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The War to End War 1917-1918
Chapter 31
Entering WWI in response to Germany’s unrestricted submarine warfare, Wilson turned
to America’s participation in a fervent ideological crusade for democracy that
successfully stirred the public to a great voluntary effort, but at some cost to traditional
civil liberties.
After America’s limited but important contribution to the Allied victory, a triumphant
Wilson attempted to construct a peace based on his idealistic Fourteen Points. But
European and senatorial opposition, and especially his own political errors, doomed
American ratification of the Versailles Treaty and participation in the League of Nations.
Germany’s declaration of unlimited submarine warfare, supplemented by the Zimmerman
note proposing an alliance with Mexico, finally caused the United States to declare war.
Wilson aroused the country to patriotic heights by making the war an idealistic crusade
for democracy and permanent peace based on his Fourteen Points.
Wartime propaganda stirred voluntary commitment to the war effort, but at the
cost of suppressing dissent. Voluntary efforts also worked wonders in organizing
industry, producing food, and financing the war. Labor, including women, made
substantial wartime gains. The beginning of black migration to northern cities led to
racial tensions and riots.
America’s soldiers took nearly a year to arrive in Europe, and they fought in only
two major battles at the end of the war. America’s main contribution to the Allied
victory was to provide supplies, personnel, and improved morale. Wilson’s immense
prestige created high expectations for an idealistic peace, but his own political blunders
and stubborn opposition to European statement forced him to compromise his lofty aims.
As Lodge stalled the treaty, Wilson tried to rouse the country on behalf of his
cherished League, but his own physical collapse and refusal to compromise killed the
treaty and the League. Republican isolationists turned Harding’s victory in 1920 into a
death sentence for the League.
George Creel
Bernard Baruch
Alice Paul
Warren G. Harding
Eugene V. Debs
Herbert Hoover
Henry Lodge Cabot
James M. Cox
Self- Determination
Conscription
collective security
“normalcy”
Zimmerman Note
League of Nations
Espionage and Sedition Acts
Fourteen Points
Committee on Public Information
Schenk v. United States
Industrial Workers of the World
Nineteenth Amendment
Bolsheviks
Big Four
Treaty of Versailles
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War Industries Board
Eighteenth Amendment
doughboys
irreconcilables
When and why did Wilson break diplomatic relations with Germany?
What was the Zimmerman Note and why was it so damaging?
What finally brought the U.S. to war?
What idea was Wilson trying to “sell” to the American people about the war?
What were the Fourteen Points? According to Wilson, how would those points
provide for a system of collective security?
What was the role of George Creel and the Committee on Public Information? What
was their biggest problem?
Roles of Creel, Hoover, Baruch, and Taft
What was the “state” of the United States upon entering World War I?
How did the war abroad affect the civil liberties at home?
What were the “wartime” amendments (18th and 19th)?
What advancements were women able to make during the war years?
How was labor treated during the war years?
How did the Industrial Workers of the World make life extremely hard on themselves
during World War I?
What were the circumstances and results of the 1919 steel strike?
What was the effect of the Great Migration to northern cities by southern blacks?
What really made wartime mobilization possible?
Where did the money come from to pay for the war?
Why did the government take over the railway system during the war?
What methods were used by the government at home to fight the war?
Why was conscription so unpopular?
During the war, where did American troops see action?
How was the war one of “firsts” for women?
What was the result of the Brest-Litovsk Treaty (Russia’s withdrawal from the war)?
Where was the most significant American troop engagement of the war?
Why was the Second Battle of the Marne important?
What were Wilson’s conditions for ending the war?
What was the main contribution to the war given by the U.S. as opposed to its allies?
What fact eventually demoralized the Germans?
What was the major difference between Wilson and the other parliamentary
statesmen at the Paris peace talks?
What were Wilson’s goals at the Paris Peace Conference?
Why was there opposition at home to the League of Nations proposal? What was so
controversial about the document (Article X)? What was the Republican strategy
when dealing with the League?
What was Wilson’s image after the Treaty of Versailles was signed?
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What was Wilson’s “solemn referendum” of 1920?
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Summarize the impact of American participation in World War I on
a. the national economy.
b. civil liberties.
c. public attitudes.
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Summarize President Wilson’s Fourteen Points. Which were substantially
attained as a result of American participation in World War I? Which were not?
Why?
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Why did President Wilson have such difficulty getting his own allies at the Paris
Peace Conference to accept the principles of the Fourteen Points? To what extent
did the Treaty of Versailles embody the principles of the Fourteen Points?
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Why did President Wilson finally decide that the United States needed to enter
World War I? Do you agree that the United States should have entered the war?
Why or why not? Do you think that Wilson took the nation to war for the right
reasons? Explain.
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Why did the United States fail to join the League of Nations? Consider the role of
a.
Wilson himself.
b.
Henry Cabot Lodge.
c.
the provisions of the Treaty of Versailles.
d.
American political traditions.
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Assess the significance of Wilson’s moralistic idealism on his
a. call for America’s entry into World War I in 1917.
b. Fourteen Points.
c. campaign for American participation in the League of Nations.
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President Wilson observed that woman suffrage was “a vitally necessary war
measure.” Why? Do you think that prohibition was also a vitally necessary war
measure? Why or why not?
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Assess America’s contribution to the Allied victory in World War I. Do you
think that the United States’ involvement was crucial to victory? Why or why
not?
The Faults of the World War I Peace Settlement
When World War I came to a close in mid-November of 1918, many ideas were
circulating in Europe as to what the peace settlement should entail. In Britain, leaders
were thinking about how to increase British colonial power. In France, many wanted to
permanently punish the Germans, partly in revenge for Germany's aggression in World
War I, but also, perhaps subliminally, for the Franco-Prussian war in 1871. In Germany,
citizens were worried about how radical changes after the war could affect their daily
lives. Finally, in the United States, President Wilson was already concocting a system of
permanently preserving European peace. All these biases, worries, plans, and ideas came
together in Paris in 1919, with the Treaty of Versailles, establishing the post-war peace in
Europe. Yet just twenty years later, war would once again break out in Europe. So why
were the peace settlements of World War I unable to prevent the outbreak of war twenty
years later in World War II? To understand this, one must first have a detailed
understanding of the World War I peace settlement at Versailles.
The first and most significant treaty signed after World War I was the Treaty of
Versailles. The treaty, signed on the 28th of June 1919, was mainly orchestrated by
David Lloyd George, representing Britain and Georges Clemenceau, representing France.
Woodrow Wilson was the official representative of the United States, though he was
often unable to attend due to sickness or other problems. When Wilson was in absentia,
Secretary of State Robert Lansing represented the U.S. Italy also sent their Foreign
Minister Sonnino to the negotiations. The Treaty of Versailles had two main issues on
which it focused: Germany's post war territory and also the amount of reparations
Germany must pay. In the East, Germany was literally split into two parts. The Allies
decided that the nation of Poland should be given access to the sea, so they formed the
"Polish Corridor." Poland gained a lot of territory from Germany, including a port on the
Baltic, Danzig (Gdansk in Polish.) This isolated the region of Germany known as Eastern
Prussia, which includes the city of Königsberg.
In the Western part of Germany, more changes were made. France gained the much
sought after region of Alsace-Lorraine. The northern part of Schleswig was given to
Denmark, an area that had been contested since the time of Bismarck. Belgium also
gained the provinces of Eupen and Malmedy. The Rhineland was to be occupied heavily
by allied forces, giving them control of such major cities as Cologne, Bonn and,
Frankfurt, and putting troops at the gates of Dortmund and Stuttgart. Most importantly,
the Saarland was placed under international rule, and control of its valuable Ruhr coal
fields were given to France. In Article 50, Point 34 of the treaty it was determined that
after 15 years, the Saarland would be allowed to hold a plebiscite to select, "a)
Maintenance of the regime established by the present Treaty... b) Union with France, or
c) Union with Germany. (1) Germany's borders had been diminished and the country was
now split in half by the Treaty of Versailles.
