WORLD WAR II

Foreign Policy

International Relations Between Wars -

• European Instability
  • Post WW1 chaos
  • Poor/Unstable economy
  • Communist Soviet Union
• Myth of Isolation
  • U.S. is too interconnected to tuly withdraw fr4om international community
  • Favored unilateralism, only getting involved in what directly impacts the US, no alliances

Washington Conference (1921)-

• International conference on naval disarmament and pacific security
  • Europe and the US feared the growing strength of japan

1. Five - Power agreement: US agreed to slow naval arms race to reduce the chance for future wars
2. Four Power Treaty: Japan, Britain, the US, and France agreed to respect each others territory in the Pacific
3. Nine Power Treaty: the five powers as well as the Netherlands, Portugal, Belgium, and China agreed to China’s territorial integrity and promised to uphold the Open Door Policy

US Foreign Policy -

• 1928: Kellogg-Briand Pact: Outlawed war as an instrument of national policy but war in self defence -> failure -> No provision for Enforcement
• 1932: Stimson Doctrine: US would not recognize any territory acquired by force -> Angered Japan
• 1933: Good Neighbor Policy: US policy of nonintervention in South America

Worldwide Depression -

• Europe struggled to recover from World War 1 facing high inflation, unemployment, tariffs
• Britain and France wanted US to cancel/forgive war debt, the US refused
• 1924: Dawes Plan loans to Germany so they could pay reparations to Britain and France so they could pay WW1 loans to US
  • Temporarily relieved tension and restored economic prosperity
  • After 1929 as the depression worsened none of the debtor nations could make payments

Neutrality -

• Nye committee hearings claimed that wilson provokded germany, bankers wanted to protect loans, and arms manufacturers wanted to make money
  • Resulted in congress passing several Neutrality acts
  • Rise in anti-semitism in the US
• Neutrality Acts limited the power of the presidetn during a foreign war by:
  • Prohibited sales of arms to belligerent nations
  • Prohibited loans and credits to belligerent nations
  • Forbads American sto travel on vessels of nations at war
  • Goods must be purchased on a Cash and Carry basis

Rise of the Dictators -

• Depression contributed to the rise of totalitarianism in Europe and Asia
  • Italy -> Benito Myssolini
  • Germany -> Adolf Hitler
  • Soviet Union -> Joseph Stalin
  • Spain -> Francisco Franco
  • Japan -> Militarists (Hideki Tojo)

THE EUROPEAN THEATER

Blitzrieg In Poland -

Nonaggression Pact included how Hitler and Stalin would split Eastern Europe

• September 1, 1939: The German luftwaffe rained bombs and tanks raced across the polish countryside
• September 3: Britain and France declared war on Germany
  • September 17: Stalin sent troops to occupy eastern Poland
    • Also sent troops to Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and Finland

Phony War -

• By May 1940, Hitler Annexed Denmark, Norway, Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg
• Allied troops sat on the maginot line waiting for a German Attack
• June 22, 1940: Germany occupied northern France, a puppet government was established in the South
  • French General Sharles de Gaulle fled to England, set up a government in exile

Battle of Britain: The Blitz -

• Summer 1940: Luftwaffe began bombing Great Britain hoping to decrease morale
  • Fought back using the radar and enigma machine

The Axis Focus Elsewhere -

• September 1940: Mussolini targeted British-controlled Egypt
  • By June 1942 Allies lost North Africa
• Hitler began planning an attack on the Soviet Union
  • Had to invade the Balkans first, fell by April 1941

Hitler Invades the Soviet Union -

• June 22, 1941: Germany surprise attacked the Soviet Union launching Operation Barbarossa
  • Soviet forces were not prepared and follew scorched earth policy
  • Did not prepare for winter, Hitler sent order of “No Retreat”

United States Aids Allies -

• Earyl Nazi victories started to change islation thinking
  • FDR asked to increase spending for national defense
  • Congress passed the Selective Training and Service Act
    • 1 million drafted, could only serve in the Western Hemisphere
  • The Great Arsenal of Democracy
  • March 1941: Lend-Lease Act
    • Began aiding Stalin, “enemy of my enemy is my friend”
  • Hitler sent out “wolf packs” to hunt allied ships

Atlantic Charter -

• Churchill and FDR met aboard the USS Augusta
  • Churchill hoped for military commitment, FDR could not ask Congress for a declartion of war

A Date which will live in Infamy -

• December 7,1941: Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in Hawaii
  • US military leaders knew an attack could come, did not know when/where
• Japanese sunk/damaged 19 ships, 2300 americans killed, 1100 wounded
• December 8: FDR addressed Congress requesting a declaration of war against Japan

1. Closing the Ring

• Made a blockade of supplies in Germany and started to bomb German cities and ammunition centers
  • Weakest points of the German Military first and then move farther and farther until there is nothing left

1. Operation Torch

• Operation that led the British to securing victory in North Africa while allowing American armed forces the opportunity to begin their fight against Nazi Germany
  • First successful combined attack for British and American troops

1. Stalingrad

• Soviets stopped the Germans and turned the tide of the eastern front of the war
  • Germans on defense not offense

1. Soft Underbelly

• Using Italy as the “Soft Underbelly”of europe to lead to further attacks

1. Atlantic Wall

• Fortifications placed on Europes northern shore of France
  • Thousands of miles of fortifications, guns, and obstacles

