Transcript The USA - alexandriaesl

www.ushistory.org

At the end of the 1920s, the United States
boasted the largest economy in the world. With
the destruction wrought by World War I,
Europeans struggled while Americans
flourished. Upon succeeding to the Presidency,
Herbert Hoover predicted that the United
States would soon see the day when poverty
was eliminated. Then, in a moment of apparent
triumph, everything fell apart. The stock
market crash of 1929 touched off a chain of
events that plunged the United States into its
longest, deepest economic crisis of its history.


American firms earned record profits during the
1920s and reinvested much of these funds into
expansion. By 1929, companies had expanded to
the bubble point.
The richest one percent of Americans owned over
a third of all American assets. Such wealth
concentrated in the hands of a few limits economic
growth. The wealthy tended to save money that
might have been put back into the economy if it
were spread among the middle and lower classes.

Banks operated without guarantees to their
customers, creating a climate of panic when
times got tough. Few regulations were placed
on banks and they lent money to those who
speculated recklessly in stocks. Agricultural
prices had already been low during the 1920s,
leaving farmers unable to spark any sort of
recovery. When the Depression spread across
the Atlantic, Europeans bought fewer
American products, worsening the slide.

The stock market crash had many short-term
consequences. Banks that improvidently lent
money to futures traders to buy stock on
margin found that many of those loans would
go unpaid. Consequently, a rash of bank
failures swept the nation. This had a
tremendous ripple effect on the economy. If a
working-class family was unfortunate enough
to have their savings held in trust by a failed
bank — too bad for them, all their money was
lost.

Despair swept the nation. In
addition to the nationwide 25%
unemployment rate, many laborers
were forced to choose between
wage cuts and a pink slip. Most
people who retained their jobs saw
their incomes shrink by a third.
Soup kitchens and charity lines,
previously unknown to the middle
class, were unable to meet the
growing demand for food.

The strife was uneven across the land.
Oklahoma was particularly hard hit, as a
drought brought dry winds, kicking up a
"Dust Bowl" that forced thousands to
migrate westward. African Americans
endured unemployment rates of nearly
twice the white communities, as African
American workers were often the last
hired and the first fired. Mexican
Americans in California were offered free
one-way trips back to Mexico to decrease
job competition in the state. The Latino
population of the American Southwest
sharply decreased throughout the
decade, as ethnic violence increased.
First published in 1939,
John Steinbeck's novel
The Grapes of Wrath told
of the Joad family's loss
of their Oklahoma tenant
farm and the hardships
they encountered while
trying to reach California
and start anew.

Finally in 1932 Hoover signed
legislation creating the
Reconstruction Finance
Corporation. This act allocated a
half billion dollars for loans to
banks, corporations, and state
governments. Public works projects
such as the Golden Gate Bridge and
the Los Angeles Aqueduct were
built as a result of this plan.

Hoover and the RFC stopped short of meeting one
demand of the American masses — federal aid to
individuals. Hoover believed that government aid
would stifle initiative and create dependency
where individual effort was needed. Past
governments never resorted to such schemes and
the economy managed to rebound. Clearly
Hoover and his advisors failed to grasp the scope
of the Great Depression.


New York Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt won the
Democratic nomination on the fourth ballot of their
national convention. Roosevelt promised "a new deal for
the American people" that included a repeal of the
prohibition amendment. The Republicans renominated
Hoover, perhaps because there were few other interested
GOP candidates.
Election day brought a landslide for the Democrats, as
Roosevelt earned 58% of the popular vote and 89% of the
electoral vote, handing the Republicans their secondworst defeat in their history. Bands across America
struck up Roosevelt's theme song — "Happy Days Are
Here Again" — as millions of Americans looked with
hope toward their new leader.

Roosevelt had no grand strategy to fix
the Depression. He was a bold
experimenter. FDR liked to examine an
idea and evaluate it on its philosophical
merits. The details could be negotiated
later. If it worked, fine. If not, he was
more than willing to start over with a
new plan. He surrounded himself with
competent advisors, and delegated
authority with discretion and
confidence. As a master of the radio, his
confidence was contagious among the
American populace.


Before his first term expired, Roosevelt signed
legislation aimed at fixing banks and the stock
market. He approved plans to aid the unemployed
and the nations farmers. He began housing
initiatives and ventures into public-owned electric
power. New Deal programs aided industrialists
and laborers alike. His friends and enemies grew
with every act he signed into law.
The New Deal sparked a revolution in American
public thought regarding the relationship between
the people and the federal government.


