PostWorld War II Mc Farland I Postwar America

Post-World War II Mc. Farland

I. Postwar America / Europe: • Yalta Conference – Feb. 1945 – attended by the “Big 3”: 1) Franklin Roosevelt – U. S. 2) Winston Churchill – G. B. 3) Joseph Stalin – U. S. S. R.

I. Postwar America / Europe: -meeting of the 3 major Allied countries -met to plan for the peace that would follow the war -decided to establish the United Nations (U. N. ) – purpose was to keep peace and prevent future wars throughout the world

I. Postwar America / Europe: -also decided to divide Germany into 4 occupational zones controlled by the Allies (West Germany would be controlled by the U. S. , Great Britain, and France and East Germany would be controlled by the U. S. S. R. )

I. Postwar America / Europe: • Cold War – U. S. vs. U. S. S. R (1945 -1989) -cold war – conflict between countries without actual warfare -Allies agreed to allow democratic elections in every country freed from German control – U. S. S. R. didn’t keep this agreement and by 1948 the gov’t of every eastern European country was under communist rule

I. Postwar America / Europe: -7 Eastern European countries became Soviet satellites (satellite nation – officially independent but controlled by a foreign power)

I. Postwar America / Europe: -Soviet satellite nations included: 1) Poland 5) Hungary 2) Romania 6) Albania 3) Bulgaria 7) East Germany 4) Czechoslovakia -Yugoslavia also became a communist country but was not controlled by the U. S. S. R

I. Postwar America / Europe: -Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia were also annexed by the Soviet Union -British Prime Minister Winston Churchill said in a speech in March 1946 that “an iron curtain has descended across the continent” (Europe)

I. Postwar America / Europe: -Truman Doctrine – issued because communist were trying to take over the gov’t in Greece and Turkey – the doctrine said the U. S. would help any country resist communist aggression – led to the containment policy (policy of stopping communist expansion by diplomatic or military means)

I. Postwar America / Europe: -Marshall Plan – presented by Sec. of State George Marshall in 1948 – the U. S. sent $13 billion in aid to western European countries – wanted to protect those countries from communism (governments are usually overthrown when the economy is weak) – lasted 5 years

I. Postwar America / Europe: -Berlin Airlift – June 1948 -May 1949 – Berlin, a city in East Germany was divided into 4 occupation zones at the end of the war – the U. S. S. R. controlled East Berlin but Stalin wanted all of the city – he began a blockade of West Berlin by blocking all roads, railroads, and rivers into the city – the U. S. and G. B. used cargo planes to fly in supplies to West Berlin – Stalin couldn’t stop them without starting a war – the blockade was lifted

I. Postwar America / Europe: -North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) – a military alliance formed in 1949 – promised to defend each other during an attack – original members included: 1) Belgium 7) Luxembourg 2) G. B. 8) Netherlands 3) Denmark 9) Norway 4) France 10) U. S. 5) Portugal 11) Canada 6) Italy

I. Postwar America / Europe: -3 more countries joined in the early 1950 s: 12) Greece 13) Turkey 14) West Germany

I. Postwar America / Europe: -Warsaw Pact – a military alliance formed in 1955 between the communist countries of Eastern Europe – members included: 1) U. S. S. R 5) Hungary 2) Poland 6) Romania 3) East Germany 7) Bulgaria 4) Czechoslovakia 8) Albania

I. Postwar America / Europe: -communists also took control of China in 1949 – this meant the world’s largest country in land area (USSR) and the world’s most populated country (China) were both communist nations

I. Postwar America / Europe: -Second Red Scare (1 st was after WWI) – caused by Sen. Joe Mc. Carthy’s comments on how there were communists within the federal gov’t – 3 million federal employees were investigated – many were convicted and fired despite proof – he also accused the U. S. Army of being controlled by communists (led to his downfall)

I. Postwar America / Europe: • The Korean War (1950 -1953): -Japan ruled Korea from 1910 to 1945 -U. S. and U. S. S. R. troops moved in during WWII and neither wanted to remove their troops when the war ended (U. S. wanted it to be a democratic nation and the U. S. S. R. wanted it to be a communist nation)

I. Postwar America / Europe: -the Allies agreed to divide Korea into 2 zones at the 38 th parallel – North Korea controlled by U. S. S. R. and South Korea controlled by U. S. -North Korea, led by Kim Il-Sung, became a communist nation and a Soviet satellite -South Korea, led by Syngman Rhee, was ruled by a dictator appointed by the U. S.