Germany was also punished in regard to its colonial and imperial power. During the war,
Germany had control of many small islands and archipelagos in the South Pacific. The
Treaty of Versailles gave these islands to Britain and Japan. In Africa, France gained the
Cameroon from Germany and Britain was given German East Africa and German West
Africa. All German assets in other colonies were to be immediately dissolved into the
current government of those colonies. Finally, Germany's military was to be greatly
reduced in size. The Treaty mandated that Germany's standing army could be no larger
than 100,000 men. In addition, their Navy was reduced, and according to Article 198,
"The armed forces of Germany must not include any military or naval air forces." (2)
Germany's army was, in effect, useless, and without an air force, the Allies hoped that
Germany would be unable ever to wage war.
The Treaty of Versailles also charged Germany with the task of paying heavy reparations.
The treaty set up a reparations committee that would meet sometime in 1921 to determine
reparations for Germany to pay. Until then, Germany would pay $5,000,000,000 due
May 1, 1921. The Germans would have to wait to see what reparations they would really
pay. Until then, though, they started on the $5,000,000,000, already a very daunting task
for the nation.
The economic strain put on Germany was probably the single most important factor in
increasing hostility of the Germans towards Britain and France. The Germans by 1921
had paid off almost half of the $5,000,000,000 charged by Versailles. Then the
reparations committee finally met and determined that Germany should pay another
$25,000,000,000, plus other costs, bringing the total up to $32,500,000,000 to be paid by
1963! (3) This demand, however, was ridiculous. Germany had hardly enough money to
pay the entire original fee. In 1918, the German Reichsbank had only $577,089,500
dollars. (4) This demand would crush the German economy, and many experts predicted
it could even cause the starvation of the German people. Leading economist of the time
John Maynard Keynes said of this, "The policy of reducing Germany to servitude for a
generation, of degrading the lives of millions of human beings, and of depriving a whole
nation of happiness should be abhorrent and detestable . . . . Nations are not authorized,
by religion or by natural morals, to visit on the children of their enemies the misdoings of
parents or rulers." (5) Very ironically, Keynes made this observation in a book in 1920, a
year before the reparations committee officially added on the new $25,000,000,000 fine!
Not only were Britain and France overly vindictive in assessing these reparations, but
they were also short-sighted in thinking they would derive anything beneficial out of it.
Basically, Britain and France demanded all of Germany's money, yet they also took away
all territory from Germany that could produce this money. By taking away Germany's
colonies, they, in effect, eliminated all of Germany's investments and assets in their
Colonial power. Future income and industry generated from these colonies would not be
there for Germany. More devastating was taking away Germany's coal-producing
territories. Germany, according to 1913 figures, used 139,000,000 tons of coal to enable
its railroads, utilities, house-fuel, agriculture, etc. The provinces of Alsace-Lorraine, the
Saarland, and Upper Silesia accounted for 60,800,000 of those tons, all of which was
taken away from Germany. (6) More than half of Germany's coal was to be taken away,
with not enough left to power the heavily populated industrial country. With German
industry completely destroyed, there was no practical way for them to pay Britain and
France.
Although not allowed to participate in the oral negotiations, Germany had made several
counter proposals dealing with the territorial adjustments and the reparations. Germany
was willing to give up Alsace-Lorraine, the province of Posen, and Northern Schleswig.
They also agreed to pay in full the reparations, but wanted to have their economy
preserved by retaining their merchant fleet, and keeping their colonies. The Allies
immediately censored these proposals, probably so they could not rouse sympathy for the
German side. The proposals were not released until June 17th of 1919, only eleven days
before the treaty was signed. In retrospect, many from Britain and France regretted not
having agreed with or at least considered this counter proposal. In 1928, a Paris
newspaper showed a picture of the German head delegate Count Brockdorff-Rantzau,
saying, "The man who offered us 100 milliard gold marks at Versailles, which we
unluckily refused." (7) Germany realized that there was no way they could pay the
reparations if their industrial territories, such as the Saar Basin, and their colonies were
taken away. Unfortunately, the Allies did not see this. With the counter-proposals denied,
Germany's only other option was to resort to printing more money. This would cause
massive inflation, further devastating the German economy. In 1918, there were seven
German Marks to the United States Dollar. In 1923, 4,210,500,000,000 Marks equaled
the dollar! (8) Germany's last economic resort had been disastrous.
German aggression was greatly aroused by the ridiculous and often mistaken territorial
adjustments made by Britain and France. One such incident was in the transfer of
German territory to Poland. The allies had determined that the territory of Allenstein, in
the eastern part of Germany should be given to Poland. The German delegation sent a
counter-proposal stating that Allenstein had a large German population, and the Polish
population was miniscule. Clemenceau answered this proposal by saying, "It is difficult
to understand the objections raised by the German delegations . . . According to the best
of our information there exists in the Government of Allenstein a considerable Polish
majority." When a plebiscite was actually held there, 97.9% of the population voted to be
part of Germany, with the remaining 2.1% wanting to join with Poland. (9)
Although Allenstein was eventually granted to Germany, the main problem is obvious.
The Allies postponed other plebiscites in Upper Silesia, most likely to prevent a similar
setback from occurring. Germany had a significantly greater population than Poland in
almost every territory taken away from them, and the allies probably knew this. What
greater way of creating animosity is there than taking masses of people from their
country? The Allies were very ignorant in this case, ignoring the fact that they were
brewing hatred all throughout Germany by taking territories that were almost 100%
German away from Germany. This incident clearly showed that Clemenceau was out for
revenge, not seeking true peace. For France, the settlement was in reaction to not only
1914, but also more importantly 1871.
Not all of the Allies were against Germany in this manner. Woodrow Wilson had a
different idea of what the settlement should be, which he called the 14 points. These were
more lenient than what Britain and France wanted, and Wilson believed they were more
oriented to preserving the peace and status quo in Europe. Wilson thought that Germany
should retain most of its pre-war territory, with the exception of Alsace-Lorraine going to
France. Wilson also believed that Germany should pay little or no reparations, and
thought Europe should form a "League of Nations," to preserve the peace. He even
thought that Germany should eventually be allowed into the League. Yet these ideas were
immediately mocked and Wilson was personally insulted by members of both the French
and British governments. During one round of negotiations where Wilson was presenting
his 14 points, Clemenceau is said to have turned and whispered to Lloyd George saying,
"You know that God Himself had only 10!" (10) Another British delegate General Henry
Wilson referred to President Wilson as a, "vain, ignorant, weak ass." (11) The League of
Nations was created, but perhaps because most of Wilson's other points were ignored, the
United States did not join. Whether or not Woodrow Wilson's peace would have fared
better than the Treaty of Versailles is really immaterial; no one will ever know. But the
fact that Wilson was simply ignored, mocked, and insulted, reinforces the idea that
Britain and France only cared about punishing Germany, not seeking peace.
Britain and France had now completed one of the most devastating peace treaties in
history. Mistakes had been made that would increase German aggression, and would
drive Germany to desperate options. The economic impacts and the territorial changes
worked in tandem to do this. Germany had no capacity to pay the reparations, without
having their territories and colonies. If Germany refused to pay the reparations, even
more territory would be occupied. This gave Germany reason to rearm and aggressively
retake their territories such as the Saar Basin and the Rhineland. In addition, the political
situation in Germany easily allowed the rise of radical ideas. With the inflation, the
Weimar Republic, which was governing Germany in the early 20s, collapsed and socialist
revolts and strikes in cities like Kiel caused total political upheaval. In addition, the
hatred of Britain and France for taking Germans away from their nation in places like
Danzig and Alsace-Lorraine created even more instability.
