The Soul of a Superpower: Postwar United States (1945- early 1970s)

1. The Soul of a Superpower: Postwar United States (1945- early 1970s)

2. Baby Boom Generation

3. Suburbanization – linked to conformity

4. Realities of International Politics • Soviet Union had emerged from WWII as the other superpower • Soviets occupied Eastern Europe as a buffer zone against possibility of future German invasion • Communists were winning in China and took over in 1949 • It would be expensive to meet the communist threat

5. Divided Germany

6. Berlin Blockade/Airlift (1948-1949)

7. Europe’s “Iron Curtain”

8. Korean War (1950-1953)

9. Second Red Scare

10. Space Race

11. Emergence of Modern Civil Rights Movement

12. Key Events in 1950s Civil Rights • Brown vs. Board of Education decision on segregation of schools (1954) • Arrest of Rosa Parks and resulting Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955-1956) • Desegregation of Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas (1957)

13. Election of 1960

14. Bay of Pigs Invasion (Apr ‘61)

15. Background on U.S. Involvement in Vietnam War • U.S. government had backed an independent Vietnam in 1945 even though led by communist-trained Ho Chi Minh • But French used priorities of the Cold War to secure U.S. assistance in retaking control of their former colony in Southeast Asia • U.S. bankrolled much of the failed French war effort and then tried to prop up South Vietnam as an anti-communist state.

16. Advisory Effort in Vietnam

17. Cuban Missile Crisis (Oct ‘62)

18. Cuban Missile Crisis Details • U.S. and Soviet officials eventually agreed that missiles would be removed in exchange for U.S. promise not to invade Cuba • Secret provision of deal had Kennedy promise to remove U.S. nuclear missiles from Soviet neighbor of Turkey (though missiles were defunct – not known by Soviets) • U.S. forces went to DEFCON-2, which was highest level of readiness short of nuclear war

19. Birmingham Demonstrations

20. Phases of Modern Civil Rights Movement • Mid-1950s – Focus on using legal system to break down barriers • Late-1950s to Mid-1960s – Focus on using forms of peaceful protest to desegregate, i.e., integrate communities • Mid-1960s to Early 1970s – Rise of black nationalism encouraged greater militancy and disagreement within African American community

21. Black Nationalism vs. Integrationism

22. LBJ’s Great Society

23. Features of Great Society • Two major pieces of civil rights legislation in 1964 and 1965 – ended widespread disenfranchisement of blacks in former Confederate states • War on Poverty to include Medicare, Medicaid and food stamps

24. Gulf of Tonkin Incident/Resolution (Aug ‘64)

25. LBJ & The Vietnam War

26. Tet Offensive - 1968

27. Shocks to Political System in 1968 • Tet Offensive suggests war in Vietnam far from over • President Johnson drops out of re-election campaign • Assassination of MLK, Jr. • Assassination of Senator Robert Kennedy while running for president • Democratic convention in Chicago degenerates into street battles with protestors

28. Election of 1968

29. Rise of Women’s Liberation

30. Watergate Burglary & Fall of Richard Nixon

31. Useful Primary Sources • Winston Churchill’s “Iron Curtain” speech (1946) • Truman Doctrine (1947) • Senator Joseph McCarthy launching anti-communist crusade in Wheeling, WV (1950) • President Dwight Eisenhower Farewell Address on “Military-Industrial Complex” (1961) • John F. Kennedy Inaugural Address (1961) • Port Huron statement by SDS (1962)

32. Useful Primary Sources (continued) • MLK’s “I Have a Dream” speech (1963) • Senator J. William Fulbright’s “Arrogance of Power” speech (1966) • Stokely Carmichael’s “Black Power” speech (1967) • Redstockings Manifesto (1969)