Unit 14 Cold War, Civil Rights, and Vietnam

1. Unit 14Cold War, Civil Rights, and Vietnam “The Unit to end all Units”

2. I. Post War America A. What do the soldiers do? 1. GI Bill (1944)- Provided $14.5 bil for 8 mil veterans to go to school. 2. Allowed the VA to make $16 bil in loans for homes and farms. B. A rush to the suburbs 1. FHA makes it easy for Whites to get home loans in the suburbs. “White Flight” a. By 1960 25% of Americans lived in Suburbs. 2. Construction Industry Explodes a. Levittowns- 100’s (or 1000’s) of homes built in a single project using the same floor plan and factory produced frames.

6. I. (cont.) C. The Long Economic Boom 1. National income doubles in the 50’s 2. “A chicken in every pot” turns into “2 cars in every garage” 3. Middle class grows to include 60% of Americans. 4. Service industry jobs provide women with a plethora of employment opportunities D. Baby Boom 1. 50 mil babies from 1945 to 1960. 2. Huge impact on American society even today. a. “Pig in a Python”

9. II. Yalta and the Seeds of the Cold War A. Purpose of the “Big 3” conference 1. Last with FDR 2. Final Plans to destroy Germany 3. Free elections in Eastern Europe 4. Est. United Nations 5. Stalin in the Far East 6. Defending FDR and the “sellout” of China. III. Rise of the Superpowers A. Reasons for suspicion b/w the 2 countries? Communism, Tyranny vs. Democracy, Capitalism. B. Competing visions of the Post War world 1. Defend Stalin’s “buffer zone” 2. Stalin’s criticism of the west

10. III. (cont.) C. Reasons for this competition 1. What the two have in common? a. The desire to spread their political ideals, both born out of Revolution- “missionary diplomacy” D. Definition of the Cold War? IV. Shaping the world A. Why was Bretton Woods sooo important? 1. Regulated currency to encourage world trade B. Differences b/w U.S. (post WWI & WWII) C. The controversy over the atom 1. Soviet Union proposed a ban on all Nuclear weapons, we disagree…Big mistake? V. What to do with Germany? A. Nuremberg trials- Nazi war criminals put on trial. B. Stalin and the “Iron Curtain” 1. The Soviet Union and its “satellite countries” are hidden from the rest of the world through secrecy and isolation. C. Berlin Blockade June 1948-May 1949 1. After the war Germany is divided into 4 zones…Berlin is in Stalin’s zone. 2. Stalin is attempting to force U.S. to cede our portion of Berlin 3. U.S. counters with the Berlin airlift…makes U.S. look good!

12. VI. Cold War Policy A. Containment Policy 1. Kennan’s “Long Telegram”- Russia wanted to expand no matter what. 2. Communism must not be allowed to spread to anywhere new B. Greece and Turkey-1947 1. Truman Doctrine- U.S. would aid any free peoples resisting subjugation…Basically we would help any country fight against communism 2. $400m to Greece and Turkey 3. Marshall Plan-$12.5 b over 4 years a. Don’t allow a depression to breed another Hitler or give a country a reason to turn Communist

13. Marshall Plan vs. Marshal Plan

14. VII. Rearming America A. What does rearming entail? 1. Selective service system, Department of Defense, NSC, and CIA. C. Joining NATO-April 1949 Pros and Cons. 1. Does not follow Washington’s farewell advice. 2. But strengthens containment 3. 15 countries by 1955..if your Stalin?? a. Warsaw Pact-Stalin’s response to NATO

16. VIII. Two events that shook America in 1949 A. What happened in China? 1. Jiang Jieshi-Nationalist 2. Mao Zedong- Communist B. The Russians get the bomb 1. Three Years Earlier than expected 2. Truman okays the development of the H-bomb (1952) 3. Arms Race is at full throttle IX. The Home Front A. Loyalty Review Board- est. 1947 to investigate fed. Employees. 3,000 resign or get fired, B. HUAC- established in 1938 to investigate subversion and find communists w/in American society C. Joseph McCarthy- leader of a senate investigating committee. Led a communist witch hunt from 1950-1953. D. Julius and Ethel Rosenberg- convicted in 1951 and executed in 1953 for selling secrets to the USSR

21. X. The trouble with the Democrats in 1948 A. How did Truman’s nomination split the party? He was a pro Civil Rights dem. B. Dixiecrats- the southern democrats who were opposed to Truman’s stance on Civil Rights C. Henry Wallace- was VP from ’40 to ’44 but replaced by Truman, very liberal D. How does Truman win??? 1. Whistle Stop campaign 2. “Do nothing republican congress” E. “Point Four” of Truman’s inaugural 1. Anything to stop communism. F. Truman’s Fair Deal 1. Housing, unemployment, and social security

23. XI. Shooting in the Cold War- Korea A. Importance of 38th parallel B. June 25th, 1950- confirms our “containment” policy. How? C. NSC-68: Provides the military with a “blank check” to defend against communism. D. The Fighting 1. Inchon- turning point in a stalemate war. 2. The Chinese Question 3. The Russian Question 4. MacArthur Fired- he wanted to invade China, Truman has to fire him. 5. We don’t defeat N. Korea but we contain communism.

28. XII. Affluence A. White collar workers- Professional type jobs outnumber “blue collar” jobs for the first time in 1956. (effect of the G.I. Bill) B. 40 (m) new jobs 1950-1980, 30 (m) in clerical and service work…women. C. Women back in the home (The new “Cult of Domesticity”) 1. Are these women happy? a. Betty Friedan- The Feminine Mystique i. Stresses the boredom of the housewife role.

29. XII. (cont.) D. Consumerism 1. Televisions in virtually every home by 1960. 2. McDonalds, Disneyland, Pro sports. 3. Rock and Roll a. Elvis becomes the face of rock and terrifies parents everywhere. E. Eisenhower takes over, election of 1952 1. Very popular, even promises to go to Korea in person 2. Richard Nixon chosen as VP to appease the conservative Republicans a. Red Hunter b. “Checkers Speech”

32. XIII. Civil Rights Movement A. Segregation is the main problem. 1. There were two societies in the south. Schools, restaurants, everything. (de jure vs. de facto segregation) a. Violence would also go unpunished…Emmitt Till. 2. Brown v. Board (1954) a. Warren Court-not scared to take on taboo issues. “Segregation is inherently unequal.” b. Forces the south’s two societies together.

36. XIII. (cont.) A. (cont.) 3. Rosa Parks (1955) a. Montgomery Bus Boycott- organized in part by Martin Luther King, non-violent resistance. B. Little Rock School Crisis 1. Most border states integrate schools but the deep south refuses. (all deliberate speed??) 2. AR Gov. Faubus uses the AR national guard to keep out nine black students. 3. Eisenhower sends in fed. troops to escort the “Little Rock 9” to their classes. 4. Eisenhower is prompted more by the challenge to fed. authority than his love for AA’s…BUT the fed gov. actually enforces the law!

39. XIII. (cont.) C. The movement spreads. 1. Southern Christian Leadership Conference, 1957 (SCLC) started by MLK and mobilized black churches to push for Civil Rights. 2. Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, 1960 (SNCC) organized “sit-ins” to promote desegregation in public places.