The Cold War Begins

I. Postwar Economic Anxieties

a. 1930s

i. Joblessness and insecurity:

1. Raised the suicide rate

2. Lowered the marriage rate

3. Lowered the birth rate

b. Would the Depression Return?

i. Some predicted that it would return:

1. GNP slumped

2. Prices went down 33%

3. 4.6 million went out on strike in 1946

c. Obstacles of Organized Labor

i. Taft-Hartley Act of 1947 (passed over Truman’s veto; the act slowed unionization)

1. Outlawed “closed” (all-union) shop

2. Required 60 days notice be given by employers to terminate a contract

3. The Federal government could take legal action to delay any strike that threatened the public’s health or safety

4. Made unions liable for damages that resulted from jurisdictional disputes among themselves

5. Required union leaders to take a noncommunist oath

ii. The CIO’s “Operation Dixie” aimed at unionizing southern textile workers and steelworkers, but failed in 1948 due to fears of racial mixing

iii. The growing service sector of the economy, often working only part-time in small shops, widely separated from one another, proved difficult to organize than assembly-line workers

d. Stopping An Economic Downturn

i. The government sold war factories to private businesses at low prices

ii. Employment Act of 1946 –

1. Made it government policy to promote maximum employment, production, and purchasing power

2. Created the Council of Economic Advisors to provide the president with data and recommendations to make that policy a reality

iii. Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944 (GI Bill) –

1. The government would pay for former soldiers who wanted to go to college (8 million did this – cost $14.5 billion)

2. Enabled the Veterans Administration (VA) to guarantee about $16 billion in loans for veterans to buy homes, farms, and small businesses

iv. This bill was enacted out of the fear that the employment markets would never be able to absorb 15 million returning veterans at war’s end

v. It raised educational levels and stimulated industry, thereby helping the economy boom during the next era

II. The Economic Boom

a. Results of the Economic Boom of the 1950s and 1960s

i. American Income Increases

1. Doubled in the 1950s

2. Nearly doubled in the 1960s

3. America had 40% of the world’s wealth (only 6% of the people)

ii. Social Mobility

1. It enriched some Americans

2. Allowed for upward mobility

iii. Politics and Society

1. Changed these

iv. Civil Rights

1. Funded the civil rights movement

v. Welfare Programs

1. Had enough money to establish Medicare and other welfare programs

vi. American Leadership

1. Established America as the world’s leader

vii. Leisure Items

1. People now wanted:

a. 2 cars

b. Swimming pools

c. Vacation homes

d. Recreational vehicles

e. Washing machines

f. TVs (90% owned one by 1960)

g. Owned their own home (1920-40%; 1960-60%)

viii. Women

1. Offices and shops employed many women

2. Service sector outgrew the industrial and manufacturing sectors (and employed more women)

3. Women in work force:

a. 1945 – 25%

b. 1995 – 50%

4. Conflict between traditional feminine roles and employment sparked a feminist revolts in the 1960s

III. Roots of Postwar Prosperity

a. What Started Economic Prosperity?

i. WWII – the U.S. built up factories and rebuilt its economy

ii. Military economy – Cold War, Korean War, Vietnam War. This economy financed:

1. Aerospace

2. Electronics

3. Research and development

iii. Cheap energy –

1. American and European companies controlled the flow of oil from the Middle East, and they kept prices low

2. Americans doubled their consumption of oil in 25 years after the war

iv. Electricity and education –

1. Electricity increased 6x

2. By 1970, nearly 90% of school-age population was enrolled in schools

3. Both increased productivity; American workers in 1970 could produce nearly 2x as much in an hour as they had in 1950

4. Productivity was the key to prosperity; it doubled the average American’s standard of living in 25 years after the war

v. Changes in the economic structure –

1. Agriculture –

a. Work force shifted out of agriculture

i. 1945 – farmers made up 15% of the labor force; 1990s – farmers made up 2% of the labor force

b. Expensive mechanization and new fertilizers caused consolidation of farms

c. Agriculture actually achieved vaster productivity gains than any other category

i. 1940s – one farmworker could produce enough food for 15 families; 2000 – one farmworker could produce enough food for over 50 people