I. Postwar America / Europe: -June 20, 1950 - North Korea attacked South Korea -June 27, 1950 - Pres. Truman ordered air strikes against North Korea and sent arms to South Korea -June 30, 1950 - Pres. Truman ordered UN troops (including U. S. troops) to South Korea – Gen. Douglas Mac. Arthur was appointed the commander of the UN forces

I. Postwar America / Europe: -North Korean troops pushed the UN troops all the way back to Pusan (southern tip of South Korea) -Mac. Arthur gambled by attacking the North Korean troops from behind at Inchon - the North Korean troops were trapped - U. N. troops then marched to Seoul (capital of South Korea) and retook the city

I. Postwar America / Europe: -Truman gave Mac. Arthur the green light to invade North Korea -Nov. 1950 – U. N. planes bombed bridges on the Yalu River (border between North Korea and China) – the Chinese threatened to enter the war if the bombing continued - Mac. Arthur ignored them

I. Postwar America / Europe: -Thanksgiving Day 1950 – 300, 000 Chinese troops hit the U. N. lines and pushed them all the way back to South Korea – Mac. Arthur wanted to bomb China but Truman refused – Mac. Arthur then criticized the President publicly -April 11, 1951 – Truman fired Mac. Arthur – he returned home a hero

I. Postwar America / Europe: -Dwight D. Eisenhower (Rep. ) defeated Adlai Stevenson (Dem. ) in the 1952 election (Truman had chosen not to run for re-election) - Eisenhower threatened to use nuclear weapons on North Korea and China and a cease-fire was signed

I. Postwar America / Europe: -the 38 th parallel was established as the border between North and South Korea – North Korea remains communist even to this day -the U. S. lost 58, 000 soldiers in the war

I. Postwar America / Europe: • The Nuclear Age: -the USSR developed an atomic bomb in 1949 - they had spies (though not really) working on the Manhattan Project (remember they were our ally) -an arms race began in the early 1950 s between the U. S. and the U. S. S. R. – they were competing to see who could accumulate the most nuclear weapons and the most powerful nuclear weapons

I. Postwar America / Europe: -the U. S. tested the first H-bomb (hydrogen bomb) in 1952 - up to 700 times more destructive than the atomic bombs dropped on Japan – the island where the H-bomb was tested totally disappeared -the USSR developed the H-bomb less than a year later

I. Postwar America / Europe: -How did the U. S. prepare for a nuclear holocaust? 1) air raid drills – schools practiced “duck and cover” drills 2) emergency bomb shelters – filled with supplies 3) metal name tags to identify bodies 4) hundreds of books were written about how to survive a nuclear attack

I. Postwar America / Europe: - Massive Retaliation – the U. S. would punish the Soviets with an all out nuclear attack if they threatened the U. S. or any other nation

I. Postwar America / Europe: • Stalin died in 1953 and was replaced by Nikita Khrushchev (didn’t like Stalin – too mean!) – a summit (conference) was set up between Eisenhower and Khrushchevhowever, it was canceled after an American U-2 spy plane was shot down over the USSR (1960) – the cold war would last 29 more years

II. Life in the 1950 s: • Suburban growth – almost all new houses built from 1945 to 1960 were built outside the cities – Why? 1) Demand for housing – very few houses built during the Great Depression years and WWII 2) Growth of population – during the “baby boom” families with 3 or 4 children became the norm – pop. increased from 140 million in 1945 to 180 million in 1960

