Post-War America

Post-War America

Chapter 36

Essential Question

• How did the events of WWII help facilitate the onset of the Cold War and influence American foreign policy throughout most of the 20th Century?

Economic Anxieties

• After WWII the economy slumped, many feared a Great Depression, part 2.

• Labor Unions saw huge gains during GD.• Taft-Hartley Act: 1947, targeted labor unions,

outlawed closed shops and forced union leaders to swear anti-communist oaths. Congress overrode Truman’s veto.

• Congress of Industrial Organizations attempts to unionize south, fail due to fears of racial mixing.

Economic Anxieties

• Government sells off wartime factories.• GI Bill: Prompted by idea of 15 million

unemployed soldiers– government paid for college, loans for homes and

businesses. – Greatly affected the postwar period, millions could

now afford a better life, and spend $$$.

GI Bill of Rights

From Bust to Boom

• US economy surges in late 40s• Income quadruples by 60s.• US possessed 40% of world’s wealth• 60% of US middle class– 2 cars in every garage, TV!!!

• Enabled government to afford welfare programs, become a world leader

• Woman in conflict: Pop culture image of homemaker vs. working woman

GDP 1914 to 2004

Why the Boom?

• GI Bill• Defense spending remained high throughout the

Cold War• New industries: technology, aerospace, plastics• Cheap energy: gas readily available, dams and

nuclear power provide cheap electricity.• Better education = increased production = cheaper

prices• Farm workers decrease, farm productivity increases

Birth of the Sunbelt

• New job opportunities in South, West lead many to relocate

• Air conditioning and highways make it more appealing

• Increased population leads to increased political power (1964-2004 all presidents from Sunbelt)

• Result = Rustbelt: economically depressed areas in Northeast

Sunbelt

Rustbelt

Suburban Sprawl

• GI Bill + Economic boom = more people to suburbs• White Flight = affluent whites to subs, AA to inner cities• Federal Housing Administration provides incentives for

homeownership• Need for quick housing leads to Levittowns

( communities of planned, pre-manufactured, uniform homes)

• AA often tried to escape poverty by moving to urban areas, followed them. Often refused home loans, increased segregation.

Levittowns

Baby Boom

• Post war prosperity + 15 million returning soldiers + end of Great Depression = Lots of Babies.

• US population explodes from 50 million births by 1960!

• Strain placed on educational system.

• Advertisers take advantage: toys, food, clothing for this generation.

• Leads to the “youth culture of 60s.

• Today: Boomers are close to retirement, strain on Social Security

“The Buck Stops Here”

• President Truman– No college, farmer, WWI

vet, haberdasher– Veteran of Missouri

politics– Unsure in early days of

presidency– Became a confidant,

strong willed, predictable leader.

Yalta

• Feb 1945; Churchill, Stalin and FDR

• Agreed to divide Germany into 4 zones (France, UK, US, USSR)

• Stalin occupies E. Europe, agrees to allow free elections in Poland, Bulgaria, Romania – Lied!

• USSR agrees to fight Japan 3 months after VE Day

• FDR agrees to allow USSR to have some Japanese islands and some parts of Chinese Manchuria.

Yalta

American- Soviet Relations

• Communism v. Capitalism/ Democracy v. Totalitarianism

• USSR fears raised when Allies delayed D-Day, placing more pressure on eastern front

• Atomic weapons, US stop of Lend-lease $ to USSR increase tensions

• US and USSR both want to lead the world for their respective philosophies

American- Soviet Relations

• Stalin’s Fear: Twice (WWI, WWII) Russia was invaded through Europe

• Stalin hoped to establish a “sphere of influence” in E Europe by controlling Poland, Bulgaria, Romania, Czech., and Hungary)– Looked like an empire to US

• Seeds of the Cold War were sown during WWII.

United Nations• International Monetary

Fund: 1944, regulate currency exchange rates.

• World Bank: loans to war ravaged and 3rd world countries

• 1945: 50 nations create the UN charter

• UN Security Council (US, UK, USSR, France, and China) holds greatest power.

• General Assembly included members form all nations

• Early success: Peace in Kashmir, guide colonies to independence

• Failures: taming nuclear proliferation

• UN also key in the creation of Israel (success or failure?)

UN Membership

German Problems

• Nuremberg Trials: prosecuted Nazi leaders as war criminals, 13 executed

• Reparations lesson learned after WWI, very limited reparations applied to Germany post WWII

• Per Yalta, divided in 4 zones

• Goal: Rebuild and reunite Germany

• USSR refused to give up their zone.

• Iron Curtain: symbolic division of West (capitalism) and East (Communism)

Iron Curtain

Division of Germany

Division of Berlin

Berlin Airlift

• The capitol, Berlin, was located within the Soviet zone.• Divided, like Germany, it became an island of

democracy surrounded by communism• 1948: Soviets stop all supplies coming in from ground

into West Berlin• US airlifts supplies for 1 year until USSR removes

blockade• Significance: 1st confrontation of Cold War, Shows US

resolve to fight communism

Truman Doctrine

• Stalin’s refusal to live up to Yalta promises prompted the US to take a tough stand.

