1. Democracy
Government by the
people; citizens hold
the power
Communism
Totalitarian system of
government in which
a single party controls
state-owned means
of production; a
society without class
distinctions or private
property
Free Enterprise
Capitalism
Individuals own most of the
resources used and control
their use; government
plays very small role in the
economy.
Socialism
Government owns and
controls most of the
resources;
government plays
major role in the
economy.
2. ORIGINS OF THE COLD WAR
WWII Alliance of Britain and U.S. with Soviet Union
was pragmatic “marriage of convenience” to defeat
Germany
1. Lack of trust of Stalin.
• unified wartime command
• atomic bomb
2. Soviets believed western allies not sharing load
3. Soviet mistreatment of eastern Europeans
during WWII
3. ORIGINS OF THE COLD WAR: Wartime
Diplomacy
“Big Three” Allied leaders were consistently unable to resolve their basic
disagreements over the structure of post-war Europe
• Tehran Conference (November 1943)
– U.S. and Britain
would open a second
front within six
months
– Allies would create
a post-war
international
organization
Stalin, Roosevelt & Churchill at Tehran, 1943
4. ORIGINS OF THE COLD WAR : Wartime
Diplomacy
• Yalta Conference (January-February 1945)
– Loose set of principles that avoided the most divisive issues.
– Division of Germany (and Berlin) into four “zones of occupation”;
Reunification of Germany at a future date; process not specified
– Soviets would enter Pacific war
within 3 months after Germany
had been defeated
– United Nations
– Poland – free elections at some
unspecified date after the war
Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin at Yalta, February 1945
5.
6. ORIGINS OF THE COLD WAR : Wartime
Diplomacy
• United Nations Formed (April 1945)
– Security Council
• 11 members
• Permanent seats with veto power for U.S., Britain,
France, China and USSR
– General Assembly
– Secretariat
• Secretary-General
– International Court of Justice
7. Truman’s “Fair Deal” program
called for improved housing
full employment
a higher minimum wage
better farm price supports
New Tennessee Valley Administrations
extension of Social Security.
“Point Four Program”
financial support of poor, underdeveloped lands
keep underprivileged peoples from becoming communists.
In 1948, President Truman’s Executive Order 9981 ordered the
integration of the armed forces shortly after World War II, a major
advance in civil rights.
8. ORIGINS OF THE COLD WAR : Wartime
Diplomacy
• Potsdam Conference (July-
Aug. 1945)
– Reparations: Stalin allowed to
take 25% of West German
industry
– Nazi leaders: to be tried as
war criminals at
Nuremberg
– Poland: Free elections
– Japan: Unconditional
surrender
– Korea: to be temporarily
divided Churchill, Truman and Stalin at Potsdam
9.
10. Iron Curtain
Speech
• Churchill used phrase March
1946
• Represents the Soviet-made
barrier splitting Europe into
non-Communist Western
Europe and Communist
Eastern Europe
• Became symbol of the Cold
War
12. •President Truman’s plan (containment)
to aid $$$ and rebuild a war torn Europe
•Marshall Plan offered financial aid of
$13 billion.
•U.S. benefited by forming trade
relationships with Europe.
•Left a legacy of European friendship and
trans Atlantic cooperation
• Stalin thought it was trick
• Western European economies thrived
• Helped stop spread of communism
marshall
Secretary of State
George C. Marshall
•Helped to limit communist appeals in Western Europe in the aftermath
of WWII
•Cold War Propaganda
Democracy/Capitalism vs. Communism
13. marshall
•Food, animal feed,
fertilizer, fuel, raw
materials and
production equipment
were among some of
the goods shared
14. Truman Doctrine
• March 12, 1947
• Greece and Turkey in
danger of falling to
communist insurgents
• Truman requested
$400 million from
Congress in aid to
both countries.
• Successful effort
• Stalin saw containment
policy as “encirclement”
by capitalist world to
isolate Soviet Union
16. Containment Policy
• George F. Kennan, Senior State Department official,
posted to USSR during war.
• Containment was a United States policy using
military, economic, and diplomatic strategies to stall
the spread of communism, enhance America’s
security and influence abroad, and prevent a
"domino effect".
17. Berlin Airlift • Blockade of Berlin
began on June 24, ’48
by Stalin/USSR
• Was an attempt to take
over the Western ½ of
Berlin
• From June 1948 to May
1949, U.S. and British
planes airlift 1.5 million
tons of supplies to the
residents of West
Berlin.
• After 200,000 flights,
the Soviet Union lifts
the blockade.
