Chapter 30: 1945-1956 Postwar Period, Cold War, Korean War

1. Chapter 30: 1945-1956Postwar Period, Cold War, Korean War

2. GI Bill of Rights • Gave veterans an education. • Severe housing shortage in U.S. • Suburbs- small residential communities outside of cities. • Women are going to take on the traditional role at home. • Men will “bring home the bacon.”

3. National Security Act • 1947 • Reorganized the military • 3 Branches- Army, Navy, & Air Force were brought under a new executive department (Dept. of Defense) • Formed National Security Council

4. CIA • Central Intelligence Agency • Uses spies to gather info. • Covert operations to weaken or overthrow gov’ts that are enemies of U.S. • CIA helped the Shah return to power in Iran and create a dictatorship in Guatemala.

5. REDEFINING THE FAMILY • A return to traditional roles after the war was the norm • Men were expected to work, while women were expected to stay home and care for the children • Conflict emerged as many women wanted to stay in the workforce • Divorce rates surged

6. REMARKABLE ECONOMIC RECOVERY • Experts who predicted a postwar depression were proved wrong • Failed to consider the $135 billion in savings Americans had accumulated from defense work, service pay, and investments in war bonds • Americans were ready to buy consumer goods

7. DESPITE GROWTH, ISSUES PERSIST • One persistent postwar issue involved labor strikes • In 1946 alone, 4.5 million unhappy workers, including Steelworkers, coal miners and railroad workers went on strike

8. TRUMAN TOUGH ON STRIKERS • Truman refused to let strikes cripple the nation • He threatened to draft the striking workers & then order them as soldiers to return to work • Strategy worked as strikers returned to their jobs

9. Truman and Civil Rights • A wave of racial violence erupted in the South after WWII. • He created the President’s Commission on Civil Rights. • Truman wanted antilynching laws, a ban on poll taxes, and a civil rights commission. • Congress refused to pass the measures.

10. SOCIAL UNREST PERSISTS • African Americans felt they deserved equal rights, especially after hundreds of thousands served in WWII • Truman took action in 1948 by desegregating the armed forces • Additionally, Truman ordered an end to discrimination in the hiring of governmental employees

11. THE 1948 ELECTION Dewey • The Democrats nominated President Truman in 1948 • The Republicans nominated New York Governor Thomas Dewey • Polls showed Dewey held a comfortable lead going into election day

12. TRUMAN WINS IN A STUNNING UPSET • Truman’s “Give ‘em hell, Harry” campaign worked • Truman won a very close race against Dewey Truman holds a now infamous Chicago Tribune announcing (incorrectly) Dewey’s victory

13. To protest Truman’s emphasis on Civil Rights, the South opted to run a third candidate, South Carolina Governor Strum Thurmond

14. COLD WAR CONFLICTS U.S vs. U.S.S.R.

15. ORIGINS OF THE COLD WAR • After being Allies during WWII, the U.S. and U.S.S.R. soon viewed each other with suspicion • Political differences created a climate of icy tension that plunged the two countries into an era of bitter rivalry known as the Cold War The Cold War would dominate global affairs from 1945 until the breakup of the USSR in 1991

16. POLITICAL DIFFERENCES • At the heart of the tension was a fundamental difference in political systems • America is a democracy that has a capitalist economic system, free elections and competing political parties • In the U.S.S.R., the sole political party – the Communists – established a totalitarian regime with little or no rights for the citizens Soviets viewed Marx, Engels and Lenin as founders of Communism

17. SUSPICIONS DEVELOPED DURING THE WAR ISSUES • Even during the war, the two nations disagreed on many issues • The U.S. was furious that Soviet leader Joseph Stalin had been an ally of Hitler for a time • Stalin was upset that the U.S. had kept its development of the atomic bomb a secret

18. THE UNITED NATIONS PROVIDES HOPE • Hopes for world peace were high at the end of the war • Most visible symbol of these hopes was the United Nations (U.N.) • Formed in June of 1945, the U.N. was composed of 50 nations • Unfortunately, the U.N. soon became a forum for competing superpowers to spread their influence over others The United Nations today has 191 member countries