1. Tehran Conference

• Allied leaders meet
  • USA and Britain promised to invade and regain control of France

1. Operation Overlord / D-Day

• Operation Overlord was a trick aimed at another beach when the real attack was in a different place entirely
  • Utah and Omaha Beaches, forces at Omaha met with exessive force but fought through and forced the Germans to retreat

1. Battle of the Bulge

• On the East, Soviets were pushing Hitler as he launched a unsuccessful counterattack

1. Elbe River

• A stopping point for American and Russian troops
  • Should have gone further now looking back on the cold war

1. VE Day

• GERMANS SURRENDERED
  • May 8, 1945

War Plans -

• December 22, 1941: Churchill arrived in DC to work out a plan with FDR
• Churchhill convinced FDR to attack in Europe first as they posed a bigger threat
• Once they gained the upper hand in Europe, their efforts could shift to Japan

Battle of the Atlantic -

• Hitler ordered submarine raids against ships along the US east coast
  • Goal was to prevent food and war materials from reaching Britain and soviets
  • Seven months in, Germany sank 681 ships
• Allies responded by organizing in convoys to travel together for protection and airplanes with radar

Turning the Tides -

• 1942: Allies regrouped to take back North Africa
  • Allied force of 100,000 lead by Dwight D. Eisenhower
• August 23, 1942: Germans began nightly bombing attacks in stalingrad
  • Hoped to capture oil fields
  • November: Soviets trap Germans and cut off supplies
  • Allows Soviets to puch westward

The Soft Underbelly of Europe -

• Churchill believed it would be best to invade Italy before France
• July 10, 1943: Allied forces landed on Sicily
  • September 3: Italy Surrendered
• Germany took control of northern Italy and put Mussolini back in power

Victory in Europe -

• May 1944: Commanded by Dwight Eisenhower
  • June 6 1944: British, American, French, and Canadian troops fought along a beach in normandy
  • July 25: Allies broke through german defences
• September: Allies liberated France, Belgium and Luxembourg
• Allies approached Germany from the West and Soviet from the East
  • December 1944: battle of the Buldge, Allies push Germany Back

Germans Surrender -

• April 25, 1945: Berlin was surrounded by Allied troops
• Hitler retreated to an underground bunker
  • April 30: Hitler and his wife committed suicide
• May 7: Eisenhower accepted the surrender of the Third Reich
  • May 8: Surrender was officically signed in Berlin
• War was still going on in the Pacific

THE PACIFIC THEATER

Conflict with the US -

• July 1941: Japan entered French Indochina, and the US protested this by cutting off trade
• November 5: Hideki Tojo ordered the navy to be ready to attack the US
• December 7: Pearl Harbor
• December 1941: Japanese forces invaded the Philippines
  • March 11: Douglas MacArthur ordered to leave pledging “I Shall Return”

Japanese Victories -

• Japan’s empire was larger than the Third Reich
  • About 150 Million People
  • Treated newly conquered peoples with extreme cruelty
• European colonies were unprotected, too busy in Europe

Island Hopping -

• Goal: to get allies as close to Japan as possible by taking islands and cutting supply lines
• Successful plan developed by Douglas MacArtur stopping Japanese expansion in the pacific
• Allies continued to move closer to japan, japan refused to surrender
  • Jamikazes: Japanese suicide pilots ordered to crash dive into Allied ships

Navajo Code Talkers -

• Native Americans who used their language to send secret messages on the battlefield
• Used 26 Navajo terms to spell out words
  • Wo-la-chee = ant = A
  • Besh-lo = iron fish
• Considered classified word until 1968 in case the code was needed again

Manhattan Project -

• J. Robert Oppenheimer developed the atomic bomb with the help of 600,000 Americans
  • Few knew its perupose
  • Truman didn’t know of it unitl he became president
• July 16, 1945: Test bomb was detonated in the desert of Alamogordo, NM
• July 25: Truman order the military to make final plans for dropping two bombs

Victory in the Pacific -

• Allies were left with two options:
  • Invade by land, could cost up to half a million lives
  • Drop atomic bomb and bring the war to an end faster
  • President Truman warned the Japanese about the bomb, no answer
• August 6: the Enola Gay released little boy over Hiroshima
• August 9: Second Bomb was dropped on Nagasaki
• September 2: Japanese surrendered to General Douglas MacArthur

Occupation of Japan -

• Japan was occupied by Dougla MacArthur
  • 1,100 Japanese, including Tojo, were arrested and put on trial for atrocities against POWs and civilians
• MacArthur reshaped the Japanese economy by introducing free market practices to help with recoverys
• Called for a new constitution to provide women’s suffrage and basic freedoms

HOMEFRONT:

Four Freedoms -

• Freedom of Speech
• Freedom of Worship
• Freedom from Want
• Freedom from Fear

War Powers Act -

Edith Norse Rogers - WAC - Basically allowed women to participate in the War in Non Combat Roles

WAC - Army

WAVES - Navy

WASPS - Air Force

SPARS - Coast Guard

An Unprecedented President -

• 1940: FDR droke tradition and ran for a third term
  • Won with 55% of the popular vote
• 1944: with the war still going on, FDR ran for a 4th term
  • Won with 53% of the popular vote
  • Party leaders concerned with FDR’s declining health put Harry Truman on the ticket
• April 12, 1945: FDR died from a brain hemorrage

Opposition to War -

• Charles Lingbergh became the leading member of America First Committee
• Jeanette Rankin: Sole member of Congress to vote against declaration of war
  • “As a woman I can’t go to war and I refuse to send anyone else.”