IV. The Sunbelt

a. People On the Move

i. We were always a people on the move, but in the post-1945 years it increased at an astonishing rate. From 1945-1975, 30 million people changed residences every year.

ii. This resulted in family stress. One sign of this was increased books on child-rearing such as:

1. Dr. Benjamin Spock’s The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care (1945) – instructed millions of parents

iii. Friendships were also difficult to maintain; moving caused increased loneliness and isolation

b. Growth of the Sunbelt

i. Sunbelt – a 15-State area stretching from Virginia through Florida and Texas to Arizona and California

ii. This region increased in population at a rate nearly double that of the old industrial zones of the Northeast (the “Frostbelt”)

c. California

i. By 1963, CA outgrow NY as the most populous State

ii. It is still the most populous State with 35 million people, or 1 out of 8 Americans

d. South and Southwest

i. Came in search of jobs, a better climate, and lower taxes. New jobs were in:

1. The electronics industry

2. Aerospace complexes

3. Huge military installations

e. Breaking Northern Economic Dominance

i. By the 1990s, the South and West were annually receiving $125 billion more in federal funds than the Northeast and Midwest

ii. There became a rivalry between the North and their heavy industrial region in the Ohio Valley and the South

iii. Every elected president since 1964 has hailed from the Sunbelt and their representation in Congress was increasing with their population

V. The Rush to the Suburbs

a. Why Was Their A Move For Whites To the Suburbs?

i. Federal Housing Administration (FHA) and Veterans Administration (VA) –

1. Home-loan guarantees made it more economically attractive to own a home in the suburbs than to rent an apartment in the city

ii. Tax Deductions –

1. On home mortgages provided additional financial incentive

iii. Highways –

1. Built by the government sped commuters from suburban homes to city jobs

iv. By 1960, one in four lived in the suburbs

b. Construction Industry

i. Boomed in the 1950s and 1960s to meet the demand for homes

ii. Levittown – revolutionized the techniques of home construction by:

1. Building thousands of houses in a single project

2. Having specialized crews for:

a. Laying foundations

b. Putting on roofs

c. Installing plumbing

d. Etc.

3. This cut costs of building, but created similar houses

c. Ethnic Shift

i. Whites left the cities for the suburbs (“white flight”)

ii. Migrating blacks from the South filled up urban neighborhoods

iii. The blacks imported the poverty of the rural South into the inner cores of northern cities

iv. Businesses and shops went along with whites to suburban shopping malls

d. Why the Ethnic Shift?

i. FHA administrators cited the “risk” of making loans to blacks, limiting their mobility

ii. This drove many into public housing projects

iii. Neighborhoods had a composition rule, which effectively built housing for blacks in neighborhoods that were already identified as predominantly black – thus solidifying racial separation

VI. The Postwar Baby Boom

a. Why the Baby Boom?

i. Restored economic confidence, which caused:

1. Birthrate increased until 1957, then plunged by 1973 to rates that wouldn’t maintain existing population figures

2. Had 50 million babies by the end of the 1950s

b. Results of the Boom

i. This was bound to cause problems:

1. Elementary school enrollments increased to 34 million by 1970

2. This then left unemployed teachers once they passed school age

ii. Increased sales in baby food, rock music, jeans, competition in the job market, and will eventually strain the social security system

VII. Harry S. Truman

a. Characteristics of Truman

i. He was a farmer, then served as an artillery officer in France during WWI, failed as a haberdasher (sold men’s clothing), rose from a judge to the U.S. Senate

ii. Didn’t have a college education

iii. Was responsible (“The buck stops here”) and moxie (the ability to face difficulty with courage, spirit, energy, and aggressiveness)

b. Problems With Truman

i. Had a “Missouri” gang – old associates who were loyal and advised him, but often got into trouble

ii. Could send critics hot-tempered letters

iii. Was stubborn and would refuse to change even if wrong

VIII. Yalta Conference

a. Yalta Conference

i. In February 1945, Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin, who were nicknamed the “Big Three,” met in Yalta in the Soviet Union

ii. They planned a post-war world. They decided:

