1. United States History From WWII to the present

2. THE POST-WAR WORLD Foreign Policy

3. 1. Cold War Begins
Political and military rivalry between superpowers US and Soviet Union (USSR).
Lasted from
led to “hot” wars around globe
in Korea, Vietnam

4. 2. U.S. vs. USSR (Soviet Union)
U.S U.S.S.R
Capitalism Communism
Private property State owns
Democratic Totalitarian

5. 3. FIGHTING COMMUNISM
CONTAINMENT POLICY: The U.S. would work to stop the spread of communism.
1. Truman Doctrine
2. Marshall Plan
3. NATO and other alliances

6. 4. The Truman Doctrine & Domino Theory
Truman Doctrine: U.S. would aid countries around the world who are fighting communism (like Greece and Turkey).
Domino Theory: If the U.S. doesn’t fight communism, then countries will fall to communism like dominos.

7. 5. The Marshall Plan 1948 Plan to aid Europe—in ruins
Prevent countries from falling to communists
Aid American business
$17 billion to 16 countries in Europe (not Soviet Union)

8. 6. NATO vs. WARSAW PACT
North Atlantic Treaty Organization: defense alliance among U.S. and Europe against the Soviet Union. Still exists.
Warsaw Pact: Defense alliance among Soviet Union and its satellite governments in Eastern Europe.

9. 7. Postwar Germany Nuremburg Trials for war crimes
Divided into 4 zones:
West Germany – U.S., Britain, and France
East Germany- Soviets
Capitol city of Berlin divided into 4 zones (in East Germany)
Berlin Airlift: In , the U.S. and Europe flew food and supplies to save West Berlin, until Soviets reopened roads.

10. 8. Post War Japan: U.S. occupied – under General MacArthur
New constitution
Democracy with Emperor as figurehead
Rebuild economy
Abolished army and navy
Tokyo trials convicted war criminals

11. 9. The Red Scare Intense fear of Communists taking over U.S.
China became a Communist country in 1949.
Soviets developed an atomic bomb in 1949.
Rosenbergs convicted of selling atomic secrets to Soviet Union. Executed 1953.

12. 10. McCarthyism
In 1950, Republican Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin claimed that he had “lists” of communists in the U.S. government.
Falsely accused hundreds of people of being active Communists, ruining lives.
When hearings were televised, people saw that McCarthy was wrongly accusing many people.
Censured (punished) by Senate.

13. 11. Korean War,
Divided north and south at 38th parallel at end of WWII.
In 1950, Communist North Korea invaded South Korea.
The U.S. and United Nations, aided the South; China aided the North Koreans.
Treaty signed in 1953, keeping dividing line at 38th parallel (still today).
33,000 American soldiers died, 100,000 wounded.

14. 12. Space Race Began when Soviets beat the U.S. into space
Soviet satellite Sputnik launched in 1957
Explorer I, the first U.S. satellite, was launched in 1958.
The National Defense Act of 1958 approved federal funding of education in math, science and foreign languages.
Reforms in education –

15. 13. Nuclear Arms Race
Hydrogen bomb invented – both U.S. and Soviets had them
1,000 times more powerful than atomic bomb—vaporized an island.
Dangers of fallout and radiation
Many built
bomb shelters!!

16. POST-WAR AMERICA

17. 14. Economic Boom in the 1950s…
Permanent military economy, with the government spending heavily on defense.
Created an economic boon in the 1950s
Suburban growth – “middle class” moving out of cities; 1/3 of population—tract housing as in Levittown, PA
--GI Bill of Rights—education, loans
--Interstate Highway Act
--televisions, automobiles

18. 15. BABY BOOM
As the country returned to normal, there was a huge increase in births, lasting from
Largest population group ever, now retiring.
Rock and Roll music became popular.

19. 16. Election of 1948 Democrats – President Truman
Republican - Thomas Dewey of NY
Dixiecrats – Strom Thurmond
Southern Democrats
who left party after Truman
desegregated the military.
Dewey predicted to win! Truman won with 49% of the popular vote…

20. 17. Elections of and 1956
Republican – General Dwight D. Eisenhower –WWII hero won over Democrat Adlai Stevenson. Eisenhower promised to end the war in Korea and to resist communism.
Most Americans wanted a change;
Democrats had been in power
for 20 years!