Segregated Units-

• 761st Tank Battalion (Black Panthers) / Battle of the Bulge
  • Opened up the Siegfried Ling allowing Allied advancement into Germany
• 99th Pursuit Squadron (tuskegee airmen) / Invasion of Italy
  • Launched strikes against the German Forces
• 442nd infantry Regiment / European Theater
  • Made up of Nisei (2nd Generation Japansese Americans
  • Became the most decorated unit
• Double Victory Campaign

Labor -

• The US needed owrkers to meet military and industrial needs
• 1941: FDR issued Executive Order 8802 barring discrimination in defence industries
  • Formed the Fair Employment Practices Committee
  • Office of Scientific Research and Development

Social Changes -

• Mothers were left to raise their children alone
  • Latchkey Children
  • Teenagers drifted into juvenile delinquency
  • Huge increase in marriage before soldiers were sent off to war
  • 1944: GI Bill of Rights was passed to provide education, job training, and loan guarantees for vets buying homes or starting businesses
  • Towns with defence industries saw huge increases in migration

HUMAN RIGHTS

What are Human Rights? -

• Rights inherent to all humans regardless of nationality, place of residence, sex, national or ethnic origin, color, religion, language, or any other status

United Nations -

• 1945: After WW2 the United Nation (UN) was formed
  • Intergovernmental organization to promote international cooperation
  • Replacement to the League of Nations

Universal Declaration of Human Rights -

• 1948: The UN Genral Assembly wrote the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights
• Defines the meaning of the Fundamental Freedoms and Human Rights
• These rights should be universally protected, though not legally binding

Genocide -

• The term genocide refers to violent crimes committed against groups with the intent to dectroy the existence of the group
• Ethnic Cleansing: Different from genocide, a policy intended to rid an area of a certain population, no necessarily physical destruction

Paranoia in the US -

• When the war began, 120000 japanese Americans lived in the US, mostly on the West Coast
• Paranoia began after Pearl Harbor
• 1942: The War department called for mass evacuations of Japanese Americans from Hawaii
• Newspapers stirred up anti-japanese feeling

Internment Camps -

• FDR Signed Executive Order 9066
  • Necessary for national security
  • 110000 taken to relocation camps
  • ⅔ were nisei
  • Families sold their homes, business, and belongings
• Korematsu v United States decided that the governments evacuating was justified based on military necessity

Reparations -

• 1965: Congress authorized 38 million to compenstate those who lost property
• 1988: Regan signed a bill promising 20,000 to every japanese Ameriacn sent to camps

SS -

Specially trained units of the S.S. followed the first wave of German troops in the invasion of the Soviet Union. Their orders were to execute all Communists, Jews, and Roma on the spot.

Kristallnacht -

Nov. 9, 1938, the Nazis orchestrated a nationwide wave of attacks on Jewish businesses, homes, and synagogues. Almost 100 Jews were killed, and thousands were arrested and sent to camps.

Final Solution -

Detailed plans for the systematic extermination of all of Europe's Jews

Madagascar Plan -

Nazis would ship all Jews under Nazi control to Madagascar, an island off the coast of Africa in the Indian Ocean.

Generalplan Ost -

A new plan for mass emigration

Jews and Eastern European Slavs would be sent to Siberia to be used as slave labor.

Henrich Himmler -

Heralded a major change in Nazi policy with respect to the "Jewish problem."

This shift in policy resulted in the deportation of Jews to camps and ghettos in the East.

Deportation -

Deportation was the first step in the "Final Solution."

The deportees were forced into rail cars, most of which were windowless and unheated cattle cars where they were squeezed in so tightly that most were forced to stand.

Each car held more than 120 people, and many froze or suffocated to death or succumbed to disease during the trip to the camps. The dead were not removed from the cars during the journey because policy insisted that each body entering a car be accounted for at the destination.

Adolph Eichmann -

Did the logistics for the transportation of jews during the holocaust

traveled from country to country that was under German occupation to systematically plan the deportation of the local Jewish population.

Ghettos -

Jews had known the ghetto since the Middle Ages.

The purpose of the Nazi ghetto was to create total confinement for the Jewish population, turning entire neighborhoods into a prison.

Einsatzgruppen -

Specially trained units of the S.S. followed the first wave of German troops in the invasion of the Soviet Union. Their orders were to execute all Communists, Jews, and Roma on the spot.

Babi Yar -

Thousands of Jews were brought to Babi Yar, a ravine on the outskirts of Kyiv, and mowed down by machine guns.

executions recorded 33,771 deaths

Concentration Camps -

Originally for political opponents

used these facilities to warehouse other "undesirables". These included German Communists, Socialists, Social Democrats, and trade union leaders, along with Roma, Poles, Homosexuals, mentally and physically disabled, and hundreds of thousands of Jews.

Death Camps -

death camps had no barracks to house prisoners, other than those for workers at the camps

Jews deported from ghettos and concentration camps to the death camps were unaware of what they were facing.

The Nazi planners of the operation told the victims that they were being resettled for labor, issued them work permits, and told them to bring along their tools and exchange their German marks for foreign currency.

