Transcript The Early Cold War and Postwar America

United States History
The Cold War Conflicts
DUMBARTON OAKS CONFERENCE
• DUMBARTON OAKS CONFERENCE was held
from 21 August to 7 October 1944 at an estate
in the Georgetown area of Washington, D.C.
• Four powers participated: the United States,
Great Britain, the Soviet Union, and China. The
conference chose the name of the wartime
alliance, the United Nations (UN), for the new
body.
The Cold War 19451991
Cold War Begins
– a non-military battle of
diplomacy and propaganda
between the United States and
Soviet Union
– Lasted from 1945-1990
– led to “hot” wars around globe
in Korea, Vietnam
- Many of the smaller wars were called proxy
wars because the U.S. and U.S.S.R. never
fought face to face
U.S. vs. USSR (Soviet Union)
U.S.
Capitalism
Private property
Democratic
U.S.S.R
Communism
State owns property
Totalitarian
The Ideological Struggle
Soviet &
Eastern Bloc
Nations
[“Iron Curtain”]
US & the
Western
Democracies
GOAL  spread
world-wide
Communism
GOAL 
“Containment” of
Communism & the
eventual collapse of
METHODOLOGIES:
the Communist world.
 Espionage [KGB vs. CIA]
[George Kennan]
 Arms Race [nuclear escalation]
 Ideological Competition for the minds and hearts
of Third World peoples [Communist govt. &
command economy vs. democratic govt. & capitalist
economy]  “proxy wars”
 Bi-Polarization of Europe [NATO vs. Warsaw Pact]
The “Iron Curtain”
From Stettin in the Balkans, to Trieste in the
Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the
Continent. Behind that line lies the ancient
capitals of Central and Eastern Europe.
-- Sir Winston Churchill, 1946
Cold War
Check for understanding:
FIGHTING COMMUNISM
CONTAINMENT POLICY: The U.S. would work to
stop the spread of communism.
1. Truman Doctrine
2. Marshall Plan
3. NATO and other alliances
The Truman Doctrine & Domino Theory
Truman Doctrine: U.S. would aid countries
around the world who are fighting
communism (like Greece and Turkey).
Domino Theory: If the U.S. doesn’t fight
communism, then countries will fall to
communism like dominos.
It signalled the end of “isolationist”
policies.
The Marshall Plan 1948
• Plan to aid Europe—in
ruins
– Prevent countries from
falling to communists
– Aid American business
• $17 billion to 16 countries
in Europe (not Soviet
Union)
The ‘Marshall Plan’
• The Marshall Plan offered huge sums to
enable the economies of Europe to rebuild
after World War II, and, by generating
prosperity, to reject the appeal of
Communism.
The Soviet Union (USSR) prevented Eastern
European countries from receiving American
money.
NATO vs. WARSAW PACT
North Atlantic Treaty
Organization: defense
alliance among U.S. and
Europe against the Soviet
Union. Still exists.
Warsaw Pact: Defense alliance
among Soviet Union and its
satellite governments in
Eastern Europe.
North Atlantic Treaty Organization
(1949)
 United States
 Luxemburg
 Belgium
 Netherlands
 Britain
 Norway
 Canada
 Portugal
 Denmark
 1952: Greece &
Turkey
 France
 Iceland
 Italy
 1955: West Germany
 1983: Spain
Warsaw Pact (1955)
}
U. S. S. R.
}
East Germany
}
Albania
}
Hungary
}
Bulgaria
}
Poland
}
Czechoslovakia
}
Rumania
Cold War
• Check for understanding:
Postwar Germany
• The Potsdam Conference,
1945
– Divided Germany into 4 zones:
• West Germany – U.S.,
Britain, and France
• East Germany- Soviets
• Capitol city of Berlin divided
into 4 zones (in East
Germany)
Berlin
• West Berlin, was an outpost of
Western democracy and
economic success deep within
the communist zone – like a
capitalist island within
communist East Germany
•
The Berlin Blockade was an
attempt to starve West Berlin
into submitting [giving up] to
the communists
• Berlin Airlift: In 1948-49, the U.S.
and Europe flew food and supplies
to save West Berlin, until Soviets
reopened roads.
• The Allied [western powers] airlift
signalled the West’s
determination to use all resources
to defend Berlin.
Cold War
Check for understanding:
Explain the Truman Doctrine and how it related
to the formation of NATO and the Berlin Airlift.
