Intro into Periods 8 and 9…

Post WW2 effects… the 1950s until Nov. 22, 1963--A Brave new world…

1 Multi-Culturalism & Gender – Single biggest ethnic migration in US History… 5 million blacks leave the South for the cities of the North Midwest and Far West… between 1940 and 1970… over ½ of all blacks by 1970 live outside the South.

The Question of race is carried from the rural South to the Urban North and Far West… The # of blacks in Manufacturing jobs doubles… Black women move from domestic service to the factory floor. As W.E.B. DuBois had stated in the 1903 book, the Souls of Black Folk, “the problem of the 20th century in the USA will be the problem of the Color-Line… In 1944, Gunnar Myrdal’s book, “An American Dilemma,” reiterated DuBois claim…stating, “race is the one issue that will perplex America’s future,” Both project conflict… and both are correct because the African – Americans case for equality had never been stronger and will lead to a massive Civil Rights Movement that will eventually by the 1970s include women and all minorities and will be successful in redefining race gender and sexuality in the USA. 6 million women enter the workforce after WW2 and most leave the workforce immediately after…many not of their own choosing…However, the influence and coming economic necessities begins to drive women permanently into the workforce in larger and larger #s in the coming decades…these economic realities would bring a gigantic change and critical long term shift in the role of women in society. These opportunities and shocks were not only impacting blacks, and women, but also other minorities who had served in the military, worked in factories, and moved into urban neighborhoods.

2 The Economy Booms …

WW2 ended the Great Depression and launched a new era of unprecedented prosperity…some say the greatest for any nation in world history, YET A MASSIVE FEAR WAS WHAT WOULD HAPPENED WHEN WAR ENDED??? No worries because we had discovered the power of Keynesian Economics… and Keynesian Economists who were thrilled with the idea that government spending could stimulate the economy (bubble up – deficit spending, multiplier effect) without massive “regulation” of industry… The Federal Budget in 1939 was 9 Billion by 1945 the budget was 100 Billion…The “Warfare-Welfare State” {Big Government} as a success was born and actually expands from 1963 until 1969 under LBJohnson’s “War on Poverty to create a Great Society” and our ESCALATION OF THE VIETNAM “CONFLICT” (which began under Truman {supporting the French colonial claims in order to gain an ally against the USSR in Europe} continued support under Eisenhower {1st “advisors} and JFK {creates “special forces –S.E.A.L.s” and Green Beret Operation Hamlet even more advisors and support of a Coup de Tat} and as LBJ takes over {he wants to end Vietnam quickly so ESCALATES OUR TROOPS- PUTS ½ A MILLION TROOPS INTO VIETNAM-eventually causing chaos in both America with war protesters and in Vietnam itself} a Peace treaty with Nixon {Vietnamization-let the South Vietnamese fight for themselves, ending the draft in 73, and signing a peace treaty to gradually withdraw our troops} and ends with Gerald Ford {1975 our last troops leave Vietnam on Helicopters from our Embassy with Vietnamese attempting to escape the coming communist troops hanging on, an awful scene} More bombs bullets etc… were used in Vietnam than in WW2? … However, during this post-war era other effects of “Bigness” concerned many Americans…. The totalitarian states of Nazi Germany and the continued totalitarian Stalin led communist USSR began to promote fear in Americans… fear of the “Big State,” and all collectivist answers to societal problems…began to be labeled as evil…communist…socialist…although ultimately this fear does not stop the demand of the many groups who continued to be discriminated against despite the great prosperity and seemingly American Exceptionalism for equality based on the Constitution-- (after 100 years of waiting for the 14th and 15th amendments to be enforced they figured they had waited enough). This conflict within Americans in the Post War era continues to this day; the argument of the role of government in our lives, our role in the world, and many people’s fight for equal protection under the law… and will continue throughout your lifetime.

3 THE COLD WAR AND THE NUCLEAR AGE

The USA was not the only victor in WW2, nor the only superpower to emerge from the ashes of a devastated world.

The USSR had lost over 20 million people in WW2… The USA less than ½ of 1 million.

The United Nations is created in San Francisco and moves to its permanent home in NYC… hopefully to keep peace in the world… and improve the lives of all around the world… yet it cannot stop the conflict of the Cold War between the USA and the USSR….