21. What’s the answer?
1. Political and military rivalry with Soviet Union?
2. Intense fear of Communist takeover in the United States?
3. “Hot war” in Asia from ?
3. Senator who falsely accused many people of communism?
4. Increased birth rate from 1946 to 1960.
5. Republican who won the presidency in 1952?
6. Southern Democrats who broke off from Democratic Party over civil rights?

22. The
Civil
Rights
Movement

23. 18. The Civil Rights Movement 1945-1970
End segregation in schools and public places (Jim Crow) and ensure full voting rights in the South.
After WWII, movement picks up speed:
-Executive Order 9981-Truman desegregates military
NAACP—National Association for Advancement of Colored People—1909—used courts to attack segregation.
SCLC—Southern Christian Leadership Conference—black ministers
SNCC—Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee—black college students

24. 19. Education
1896 – Plessy v. Ferguson – “separate but equal” ok—doesn’t violate equal protection of the laws.
1954 – Brown v. Bd. of Ed. of Topeka, Kansas – “Separate but equal” IS unconstitutional. Suit brought by NAACP; argued by Thurgood Marshall.
1955– Federal courts order Southern states to desegregate with “all deliberate speed.” Whites resisted, even closing schools.
1957—Pres. Eisenhower uses National Guard to force Arkansas to admit the “Little Rock Nine,” 9 black students, to Central High School.

25. 20. Montgomery Bus Boycott
1955--Rosa Parks arrested in 1955 for refusing to give up seat on bus to white person.
Martin Luther King, Jr. of the SCLC led boycott against city buses.
Court holds segregated buses unconstitutional; bus company goes bankrupt for lack of black riders.
King writes “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” to white ministers, explaining why nonviolent protest is necessary.

26. 21. Sit-ins Greensboro, NC Lunch counters were segregated
Students from SNCC used non-violence – sit-ins.
White violence caught on television.

27. 22. Freedom Riders (CORE)
Black and white students rode buses together to desegregate public buses.
Whites burned buses and beat riders in Alabama; President Kennedy has to step in to protect them. Televised!

28. 23. 1963 March on Washington demonstrated public support for Civil Rights laws
Idea of A. Phillip Randolph in 1940s
Dr. King delivered
his “I Have a
Dream” speech to 250,000 marchers
Led to Civil Rights Act of banned discrimination in places where you eat, sleep or are entertained.
--Also protected women and minorities.

29. White Violence Increases
1963—Medgar Evars, NAACP official assassinated
1963--church bomb kills 4 girls
1964—3 civil rights workers murdered
1965—march on Selma turns into “Bloody Sunday”

30. 24. Black Groups and Movements
Nation of Islam – Malcolm X, separation of races, black nation.
Black Power Movement – Stokely Carmichael, black pride
Black Panther party --militant demand for change—social programs.

31. 25. King Assassinated
Dr. King, desire to unite all races, desire for Vietnam war funds to be used to fight poverty.
On April 4, 1968, King was assassinated in Memphis by James Earl Ray.

32. The 1960s and 1970s

33. 26. Election of 1960
Republican Richard Nixon, former Vice-President, ran against Democrat – John F. Kennedy, a young Irish Catholic.
First televised presidential debates, which helped Kennedy.
“Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country!”

34. 27. The Bay of Pigs 1959 – Fidel Castro takes over Cuba
established ties with the Soviet Union—90 miles from U.S.
In 1961, U.S. backed 1500 Cuban refugees (trained by CIA) in an attack; at the last moment, JFK withdrew direct air/naval support.
Rebellion fails
have to pay $50 million in supplies/cash to ransom 1200 survivors.

35. 28. Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962
CIA discovers Soviet weapons in Cuba pointed at U.S.
US makes naval blockade and demanded removal of the weapons.
Very tense 7 days.
Closest we have ever come to nuclear war.
Finally, Khrushchev, Russian leader, agrees to remove if we will not attack.

36. 29. JFK Assassinated Dallas, Texas Nov. 22, 1963
Lee Harvey Oswald shot by Jack Ruby
Warren Commission Report –
Oswald acted alone
Lyndon Baines Johnson becomes president.

37. 30. 1964—LBJ Administration Reelected and continues Kennedy’s policies
Great Society and War on Poverty—Medicare/Medicaid
Voting rights act of 1965—
Eliminates poll tax, literacy tests, grandfather clauses
supervision of elections in South.

