Post WWII America

- American Society
o Americans receive a rise in income
Average income triples
o Shift to white collared jobs (not manual labor)
o Baby Boom
More than 65 million babies were born from 1945-1961
o Leads to more Americans owning homes
Between 1940 & 1960 American home ownership rose from 43%-62%
- Suburbia
o Inexpensive housing
o People moving out of cities
Federal Highway Act
o Levittown
Bill Levitt created similar looking homes in a potato field outside of New York City
- New Consumerism
o Conformity, people wanted the same items as their neighbors
Refrigerators
Washing machines
Vacuum cleaners
Air conditioners
Coffeemakers
Blenders
Lawn trimmers
o New Franchises
McDonalds, etc.
- Technology Advancements
o UNIVAC: Universal Automatic Computer
o Medical Care becomes better
Antibiotics
Drugs to combat heart disease, arthritis, diabetes
Polio vaccine developed in 1955 (Jonas Salk & Albert Sabin)
- Race to Space
o U.S.S.R. launched Sputnik in October 1957
o U.S. launched own satellite January 1958

Cold War
- Ideology
o Communism
A political theory derived from Kael Marx, advocating class war and leading to a
society in which all property is publicly owned and each person works and is paid
according to their abilities and needs
o Capitalism
An economic and political system in which a country's trade and industry are
controlled by private owners for profit, rather than by the state
- The Long Telegram
o February 22, 1946: Diplomat George Kennan reported on soviet behaviors in a 5,540
telegram
o Soviet view of the world came from a traditional Russian insecurity, fear of the west, and
long term struggle against capitalism
o Impossible to reach a permanent settlement
- Cold War Policy
o Declaration of Liberated Europe
The right of all people to choose the form of government under which they will live
o The Truman Doctrine
Aiding free peoples who are resisting pressures from outside people
o Marshall Plan
Give European nations American aid to rebuild their economy
Billions of dollars worth of supplies, machinery, and food
- Hotness Level of Cold War
o How hot was the Cold War?
Meaning active fighting
Level one: friends
Level two: friends in your circle of friend
Level three: disliked person
Level four: the ex that broke your heart
Level five: mortal enemy
o Soviets and America:
Beginning of WWII: level two
End of WWII: level three
Beginning of Cold War: level four/ level five
Korean War
- U.S. and U.S.S.R. forces went to Korea to disarm the Japanese troops stationed there.
- The Allies divided Korea at the 38th parallel of latitude; Soviets in the North and Americans in the
South
- A communist Korean government was organized and led by Kim IL Sung
- June 25th, 1950 North Korean Forces invaded the South
Change in Policy
- China drives UN forces across the 38th Parallel
- MacArthur wants to expand the war into China
o Blockade sea ports, use of atomic weapons
- Truman fires MacArthur
2

Truman wanted a limited war to achieve a limited objective

o Containing communism
The Second Red Scare
- Sept. 1945: Igor Gouzenko defected from the Soviet Union
o Left a Canadian embassy with documents revealing efforts to infiltrate government agencies
o Mission: Subvert the American and Canadian Governments
- What is America afraid of and why?
- What is going to be Americas Response and why?
Americas Response
- Loyalty Review Program: Screen all Federal employees
- Between 1947-1951: 6 million federal employees were screened
o 2,000 quit their jobs
o 212 were fired
- House of Un-American Activities: Identify communist, isolate them
o Public hearings on Communist subversion
A New Look
- Dwight D. Eisenhower: elected President
- Massive Retaliation: threaten the use of nuclear weapons if a communist state threaten to seize
territory
- Military spending cut from $50 billion to $34 billion
- Nuclear arsenal went from1,000 bombs to 18,000 bombs
- Brinkmanship: willingness to go to war to make the opponent back down
Fighting Covertly
- Hidden operations conducted by the CIA to prevent the spread of communism
- Target developing nations
o Nations with agricultural economies and blamed western imperialism for their struggles
- Strong communist threat
o CIA would covertly overthrow anti-American leaders and replace them with pro-American
ones
Uprising in Hungary
- Stalin dies in 1953 : By 1956 Nikita Khrushchev becomes leader of the communists party
- Khrushchev attacks Stalins policies and believed there was a better way to build a communist
society
- His secret speech is then broadcasted to eastern Europe and riots began in Hungary
- Soviet Union was telling Hungary what to do
o Tanks were brought in to quiet the revolts
*** Khrushchev, at a UN conference, had a violent outburst and said he would bury the west and that
communism would last longer than capitalism.
Hotness Level Rising?
- In 1958, Soviet Union demanded the Western Allies to withdraw their troops from West Berlin
- In 1960, the summit is called to be held in Paris
o Shortly before it began, an American U-2 spy plane is shot down by the Soviets
U-2 flew at extreme altitude
Top of the world: see curvature of Earth and Space
75,000-90,000 feet in the air
o Khrushchev canceled the summit
3

***Berlin Wall: Soviet Union pushed to build wall; built to keep sea of communism from the island of
democracy; to keep people from fleeing