Food was also used to coax starving Jews onto the trains.

Once the trains arrived at the death camps, trucks were available to transport those who were too weak to walk directly to the gas chambers.

Nuremberg Laws -

• Sep 1935: Restrict german jews as much as possible
• Defined what jewish blood and german blood was
• August Landmesser
• Passports were revoked

Forced Emigration -

• Madagascar Plan and Final Solution

Refugees -

• Jews trying to emigrate had a hard time finding nations to take them
  • France: 40,000
  • Britain: 80,000
    • Allowed 30,000 to settle in Palestine
  • United States: 100,000
    • Concered about jobs (great depression)
    • Anti-Semitism in the US
• 1939: 250,000 Jews remained in Germany, other nations had over a million

Plight of St. Louis -

• St. Louis was a German ship passing MIami in 1939
• 740 of the 943 passengers had immigration papers, the coast guard prevented anyone from disembarking into the US
• Many would later be killed during the holocaust

Shanghai Ghetto -

• Many Jews fled to Shanghai following Kristallnacht
• Did not face same treatment as those Nazi ghettos
• At first, Germany was happy with the interment of Jews in ghettos, later put pressure of Japan to turn over Shanghai jews
  • Japan refused

Death Camps are in Poland, and Concentration Camps were in Germany

Nazi Party Leaders -

• Heinrich Himmler: Leader of the SS. Oversaw killing squads
• Adolf Eichmann: Organized the deportation and extermination of Jews
• Hermann Goering: Headed the Luftwaffe and advocated for confiscation of Jewish businesses
• Joesph Goebbels: Leading propagandist, Succceeded Hitler
• Reinhard Heyrich: Chair of the Wannsee Conference, helped organize Kristallnacht
• Joesph Mengele: Auschwitz Physician, performed cruel experiments
• Albert Speer: In charge of war production

Liberation-

• As allies advanced into Nazi occupied Europe, they liberated concentration and death camps
  • Nazis tried to destroy some of the evidence
  • Allied forces able to see the crimes against humanity carried out

Nuremberg Trials -

• Nazi war criminals put on trial in Nuremberg, Germany
• High ranking officials left to face charges
• Many were excuted and corpses were burned at former concentration camps

COLD WAR

1945-1991

Allies Clash -

• Communist Soviet Union vs Capitalist/Democratic US
• US upset Stalin made Nonaggression Pact with Hitler
• Stalin upset Allies took so long to attack Western Europe and secret of the Atomic Bomb
• Red Scare
• Failure to recognize Soviet Union after Bolshevik Rvolution

Yalta Conference -

• February 1945: FDR, Stalin, Churchill meet to discuss postwar plans
• Stalin favored division of germany and harsh approach towards germany
• Churchill disagreed, fdr served as mediator

Potsdam Conference -

• July 1945: Final wartime conference, Clement Attlee replaced Churchill and Truman replaced FDR

The Breakdown in Cooperation -

• Free election were not held in Romania and Bulgaria—> Soviet influence
• Reparations cannot continue if it requires Allied subsides
• Russia has had a long history of being invaded, want protection
• US believed Russia to be underminding Western Powers
• US increase in Military Spending
• Feburary 1946: Diplomat George Kennan Proposed the idea of CONTAINMENT
  • Take measures to prevent any extension of communist rule to other countries

Berlin Airlift -

US, Britain and France reunified their three zones into one nation

• Stalin was mad and closed all highway and rail routes into west berlin

Americans and British began the airlift to fly food and supplies into west berlin

• Soviet lifted the blockade

Western Germany - the Ferderal Republic of Germany

Eastern Germany - the German Democratic Republic

Alliances Form -

Increased fears after the berlin blockade led to the formation of the north atlantic treaty organization

• West Germany joined NATO, soviet fears increased leading to the Warsaw Pact
  • Linked the soviets with 7 eastern european countries

KOREA: 1950-53

China -

When did China become Communist

• 1949

Who were the two leaders in the Chinese Civil War

• Nationalist: Chiang Kai Shek
• Communist: Mao Tse Tung

What was the result of the Civil War

• Nationalist flee to Taiwan and the Communists take over mainland China
• Taiwan is not recognized as the real China

SHOWS THAT CONTAINMENT IS NOT WORKING FULLY

Domino Theory - if one country in southeast asia falls they all fall to communism

Korea -

• Korea was annexed by Japan in 1910 until Japans defeat in WW2
  • Korea gets split along the 38th parallel
    • North = Soviet influence (led by Kim il sung)
    • South = US influence (Syngman Rhee in Seoul)

North Korea Attacks -

• June 25,1950: North Korea launches a surprise attack on South Korea
  • Backed by soviets
  • UN called to stop NK invasion
  • 6/27: Turman orders trooops stationed in Japan to provide support, sent a fleet in waters between Taiwan and China
• Troops led by Douglas MacArthur
  • Faced harsh weather and unsanitary conditions

US Involvement -

• NK seemed unstoppable at first pushing UN ans SK troops to the southeastern corner
• 9/15/1950: MacArthur counter attacks with surprise landing behind enemy line
• By late november UN troops reached the NK China Border

China Fights Back -

Late November - China sends 300000 troops as US troops are close to the border

• China wants NK as a communist buffer state
• Felt threatened by American fleet off the coast