Post War Japan:
• U.S. occupied – under General
MacArthur
– New constitution
– Democracy with Emperor as
figurehead
– Rebuild economy
– Abolished army and navy
• Tokyo trials convicted war criminals
The Red Scare
• Intense fear of Communists
taking over U.S.
– China became a Communist
country in 1949.
– Soviets developed an atomic
bomb in 1949.
– Rosenbergs convicted of
selling atomic secrets to
Soviet Union. Executed
1953.
Loyalty Review Board & McCarthyism
President Harry S. Truman signed United States
Executive Order 9835, sometimes known as the
"Loyalty Order", on March 22, 1947. (Loyalty Review
Board)
– The order established the first general loyalty
program in the United States, designed to root out
communist influence in the U.S. federal government.
Truman aimed to rally public opinion behind his Cold
War policies with investigations conducted under its
authority
McCarthyism
•
•
In 1950, Republican Senator Joseph McCarthy of
Wisconsin claimed that he had “lists” of communists in
the U.S. government.
Falsely accused hundreds of people of being active
Communists, ruining lives.
•
When hearings were televised, people saw that
McCarthy was wrongly accusing many people.
•
Censured (punished) by Senate.
Korean War
[1950-1953]
Kim Il-Sung
Syngman Rhee
“Domino Theory”
MacArthur
at Inch'on
landing
• U.S. General Douglas MacArthur led the U.N. force,
approximately 80% of which were U.S. soldiers.
Korean War, 1950-53
• Divided north and south at 38th parallel at
end of WWII.
• In 1950, Communist North Korea invaded
South Korea.
• The U.S. and United Nations, aided the
South; China aided the North Koreans.
• Treaty signed in 1953, keeping dividing line
at 38th parallel (still today).
• 33,000 American soldiers died, 100,000
wounded.
The Shifting Map of Korea
[1950-1953]
Ending the War:
• U.N. troops regained South Korea by March of 1951.
• Gen. MacArthur wanted to attack China with support of
Chinese nationalists.
• President Truman disagreed with MacArthur about attacking
China.
•Truman fired MacArthur for defying him by publicly
taunting and threatening the Chinese.
• In July of 1953, the Korean War ended
Panmunjom, now located in North
Hwanghae Province, is where the 1953
Korean Armistice Agreement that paused
the Korean War was signed. The building
where the armistice was signed still stands,
though it is north of the Military
Demarcation Line, which runs through the
middle of the Demilitarized Zone.
:
Space Race
• Began when Soviets beat the U.S. into
space
– Soviet satellite Sputnik launched in 1957
– Explorer I, the first U.S. satellite, was launched
in 1958.
• The National Defense Act of 1958 approved
federal funding of education in math,
science and foreign languages.
• Reforms in education –
The Arms Race:
A “Missile Gap?”
}
The Soviet Union
exploded its first
A-bomb in 1949.
}
Now there were
two nuclear
superpowers!
Nuclear Arms Race
• Hydrogen bomb invented –
both U.S. and Soviets had
them
• 1,000 times more powerful
than atomic bomb—
vaporized an island.
• Dangers of fallout and
radiation
• Many built
bomb shelters!!
Check for Understanding
National Defense Budget [1940-1964]
Premier Nikita Khrushchev
About the capitalist
states, it doesn't
depend on you
whether we
(Soviet Union) exist.
If you don't like us,
don't accept our
invitations, and don't
De-Stalinization
invite us to come
Program
to see you. Whether
you like it our not, history is on our
side. We will bury you. -- 1956
“I LIKE IKE”
• Republicans used Ike’s (1952-1960)
strong military background to
emphasize his ability to combat
Communism worldwide
• Eisenhower Doctrine:
– U.S. foreign-policy promising military or
economic aid to any Middle Eastern
country needing help in resisting
communist aggression.
– Brinkmanship: is the practice of trying
to achieve an advantageous outcome by
pushing dangerous events to the brink of
active conflict.
– Covert Action (CIA)
Growing Interest in China
People’s Republic of China:
• In the 1940’s, China was embroiled in a civil war.
Nationalists
Led by Chiang Kai-shek
Communists
Led by Mao Zedong
• The U.S. gave the Chiang Kai-shek millions of dollars, but
the communists won the war.
• China
became a
communist
country,
and
Chiang
Kai-shek
and his
forces fled
to Taiwan.
U-2 Spy Incident (1960)
Col. Francis Gary Powers’ plane was shot
down over Soviet airspace.