All these factors, ignored by those who created the treaty, easily allowed Adolf Hitler to
come to power. Hitler was a very charismatic leader, and an excellent speaker, and was
offering solutions to the economic and social hardships of Germany, combined with
national pride. The German people immediately were willing to join his cause, no matter
how radical it was. Soon, Hitler began to remilitarize Germany, planning to regain the
territories lost with the Versailles Treaty, with great nationalist support from the German
people. As for the League of Nations, it was unable to do anything. Britain and France
were often to busy worrying about their own economic and social problems of the time to
worry about foreign affairs, yet alone wage another war. Hitler had carefully analyzed the
League's reactions toward other aggression at the time. When Japan invaded Manchuria,
the League let it pass. Similarly, when Mussolini attacked Ethiopia in 1935, the Allies
only imposed economic sanctions on Italy, which were actually ignored by most League
members. If the League of Nations would have been stronger, perhaps with the assistance
of the United States, aggression by Germany, Italy and Japan could have been prevented.
But the U.S was still angry about being ignored at Versailles, and maintained a very
isolationist policy. (Germany actually declared war on the United States before the U.S
chose to enter the European front of World War II.) Finally, the League of Nations had to
resort to the weak policy of Appeasement, championed by British Prime Minister Neville
Chamberlain. Hitler and Germany were able to take over the Rhineland, the Saarland, the
Sudetenland, (which had been given to the nation of Czechoslovakia by the peace
settlements) and unify with Austria with the League left only to watch. Finally, on the 1st
of September 1939, just 20 years after the end of World War I, Hitler invaded Poland.
The Treaty of Versailles had failed; Europe was once again at war.
The Treaty of Versailles had one true plan in preserving the peace, to completely
eliminate Germany's territorial, imperial, military, and economic power so much, that the
country could never wage war again. The means of doing this in the treaty, however,
were faulted and contradictory. Under the threat of military action, Germany was forced
to pay huge reparations to Britain and France. But all of Germany's income producing
territories and colonies had been taken away; it was impossible for them to pay. With the
economy devastated, Germany turned to demagoguery and radical ideas with Adolf
Hitler, and would eventually wage war on Britain, France, and many others. Many at the
time of the Treaty of Versailles knew that there would be problems with it; myopic
revenge and punishment would not preserve the peace. Some even tried to publicly offer
solutions like Woodrow Wilson and John Maynard Keynes. Unfortunately, the leaders of
Britain and France ignored these problems and signed the Treaty of Versailles into
existence. David Lloyd George of Britain would live to see the horrific fighting and
casualties in World War II. Georges Clemenceau died in 1929 without a single regret for
the Treaty of Versailles.
American Life in the “Roaring Twenties,” 1919-1929
Chapter 32
A disillusioned America turned away from idealism and reform after World War I and
toward social conservatism and the pleasures of prosperity.
New technologies, mass-marketing techniques, and new forms of entertainment fostered
rapid cultural change along with a focus on consumer goods. But the accompanying
change in moral values and uncertainty about the future produced cultural anxiety as well
as sharp intellectual critiques of American life.
After the crusading idealism of World War I, America turned inward and became hostile
to anything foreign or different. Radicals were targeted in the red scare and the SaccoVanzetti case, while the resurgent Ku Klux Klan joined other forces in bringing about
pronounced restrictions on further immigration. Sharp cultural conflicts occurred over
the prohibition experiment and evolution.
A new mass-consumption economy fueled the spectacular prosperity of the
1920s. The automobile industry, led by Henry Ford, transformed the economy and
altered American lifestyles.
The pervasive media of radio and film altered popular culture and values. Birth
control and Freudian psychology overturned traditional sexual standards, especially for
women. Young literary rebels, many originally from the Midwest, scorned genteel New
England and small-town culture and searched for new values as far away as Europe. The
stock-market boom symbolized the free-wheeling spirit of the decade.
A. Mitchell Palmer
John Dewey
William Jennings Bryan
Andrew Mellon
Al Capone
John T. Scopes
Clarence Darrow
Bruce Barton
Henry Ford
Charles Lindbergh
Sigmund Freud
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Sinclair Lewis
Frederick W. Taylor
Margaret Sanger
H.L. Mencken
Ernest Hemingway
William Faulkner
Nativist
Buying on the margin
progressive education
Red scare
Ku Klux Klan
Immigration Quota Act
Fundamentalism
“flappers”
Sacco and Vanzetti
Emergency Quota Act
Volstead Act
Modernists
Florida land boom
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Why did the United States, which had welcomed so many millions of immigrants for
nearly a century, suddenly become so fearful of immigration in the 1920s that it
virtually ended mass immigration for two decades?
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To what extent was the Scopes Trial only about competing theories of human origins,
and to what extent was it simply a focal point for deeper concerns regarding the role
of religion and traditional moral authorities in American life and the new cultural
power of science.
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Was the new “mass culture” as reflected in Hollywood films and radio a source of
moral and social change, or did it really reinforce the essentially conservative
business and social values of the time? (Consider the role of commercial advertising
in particular.)
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Were the intellectual critics of the 1920s really disillusioned with the fundamental
character of American life, or were they actually loyal to a vision of a better America,
and only hiding their idealism behind a veneer of disillusionment and irony?
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The 1920s was a time of “heroes.” Why? Explain why Charles Lindbergh and
Henry Ford were so greatly admired in this decade.
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Describe the dominant themes of American literature in the 1920s. Explain why
themes prevailed.
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Do you think that the “noble experiment” of prohibition did more harm than good
or vice-versa? Explain your view by citing specific consequences of the
prohibition amendment.
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List at least five major economic and/or technological developments of the 1920s.
Select the three most significant ones and explain your choices.
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Explain how the automobile industry in the 1920s had an impact on the national
economy similar tot hat of the railroad industry in the 1870s and 1880s.
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The text authors agree that immigration legislation in the 1920s “caused America
to sacrifice something of its tradition of freedom and opportunity, as well as much
of its color and variety.” How do you react to this argument? Do you agree that
immigration restrictions were necessary? Why or why not?
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Do you see any hidden dangers in the social and economic life that Americans
pursued in the 1920s for which they would one day have to pay? What were these
dangers, and in what way were they potentially threatening?
1. Explain the terms of the Immigration Act of 1924. How a member of the Klan would
have received such news? Why?
2. How was the Scopes trial a focal point of the deep conflicts over religion and culture
in the 1920s?
3. Name three post-trial items that were found that contradicted the guilty verdict given
to Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti. What really seemed to bring their doom?
Under what circumstances might we see similar activities in America today?
4. When was the first time that the U.S. had been bombed from the air? How was the
event a microcosm for race relations in the 1920s?
5. What aspects of the Harlem Renaissance were controversial to Langston Hughes?
6. In what year and by whom was the National Negro History Week established?
7. What was Marcus Garvey’s biggest problem with the NAACP? According the
Garvey, who should be the “true” leaders of the Negro race?
The Politics of Boom and Bust, 1920-1932
Ch. 33
The Republican administrations of the prosperous 1920s pursued conservative, probusiness policies at home and economic unilateralism abroad.
The great crash of 1929 led to a severe, prolonged depression that devastated the
American economy and spirit, and resisted Hoover’s limited efforts to correct it.
The Republican governments of the 1920s carried out of active, pro-business policies
while undermining much of the progressive legacy by neglect. The Washington Naval
Conference indicated America’s desire to withdraw from international involvements.
Sky-high tariffs protected America’s booming industry but caused severe economic
troubles elsewhere in the world.