Depositing money in a savings account carried
a degree of risk. If a bank made bad
investments and was forced to close,
individuals who did not withdraw their money
fast enough found themselves out of luck.
When depositors feared a bank was unsound
and began removing their funds, the news
would often spread to other customers. This
often caused a panic, leading people to leave
their homes and workplaces to get their money
before it was too late.

These runs on banks were widespread during
the early days of the Great Depression. In 1929
alone, 659 banks closed their doors. By 1932, an
additional 5102 banks went out of business.
Families lost their life savings overnight.
Thirty-eight states had adopted restrictions on
withdrawals in an effort to slow down the
panic. Bank failures increased in 1933, and
Franklin Roosevelt said that saving these
failing financial institutions his first priority
after being inaugurated.


Two days after taking the oath of office, Roosevelt
declared a "bank holiday." From March 6 to March 10,
banking transactions were suspended across the nation
except for making change. During this period, Roosevelt
presented the new Congress with the Emergency
Banking Act. The law empowered the President through
the Treasury Department to reopen banks that were
solvent and assist those that were not. The House
allowed only forty minutes of debate before passing the
law unanimously, and the Senate soon followed with
overwhelming support.
Banks were divided into four categories. Surprisingly,
slightly over half the nation's banks were deemed first
category and fit to reopen.

On the Sunday evening before the banks reopened,
Roosevelt addressed the nation through one of his
signature "fireside chats." With honest words in
soothing tones, the President assured sixty million
radio listeners that the crisis was over and the
nation's banks were secure. On the first day back in
business, deposits exceeded withdrawals. By the
beginning of April, Americans confidently returned a
billion dollars to the banking system. The bank crisis
was over.

On June 16, 1933, Roosevelt signed the Glass-Steagall
Banking Reform Act. This law created the Federal
Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). Under this
new system, depositors in member banks were given
the security of knowing that if their bank were to
collapse, the federal government would refund their
losses. Deposits up to $2500 were now100% safe.

On June 16, 1933, Roosevelt signed the Glass-Steagall
Banking Reform Act. This law created the Federal
Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). Under this
new system, depositors in member banks were given
the security of knowing that if their bank were to
collapse, the federal government would refund their
losses. Deposits up to $2500 were now100% safe.


Out of work Americans needed jobs. To the
unemployed, many of whom had no money left in
the banks, a decent job that put food on the dinner
table was a matter of survival.
The first major help to large numbers of jobless
Americans was the Federal Emergency Relief Act.
This law gave $3 billion to state and local
governments for direct relief payments.


Efforts were soon shifted to "work-relief" programs.
These agencies would pay individuals to perform
jobs, rather than provide handouts.
These would become known as FDR’s “Alphabet
Soup” program, as every program was known by the
3 or 4 letter making up their names.

The first such initiative began in March 1933. Called
the Civilian Conservation Corps, this program was
aimed at over two million unemployed unmarried
men between the ages of 17 and 25. CCC participants
left their homes and lived in camps in the
countryside. Subject to military-style discipline, the
men built reservoirs and bridges, and cut fire lanes
through forests. They planted trees, dug ponds, and
cleared lands for camping. They earned $30 dollars
per month, most of which was sent directly to their
families. The CCC was extremely popular.


In the fall of 1933, Roosevelt authorized the Civil Works
Administration. Also headed by Hopkins, this program
employed 2.5 million in a month's time, and eventually
grew to a multitudinous 4 million at its peak.
Earning $15 per week, CWA workers tutored the
illiterate, built parks, repaired schools, and constructed
athletic fields and swimming pools. Some were even
paid to rake leaves. Hopkins put about three thousand
writers and artists on the payroll as well. There were
plenty of jobs to be done, and while many scoffed at the
make-work nature of the tasks assigned, it provided vital
relief during trying times.

The largest relief program of all was the Works
Progress Administration. When the CWA expired,
Roosevelt appointed Hopkins to head the WPA,
which employed nearly 9 million Americans before
its expiration. Americans of all skill levels were given
jobs to match their talents. Most of the resources
were spent on public works programs such as roads
and bridges, but WPA projects spread to artistic
projects too.


The Federal Theater Project hired actors to perform plays
across the land. Artists such as Ben Shahn beautified cities by
painting larger-than-life murals. Even such noteworthy
authors as John Steinbeck and Richard Wright were hired to
write regional histories. WPA workers took traveling libraries
to rural areas. Some were assigned the task of transcribing
documents from colonial history; others were assigned to
assist the blind.
Critics called the WPA "We Piddle Around" or "We Poke
Along," labeling it the worst waste of taxpayer money in
American history. But most every county in America received
some service by the newly employed, and although the
average monthly salary was barely above subsistence level,
millions of Americans earned desperately needed cash, skills,
and self-respect.