The Soviets, wary (not trusting) of the lessons of WW1 and WW2 when they were attacked and suffered dramatic casualties wanted to set up “buffer states” or “satellite nations” in the eastern European areas their army occupied at the conclusion of WW2… The Western powers and the eastern European states themselves did not want this… So what emerges is government by force… and a “RED” or Communist USSR Controlled Governments created in Eastern Europe {the IRON CURTAIN DESCENDS}… some more controlled than others…yet all under the threat of annihilation by the Soviet Army ultimately…Stalin and later other Soviet Leaders decisions to force totalitarianism and communism on the citizens of all of these nations who had just survived the Nazi’s… was a violation of the promise Stalin made in the Atlantic Charter and a violation of promises made at YALTA and Potsdam conferences during WW2… eventually due to a very effective spy networks in the west… the Soviet Union explodes its own Nuclear Weapon in 1949 and begins a “COLD WAR” THAT LASTS FROM 1945 UNTIL 1991.

The USA chose a policy of “CONTAINMENT” {George Kennan} of the SPREAD OF THE Communist powers…that eventually includes China…the concern for American Foreign Policy was-----events caused concern---- China fell to communism, North Korea fell to communism, French Indochina (future Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam) fighting a colonial war with the native residents who were strongly helped and influenced by both the USSR and China… THE DOMINO EFFECT…was the phrase most often used to defend why the USA sends troops to stop the DOMINOS FROM FALLING… in the Korean War and in the later Vietnam War… and many many smaller LIMITED {no Nuclear Weapons used or actual War Declared by Congress} wars that occur across the world ON ALL CONTINENTS… that was speedily decolonizing. THIS WAS THE COLD WAR---ACROSS THE WORLD---MORAL-“Missionary”- DIPLOMACY ON STEROIDS---GOOD V. EVIL---AMERICAN EXCEPTIONALISM V. COMMUNISM---EVERYWHERE***AN ENORMOUS SUM—10s Trillions of $$$ ?? OF AMERICAN TREASURE AND BLOOD IS SPENTCONTAINING COMMUNISM FROM 1945 UNTIL THE FALL OF THE USSR IN 1991… this CONTAINMENT EVEN OCCURS IN OUR OWN NATION… McCarthyism (1950s- the 2nd Red Scare (1950s)…as implied in the 1st paragraph whereas “collective actions of groups were considered to be communist influenced” which actually continues until the early 1990s, albeit not as Witch Huntish (Arthur Miller’s the Crucible)-----and PERSECUTED by our own government against our citizens… crazy really…. If it was not for the TV & the Cold War… the Civil Rights Movement would not have been successful

Truman continues as President after FDR dies… and is re-elected barely in 1948… but his/Congresses actions at the outset of the Cold War save much of Europe and the world from falling into totalitarian communist hands.

4 Two of the most important effects of the Cold War for the United States were the “Red Scare” at home and the Nuclear Arms Race-the subsequent militarism of our nation—the permanent war (Draft lasts from 1948 until 1973) the growth of the influence of the Military Industrial Complex—50 Billion $$$ a YEAR in Defense Spending—NASA –ICBMs –Man on the Moon---Hydrogen Bombs-Neutron Bombs-Lasers in Space, SDI (Star Wars-Reagan).

Truman’s Federal Loyalty Oath Program, 1947

HUAC (Richard Nixon and the Alger Hiss Case) Senator Joe McCarthy (McCarthyism/2nd Red Scare)

-Many believed that traitors in government were responsible for the USA not being able to control the

outcome(s) of WW2… Communist expansion and possession of the “secret” of Atomic energy. The

House of Representatives creates a committee entitled… “Un-American Activities Committee.” Sen. Joe McCarthy controlled a similar committee in the Senate both publicly interrogated citizens SUSPECTED of being disloyal (violating the Smith Act---two SC cases Dennis in 1951 allows this & Yates in 1957 stops this}…and prosecuted SUSPECTED communists under Truman’s Federal Loyalty Program. Between 1947 and 1952 6.6 million federal employees were investigated for disloyalty. Thousands in government and outside government…Hollywood movie workers for example… lost their jobs, were “blacklisted,” and even sometimes their freedom sometimes due to shaky evidence and tenuous connections to “leftist” causes or ideas…currently or in the past (even during WW2 when the USSR and China were are Allies). The most difficult aspect of these “Witch Hunts” were that some of these people were spies with ties to the Soviet Union and were disloyal…the issue is that it was less than 5%... thus the Witch Hunt metaphor due to the fear and massive implications for those JUST ACCUSED… a true miscarriage of justice largely, unfortunately and is why the satirical play, “The Crucible,” is written by Arthur Miller in response to the 2nd Red Scare and McCarthyism which lasts from 1947 until the mid-50s. Even IKE..Eisenhower the most beloved Man in the nation was intimidated by McCarthy…

Nuclear Arms Race –1949 until 1991, and maybe still today?

