Cold War, Civil Rights, and Post-War America

Cold War Policies Throughout the World

  • Western vs. Eastern Europe: Division and differing ideologies.

  • NATO: Western alliance against Soviet expansion.

  • Issue of Berlin: Contested city symbolizing Cold War tensions.

  • Reconstruction of Japan: US aid in rebuilding Japan.

  • Korean War: Conflict stemming from Cold War tensions.

  • Chinese Revolution: Rise of communism in China.

  • Vietnam War: Another conflict influenced by Cold War dynamics.

  • Laos/Cambodia: Involvement in the Vietnam War.

  • Eisenhower Doctrine: US policy in the Middle East offering aid to countries resisting communism.

  • Recognition of Israel: US support for the newly formed state.

  • Rise in Arab Nationalism: Growing sense of Arab identity and independence.

  • Cuba Revolution: Communist revolution in Cuba.

  • US Support of Non-Communist: Backing regimes to prevent the spread of communism.

Big Idea #1

  • After WWII instability, the US worked to maintain being a world leader that led to domestic and international consequences

  • Containment: Resist the spread of Communism.

  • “Domino Theory”: If one country falls to Communism, they all do.

United Nations

  • Create a space to discuss conflicts between states

  • Promote international cooperation to address global problems

  • International Monetary Fund (Created in 1945): create stability in the system of exchange rates and international payments that enables countries (and their citizens) to transact with each other.

  • World Bank

    • Initial Goal: help rebuild European countries devastated by World War II

    • Bank shifted its attention to the needs of its members in Latin America, Africa, and Asia.

    • In the 1950s and 60s, the funding of large infrastructure projects, such as dams, electrical grids, irrigation systems, and roads was the Bank’s primary focus

Interaction with the Soviet Union

  • American View

    • America fought for "Four Freedoms"

    • "Freedom from Want"

    • Capitalism

    • Economically strong world would be beneficial for U.S. trading

  • Soviet View

    • Invaded twice in past 20 years

    • World War II - 17 million casualties

    • Satellite Nations - Buffer Zone

    • Belief: Communism WILL spread

    • The Soviets had "no real faith in the possibility of a permanently happy coexistence of the Socialist and capitalist worlds"

Indirect Conflict

  • Arms Race *Nuclear Arms Race

    • "Mutual Assured Destruction"

    • MAD

    • Technology and weapons would destroy your enemy and yourself

    • IF BOTH WOULD DIE… Prevents each other from actually using the weapons

    • Need to always have the best weapons

  • Space Race

Direct Conflict

  • Berlin Airlift

    • Division of Germany After WWII

    • Issue: Access to Berlin

    • June 24th-Upset with formation of unified (Capitalist) West Germany, Soviets stopped all surface travel

    • Over the next 321 days, Western fliers and 272,000 flights into West Berlin delivering supplies every day

    • May 12, 1949-Soviets reopened borders

    • East and West Germany were established

    • In 1961, the Berlin Wall is built to permanently limit travel between East and West Berlin

  • Cuban Missile Crisis

    • US Places Nuclear Weapons in Ally Turkey

    • Soviets Places Nuclear Weapons in Ally Cuba

    • US "Quarantines" Cuba - Demands Removal of Missiles

    • Brinkmanship

    • Soviets remove missiles from Cuba and US removes missiles from Turkey

"Détente"

  • Nixon opening diplomatic relations with China

  • SALT Treaties

    • "Strategic Arms LIMITATION Talk"

    • NUCLEAR LIMITS

    • ABMABM

    • U.S.200U.S. 200

    • U.S.S.R200U.S.S.R 200

    • ICBMICBM

    • U.S.1,054U.S. 1,054

    • U.S.S.R1,550U.S.S.R 1,550

    • WARHEADSWARHEADS

    • 5,7005,700

    • NUCLEARSUBSNUCLEAR SUBS

  • Change in Policies

    • China v. Soviets

      • Both were Communist - Used to be allies (fall out)

      • How can the U.S. use this to our advantage?

    • Nixon visits China in FEB 1972 - Led to opening of diplomatic relations

Red Scare

  • McCarthy’s accusations led to anti-Communist hysteria - McCarthyism – smear tactics using baseless accusations and unprovable charges

  • McCarthy becomes very popular- Chairman of an investigations subcommittee - Being accused caused people to lose jobs and reputations- Those who opposed his tactics were accused of being Communist sympathizers

  • McCarthy – charged Army was full of Communists

  • April 1954 Hearings televised

  • Americans watched his bullying tactics and baseless allegations

  • June 1954 – McCarthy lost support

  • Senate condemns his “reckless actions”

Kent State Massacre (Ohio)

  • Anti-War Protests (1970)

  • University bans protest

  • Protesters threw rocks at National Guard

  • Tear Gas – Fired into Crowd

War Powers Act

  • 1973 – Passed over President Nixon’s Veto

  • President has . . .

    • 48 hours to inform Congress armed forces are deployed

    • Must seek congressional approval or declaration of war within 60 days

Big Idea #2

  • New movements of Civil Liberties and liberal efforts to expand the government generated both political and cultural responses

Civil Rights Movement

  • Use of Non-Violence

  • Change in Governmental Support

    • Executive (Presidency)

      • Desegregation of Military

        • July 26, 1948, President Truman issued an executive order abolishing segregation in the armed forces and ordering full integration of all the services.

