The GI Bill, 19441955

1
The GI Bill, 1944-1955

• 4,300,000 home loans to veterans (worth 33
  billion dollars)
• 8 million veterans went back to school with a GI
  bill scholarship
• 14.5 billion dollars in federal money going to
  the nations schools and colleges
• 50 billion in direct or indirect subsidies to the
  American people
• 1/3 of the population received some sort of
  benefit from the GI Bill

2
The Yalta Conference, 1945

• The U.S.S.R. will get three votes in the United
  Nations General Assembly

• In exchange the U.S.S.R. will declare war on
  Japan
• and hold free elections in Poland.

3
1939 Einstein and Szilard warn Roosevelt about
Nazi research on Atomic weapons
4
August 6 and 9, 1945 Atomic weapons used on
Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Concerns about the Bomb Teller Demonstrate the
Bomb first. Eisenhower Bomb a bad
precedent. Office of Strategic Bombing Japan
would surrender even without using the Bomb.
5
The Polish Corridor to Russia

• 15th century Teutonic invasion
• Napoleons 1812 invasion
• The Kaisers 1914 invasion
• The Nazi invasion of 1941

6
Nuclear weapons plans (1946)

• Acheson-Lilienthal Plan
• UN would control atomic energy
• US would stockpile weapons until UN plan set up
• Baruch Plan
• International agency would inspect countries to
  prevent production of nuclear weapons
• Countries that did not have nuclear weapons could
  not develop them
• Agencys decisions would be immune to veto power
  from UN Security Council or General Assembly

7
The Truman Doctrine (1947)

• Massive military aid to all governments fighting
  communism
• 400 million dollars in military aid for Greece
  and Turkey

8
George Kennans containment thesis, 1946

• Stalin opposed west in order to justify his
  dictatorship
• Soviet Union had to be contained by the adroit
  and vigilant application of counterforce at a
  series of constantly shifting geographical points
  . . .
• U.S. had to show that it had a better system for
  prosperity

9
Walter Lippman The Cold War (1947)

• Containment basically put the strategic ball in
  the Soviet Unions court
• The amorphousness of Kennans strategy will force
  the U.S. to place all its resources against
  Russia
• U.S. should most focus on Russias presence in
  Eastern Europe, not the whole world

10
The Marshall Plan, 1947

• Massive aid to Europe to reduce the influence of
  communism and strengthen European consumer
  markets
• . . . the revival of a working economy in the
  world so as to permit the emergence of political
  and social conditions in which free institutions
  can exist.
• 1946-1952 U.S. exports to Europe jump from 9.5
  to 15 billion dollars
• 1960 U.S. corporations have 32 billion dollars
  invested in Europe

11
Breton-Woods conference, 1944

• The World Bank
• Purpose to lend money to developing nations for
  projects that would return investments to the
  First World
• The International Monetary Fund
• Purpose Oversee international currency and
  exchange systems

12
The Berlin Airlift, 1948-49
U.S. flies food and supplies to Berlin in
defiance of Soviet blockade West Germany declares
itself parliamentary democracy. Soviets set up
German Democratic Republic in the east. North
Atlantic Treaty Organization established in 1949
ten nations establish mutual aid pact against the
Communist East
13
NSC-68 (National Security Council document number
68), 1950

• U.S. and the Soviet Union were locked in a
  struggle for world power
• The Soviets want world domination
• Conflict between the two superpowers endemic .
  . . like a disease, inherent
• The Soviets can only be stopped by military power
• The Soviet people only supported the communists
  out of fear once the U.S. showed its strength,
  the Russian people would overthrow communism

14
1954 CIA overthrows democratically elected
regime of Guatemala

• Jacobo Arbenz supports land reform
• Offers United Fruit for land to be distributed
  to Guatemalan farmers
• Secy of State John Foster Dulles accuses him of
  being a communist
• CIA chief (and brother) Allan Dulles engineers
  revolt against Arbenz

15
The abnormally normal 1950s

• Family size goes way up in 1950s
• Marriage rate goes up average age of marriage
  goes down
• Crew cut becomes mandatory sign of masculinity
• Feminism largely disappears from public
  discussion

Fallout shelters, circa 1954
16
Alfred Kinsey, 1894-1956
Sexual Behavior in the Human Male, 1948, found
that . . . Most men masturbate . . . and thats
fine . . . One third of men have had a
homosexual experience . . . and thats ok too .
. . Sexual Behavior in the Human Female, 1953,
found that . . . Most women achieve orgasm more
efficiently via means other than vaginal
penetration. And, hey, thats ok folks, just
relax . . .
17
Founded in 1953 by Hugh Hefner Celebrated the
bachelor life Celebrated home technology for
men Championed civil liberties for both men and
women, including the right to choose pregnancy
18

• Founded by William Gaines in the mid-1950s
• Reaction to the Kefauver hearings on comic books
  in 1954
• and the creation of the Comics Code
• The first popular lampoon magazine in U.S.
  history

19
Superman, circa 1954
20
The Twilight Zone, 1959-1964

• Introduced millions of Americans to popular
  science fiction
• Stressed tolerance, the dignity of ordinary
  people, and challenged the arms race,
  McCarthyism, corporate greed, and racism in
  American life
• Took on serious personal issues such as death,
  child abuse, and the subjectivity of appearance