What was the “Reality” of the Post-War World?

The nuclear buildup went into full swing when the Soviet Union tested its first nuclear weapon in 1949. The USA immediately began construction of the more powerful hydrogen bomb. Some scientists opposed this “buildup,” like Oppenheimer and they were charged with disloyalty and dismissed. When Eisenhower is elected President in 1952 and again in 1956… His administration develops a policy of DETERRENCE…M.A.D. – MUTUALLY ASSURED DESTRUCTION… The potential for nuclear annihilation contrasted bizarrely with a booming economy and TELEVISION’s portrayal of the “happy family”—a “Golden Age,” for the 1950s… Some Americans wondered what to believe: life that was wonderful, or that the world might be destroyed the next day. Ironically, both could be true. Should we all just follow the traditional path, “The man in the gray flannel suit,” conformity to the EXPECTATION---“Death of a Salesman” –if you conform, work hard, you will reap the benefits---SUCCESS—the big house in suburbia, two cars or more, swimming pool, 4 to 6 children---BUT…WHAT IF YOU DO CONFORM---AND THIS DOES NOT HAPPEN_OH MY? WHAT THEN----by conforming does that mean you ignore the CHAOS ERUPTING ALL AROUND YOU???? This conflict grows into the Beatnik Hippie Student Anti-War protests that begins in the late 50s and culminates in the mid-70s --- The “Baby Boom” youth coming of age---they question, DAMN JUVENILE DELINQUENTS ON MOTORCYCLES AND STUFF… the “Great Generation WW2” and wonder----What kind of world have you brought us into… full of contradiction and hypocrisy… you tell us to follow the Exceptional American Tradition…but we see and hear… THE WORLD COULD END ANY DAY BY NUCLEAR DESTRUCTION---ON THE TV WE SEE “HAPPY DAYS” AND CIVIL RIGHTS PROTESTERS BEING TORN APART BY FIRE HOSES AND POLICE DOGS—AND OUR FRIENDS GOING TO A PLACE FAR FAR AWAY AND COMING HOME VERY DIFFERENT---EVENTUALLY WE SEE WHY ON TV IN VIETNAM WHEN BUDDHIST MONKS commit suicide by lighting themselves on fire in protest or soldiers being shot and killed, our friends… so the Baby Boom youth make a decision…. To either “Drop out (Hippies) or Drop IN (SDS-Students for a Democratic Society) This conflict bleeds into popular culture music especially as so many of our Youth are drafted during the ESCALATION OF VIETNAM under LBJ… The Free Speech Movement led by Students who wish to recruit others to travel into the South and fight for Equality for everyone… but are being told that they cannot do this on campus… by the Schools…some are expelled… All of this Chaos really beginning after these kids see their beloved hero JFK killed in Dallas in 1963… and they wonder…and question the legitimacy of the Exceptional American Tradition… About 50% maybe more…though, the “silent Majority” support the Conservative Traditional America… and they protest and form the beginning of the CONSERVATIVE REVOLUTION THAT BEGINS TO COUNTER THE PROTESTS and eventually with Nixon and then Reagan take over as they grow into Maturity… and their faith (Moral Majority) and from the mid-70s forward THE CULTURE WAR WE STILL HAVE TODAY BEGINS TO FORM….we are in the middle of it…WHO ARE WE, WHAT DO WE BELIEVE IN----“survival of the fittest and a rugged individual under a small government” or the “New Deal Mentality of a large regulating generous government with a safety net” - What should our role in the world be… Isolation or International…or some of both?

More Questions to consider:

Why was there a cold war?

Did Russian/Soviet Union aggression make conflict inevitable. Or… did the USA overreact to the battered Soviet Union’s quest for security?

What was the effect of the cold war on the worldview and psychology of American citizens?

Was America at its best in the fifties until 1963 and JFKs assassination, or is that an illusion…bountiful lifestyles, traditional values, and stability for families…. Or do the fifties remake America… trapping men and women in roles they came to loathe (CONFORMITY), create a stereotype of the “perfect family,” and ignoring all of the Strife, Murder, Discrimination…was this all an illusion OR THE “REAL WORLD”?