• An important “STAND”
by Truman to
“CONTAIN” Communism
from spreading
• Domino Theory
21. 1949 – Fall of China
• In June, Jiang Jieshi
defeated by Mao
– Flee to island of Taiwan
• Oct 1, Mao proclaims
People’s Republic of
China (PRC)
• Two months later, Mao
travels to Moscow,
– negotiates the Sino-
Soviet Treaty of
Friendship, Alliance and
Mutual Assistance.
22. •1950-1953, North Korea
invades South Korea.
•North Korea was a
communist nation and
South Korea was a
democracy.
•Truman orders U.S. forces
to assist the South Koreans
•First war of
“containment” policy to
stop communism
•“Police Action” not a
declared war
•President Truman leads
United Nations.
•General Douglas
MacArthur commands US
and UN troops.
•Called “forgotten war”.
24. •Nickname: "Ike"
•Born: Oct. 14,
1890, in Texas
•Died: March 28,
1969, in
Washington, D.C.
•Education:
Graduate of West
Point
•WWII: Supreme
Allied
Commander
during WWII- D-Day
•34th President: Republican, 1953
to 1961
•VP: Richard Nixon
25. On June 22, 1944,
President Franklin D.
Roosevelt had signed
the "Servicemen's
Readjustment Act
of 1944"
“GI Bill of
Rights”
26. GOAL:
Enhance our nation through a more highly
educated and productive work force
GI Bill provided 6
benefits
•education and training
•Loans for a home, farm, or business
•unemployment pay of $20 a week for 52
weeks
•job-finding assistance
Eligible for GI Bill
Benefits
WWII veteran, served 90 days or more after
September 16, 1940 and a honorable
discharge.
Total cost of the
World War II
Program ended July 25,
1956
education
program was
$14.5 billion.
•Of the 15,440,000 veterans, some 7.8 million
were trained.
27. The GI Bill of rights spurred the first substantial expansion of higher education by promising
returning veterans a chance to attend college. These students enrolling at Harvard University in
September 1946, were the greatest enrollment in the university's history to that date: of the
11,700 students who registered, veterans constituted nearly 75%, a third of whom were
married. More than two million veterans attended college under the first GI Bill.
28. GI FORUM
• Founded by
Hector P. Garcia
and the Hispanic
American
Veterans of WWII
29. AN AFFLUENT SOCIETY: Economic Prosperity
• Regional Growth: The Sunbelt
– Warmer climate, lower taxes, lower labor costs
– Military spending
– Geographical Migration to the West Coast
Population Change, 1950-1960
30. The Culture of the Car
•The U. S. population was on the move in the
1950s.
•NE & Mid-W ---> S & SW (“Sunbelt” states)
31. Baby Boomers
•During Great
Depression,
birthrate and
population
decreased.
•Post WWII, both
increase
School Enrollment of children
•It seems to me that every other young
housewife I see is pregnant.
•British visitor to America, 1958.
1957 ------- 1 baby born every
7 seconds
32. Suburban Living
Levittown, L. I.: “The American Dream”
1949 William Levitt produced
150 houses per week.
$7,990 or $60/month with no down
payment.
33. Suburban Living
SHIFTS IN POPULATION DISTRIBUTION,
1940-1970
1940 1950 1960 1970
Central Cities 31.6% 32.3% 32.6% 32.0%
Suburbs 19.5% 23.8% 30.7% 41.6%
Rural Areas/ 48.9% 43.9% 36.7% 26.4%
Small Towns
U. S. Bureau of the Census.
34. AN AFFLUENT SOCIETY: Growth of Suburbs
REASONS FOR THE GROWTH OF SUBURBS
• Growth of families (“baby boom”)
• Home-ownership became more affordable
– Low-interest mortgage loans
• gov’t-backed & interest tax-deductable
– Mass-produced subdivisions
• Expressways – facilitated commuting
• Decline in inner city housing stock
• Also: congestion, pollution
• Race – “white flight”
35. Suburban Living
The Typical TV Suburban Families
The Donna
Reed Show
1958-1966
Leave It to
Beaver
1957-1963
Father Knows Best
1954-1958
The Ozzie & Harriet Show
1952-1966
36.
37. Consumerism
Americans were caught up in the “economic boom”
that took place after WWII
1950 --> Introduction of the Diner’s Card
39. Highway Act of 1956
by Eisenhower
42,000 miles of interstate highways linking major
cities
Improve national defense
Good for jobs, trucking
Bad for the poor, public transportation
40. The Culture of the Car
Car registrations:
1945 --> 25,000,000
1960 --> 60,000,000
2-family cars doubles from 1951-
1958
41. The Culture of
the Car
1959 Chevy Corvette
1958 Pink Cadillac
42. Television
1946 --> 7,000 TV sets in the U. S.