1. Germany would be split up into four zones, each under the control of France, Britain, USSR, and the U.S.

2. Similarly, Berlin itself, which would be in the Soviet zone, would be divided up into four zones

3. Stalin promised to allow elections in the nations his army liberated from the Germans, including Poland, Bulgaria, Romania, and others

4. On a new international peacekeeping organization – the United Nations

5. The U.S. asked for help from Russia with Japan

b. Soviet Union and Japan

i. When the U.S. asked Russia to enter the war with Japan, the U.S. had not tested the atomic bomb yet. It seemed reasonable to ask for their help

ii. Stalin agreed to attack Germany at least three months after their collapse, which he did

iii. In return for their help, the Soviets were given:

1. The southern half of Sakhalin Island

2. The Kurile Islands

3. Joint control over the railroads of China’s Manchuria and two seaports there

iv. This helped weaken America’s ally, especially because those were industrial areas

c. Results of Yalta

i. The agreements made at the Yalta Conference weren’t completely be fulfilled:

1. Stalin didn’t allow free elections in the countries the USSR liberated. He would also continue to be upset that the British and Americans didn’t create another front in Europe until 1944

2. Soviet help wasn’t really needed when they entered the war against Japan

3. Russia was given a part of China, which caused the Communist overthrow of the government 4 years later

ii. Others say that Stalin could’ve secured a much larger part of China, but the Yalta conference restricted him. In addition, had Stalin given free elections to Eastern Europe, then taken them over, war would’ve been inevitable

d. Reality of Yalta

i. Weren’t drafting a peace settlement

ii. Were:

1. Sketching intentions

2. Testing one another’s reactions

3. Elastic

IX. Shaping the Postwar World

a. Why U.S. vs Soviet Union

i. Communism and capitalism were very different philosophies

ii. The U.S. refused to officially recognize the Bolshevik revolutionary government until 16 years after it had been created, in 1933

iii. The Soviets didn’t like the British and American delays in opening a second front against Germany, while the Soviets were paying with many lives

iv. Britain and the U.S. didn’t help the Soviets in developing atomic weapons

v. The U.S. abruptly terminated vital lend-lease aid to a battered USSR in 1945

vi. The U.S. refused the USSR’s plea for a $6 billion reconstruction loan, while approving a similar loan for $2.75 billion to Britain in 1946

b. Stalin and the Security of the Soviet Union

i. Wanted to guarantee this

c. Similarities Cause Conflicts

i. Both were isolationist countries, causing suspicion

ii. Both had a history of trying to export to all the world the political doctrines from their revolutionary origins

iii. Both were new world powers – causing confrontations to be unavoidable

d. Cold War

i. Genuine conflicts of interest mentioned above caused the Cold War

ii. It was called a Cold War, because it was a war of words between the Soviets and U.S., not a physical war

iii. The Cold War effected everyone all over the world

X. Shaping the Postwar World

a. Postwar International Economic Agencies

i. Meeting in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire in 1944

ii. International Monetary Fund (IMF) –

1. Purpose is to encourage world trade by regulating currency exchange rates

iii. World Bank –

1. Purpose is to promote economic growth in war-ravaged and underdeveloped areas

iv. The U.S. took lead in creating these groups and funding them; the Soviets declined to be involved

b. United Nations

i. Roosevelt moved to establish the new body before the war was over (unlike Wilson). There are two reasons why he did this:

1. This helped to capitalize on the wartimes’ spirit of cooperation

2. It prevented a peace-keeping organization from being created at a potentially divisive peace settlement at the end of the war

c. The United Nations vs the League of Nations?