As the Harding scandals broke, the puritanical Calvin Coolidge replaced his
morally easygoing predecessor. Feuding Democrats and La Follette progressives fell
easy victims to Republican prosperity.
American demands for strict repayment of war debts created international
economic difficulties. The Dawes plan provided temporary relief, but the Hawley-Smoot
Tariff proved devastating to international trade.
The stock-market crash of 1929 brought a sudden end to prosperity and plunged
America into a horrible depression. Herbert Hoover’s reputation collapsed as he failed to
relieve national suffering, although he did make unprecedented but limited efforts to
revive the economy through federal assistance.
Warren G. Harding
Andrew Mellon
Albert B. Fall
Charles R. Forbes
John W. Davis
Alfred E. Smith
“Ohio Gang”
American Legion
Kellogg-Briand Pact
Teapot Dome scandal
McNary-Haugen Bill
Agricultural Marketing Act
Black Friday
Reconstruction Finance Corporation
Stimson doctrine
Charles Evans Hughes
Herbert Hoover
Harry M. Daugherty
Calvin Coolidge
Robert La Follette
trade associations
Washington Conference
Fordney-McCumber Tariff
farm block
Dawes Plan
Hawley-Smoot Tariff
Muscle Shoals Bill
Bonus Army
1. In what ways were the 1920s a reaction against the progressive era?
2. Was the American isolationism of the 1920s linked to the rise of movements like the
Ku Klux Klan? In what ways did movements like fundamentalism reflect similar
“anti-modern” outlooks, and in what ways did they reflect more basic religious
disagreements?
3. To what extent did the policies of the booming 1920s contribute to the depression?
4. How did the depression challenge the traditional belief of Hoover and other
Americans in “rugged individualism”?
Dawes Plan
presented in 1924 by the committee headed (1923–24) by Charles G. Dawes to the
Reparations Commission of the Allied nations. It was accepted the same year by
Germany and the Allies. The Dawes committee consisted of ten representatives, two each
from Belgium, France, Great Britain, Italy, and the United States; it was entrusted with
finding a solution for the collection of the German reparations debt, set at almost 20
billion marks. Germany had been lagging in payment of this obligation, and the Dawes
Plan provided that the Ruhr area be evacuated by Allied occupation troops, that
reparation payment should begin at 1 billion marks for the first year and should rise over
a period of four years to 2.5 billion marks per year, that the German Reichsbank be
reorganized under Allied supervision, and that the sources for the reparation money
should include transportation, excise, and custom taxes. The plan went into effect in
Sept., 1924. Although German business picked up and reparations payments were made
promptly, it became obvious that Germany could not long continue those huge annual
payments. As a result, the Young Plan was substituted in 1929.
Young Plan
program for settlement of German reparations debts after World War I. It was presented
by the committee headed (1929–30) by Owen D. Young. After the Dawes Plan was put
into operation (1924), it became apparent that Germany could not meet the huge annual
payments, especially over an indefinite period of time. The Young Plan—which set the
total reparations at $26,350,000,000 to be paid over a period of 581/2 years—was thus
adopted by the Allied Powers in 1930 to supersede the Dawes Plan. Designed to
substitute a definite settlement under which Germany would know the exact extent of
German obligations and to reduce the payments appreciably, the Young Plan divided the
annual payment, set at about $473 million, into two elements—an unconditional part (one
third of the sum) and a postponable part (the remainder). The annuities were to be raised
through a transportation tax and from the budget. No sooner had the plan gone into effect
than Germany felt the full impact of economic depression, and a moratorium was called
for the fiscal year 1931–32. When Adolf Hitler took over Germany, he defaulted on the
unpaid reparations debt. After Germany’s defeat in World War II, an international
conference decided (1953) that Germany would pay the remaining debt only after the
country was reunified. Nonetheless, West Germany paid off the principal by 1980; then
in 1995, after reunification, the new German government announced it would resume
payments of the interest.
Kellogg-Briand Pact , agreement, signed Aug. 27, 1928, condemning “recourse to war
for the solution of international controversies.” It is more properly known as the Pact of
Paris. In June, 1927, Aristide Briand, foreign minister of France, proposed to the U.S.
government a treaty outlawing war between the two countries. Frank B. Kellogg, the U.S.
Secretary of State, returned a proposal for a general pact against war, and after prolonged
negotiations the Pact of Paris was signed by 15 nations—Australia, Belgium, Canada,
Czechoslovakia, France, Germany, Great Britain, India, the Irish Free State, Italy, Japan,
New Zealand, Poland, South Africa, and the United States. The contracting parties agreed
that settlement of all conflicts, no matter of what origin or nature, that might arise among
them should be sought only by pacific means and that war was to be renounced as an
instrument of national policy. Although 62 nations ultimately ratified the pact, its
effectiveness was vitiated by its failure to provide measures of enforcement. The
Kellogg-Briand Pact was given an unenthusiastic reception by many countries. The U.S.
Senate, ratifying the treaty with only one dissenting vote, still insisted that there must be
no curtailment of America's right of self-defense and that the United States was not
compelled to take action against countries that broke the treaty. The pact never made a
meaningful contribution to international order, although it was invoked in 1929 with
some success, when China and the USSR reached a tense moment over possession of the
Chinese Eastern RR in Manchuria. Ultimately, however, the pact proved to be
meaningless, especially with the practice of waging undeclared wars in the 1930s (e.g.,
the Japanese invasion of Manchuria in 1931, the Italian invasion of Ethiopia in 1935, and
the German occupation of Austria in 1938).
McNary-Haugen Farm Legislation
The most prominent attempts to legislate farm assistance in the 1920s were the McNaryHaugen bills, named after Republican Senator Charles McNary of Oregon, chairman of
the Senate Agriculture Committee, and Representative Gilbert N. Haugen of Iowa.
Together they sponsored legislation intended to help farmers get higher prices for their
goods. The bills they drafted proposed that the federal government boost agricultural
prices by buying up surpluses at a fair price level, disposing of them on foreign markets
at a loss, and recovering that loss through a fee assessed against agricultural producers.
The first McNary-Haugen-sponsored Agricultural Surplus Control Bill began to make its
way through Congress in 1924 but did not reach a vote until 1927. It passed Congress on
February 17, 1927, but President Coolidge vetoed it on February 25, 1927. Coolidge also
vetoed a second bill on May 23, 1928. The president feared that supporting farmers in
this way would perpetuate rather than solve the central problem of agricultural
overproduction. Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover also opposed the McNaryHaugen remedy. Once Hoover became president, however, he faced the congressional
farm bloc's ongoing demands and in 1929 signed into law a compromise measure, the
Agricultural Credits and Marketing Act. This legislation was intended to stabilize farm
prices. It provided federal assistance to for agricultural marketing associations and
emergency price-support operations. A photograph taken on June 15, 1929, shows
Senator McNary and Representative Haugen celebrating after President Hoover had
signed the compromise bill.
Characteristics of Harding’s Presidency
Chapter 33


Domestic Policy
“Tweaking” laissez-faire economics
Use of Tariffs: Fordney-McCumber Tariff vs. Euro reaction
* purpose:
*


*
*
Who’s for, who’s against, and why?
Foreign Policy
Isolationist except for…
* Middle East: What brought on the situation? Future ramifications?
*
Washington Disarmament Conference: Conditions? Who wins? Who loses?
What is the purpose?
*
Five Power Naval Treaty: Who and why?
*
Four Power Treaty: Who and why?
*
Nine Power Treaty: Who and why?
*
Kellogg-Briand Pact: Purpose and flaws?
Personal
Appointed Cabinet Positions
o Fall
o Forbes
o Daugherty
Scandals
* Teapot Dome
* Veteran’s Administration
* Liquor sale and pardons
Supreme Court: Why do they keep siding with business? How was Taft a little
different?