1950 --> 50,000,000 TV sets in the U. S.
Television is a vast wasteland --> Newton
Minnow, Chairman of Federal
Communications Commission, 1961
RADIO AND
TELEVISION
OWNERSHIP,
1940–1960
Mass Audience
•TV celebrated traditional American values:
•Superman-----Truth, Justice, and the American way!
43. Television
Family Shows --> glossy view of mostly middle-class
suburban life.
I Love Lucy Alice Kramden,
The Honeymooners
Wally and the
Beav
44. Popular Culture
Consumer-driven mass economy
Advertising
• All media, aggressive
• Shopping centers, credit cards
• Change from “mom & pop” to
franchises
Records
• Mass-marketed, inexpensive LP’s
or 45’s
• Rock and Roll music becomes
popular with teenagers
45.
46.
47. • Teen Culture developed (free
time, spending money)
– “teenager”
– consumerism
• By 1956, 13 million teens with $7
billion to spend a year.
• Rock and Roll
– Elvis Presley
• James Dean, “Rebel without a
Cause”
• “juvenile delinquency”
Marlon Brando in
The Wild One
(1953)
In the 1950s --> the word “teenager” entered the
American language.
1956 --> 13 mil. teens with $7 billion to spend a year.
49. Teen Culture
The “Beatnik” Generation:
* Jack Kerouac --> On The Road
* Allen Ginsberg --> poem, “Howl”
* Neal Cassady
* William S. Burroughs
A man is beat whenever he goes for broke and wagers
the sum of his resources on a single number; and the
young generation has done that continually from early
youth------------John Clellan Holms
•Jack Kerouac is said to have responded:
We’re a beat generation!
•Against traditional values of the Great Depressions and
WWII generation (their parents)
•Would influence the “counter-culture” of the 1960’s
50.
51. Well-Defined Gender Roles
The ideal modern woman married, cooked and
cared for her family, and kept herself busy by
joining the local PTA and leading a troop of Campfire
Girls. She entertained guests in her family’s
suburban house and worked out on the trampoline to
keep her size 12 figure.
-- Life magazine, 1956
The
Housewife
The ideal 1950s man was the provider, protector,
and the boss of the house. -- Life magazine, 1955
1956 William H. Whyte, Jr.
The Organization Man
A a middle-class,
white suburban
male is the ideal.
Family
Man
52. CONSENSUS AND CONFORMITY: Organized Labor
• Taft-Hartley Act (Labor Management Relations Act of 1947)
• Unions – big, powerful and more conservative
– Merger AFL and CIO in 1955
– blue collar workers - enjoying middle-class incomes and benefits
– Goal: preserve and extend compensation
Labor Union
Membership,
1920-1992
53. Religious Revival
CONSENSUS AND CONFORMITY: Religion
• Organized religion expanded
dramatically after WW2
– church/synagogue memberships
reached highest level in US history
• 1940 64,000,000;
• 1960 114,000,000
– thousands of new churches and
synagogues built in suburbs
• Why??
– more a means of socialization and
belonging than evidence of interest in
doctrine?
• atmosphere of tolerance
– stage of life?
Billy Graham
54. Progress Through Science
1951 -- First IBM (commercial)
Mainframe Computer
1952 -- Hydrogen Bomb Test
ENIAC, first mainframe computer, 1945
1953 -- DNA Structure Discovered
1954 -- Polio Vaccine Tested – Jonas Salk
1957 -- First Commercial U. S. Nuclear
Power Plant
1958 -- NASA Created
Automation: 1947-1957 -
factory workers decreased by
4.3%, eliminating 1.5 million
blue-collar jobs.
60. December 1955, Rosa Parks, a 42 yr. old
Black woman was ordered by a
Montgomery bus driver to give up her
seat to white passengers.
Rosa parks
•Refused, arrested and fined
$10 for sitting in the white
section.
•Blacks refused to ride
buses until the law was
changed.
•Begins the Civil Rights Era
as a national movement to
bring about equality for
Black Americans.
61. Montgomery Bus Boycott
On December 5, 1955,
through the rain, the
African Americans in
Montgomery began to
boycott the busses.
Led by Martin Luther
King, Jr. and Rosa
Parks
40,000 Black commuters
walked to work, some as
far as twenty miles.
The boycott lasted 382
days. ($$$)
The bus companies
finances struggled. Until
the law that called for
segregation on busses
63. MLK: Career As A Leader
• CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE/Passive Resistance-
These included practicing non-violence
and passive resistance (sit-ins, boycotts,
freedom rides, etc.) as encouraged by Dr.