38. 31. Vietnam War 1950s—civil war between North and South Vietnam
US sends supplies and advisors to South Vietnam
Domino theory—US sent advisors and supplies to South Vietnam to stop spread of communism or Southeast Asia would “fall”
North led by Ho Chi Minh, communist leader
1964 Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
LBJ used to engage in full scale war.
massive bombing and draft.
TET offensive in 1968—shows US not winning the war; LBJ doesn’t run again.

39. 32. Vietnam War Protest
1968 Election—Nixon wins and uses “Vietnamization”
bombing and turning war over to South Vietnam
ends in 1973 when South Vietnam falls to the Communists.
60,000 US soldiers died; longest and most costly of wars.
PROTEST--A powerful antiwar movement slowly mounted within the U.S. – burn draft cards, draft evaders, protests.
                                                                                            

40. 33. Counterculture – hippies!!
Rejected traditional values
“square”
Long hair, wild clothes,
drugs, sex
College campuses –
protest, sit-ins, rallies
Communes
Woodstock, 1969
“Summer of love”

41. 34. Man on the Moon July 20, 1969 Apollo 11
Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the moon! “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”

42. 35. Important Court Cases
The Warren Court, —important cases involving individual rights
Brown v. Board of Education
Miranda v. United States—rights of person under arrest must be clearly explained in order to be valid (“You have the right to remain silent “)
The Burger Court, —
Bakke v. Regents (1978)—racial quotas for admission were unconstitutional (leads eventually to end of affirmative action)

43. 36. 1972 Election: Pres. Nixon wins in a landslide—
Silent majority – middle class voters
restore law & order.
Foreign Policy – Nixon visited China in 1972 and improved relations with Communists
26th Amendment had passed in 1971 –
18 year olds can vote in all states.
Equal rights amendment for women, passed
by Congress in 1972, but not ratified.

44. 37. Watergate
5 men arrested attempting to place wiretaps in Democratic headquarters during 72 campaign.
did Nixon know? Clear he covered up.
Story broke when two Washington Post reporters used source “Deep Throat” for information.
Congress began investigating in televised hearings—top White House officials went to jail.
Facing impeachment, he resigned. Gerald Ford becomes President (never elected); pardons Nixon.

45. 38. Environmental Movement
Rachel Carson, The Silent Spring—dangers of pesticides; launches environmental movement concerned about pollution, recycling, composting.
Earth Day
Clean Air Act
Clean Water Act
& Water, concerned with pollution, recycling, composting.
1973 Arab oil embargo led to an energy crisis.

46. 39. Carter Administration
Foreign Policy – emphasized moral principles and respect for human-rights
Boycott 1980 Olympics to protest Soviet invasion of Afghanistan
Worked for peace in the Middle East
Iranian hostage crisis—53 Americans for more than a year; rescue failed.

47. The 1980s through the Present

48. 40. Ronald Reagan, 1981-89 New Right elected Reagan –
Pro-life movement—religious movement to protest the Roe v. Wade decision that stated women had a privacy right to an abortion during the first trimester of pregnancy.
Reaganomics – economic program
tax cuts to wealthy to “trickle down” to poor
cut government regulation of some industries
Iran-Contra: illegally sold weapons to Iran, and used secret money to fund anticommunists in Nicaragua.
Glasnost—Cold War is ending; Soviet Union breaks apart; West and East Germany reunited after Berlin Wall falls.

49. 41. Bill Clinton, 1993-2001 Democrat, with Republican led Congress
Series of scandals—Whitewater, Monica Lewinski
North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)—eliminated import taxes on most goods sold between Canada, Mexico, and the U.S.
Series of terrorist attacks: World Trade
Center (1993), Oklahoma City (1995), and
USS Cole.

50. 42. George Bush, 2001-present
Bush v. Gore: Gore wins popular vote, but loses electoral vote due to Supreme Court’s decision on Florida election: Bush was denied equal protection if different methods were used to count votes in different states
Sept. 11, 2001 – World Trade Center bombed again
Led to War against terrorism in Afghanistan (sponsored Al Quaeda) and Iran (weapons of mass destruction)
War protest movement

51. 43. Five declared Wars War of 1812 Mexican War Spanish-American War
WWI
WWII
Iraq and Vietnam—Congress authorized actions but no formal declaration of war

52. Practice Questions US History Test 4
US History Test 5