• Truman Doctrine: pledged US economic support for any nation in danger of falling to communist regimes.

• 1st used in Greece and Turkey • Birthed the policy of containment (don’t let

communism spread)• Major US policy for the Cold War• Divided world into “good and evil”

Marshall Plan

• Economies of Western Europe continued to struggle after WWII.

• Marshall Plan: Give economic aid to these nations 1) To aid in recovery 2) fight communism

• Billions given to W Europe lead to an economic miracle

• Lead to the European Union

Marshall Plan

A Home for the Jews

• Sympathy from the Holocaust lead to a movement to return the Holy Land (Palestine) to the Jews.

• Truman, US gave their blessing and in 1948 the nation of Israel was created.

• Vast opposition from Arab neighbors threatened to destroy Israel and their American conspiritors.

Surrounded by a Sea of Hate

War Preparation in Peace Time

• National Security Act (1947)– Organized military into the Department of Defense– Created the National Security Council to advise

the president.– Creates the Central Intelligence Agency to gather

data in foreign nations.• Selective Service Act– Reestablished in 1948, drafted men during

peacetime, continuous draft until 1973

NATO

• North Atlantic Treaty Organization (1949)• Alliance of Western European democracies,

US and Canada.• Pledged to defend each other• “An attack on one is an attack on all”• Also consistent with US policy of Containment• Still in place today!

NATO Membership

What About Japan?

• US alone reconstructed Japan.• Douglas MacArthur lead the process, met

little opposition from the Japanese.• MacArthur created the Japanese constitution.• Japanese economy recovered, soon became

one of the world’s mightiest industrial powers.

General Douglas MacArthur

Worst…..Year…..Ever

• 1949• Chinese nationalist (pro-capitalism) lose a long

civil war with communist forces led by Mao Zedong.– Containment fails– Nationalists retreat to Taiwan

• USSR successfully develops nuclear weapons.• Major setbacks for US in Cold War.

Mao Way, or the Highway

Bigger Bombs

• Americans and Soviets clamored to gain an advantage in the new nuclear arms race.

• 1952: US creates 1st Hydrogen Bomb– 1,000 more destructive than Hiroshima

• 1953: USSR also gets H-Bomb• New weapon lead many world wide to fear

that a “hot war” between US and USSR would destroy the planet.

2nd Red Scare

• Americans looked inward for someone to blame for communist successes.

• Fear of Red spies launched loyalty oaths for government employees.

• Many refused the oath on constitutional grounds, fired.

• Would the Cold War destroy freedom of speech, thought, and assembly?

• Was being a communist unconstitutional?

• House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) investigated Reds in government and public.

2nd Red Scare

• Hollywood Ten: Movie producers that were blacklisted for refusal to testify before Congress.

• In truth, some spies were operating in US, but very few.

• Alger Hiss: connected to Communist party in 30s, convicted of perjury.

• Julius and Ethel Rosenberg: had connections to the Manhattan Project; convicted of espionage, executed

• Fear spread, libraries were purged of “un-American” books.

• Led to the rise of Joseph McCarthy (Chap.37)

Rosenbergs

Actor Ronald Reagan Testifies Before HUAC

1948 Election

• Democrats wanted Eisenhower, but he refused.

• Democrats go with Truman

• Southern Democrats break away, form Dixiecrat Party: Strom Thurmond- states’ rights, segregation

• Progressive Party Reborn under Henry Wallace: New New Deal, Pro-Soviet.

• Democrats split 3 ways, sure win for Republicans.

• Rep. nominate Thomas Dewey: sat back, waited for victory

1948 Election

• Truman gutted-up• Made speeches across

the nation• Likability and down-

home charm proved to be the difference

• Truman = 303, Dewey = 189, Thurmond = 39

Korean War Explodes• Like Germany, Korea was

divided after WWII along the 38th Parallel (USSR in North/ US in South).

• 1950 North Korea attacked the South.

• Tested US policy of containment.

• USSR/China not present at UN, US gets Security Council to approve operation.

• Douglas MacArthur named UN commander.

• NSC-68: top secret document, called for US to drastically increase defense spending. Theory: US economy will win Cold War

Progression of Korean War

September 1950 November 1950

Progression of Korean War

• January 1951 – China sends 260,000 troops to aid North Korea

Korea

• US/UN Goal: remove Northern troops from South

• South Korean troops continued North, and US/UN approved MacArthur to fight above the 38th.

• In late 1950, China came to the aid of the North.

• Overwhelming numbers forced UN troops below 38th

• Mac wanted to attack China, even suggesting nukes.

Korea• MacArthur openly spoke out

against the President, his boss!

• Truman fired Mac, who came home to a heroes welcome.

• Truman’s popularity decreased

• The Korean stalemate would continue until President Eisenhower signs an armistice.

• Still in place today