Outnumbered UN troops 10:1 driving them southward

Fighting goes on endlessly for two years without major advances

MacArthur vs. Truman -

Early 1951: MacArthur suggested extending the war into China and use of nuclear weapons

• Truman rejected over fear of WW3, Soviet had pact with China
• MacArthur went to Republican leaders and press criticizing Truman

4/11/1951: Truman fired MacArthur

• Outraged many American (69% supported MacArthur)

Stalemate -

June 23, 1951: Soviet suggested ceasefire

• Agreed on the location of ceasefire at existing point and demilitarized zone between both sides

7/1953, Armistice was signed, the war was a stalmate

• Communism was contained and Korea remained in two

At home, the cost of war was estimated to be 67 billion

• Failure of the war explains the victory of Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

1950s America:

Postwar America -

• GI Bill
• Housing Crisis → Mass produced homes (levittown)
• New role for women
• Cold war defense spending
• 1946: OPA ended control
• Blue collar →White collar jobs

TV: introduced Americans to a widespread form of media, replaces the radio

Rock and Roll: paved the way for every music genre, allowed teens to express themselves

Beat Culture: Non conformity for teens

Automobile: Status, transportation and travel (everyone had to have a car)

The Teenager: Allowed teens to live the highschool life and lived their own lives

Birth of the Baby Boomers:

• Raise in the production of children for families
• Men came home from war and wanted children

Conformity -

• Company Man: go to work and do the job that you are told, all for the company
• Homemaker Women: Not expected to get a job and work (stay at home)

Teenager -

• James dean: rebel who came from a good family
• REBEL

Suburbia -

• Another way of conforming
• Allows people to drive into the city

White Flight -

• Millions of white Americans left the cities for the suburbs
  • Isolated from other races/classes
  • Took economic resources
  • Cities could not keep up with the costs of public transportation, police/fire, and schools
  • Minorities had to live dirty crowded slums
• National housing act to provide a decent home and suitable living environment for every American Family
  • Many families displaced

National Highway Act -

• 41,000 miles of highways
• Allows people to travel cross country much easier

Consumerism -

• Planned Obsolescence: business technique of developing a product with reduced life to force customers to replace them often
• Start of Franchises (mcdonalds)

1950s Politics

Truman and the Economy -

• Post WW2 and New deal economic recovery
• 1946: 4.5 million steelworkers, coal miners, and railroad workers went on strike
  • Rising prices and lower wages
  • Truman threatened to draft strikers
• 1946: Republicans win back the senate and house
• Taft-Hartley Act overturned rights won by unions under the New Deal

Truman and Civil Rights -

• 1946: Created the President's Commission on Civil Rights
  • Asked for a federal antulynching law, ban on the poll tax, and permanent civil rights commission
• July 1948: issued EO 9981 to integrate the armed forces

1948 Election -

• Truman blamed for inflation and labor unrest
• Southern Democrats formed the Dixiecrats after civil rights platform
• Far left Democrats formed the Progressive Party
• In a stunning upset Truman won and Democrats took control of Congress

The Fair Deal -

• Extension of FDR New Deal
• Raised the minimum wage to 75 cents
• Extended SS coverage to 10 million people
• Initiated flood control and irrigation projects
• Financial support for cities to build low income housing units

I like Ike!

• Truman approval rating plummeted after korea and mccarthyism
  • Did not run in 1952
  • Eisenhower won 55% of the popular vote and Republicans took control of Congress
    • Had to deal with scandals that followed running mate Richard Nixon
  • Eisenhower followed a middle of the read course
• Fiscally conservative
• Socially liberal

Lavender Scare -

• 4/27/1953: Eisenhower issued Executive Order 10450
  • Expanded Trumans loyalty program to people with sexual perversion
  • McCarthy claimed gay men claimed a treat to national security
    • Though to be vulnerable to blackmail with weak moral character
    • Linked with the Red Scare by implying Psychological imbalance
  • Prevented gay men from serving in the military
    • Backfired during Vietnam draft
    • In effect unitl Dont ask, dont tell in 1995, repealed in 2017

Pledge of Allegiance -

• June 14, 1954: Eisenhower signed a bill to insert the phrase under God into the US pledge of allegiance
  • Pushed during the Red Scare
  • Communism was viewed as godless

John F. Kennedy

• Democrat
• Massachusetts
• Young - 43
• Roman Catholic
• Experience: Senator
• WWII War Hero
• Wealthy family
• Running mate: Lyndon B Johnson (Texas)

Richard Nixon -

• Republican
• California
• Young - 47
• Experience in Senate and VP
• Red-Baiter/anit-communist
• Grew up poor, worked way to college
• Running Mate: Henry Cabot Lodge (Massachusetts)

Civil Rights -

• JFK is supported by civil rights activists like Martin Luther King

JFK WON

Camelot -

• Set the tone for a new era in the White House
  • Young, attractive, influential family
    • Jakcie became a fashion icon
    • Caroline and John were featured in magazines
    • Millions of Americans too speed reding classes
  • Often of TV
  • Artists and celebrities spent time at the White House
  • Press and the public loved JFK’s wit and charm
• Critized for lack of substance

Policies -

• Continued initiatives started by FDR and Truman
  • Republicans and Southern Democrats blocked expansion of New Deal programs
• Continued Containment