The first major New Deal initiative aimed to help farmers
attempted to raise farm prices to a level equitable to the
years 1909-14. Toward this end, the Agricultural
Adjustment Administration was created. One method of
driving up prices of a commodity is to create artificial
scarcity. Simply put, if farmers produced less, the prices
of their crops and livestock would increase.
The AAA identified seven basic farm products: wheat,
cotton, corn, tobacco, rice, hogs, and milk. Farmers who
produced these goods would be paid by the AAA to
reduce the amount of acres in cultivation or the amount
of livestock raised. In other words, farmers were paid to
farm less!

The Supreme Court put an end to the AAA in 1936
by declaring it unconstitutional. At this time the
Roosevelt administration decided to repackage the
agricultural subsidies as incentives to save the
environment. After years and years of plowing and
planting, much of the soil of the Great Plains and
become depleted and weak. Great winds blew clouds
of dust that fell like brown snow to cover homes
across the region as residents of the "Dust Bowl"
moved west in search of better times.


he Soil Conservation and Domestic
Allotment Act paid farmers to plant
clover and alfalfa instead of wheat and
corn. These crops return nutrients to
the soil. At the same time, the
government achieved its goal of
reducing crop acreage of the key
commodities.
Issuing food stamps was a New Deal
initiative designed to help farmers and
consumers alike.

Another major problem faced by American farmers
was mortgage foreclosure. Unable to make the
monthly payments, many farmers were losing their
property to their banks. Across the Corn Belt of the
Midwest, the situation grew desperate. Farmers
pooled resources to bail out needy friends.
Minnesota and North Dakota passed laws restricting
farm foreclosures. Vigilante groups formed to
intimidate bill collectors. In Le Mars, Iowa, an angry
mob beat a foreclosing judge to the brink of death in
April 1933.

The Farm Credit Act, passed in March 1933
refinanced many mortgages in danger of going
unpaid. The Frazier-Lemke Farm Bankruptcy Act
allowed any farmer to buy back a lost farm at a law
price over six years at only one percent interest.
Despite being declared unconstitutional, most of the
provisions of Frazier-Lemke were retained in
subsequent legislation.

In 1933 only about one out of every ten American
farms was powered by electricity. The Rural
Electrification Authority addressed this pressing
problem. The government embarked on a mission of
getting electricity to the nation's farms. Faced with
government competition, private utility companies
sprang into action and by sending power lines to
rural areas with a speed previously unknown. By
1950, nine out of every ten farms enjoyed the benefits
of electric power.


The majority of working Americans, however, lived
check to check, with little or nothing extra to be
saved for the future. Many became a drag on the rest
of the family upon retirement. The Social Security
Act of 1935 aimed to improve this predicament.
Social Security was described as a "contract between
generations." The current generation of workers
would pay into a fund while the retirees would take
in a monthly stipend. Upon reaching the age of 65,
individuals would start receiving payments based
upon the amount contributed over the years.

Roosevelt knew the plan was
revolutionary. For the first time,
the federal government accepted
permanent responsibility for
assisting people in need. It paved
the way for future legislation that
would redefine the relationship
between the American people
and their government.

While the CCC, CWA, and WPA were established to
provide relief for the unemployed, the New Deal also
provided a program intended to boost both industries
and working Americans. The National Industrial
Recovery Act contained legislation designed to spark
business growth and to improve labor conditions. The
National Recovery Administration attempted to create a
managed economy by relieving businesses of antitrust
laws to eliminate "wasteful competition." The NRA, like
the AAA for farmers, attempted to create artificial
scarcity with commodities. The hope was that higher
prices would yield higher profits and higher wages
leading to an economic recovery.


In 1933, Roosevelt asked Congress to create "a
corporation clothed with the power of government
but possessed of the flexibility and initiative of a
private enterprise." The Tennessee Valley Authority
was born, and economic recovery came to eastern
Tennessee.
To avoid charges of socialism, the NRA allowed each
industry to draw up a code setting production
quotas, limiting hours of operation, or restricting
construction of new factories. Once the President
approved each code, pressure was put on each
business to comply.


The government blazed other new trails by creating the
Tennessee Valley Authority in May 1933. The geography of
the Tennessee River Valley had long been a problem for its
residents. Centuries of resource exploitation contributed to
soil erosion and massive, unpredictable floods that left parts
of seven states impoverished and underutilized.
Funds were authorized to construct 20 new dams and to teach
residents better soil management. The hydroelectric power
generated by the TVA was sold to the public at low prices,
prompting complaints from private power companies that the
government was presenting unfair competition. Soon flood
control ceased to be a problem and FDR considered other
regional projects.

