Transcript THE AMERICAN CENTURY

THE AMERICAN CENTURY
• The Postwar Economy
– after Roosevelt’s death, Truman attempted to
follow Roosevelt’s policies at home and abroad
– the first issue he confronted after the war was
reconversion of the economy
– at the war’s end, most Americans wanted to
demobilize the military, end wartime controls,
and reduce taxes
– policymakers hoped to avoid both sudden
economic dislocation and a return to depression
– torn between these objectives, Truman
vacillated
– yet the nation weathered demobilization with
relative ease; pent-up consumer demand
spurred production
– however, inflation and labor unrest helped the
Republicans to win control of Congress in 1946
– in 1947, Congress passed the Taft-Hartley Act,
outlawing “closed shops” and authorizing the
president to order an eighty-day cooling off
period in strikes that threatened the national
interest
• At Home and Work
– the wartime trend toward earlier marriages and
larger families accelerated with the war’s end
– government policies, such as income tax
deductions for dependents, further encouraged
the inclination of people to have children
– household management and child rearing
became the career of choice for millions of
American women, including college graduates
– scholars supported the notion that women
belonged in the home
– although men assumed prominent roles in some
domestic rituals, they were expected to cede
management of the domestic sphere to women
– a man’s primary contribution to the family was
to earn enough to sustain it
– unemployment remained low, but the character
or work changed in unsettling ways
– large corporations depended on increasing
numbers of managers and clerical workers
– entrepreneurial individuals gave way to
“organization men” and the need to conform
– attitudes toward marriage and child rearing
spanned the spectrum of American society
– the growth of suburbs gave a physical
dimension to emerging ideas of family life
– much as it reinforced the desire to have larger
families, government policies encouraged the
growth of suburbs
– not all women in the suburbs lived the life
portrayed in television situation comedies
– substantial numbers worked outside the home,
particularly in the clerical and service sectors of
the economy
• The Containment Policy
– Stalin seemed intent on expanding Soviet
power into central Europe, Asia, and the Middle
East
– by January 1946, Truman moved toward a
tougher stand with respect to the Soviet Union
– George F. Kennan, a foreign service officer,
contended that origins of Soviet expansionism
lay in the instability and illegitimacy of the
Soviet regime
– he proposed that the United States firmly but
patiently resist Soviet expansion wherever it
appeared
– Kennan never elaborated on how, precisely, the
Soviet Union should be contained or in what
parts of the world the policy should be applied
• The Atom Bomb: A “Winning” Weapon?
– although Truman authorized the use of the atom
bomb to force the surrender of Japan, he also
hoped that it would serve as a counterweight to
the numerically superior Red Army
– Stalin, however, refused to be intimidated
– in addition, horrifying accounts of the
devastation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki left
Americans uneasy
– Truman came to doubt that American people
would permit the use of atomic weapons for
aggressive purposes
– in November 1945, the United States proposed
that the United Nations supervise all production
of nuclear energy
– U.N. created an Atomic Energy Commission,
which put forward a plan for the eventual
outlawing of atomic weapons backed by
unrestricted U.N. inspections
– the Soviets rejected the American and U.N.
