Korean Conflict

1950

Communist Threat in the East• Truman policy a success in Europe

• After WWII Korea divide at 38th parallel

• Failed to agree on united government

• 1949 each form its own government and occupation forces withdraw

• June 25, 1950 North invades Truman applies the Truman Doctrine and commits U.S. troops

China’s Involvement

• 1948 Chinese Civil War ends with Communist in power led by Mao Zedong or Mao Tse-tung

• Chiang-Kai-Shek takes his forces to Taiwan: free, capitalist, Independent; two Chinas

• True civil war, Chinese against Chinese• Chinese communism not USSR communism; does not

look to expand• Redistributes land and equalize people

Korean War

• Jan. 12, 1950, Secretary of State Dean Atchison gives speech about sphere of influence; does not include South Korea

• Speech gives North the impression US will not defend South

• North Korea invades South• Truman Doctrine applies to Asia

U S Commits Troops

• UN security council brands communist as aggressors

• UN and US come to aid under the command of MacArthur

• North easily advances, takes almost all of peninsula

• MacArthur out flanks North pushes through to Yalu River

Limited War

• MacArthur wants to bomb bridges and use nukes to finish Korea and help Nationalist recapture China

• Truman has a talk with MacArthur and says “Limit” the war to restoring status quo

• MacArthur fired for working behind Truman’s back to gain support for larger war

• Chinese drive UN forces back to 38th where it stalemates until truce in 1953

• Maps

Significance of Action

• American people find it hard to understand the concept of limited war

• US proves it will use military force to stop the advance of communism

• South government ends up not being very free and open state

• Today N-Korea developing nukes and missiles

Truman’s Problems• Communism:

– Atheist– One party system– All property owned by govt.

– Business managed by govt.

– Govt. decides who will get what and what your job will be

– Dictatorship

• Free Enterprise– Any or no religion– Almost all property privately owned

– Some public rules on what you can do with your property or how you can run your business

– Elected leaders with a democratic structure

Many reasons to fear each other!

Fear of Communism• Taft-Hartley Act

– Wagner Act 1938 gave Unions many new powers during the depression

– The new Red Scare focused in part on Unions (workers of the world unite)

– Taft-Hartley Act limits powers of unions• Union leaders must take oath not to become a communist• Ends closed shops where a worker must join the union• Must give company 90 days notice before striking• President may delay any strike for 60 days (Pres. Bush did this in October of

2002 @ West Coast Ports• No wild cat strikes (walk off work)• No secondary boycotts in support of strikes

Class of 1946 In Congress

• First time since 1932 Republicans control congress– Richard Nixon from California-46– Joseph McCarthy Wisconsin-46

• Swing in politics from Democratic control and workers rights to Republican pro-business control.

Security Menace

• People realize there is a war of ideas for control of the world (cold war)

• Russia gets its own atomic weapon– We see Russia as big and dumb– Someone must have given them the secret- WHO!

• Korean War we fight a limited war– Some believe there is a conspiracy for

communism within our government

Alger Hiss Case 1949 HUAC led Richard Nixon

• Whittaker Chambers, former communist, accused state department employee Alger Hiss of passing secrets to the Soviets in the 1930s

• Statute of limitations runs out, but they convict him of perjury

• Secretary of State Dean Atchison friend of Hiss and offers to resign; Truman refuses to let him resign

• Some of the public starts to buy into the idea that the Truman administration is corrupt and has communist

McCarthyism• Senator Joseph McCarthy from Wisconsin chose to exploit

the “Red Scare” • 1950 he makes a speech charging the State Department was

full of communist• Public all too willing to believe accusations • Never proved any accusations, but his attacks became more

and more obnoxious• 1954 he accuses the Army of harboring communist

sympathizers.• In the end he proved himself a fool, had a breakdown, and it

was revealed he was an alcoholic

McCarran Act or Internal Security Act of 1950

• Sometimes called the anticommunist law, is one of the most controversial and least understood laws in the history of the republic.

• Required registration of communist with state dept., placed restrictions on immigration, and authorized deportation of suspected communist

• President Truman immediately vetoed it on the grounds that it "would make a mockery of our Bill of Rights."

• Early 1950 many people start believing Truman administration had communist in it and his popularity falls

Truman vs. Dewy

• Dewy runs as a conservative on economic issues• Truman makes fun of Dewey's mustache • Truman says he was chosen by FDR for a reason• When Harry Truman insisted that the Democratic

Party embrace the cause of civil rights at the 1948 convention, Mr. Thurmond bolted the party and ran for president as an independent. He took the South, but Mr. Truman took the nation

Adlai Stevenson vs. Eisenhower

• 1952, 22 amendment limits presidency to two terms and Adlai Stevenson is Democratic candidate.

• Ike asked by Demos in 1948, but he didn’t want to run

• By 1952 he doesn’t like the way things are going and takes up Rep. request to run

Dwight D. Eisenhower (IKE)

• Opposed Truman administration (change)• Will end the Korean War• Very popular war hero• Health issues from smoking, 2 heart attacks• First Rep. since 1928 Hoover• Never a politician and is not sure how to work with

congress• Nixon becomes vice president

1956 Election Same Candidates

• Ike very popular Demos afraid to send out their best until 1960– Hubert Humphrey, civil rights leader– Lyndon Baines Johnson, very powerful in both the

House and Senate, not a nice guy, but knew how to get stuff done.