Cuban Missle Crisis -

• Summer 1962: Weapons from moscow to cuba continued increasing
  • Included Nuvlear Weapons
  • Kennedy responded stating the US would not tolerate nukes in Cuba
• OCT 14: photographs taken by AMerican planes showed Soviet missile bases
• OCT 16: JFK notified
• OCT 22: Kennedy informed the nation of missile existence and his plan to remove them

Six Days -

• Faced possibility of nuclear war
• The US Navy prepared to quarantine Cuba to prevent Soviet ships from coming within 500 miles
  • In Flordia, 100,000 troops waited
• OCT 25: Soviet ships topped to avoid confrontation
• OCT 28: Khrushchev agrees to remove missiles if Americans dont invade Cuba
  • The US also secretly agreed to remove missiles from Turkey

Impact of the Cuban Missile Crisis -

• Both leaders faced heavy criticism for the crisis
  • Kruschev lost prestige at home
  • Kennedy was criticized for practicing brinkmanship
  • Critics Argued:
    • A private conversation could have resolved the conflict
    • Wasted an opportunity to invade Cuba
    • Cuban exiles blamed Democrats for losing Cuba
• November 1962: Castro banned all flights to and from Miami

Berlin Wall -

• Since separation of Germany, 3 million East Geramns fled to West Berlin
• JUN 1961: Khrushchev threatened to have all access roads to West Berlinn closed
• AUG 13, 1961: Khrushchev had East German troops form the Berlin Wall along the West Berlin
• Further aggravated tensions

Easing Tensions -

• After two conflicts, Kennedy began looking for ways to tone down his hard line stance
• 1963: Kennedy announced the hot line between the White House and the Kremlin should another crisis arise

The New Frontier -

• Kennedy looked to transform his vision of progress into the “New Frontier”
• Passed measures to
  • Boost the Economy
  • Build national defence
  • Provide international aid
  • Fund space programs
  • Domestic issues

Tragedy in Dallas -

• November 22, 1963: Kennedy arrived in Texas to mend political fences with the states Democrats
• JFK, Jackie, and the governor of Texas and his wife sat in an open-air limousine through the city
• Passed by the Texas School Book depository when kennedy was shot in the head

Who did it?

• Lee Harvey Oswald was charged with the murder

Dishonorably discharged from marines, lived briefly in the sovie tunion and supported castro

• • NOV 24: Oswald was being transferred between jails, Jack Ruby shot and kiled him, broadcasted on tv

Education -

• Johnson introduced a flurry of bills to Congress.
• He considered education "the key which can unlock the door to the Great Society."
• The Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 was enacted, providing over $1 billion in federal aid.
• The aid aimed to assist public and parochial schools in purchasing textbooks and new library materials.
• This act marked one of the earliest federal aid packages for education in the nation's history.

Healthcare -

• Social Security underwent changes with the establishment of Medicare and Medicaid.
• Medicare offered hospital and low-cost medical insurance to nearly every American aged 65 or older.
• Medicaid expanded health insurance coverage to welfare recipients.

Housing -

• Congress made significant decisions to transfer political power from rural to urban areas.
• These decisions involved funding the construction of approximately 240,000 units of low-rent public housing.
• Assistance was provided to low- and moderate-income families to improve their access to better private housing.
• The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) was established.
• Robert Weaver, the first African-American cabinet member in American history, was appointed as Secretary of HUD.

Immigration -

• The Immigration Act of 1924 and the National Origins Act of 1924 established immigration quotas favoring Western Europe.
• These quotas discriminated against individuals from southern and eastern Europe and barred Asians.
• The Immigration Act of 1965 ended nationality-based quotas, allowing non-European immigrants to settle in the United States.

Enviromental -

• Carson's book and public outcry led to the Water Quality Act of 1965, mandating states to clean up rivers.
• President Johnson initiated actions to identify and address major chemical polluters.
• Johnson emphasized the need to prevent chemical companies and oil refineries from using rivers for toxic waste disposal.
• These measures played a role in sparking the environmental movement in the United States.

Consumer Protection -

• Congress passed major safety laws, including a truth-in-packaging law for consumer goods.
• Ralph Nader's book, "Unsafe at Any Speed," criticized the U.S. automobile industry for safety negligence, influencing Congress to establish safety standards for automobiles and tires.
• Precautions extended to food with the passage of the Wholesome Meat Act of 1967.
• President Johnson stated, "Americans can feel a little safer now in their homes, on the road, at the supermarket, and in the department store."

Reforming the Warren Court -

• The Warren Court banned prayer in public schools and deemed state-required loyalty oaths unconstitutional.
• It restricted the ability of communities to censor books and films, asserting that free speech encompassed the wearing of black armbands to school by antiwar students.
• Additionally, the Court instigated changes in federal and state reapportionment and the criminal justice system.

Rights of the Accused -

• In Mapp v. Ohio (1961), the Court established the exclusionary rule, prohibiting the use of illegally seized evidence in state courts.
• Gideon v. Wainwright (1963) mandated criminal courts to provide free legal counsel to indigent defendants.
• In Escobedo v. Illinois (1964), the Court ruled that accused individuals have the right to legal representation during police interrogation.