The Eisenhower Administration, thinking the pilot
had died in the crash, authorized the release of a
cover story claiming that the plane was a "weather
research aircraft" which had unintentionally strayed
into Soviet airspace after the pilot had radioed
"difficulties with his oxygen equipment" while flying
over Turkey
POSTWAR AMERICA
• After WWII, returning vets
faced a severe housing
shortage
• In response to the crisis,
developers used assembly-line
methods to mass-produce
houses
• Developer William Levitt
(Levittown) bragged that his
company could build a home in
16 minutes for $7,000
• Suburbs were born
With the help of the GI Bill,
many veterans moved into
suburbs
G.I. BILL of Rights
• G.I. Bill (of Rights), also called Servicemen’s
Readjustment Act, U.S. legislation passed in
1944 that provided benefits to World War II
veterans. Through the Veterans
Administration (VA), the bill provided grants
for school and college tuition, low-interest
mortgage and small-business loans, job
training, hiring privileges, and unemployment
payments.
REMARKABLE
ECONOMIC
RECOVERY
• Experts who predicted a postwar depression were proved
wrong as they failed to consider the $135 billion in savings
Americans had accumulated from defense work, service pay,
and investments in war bonds
• Americans were ready to buy consumer goods
SOCIAL UNREST PERSISTS
• African Americans felt they
deserved equal rights,
especially after hundreds of
thousands served in WWII
• Truman took action in 1948 by
desegregating the armed
forces
• Additionally, Truman ordered
an end to discrimination in the
hiring of governmental
employees
THE AMERICAN DREAM IN THE FIFTIES
• After WWII ended,
Americans turned their
attention to their families
and jobs
• New businesses and
technology created
opportunities for many
• By the end of the 1950s,
Americans were enjoying the
highest standard of living in
the world
Ozzie and Harriet reflected
the perfect American family
THE SUBURBAN LIFESTYLE
The American Dream complete with
a white picket fence
• Most Americans worked in
cities, but fewer and fewer of
them lived there
• New highways and the
affordability of cars and
gasoline made commuting
possible
• Of the 13 million homes built
in the 1950s, 85% were built in
suburbs
• For many, the suburbs were
the American Dream
Check for Understanding
THE BABY BOOM
• During the late 1940s and
through the early 1960s the
birthrate in the U.S. soared
• At its height in 1957, a baby was
born in America every 7 seconds
(over 4.3 million babies in ’57
alone)
• Baby boomers represent the
largest generation in the nation’s
history
How did the birthrate rise and fall during
the baby boom years in the US?
1940
2,559,000 births per year
1946
3,311,000 births per year
1955
4,097,000 births per year
1957
4,300,000 births per year
1964
4,027,000 births per year
1974
3,160,000 births per year
WHY SO MANY BABIES?
•
•
•
•
•
Why did the baby boom occur
when it did?
Husbands returning from war
Decreasing marriage age
Desirability of large families
Confidence in economy
Advances in medicine
IMPACT OF BABY BOOM
• As a result of the baby
boom 10 million students
entered elementary
schools in the 1950s
• California built a new
school every 7 days in the
late ’50s
• Toy sales reached an alltime high in 1958 when
$1.25 billion in toys were
sold
WOMEN’S ROLES IN THE
1950S
• During the 1950s,
the role of
homemaker and
mother was glorified
in popular
magazines, movies
and television
WOMEN AT WORK
• Those women who did
work were finding job
opportunities limited to
fields such as nursing,
teaching and office
support
• Women earned far less
than man for
comparable jobs
LEISURE IN THE 1950s
• Americans experienced
shorter work weeks and
more vacation time than
ever before
• Leisure time activities
became a multi-billion
dollar industry
• Labor-saving devices
added more spare time
Labor-saving
devices
provided
more leisure
time for
Americans
INTERSTATE HIGHWAY ACT 1956
• In 1956 Ike
authorized a
nationwide
highway
network –
41,000 miles
of road linking
America
THE INTERSTATE HIGHWAY SYSTEM
• “Automania” spurred the
construction of roads
linking major cities while
connecting schools,
shopping centers and
workplaces to residential
suburbs
IMPACT OF THE HIGHWAY
The Interstate Highway
system resulted in:
• More trucking
• Less railroad
• More suburbs, further
away
Trucking is the #1 means of
moving cargo in the United
States today
Check for Understanding