19. SOVIETS DOMINATE EASTERN EUROPE • The Soviet Union suffered an estimated 20 million WWII deaths, half of whom were civilian • As a result they felt justified in their claim to Eastern Europe • They felt they needed Eastern Europe as a buffer against future German aggression

20. STALIN INSTALLS PUPPET GOVERNMENTS • Stalin installed “satellite” communist governments in the Eastern European countries of Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Yugoslavia and East Germany • This after promising “free elections” for Eastern Europe at the Yalta Conference In a 1946 speech, Stalin said communism and capitalism were incompatible – and another war was inevitable

21. U.S. ESTABLISHES A POLICY OF CONTAINMENT • Faced with the Soviet threat, Truman decided it was time to “stop babying the Soviets” • In February 1946, George Kennan, an American diplomat in Moscow, proposed a policy of containment • Containment meant the U.S. would prevent any further extension of communist rule

22. CONTAINMENT • U.S. began using CONTAINMENT: to prevent Communist rule in other nations • Did not mean using military power- instead they tried to “contain” Communism where it was and not let it expand into other countries

23. CHURCHILL: “IRON CURTAIN” ACROSS EUROPE • Europe was divided into two political regions; mostly democratic Western Europe/ communist Eastern Europe • In a 1946 speech, Churchill said, “An iron curtain has descended across the continent” Churchill, right, in Fulton, Missouri delivering his “iron curtain” speech, 1946

24. “Iron Curtain” • An imaginary line that separates Communist nations in Eastern Europe from those nations in Western Europe • The phrase “iron curtain” came to stand for the division of Europe • U.S. & Soviet Union did not get along which led to the COLD WAR: conflict b/w the 2 nations, but they never fought in a battle.

25. Iron Curtain cartoon, 1946

26. THE TRUMAN DOCTRINE • A U.S. policy that gave aid to free nations threatened by opponents. • First used in Greece & Turkey in the late 1940s, vowed to provide aid (money & military supplies) to support “free peoples who are resisting outside pressures” • By 1950, U.S. had given $400 million in aid to Greece and Turkey

27. THE MARSHALL PLAN • MARSHALL PLAN: program where the U.S. supplied aid to European nations to help them rebuild after WWII • June 1947, Secretary of State George Marshall proposed plan • Western Europe accepted help, while Eastern Europe (Stalin) rejected the aid • Over the next four years 16 European countries received $13 billion in U.S. aid • By 1952 Western Europe’s economy was flourishing The Marshall Plan helped Western Europe recover economically

28. Marshall Plan aid sent to European countries

29. Marshall Aid cartoon, 1947

30. SUPERPOWERS STRUGGLE OVER GERMANY • At the end of the war, Germany was divided among the Allies into four zones for the purpose of occupation • U.S, France, & Great Britain decided to combine their 3 zones into one zone – West Germany, or the federal Republic of Germany • U.S.S.R. controlled East Germany, or the German Democratic Republic • Now the superpowers were occupying an area right next to each other – problems were bound to occur

31. BERLIN AIRLIFT – 1948 • When the Soviets attempted to block the three Western powers from access to Berlin in 1948, the 2.1 million residents of West Berlin had only enough food for five weeks, resulting in a dire situation Like the whole of Germany, the city of Berlin was divided into four zones

32. AMERICA & BRITAIN AIRLIFT SUPPLIES TO WEST BERLIN • Not wanting to invade and start a war with the Soviets, America and Britain started the Berlin airlift to fly supplies into West Berlin • For 327 days, planes took off and landed every few minutes, around the clock • In 277,000 flights, they brought in 2.3 million tons of food, fuel and medicine to the West Berliners

33. Berlin Blockade & Airlift (1948-49)

34. SOVIETS LIFT BLOCKADE • Realizing they were beaten and suffering a public relations nightmare, the Soviets lifted their blockade in May, 1949 On Christmas 1948, the plane crews brought gifts to West Berlin