– John F. Kennedy, war hero and could speak for the next generation

Eisenhower Administration 1953

• January, becomes President

• March, Stalin Dies

• July, Korean Truce

• September, Chief Justice Vinson dies

• Earl Warren selected as new Chief Justice

Ike the Moderate

• Found uneasy balance between conservative and liberals

• Business men receive high govt. positions and promote conservative philosophy

• At the same time expands social welfare• As a moderate he tried to avoid getting

trapped by either camp

Conservative Republicans Want Balance Budget

• Reduce government payroll• Cut back on military• Cut back on foreign aid• Tax cut favoring businesses• Cut farm support• Reduce government involvement in economy• Recession begins and Ike decides more govt.

needed

Civil Rights

• Battle begins in 1950 for full citizenship of African Americans (school desegregation)

• Coalition of Northern and Southern in congress keep civil rights legislation from being passed

• Civil Rights battle passed to the courts

Brown v. Board (1954)• Overturn Plessy Vs. Furgeson separate but equal;

Separate facilities were in violation of 14th amendment

• Court ruled desegregation of schools should begin "with all deliberate speed”

• Problem, courts do not run schools, local government does-

• South reacts by passing law that were called “interposition”, put the state between local and federal govt. Meaning State govt. would make up the difference in federal funds and that states constitutional rights were being denied

1956 Little Rock Central High• States top athletic school all white• NAACP organizes integration plan • Orval Faubus, Democratic Governor of Arkansas, calls out

national guard to keep black students out• Ike, however, reluctantly sends in 101st Airborne to keep

National Guard back• 1956-57 school shuts down, whites prefer to go to a different

school • Now Ike has his enemies, he prefer to be a moderate • Token integration continues, black students put in to position to

fail

Stevenson vs. Eisenhower 1956, Ike Wins 457-73

• Sec. Dulles Foreign Policy containment continues with two major changes– Increase reliance on Nukes and massive

retaliation• Communist aggression anywhere in the world

will be challenged• Greater reliance on military, and expand foreign

aid

USSR• Stalin dies in 1953 and it take until 1956 for Nikita Khrushchev to

win power as new leader• Korean War end causes a more relaxed feeling in the world.• Khrushchev gives impression they will not try to meet us bomb for

bomb, but he does work on delivery systems, space race - missiles race

• Soviets launch satellite, US can’t get a rocket off launch pad• National Defense Education Act (NDEA), improves curriculum and

teacher training• Calculus now taught, AP classes introduced, more in-depth science• Sole purpose to improve weapons systems

Terms and Names to Know• Interposition: States passed "interposition" resolutions saying Brown was an unconstitutional encroachment upon states' rights.

• Token Integration: This type of integration is merely an affirmation of a principle without the substance of change.

• Brown versus Board: overturned Plessy v. Ferguson and ended school segregation.

• Justice Vinson: nearly always supported governmental action against constitutional challenges.

• Justice Warren: Chief Justice during one of the most turbulent times in our nation's history; dealt with controversial cases on civil rights and civil liberties

• NAACP: The NAACP have played a very important part in the civil rights movement. The initials stand for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

Soviet Block

• The death of Stalin came at an opportune time for new president (IKE).

• Korean lines were settled in July and tension between USSR and US is relaxed

• 1953-56 East Europe enjoys a greater degree of freedom and independence

MARSHAL TITO

• Became president of Yugoslavia in 1953, and directed the rebuilding of a Yugoslavia bringing together of Yugoslavia's different peoples.

• Tito established an independent communist country Yugoslavia, and reached a cooperative relationship with USSR.

• Truman Doctrine does not apply because it was internal.

Yugoslavia today

• The present-day countries created from the former parts of Yugoslavia are: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Slovenia, Kosovo (final status unresolved)

Nikita Khrushchev 1953

• Dissidents within the communist block were encouraged by Khrushchev’s denunciation of Stalin in Feb. of 1956

• He used this as a way of invading countries, a set up.

• Once there was any kind of revolt he would send in troops, and show he is powerful

• Seems to have been staged by Khrushchev

HUNGARIAN - Example• Hungarian revolt of 1956 brought a harsh and bloody

end to the “soft line” which had been allowed while Khrushchev was establishing himself

• Nationalistic revolt by Hungarian leaders tried to separate their nation from Russian control, but was ruthlessly crushed by the Red Army

• US statements (CIA) encouraged the revolt and led the revolutionaries to believe they would get help

• In the end fear of all out war with Soviets kept that from happening

China

• Red China (Mao Tse Dung) steps up threat to invade Formosa (Taiwan) and bring under its control

• This development has US seeking a NATO like alliance in Asia

• So little interest as to be ineffective

Israel

• Israel was formed in 1948 by the UN (ends Diaspora 2000 yag).

• Land was taken from Arab Palestine.

• Were regulated by the British following WWI.

• This creates the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO)

Middle East

• Tension between the Arab nations evident in Arab-Israeli war of 1948 and continues to today

Suez Crisis• Nasser of Egypt tried to rally Arab nations into a Pan-

Arabic Union that opposes Isreal. • The giant dam at Aswan was planned by Nasser to

give prestige and economic power to this movement. • US withdraws an offer to finance the project

embittered Nasser toward the West.• He seizes the the Suez Canal in 1956• Brit, French and Israel attacks. Soviets threaten to

attack and the West backs down to avoid major war.• Cost NATO moral

Nuclear Testing

• 1958 USSR announces that future testing was being halted; followed by US

• Soviets two up on US again Looked like the leading nation with vision

• Island in Pacific where we tested still unusable.

Khrushchev 1959 Visit

• Two day visit to meet Eisenhower and discuss arms race

• Goes to Disney Land, Iowa, and D.C.• Soviets again show them as leading in peace

and a helpful nation• Now Soviets up by 3• The new “Hard-line” in US Soviet relations

with the Soviets occurred with Sputnik

Sputnik Oct. 1957

• Soviet prestige rises

• US realizes Soviets perfected missile and launch capabilities

• Causes fear and self doubt in US

• Soviets 4-up on us now

• World Leader