Download Chapter 36: The Cold War Begins

Chapter 36: The Cold War Begins
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Postwar Economic Anxieties: Fears
of Great Depression’s return haunted
Americans in 1946-1947
Inflation increases as price controls
were lifted. Wave of strikes hit the
country
Republican Congress passed TaftHartley Act over Truman’s veto,
1947. Banned the closed or all union
shop, held unions liable for damages
and made leaders take anticommunist oath.
The Long Economic Boom
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1946 Congress creates Council of
Economic Advisors
GI Bill passed 1944. Returning
servicemen will take advantage of
education aid, cheap home mortgages
and small business loans. Basis for
post war prosperity. Black and Latino
veterans were excluded from this.
Postwar Boom lasts from 1950-1970
During 1950’s and 1960’s national
income nearly doubled Middle class
included 60% of U.S. population
The Smiling Sunbelt
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Expansive military budgets fueled
new high tech industries located in
West and South such aerospace,
electronics, and plastics.
Massive expansion in education
redistributes workers across wide
array of job sectors in the economy.
Sunbelt such as California, Florida
and Texas gain population twice as
fast as other states. Most of this
immigration is internal, Ohio Valley
sees big declines in population and
prosperity becoming the “Rust Belt”.
The Rush to the Suburbs
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FHA and VA housing programs very
attractive to returning veterans
courtesy of the GI Bill. Buying in the
suburbs was easier than renting in the
city.
Levittowns spring up in Long
Island’s potato fields and New Jersey
cow pastures.
African Americans were
discriminated against systematically
by the FHA. Practice caused “White
Flight” from cities to suburbs.
Baby Boom: More than 5o million
babies born between 1944-1963
The United States and the Soviet Union
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The two greatest victors of World
War II now find themselves at
opposing each other. There were old
resentments
US had been slow to recognize the
Soviet Union (1933)
Had not provided as much aid to
Russia as to Britain during the war.
To Americans, Russia was building
an empire in eastern and central
Europe. Stalin claimed that he was
only trying to provide security to a
country twice invaded in the previous
thirty years.
The United States and the Soviet Union Part Two
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Any post war view of the
world would have to require
the West to deal with the
Soviet Union.
America had been isolationist
and the Soviets were snubbed.
Neither really knew what it
meant to be a superpower.
Defying Yalta Accord, Stalin
sets up satellite governments in
Poland, East Germany, and
across eastern and southern
Europe The Iron Curtain had
descended across Europe.
Shaping the Postwar World
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Fulfilling the promise of the
Atlantic Charter of 1941 and
redeeming to an extent the
view of the future of Wilson
FDR and British economist
John Maynard Keynes, Bretton
Woods Meeting called in New
Hampshire in 1944 to address
the shape of the postwar world
Birth of Collective Security
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Bretton Woods Accord confirmed the
need for international cooperation.
Allies would establish the
International Monetary Fund to
regulate currency exchange View of
Cordell Hull
Established The World Bank: To
rebuild war ravaged regions.
In contrast to WWI, US takes the
lead.
Fulfilling Yalta pledge, the United
Nations meets for the first time on
April 25,1945.
Unable to prevent nuclear
proliferation
The Problem of Germany
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Germany is destroyed and occupied
by the victors April 1945
Reconstruction difficult as so many
officials were nazis. Leaders held for
war crimes at Nuremberg, 1946
Germany divided into zones: US,
UK, FR, & USSR
Soviets set up a security perimeter of
satellite nations around their border
including East Germany, Poland, &
Czechoslovakia.
Berlin still split Russians try to starve
out Allies. Berlin Air Lift 1948
The Cold War Congeals
Stalin seeks to destabilize
Middle East & Iran to gain
valuable oil concessions.
 Containment Doctrine by
George F. Kennan.
 Truman Doctrine in
Greece 1947. Aggression
would be met with force.
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The Marshall Plan
Responding to Soviet
pressure, Truman offers
Marshall Plan to Western
Europe in 1947
 $12.5 Billion was spent in
16 participating countries
and was a huge success.
 Established significant
economic ties
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America Begins to Rearm
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National Security Act of 1947 created
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The Defense Department, National
Security Council and the Central
Intelligence Agency also established
Western Nations consider epic treaty.
Voice of America begins to beam
radio broadcasts behind the Iron
Curtain.
Selective Service Act passed 1948,
resurrects draft.
Founding of NATO
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Britain, France, Belgium & the
Netherlands agree to mutual defense
arrangement and offer the US a
membership.
NATO Treaty signed April 4, 1949.
Provided for a framework to
reintegrate Germany as well as to
provide defense against Soviet
aggression.
Member nations agreed that an attack
on one will be met by the other
members. Remember Article X?
Reconstruction and Revolution in Asia
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Japan had been pulverized.
Five Star General Douglas MacArthur
was in charge. The Japanese recovered
to an astonishing degree and recovered
quickly becoming a modern democracy
in 1946 with the Emperor as a
figurehead.
Nationalist China was a failure. Jiang
was forced to flee in 1949, defeated by
the communist forces of Mao Zedong.
1949 Soviets explode atomic bomb
US explodes hydrogen bomb in 1952,
Soviets follow in 1953
Ferreting out alleged Communists
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1947 Truman launches a massive
“Loyalty Campaign”
Eleven Communists were convicted
of attempting to overthrow the
government. Conviction was upheld
in Dennis v. United States 1951.
House Committee on Un-American
affairs led by Rep. Richard M. Nixon
® California accused former
prominent New Dealer Alger Hiss of
being a communist. Despite denying
everything, he was convicted and
sentenced to five years in prison.
Democratic Divisions in 1948
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Republicans had attacked Harry
Truman over inflation and taxes
winning a congressional majority in
1946. Nominated Thomas E. Dewey,
Governor of New York
Democrats were split. Truman’s
strong stand against lynching of
black veterans in Georgia caused rift
with Southern “Dixiecrats” who
supported Strom Thurmond of South
Carolina.
Facing almost impossible odds,
Truman won a narrow last minute
victory.
Korea Erupts
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Cold war splits Korea into North and
South. June of 1950 an invasion by North
Korea nearly overwhelms the South
pinning them in a small village named
Pusan.
National Security Council recommends
that the US quadruple it’s military
spending (NSC 68)
MacArthur’s brilliant landing at
Inchon and subsequent campaign
defeats North Korea and pushes north
almost until Chinese border at Yalu
River. Chinese counterattack creates
deadlock.