truman's Fair Deal bills defeated because of…

  • Truman’s conflicts with Congress

  • Concerns of the Cold War

• 1956 - Highway Act - justification for new taxes to improve defense - homogenous national culture

II. New demographic and social developments, along with anxieties over the Cold War, changed U.S. culture and led to significant political and moral debates that sharply divided the nation. 

• For many Americans, doubts about Warren Commision and Kennedy’s death resulted in loss of credibility of the government

• Johnson’s legislative achievements helped reduce poverty but escalated the Vietnam War

• Misinformation and Johson’s reluctance to speak on the scope of the Vietnamese war created a credibility gap