Why does Adkins v. Children’s Hospital overturn Muller v. Oregon? Which ruling do
you agree the most with?
1. What were considered weaknesses of Warren G. Harding as president?
2. Who held what positions in Harding’s cabinet? Which of those individuals was
considered one of the “worst minds” of the cabinet? Why?
3. What did Harding’s economic policy look like? How was it different than the typical
laissez-faire policy?
4. What stance did the Supreme Court typically take in the 1920s (which way did they
usually slant)?
5. Who (what) was adversely affected by the U.S.’s demobilization policies after WWI?
6. What did Muller and Adkins have in common?
7. What non-business group saw the most significant and lasting gains from WWI?
Why?
8. Even though Harding has been called an isolationist, why might that have not held
true?
9. Why was Harding willing to take the initiative on the issue of international
disarmament?
10. What were the main points and the purpose of the Kellogg-Briand Pact?
11. What did Fordney-McCumber and Hawley-Smoot have in common? What was the
result of such activity? Do you agree with the purpose of such measures?
12. What was Teapot Dome?
13. Which of Harding’s cabinet members actually went to jail? Why was the public so
willing to look past those activities?
14. How was Coolidge different from Harding and refreshing for the Republican Party?
15. Whose interests set the tone for the government policies under Coolidge?
16. What major problems were facing the farmers of the 1920s?
17. What legislation did Coolidge continue to refuse to sign? Why?
18. Who were the intended beneficiaries of the McNary-Haugen Bill and the NorrisLaGuardia Act?
19. Which “split” hurt the Democratic party in 1924?
20. What was the platform of LaFollette’s Progressive Party? Why did they not do well
in the 1924 election?
21. What American action disputed the fact that we had a general indifference to the
outside world?
22. What arguments were put forth by European allies concerning why they should not
have to repay U.S. loans from World War I?
23. What was the result of America’s insistent that war debts be repaid from World War
I?
24. What major foreign-policy problem was addressed by the Dawes Plan?
25. Who was considered to be the most colorful candidate for president in the 1920s?
26. What were Alfred E. Smith’s political liabilities?
27. What was one of Hoover’s chief strengths as a presidential candidate? What was his
background upon entering the White House?
28. What was Hoover’s plan for ending the Depression?
29. What was the purpose of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation?
30. What happened with the Bonus Marchers? Was the situation helpful or harmful to
Hoover?
31. What was Japan’s reaction to the League of Nations’ investigation into their invasion
and occupation of Manchuria?
32. What was the 1932 Stimson Doctrine?
33. Compare the personal characteristics of Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover. What did
they have in common? How do their personal qualities help to explain their political
success in the 1920s?
34. What evidence indicated throughout the 1920s that the economy was not as healthy as
most believed? Why weren’t these weaknesses addressed?
35. In what ways did the Washington Conference, Kellogg-Briand Pact, and Stimson
Doctrine fall short of ensuring American national security?
36. Why was the Harding administration so scandal-ridden? Consider both Harding’s
personal qualities and the postwar climate. What long-term impact did these scandals
have on Harding’s reputation, the Republican party, and American national interests?
37. Outline and explain the causes of the great crash of 1929. Why did it come so
unexpectedly?
38. Describe the relationship between American tariff policy, war debts and reparations,
and the Great Depression. Explain why the federal government adopted the tariff and
debt-repayment policies it did. Assess the wisdom of those policies.
39. Historians have not looked too kindly on the presidents of the 1920s, usually judging
them as mediocre. Do you agree with this evaluation of their performance? Explain.
The Great Depression and the New Deal, 1933-1938
Chapter34
Roosevelt’s New Deal tackled the Great Depression with massive federal programs
designed to bring about relief, recovery and reform
Confident, aristocratic Roosevelt swept into office with an urgent mandate to cope with
the depression emergency. His bank holiday and frantic Hundred Days lifted spirits and
created a host of new agencies to provide relief to the unemployed, economic recovery,
and permanent reform of the system.
Roosevelt’s programs put millions of the unemployed back on the job through
federal action. As popular demagogues like Huey Long and Father Charles Coughlin
increased their appeal to the suffering population, Roosevelt developed sweeping
programs to reorganize and reform American history, labor, and agriculture. The TVA,
Social Security, and the Wagner Act brought far-reaching changes that especially
benefited the economically disadvantaged.
Conservatives furiously denounced the New Deal, but Roosevelt formed a
powerful coalition of urbanites, labor, “new immigrants,” blacks, and the South that
swept him to victory in 1936.
Roosevelt’s Court-packing plan failed, but the Court finally began to approve
New Deal legislation. The later New Deal encountered mounting conservative
opposition and the stubborn persistence of unemployment. Although the New Deal was
highly controversial, it saved America from extreme right-wing or left-wing dictatorship.
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Harry Hopkins
Father Coughlin
Francis Townsend
George W. Norris
Alfred M. Landon
Boondoggling
New Deal
Hundred Days
Glass-Steagall Act
Works Progress Administration
Schechter case
Agricultural Adjustment Act
Securities and Exchange Commission
Federal Housing Authority
Wagener Act
Congress of Industrial Organizations
Roosevelt coalition
Court-packing scheme
Eleanor Roosevelt
Frances Perkins
Huey Long
Harold Ickes
John L. Lewis
parity
Brain Trust
the “three Rs”
Civilian Conservation Corps
National Recovery Act
Public Works Administration
Dust Bowl
Tennessee Valley Authority
Social Security Act
National Labor Relations Board
Liberty League
20th and 21st Amendments
Which of Roosevelt’s measures were most effecting in fighting the depression?
Why?
How did Roosevelt alter the role of the federal government in American life?
How did ordinary workers and farmers effect social change in the 1930s?
What were the positive and negative effects of the New Deal’s use of the federal
government as an agency of social reform?
1. What contributed to Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s (FDR) compassion and strength of
will?
2. Who was the “champion of the dispossessed?”
3. What was the 1932 Democratic party platform? How were they in a good position
compared to the Republican party?
4. What campaign promise was made by FDR to attack the Great Depression?
5. What were the “Hundred Days?”
6. What role did African Americans play in the 1932 election?
7. Why did Hoover try to get FDR to cooperate on long-term solutions to the
Depression?
8. What was FDR’s relationship with Congress upon his election?
9. Define “relief, recovery, reform.” List the New Deal items that would fall under each
category.
10. What was the Glass-Steagall Act?
11. What was the most pressing problem facing FDR when he became president?
12. What was FDR’s “managed currency?”
13. Which New Deal programs were probably the most popular, most complex, and most
radical?
14. Who was FDR’s chief “administrator of relief”?
15. Coughlin, Long, Townsend, Hoover – what did they all have in common?
16. Why was Long so popular on the national level?
17. Wagner, Hopkins, Ickes, Perkins – what did they have in common?
18. Why did the National Recovery Act (NRA) begin to fail?
19. How did the Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) proposed to solve the “farm
problem”?
20. How did the Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) raise money to pay to farmers not to
grow crops?
21. What were the 20th and 21st Amendments?
22. What contributed to the Dust Bowl?
23. What was the purpose of the 1935 Resettlement Administration?
24. What did the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 attempt to do?
25. Where did most Dust Bowl migrants go and how did they escape the deprivation and
uncertainty of seasonal farm labor?
26. What was the goal of the Federal Securities Act?
27. Why did the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) draw criticism?
28. What was provided in the Social Security Act of 1935?
29. What was the Wagner Act of 1935?
30. Who was most benefited by the National Labor Relations Act?
31. What was the primary interest of the Congress of Industrial Organizations?
32. What was “court-packing” and why did it fail?
33. What was the 1937 “Roosevelt recession” and what came from it?
34. Account for Franklin Roosevelt’s election victory in 1932 and his landslide triumph
in 1936.