plans
• A Turning Point in Greece
– in 1947, the policy of containment began to
take shape
– responding to a communist threat in Greece,
Truman asked Congress for economic and
military aid for Greece and Turkey
– the Truman Doctrine promised “to support free
peoples resisting subjugation by armed
minorities or by outside pressures”
– in selling his proposal, Truman overstated the
threat and couched the request in ideological
terms
• The Marshall Plan and the Lesson of
History
– the economies of European countries remained
unstable after the war
– in 1947, Secretary of State George C. Marshall
proposed a plan by which the U.S. would
finance reconstruction of European economy
– western European powers eagerly seized upon
Marshall’s suggestion
– although initially tempted, Stalin declined to
take part and insisted that eastern European
nations do so as well
– after the fall of Czechoslovakia in a communist
coup in February 1948, Congress appropriated
over $13 billion for European recovery effort
– the results were spectacular; by 1951, the
economies of western Europe were booming
– western European nations moved toward social,
cultural, and economic collaboration
– Britain, France, and the United States created a
single West German Republic from their zones
of occupation
– when the Soviets closed ground access to
Berlin, the United States responded with an
airlift that forced the Soviets to lift the blockade
• Dealing with Japan and China
– containment proved far less effective in the Far
East than it did in Europe
– American policy succeeded in Japan and failed
in China
– after the surrender of Japan, a four-power
Allied Control Commission was established,
but American forces, led by General
MacArthur, controlled Japan and encouraged
Japan’s nascent democracy
– Japan emerged economically strong, politically
stable, and firmly allied with the United States
– the problems in China were probably
insurmountable
– Truman dispatched George C. Marshall to
negotiate a settlement between Chiang Kaishek’s nationalists and Mao Tse-tung’s
communists
– this attempt at compromise failed, and civil war
soon erupted
• The Election of 1948
– by spring of 1948, public opinion polls revealed
that most Americans considered Truman
incompetent
– he had alienated both southern conservatives
and northern liberals
– Truman still managed to win the nomination;
but southern Democrats, known as
“Dixiecrats,” walked out when the convention
adopted a strong civil rights plank and chose
Strom Thurmond to run on a third-party ticket
– compounding matters, the left wing also
defected; Henry A. Wallace ran on the
Progressive ticket
– the Republican nominee, Governor Thomas
Dewey of New York, anticipating an easy
victory, ran a listless campaign
– Truman, in contrast, launched a vigorous
campaign
– his strong denunciation of the “do nothing”
Republican Congress and the success of the
Berlin Airlift aided his reelection bid
– many Democratic liberals thought Wallace too
pro-Soviet and voted for Truman
– Truman surprised everyone and won a narrow
victory in the popular vote and a more
substantial one in the electoral college
– after the election, Truman put forward a
number of proposals, which he called the Fair
Deal
– however, little of his program was enacted into
law
• Containing Communism Abroad
– during Truman’s second term, the confrontation
between the United States and the Soviet Union
increasingly dominated attention
– the North Atlantic Treaty Organization,
designed to protect the West from Soviet
aggression, was formed in 1949
– the Soviet detonation of an atomic bomb in
September 1949 led Truman to authorize
development of a hydrogen bomb
– containment failed in Asia. In China, Mao’s
communists defeated the nationalists
– Chiang’s forces fled in disarray to Formosa in
1949
– right-wing Republicans charged that Truman
had not supported the Chinese nationalists
strongly enough and had therefore “lost” China
– Truman ordered a review of containment
– the resulting report, NSC-68, called for a
massive expansion of the nation's armed forces
– although Truman initially had reservations
about the document, events in Korea changed
his mind
• Hot War in Korea
– American policymakers had decided that a land
war on the Asian continent would be
impracticable
– yet when communist North Korea invaded
South Korea in June 1950, Truman decided on
a military response
– despite early gains by the North, U.N. forces
(90 percent American) under the command of
MacArthur turned the tide and began pressing
north
– MacArthur proposed conquest of North Korea
– despite opposition from his civilian advisors,
Truman authorized an advance as far as the
Chinese border
– in November 1950, 33 divisions of the People’s
Republic of China army crossed the Yalu River
and shattered U.N. lines
– MacArthur urged the bombing of Chinese
installations north of the Yalu and a blockade of
China
– when Truman rejected his proposals,
MacArthur openly criticized the administration
– Truman removed MacArthur from command
– in June 1951, the communists agreed to
negotiations, which dragged on interminably