There seemed to be no end to the alphabet soup. The
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) was created to
serve as a watchdog on the stock market. The Federal
Housing Authority (FHA) provided low interest loans for
new home construction. The Home Owners Loan Corporation
(HOLC) allowed homeowners to refinance mortgages to
prevent foreclosure or to make home improvements. The
United States Housing Authority (USHA) initiated the idea of
government-owned low-income housing projects. The Public
Works Administration (PWA) created thousands of jobs by
authorizing the building of roads, bridges, and dams. The
National Youth Administration (NYA) provided college
students with work-study jobs. The National Labor Relations
Board (NLRB) was designed to protect the right of collective
bargaining and to serve as a liaison between deadlock
industrial and labor organizations.


The day after Franklin Roosevelt took the oath of
office the Nazi Reichstag gave Adolf Hitler absolute
control of Germany. Hitler had campaigned spewing
anti-Semitic (hatred of the Jews) rhetoric and vowing
to rebuild a strong Germany.
During the week prior to FDR's inauguration, Japan
withdrew from the League of Nations for the
condemnation of Japanese aggressions in China.
Fascism and militarism were spreading across
Europe and East Asia. Meanwhile Americans were
not bracing themselves for the coming war; they
were determined to avoid it at all costs.

In 1936, Hitler and Mussolini formed the RomeBerlin Axis, an alliance so named because its leaders
believed that the line that connected the two capitals
would be the axis around which the entire world
would revolve. Later in 1936, Hitler marched troops
into the Rhineland of Germany, directly breaching
the Treaty of Versailles, which was signed after
World War I. A few months later, Fascist General
Francisco Franco launched an attempt to overthrow
the established Loyalist government of Spain. Franco
received generous support from Hitler and
Mussolini.


The United States Congress and President Roosevelt
passed three important laws — all called Neutrality
Acts — directly aimed at reversing the mistakes
made that led to the American entry into the First
World War.
On September 1, 1939, Nazi troops crossed into
Poland from the west.
Finally, on September 3, France and Great Britain
declared war on Germany. World War II had begun.
Truman
Allies
British
Empire
Leader
Neville
Chamberlain
Sir Winston
Churchill
France
Charles de
Gaulle
Soviet
Union
Josef Stalin
China
Chiang Kai
Shek
United
States
Franklin D.
Roosevelt
Chiang Kai
Shek
de Gaulle
Chamberlain
Harry S.
Truman
Churchill
FDR
Stalin
WWII
Axis
Leader
Nazi Germany
Adolph Hitler
Italy
Benito Mussolini
The
Empire of
Japan
Hirohito, Emperor
of Japan
General Hideki Tojo


Two days after Britain and France declared war on
Nazi Germany, President Roosevelt issued a
proclamation of neutrality and ordered the
suspension of munitions sales to all belligerents
(nations fighting in war).
New Prime Minister Winston Churchill desperately
pleaded with Roosevelt for assistance. In the summer
of 1940, Hitler launched Operation Sea Lion, an allout assault on the British mainland. The Royal Air
Force of Britain battled the German Luftwaffe in the
greatest air battle in history as Americans watched
nervously.


The Battle of Britain was the first major campaign to be
fought entirely by air forces, and was also the largest and
most sustained aerial bombing campaign to that date.
From July 1940 coastal shipping convoys and shipping
centres, such as Portsmouth, were the main targets; one
month later the Luftwaffe shifted its attacks to RAF
airfields and infrastructure. As the battle progressed the
Luftwaffe also targeted aircraft factories and ground
infrastructure. Eventually the Luftwaffe resorted to
attacking areas of political significance and using terror
bombing tactics.
The failure of Germany to achieve its objectives of
destroying Britain's air defences, or forcing Britain to
negotiate an armistice or an outright surrender, is
considered its first major defeat and one of the crucial
turning points in the war.
Source
London was first bombed Over that period some 29,
on the 7th. of September
890 Londoners were to
1940, experienced
die and another 50, 507
continuous night raids
were admitted to
until early November,
hospital as a result of these
and sporadic bombings
air raids.
until the Blitz finished
on the night of the 11th.
Winston Churchill in his
of May in 1941.
famous "WE will fight
on the beaches!" speech
said in part:-
Source
"...... even though large
parts of Europe and
many old and famous
states have fallen or may
fall into the grip of the
Gestapo and all the
odious approaches of
Nazi rule, we shall not
flag or fail. We shall go
on to the end, we shall
fight in France. We shall
fight on the seas and
oceans, we shall fight
with growing
confidence and growing
strength in the air,we
shall defend our island,
whatever the cost may
be, we shall fight on the
beaches, we shall fight
on the landing grounds,
we shall fight in the
fields and in the streets,
we shall fight in the
hills, WE SHALL
NEVER SURRENDER."
Source
Bombs fall on St
Pauls
Cathedral.London
Bomb Damage
in London
December 1940
Underground Stations
in London used as air
raid shelters


