Post-WWII America: Challenges and Transformations

1. Pageant 37-38 Review

2. End of World War II • People feared the return of the Great Depression

3. Supreme Court • Advanced civil rights because congress and the president were staying away from the issue • Sweatt v Painter- 1950- Ruled against segregated graduate schools • Brown v. Board- 1954- Over turned legal segregation

4. Civil Rights • African Americans spurred on by the gap between U.S. ideals and racial practices revealed by WW II

5. The United Nations • Sent troops to Korea- initially to defend South Korea from North Korean aggression • Failed to stem the manufacturing of atomic weapons • Instrumental in the formation of Israel

6. Cold War Origins • Fundamental disagreements between the U.S. and Soviets over arrangements in postwar Eastern Europe • U.S and Soviets had been largely isolated from world affairs • U.S viewed the Soviets as expansionist, but cautious

7. Marshall Plan • Economic aid to Europe after WW II • Offered to the Soviets and Eastern bloc nations • Thwarted Communist parties in Italy and France

8. Berlin Blockade • U.S. and others organized an airlift to supply West Berlin

9. American Atomic Monopoly • Ended in 1949 with the Soviet detonation of an A-bomb

10. Chinese Civil War • Mao Zedong gained the support of the Chinese people • Lead to increased fears of Communist expansion

11. Douglas Mac Arthur • Instrumental in developing post war Japan • First UN commander in Korean War- fired by Truman You are Fired!!

12. The Rosenbergs • Executed in 1953 for selling atomic secrets to the Soviets

13. Alger Hiss • Found guilty of perjury • Helped establish Nixon’s reputation

14. HUAC • House Un American Activities Committee • Began investigating Communist influences in the New Deal in the late 1930s

15. Strom Thurmond • Ran in 1948 as a Dixiecrat • Opposed to Truman’s stance in favor of civil rights

16. Henry A. Wallace • Ran for President in 1948 as the New Progressive candidate • Wanted to return to the New Deal • Opposed Cold War policies of Truman • Too liberal for voters • Formerly FDR’s VP from 1941-45

17. Truman’s Fair Deal • Full employment • Increased housing availability • Aid for Farmers • Higher minimum wage • New TVAs • Extension of Social Security • Blocked by Republicans and Southern Democrats

18. McCarran Act • Gave the President wide ranging powers against internal threats • Vetoed by Truman, but overridden

19. Sputnik • Launched in October 1957 • Resulted in increased emphasis on science and language education in the U.S. • The U.S. launched Juno within a couple of months

20. Eisenhower • Pledged to go to Korea during the 1952 Presidential campaign • Was committed to social harmony • Not inclined toward promoting integration

21. Checker’s Speech • Nixon’s televised appeal to the American people

22. Eisenhower Foreign Policy • Massive Retaliation- Soviet aggression will be met with a nuclear response • Open Skies- Allowed for U.S. and Soviet planes to fly over each other’s air space- rejected by Khrushchev

23. New Look Foreign Policy • Reliance on air power and nuclear weapons • Deemphasized conventional army and navy

24. Vietnam • U.S. supported French presence after World War II • French defeated by Viet Minh at Dien Bien Phu- 1954

25. Suez Crisis • Great Britain and France attempted to regain the Suez Canal • For the last time, the U.S. used oil to make demands • A factor in the U.S. not aiding the Hungarian revolution

26. Iran • U.S. opposed Mossadegh and placed the pro-Western Shah in power

27. 1956 Revolution • Hungarians temporarily overthrew Communist leadership • Never received help from the U.S.

28. Cuba • U.S. supported Batista • Castro gains power in 1959

29. Interstate Highway System • Affected air quality and downtowns • Showed preference for auto transportation over railroads

30. Low Energy Costs • Resulted in an economic boom in the U.S. from the end of WW II until the 1970s

31. Sunbelt • Prosperity due to influx of money from the federal government • Every elected President from 1964 to 2008 was from the Sunbelt

32. Sit-ins • Began at North Carolina A&T • Led to the formation of the Student Non violent Coordinating Committee

33. Montgomery Bus Boycott • Successful in keeping most African Americans of the busses • Led to the emergence of Martin Luther King Jr

34. Emmett Till • From Chicago, visiting Mississippi • Defendants were found not guilty by an all white jury

35. Little Rock 9 • Integrated Central High School • Orval Faubus- Arkansas Governor used the National Guard to prevent integration • Eisenhower sent in paratroopers

36. Organized Labor • Hindered by- • The Taft-Hartley Act • Increase in service sector jobs • Failure of Operation Dixie • Increase in part-time workers

37. Servicemen’s Readjustment Act • GI Bill • Helped absorb millions of men back into the workforces • Allowed men to go to college, easily get home or business loans

38. Earl Warren • Conservative Governor of California- became a liberal Supreme Court justice • Nominated by Eisenhower

39. Suburban Growth • Made easier by- • Accessible home loans • Highways • Tax deductions for interest payments on mortgages • “White Flight” from racial change Created an urban-suburban segregation of blacks and whites in major metropolitan areas

40. Israel • Recognized by Truman- risked U.S. access to Middle Eastern oil

41. Joe McCarthy • Claimed the state department was infiltrated by Communists • Never directly challenged by Eisenhower • State Department lost specialists that may have been valuable concerning Vietnam

42. Consumerism • People that had experienced the Great Depression and WW II now had discretionary income • McDonalds, Disneyland, TV advertising

43. 1960 Election • Televised debate may have helped Kennedy defeat Nixon