i. The League had adopted rules denying the veto power to any party to a dispute; the UN provided that no member of the Security Council (the U.S. , Britain, the USSR, France, and China) could have action taken against it without its consent

ii. In essence, the League presumed great-power conflict; the UN presumed great-power cooperation. Both approaches have their faults

iii. The Senate overwhelmingly approved the UN Charter in July 1945 (89-2), because it provided safeguards for American sovereignty and freedom of action

d. Successes of the United Nations

i. Preserved peace in Iran, Kashmir, and other areas

ii. Played a big role in creating Israel

iii. U.N. Trusteeship – guided former colonies to independence

iv. U.N. Agencies

1. UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization)

2. FAO (Food and Agricultural Organization)

3. WHO (World Health Organization)

e. Failure of the United Nations

i. U.S. delegate Bernard Baruch proposed that the U.N. create an agency that had worldwide authority over atomic energy, weapons, and research

ii. The Soviets and Americans distrusted each other to the point where they felt they couldn’t disarm until they could trust that the rest of the world couldn’t arm against them

XI. The Problem of Germany

a. Nuremburg Trials

i. Lasted from 1945-46

ii. Punished Nazis for their war crimes, including committing crimes against the laws of war and humanity and plotting aggressions contrary to treaty pledges

iii. Out of 22 Nazis:

1. 12 were hung

2. 7 were sentenced to long jail terms

3. 1 committed suicide

iv. Some charge that these people were tried for offenses that had not been clear-cut crimes when the war began

v. The trial of several small-fry (lesser) Nazis lasted for years afterwards

b. Germany Is Split

i. Some wanted to dismantle Germany’s industry

ii. The Soviets wanted reparations (since the U.S. wouldn’t lend them money)

iii. The U.S. and others believed that a healthy, German economy would be vital to the recovery of Europe

iv. France, Britain, and the U.S. wanted a reunited Germany, while the communists responded by tightening their grip on their Eastern zone. West Germany eventually became an independent country, while East Germany, along with other Soviet-dominated Eastern European countries, such as Poland and Hungary, became marginally independent “satellite” states, bound to the Soviet Union

c. Eastern “Bloc”

i. Poland, Albania, Bulgaria, Romania, Czechoslovakia, and Hungary all became communist. This was done by one of two methods:

1. Eliminated anti-Communist leaders before elections

2. Forcefully installed a Communist government if a government other than Communist was elected

ii. East Germany – Stalin was determined that Germany would never be a threat again. Stalin installed a brutal communist government. They became known as the German Democratic Republic or East Germany

iii. Finland – Signed a treaty of cooperation with the Soviets. They could manage their own domestic affairs, but had to be neutral in foreign affairs

iv. Yugoslavia – Tito, a communist, became dictator. However, he worked independently from the Soviet Union

v. Eastern European disappeared from Western sight behind the “iron curtain” of secrecy and isolation that Stalin clanged down across Europe from the Baltic to the Adriatic. The iron curtain would continue for 40 years

d. Berlin Airlift

i. The French, British, and Americans realized that the Soviet Union wouldn’t allow a reunified Germany. So in 1948, they decided to reunify their areas, creating the Federal Republic of Germany or West Germany

ii. In 1948, a dispute rose over using West German money in Berlin. The actual cause was the USSR wanted people to stop using East Berlin as an escape route to West Berlin. As a result, the Soviets blockaded West Berlin, which was within East Germany. No shipments were allowed into West Berlin, causing severe shortages of food and other supplies

iii. To prevent war, Truman began the Berlin airlift, moving supplies into West Berlin by plane for the next 15 months. By May 1949, the Soviets ended the blockade

XII. The Cold War Starts

a. USSR and Iran

i. In 1946, Stalin broke an agreement to remove his troops from Iran’s northernmost province, which the USSR had occupied, with British and American approval, during WWII. The Soviets needed the oil

ii. When Stalin used his troops to aid a rebel movement, Truman protested, and the USSR backed down

b. Truman Doctrine

i. Containment

1. Developed by a young diplomat and Soviet specialist, George F. Kennan

2. It called for the United States to resist Soviet attempts to form Communist governments elsewhere in the world

ii. Truman Doctrine

1. In March 1947, the Truman Doctrine was created

2. It said that the policy of the United States must be to support and assist free people who are resisting conquest by armed minorities or by outside pressures

