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History of the Future
The Cold War &
Paranoia in the 1950s
As World War II Finishes
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Soviet Union has key role in Nazi defeat
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Builds up international credibility
Strong Communist parties in France, Italy
Asserts new control in E. Europe
US finishes war as sole Great Power
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50% of world manufacturing capability
Most power Army, Navy, Airforce
Only nuclear power
The US Policy: Containment
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US policy from 1947
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Soviet expansionism as major world threat
Defensive response, open ended
Strengthening of international alliances
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NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization)
Bretton Woods (IMF, World Bank)
GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs & Trade)
Marshall Plan (Rebuild Western Europe)
China
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Mao takes power, 1949
War relations with Soviets through 1950s
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Korean War begins 1950
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West tends to view Communism as monolithic
Finishes with battles between Chinese & UN (largely
American) troops
Result is a draw
More paranoia
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Manchurian Candidate (1962, from 1959 novel)
McCarthyism
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Joseph McCarthy, Republican Senator (19081957)
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Habitual liar, alcoholic
Facing defeat in 1950, claims list of 25 communists in
State department
Smears Truman administration as “Reds”
Chairs Committee on Government Operations
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Many careers destroyed
Colleagues turn against after targeting US Army,
fellow Republicans
Exposed on TV, censured by Senate in 1954
Film Interlude
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Anti-communist propaganda film
HUAC
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House Committee on Un-American Affairs
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Best known for “Hollywood Hearings” of 19471948
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Created in 1938, used by opponents of New Deal
10 screenwriters and directors jailed for contempt
uses hearings as political weapon
Nixon makes political mark here
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Becomes Vice President in 1952
The Rosenberg Case
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Julius & Ethel Rosenberg
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Arrested 1950 (around Korean war)
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Jointed communist party in 1939
Passed atomic secrets from Manhattan
project during WWII
Executed 1953 – unusual for civilians
Millions believed innocent
Other prominent spy trials of era
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Alger Hiss (“pumpkin papers”)
Klaus Fuchs
Eisenhower & Politics
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War leader turned president
Centrist, non-ideological
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Accepted reforms of New Deal period
Leaned toward corporations
Cold war supports domestic truce
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“New Deal Order” lasts into 1970s
Civil Rights & Religion
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Cold War puts spotlight on “freedom”
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Intensive activism following WWII
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MLK exploits cleverly & non-violently
Truman desegregates army
Brown v. Board of Education case, 1954
Rosa Parks and the bus, 1955
Civil Rights Act 1957, peak comes in 60s
Billy Graham – Christian Revivalism
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Massive popularity in 1950s
Economic Competition
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Soviet economy seen as dangerously
efficient
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Used as argument for more planning,
simulation, modeling in USA
Used as argument for national scientific
database
Challenges capitalism to justify superiority
Sputnik
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First artificial satellite, October 1957
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Soviet propaganda triumph
US effort undermined by political bickering
Crisis of confidence results
Eventual strengthening of US science
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Formation of ARPA (funds research)
Big boost for high school science, etc.
NASA created
George Orwell - 1984
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Orwell – British leftist journalist
& novelist
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Several famous concepts
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Published 1948
Critique of Stalinism
Big Brother
Newspeak
Doublethink
control of past = control of future
Influential use of future
Ray Bradbury
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Well known as SF writer in 40s & 50s
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Fahrenheit 451
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Martian Chronicles issued as book 1950
Fantastic, nostalgic, small town
1951 in Galaxy, 1953 as book
Popular dystopia
Read widely as “mainstream” author
Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
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Earliest novels were science fiction
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Slaughterhouse-Five, 1969
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Player Piano, 1952 – automation
Sirens of Titan, 1959 – religion
Cat’s Cradle, 1963 – science & morality
Hugely popular “mainstream” novel
Kilgore Trout
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recurring character – SF writer
Paranoia: Alien Invasion
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Aliens disguised as humans in
films
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Invasion of the Body Snatchers
– 1956
I Married a Monster from Outer
Space (1958)
And in Print
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The Puppet Masters (Heinlein) –
1951
The Cold War in SF
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Surprisingly little direct coverage
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Some treatment of Communists
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Other than nuclear aftermath stories
Interest in war stories fades somewhat
Who? (Algis Budrys) – 1958
More general sense of paranoia
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Philip K. Dick - Time Out of Joint (1959)
Meanwhile
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JRR Tolkien – Lord of the Rings
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Published 1954-1955
Seen as allegory of WWII
Builds cult following through 1960s