        • There was considerable resistance to the executive order from the military, but by the end of the Korean conflict, almost all the military was integrated.

    • Legislative (Congress)

      • Civil Rights Act of 1964

        • Outlawed discrimination in voting, schools and jobs

        • Withhold federal funding for those who practice discrimination

    • Judicial (Supreme Court)

      • Continuing resistance slowed efforts at desegregation, sparking social and political unrest across the nation. Debates among civil rights activists over the efficacy of nonviolence increased after 1965.

  • Black Panthers

    • The party’s original purpose was to patrol African American neighborhoods to protect residents from acts of police brutality.

    • The Panthers eventually developed into a Marxist revolutionary group that called for . . .

      • arming of all African Americans

      • exemption of African Americans from the draft and from all sanctions of so-called white America

      • release of all African Americans from jail

      • payment of compensation to African Americans for centuries of exploitation by white Americans.

  • Malcolm X assassinated on Feb. 21, 1965

  • Martin Luther King assassinated on April 4, 1968

Other Civil Rights Movements

  • Many used similar tactics of non-violence and civil disobedience

  • Chicano Movement encompassed a broad list of issues

    • Restoration of land grants

    • Farm workers' rights

    • Enhanced education

    • Voting and political rights

    • Creation of works of literary and visual art that validated the Mexican American ethnicity and culture practices

  • Reaction

    • Environmental Protection Agency

      • Clean Air Act: Control pollution caused by industries and car emissions

      • Clean Water Act: Regulate the discharge of industrial and city water waste.

    • “Earth Day”

Liberalism of the 1960s

  • Johnson’s “Great Society” - Equipping the poor with skills through programs and federal funding

  • Legislation

    • Medicare – hospital and low cost care of medical for elderly

    • Medicaid – low cost health insurance for poor

    • Headstart – Preschool for low-income families including health care, nutrition services, and social services

  • Resistance from within Democratic Party: Anti-War Movement

  • Revival of Conservatism

    • Election of Richard Nixon

      • “Law and Order”

      • “Secret Plan to end the War”

  • Government in the 1970s: Decline in public trust and belief government’s ability to solve problems

    • FBI Investigates – traces money to Nixon’s reelection campaign

    • Nixon tells CIA to persuade FBI to stop its investigation – “National Security”

    • Senate Demands White House Tapes

    • Nixon refuses – Presidential Privilege – Senate continues to demand - Nixon gives “edited” summaries of tapes - Supreme Court says to hand tapes over - Gets caught in cover-up (18 ½ minutes still missing)

    • Begin impeachment hearings

      • Obstruction of Justice

      • Abuse of power

      • Refusal to obey congressional order to turn over the tapes

  • Stagnation of Economy

    • Low economic and productivity growth

    • High inflation (prices)

    • High interest rates

  • Jimmy Carter “Malaise” Speech

    • "all the legislation in the world can't fix what's wrong with America. What is lacking is confidence and a sense of community."

Big Idea #3

After the war, the economy and demographic changes had far-reaching consequences for American society, politics, and culture

  • Sense of Optimism

    • Growing Private Sector

      • Rise in service and informational sectors

    • Federal Spending

      • Military Industrial Complex

      • Defense and War

    • Baby Boom

      • Growing number of consumers

    • Technological Developments

      • Air Conditioning

      • Interstate Highway – Greater connections

      • Television – Commercialism

    • Migration

      • Suburbs

      • Sun Belt

        • In the postwar era, many Americans moved away from cities and into suburbs, helped by GI Bill benefits that guarantied home loans.

        • Techniques of mass production made it possible to build homes faster and cheaper than ever before. Using an assembly-line system, the construction firm Levitt and Sons built three giant "Levittown" suburbs in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.

        • Due to low prices and veterans' benefits, more Americans could afford to own homes than ever before.

        • Improvements in transportation and communications, abundant air conditioning in summer, and a favorable winter climate are attractive forces for retirees as well as workers.

        • Between 1970 and 1990, the South grew in population by 36 percent and the West by 51 percent, both well above the national average

  • Increase in Immigration: Seeking political, economic, and social opportunities

New Immigration Laws - Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1965

  • Abolished earlier quota system

  • New policies based . . .

    • Relatives of US citizens or permanent residents

    • Skilled individuals

    • Refugees of violence or unrest

  • Immigration to the U.S. from Asian countries–especially those fleeing war-torn Southeast Asia (Vietnam, Cambodia)– more than quadruple. (Under past immigration policies, Asian immigrants had been effectively barred from entry.)
    Period of Strong Economic Growth beginning after WWII and ended with 1973 recession
    Increase in higher education opportunities (GI Bill) led to greater social mobility
    Culture of 1950s
    Mass culture became increasingly homogeneous in the postwar years

  • Youth – “Silent Generation”

  • Rock n Roll

  • Traditional Role of Women

  • Television

  • Fast Food

  • Suburbs

Culture of 1960s/1970s

  • The diverse strands of the counterculture all came together at the Woodstock Music and Art Fair in August 1969

  • Some in the mainstream culture deplored the drugs, sex, and nudity they saw at the Woodstock festival and around the country. To them, the counterculture represented a rejection of morals and honored values, and seemed a childish reaction to the problems in the area.

  • The rapid and substantial growth of evangelical Christian churches and organizations was accompanied by greater political and social activism on the part of religious conservatives.