King.
• In 1955 he became involved in The
Montgomery Bus Boycott. The Boycott
was the start to his incredible career as
the most famous leader of the Civil Rights
movement.
• He went on to deliver numerous powerful
speeches promoting peace and
desegregation.
• Before he was assassinated in 1968, he
won the Nobel Peace Prize.
64. Brown vs. Board of Education,
Topeka, Kansas
May 1954, the Supreme Court overturned Plessy v. Ferguson and the
"separate but equal" doctrine.
Segregation of children in public schools on the basis of race was
unconstitutional and discrimination.
States ordered to integrate their schools.
Brown vs. board
65. A single, dangling light bulb and a
coal-burning stove show the
conditions at some black schools
in Jefferson County. Birmingham
schools were not integrated until
September 1963.
Birmingham News, First Published Feb 2006
66. Civil Rights Act of 1957
-1st Civil Rights legislation since Civil War
Amendments
-OUTLAWED Segregation in PUBLIC PLACES
67. little rock
•Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas was the first high school in
the South to integrate.
•1958, President Eisenhower sent Federal troops to accompany the nine
black students attending an all white high school...
68. U.S. paratroopers in full battle dress escort 9 black children -- three boys and six girls -- on
September 25, 1957, in Little Rock, Arkansas into Central High School after President Eisenhower
decided the day before to send federal troops and bring the state under federal control to
protect black children against white demonstrators. The Federal troops kept the children away
while a crowd of over 400 white men and women jeered 'Go home, ni*****'. Today, Central
High School is an accredited comprehensive public high school and a national historic site.
73. Dien Bien Phu, Vietnam
• After a long siege,
Vietnamese communists
under Ho Chi Minh defeat
French colonial forces at
Dien Bien Phu on May 7,
1954.
• In July, the Geneva
Accords divide the
country at the 17th
parallel, creating a North
and South Vietnam.
• The United States
assumes the chief
responsibility of providing
anti-communist aid to
South Vietnam.
74. Sputnik 1957
• On October 4 the Soviet
Union launches Sputnik, the
first man-made satellite to
orbit the Earth.
• In 1958, the U.S. creates the
National Aeronautics and
Space Administration, and the
space race is in full gear.
• The Russians have beaten
America in space—they
have the technological
edge!
75. 1957 Russians launch SPUTNIK I
Effects on the
United States
•Americans fear a Soviet
attack with missile
technology
•Americans resolved to regain technological
superiority over the Soviet Union- Man on the Moon
•In July 1958, President Eisenhower created NASA or
National Aeronautics and Space Agency
•1958 --> National Defense Education Act-
MATH/SCIENCE
79. •House Committee for
Un-American
Activities
•1938–75, Congress
investigated Americans
suspected as communists
• HUAC committee warned of
civil rights violations.
•Witnesses who refused to
answer were cited for
contempt of Congress.
•State Department official Alger Hiss found
guilty of spying & sentenced to 10 yrs in prison
•Richard Nixon, Congressmen from California
was part of the HUAC that investigated Alger
Hiss.
80. •Hollywood Ten
Walt Disney
•1947 investigation led to prison sentences for
contempt known as the Hollywood Ten.
red scare3
•Blacklisted: a list of persons who are under suspicion, disfavor, or
censure, or who are not to be hired, served, or otherwise accepted.
•Walt Disney was questioned before HUAC as well… SERIOUSLY?!?!?
81. • The project produced some of the most
important breakthroughs for western
counter-intelligence in this period.
• The project was one of the most sensitive
secrets of United States intelligence. It
remained secret for over a decade after it
ended and was not officially declassified
until 1995.
a counter-intelligence program
initiated by the United States
Confirmed soviet ties of
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg
82. •Red Scare was Americans response to the
fear of Communism
•Senator Joseph McCarthy accused 205 US
Govt. officials of being Communist.
•McCarthyism to destroy or assassinate one’s
character without proof and it ruined the
careers of many Americans.
Became a witch hunt that led to Americans
pledging a “loyalty oath” to the United States…….
USA added “IN GOD WE TRUST” to money and in
the Pledge of Allegiance to promote
Democracy/Loyalty
red scare
87. 1959 - Castro takes power
• January 1, 1959
communist forces
under Fidel Castro
takeover in CUBA
• Castro nationalizes
the sugar industry
and signs trade
agreements with the
Soviet Union.
• The next year,
Castro seizes U.S.
assets on the island.
