Chapter 17 the Cold War Begins

Chapter 17 The Cold War Begins (1945-1952)
Postwar America
Fear: Americas were terrified the U.S. would fall into another depression and economic hard times would return Problem: Finding jobs and housing for returning soldiers became a large issue GI Bill of Rights/ Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944 * Stated that returning soldiers can now go to college at the governments expense * Each veteran could receive a low interest loan to buy a home, a farm or start a business * Veterans enrolled in school rather than taking up spots in the job pool * Promise of home loans created jobs to build homes for veterans and produce materials needed *
Baby Boom (1945-1960)
-More than 50,000,000 babies born in the U.S. during this time period

Suburban Growth
-People moved out into the suburbs as transportation became more readily available
-Mass produced low priced homes (identical houses)
-1st Mass produced low priced community was in Levitt Town, New York

Rise of the Sunbelt
-People began to move from the north/west into the south
-Moved because they had lower taxes

Postwar Politics
-Truman was a very basic, honest, continue New Deal programs President
- problem in office was inflation and strikes
Civil Rights:
-Truman was the 1st to began Civil Rights by desegregating forces
-In Election of 1946 the Republicans took control of both houses, making it hard to get things done like FDR did

22 Amendment
-Limited the President to two terms
-Recation to FDR serving 4 terms and to prevent a Hitler or Stalin from taking over the US

Taft-Hartley Act (1947)
-Permitted states right to past “right ” laws
-outlawed secondary strikes
-
Iron Curtain
-Brought attention to the issues
-George Kennan expert on Soviet Affairs and advised Truman that he thought the best idea for communism as to contain it in one place (not necessarily get rid of it)

Truman Doctrine (1947)
-Stated that U.S. will give any aid to any European nations threatened by communists
-1st Time Doctrine used was in Greece or Turkey proving the doctrine was effective
-As much as the Republicans were anti-Fair Deal, they agreed communism needed to be contained

Marshall Plan
-Proposed economic package to all European nations
-Soviets rejected the aid because they didn’t want any American money
-More than 12 million dollars sent to rebuild Europe
-Ended up being anti-communist
-Direct Result-> Postwar depression
-solidified communists in those areas

Korean War
-Japan had taken over Korea in 1910 and ruled it until August 1845
-North of the 38th parallel was the border between North and South Korea
-On June 25th 1950, North Koreans attacked and crossed the 38th parallel in a surprise attack on South Korea
-South Korea asked for help from the United Nations (FIRST TEST OF THE UN)
-UN Branded North Koreans as the aggressors
-UN also asked member nations to provided troops (didn’t force)
-UN commander of forces was Douglas McArthur
-In the summer of 1950 only area controlled by the United Nations was the Pusan perimeter
-Sept. 15th,1950 McArthur makes a surprise landing at Linchon and then moves across the peninsula to cut off the North Korean supply lines
-Oct. 1950 McArthur has pushed up to the Yalu River taking over almost all of North Korea
-China enters the war and pushes McArthur back to the 38th parallel
-Jan. 1951 to July 1953 the fighting in Korea was a stale mate (neither side was winning)

McArthur gets fired
-Publicly criticizes the Truman’s policies and advocates expanding the war by attacking China and using Nuclear weapons
-Truman tells McArthur to stop criticizing the President and advocate bombing
->Truman fires McArthur because he fails to stop

Repatriation
-North Korea said that, “All prisoners of war must be given back to North Korea.”
-UN says that if the prisoners of war don’t want to go back to North Korea they don’t have too (many prisoner’s life was better as prisoners than free people in South Korea)

Truce
-July 1953 the Truce was written at Panmunjom between UN and Communist forces, which established the boarder between North and South Korea at 38th parallel
-Ended the Korean War

Red Scare 1947-1951
-Fear of communist and conspirators developed after WWII
-The U.S. government created the Loyalty Review Board that investigated the background of government employees to see if they were communist spies (thousands either resigned or lost their jobs)
-As a result they wheeled out the experts who could have been good assets in Vietnam