35. Compare and contrast the first two years of the New Deal with the later New Deal
after 1934. Account for the differences.
36. How “revolutionary” was the New Deal? Evaluate the significant changes that it
wrought and determine how different the nation became because of it.
37. Select the three most important programs of the New Deal, explain what they did, and
tell why you chose these three.
38. Had you lived at the time, do you think you would have been pro- or anti-Roosevelt?
Why? Cite specific actions of President Roosevelt and the New Dealers to illustrate
your position.
39. The text authors conclude that Franklin Roosevelt “was in fact Hamiltonian in his
espousal of big government, but Jeffersonian in his concern for the ‘forgotten man.’”
With this as a thesis sentence, write an essay that uses specific parts of the New Deal
program to support both halves of your thesis.
40. Cite evidence to demonstrate that “the most damning indictment of the New Deal was
that it failed to cure the Depression.” Then cite achievements of value that the New
Deal did in fact accomplish.
Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Shadow of War, 1933-1941
Ch. 35
In the early and mid-1930s, the United States attempted to isolate itself from foreign
involvements and wars. But by the end of the decade, the spread of totalitarianism and
war in Europe forced Roosevelt to provide more and more assistance to desperate Britain,
despite strong isolationist opposition.
Roosevelt’s early foreign policies, such as wrecking the London economic conference
and establishing the Good Neighbor policy in Latin America, were governed by concern
for domestic recovery and reflected America’s desire for a less active role in the world.
America virtually withdrew from all European affairs, and promised independence to the
Philippines as an attempt to avoid Asian commitments.
Depression-spawned chaos in Europe and Asia strengthened the isolationist
impulse, as Congress passed a series of Neutrality Acts designed to prevent America
from being drawn into foreign wars. The United States adhered to the policy for a time,
despite the aggression of Italy, Germany, and Japan. But after the outbreak of World
War II in Europe, Roosevelt began to provide some aid to the Allies.
After the fall of France, Roosevelt gave greater assistance to desperate Britain in
the destroyers-for-bases deal and in lend-lease. Still-powerful isolationists protested
these measures, but Wendall Wilkie refrained from attacking Roosevelt’s foreign policy
in the 1940 campaign.
Roosevelt and Winston Churchill issued the Atlantic Charter, and by the summer
of 1941, the United States was fighting an undeclared naval war with Germany in the
North Atlantic. After negotiations with Japan failed, the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor
plunged the United States into World War II.
Cordell Hull
Benito Mussolini
Francisco Franco
Charles Lindbergh
Joseph Stalin
Adolf Hitler
Winston Churchill
Wendall Willkie
Reciprocity
Isolationism
totalitarianism
London Economic Conference
Good Neighbor Policy
Reciprocal Trade Agreement Act
Nazi party
Rome-Berlin axis
“merchants of death”
Nye committee
Neutrality Acts
Spanish Civil War
China incident
“Quarantine” speech
Hitler-Stalin nonaggression pact
“cash and carry”
“phony war”
Committee to Defend America by Aiding the Allies
America First Committee
Lend-lease
Atlantic Charter
1. Why did the neutrality laws fail to prevent America’s growing involvement with the
military conflicts in Europe and Asia?
2. How did the process of American entry into World War II compare with the entry
into World War I?
3. Would it have been more straightforward of Roosevelt to have openly called for a
declaration of war against Hitler rather than increasing involvement gradually while
claiming that he did not want war?
4. Would the United States have entered World War II even if the Japanese had not
attacked Pearl Harbor?
1. What action taken by FDR during his first term would suggest that he was an
“internationalist?”
2. What was the reasoning behind Roosevelt’s recognition of the Soviet Union?
3. Explain FDR’s reasons for embarking on the Good Neighbor policy.
4. Throughout the 1930s, what reaction was given by the American people as they heard
of the aggressive actions of Germany, Italy, and Japan?
5. Where were the fascist aggression of Hitler, Mussolini, and Franco centered?
6. How did the Neutrality Acts of 1935, 1936, and 1937 handle a president’s
proclamation of the existence of a foreign war?
7. Embargo, lend-lease, and cash-and-carry: What was the transition of America’s arms
sales from 1925-1940?
8. What did America’s neutrality mean to the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939)?
9. What major meeting took place in September 1938 in Munich, Germany? What was
established from that meeting?
10. What action of Hitler’s started World War II?
11. What factors contributed to the weakness and lateness of America’s efforts to aid
Europe’s threatened Jews?
12. Why did the U.S. military refuse to bomb Nazi gas chambers?
13. What was Congress’s first response to the unexpected fall of France in 1940?
14. Explain the deal struck between the U.S. and the British dealing with old American
destroyers.
15. The election of 1940: Who ran for what party? On what platform? Who won?
Why?
16. What motivated Roosevelt to run for a third term?
17. What was America’s response to the German invasion of the Soviet Union?
18. Atlantic Charter – what, when, where, who, why?
19. Greer, Kearny, and Rueben – importance of these three?
20. Why did Japan believe that it was forced into war with the United States?
21. Why was the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor such a surprise?
22. What position did most Americans take concerning the possibility of war prior to
Pearl Harbor? After?
23. What was the biggest challenge for America once committed to war?
24. Japanese Internment: what, when, where, who, why?
25. War Production Board, Office of Price Administration, War Labor Board, and Fair
Employment Practices Commission – responsibilities of each?
26. Which union broke the typical trend of workers by striking during World War II?
27. What was the effect of having more than 6 million women in American industry
during World War II?
28. Role of African Americans during World War II (“Double V”, segregated units,
CORE, migration, A. Philip Randolph)
29. How did the U.S. finance most of the war?
30. Where was the first naval battle in history in which all the fighting was done by
carrier-based aircraft?
31. Where had the tide of Japanese conquest in the Pacific turned?
32. What crucial mistake was made in 1942 by the Japanese concerning their attempt to
control much of the Pacific?
33. What was the main American strategy when fighting Japan?
34. What was the importance of Guam in the Japanese theater of World War II?
35. At what point did Hitler’s advance in the European theater stall and crest in late
1942?
36. Why did some criticize the Allied demand for unconditional surrender of the Allied
powers?
37. Potsdam, Casablanca, and Teheran: what, when, why, who?
38. What was announced by FDR and Churchill at the wartime conference at
Casablanca?
39. What was the major consequence of the Allied conquest of Sicily in August 1943?
40. Operation Overlord: who, what, where, when, why?
41. Election of 1944: Who ran for what party? On what platform? Who won? Why?
42. Importance of the Battle of Leyte Gulf?
43. What was the belief behind spending enormous sums of money on the original bomb
project?
44. Explain in what way (a) the fall of France, (b) Hitler’s invasion of the Soviet Union, and (c)
the attack on Pearl Harbor mark the most important turning points in American foreign policy
between 1935 and 1942.
45. Explain how in the 1930s “the American people were overwhelmingly anti-Nazi and antiHitler, …but they were desperately determined to stay out [of war].”
46. Compare and contrast the views of the Committee to Defend America by Aiding the Allies
with those of the America First Committee. Had you been there at the time, which would you
have supported? Why?
47. At what point do you think American entry into the war in Europe became inevitable?
Explain.
48. Do you think the argument that “one should not change horses in the middle of a stream” is
sufficient to justify Franklin Roosevelt’s breaking the two-term tradition in 1940? Do you
think anyone should be allowed to serve more than two terms in the presidency? Why or why
not?
49. Present arguments for and against using the A-bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.
Had it been your decision, what would you have done? Why?
50. What are the arguments for and against the Japanese-American relocation camps used in
World War II? Do you agree with the text authors that these camps were unnecessary and
unfair”? Why or why not?