In March 1941 after a great deal of controversy,
Congress approved the Lend-Lease Act, which
eventually appropriated $50 billion of aid to the
Allies. Meanwhile Roosevelt began an
unprecedented third term.
Roosevelt met with Churchill in the summer of 1941
and agreed to the Atlantic Charter, a statement that
outlined Anglo-American war aims. At this point,
the United States was willing to commit almost
everything to the Allied war machine — money,
resources, and diplomacy.

The battle consisted of two main operations. In the first, Fall
Gelb (Case Yellow), German armoured units pushed through
the Ardennes, to cut off and surround the Allied units that
had advanced into Belgium. The British Expeditionary Force
(BEF) and many French soldiers were evacuated from
Dunkirk in Operation Dynamo. In the second operation, Fall
Rot (Case Red), executed from 5 June, German forces
outflanked the Maginot Line to attack the greater French
territory. Italy declared war on France on 10 June. The French
government fled to the city of Bordeaux, and France's main
city of Paris was occupied by the German Wehrmacht on 14
June. On the 17 June, Philippe Pétain publicly announced
France would ask for an armistice. On 22 June, an armistice
was signed between France and Germany, going into effect on
25 June. For the Axis Powers, the campaign was a spectacular
victory.
France was divided into a German
occupation zone in the north and west,
a small Italian occupation zone in the southeast,
and an unoccupied zone, the zone libre, in the south.
A rump state, Vichy France, administered all three
zones according to the terms laid out in the armistice. In
November 1942, the Axis forces also occupied the zone
libre, and metropolitan France remained under Axis
occupation until after the Allied landings in 1944; while
the Low Countries remained under German occupation
until 1944 and 1945.

The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military
strike conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy
against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor,
Hawaii on the morning of December 7, 1941. The
next day the United States declared war on Japan
resulting in their entry into World War II. The attack
was intended as a preventive action in order to keep
the U.S. Pacific Fleet from influencing the war that
the Empire of Japan was planning in Southeast Asia,
against Britain and the Netherlands, as well as the
U.S. in the Philippines. The base was attacked by
Japanese aircraft (a total of 353, in two waves)
launched from six aircraft carriers.
Four U.S. Navy battleships were sunk (two of which were
raised and returned to service later in the war) and all of
the four other battleships present were damaged. The
Japanese also sank or damaged three cruisers, three
destroyers, an anti-aircraft training ship and one
minelayer. 188 U.S. aircraft were destroyed, 2,402
personnel were killed and 1,282 were wounded. The
power station, shipyard, maintenance, and fuel and
torpedo storage facilities, as well as the submarine piers
and headquarters building (also home of the intelligence
section) were not attacked. Japanese losses were light,
with 29 aircraft and five midget submarines lost, and 65
servicemen killed or wounded. One Japanese sailor was
captured.
The attack was a major engagement of World War II and
came as a profound shock to the American people.
Domestic support for isolationism, which had been
strong, disappeared. Germany's ill-considered
declaration of war on the U.S., which was not required
by any treaty commitment, moved the U.S. from
clandestine support of Britain (for example the
Neutrality Patrol) into active alliance and full
participation in the European Theater. Despite numerous
historical precedents for unannounced military action,
the lack of any formal warning by Japan, particularly
while negotiations were still apparently ongoing, led to
President Franklin D. Roosevelt proclaiming December 7
"a date which will live in infamy"

Roosevelt orders Japanese and Japanese Americans
in western U.S. to be exiled to “relocation centers,”
many for the remainder of the war (Feb. 19, 1942).



U.S. forces on Bataan peninsula in Philippines
surrender (April 9,1942).
U.S. and Filipino troops on Corregidor island in
Manila Bay surrender to Japanese (May 6, 1942).
U.S. and Britain land in French North Africa (Nov. 8,
1942).
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Casablanca Conference—Churchill and FDR agree on
unconditional surrender goal (Jan. 14–24).
German 6th Army surrenders at Stalingrad—turning
point of war in Russia (Feb. 1–2).
Remnants of Nazis trapped on Cape Bon, ending war in
Africa (May 12).
Mussolini deposed; Badoglio named premier (July 25).
Allied troops land on Italian mainland after conquest of
Sicily (Sept. 3).
Italy surrenders (Sept. 8).
Nazis seize Rome (Sept. 10).
Cairo Conference: FDR, Churchill, Chiang Kai-shek
pledge defeat of Japan, free Korea (Nov. 22–26).
Tehran Conference: FDR, Churchill, Stalin agree on
invasion plans (Nov. 28–Dec. 1).

