Period 8: 1945-1980

Roots of the CW, 1950s vs. 1960s, Korean/Vietnam War, Civil Rights

Movement

8.1 Post WWII/Roots of the CW

• US in a position of global leadership– Stem the growth of Communist military power/

ideological influence• Containment, Truman Doctrine

– Create a stable global economy• IMF/World Bank

– Build an international security system• UN

– Foreign policy based on • Collective security = NATO• Multilateral econ framework = Marshall Plan

8.1 Containment

• U.S. exercised containment policies– Truman Doctrine– George Kennan– Marshall Plan– Military engagements• Korea = 38th parallel Containment works• Vietnam = Containment fails

8.1 Direct/Indirect conflicts and cooling off

• CW fluctuated between intense and relaxed moments in history– Military confrontation and Conflict• Korea/Vietnam• Space Race/Sputnik, U2 Spy plane Incident, Cuban Missile

Crisis, Arms Race

– Mutual Coexistence (DÉTENTE) • Visits to Russia/China, SALT I and SALT II

8.1.II.A

• Postwar decolonization leads to issues– Asia• Philippines Independence, China turns Communist, Korean

War, Vietnam War

– Africa– Middle East• Suez Crisis, Shah of Iran, Israel-Yom Kippur War

– US and Soviets both seeking allies after WWII, but many countries nonaligned • NATO, Warsaw Pact, Eisenhower Doctrine, Alliance for

Progress, SEATO

8.1.II CW competition in Latin America

• CW conflict in Latin Am– Cuba – Bay of Pigs, Cuban Missile Crisis, Castro– Alliance For Progress

8.1.II CW competition in Middle East

• Middle East conflicts (Israel and OIL)– Suez Crisis– OPEC – Stagflation of the 1970s– Eisenhower Doctrine– Creating a national Energy policy

8.1.III 2nd Red Scare

• Civil liberties v. Security– McCarthyism– HUAC- Alger Hiss, Rosenburgs– Truman’s Loyalty Program

• Foreign Policy strategy of containing Communism– Containment leads to Brinksmanship Leads to Flexible

Response

8.1.III Protests during the CW

• Minor Protests to the Korean War = Containment worked

• Major Protest to Vietnam = Hawks v. Doves– New Left led by SDS spur anti-draft/anti-war sentiment– Counterculture emerges = Rock n Roll, Woodstock– Women, Civil Rights advocates join in– Tet offensive results in massive protests– LBJ out, riots outside of Dem Party convention Chicago– Kent State, Jackson state– 26th Amendment, Credibility Gap

8.1.III Arms Race

• Military Industrial Complex– Eisenhower Warns of this in his farewell address

• Appropriate Power of the Executive branch– Gulf of Tonkin Resolution v. War Powers Act– Imperial Presidents

8.2 Civil Rights

• Reconstruction era promises – CR strategies, Legal Challenges, fighting discrimination• MLK, Rosa Parks – Montgomery Bus Boycotts• Civil Disobedience = MLK, Freedom Riders, Sit ins, SNCC, March

on Birmingham, Washington D.C.

8.2.I CR and 3 branches of Gov’t

• Executive – President– Truman – Desegregates the Military– IKE- Crisis at Little Rock- Little Rock 9

• Judicial– Brown v. Board of Education

• Legislative– Civil Rights Act of 1964– Voting Rights Act 1965

8.2.I Alternative CR measures

• Civil Rights movement turns more violent in mid-1960s

• Debates about Tactics and Philosophy– MLK v. Malcolm X– Black Separatism, Black Power – Stokely Carmichael – Black Panthers – Huey Newton– Watts Riot– Assassinations of MLK, Malcolm X

8.2.II Inspiring other 60s movements

• Gender, ethnic, and Sexual equality– Women’s Movement• Betty Friedan, Feminine Mystique, Gloria Steinem, NOW, ERA,

Roe v. Wade

– Gay and Lesbian • Stonewall Incident

• B. Latinos, American Indians, Asian Americans– Latinos = Chicano Move, Caesar Chavez-UFW– Am Indians = AIM, Wounded Knee, Alcatraz– Asian Am = Japan Am Internment camp reparations

8.2.II

• 1950s = Postwar Econ Boom– Conformity, Suburbs, Growth of Middle Class, Levittown– Not good for everyone– White Flight, poverty, minorities• “Affluent Society” by John Galbraith• Sets up need for Great Society

8.2.III Great Society

• Liberal programs similar to New Deal– Liberalism attacked by both right (conservatives) and the

left (New Left)• Great Society– End racial discrimination = CR Act 1964, Voting Rts Act 1965,

Affirmative Action– Eliminate poverty = Medicare, Medicaid– Social issues = Head Start, Immigration Act 1965, Elementary

and Secondary Education Act– Attack Communism abroad = Vietnam War

8.2.III Supreme Court Rulings

• Liberal Supreme Court Decisions– Earl Warren• Miranda v. Arizona, Brown v. Board of Ed, Gideon v. Wainwright

– Warren Burger• Roe v. Wade• Bakke v. Board of Regents

• Both Court rulings and Great Society set up a conservative movement to defend traditional values in the 80s

8.2.III Left critical of US

• Not Doing enough econ/pol– New Left, SDS, students

• Not doing enough for civil rights– Black Panthers, Stokely Carmichael

8.3.I Postwar 1950s

• Sense of optimism– Middle Class Growth = GI bill of rights– Conformity– Baby boom– Suburbs= Levittown– Interstate Highway Act = cars– TV – Cult of domesticity– People move the sunbelt

8.3.I Challenges to 1950s culture

• Beat Movement, The Affluent Society, Rock and Roll Music, Hippies, Timothy Leary

• Civil Rights• Women’s movement

8.3.I

• Conservatives defend their traditional values and family– Great Silent majority– Election of Nixon– Emergence of the New right

8.3.II Migrants

• Internal Migrants– White Flight, growth of suburbs, Levittown

• International Migrants– Immigration Act of 1965 – ended quota system– Post Vietnam War immigrants, Fleeing Cubans

8.3.II Natural Resources and Environment

• Natural Resources and the Environmental Movement– Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act = Great Society– EPA – Earth Day– Rachel Carson Silent Spring– Superfund

8.3.III Divided Nation

• Nuclear Family- 1950s family togetherness• Family structure was changing in the 60s – baby

boom more young people going to college• Questioning things• Title 9 for women• Women increase in the workforce• Affirmative Action

8.3.III Hippies

• American youths rebelled in the counterculture of the 1960s– Counterculture, Hippies– Generation Gap against parents– Rock N Roll, Woodstock– Timothy Leary

• Sexual Revolution– Women’s Rights v. Cult of Dom

8.3.III Clashes between the Left and Right

• Conservatives v. Liberals– Social issues• Civil Rights, Women’s Rights = Phyllis Schlafly v. Betty Friedan

– Power of the Prez• Gulf of Tonkin v. War Powers Act, Watergate

– Individual Rts• Roe v. Wade, Miranda Rights