McCarran Internal Security Act 1950
-Passed over Truman’s veto
-Made it unlawful to advocate or support the establishment of a totalitarian government
-Authorized the detention camps for subversives

House of Representatives Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC)
-Committee Member Richard Nixon
-Purpose to find communists in the federal government and other influential organizations
Those who refused to testify were tried for contempt of Congress
-Blacklisted from the industry
-Is it illegal to be a member of the communist party? No, but the public didn’t care what was constitutionally right at this time

Alger Hiss Spy Case
-Whitaker Chambers, a confessed communist became a star witness for HUAC
-Accused Alger Hiss (State Dpt. Official) of being a communist and giving secret documents to Chambers
-Hiss convicted of perjury (lied about miscellaneous things)
-Found innocent
-People realized Chambers was lying to make himself famous
-Tons of innocent people were accused who lost their jobs and reputations for no reason

Ethel and Julius Rosenberg Case
-In 1949 Americans started to wonder how the Soviets exploded their first atomic bomb
-Ethel and Julius Rosenberg (worked on the Manhattan Project) were accused and convicted of giving the atomic bomb secrets to the soviets
-Found guilty of treason and executed for crimes

Joseph McCarthy [Senator from Wisconsin]
-Created a list of 250 known communists who still worked for the government
-Didn’t actually have a list, made it up
-Coined a phase known as “McCarthyism” which means to accuse without evidence
-Used tactics of accusations much like the witch craft trials where nonsense tactics were used to identify communists
-Gained a lot of power until he accused the army of being full of communist
-Army McCarthy hearings were put on TV and the public was able to see that McCarthy’s evidence and tactics were nonsense
-Ended the accusations

Eisenhower Era 1952-1960
-Time period in which the U.S. was not involved in any major war
-Low un-employment rates and rise of the middle class

Stevenson Vs. Ike
-Democrats nominated intellectual Illinois Governor Adlai Stevenson
-Republicans nominated Eisenhower and Richard Nixon as V.P who was an Anti-Communist
-Eisenhower campaign slogan, “I like Ike.”
-One potential disaster for Ike was his running mate’s alleged “slush fund”
-Richard Nixon responded by going on T.V. and delivering an emotional speech denying all charges but admitting to accepting one gift for his children—a dog named Checkers [became known as Checkers Speech]

Eisenhower’s Leadership Style
-Delegated his authority by letting others carry out major functions of the government
-A lot of things didn’t get accomplished because people didn’t always carry out the tasks he requested
-Few scandals

Modern Republicanism
-Eisenhower’s Domestic Program
-Fiscal conservative-1st priority to balance the budget
-Accepted/kept most of the New Deal programs
-Expanded Social Security
-Raised the minimum wage
-Additional public housing built
-Created Department of Health, Education and Welfare( Sec’t- Oveta Culp Hobby)
-Subsidized the farmers

Highway Act of 1956
-Permanent legacy of Ike
-Authorized the building of 42,000 miles of interstate highway system linking all of the nation’s major cities
-Justified the use of federal money—a means to improve the national defense
-Sold the “Highway Act” as a plan to make the military easy to move (really just a way to use government money)
Effects:
-Highway system was that the scenery of America began to look the same
-Created Jobs, suburbs, increase migration and improve transportation

Prosperity
-Balanced the budget twice
-Per-capita disposable income tripled
-Higher standard of living

Election of 1956
-Exact same as 1952 election

Eisenhower Foreign Policy
-Secretary of State-John Foster Dulles accused the Eisenhower Administration of being to soft on communism
Massive Retaliation
-Reliance on nuclear weapons and air power
-Spend less on conventional forces (armies, tanks etc.)
Brinkmanship
-Push the Soviets to the edge but avoid nuclear war