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U.S. and British troops land at Anzio on west Italian
coast and hold beachhead (Jan. 22).
U.S. and British troops enter Rome (June 4).
D-Day—Allies launch Normandy invasion (June 6).
Paris liberated (Aug. 25).
Americans invade Philippines (Oct. 20).
Germans launch counteroffensive in Belgium—Battle
of the Bulge (Dec. 16).
The Normandy landings were the landing
operations of the Allied invasion of
Normandy, also known as Operation
Overlord and Operation Neptune,
during World War II. The landings
commenced on Tuesday, 6 June 1944
(D-Day), beginning at 6:30 AM British
Double Summer Time (GMT+2). In
planning, D-Day was the term used for
the day of actual landing, which was
dependent on final approval.
The assault was conducted in two phases: an air
assault landing of 24,000 British, American,
Canadian and Free French airborne troops
shortly after midnight, and an amphibious
landing of Allied infantry and armoured
divisions on the coast of France commencing
at 6:30 AM. There were also decoy operations
mounted under the codenames Operation
Glimmer and Operation Taxable to distract
the German forces from the real landing areas.
he operation was the largest amphibious invasion of all
time, with over 160,000 troops landing on 6 June
1944. 195,700[6] Allied naval and merchant navy
personnel in over 5,000 ships were involved. The
invasion required the transport of soldiers and
material from the United Kingdom by troop-laden
aircraft and ships, the assault landings, air support,
naval interdiction of the English Channel and naval
fire-support. The landings took place along a 50-mile
(80 km) stretch of the Normandy coast divided into
five sectors: Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword.

Yalta Agreement signed by FDR, Churchill, Stalin—
establishes basis for occupation of Germany, returns
to Soviet Union lands taken by Germany and Japan;
USSR agrees to friendship pact with China (Feb. 11).


On March 29, 1945, Roosevelt went to Warm Springs to
rest before his anticipated appearance at the founding
conference of the United Nations. He had high hopes for
the conference, and was even considering resigning from
the presidency to become the first Secretary General of
the United Nations.
On the afternoon of April 12, Roosevelt said, "I have a
terrific pain in the back of my head." He then slumped
forward in his chair, unconscious, and was carried into
his bedroom. The president's attending cardiologist, Dr.
Howard Bruenn, diagnosed a massive cerebral
hemorrhage (stroke). At 3:35 p.m. that day, Roosevelt
died. After Roosevelt's death an editorial by The New
York Times declared, "Men will thank God on their knees
a hundred years from now that Franklin D. Roosevelt
was in the White House".

At the time he collapsed, Roosevelt had been sitting
for a portrait painting by the artist Elizabeth
Shoumatoff, known as the famous Unfinished
Portrait of FDR.




Truman had been vice president for only
82 days when President Roosevelt died,
April 12, 1945. He had had very little meaningful
communication with Roosevelt about world affairs or
domestic politics after being sworn in as vice president,
and was completely uninformed about major initiatives
relating to the successful prosecution of the war—
including, notably, the top secret Manhattan Project,
which was about to test the world's first atomic bomb.
Shortly after taking the oath of office, Truman said to
reporters: "Boys, if you ever pray, pray for me now. I
don't know if you fellas ever had a load of hay fall on
you, but when they told me what happened yesterday, I
felt like the moon, the stars, and all the planets had fallen
on me."





Mussolini killed at Lake Como (April 28).
Admiral Doenitz takes command in Germany;
suicide of Hitler announced (May 1).
Berlin falls (May 2).
Germany signs unconditional surrender terms at
Rheims (May 7).
Allies declare V-E Day (May 8).

Potsdam Conference—Truman, Churchill, Atlee
(after July 28), Stalin establish council of foreign
ministers to prepare peace treaties; plan German
postwar government and reparations
(July 17–Aug. 2).


A-bomb dropped on Hiroshima by U.S. (Aug. 6).
USSR declares war on Japan (Aug. 8).
Nagasaki hit by A-bomb (Aug. 9). Japan agrees to
surrender (Aug. 14).
The Fat Man
mushroom cloud
resulting from the
nuclear explosion over
Nagasaki rises 18 km
(11 mi, 60,000 ft) into
the air from the
hypocenter
The mushroom cloud over Hiroshima
after the dropping of Little Boy

V-J Day—Japanese sign surrender terms aboard
battleship Missouri (Sept. 2).