II. Life in the 1950 s: 3) Highway Act of 1956 – gov’t constructed 41, 000 miles of new highways – allowed people to commute longer distances to their jobs – also established the interstate highway system (for military and evacuation purposes) 4) Cleaner, quieter neighborhoods

II. Life in the 1950 s: • Age of Television - the 1 st TV sets made in the late 1940 s - very expensive – $500600 (equals around $2500 today – as technology improved the number of sets increased from 1 million in 1949 to 44 million in 1959 – popular TV shows in the 50 s included: -I Love Lucy -Father Knows Best -Leave it to Beaver -The Honeymooners

II. Life in the 1950 s: • Revival of Religion – aided by TV - Why was there a national revival? 1) fear of the cold war and the nuclear age 2) charismatic (dynamic) preachers - used the radio and TV – ex: Billy Graham and Oral Roberts -in 1954, “Under God” was added to the Pledge of Alliance

II. Life in the 1950 s: • Rock ‘n’ Roll – evolved out of African. American blues and gospel, and white country music – music was rhythmic and loud - the new dances were offensive to some adults (remember the 20 s? ) – the most famous rock ‘n’ roll star of the 50 s was Elvis - other famous rock ‘n’ roll stars of the 50 s included: -Chuck Berry -Little Richard -Buddy Holly -Jerry Lee Lewis

II. Life in the 1950 s: • Early Civil Rights Movement: 1) Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, KA (1954) – ended segregation (the separation of whites and African. Americans in society) in public schools

II. Life in the 1950 s: -many school systems refused to integrate (bringing together of the races) – ex: Gov. Faubus of Arkansas called in the National Guard to prevent African-American students (they were called the “Little Rock Nine”) from attending a “white” high school in Little Rock - Pres. Eisenhower eventually sent in federal marshals and the 101 st Airborne Division to help and protect those students

II. Life in the 1950 s: 2) Emmett Till Case (1955) – a 14 year old African-American boy who was beaten to death in Money, Mississippi for saying “Bye Baby” to a white woman – he was from Chicago and was visiting his uncle – gained national attention when his mother had an open casket during the funeral

II. Life in the 1950 s: 3) Montgomery Buss Boycott (1955 -1956) – in Alabama – Rosa Parks (a wellrespected African-American lady) broke a city law by refusing to give up her seat on a bus to a white man – she was arrested about 75% of the bus company’s customers in Montgomery were African. American – a boycott was organized and a young preacher named Martin Luther King, Jr. was chosen to lead it – eventually the U. S. Supreme Court ruled that segregation in public transportation was unconstitutional

II. Life in the 1950 s: • Other Events of the 50 s: -Polio vaccine developed by Jonas Salk in 1953 -Sputnik - the first space satellite – launched by the Soviets (1957) -Explorer I - the first U. S. satellite launched in 1958 -NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Adm. ) organized in 1958

III. Life in the 1960 s: • Election of 1960: -the candidates were John F. Kennedy (Dem. ) and Richard Nixon (Rep. ) -both were WWII veterans -both entered Congress in 1946 -Nixon was Eisenhower’s Vice President -Kennedy was the son of a wealthy family from Massachusetts

III. Life in the 1960 s: -Nixon was not from a wealthy family – in fact he was poor while growing up -the campaign included the first televised debates – Nixon’s physical appearance on the camera may have cost him the election (looked old, wore no makeup, etc. )

III. Life in the 1960 s: -JFK won the election by only 120, 000 votes and became the youngest President ever elected at the age of 43 (Teddy Roosevelt was 42 when he replaced Mc. Kinley but Mc. Kinley was assassinated) -JFK’s famous quote from his 1961 Inaugural Address: “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country. ”

III. Life in the 1960 s: • The Legacy of JFK: -established the Peace Corps (1961) – sent young Americans to do volunteer work in developing (poor) countries