3. Supported containment of communism

c. Truman Doctrine Is Tested

i. In 1945, the Soviet Union wanted control of the Dardanelles (straits in the entrance to the Black Sea) in Turkey and began making threats against them

ii. In Greece, Communists fought to overthrow the government that had returned to power after the Axis withdrew

iii. Britain was usually the country that would help other, smaller countries in Europe. However, they were bankrupt from the war and unwilling to help

iv. Responding to the Truman Doctrine, Congress approved $400 million in aid for Greece and Turkey

d. Truman Doctrine For and Against

i. Critics have said it:

1. Divided the world into pro-Soviet and pro-American camps

2. Instilled fear that the Soviet threat was primarily military in nature

ii. Proponents have said it:

1. Was Truman’s fear of a revived isolationism that led him to exaggerate the Soviet threat and made him pitch his message as a global war against godless communism

e. Reinhold Niebuhr

i. Was a Protestant clergyman

ii. Truman found support in him

iii. Believed that the world was drifting away from its Christian foundations

iv. Crusaded for 5 decades against fascism, pacifism, and communism

v. He divided the world into good and evil (Hitler and Stalin were evil)

f. The Marshall Plan

i. The U.S. didn’t want to repeat the mistakes of WWI. This time, the U.S. would help restore the war-torn nations so that they might create stable democracies and achieve economic recovery

ii. As a result, Secretary of State George Marshall created the Marshall Plan. Europeans who worked together for a joint plan for their economic recovery would receive aid from the U.S.

iii. Aid through the Marshall Plan was intended to create strong democracies and open new markets for American goods

iv. The Soviet Union was invited to join, but refused, saying that the Americans were buying their way into European affairs. They would’ve had to accept it on difficult terms – making vast political reforms and have outside controls. They discouraged their satellite nations from joining as well

v. The U.S. realized they had to do something quickly when a Soviet sponsored coup in Czechoslovakia led to a communist government

vi. 17 Western European nations joined and received over $13 billion in grant and loans over the next 4 years

g. Results of the Marshall Plan

i. Within a few years, most Western European nations were exceeding their prewar outputs

ii. Communist parties in these countries lost ground as a result

h. Creation of Israel

i. After the end of WWII, Jews called for the establishment of a Jewish homeland. Their traditional homeland was Palestine. In May 1948, the UN established Israel

ii. However, Palestine was the ancient homeland of the Arabs. As a result, conflict between Israel and its Arab neighbors erupted

iii. While supporting Israel, the U.S. worked to prevent oil-rich Arab nations from falling under the influence of the Soviet Union

XIII. America Begins To Rearm

a. National Security Act

i. Department of Defense –

1. Housed in the Pentagon

2. Headed by the Secretary of Defense

3. Purpose was to coordinate the army, navy, and air force

ii. National Security Council (NSC) –

1. To advise the president on security matters and to coordinate with the CIA foreign fact gathering

iii. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) –

1. Gather facts on foreign countries

b. Selective Service System

i. In 1948, provided for the conscription of selected young men from 19-25 years of age

ii. This shaped millions of people’s educational, marital, and career plans for 25 years

c. North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) – Headquarters in Brussels, Belgium

i. The Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan demonstrated his commitment to making America a leader in post-war world affairs. Yet Truman didn’t want the U.S. to be the only nation in the Western Hemisphere pledged to defend Western Europe from the Communists

ii. In April 1949, the U.S., Britain, France, and Canada joined 8 other nations in forming NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. They agreed on collective security, meaning if one nation in NATO was attacked, it would be considered an attack on all of them

iii. In response, the Soviet Union created the Warsaw Pact, an similar alliance with its satellite nations in Eastern Europe