The end of World War II was followed in the United
States by uneasy and contentious conversion back to
a peacetime economy. The president was faced with
a sudden renewal of labor-management conflicts that
had lain dormant during the war years, severe
shortages in housing and consumer products, and
widespread dissatisfaction with inflation, which at
one point hit 6% in a single month. In this polarized
environment, there was a wave of destabilizing
strikes in major industries, and Truman's response to
them was generally seen as ineffective. In the spring
of 1946, a national railway strike, unprecedented in
the nation's history, brought virtually all passenger
and freight lines to a standstill for over a month.

When the railway workers turned down a proposed
settlement, Truman seized control of the railways
and threatened to draft striking workers into the
armed forces. While delivering a speech before
Congress requesting authority for this plan, Truman
received word that the strike had been settled on his
terms. He announced this development to Congress
on the spot and received a tumultuous ovation that
was replayed for weeks on newsreels. Although the
resolution of the crippling railway strike made for
stirring political theater, it actually cost Truman
politically: his proposed solution was seen by many
as high-handed; and labor voters, already wary of
Truman's handling of workers' issues, were deeply
alienated.



In 1946, 330 babies were being born every hour. The
Baby Boom has begun.
The term "baby boom" most often refers to the
dramatic post-World War II baby boom (1946-1964).
There are an estimated 78.3 million Americans who
were born during this demographic boom in births.
The term is a general demographic one and is also
applicable to other similar population expansions.
Post-World War II baby boom - Years of duration
vary, depending on the source ( 1943-1960, or 19461964).

Levittown is the name of some large suburban
developments created in the United States of
America by William Levitt and his company Levitt &
Sons. They featured large numbers of similar houses
that could be built easily and quickly, allowing rapid
recovery of costs. This is the
beginning of the suburbs and
the decline of urban centers.


The United States, the United Kingdom and the
Soviet Union had agreed at Potsdam to a broad
program of decentralization, treating Germany as a
single economic unit with some central
administrative departments. These plans broke down
in 1948 with the emergence of the Cold War.
'The ”'Level of Industry plans for Germany” were the
plans to lower German industrial potential after
World War II. The first plan, from 29 March 1946,
stated that German heavy industry was to be
lowered to 50% of its 1938 levels by the destruction
of 1,500 listed manufacturing plants.
The reconstruction plan, developed at a meeting of the
participating European states, was established on June 5, 1947.
It offered the same aid to the USSR and its allies, but they did
not accept it. The plan was in operation for four years beginning
in April 1948. During that period some US $13 billion in
economic and technical assistance were given to help the
recovery of the European countries that had joined in the
Organization for European Economic Co-operation. This $13
billion was in the context of a U.S. GDP of $258 billion in 1948,
and was on top of $12 billion in American aid to Europe
between the end of the war and the start of the Plan that is
counted separately from the Marshall Plan.
The ERP addressed each of the
obstacles to postwar recovery. The plan
looked to the future, and did not focus on
the destruction caused by the war. Much
more important were efforts to modernize
European industrial and business
practices using high-efficiency American
models, reduce artificial trade barriers,
and instill a sense of hope and selfreliance.

Truman stated the Doctrine: it would be "the policy
of the United States to support free peoples who are
resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities
or by outside pressures." Truman reasoned, because
these "totalitarian regimes" coerced "free peoples,"
they represented a threat to international peace and
the national security of the United States. Truman
made the plea amid the crisis of the Greek Civil War
(1946–1949). He argued that if Greece and Turkey
did not receive the aid that they urgently needed,
they would inevitably fall to communism with grave
consequences throughout the region.