Johnson’s Domestic Agenda -

• Urged Congress to pass bills sent by JFK
  • FEB 1964: Tax reduction of 10 billion spurring economic growth
    • Lowered the budget deficit from 6 to 4 billion
• JUL 1964: Civil rights act of 1964 prohibiting discrimination
• AUG 1964: Economic Opportunity Act (EOA)
  • Approved 1 billion for youth programs, anti poverty measures. Small business loans and job training programs

1964 Election -

• Johnson’s opponent Barry Goldwater believed that they government had no right to right social or economic wrongs
  • Americans were in favor of LBJ’s idea
  • LBJ capitalized on Goldwaters threat to use nuclear weapons in Vietnam and Cuba
  • Johnson won the election with 61% of the popular vote and Democrats increased their majority in Congress

Impact of the Great Society -

• Johnson fueled an activist era in all three branches of government
• 1973: The war on poverty helped decrease poverty from 21% to 11%
• The massive tax cut spurred the economy, though funding initiatives contributed to the debt
• Conservative backlash helped a new group of Republicans rise to power

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CIVIL RIGHTS

Emmett Till:

Brutally murdered in 1955, sparking outrage and galvanizing the Civil Rights Movement.

Thurgood Marshall:

Prominent civil rights attorney and first African American Supreme Court Justice, pivotal in legal battles against segregation.

• Morgan vs Virginia: Mandated segregated seating on interstate buses unconstitutional
• Sweatt vs Painter: Ruled state law schools must admit black applicants even if black schools exist

Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka:

Landmark Supreme Court case in 1954, overturning "separate but equal" and paving the way for desegregation.

• Linda Brown / White School = 4 blocks away / Black School = 21 blocks away

Orval Faubus:

Governor of Arkansas who opposed school desegregation, symbolizing resistance to civil rights progress.

Little Rock Nine:

African American students facing violence and discrimination while integrating schools, symbolizing the struggle for civil rights in education.

Rosa Parks:

Refused to give up her bus seat in Montgomery in 1955, sparking the Montgomery Bus Boycott and inspiring further protests

Martin Luther King Jr:

Baptist minister and civil rights leader, advocating for nonviolent resistance and equality.

• Soul Force: Loving ones enemies, civil disobedience, orgranization of mass demonstations, resist oppression without violence
• Planned protests and demonstrations throughout the south to build a grassroots movement

Ralph Abernathy:

Civil rights activist and close associate of Martin Luther King Jr., co-founder of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

Montgomery Bus Boycott:

Protest against segregation on buses sparked by Rosa Parks's arrest, demonstrating the effectiveness of nonviolent resistance.

Southern Christian Leadership Conference:

Civil rights organization founded by Martin Luther King Jr., central in organizing nonviolent protests.

Civil Rights Act:

Landmark legislation outlawing discrimination and ending legal segregation, a significant victory for the Civil Rights Movement.

Sit-Ins:

Nonviolent protests challenging segregation policies, drawing attention to racial injustice.

Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC):

Student-led civil rights organization mobilizing young people in the movement.

Congress on Racial Equality (CORE):

Civil rights organization pioneering nonviolent direct action tactics such as Freedom Rides.

Freedom Riders:

• 1961: CORE members took bus trips across the across the south to test the Supreeme Court decision
  • Provide violence upon arrival in Birmingham and Annison Alabama

Ole Miss:

• 9/1962: Veteran James Meredith won a federal case allowing him to enroll at the University of Mississippi
  • Federal officers accompanied Meredith to class
  • Protected his parents from night riders who shot up their house

Childrens Crusade:

• 5/2: Over 1,000 black children marched in Birmingham, Police Commissioner Eugene Bull Connor had 959 arrested
• 5/3: The seconds children crusade faced a helmeted police force who used high pressure fire hoses, set attack dogs on them, clubbed them
  • TV cameras captured all of it, millions heard children screaming
  • Continued protests, economic boycotts, and negative media coverage convinced Birmingham officials to end segregation

Selma:

• Jimmy Lee Jackson is shot and killed, James Bevel called for a march
  • 50 mile protest march from Selma to sthe state capital, Montgomery
• 3/7/1965: Bloody Sunday - TV captured mayhem, police swung whips and clubs, tear gas was set off
• 3/21: 3,000 marchers set out with federal protection, the number soon grew to 25,000

Voting Rights Act of 1965:

• Eliminated literacy test and allowed feral examiners to enroll voters denied by local officials
  • In selma the number of black registered to vote rose from 10% to 60%
  • Percent tripled in the south

Malcolm X:

• Studied the teachings of Elijah Muhammad
• Gained publicity for controversial statements
  • Call for armed self defense - frightened many white people
  • Openly preached that black people should separate from white society
• 3/1964: Broke with muhammad over differences in Ideology
• April: Took a trip to Mecca where he learned that orthodox Islam prached racial equality, changed his attitude towards whites radically
  • Belived his split with the NOI would put his life in danger
  • 2/21/1965: Shot and killed by Thomas Hagan while giving a speech in Harlem

Black Power:

• After being arrested and beaten, Stokely Carmichael called for Black Power
  • A means of solidarity between individuals within the movemnet
  • King urged Carmichael to stop thinking it would provoke violence and antagonize white people

Black Panthers:

• Late 1966: Huey Newton and Bobby Seale / Oakland, CA
  • Advocated for self-sufficiency for black communities, full employment, and decent housing
• Belived that African Americans should be exempt from service
• Dressed in black jackets, black hats, and sunglasses
• Panthers preached self-defense and sold writings from Mao Zedong
• Police shootouts occurred between Police and Panthers
• FBI agents conducted investigation of group members illegally
• Established daycare centers, freee breakfast, Medical Clinics, assistance to the homeless

