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NCSCOS Goal 10

Communists and Nationalists had been fighting for control of China since the Russian Revolution and WWI. They

joined together to fight off the Japanese just before and during WWII, but the civil war resumed after WWII ended. Eventually, Communists, under Mao

Zedong, will rule China.

-Chang Kai-shekU.S. backed leader

-Mao Zedongcommunist

•Fighting to win control of China

-Communists win China

-Nationalists go to Taiwan

-U.S. doesn’t recognize China

•Recognize Taiwan as Chinese government

•Because rebellious leaders seized control from elected leader

Communist China

-Korea split along 38th parallel

•North = Communist

•South = Democratic

-Northern Communists invade the south, 1950

– South asks the UN for help

-War starts as a UN “police action” to repel the communist aggression

-U.S. enters to save South Korea

Gen. Douglas MacArthur – leaves Japan to fight Korea

Inchon Invasion saves South Korea – 2-part invasion pushes North Korea to 38th parallel

-MacArthur launches counter and pushes into N. Korea – almost takes all of Korea

Korean War

“Our trenches…were only about 20 meters in front of theirs. We were

eyeball to eyeball…We couldn’t move at all in the daytime without getting shot at. Machine-gun fire would come in, grenades, small-arms fire, all from within spitting distance. It was like World War I. We lived in a maze of bunkers and deep trenches…There were bodies

strewn all over the place. Hundreds of bodies frozen in the

snow.”

-China enters war on side of North Korea

•Do not want America in China

-War stalemates

MacArthur wants to attack China, disagrees with Truman who wants limited war

•Truman does not want WW3

-MacArthur criticizes President

-Truman fires MacArthur

-War drags on for two more years

-War finally ends in 1953 near the 38th parallel

Ends in stalemate at 38th

Neither side made any gains;

communism was halted

Korean War

Fear of Communists

HUAC believed Communists were sneaking propaganda into films. The committee pointed to pro-Soviet films made during WW2, when the Soviet

Union was an ally. HUAC subpoenaed 43 witnesses from the film industry in 1947.

Many were “friendly,” supporting the accusation that Communists were in the

film industry. Ten “unfriendly” witnesses were called to testify but refused. The Hollywood Ten did not cooperate because they believed the

hearings were unconstitutional. Because they refused, they were sent to prison

-Communist spies discovered

-USSR gets atomic bomb

•Spies leaked atomic secrets

-loyalty boards

•Investigated government employees

-Bill of Rights questioned

•Especially 4th Amendment

-House Un-American Activities Committee – investigated communist infiltration in U.S.

Hollywood Ten

•Would not cooperate; believed it unconstitutional; imprisoned

-”blacklisting”

•Would not hire Communists

Fear of Communists

Fear of CommunistsFear of Communists

Julius and Ethel Rosenberg

-Alger Hissstate dept. official accused of spying – passing atomic documents to Soviets; convicted of perjury

-Rosenbergs-accused of passing atomic secrets-found guilty and executed

-Joseph McCarthy•Believed communists were taking over the government“Witch Hunt”•Accused many people of being CommunistSenate investigations1954 Army Hearings

•Accused army officials of being Communist; discredited on TV

Fear of Communists

In 1950, the German-born physicist Klaus Fuchs admitted

giving the Soviet Union information about America’s

atomic bomb. The information probably enabled Soviet scientists to develop their own atomic bomb years earlier than they would have

otherwise. Implicated in the Fuchs case were Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, minor activists in the

American Communist Party.

When asked if they were Communists, the Rosenbergs

denied the charges against them and pleaded the Fifth Amendment,

choosing not to incriminate themselves. They claimed they were being persecuted both for

being Jewish and for holding radical beliefs. The Rosenbergs were found guilty of espionage

(spying) and sentenced to death.

