Question1.Analyze developments from 1941 to 1949 that increased suspicion and tension between the United States and the Soviet Union. OUTLINE1.Intro 5 to 6 sentence Time & place Thesis change over t
History 202 Unit 3 The Cold War
Origins of the Cold War
Truman Administration and Beginning of the Cold War
1946-1950 – events began a 40 year period of rivalry with USSR
Truman Doctrine and Marshall Plan: main purpose of the Truman Doctrine was to contain communism; Marshall Plan was monetary aid to Western Europe; aid offered to all “war-torn” countries with strings attached – US managed the money and the re-building of the countries; countries had to buy American goods – this strengthened the economic relationship between US and Western Europe; the Marshall Plan helped to build the economies of both the U.S. and Europe
Soviet Reaction – Berlin Blockade – US reaction was creation of NATO – Soviet reaction was to create WARSAW Pact – US reaction – increased defense budget, passed National Security Act of 1947 (Department of Defense, CIS and NSC) – Cold War is on
Cold War about hegemony not ideology – race to control the non-aligned areas of the world (Vietnam)
The American-Soviet conflict after WWII was waged with economic pressure, propaganda, and subversion
After French rule in Vietnam ended, the U.S. backed an authoritarian regime led by pro-western Vietnamese
Election of 1948
Truman runs for re-election; he continued to embrace an active pro-civil rights policy which he began in 1946; he adopted this because he believed every American should enjoy the full rights of citizenship, he wanted to cultivate the African-American vote for future elections, and he felt racial inequality in the U.S. undercut American foreign policy in its contest with the Soviet Union
opposition: Henry Wallace (progressive), Thomas Dewey (republican), and Strom Thurmond (Dixiecrat – broke from Democratic Party because they objected to civil rights plank in platform – received 39 electoral votes); the Dixiecrats were white supremacists who were determined to protect the southern way of life against an oppressive central government
“Fair Deal” included the G.I. Bill of Rights, Employment Act of 1946; Housing Act of 1949
Housing shortage addressed with Levittown and similar projects
Baby boom and consumer boom begins
Arms Race
Soviets exploded atomic bomb in 1949 – US response was NSC-68 which recommended building thermonuclear (hydrogen) bomb: “The Super”, established European air bases; re-armed West Germany and promoted the idea of military solution to the Cold War
1949 – Communist revolution in China
1950 – Korea: divided after WWII – North Korea attacked South Korea; UN intervened; led to further involvement in Vietnam (funding France, etc.) and it confirmed the goals of NSC-68; it was a limited war which was an example of Truman’s containment policy; because it was a UN police action, it was a war without congressional approval
In the period 1946-1954, fears of communism were fueled by the Soviet’s development of the atomic bomb, the communist victory in the Chinese Revolution, Chinese participation in the Korean War.
