THE AMERICAN CENTURY

1
THE AMERICAN CENTURY

• CHAPTER 28 (744-771)

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THE POSTWAR ECONOMY

• Many were worried about a postwar depression and
  continued to be willing to employ federal
  authority to stabilize the economy
• However, pent-up demands for cars, houses,
  clothing and other products stimulated the
  economy few veterans went without work as
  demand for labor continued to increase
• GI Bill of Rights (1944) education benefits for
  veterans
• Taxes were cut and price controls were releases
  causing a period of inflation which allowed
  Republicans to take control of Congress
• Taft-Hartley Act (1947) outlawed the closed
  shop and allowed the president to prevent strikes
  for 80 days

3
THE CONTAINMENT POLICY

• As postwar economic issues went fairly smoothly,
  foreign policy issues did not
• Stalin dominated Eastern Europe, was extending
  control in central Europe and Asia and the Middle
  East
• While America demobilized the army, Russia did
  not Communism began to be regarded as bad as
  Fascism had been and a danger to the world
  Stalin began to be associated with Hitler
• Thus the containment policy was born Stalin
  could not be allowed to expand the hows and
  wheres were not spelled out, merely the resolve

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THE ATOMIC BOMB A WINNING WEAPON?

• Truman hoped that the bomb would inhibit Stalin
  it did not Stalin knew that the US had only a
  dozen or so bombs
• There was also a backwash of fear and loathing
  after true accounts of the suffering in Japan
  came out Oppenheimer refused to continue
  working on them
• Nov 1945, The US suggested that the UN oversee
  all nuclear energy production a plan was
  proposed that UN inspectors could without
  restriction go anywhere and make sure that no
  weapons were being made Stalin refused and the
  US did not destroy its weapons

5
A TURNING POINT IN GREECE

• Greek communists, who had been fighting against
  the Germans, were now fighting against the
  returned monarchy and were getting support from
  Yugoslavia and Bulgaria (The Soviets were
  actually against this) Britain could no longer
  afford to help the monarchy and were going to cut
  off aid Churchills Iron Curtain was falling
  on Greece
• The Truman Doctrine The United States must
  support free peoples who are resisting attempted
  subjugation by armed minorities or by outside
  pressures

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THE MARSHALL PLAN AND THE LESSON OF HISTORY

• George C. Marshall reminded Americans that their
  isolationism after WWI contributed to Hitlers
  unchecked advance through Europe and that in the
  future America must be prepared to act
• He also said, Hunger, poverty, desperation, and
  chaos were the enemies of freedom and wanted
  America to aid all nations post-war

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THE MARSHALL PLAN AND THE LESSON OF HISTORY

• The Marshall Plan 16 nations formed a committee
  which submitted plans for 22 billion in aid
  The Soviet Union and several of its satellite
  nations sent representatives but Stalin quickly
  recalled them fearing they would be drawn to
  America
• Congress appropriated over 13 billion, and by
  1951 Western Europe was booming
• March 1948 Britain, France, Belgium, the
  Netherlands and Luxembourg sign an alliance to
  promote social, cultural, and economic
  collaboration they also plan to create a single
  West German Republic
• The Soviet Union retaliated by closing access to
  Berlin and the great Berlin airlift began
  supplies were brought in to care for the 2
  million people there both sides unwilling to
  fight, the blockade was lifted in 1949

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DEALING WITH JAPAN AND CHINA

• Japan was governed by General MacArthur
• Universal suffrage was instituted
• Parliamentary government was put in place
• Their armed forces were disbanded
• Labor unions were encouraged
• The empire was broken up
• Japan emerged economically strong, politically
  stable, and allied with the US
• China was different The south was occupied by
  Chiang Kai-Sheks nationalist forces The north
  was occupied by Mao Zedongs communist forces
  soon civil war re-erupted and the communists won
  Chiang Kai-Shek moved to Taiwan

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THE ELECTION OF 1948

• Trumans opinion polls showed him very low so
  low that Democrats talked of denying him the
  nomination
• Governor Dewey was the Republican nominee and he
  fully expected to win
• 2 Democrat splinter parties also formed, the
  States Rights (Dixiecrat) party and the
  Progressive party
• Truman launched a whirlwind campaign travelling
  by rail making several hundred speeches blasting
  the do nothing Republican Congress and pressing
  his own Fair Deal policies
• He defeated Dewey 303-189

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CONTAINING COMMUNISM ABROAD

• North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) 1949
  America, Great Britain, France, Belgium, the
  Netherlands, Luxembourg, Denmark, Norway,
  Portugal, Iceland, and Canada
• September 1949 the Soviets detonate an atomic
  bomb both the US and Soviet Union begin working
  on a hydrogen bomb
• Just as Truman wanted to cut the military budget,
  a review of the containment policy brought a
  recommendation to increase defense spending by
  350 to nearly 50 billion

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HOT WAR IN KOREA

• After the war, Korea had been divided at the 38th
  parallel into North Korea the Democratic
  Peoples Republic backed by Russia and South
  Korea the Republic of Korea backed by the US
  and UN
• June 1950, North Korea attacks South Korea
  Truman decides to push them back to avoid another
  world war and with UN backing but without a
  declaration of war sends planes and troops in
  though a UN army, 90 of the soldiers were
  American 15 other nations supplied troops as
  well General MacArthur was placed in charge and
  successfully beat them back and began advancing
  into North Korea toward China

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HOT WAR IN KOREA

• Soon however the Chinese entered the picture and
  drove the UN forces back again who rallied back
  around the original border
• MacArthur was dismissed for insubordination and
  the war dragged on
• Americans became angry at the war, which went on
  until 1953 157,000 casualties (54,000 deaths)