– initially, this “police action” was popular with
the American public, but the bloody stalemate
eroded public enthusiasm
• The Communist Issue at Home
– the frustrating Korean War illustrated the
paradox that, at the height of its power,
American influence was waning
– the United States faced internal as well as
external threats
– exposure of communist espionage in Canada
and Great Britain fueled American fears of
communist subversion
– hoping to allay allegations that he was “soft” on
communism, Truman established the Loyalty
Review Board in 1947 to ensure that no
subversives found employment in the federal
government
– the Hiss and Rosenberg trials heightened the
climate of fear
• McCarthyism
– in February 1950, Joseph R. McCarthy, an
obscure senator from Wisconsin, charged that
the State Department was “infested” with
communists
– although he offered no evidence to support his
claims, many Americans believed him
– McCarthy went on to make more fantastic
accusations
– the enormity of his charges and the status of his
targets convinced many that there had to be
some truth in his accusations
– events of the early cold war and the public’s
resulting fears made people more susceptible to
McCarthy’s allegations
• Dwight D. Eisenhower
– the Republican party selected Eisenhower as
their candidate in 1952
– aside from his popularity as a war hero,
Eisenhower’s genial tolerance made a welcome
change from Truman
– his ability as a leader was amply demonstrated
by his military career, and his campaign
promise to go to Korea was a political
masterstroke
– Eisenhower easily defeated his Democratic
opponent, Adlai E. Stevenson of Illinois
– Eisenhower dismantled no New Deal programs
and undertook some modest new initiatives
– moreover, he adopted an essentially Keynesian
approach to economic issues
– Eisenhower proved to be a first-rate politician
who knew how to be flexible without
compromising basic values
– in spite of his political skills, however, he was
unable to recast the Republican Party in his
own, moderate, image
• The Eisenhower-Dulles Foreign Policy
– president and his secretary of state, John Foster
Dulles, formulated a “New Look” in foreign
policy, which reduced reliance on conventional
forces and relied instead on America’s nuclear
arsenal to achieve international stability
– this approach promised to save money and to
prevent the United States from being caught up
in another local conflict like the Korean War
– moreover, Dulles hoped the new approach
would make it possible to “liberate” eastern
Europe and “unleash” Chaing against the
Chinese mainland
– after administration hinted at its willingness to
use nuclear weapons, Chinese signed armistice
that ended hostilities but left Korea divided
– threatened use of nuclear weapons also seemed
to convince the Chinese to abandon their
aggressive intent toward Quemoy and Matsu
– the New Look did succeed in reducing the
defense budget, but it did not lead to the
liberation of eastern Europe
– further, unleashing Chaing would have been
like pitting a Pekingese against a tiger
– above all, “massive retaliation” made little
sense when the Soviet Union also possessed
nuclear weapons
• McCarthy Self-Destructs
– even after it came under the control of his own
party, McCarthy did not moderate his attacks on
the State Department
– partly in an effort to blunt McCarthy’s charges,
Dulles sanctioned the dismissal of nearly five
hundred State Department employees
– early in 1954, McCarthy finally overreached
himself by leveling allegations at the army
– televised broadcasts of the Army-McCarthy
Senate hearings revealed to the American
public McCarthy’s disregard for decency and
truth
– with Eisenhower quietly applying pressure
behind the scenes, the Senate voted to censure
McCarthy in 1954
• Asian Policy After Korea
– both Truman and Eisenhower provided aid to
France’s efforts to defeat the Viet Minh in
Indochina
– however, during the siege of Dien Bien Phu in
1954, Eisenhower refused to commit American
personnel to the struggle
– France soon surrendered; and France, Great
Britain, the Soviet Union, and China signed an
agreement that divided Vietnam at the 17th
parallel and called for a national election in
1956
– North Vietnam, led by Ho Chi Minh,
established a communist government
– in South Vietnam, Ngo Dinh Diem overthrew
the emperor, and the United States provided
support and advice to his new government
– the planned election was never held, and
Vietnam remained divided
– Dulles organized the Southeast Asian Treaty
Organization (SEATO)
• The Middle East Cauldron
– American policy in the Middle East was
influenced by that region’s massive petroleum
reserves and by the conflict between Israel and
its Arab neighbors
– Truman consistently made support for Israel a
priority
– Eisenhower and Dulles deemphasized support
for Israel
– U.S. provided economic aid to Egypt’s Gamal
Abdel Nasser but refused to sell him arms
– the Soviets gladly provided the arms, and
Nasser drifted toward the Eastern Bloc
– in response, the United States withdrew its