The policy won the support of Congress and
involved sending $400 million in American money,
but no military forces, to the region. The effect was to
end the Communist threat, and in 1952 both
countries joined NATO, a military alliance that
guaranteed their protection. The Doctrine shifted
American foreign policy toward the Soviet Union
from détente (friendship) to, a policy of containment
of Soviet expansion. Historians often use it to mark
the starting date of the Cold War.
For its part, the United States
was unwilling to sit idle while
another form of totalitarianism
spread westward from
Moscow. One war
immediately started another
— the Cold War.
The Cold War lasted about 45
years. There were no direct
military campaigns between the
two main antagonists, the United
States and the Soviet Union. Yet
billions of dollars and millions of
lives were lost in the fight.
No single foreign policy issue mattered more to
the United States for the next 50 years as much
as the Cold War. President Truman set the
direction for the next eight presidents with the
announcement of the containment policy.
Crises in Berlin, China, and Korea forced
Truman to back his words with actions. The
Cold War kept defense industries humming
and ultimately proved the limits of American
power in Vietnam. Democracy was tested
with outbreaks of Communist witch hunts.
The long-term causes of the Cold
War are clear. Western
democracies had always been
hostile to the idea of a communist
state. The United States had
refused recognition to the USSR
for 16 years after the Bolshevik
takeover.
Domestic fears of communism erupted
in a Red Scare in America in the
early Twenties. American business
leaders had long feared the
consequences of a politically driven
workers' organization. World War II
provided short-term causes as well.
There was hostility on the Soviet side as well.
Twenty million Russian citizens perished
during World War II. Stalin was enraged that
the Americans and British had waited so long
to open a front in France. This would have
relieved pressure on the Soviet Union from
the attacking Germans. Further, The United
States terminated Lend-Lease aid to the Soviet
Union before the war was complete. Finally,
the Soviet Union believed in communism.
Stalin made promises during the war about the
freedom of eastern Europe on which he
blatantly reneged. At the Yalta Conference,
the USSR pledged to enter the war against
Japan no later than three months after the
conclusion of the European war. In return, the
United States awarded the Soviets territorial
concessions from Japan and special rights in
Chinese Manchuria.
When the Soviet Union entered the war between
the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the
United States no longer needed their aid, but
Stalin was there to collect on Western
promises. All these factors contributed to a
climate of mistrust that heightened tensions at
the outbreak of the Cold War.
At Potsdam, the Allies agreed on the postwar
outcome for Nazi Germany. After territorial
adjustments, Germany was divided into four
occupation zones with the United States,
Great Britain, France, and the Soviet Union
each administering one. Germany was to be
democratized and de-Nazified. Once the Nazi
leaders were arrested and war crimes trials
began, a date would be agreed upon for the
election of a new German government and the
withdrawal of Allied troops.
This process was executed in the zones held by
the western Allies. In the eastern Soviet
occupation zone, a puppet communist regime
was elected. There was no promise of
repatriation with the west. Soon such
governments, aided by the Soviet Red Army
came to power all across eastern Europe.
Stalin was determined to create a buffer zone
to prevent any future invasion of the Russian
heartland.
Winston Churchill
remarked in 1946
that an "iron
curtain had
descended across
the continent.“
The Big Three of Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin
had devoted hours of dialogue to the nature of
a United Nations. After agreeing on the
general principles at the Dumbarton Oaks and
Yalta Conferences, delegates from around the
world met in San Francisco to write a charter.
With the nation still mourning the recent
death of Franklin Roosevelt, his wife Eleanor
addressed the delegates. Despite considerable
enmity and conflicts of interest among the
attending nations, a charter was ultimately
approved by unanimous consent.
Despite the ideological animosity spawned by
the Cold War, a new spirit of globalism was
born after WWII. It was based, in part, on the
widespread recognition of the failures of
isolationism. The incarnation of this global
sprit came to life with the establishment of the
United Nations in 1945 with its headquarters
in New York City.
World leaders met at Dumbarton Oaks, Washington,
D.C., in August 1944 to formulate plans for a new
organization to promote international cooperation.
The general principles established there provided the
foundation for the United Nations charter.
When the Red Army marched on
Germany, it quickly absorbed the
nearby nations Estonia, Latvia,
and Lithuania into the Soviet
Union. Soon communist forces
dominated the governments of
Romania and Bulgaria.
By the fall of 1945, it was clear that the
Soviet-backed Lublin regime had
complete control of Poland, violating the
Yalta promise of free and unfettered
elections there. It was only a matter of
time before Hungary and
Czechoslovakia fell into the Soviet orbit.
Yugoslavia had an independent
communist leader named Tito.
And now Stalin was ordering the creation of a
communist puppet regime in the Soviet sector
of occupied Germany. How many dominoes
would fall? United States diplomats saw a
continent ravaged by war looking for strong
leadership and aid of any sort, providing a
climate ripe for revolution. Would the Soviets
get all of Germany? Or Italy and France?
President Truman was determined to reverse
this trend.
Greece and Turkey were the first nations
spiraling into crisis that had not been directly
occupied by the Soviet Army. Both countries
were on the verge of being taken over by
Soviet-backed guerrilla movements. Truman
decided to draw a line in the sand. In March
1947, he asked Congress to appropriate $400
million to send to these two nations in the
form of military and economic assistance.
Within two years the communist threat had
passed, and both nations were comfortably in
the western sphere of influence.
A mid-level diplomat in the State
Department named George Kennan
proposed the policy of containment.
Since the American people were weary
from war and had no desire to send
United States troops into Eastern Europe,
rolling back the gains of the Red Army
would have been impossible.