51. In terms of defending America’s national interests, which do you think was the most critical
front in World War II, the European theater or the Pacific? Why?
52. Why, with major wars in Europe and the Pacific, did American troops see their first active
combat in World War II in North Africa? What were the strategic objectives of that
campaign?
America in World War II, 1941-1945
Ch. 36
Unified by Pearl Harbor, America effectively carried out a war mobilization effort that
produced vast social and economic changes within American society.
Following its “get Hitler first” strategy, the United States and its Allies invaded and
liberated conquered Europe from Fascist rule. The slower strategy of “island-hopping”
against Japan also proceeded successfully until the atomic bomb brought a sudden end to
World War II.
American was wounded but roused to national unity by Pearl Harbor, Roosevelt settled
on a fundamental strategy of dealing with Hitler first, while doing just enough in the
Pacific to block the Japanese advance.
With the ugly exception of the Japanese-American concentration camps, World
War II proceeded in the United States without the fanaticism and violations of civil
liberties that occurred in World War I. The economy was effectively mobilized, using
new sources of labor such as women and Mexican braceros. Numerous AfricanAmericans and Indians also left their traditional rural homelands and migrated to warindustry jobs in the cities of the North and West. The war brought full employment and
together in the military and in new communities across the country. Unlike European
and Asian nations, however, the United States experienced relatively little economic and
social devastation from the war.
The tide of Japanese conquest was stemmed at the Battles of Midway and the
Coral Sea, and American forces began a slow strategy of “island hopping” toward Tokyo.
Allied troops first invaded North Africa and Italy in 1942-1943, providing a small,
compromise “second front” that attempted to appease the badly weakened Soviet Union
as well as the anxious British. The real second front came in June 1944 with the D-Day
invasion of France. The Allies moved rapidly across France, but faced a setback in the
Battle of the Bulge in the Low Countries.
Meanwhile, American capture of the Marianas Islands established for extensive
bombing of the Japanese home islands. Roosevelt won a fourth term as Allied troops
entered Germany and finally met the Russians, bringing an end to Hitler’s rule in May
1945. After a last round of brutal warfare on Okinawa and Iwo Jima, the dropping of two
atomic bombs ended the war against Japan in August 1945.
Henry J. Kaiser
Douglas MacArthur
Dwight D. Eisenhower
George S. Patton
Harry S. Truman
A. Philip Randolph
Chester W. Nimitz
Joseph Stalin
Thomas E. Dewey
Albert Einstein
War Production Board
War Labor Board
Braceros
Casablanca Conference
Teheran Conference
V-E Day
V-J Day
Office of Price Administration
Smith-Connally Act
Fair employment Practices Commission
second front
D Day
Potsdam Conference
How did America’s domestic response to World War II differ from its reaction to World
War I?
What was the wisest strategic decision in World War II, and what was the most
questionable?
How were the European and Pacific wars similar, and how were they different?
What was the significance of the dropping of the atomic bomb, then and now?
The Cold War Begins 1945-1952
Chapter 37
America emerged from World War II as the world’s strongest economic power, and
commenced a postwar economic boom that lasted for two decades. A bulging population
migrated to the suburbs and Sunbelt, leaving the cities increasingly to minorities and the
poor.
The end of World War II left the United States and the Soviet Union as the two dominant
world powers, and they soon became locked in a Cold War confrontation. The Cold War
spread from Europe to become a global ideological conflict between democracy and
communism. Among its effects were a nasty hot war in Korea and a domestic crusade
against “disloyalty.”
In the immediate postwar years there were widespread fears of a return to depression.
But fueled by cheap energy, increased worker productivity, and government programs
like the GI Bill of Tights, the economy began a spectacular expansion that lasted from
1950 to 1970. This burst of affluence transformed American industry and society, and
particularly drew more women into the workforce.
Footloose Americans migrated to the Sunbelts of the South and West, and to the
growing suburbs, leaving the northeastern cities with poorer populations. Families grew
rapidly, as the “baby boom” created a population bulge that would last for decades.
The Yalta agreement near the end of World War II left major issues undecided
and created controversy over postwar relations with the Soviet Union. With feisty
Truman in the White House, the two new superpowers soon found themselves at odds
over Eastern Europe, Germany, and the Middle East.
The Truman Doctrine announced military aid and an ideological crusade against
international communism. The Marshall Plan provided economic assistance to starving
and communist-threatened Europe, which soon joined the United States in the NATO
military alliance.
The Cold War and revelations of spying aroused deep fears of communist
subversion at home that culminated in McCarthy’s witch-hunting. Fear of communist
advances abroad and social change at home generated national and local assaults on
many people perceived to be “different.” Issues of the Cold War and civil rights
fractured the Democratic Party three ways in 1948, but a gutsy Truman campaign
overcame the divisions to win a triumphant underdog victory.
The Communist Chinese won a civil war against the Nationalists. North Korea
invaded South Korea, and the Americans and the Chinese joined in fighting the seesaw
war to a bloody stalemate. MacArthur’s insubordination and threats to expand the war to
China led Truman to fire him.
Harry S. Truman
Douglas MacArthur
Joseph McCarthy
Benjamin Spock
George F. Kennan
Dean Acheson
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg
J. Strom Thurmond
Henry Wallace
Adlai Stevenson
Richard M. Nixon
Thomas Dewey
Dwight Eisenhower
Yalta Conference
United Nations
Iron Curtain
Containment
Marshall Plan
White flight
Taft-Hartley Act
House Committee on Un-American Activities
Point Four program
Thirty-eight parallel
Inchon Landing
Cold War
Nuremberg Trials
Berlin airlift
Truman Doctrine
National Security Act
North Atlantic Treaty Organization
McCarran Act
Fair Deal
NSC-68
Sunbelt
Which development caused the greatest change in American society in the immediate
postwar years: increased affluence, the migration to the suburbs, the entry of women into
the workforce, or the “baby boom”?
Was the primary threat from the Soviet Union military or ideological – that is, was the
danger that the Soviet army would invade Western Europe or that more and more people
in Europe and elsewhere would be attracted to communist Russia?
Were there any legitimate concerns behind the “red-hunting” anticommunism of the late
1940s and early 1950s? How were McArthy and others able to turn the search for spies
and subversives into an assault on freethinkers, adulterers, homosexuals, and others
deemed “different” in some way?
Was Truman right to fire MacArthur when and how he did? What would have happened
if MacArthur had gotten his way and expanded the conflict with the Chinese?
The Eisenhower Era 1952 – 1960
Chapter 38
The Eisenhower years were characterized by prosperity and moderate conservatism at
home and the tensions of the Cold War abroad.
While Dwight Eisenhower and the majority of Americans held to a cautious, familyoriented perspective on domestic social questions, an emerging civil tights movement and
the influence of television and popular music presented challenges to the spirit of national
“consensus.”
Using the new medium of television to enhance his great popularity, grandfatherly “Ike”
was ideally suited to soothe an America badly shaken by the Cold War and Korea.
Eisenhower was slow to go after Joseph McCarthy, but the demagogue’s bubble finally
burst. Eisenhower also reacted cautiously to the beginnings of the civil rights movement
but sent troops to Little Rock to enforce court orders. While his domestic policies were
moderately conservative, they left most of the New Deal in place.
Despite John Dulles’s tough talk, Eisenhower’s foreign policies were also
generally cautious. He avoided military involvement in Vietnam, although aiding Diem,
and pressured Britain, France, and Israel to resolve the Suez crisis.
