post wwii
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TRANSCRIPT
The “Iron Curtain”
• 1945, Stalin disallows free and open elections in Poland and left a pro-Soviet, communist government in charge– Satellite nations
• Countries dependant upon and dominated by the Soviet Union
– Mainly in Eastern Europe
– 1946, Winston Churchill, “Iron Curtain” speech
» p. 609
The Cold War Begins• Truman Doctrine
– Containment• Devised by George F. Kennan• Effort to block the Soviets’ attempts to spread their influence
– Contain communism and disallow its spread to new territories
– 1947• Asked for $400 million dollars in economic and military aid for Greece and Turkey to
stop Communist takeovers• Marshall Plan
– Western Europe in economic chaos– June 1947, Secretary of State George C. Marshall
• U.S. program for reconstruction of post-WWII Europe through massive aid to former enemy and allied nations
– Nations that accepted aid had to remove trade barriers– Attempt to avoid depression (WWI) and communist takeovers– 1952, Western Europe was recovering ($17 billion)– Chart p. 610
• Cold War– State of hostility short of direct military confrontation that developed between the
U.S. and Soviet Union between 1945-1989
Reunification Attempts in Germany• 1948
– U.S., U.K., and France decided to unify three western zones (including western zones of Berlin)
• Soviets cut off western Berlin from West Germany– Berlin Airlift
» May, 1949 blockade lifted
• April 4, 1949– North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
• Defensive military alliance• Ten Western European nations and U.S.
– Belgium, Denmark, France, U.K., Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, and Portugal
Buildup to Korean War• National Security Act, 1947
– Created• Department of Defense• Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)• Permanent peacetime draft, 1948• National Security Council
– NSC-68, 1949» Detailed Soviet’s plans for worldwide domination and encouraged buildup of
nation’s military
• China fell to communism, 1949– Mao Tse-Tung and Joseph Stalin sign a pact linking the two nations into
one communist bloc, 1950• Korea
– Had been Japanese colony until end of WWII (1945)– Japanese troops north of the 38th parallel surrendered to Soviets– Japanese troops south of the 38th parallel surrendered to Americans– Two governments established (1948, Soviets & Americans left)
The Korean War– “The Forgotten War”• June 1950, North Korea invaded South Korea
– Supplied by Soviets and Chinese
• Truman sought United Nations Security Council help– Security Council & U.S. Congress authorized “police action” of military
force to liberate South Korea (war not officially declared)
• General Douglas MacArthur– Commanded U.S., U.N., and South Korean troops– Counterattack pushed North Koreans past 38th parallel, September 1950– Chinese push MacArthur back across 38th parallel, November 1950
• MacArthur wanted reinforcements and to extend the war into China– MacArthur vs. Truman
» MacArthur removed, April 1951
• July 1953, armistice– Demilitarized Zone established
Eisenhower• Dwight D. Eisenhower, president 1953-1961
– Appointed Earl Warren (former governor of CA) as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, 1953
• Warren Court turned out to be one of the most liberal in history– Civil Rights Issues
• Brown v. Board of Education (1954)– Thurgood Marshall (NAACP lawyer, first AA on Supreme Court)– 14th Amendment– Overturned Plessy v. Ferguson– “Separate facilities were inherently unequal”
• Rosa Parks, 1955– Bus boycott, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., 1956– Little Rock 9, 1957
– Foreign Policy• John Foster Dulles (SOS)• Brinkmanship U.S. would force aggressor nations to the brink of nuclear war and thus force
them to back down in wake of U.S. superiority– “massive retaliation,” arms race, & MAD
• Middle East– U.S. support for Israel– Eisenhower Doctrine U.S. would defend Middle East against any attack by a communist country
– Postwar Economic Boom• Consumer spending more than the 1920’s• Middle class, suburbs, and Interstate Highway Act• Baby Boom
JFK• John F. Kennedy, president 1961-1963
– All four presidential debates televised (first time)– Cuba
• Fidel Castro, 1959• Bay of Pigs, April 1961
– CIA operatives and Cuban exiles captured immediately» Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev, Berlin Wall 1961
• Cuban Missile Crisis, October 1962– Castro and Khrushchev formed alliance– U.S. spy plane found Soviet medium and long-range nuclear missiles in Cuba– Naval blockade of Cuba
» “We are eyeball to eyeball and the other fellow just blinked”» Khrushchev offered to remove missiles in exchange for U.S. promise never to invade Cuba and U.S.
removal of missiles from Turkey
– New Frontier• Domestic policy promising equality, employment, and aid to the poor• Race to the Moon
– Feb. 20, 1962 John Glenn orbited the earth three times– July 20, 1969 Neil Armstrong became first person to set foot on moon
– Assassination• November 22, 1963• Dallas, Texas• Lee Harvey Oswald
– Killed by Jack Ruby• Warren Commission Oswald acted on his own