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THE COMMUNIST ISSUE AT HOME

• While communist membership fell after the start
  of the Cold War, fears of spies were rampant
• Loyalty Review Board established to check on
  government employees 2700 were dismissed over
  the next 10 years
• Alger Hiss, a former State Department official
  was accused of being a communist in the 30s was
  eventually sentenced to 5 years in prison
• Klaus Fuchs British scientist who betrayed
  atomic secrets to the Soviets
• Julius and Ethel Rosenberg executed for passing
  secrets to the Soviets

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MCCARTHYISM

• Feb 1950, Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin claimed
  that the government was full of traitors, that he
  had a list of people who were communists but were
  still working in the government
• Soon he was accusing everybody of being a
  communist and was on TV and radio everywhere
  but he never exposed a single spy or secret
  communist all he did was frighten thousands of
  people

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DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER

• Eisenhower is nominated over many other prominent
  Republicans
• He was popular because he avoided controversy
• He was a successful general running Allied
  forces during WWII
• He reminded people of George Washington and
  Andrew Jackson
• Eisenhower defeated Adlai Stevenson easily 442-89

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DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER

• He called for more local control of government
• Promised to reduce spending and cut taxes
• Yet he was unwilling to cut military spending or
  reduce current social and economic legislation
• Social Security was extended to more people
• Created the Department of Health, Education and
  Welfare
• Promoted a highway construction act
• He was flexible without compromising his own
  values

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THE EISENHOWER-DULLES FOREIGN POLICY

• John Foster Dulles became Eisenhowers Secretary
  of State
• He was against Trumans conventional containment
  policy stating it was too expansive and was
  ineffective
• Dulles was for focusing on nuclear weapons and
  shrinking the conventional army acting as a
  deterrent when the Chinese signed the armistice
  in Korea Dulles believed it was due to the
  nuclear threat
• In 1955 Eisenhower stated that he would use
  nuclear weapons to defend Taiwan the Chinese
  backed down
• Massive Retaliation seemed to be working, and the
  US reduced its forces even more

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ASIAN POLICY AFTER KOREA

• After Korea, a new issue arose communist rebels
  in French Indo-China led by Ho Chi Minh
• 1954 France, Britain, Soviet Union and China
  divided Vietnam at the 17th parallel the north
  became the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, the
  south remained in the hands of the emperor Bao
  Dai until he was overthrown the US supplied
  this new government liberally with aid

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ISRAEL AND THE MIDDLE EAST

• May 1948 the new state of Israel was established
  to the anger of many Arab leaders fighting
  broke out but Israel easily defeated the invaders
• The creation of this nation was due in large part
  to feelings regarding Jews after the war
• 1952 revolution in Egypt gravitated toward
  the communist camp because the US would not sell
  them arms they nationalized the Suez Canal
  Britain, France and Israel attacked Egypt without
  consulting the US Both the US and Russia called
  for a cease fire with Nikita Khrushchev
  threatening nuclear strikes on France and Britain
  if they did not leave Egypt they did
• Eisenhower announces the Eisenhower Doctrine
  the US would use force in the Middle East if it
  felt necessary to fight against communism in that
  region

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EISENHOWER AND KHRUSHCHEV

• The first hydrogen bomb was detonated in 1952,
  the Soviets followed 6 months later
• Stalin died in 1953 Nikita Khrushchev took over
• Eisenhower was reelected in 1956
• Khrushchev offered nations Soviet aid, worked to
  purge Stalinism, set political prisoners free,
  boasted that they could launch numerous nuclear
  warheads at the US (creating a so-called missile
  gap), launched the satellite Sputnik, visited
  the United States, and blamed Eisenhower for a
  crashed U-2 spy plane in 1960

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LATIN AMERICA AROUSED

• Organization of American States (1947) the US was
  just one member no veto power
• During the Cold War, the US tended to neglect
  these nations however Eisenhower stepped up aid
  but anti-communism was always a priority
  reactionary regimes were often supported to fight
  against communism
• Nixons goodwill tour in 1958 was a disaster and
  had to cut short
• Fidel Castro successfully took over Cuba with his
  communist regime Khrushchev threatened to
  defend Cuba with atomic weapons

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THE POLITICS OF CIVIL RIGHTS

• Eisenhower completed the integration of the armed
  forces
• The Supreme Court had gradually been undermining
  the separate but equal clause in the Plessy vs.
  Ferguson case from 1896
• 1938 it ordered the University of Missouri to
  admit a black student to its law school
• 1948 University of Oklahoma was ordered to
  provide equal facilities
• 1950 Texas was barred from forming a separate
  law school
• Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka Thurgood
  Marshall (later a supreme court justice)
  challenged separate but equal and the Plessy
  decision was reversed the next year schools
  everywhere were ordered to desegregate
• In 1957 Eisenhower was forced to send federal
  troops to Little Rock Arkansas where the
  governor, Orval M. Faubus was using national
  guardsmen to prevent desegregation

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THE ELECTION OF 1960

• Richard Nixon, Eisenhowers vice-president won
  the Republican nomination
• John F. Kennedy won the Democratic nomination
• Kennedy had commanded a torpedo boat in the
  Pacific during WWII and served with distinction
• He was a US Senator from Massachusetts
• He was Catholic no Catholic had ever been
  elected president of the US
• He and Nixon held a series of TV debates which
  swung many voters in his favor
• Kennedy won 303-219 but the popular vote was only
  34,227,000 to 34,109,000

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