1968: A Turning Point:

• 4/3: MLK addressed a crowd in Memphis to support the cities striking workers
• 4/4: King was assassinated by James Earl Ray on his totel balcony
  • The worst urban rioting in US history began with 100 cities exploding in flames
    • Baltimore, Chicago, Kansas City, and DC were the hardest hit

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VIETNAM

Early Year at Home:

• By 1969: Inflation tripled to 5.5%
• Tax increases led to 6 billion cut to great societal programs
• Combat footage shown nightly
  • Government accused of inaccurately reporting whats happening

The Draft:

• Men 18-26 could be called into service unless they found an exclusion
  • Found “sympathetic” doctors to write medical excusals
  • Joined the National Guard/Coast Guard
  • Students enrolled in universities
• As a result, most men fighting were lower class citizens

Civil Rights and Vietnam:

• African Americans served disproportionately higher
• MLK criticized the war pointing out black soldiers were dying for a country they were treated as second class citizens in
• Faced discrimination in platoons

Protest movement:

• Growing youth movement on campuses across the country
• April 1965: Students for a democratic society organized a march of 20,000 to DC
• Febuary 1966: LBJ required students to be in good academic standing to defer service
  • Protests across the country

Resistance:

• 1967: 500,000 protestors threw draft cards into bonfire at Central Park
• 200,000 men accused of draft dodging, 4,000 imprisoned, 10,000 fled to Canada
  • October 1967: 100,000 protestors marched from the Lincoln Memorial to the Pentagon

A Divided Nation:

• Doves (anti war) vs Hawks (pro war)
• 1967: 70% of Americans saw protests as disloyal

1968

Tet Offensive:

• January 30 = tet = lunar new year
  • Weeklong truce called for tet
  • 1968: Vietcong launched attack on 100 cities and 12 US bases
    • Lasted over a month
    • Vietcong lost 32000, US lost 3000

Change in Public Opinion:

• Tet shook Americans as they believed the Vietnamese were near defeat
  • Before Tet: Doves = 28%, Hawks: 56%
  • After Tet: Both sides 40% each
  • Mainstream media began openly criticizing the war
• Clark Clifford became Secretary of Defense, claimed the war was unwinnable
• LBJ’s popularity plummeted

Withdrawal Speech:

• March 31: LBJ announces plans to negotiate the end of the war
  • US would pull back and south vietnam would play larger role
• LBJ would not seek reelection
  • Robert Kennedy became front runner for Democrats

Assassinations:

• April 4: MLK assassinated
• June 5: Robert Kennedy assassinated
  • Sirhan Sirhan hid with a gun shooting after Kennedy showed support for Israel

1968 Election:

• Democrats: VP Hubert Humphrey
• Republicans: Richard NIxon, promised law and order in the US and vague stance on vietnam
• George wallace ran 3rd party, popular for segregation and states rights policies

Vietnamization:

• Gradually withdraw US troops with South Vietnam taking on more active roles
  • Developed by Nixon and NSA advisor Henry Kissinger
  • “Peace with Honor”
• August 1969: First US troops came home
• Nixon planned scret bombing attack in North Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia

Campus Violence:

• Kent State University: student protest burned down ROTC building
• May 4, 1970: National Guard fired into a crowd of protesters
  • Four killed
• Jackson State: 2 students killed
• Polls showed Americans supported National Guard

Pentagon Papers:

• December 31, 1970: Congress repealed Tonkin Gulf Resolution
  • After Nixon failed to notify of invasion of Cambodia
  • June 1971: Pentagon Paper leaked claiming LBJ had no intention of withdrawing
    • Detailed the involvement of Truman, Eisenhower, JFK, and LBJ

Final Push:

• 1971: Polls showed 60% of Americans wanted to withdraw
• Oct 1972: US dropped insistence on North withdraw from the south
• Dec 18: Christmas Bombing on Hanoi and Haiphong
  • 100000 bombs over 11 days
  • 1/27/1973: US signed agreement on Ending the War
  • North Vietnam would remain in the south
  • 4/29/1973: Final US troops left Vietnam

Fall of Saigon:

• March 1975: North Vietnam launched invasion of the South
• April 30, 1975: North Vietnam captured Saigon, surrender came after

Nixon - President

Halderman - Chief of Staff

Ehrilchman - Chief Domestic Advisor

John Mitchell - Attorney General

1972 Reelection

• June 17, 1972: 5 men were caught breaking into DNC headquarters
  • Watergate Building
  • Planned on photographing Democrat strategies and wiretapped phones
• Led by James McCord, Gordon Liddy, Howard Hunt
  • Committee to Reelect the President
  • White House Plumbers

The Cover up

• Incriminating documents shredded
• Burglar paid out 450000 for silence
• White House asked CIA to urge the FBI to stop investigation

Cover-Up Unravels

• The Washington Post kept uncovering more information despite lack of public interest
• January 1973: Trials began with judge John Sirica
  • March 20: James McCord confesses to lying under oath and the Nixon administration was involved

Nixons Out - Effects

• 25 members of Nixons administration convicted and served prison sentences
• VP Gerald Ford became president
• Ford granted Nixon a full presidential pardon