Chartable Items:
- Potsdam Conference
- Long Telegram
- Truman Doctrine
- Marshall Plan
- Berlin Airlift
- Korean War
- Loyalty Review Plan
- Joseph McCarthy
- Paris Summit/ U-2 Spy Plane Incident
Truman Presidency
- GI Bill:
o provided loans for veterans to help them establish businesses, buy homes, and attend college
- Taft-Hartley Act:
o outlawed the practice of forcing business owners to hire only union members
- Fair Deal:
o minimum wage raised to 75 cents an hour
o expansion of Social Security
I Like Ike
- Dynamic Conservatism
o Balancing economic conservatism with some activism
Tennessee Valley Authoritys spending cut from $185 million to $12 million
- Federal Highway Act:
o $25 billion project that would span 10 years
- Social Security
o Expanded to an additional 10 million people
- Minimum wage raised from 75 cents to $1
JFK
- John F. Kennedy elected 35th president
New Frontier
- Hoped to increase aid to education, provide health insurance to elderly, create a Department of
Urban Affairs, and help migrant workers
- Congress defeated most of his proposals
- Raising minimum wage
- Redevelopment Act and Housing Act helped clear slums, create jobs, and create low income housing
- JFK advocated for womens rights especially the idea of equal pay for equal work
o 1963: signed Equal Pay Act for women
Fighting the Cold War
- Flexible response, if nations needed help against communism they could receive it
o Built up of traditional troops and weapons
- Alliance for Progress:
o Cooperative aid projects with Latin American countries
o U.S. pledged $20 billion to help Latin American countries over a 10 year period
4

Peace Corps:
o Organization where young Americans perform humanitarian services
Bay of Pigs
- Cuba, 90 miles from American shores
o Led by Fidel Castro
o Allied themselves with Soviets
o CIA had trained and armed 1400 Cuban exiles
April 17, 1961 the force landed at the Bay of Pigs on the south shores of Cuba
Within two days, Castros forces had killed or captured the Cuban fighting force
o Makes U.S. look disorganized and aggressive
Berlin Wall
- Khrushchev wanted to stop the flood of Germans leaving East Germany
- Wall stood for thirty years as a symbol of the Cold Wars division between East and West
o East Berlin and East Germany was communist
Cuban Missile Crisis
- 1962: Soviet technicians and equipment arrived in Cuba
- U.S. spy planes had taken images of long range missiles
- Kennedy orders a naval blockade to prevent more missiles from being delivered and demanded the
existing missiles be torn down
- Khrushchev wanted the missiles in Turkey taken down first
o Kennedy agreed to dismantle the missiles in Turkey and Khrushchev removed the missiles in
Cuba
Death of President
- November 22, 1963: Traveling in Dallas Texas, John F. Kennedy was assassinated
- Lee Harvey Oswald was the man accused of killing JFK
o Evidence he was a bitter Marxist fighting for communism
- Jack Ruby?
- Warren Communism: concluded that Oswald was the lone gunman but questions were left
unanswered
o
Vietnam War
- Domino Theory:
o If Vietnam fell to communism, so would the other Nations of Southeast Asia
o Geneva Accords:
Temporarily divided Vietnam along the 17th parallel
o 1956 Elections:
To be held to reunite the country under a single government
Never happened
o Nationalist vs. Nationalist
Ho Chi Minh: Communist vs. Ngo Dinh Diem: anti-communist/ Pro Western
Diem: Won
- JFK Vietnam
o Vietcong: Ho chi Minhs North Vietnamese guerrilla fighting force
o 1961-1963 American military personnel jumped from 2,000 to 15,000
Could not risk losing Vietnam to Communism
o Strategic hamlets
Special fortified villages protected by machine guns
Proved unpopular
5

Overthrow of Diem
o Discrimination against Buddhism
Largest Religion in country
o Banned the traditional religious flags for Buddhas birthday
o Protest occur and police kill nine people
o November 1, 1963 Generals launch a military coup and Diem is executed
More American involvement
Johnson Vietnam
o Gulf of Tonkin Resolution: authorized the President to take all necessary measures to repel
any armed attack against any aggression
o By the end of 1965 more than 180,000 troops were fighting in Vietnam
o Guerilla tactics were challenging to the U.S.
o Agent Orange
Turns farm land into wasteland
Napalm
Determined Enemy
o No intension of surrendering
o Ho Chi Minh Trail
Transportation of supplies from North to South traveling through Cambodia and Laos
President Johnson would not launch a full scale attack
o Bombing by U.S. planes kill 220,000 Vietnamese between 1965 & 1967
o By 1966, more than 6,700 Americans had been killed
Credibility Gap
o Government would report:
Enemy is on the brink of defeat and the end of war is in sight
Perception of war: isnt really what is going on
Tet Offensive
o The North attacked almost every American airbase in South Vietnam, as well as the Souths
major cities
o The North could not hold areas
Suffered heavy casualties
o Public Opinion:
Support fell as General Westmoreland called for an additional 206,000 troops to join
the 500,000 already in Vietnam
Nixon Vietnam
o Vietnamization:
Gradual withdraw of U.S. troops
Turn war over to Southern Vietnamese army
o Increased Air Strikes in Vietnam and Cambodia
o The invasion of Cambodia followed and sparked controversy at home
Legacy of the War
o War had cost U.S. $170 billion
o About 58,000 young Americans had died
o Over 300,000 were injured
o War Powers Act:
President can still send troops without declaring war but only for 60 to 90 days
6

***ESSAY QUESTION***
- Identify an event/person/policy/ we have discussed during the Cold War
Who, what, when, where, why: How is it significant to the Cold War and connect to
today
**ADD TO CHART**
Bay of Pigs, Berlin wall, Cuban missile crisis, JFK assignation, Vietnam War