iv. The fall of the Soviet Union has led to NATO expanding membership and moving toward peacekeeping throughout the world

d. Purposes of NATO

i. Strengthen the policy of containing the Soviet Union

ii. It would provide a framework for the reintegration of Germany into the European family

iii. It would reassure Europeans that a traditionally isolationist U.S. was not about to abandon them

e. Results of Joining NATO

i. It marked a shift in diplomatic policy

ii. It was a step in the militarization of the Cold War

iii. NATO formed the basis of all Cold War American policies with Europe

XIV. Reconstruction and Revolution In Asia

a. General MacArthur and Japan

i. MacArthur wanted to democratize Japan

ii. The Japanese cooperated very well. They saw that good behavior and the adoption of democracy would speed the end of the occupation – and it did

iii. The constitution, created largely by MacArthur and adopted in 1946:

1. Renounced militarism

2. Provided equal rights for women

3. Introduced a Western-style democratic government

iv. All this paved the way for a phenomenal economic recovery that made Japan one of the world’s biggest industrial powers

b. War Trials In Japan

i. Japanese war criminals were tried in Tokyo from 1946 to 1948

ii. 18 were sentenced to prison terms, while 7 were hanged

c. Nationalists vs Communists In China

i. A civil war raged for years between Nationalists and communists

ii. Washington halfheartedly supported the Nationalist government of Generalissimo Jiang Jieshi against communist leader Mao Zedong

iii. Ineptitude and corruption within Jiang’s government eroded the confidence of the people and communist armies overwhelmed the Nationalists

iv. In 1949, Jiang fled to the island of Formosa (Taiwan)

d. Results of the Collapse of Nationalist China

i. ¼ of the world’s population (500 million) became communist. This became a huge issue in the U.S.

ii. Republicans highly criticized Truman and the Secretary of State, Dean Acheson, for losing China to communism. They insisted that Democratic agencies were filled with communists and had deliberately withheld aid from Jiang so that he would fall

iii. Democrats replied that when a regime has forfeited the support of its people, no amount of outside help will save it. Truman didn’t lose China, Jiang lost it because he never controlled all of China

e. Arms Race

i. 1949 – The Soviets exploded an atomic bomb (3 years earlier than many experts had thought possible)

ii. In response, Truman ordered the development of the “H-bomb” (hydrogen bomb), which is 750 times more powerful than an atomic bomb. Einstein and Oppenheimer were against the development of the bomb because of its potential to wipeout life on earth

iii. 1952 – The U.S. tested its first H-bomb at Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands. Its blast killed one Japanese fisherman and wounded 22 of his crewmates. Fishing boats 1,000 miles from Bikini brought in radioactively contaminated fish

iv. 1953 – The Soviets tested their first H-bomb

v. Each side tried to outdo the other in the scramble to build more destructive weapons. If the Cold War ever turned into a hot war, there might be no world left for democracies or communists

XV. Ferreting Out Alleged Communists

a. “Loyalty” Program

i. Many people feared that communist spies, paid by Moscow, would undermine the government

ii. In 1947, the Loyalty Review Board was created that investigated:

1. 3 million federal employees (3,000 resigned or were dismissed, but not charged)

iii. The attorney general drew up a list of 90 supposedly disloyal organizations, none of which was given the opportunity to prove its innocence

iv. Loyalty oaths became increasingly common for employees

b. Smith Act of 1940

i. This act makes it a crime to advocate the overthrow of the U.S. government. The act still is in effect today

ii. In 1949, 11 communists were brought before a jury for violating the Smith Act of 1940. They were convicted for advocating the overthrow of the American government by force

iii. Later, the Supreme Court ruled in Yates v. U.S., however, that it’s alright to urge someone to believe in the overthrow of the government. It’s not alright for one to urge someone to physically overthrow the government. This makes the act difficult to enforce

c. Committee On Un-American Activities (HUAC)

i. Created in 1938 to investigate “subversion”