Taking advantage of people’s concerns about communism,

McCarthy made one unsupported accusation after another. These

attacks on suspected Communists in the early 1950s

became known as McCarthyism. At various times, McCarthy

claimed to have in his hands the names of 57, 81, and 204 Communists in the State

Department (he never actually provided a single name). He also

charged the Democratic Party was guilty of “20 years of

treason” for allowing Communist infiltration into the government. He was always careful to do his name-calling only in the Senate,

where he had legal immunity that protected him from being

sued for slander.

Foreign Policy Legacy

-”The buck stops here”

•Truman makes decisions and accepts all responsibility for his decisions

-Ended WW II

-Atomic Bomb decision

-Marshall Plan

-Truman Doctrine

-Korean War

Foreign Policy Legacy

Readjustment

•Must rebuild their lives

-millions of troops demobilized

-G.I. Bill

education – paid partial tuition

low cost loans – gave money for homes, farms, businesses

-Suburbia

•Mass-produced, cheap homes

Levittowns – all look the same (cookie-cutter)

-affluent society

great demand for goods

•Americans used to saving now have money to spend; economy booms

In 1945 and 1946, returning veterans faced a severe housing shortage.

Many families lived in cramped apartments or moved in with relatives. In response to this housing crisis, developers like William Levitt used efficient,

assembly-line methods to mass-produce homes. Levitt, who bragged that his company could build a house

in 16 minutes, offered homes in small residential communities

surrounding cities, called suburbs, for less than $7000.

Truman Takes Control

•Americans desire stability

-”The Buck Stops Here”

-postwar economy was first major domestic problem

•End of wartime production, millions laid off, others threaten strikes

-threat of gov’t control of industry in order to prevent strikes – union power curbed

•Would not tolerate labor strikes in major industries; threatened to draft strikers

•Taft-Hartley Act

“The buck stops here.”

Truman’s policies end up angering many Americans, who elect a Republican Congress in

1946.

Civil Rights

-Truman takes a firm stand on civil rights

•1st President to tackle civil rights

-1948 Truman integrated the military

•Executive order over Congress

-asked Congress for civil rights legislation

•Anti-lynching laws, ban on poll taxes, civil rights commission

-Congress refused to pass any new laws and Truman angered party members who supported segregation

•Republican Congress does not want civil rights legislation

“I am asking for equality of opportunity for all human beings, and if that ends up in my failure to

be reelected, that failure will be in a good cause.”

~Harry Truman

1948 Election

-Truman – Democrat

-Thomas Dewey –Republican

-Dixiecrats

Strom Thurmond

•Protest the emphasis on civil rights

-Truman was the underdog

•Did not have much support going into the election

-called Congress into session and used inaction against them

•Tries to make them pass laws

•“Do-Nothing” Congress

-Truman wins in major upset

As the election approached, polls gave Republican Dewey a lead. Truman

poured his energy into his campaign. He called Congress into special session

and challenged it to pass laws supporting the Democratic Party

platform. Not one lass was passed. Then he took his campaign to the

people. He traveled from one end of the country to the other by train,

speaking from the rear platform in a sweeping “whistlestop campaign.” Day after day, people heard the president

denounce the “do-nothing 80th Congress.” Truman’s campaign

worked, and he won the election in a close political upset.

Truman’s Fair Deal

-an extension of the New Deal

•Some felt it too ambitious

Truman Proposed:

-health insurance (no)

-crop subsidies (no)

-extension of social security (yes)

-low income housing (yes)

-aid to schools (no)

-Congress supported some and ignored others

Despite Truman’s social and economic victories, his approval ranking sank to

an all-time low of 23 percent. The stalemate in the Korean War and the rising tide of McCarthyism, which cast doubt on the loyalty of some federal employees, became overwhelming

issues. Truman decided not to run for reelection. The Democrats nominated

Adlai Stevenson of Illinois to run against Republican candidate Dwight D. Eisenhower, popularly known as

“Ike.”

Domestic Legacy

-Social Policies

- desegregation

Military integration

•Began federal government’s policy of extending civil rights to blacks

-Economic and Political Policy

-tried to extend New Deal

-many of his domestic policies would become reality in the 1960’s

•Legacy lays the groundwork for future Democrats JFK and LBJ