35. NATO FORMED • North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO): a defensive military alliance formed by ten Western European nations, U.S., & Canada. • April 4, 1949 • Originally began b/c they were afraid of Soviet Union attacking them. The NATO flag

36. North Atlantic Treaty Organization (1949) • United States • Belgium • Britain • Canada • Denmark • France • Iceland • Italy • Luxemburg • Netherlands • Norway • Portugal • 1952: Greece & Turkey • 1955: West Germany • 1983: Spain

37. THE WARSAW PACT • To counter the U.S. defense alliance (NATO), in 1955 the Soviets formed their own: Warsaw Pact- defensive military alliance by Soviet Union and their Allies

38. Warsaw Pact (1955) • U. S. S. R. • Albania • Bulgaria • Czechoslovakia • East Germany • Hungary • Poland • Rumania

39. NATO WARSAW NEUTRAL

40. Satellite Nations • A country that is dominated by another nation. • Soviet Union controlled Eastern European nations, made them Communist.

41. THE COLD WAR AT HOME • At the height of WWII, about 80,000 Americans claimed membership in the Communist Party • Some feared that the first loyalty of these American Communists was to the Soviet Union • Overall, Americans feared communist ideology, a world revolution and Soviet expansion Anti-Soviet cartoon

42. U.S. GOVERNMENT TAKES ACTION • March of 1947, President Truman set up the Loyalty Review Board • Created to investigate federal employees & dismiss those disloyal to the U.S. government • The U.S. Attorney General also drew up a list of 91 “subversive” organizations – membership in any was ground for suspicion

43. THE BLACKLIST TEN • Ten witnesses refused to cooperate because they believed the proceedings were unconstitutional – they were jailed • Subsequently, the committee blacklisted 500 actors, directors, writers and producers whom they believed had communist connections The “Blacklist Ten” (And two lawyers)

44. SPY CASES STUN THE NATION • Two spy cases added to the fear gripping the nation • Alger Hiss was accused of being a spy for the Soviets • A young Republican congressman named Richard Nixon gained fame by tirelessly prosecuting Hiss • Hiss was found guilty and jailed – less than four years later Nixon was VP Nixon examines microfilm in Hiss case

45. THE ROSENBERGS • Another high profile trial was the Rosenberg spy case • The Rosenbergs were accused of providing information to Soviets which enabled them to produce an atomic bomb in 1949 • Ethel and Julius Rosenberg were found guilty and executed The Rosenbergs were the first U.S. citizens executed for espionage

46. MCCARTHY LAUNCHES “WITCH HUNT” • Most famous anti-Communist activist was Senator Joseph McCarthy, a Republican from Wisconsin • McCarthy took advantage of people’s concern about Communism by making unsupported claims that 205 state department members were Communists

47. Anti-Communist propaganda during McCarthy era

48. MCCARTHY’S DOWNFALL • Finally, in 1954 he went too far • He accused high ranking Army officers of being Communists • In the televised proceedings McCarthy’s bullying of witnesses alienated the national audience • Three years later he died of alcoholism at age 49 Counsel Joseph Welch McCarthy’s attacking style and utter lack of evidence led to his downfall

49. THE AMERICAN SHAME • Today, those Congressional witch hunts and episodes of “red-baiting" are universally discredited as abuse of official power • The history of the blacklist era has come to stand for demagoguery, censorship, and political despotism; and the blacklisting, persecution, and jailing of American citizens for their political beliefs - or their perceived political beliefs - is regarded as a shameful chapter in modern American history

50. SECTION 3: THE COLD WAR TURNS HOT • CHINA: For two decades, Chinese communists had struggled against the nationalist government of Chiang Kai-Shek The U.S. supported Chiang and gave the Nationalist Party $3 billion in aid during WWII However, Mao Zedong’s Communist Party in China was strong, especially among Chinese peasants