ii. In 1947, ten writers, directors, actors, and producers were brought before HUAC and were asked about being associated with Communism. Most had created or been in a movie during WWII that was favorable toward the Soviets. They were charged with contempt of Congress and were sentenced from 6 months to a year

iii. The movie industry no longer made controversial films and agreed not to hire certain people in Hollywood who may have Communist leanings, called blacklisting

d. Alger Hiss

i. In 1948, Richard M. Nixon a member of HUAC, led the chase for Alger Hiss

ii. Hiss was a former State Department official and an ex-New Dealer

iii. He denied being communist, but was caught in embarrassing falseho9ods, convicted of perjury in 1950, and sentenced to 5 years in prison

iv. Richard Nixon gained national exposure

e. Were There Communists In the U.S. Government?

i. There may have been; the atomic bomb could’ve been developed sooner than planned because of spies

ii. Communists didn’t infiltrate government agencies with much harm

iii. Politicians used the red scare to put aside issues of sexual freedom, declining religion, and civil rights

f. McCarran Internal Security Bill

i. Authorized the president to arrest and detain suspicious people during an “internal security emergency”

ii. Critics protested that the bill was similar to concentration camp tactics

iii. Truman vetoed the bill, but Congress overrode it

g. Julius and Ethel Rosenberg

i. In 1951, they were convicted of espionage – giving the Soviets atomic secrets

ii. They died in the electric chair in 1953 – the only people in American history ever executed in peacetime for espionage

iii. Their sensational trial and the orphaning of their two children sobered some citizens on the idea of a red scare

XVI. Democratic Divisions In 1948

a. Democratic National Convention

i. Because of high prices and taxes, the Republicans won control of Congress in 1946

ii. It looked good for their presidential candidate, New York governor Thomas Dewey

b. Republican National Convention

i. Dwight Eisenhower refused to be nominated, so Truman was nominated

c. Dixiecrat Party

i. Southern Democrats were alienated by Truman’s strong stand in favor of civil rights for blacks, so they split the party and formed the Dixiecrats from 13 southern States

ii. They nominated Governor Strom Thurmond of SC on a States’ Rights ticket

d. Progressive Party

i. Vice president Henry A. Wallace disagreed with the administration’s get-tough-with-Russia policy and reformed the new Progressive Party. The party was made up of:

1. Former New Dealers

2. Pacifists

3. Liberals

4. Communist backers

ii. Wallace was the only voice of hope out of the gloom of the beginning of the Cold War

e. Results of the Election of 1948

i. Truman had little money and few active supporters, so he had to rely on his instincts and folksy personality

ii. He gave 300 speeches on:

1. Criticized the Taft-Hartley Act

2. The “do-nothing” Republican Congress

3. Garnered support for his program of civil rights

4. Improved labor benefits

5. Improved health insurance

iii. The Chicago Tribune ran off an early edition with the headline “DEWEY DEFEATS TRUMAN.” However, it turned out that Truman had won:

1. 303 – Truman; 189 – Dewey; 39 – Thurmond

2. 24.2 million – Truman; 22 million – Dewey; 1.2 million – Thurmond; 1.2 million – Wallace

iv. The Democrats regained control of Congress as well

f. Why Did the Republicans Win?

i. The Republicans were overconfident

ii. Truman’s never-say-die campaign won him the support of many Americans

iii. Dewey struck many people as arrogant, evasive, and wooden

g. Truman’s Foreign Policy

i. In his inaugural address, Truman called for a plan that would lend U.S. money and technical aid to underdeveloped lands to help them help themselves

ii. He wanted to spend millions to keep underprivileged peoples from becoming communists rather than spend billions to shoot them after they had become communists

iii. The program brought badly needed assistance to impoverished countries

h. Fair Deal

i. Called for:

1. Improved housing (low-cost housing projects and slum cleanup)

2. Full employment

3. A higher minimum wage (a whole 75 cents per hour!)

4. Better farm price supports

5. New TVAs

6. An extension of Social Security

ii. Most of the Fair Deal fell victim to congressional opposition from Republicans and southern Democrats

iii. The only major successes came with:

1. Raising the minimum wage

2. Housing Act of 1949 – providing for public housing

3. Social Security Act of 1950 – extending old-age insurance to more people

XVII. The Korean War

a. Invasion of South Korea (June 1950)

i. Japan had invaded Korea during WWII. Afterwards, the Allies agreed to divide the nation temporarily into a Soviet-occupied northern zone and an American-occupied southern zone

ii. Once the troops withdrew, in 1949, a Communist government was set up in the north, while a pro-American government was set up in the south

iii. In June 1950, North Korean troops crossed the 38^th parallel in an attempt to reunite Korea

iv. Douglas MacArthur was called upon to lead UN troops in Korea. He was in charge of the occupation of South Korea and Japan

v. Before UN troops arrived, the North Koreans, supplied with Soviet tanks and air power, had swept through South Korea in just weeks. Only a small part of the country, near the port city of Pusan, remained

b. Truman’s Reaction

i. Was proof that the containment doctrine couldn’t be relaxed for a minute, or else it would be an invitation for communist aggression

ii. Used as an excuse for military expansion

c. NSC-68

i. At first a buried document, Truman recommended in NSC-68 that the U.S. should increase its defense spending 4x

ii. The results were:

1. 3.5 million in the military and $50 billion a year on defense

2. A sense of almost limitless money for arms

3. The U.S. could bear the strain of a huge rearmament program

d. United Nation’s Reaction To Korea

i. The Soviets temporarily left the UN Security Council

ii. In June 1950, they unanimously condemned North Korea as the aggressor. The Soviets weren’t there to veto the vote

iii. The Council called upon all UN members to help restore peace. Two days later, without consulting Congress, Truman ordered American air and naval units to support South Korea

iv. He also ordered General Douglas MacArthur’s Japanese based occupation troops into action against the North Koreans

v. Officially, the U.S. was participating in a UN “police action.” But in fact, the U.S. made up the overwhelming bulk of the UN contingents, and General MacArthur, appointed UN commander of the entire operation, took his orders from Washington, not from the Security Council

XVIII. The Military Seesaw In Korea

a. MacArthur’s Strategy (September 1950)

i. MacArthur suspected that the North Korean’s supply line was stretched thin. Therefore, he decided to land troops at Inchon, near the 38^th parallel and attack enemy supply lines from behind

ii. The strategy worked, causing the North Koreans to withdraw to near the Yalu River

iii. MacArthur didn’t want the North Koreans regrouping and coming again

b. China and the Korean War (November 1950)

i. At this point, the Chinese, who were Communist, told the UN to not advance any farther. However, MacArthur didn’t listen

ii. He didn’t believe that Chinese intervention would be effective

iii. Thousands of Chinese “volunteers” fell upon his overextended lines and pushed the U.N. forces southward

c. An Angered MacArthur

i. Humiliated, he wanted:

1. The old Chinese government, which had taken refuge in Taiwan, go back to China and create a second front

2. He also wanted to use nuclear bombs on China if they got involved

3. A blockade of the Chinese coast

4. Bombardment of Chinese bases in Manchuria

d. Washington’s Reaction

i. Didn’t want to enlarge the war. They believed that Europe, not Asia, was the administration’s first concern; and the USSR, not China, loomed as the more sinister foe

ii. When MacArthur wrote Congress, criticizing the President, Truman fired him. He feared that the war would escalate and possibly draw in the Soviets

iii. MacArthur was deemed a hero by many, while Truman was considered an idiot

iv. Ridgeway replaced MacArthur.

e. End of the Korean War

i. After two more years, a truce was signed in 1953

ii. It left Korea in about the same state it was in before the war. Americans wondered why 55,000 soldiers had been killed and 113,000 wounded for such limited results

iii. South Korea – 415,004 dead; 428,568 wounded; North Korea/Communist China – 2,000,000 casualties