Led to the Second Red Scare (1946-1954) (also fueled by anti-Semitic and nativist thought); McCarthyism
Prosperity and Anxiety: The 1950s
Decade of Affluence
Between 1950 and 1964, the American economy grew at a consistent rate
Automobile and related industries are big business; government programs adopted to support the auto industry (Federal Highway Act of 1956)
Other industries grew out of auto industry: large-scale suburban shopping centers, franchised hotels and fast food, and high intensity consumption
Family life: everything focused on marriage and family, encouraged to marry young
Television reinforced what the “perfect” family should be
Undercurrents: youth culture and rock and roll music, women’s movement, civil rights movement
Levittown represented a change toward affordable homes in American suburbs
Eisenhower’s Administration
Refused to dismantle New Deal programs, extended the military while avoiding war and delegated authority through the “hidden hand” presidential style
Sputnik launched by USSR in 1957; US created NASA and increased funding to education in math & science
Containment continued in Vietnam; France lost the war; Vietnam temporarily divided: Ho Chi Minh in the North and Diem in the South; US continued funding and sent military advisors; “Domino Theory”
U-2 Incident (1960)
Kennedy Administration
TV Debates
“New Frontier”
Bay of Pigs (Batista, Castro)
Cuban Missile Crisis – Khrushchev responded to Castro’s call for help – USSR placed missiles in Cuba; Kennedy responded with quarantine around Cuba and demanded removal of missiles; led to limited test ban treaty with USSR
Continued containment in Vietnam
President Kennedy played a major role in the signing of the Limited Test Ban Treaty, and the creation the Peace Corps
Kennedy assassinated in 1963
Johnson Administration
Great Society – social welfare programs; poverty and racial injustice would be eliminated, and economic opportunity would be available for all; the Great Society included the Voting Rights Act, the Medicare Act, and the Civil Rights Act
Gulf of Tonkin incident; Gulf of Tonkin Resolution (gave President Johnson the power to wage undeclared war) – American troops in Vietnam; draft used to fight the war in Vietnam (the majority of the draftees and enlistees were from working class families); he gradually escalated the direct American role in the war
Election of 1964
Early 1965 – bombing N. Vietnam, “Search and Destroy”; Vietcong; styles of warfare
Struggle for Civil Rights
Focused first on injustices in the South
Brown v. Board of Education-segregation in public schools unconstitutional
Montgomery Bus Boycott-desegregated city buses
Central High School in Little Rock-black students protected by federal troops during desegregation of the high school
Lunch Counter Sit-Ins-began in 1960 to desegregate dining facilities
Freedom Riders-challenged segregation of interstate bus terminals and buses
March on Washington, “I Have a Dream”
Kennedy Assassinated; Johnson continues the support
Civil Rights Act of 1964
Freedom Summer-black and white activists registered black voters in Mississippi
Voting Rights Act of 1965
Vietnam Continues
Rolling Thunder, Search and Destroy
Protests begin (draft, credibility, costs)
Majority of the draftees came from working-class families
1968: TET offensive, Johnson does not seek re-election, Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy are assassinated, Election of 1968 (George Wallace runs as segregationist candidate and wins 48 electoral votes, war major focus of campaign, democratic party split so Nixon is elected)
Nixon and Vietnam
Promised to get out of Vietnam; Vietnamization
Cambodia and Kent State – 4 students killed by the National Guard while protesting the bombing in Cambodia
Cease fire 1973
Outcomes: 26th Amendment, end of draft, War Powers’ Resolution, erosion of nation’s confidence in the government
Nixon’s First Two Years in Office
Increased social security benefits
Expanded Job Corps
Introduced legislation to guarantee an annual income for all families
Nixon and the Wider World
Apollo 11
China and Détente
SALT
Arab Oil Embargo (stagflation; wage and price controls)
Environmental Achievements
Earth Day
EPA
Paved the way to achieving Superfund clean-up legislation
Informed public about poor environmental conditions in low-income areas
Watergate
“Plumbers”- members of Nixon’s administration who engaged in illegal activities
Nixon driven by urge for power
Nixon lied about his involvement Many members of his administration broke the law
Special Prosecutor – showed they could function independently of White House
Nixon Resigns
Ford becomes president and pardons Nixon
Youth Culture and Counterculture
Involved in protest movements; Hippies and Woodstock generation showed feeling of alienation existed in American society
Black Panthers focused on national rather than local goals, started free breakfast programs in norther ghettos, and they expressed their goals in the creation of a political program
The “sexual revolution” came about due to waning fear of unwanted pregnancy because of the availability of contraceptives, especially the pill; greater permissiveness and openness about sexual activity; new attitudes toward cohabitation
Carter
Jimmy Carter won the election in 1976 because of his reputation as a Washington outsider, his pledge to never lie to the American people, and his faith as a “born again” Christian
Policies: new proposals to solve energy crisis and change nation’s energy habits; cuts in federal spending; stepped up defense spending; emphasis on human rights
Foreign Affairs: Camp David Accords; Iranian Hostage Crisis; Soviet invasion of Afghanistan
By the late 1970s, Americans were being held hostage in Iran, there was unemployment and a recession