III. Life in the 1960 s: -Bay of Pigs Invasion (1961) – Fidel Castro became the dictator of Cuba in 1959 – Americans supported him at first – Eisenhower put the CIA to work on a secret plan to overthrow Castro – the plan was to train and equip a group of Anti. Castro Cuban exiles living in the U. S. – they would land in Cuba and inspire the Cuban people to “rise up” against Castro -

III. Life in the 1960 s: when JFK took office he continued to support this plan – on April 17, 1961 Cuban exiles landed at the Bay of Pigs – the invasion was a complete disaster – JFK considered an air strike to help the rebels, but decided against it – within 2 days most of the 1, 400 invaders were killed or captured – made JFK look weak and foolish

III. Life in the 1960 s: -Berlin Wall – built during JFK administration by the communists of East Germany in Aug. 1961 – became a symbol of the cold war’s division of Europe

III. Life in the 1960 s: -Cuban Missile Crisis (Oct. 1962) – photos taken by a U-2 plane showed 65 sites in Cuba containing ballistic missiles – Cuba is only 90 miles from Florida – missiles were supplied by the USSR – JFK’s advisors favored an air strike on the missile sites – he refused and instead went on national TV to tell the public about the Soviet missiles in Cuba

III. Life in the 1960 s: -he also announced the U. S. was blockading Cuba – he told the Soviets to dismantle the missile sites and turn back their incoming ships or face U. S. retaliation – on Oct. 24, 1962, as the world held it’s breath, the Soviet ships turned back – a deal was made:

III. Life in the 1960 s: 1) Soviets would withdraw its missiles from Cuba 2) U. S. would withdraw its missiles from Turkey -this was the closest the U. S. and the Soviets ever got to nuclear war

III. Life in the 1960 s: • Space Race -the USSR were the first to put a man in space (April 1961) – his name was Yuri Gagarin – in May 1961, JFK asked for $9 billion for the space program – his goal was to put a man on the moon by the end of the decade (1960 s) – the first American in space was Alan Sheppard (May 1961) -

III. Life in the 1960 s: -the first American to orbit the earth was John Glenn (Feb. 1962) – on July 20, 1969 Apollo 11 landed on the surface of the moon and Neil Armstrong became the first to walk on the moon saying, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind” – more than 500 million people around the world watched the landing on the moon on TV

III. Life in the 1960 s: • Early Involvement in Vietnam: -JFK did not want to get involved in a major war in Asia – he also didn’t want to be blamed for “losing” South Vietnam to the communists (being “soft” on communism was a bad thing during the 50 s and 60 s) – under JFK, American military personnel in South Vietnam rose from 1, 500 to 16, 000 – the Am. people were told these were “only advisors” and not involved in combat

III. Life in the 1960 s: • The Assassination of JFK (Nov. 22, 1963): -he was campaigning in Texas for the 1964 election -he rode through the streets of Dallas in the back of an open limousine -the suspected assassin was Lee Harvey Oswald – Oswald was murdered 2 days after Kennedy’s death, while being transferred to another jail, by a Dallas nightclub owner named Jack Ruby (a known member of the mafia)

III. Life in the 1960 s: -With Oswald dead, many questioned were left unanswered: 1) Was Oswald the assassin? 2) Had he acted alone? 3) Had there been a conspiracy to kill the President?

III. Life in the 1960 s: -on the plane carrying JFK’s body back to Washington DC, Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn in as President -one of Johnson’s first acts as President was to appoint a commission, led by Chief Justice Earl Warren, to investigate JFK’s death

III. Life in the 1960 s: -the Warren Commission concluded that Oswald had been the assassin and that he acted on his own (although, not everyone believed it) -Jim Garrison, the New Orleans District Attorney, was the only person to bring to trial a possible conspiracy in the assassination of JFK – he blamed the CIA, the mafia, Anti-Castro Cubans, and even President Johnson

III. Life in the 1960 s: -In 1978, a Congressional Committee said, “It was possible that two people killed John F. Kennedy, but there was no proof” – they also said that the Justice Dept. should investigate the possibility of a conspiracy – they have not even to this day