He also refused to intervene in the Hungarian revolt and sought negotiations to
thaw the frigid Cold War. Dealing with Nikita Khrushchev proved difficult, as Sputnik,
the Berlin Crisis, the U-2 incident, and Fidel Castro’s Cuban revolution all kept Cold War
tensions high. In a tight election, Senator John Kennedy defeated Eisenhower’s vicepresident, Richard Nixon, by calling for the country to “get moving again” by more
vigorously countering the Soviets.
American society grew ever more prosperous in the Eisenhower era, as science,
technology, and the Cold War fueled burgeoning new industries like electronics and
aviation. Women joined the movement into the increasingly white-collar workforce, and
chafed at widespread restrictions they faced.
A new consumer culture, centered around television, fostered a new ethic of
leisure and enjoyment, including more open expressions of sexuality in popular
entertainment. Intellectuals and artists criticized the focus on private affluence rather
than the public good. Jewish, African-American, and southern writers had a striking new
impact on American culture.
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Earl Warren
Martin Luther King Jr.
Ngo Dinh Diem
Nikita Khrushchev
John F. Kennedy
Joseph McCarthy
Rosa Parks
Ho Chi Minh
Gamal Abdel Nasser
Fidel Castro
Betty Friedan
McCarthyism
Desegregation
Military-industrial complex
“creeping socialism”
“massive retaliation”
feminism
Brown v. Board of Education
White Citizens’ Councils
Geneva Conference
Hungarian revolt
Eisenhower Doctrine
U-2 incident
“missile gap”
The Feminine Mystique
Plessy v. Ferguson
Civil Rights Act of 1957
South East Asia Treaty Organization
Suez crisis
Landrum-Griffith Act
Sputnik
National Defense Education Act
How does Eisenhower’s political leadership compare with that of other generalpresidents: Washington, Jackson, Taylor, and Grant?
Was Eisenhower’s seeming caution and inactivity a lack of vigorous leadership or a wise
prudence in the exercise of power?
Was the 1950s a time of American triumph abroad and affluence at home, or was it a
period that actually suppressed many problems of race, women’s roles, and cultural
conformity?
Which writers and artists best expressed the concerns of American culture in the 1950s?
Was there a connection between the rise of pop-culture figures like Elvis Presley and
Marilyn Monroe and the changes on art and writing ) like the beats and the new southern
writers)?
The Stormy Sixties, 1960-1968
Chapter 39
The Kennedy administration’s “flexible response” doctrine to combat Third World
communism bore ill fruit in Cuba and especially in Vietnam. Johnson’s massive
escalation of the war failed to defeat the Communist Vietnamese forces, while growing
domestic opposition finally forced him from power.
The Kennedy administration’s domestic stalemate ended in the mid-1960s, as Johnson’s
Great Society and the black civil rights movement brought a tide of liberal social reform.
But the diversion of resources and the social upheavals caused by the Vietnam War
wrecked the Great Society.
Kennedy’s New Frontier initiatives bogged down in congressional stalemate. Cold War
confrontations over Berlin and Russian missiles in Cuba created threats of war. Third
World communism through flexible response led the administration into dangerous
involvement in Vietnam and elsewhere.
Johnson succeeded Kennedy and overwhelmingly defeated Goldwater. The black
movement for integration and voting rights won great victories. Johnson used his huge
congressional majorities to push through a mass of liberal Great Society legislation.
Northern black ghettos erupted in violence amid calls for black power.
Johnson escalated military involvement in the Dominion Republic and Vietnam.
As the number of troops and casualties grew without producing military success, dovish
protests against the war gained strength. Political opposition forced Johnson not to seek
reelection, and the deep Democratic divisions over the war allowed Nixon to win the
White House.
John F. Kennedy
Robert S. McNamara
Martin Luther King. Jr.
Lyndon B. Johnson
Robert F. Kennedy
Charles de Gaulle
Lee Harvey Oswald
Barry Goldwater
Malcolm X
J. William Fulbright
Hubert H. Humphrey
George Wallace
Stokely Carmichael
Eugene McCarthy
Richard M. Nixon
Flexible response
Credibility gap
peaceful coexistence
New Frontier
Vienna summit
Viet Cong
Bay of Pigs
Great Society
Civil Rights Act of 1964
Nuclear test-ban treaty
24th Amendment
Operation Rolling Thunder
Tet offensive
Peace Corps
Trade Expansion Act
Alliance for Progress
War on Poverty
Tonkin Gulf Resolution
Cuban Missile Crisis
March on Washington
Voting Rights Act
Pueblo Incident
counterculture
1. Did Kennedy fulfill his promise to “get America moving again”? Why or why not?
2. Was the nonviolent civil rights movement of the 1960s a success? Why or why not?
3. What were the causes of the Vietnam War?
4. Were the cultural upheaval of the 1960s a result of the political crisis, or were the
developments like the sexual revolution and the students revolts inevitable results of
affluence and the “baby boom”?
The Stalemate Seventies, 1968-1980
AP History
As the war in Vietnam finally came to a disastrous conclusion, the United States
struggled to create a more stable international climate. Détente with the two communist
powers temporarily reduced Cold War tensions, but trouble in the Middle East threatened
America’s energy supplies and economic stability.
Weakened by political difficulties of their own and others’ making, the administrations of
the 1970s had trouble coping with America’s growing economic problems. The public
also had trouble facing up to a sharp sense of limits and a general disillusionment with
society. With the notable exception of the highly successful feminist movement, the
social reform efforts of the 1960s fractured and stalled, as the country settled into a
frustrating and politically divisive stalemate.
Nixon’s “Vietnamization” policy reduced American ground participation in the war, but
his Cambodia invasion sparked massive protest. Nixon’s journeys to Communist
Moscow and Beijing (Peking) established a new rapprochement with these powers. In
domestic policy, Nixon and the Supreme Court promoted affirmative action and
environmental protection.
The 1972 election victory and the cease-fire in Vietnam were negated when
Nixon became bogged down in the Watergate scandal and congressional protest over the
secret bombing of Cambodia, which led to the War Powers Act. The Middle East War of
1973 and the Arab oil embargo created energy and economic difficulties that lasted
through the decade. Americans gradually awoke to their costly and dangerous
dependence on Middle Eastern oil, and began to take tentative steps toward conservation
and alternative energy sources.
Non-elected Gerald Ford took over after Watergate forced Nixon to resign. The
Communist Vietnamese finally overran the South Vietnamese government in 1975. The
defeat in Vietnam added to a general sense of disillusionment with society and a new
sense of limits on American power. The civil rights movement fractured, and divisive
issues of busing and affirmative action enhanced racial tensions. The most successful
social movement was feminism, which achieved widespread social breakthroughs though
failing to pass the Equal Rights Amendment.
Campaigning against Washington and Watergate, outside Jimmy Carter proved
unable to master Congress or the economy once he took office. The Camp David
agreement brought peace between Egypt and Israel, but the Iranian Revolution led to new
energy troubles. The invasion of Afghanistan and the holding of American hostages in
Iran added to Carter’s woes.
Richard Nixon
Daniel Ellsberg
Warren Burger
Sam Ervin
Rachel Carson
Jimmy Carter
Ayatollah Khomeini
Spiro Agnew
Henry Kissinger
George McGovern
John Dean
Gerald Ford
Shah of Iran
Leonid Brezhnez
Détente
Revenue sharing
impoundment
executive privilege
Vietnamization
My Lai massacre
Kent State killings
Philadelphia Plan
Pentagon Papers
SALT
Southern strategy
CREEP
Saturday Night Massacre
Title IX
Nixon Doctrine
Cambodian incursion
26th Amendment
Environmental Protection Agency
ABM treaty
MIRVs
Watergate scandal
enemies list
War Powers Act
Equal Rights Amendment (ERA)
Bakke case
SALT II
Helsinki accords
Iranian hostage crisis
Wounded Knee
energy crisis
OPEC