Transcript Ch. 16 Sec. 3 North American Prosperity

Ch. 16 Sec. 3
North American
Prosperity
Bell work #3
It states that they bought this century
old house for there parents which is a
national landmark
Global Commitments
The U.S. built bases overseas and organized
military alliances from Europe to Southeast Asia.
Its fleets patrolled the world’s oceans and its air
power provided a “nuclear umbrella” over its
allies. American troops fought in major wars to
stop the spread of communism in Korea and
Vietnam. They joined UN peacekeeping missions
in the Middle East and elsewhere.
 Along with military efforts to contain
communism, the U.S. funneled economic aid to
help Europe rebuild and, later, to assist
emerging nations.
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Turmoil Over Vietnam
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American involvement in Vietnam increased under
Eisenhower's successors. Between 1964 and 1968,
President Lyndon Johnson sent massive aid and a
growing number of troops to Southeast Asia. Eventually,
American forces there numbered half a million.
By 1967, Americans at home were bitterly divided over
the Vietnam war. Many opposed supporting an unpopular
regime in South Vietnam. Antiwar protesters disrupted
college campuses and filled city streets. In 1968, Richard
President and promised to end American involvement in
Vietnam. At first, Nixon widened the war. Actions such as
the bombing of Cambodia sparked further protests at
home. By 1974, though, Nixon finally negotiated an
American withdrawal. The divisions within the nation,
though, would take decades to heal.
Vietnam
Economy and The Role of
Government
Unlike Europe, the U.S. emerged form
WWII with its cities and industries
undamaged. In 1945, it produced 50
percent of the world’s manufactured
goods. Factories soon shifted from tanks
and bombers to peacetime production.
 By the early 1950s, the American economy
was booming. At home, a growing
population demanded homes, cars,
refrigerators, and thousands of other
products.
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A Wider Role for Government
In the U.S. as in Western Europe, government’s
role in the economy grew. Under President Harry
Truman, Congress created generous benefits
that helped veterans attend college or buy
homes. Other Truman programs expanded FDR’s
New Deal, providing greater security for the
elderly and poor.
 Truman’s successor, Dwight Eisenhower, tried to
reduce the government’s role in the economy. At
the same time, he approved government funding
to build a vast interstate high way system. This
program spurred the growth of the auto,
trucking, and related industries. Highways and
home building changed the face of the nation.
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Dwight Eisenhower and Harry
Truman
The Great Society
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President Kennedy wanted to provide
health care to the elderly. After his
assassination in 1963, Lyndon Johnson
pressed ahead with a broad new program,
which he called the Great Society. It
funded Medicare for the elderly, job
training and low-cost housing for the poor,
and support for education. Many
Americans came to rely on these programs
in the next decades.
Assassination of President Kennedy
The Conservative Response
In the 1980s, conservatives challenged costly
social programs and the growth of government.
 President Ronald Reagan called for cutbacks in
government spending on social programs.
Congress did end some welfare programs,
reduce government regulation of the economy,
and cut taxes. At the same time, military
spending increased.
 Government spending and tax cuts greatly
increased the national deficit, the gap between
what a government spends and what it takes in
through taxes and other sources. As the deficit
continued to grow in the 1990s, conservatives
crusaded for deeper cuts in social and economic
programs.
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The Civil Rights Movement
The 1950s seemed a peaceful time at home. Yet
major changes were underway that would
reshape American society. Among the most far
reaching was the civil rights movement.
 Although African Americans had won freedom
nearly a century before, many states, especially
in the South, denied them equality.
 In the 1950s and 1960s, the civil rights
movement renewed earlier efforts to end racial
injustice. In 1954, the Supreme Court issued a
land mark ruling in Brown v. Board of Education
of Topeka. It declared that segregated schools
were unconstitutional. Some southern states
tried to resist court-ordered desegregation, but
President Eisenhower and his successors used
federal power to uphold the law.
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The Civil Rights Movement
Martin Luther King Jr.
By 1956, a gifted preacher, Dr. Martin Luther
King Jr. emerged as a leader of the civil rights
movement. Inspired by Gandhi’s campaign of
civil disobedience in India, King organized
boycotts and led peaceful marches throughout
the 1960s to end segregation in the United
States.
 Many black and white Americans joined the civil
rights movement. Their courage in the face of
sometimes brutal attacks stirred the nation’s
conscience. In 1963, at a huge civil rights rally in
the nation’s capital, King declared:
 “I have a dream that one day this nation will rise
up and live out the true meaning of its creed:
‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all
men are created equal.’”
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Martin Luther King Jr.
Post War Canada
Canada, too, enjoyed a postwar economic boom,
due in part to rich oil and gas deposits found in
the western provinces. In 1959, Canada and the
United States completed the St. Lawrence
Seaway. It opened the Great Lakes to oceangoing ships and linked the interior of both
countries to the Atlantic Ocean.
 With a population only a tenth that of the U.S.
Canada encouraged immigration. Since the
1950s, Canada's population has grown
increasingly diverse, with newcomers form
Europe, Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the
Caribbean.
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U.S. Influence
Another challenge for Canada has been the
immense impact of the U.S. Although the two
nations enjoyed close ties, many Canadians
resented their neighbor’s cultural domination
Economic competition led to disputes over trade
and tariffs.
 Other issues between Canada and the U.S.
concerned the environment. Chemical pollution
form American smokestacks, for example,
contributed to acid rain that fell on northeastern
Canada. The two nations agreed to work
together for a common solution.
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