funding of the Aswan Dam
– Nasser then nationalized the Suez Canal
– an allied force of British, French, and Israeli
forces attacked Egypt in October 1956
– the United States and the Soviet Union
eventually compelled the invaders to withdraw,
and the crisis subsided
– in January 1956, Eisenhower announced the
“Eisenhower Doctrine,” stating that the United
States would use armed force anywhere in the
Middle East “to halt aggression from any nation
controlled by international communism”
• Eisenhower and Khrushchev
– Eisenhower defeated Stevenson by an even
greater margin in 1956 than he had in 1952
– the cold war escalated when United States
detonated the first hydrogen bomb in 1952 and
the Soviets followed suit within six months
– after Stalin’s death in 1953, his successor,
Nikita Khrushchev, attempted to move the
Soviet Union away from Stalinism
– abroad, Khrushchev courted many emerging
nations by appealing to the anti-western
prejudices of countries recently held as colonies
and by offering economic and technological aid
– Eisenhower understood that the United States
maintained superiority in the nuclear arms race
– further, he was aware of the Soviet Union’s
many weaknesses, but the Soviet success in
placing the Sputnik satellite in orbit alarmed
many Americans
– Eisenhower knew that, militarily, the Soviet
Union was no match for the United States and
that Sputnik had not changed the equation
appreciably
– yet to call the Soviet bluff might prod
Khrushchev to rash action
– Eisenhower reassured American people they
had little to fear and otherwise remained silent
– Eisenhower exercised great restraint in the
conduct of foreign policy, particularly when
faced with a crisis
– although he had always guided foreign policy,
Eisenhower took over much of the actual
conduct of diplomacy after failing health forced
Dulles to resign in 1959
– confronted with the threat of nuclear war
moved the United States and the Soviet Union
toward accommodation
– in the summer of 1959, Vice-President Richard
M. Nixon visited Moscow, and Khrushchev
toured the United States in September
– in this new air of cordiality, a date was set for a
new summit meeting
– this meeting never took place
– on May 1, 1960, the Soviets shot down an
American reconnaissance plane over Soviet
territory, and Soviet-American relations quickly
soured
• Latin America Aroused
– the United States neglected Latin America in
the postwar years
– like Truman, Eisenhower supported military
governments in preference to communist
revolutions
– violent anti-American rioting illustrated the
depth of anti-Yankee sentiment and forced
curtailment of Vice-President Nixon’s “goodwill” tour in 1958
– in 1959, Fidel Castro overthrew Cuban dictator
Fulgencio Batista
– although Eisenhower quickly recognized the
new Cuban government, Castro soon began to
spout anti-American rhetoric; he also
confiscated American property
– when Castro established close relations with the
Soviet Union, Eisenhower banned the
importation of Cuban sugar
– Khrushchev announced that American
intervention in Cuba would be met with nuclear
retaliation by the Soviet Union
– near the end of his second term, Eisenhower
broke off relations with Cuba
• The Politics of Civil Rights
– during the Cold War, America’s treatment of its
racial minorities took on added importance
because of the ideological competition with
communism
– America’s blacks became increasingly
unwilling to accept their status as second-class
citizens
– Truman had proposed civil rights reforms but
failed to sway Congress
– Eisenhower succeeded in integrating the
military, but the direct assault on racial
inequality came from the Supreme Court
– in Brown v. the Board of Education of Topeka
(1954), the Court overturned the doctrine of
“separate but equal”
– although Eisenhower believed that equality
could not be legislated, he refused to
countenance defiance of federal authority or the
Constitution
– when the governor of Arkansas used the
National Guard to prevent the execution of a
federal court order upholding the right of a
handful of black children to attend Little Rock’s
Central High School, Eisenhower nationalized
the Arkansas Guard and sent federal troops to
enforce the order
– the Eisenhower administration gained passage
of the Civil Rights Act of 1957, which created a
Civil Rights Commission and authorized the
Department of Justice to ensure the right of
southern blacks to register and to vote
– the act proved difficult to enforce
• The Election of 1960
– Eisenhower reluctantly endorsed the candidacy
of Vice-President Nixon
– Nixon ran on the Eisenhower legacy and on his
own reputation as a staunch anticommunist
– the Democrats nominated John F. Kennedy, a
senator from Massachusetts, and chose the
Senate majority leader, Lyndon Johnson, as his
running mate
– although he had not been a particularly liberal
congressman, Kennedy sought to appear more
forward-looking as a presidential candidate
– Kennedy benefited from his television presence
during several debates with Nixon
– in the end, Kennedy won a paper-thin victory in
the popular vote