the age of containment, 1946-1954 © 2003 wadsworth group all rights reserved. chapter 27

The Age of Containment, 1946-1954

© 2003 Wadsworth Group All rights reserved.

Chapter 27Chapter 27

Creating a National Security State, 1945-1949

• Alliance between Soviet Union and the United States was not based on collaboration, but on cooperative defeat of Axis powers

• Relations between the two countries descended into suspicion and growing tensions

(c) 2003 Wadsworth Group All rights reserved

Onset of the Cold War• Interpretations of Cold War’s origins

– Traditional: Soviet expansion and desire to spread Communism

– Revisionists: U.S. threatened Soviets into the Cold War– Rival interests made Cold War inevitable

• Harry S. Truman• Joseph Stalin• Potsdam Conference (1945)• Baruch Plan• Soviet sphere of influence in Eastern Europe• “National security”


Containment Abroad: The Truman Doctrine

• Truman Doctrine (1947)

• “Containment"– George F. Kennan– “X” article in Foreign Affairs


Truman’s Loyalty Program

• Executive Order 9835– Containment on the home front– loyalty boards

• "Venona files"


The National Security Act, The Marshall Plan, and the Berlin

Crisis• National Security Act (1947)

– Department of Defense– Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)

• Marshall Plan– George C. Marshall

• Berlin Blockade and Airlift (1948-1949)• “Two Germanys”


The Election of 1948

• Progressive Party– Henry A. Wallace

• State's Rights Party ("Dixiecrats")– Strom Thurmond

• 80th Congress• Thomas E. Dewey• Democratic victory and formula for success

– New Deal Coalition– Truman looked strong on National Security


The Korean War Era, 1949-1952

• Cold war crises erupted and led to warfare in Korea


NATO, China, and the Bomb

• North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)– Robert Taft’s opposition

• China– Jiang Jieshi– Mao Zedong– Formosa (Taiwan)

• Soviet atomic bomb• “Hydrogen bomb”


NSC-68

• National Security Council document 68 (NSC-68)– Paul Nitze

– A blueprint for both the rhetoric and strategy of future cold war foreign policy

– Global ideological clash between U.S. “freedom” and Soviet “slavery”

– Contain Soviet expansion more aggressively, no negotiations

– Massive military buildup


The Korean War

• North Korea vs. South Korea

• United Nations involvement

• Douglas MacArthur

• Inchon

• Beyond the 38th parallel

• Chinese intervention

• MacArthur fired


Korea and Containment• American Cold War alliances in Asia

– Japanese-American Security Pact– U.S. bases in the Middle East– ANZUS– Aid to French in retaking Indo-China

• “Campaign of Truth”• Atomic Energy Commission • RAND• “The militarization of American life”• U.S. opposes left-wing movements globally


Containment at Home

• Late 1940s to Mid-1950s:– Americans in debate over how to counter

alleged communist influences at home– “Witchhunts” or “Red-baiting”


Anticommunism and the Labor Movement

• Increased labor militancy after WWII

• Labor-Management Relations Act (1947)– Taft-Hartley Act

• CIO expulsion of Communist tainted unions


HUAC and the Loyalty Program• House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC)

– "Hollywood ten“– “Naming names”

• Richard Nixon– Whittaker Chambers– Alger Hiss

• FBI investigations of artists and intellectuals– W. E. B. Du Bois– Ernest Hemingway

• McCarran-Walter Act


Targeting Difference

• Alfred Kinsey– Kinsey Report (1948)

• Mattachine Society (1950)

• Daughters of Bilitis (1955)

• Anti-homosexuality and anti-Communism merge


“The Great Fear”

• Julius and Ethel Rosenberg

• Dennis v. US (1951)

• McCarran Internal Security Act (1950)– Subversive Activities Control Board


McCarthyism

• Joseph McCarthy– "McCarthyism”

• Millard Tydings


Domestic Policy: Truman’s Fair Deal

• FDR’s “Second Bill of Rights”• Opposition

– National Association of Manufacturers– Southern Democrats– Republicans


The Employment Act of 1946 and the Promise of Economic

Growth• Employment Act (1946)

– Council of Economic Advisors

• Keynesian say government can end boom-and-bust cycles

• “Gross national product”• American economic growth linked to development

in the world and all-pervasive concern with national security


Truman’s Fair Deal

• Fair Deal: Truman’s expansion of the New Deal• Serviceman's Readjustment Act (1944)

– GI Bill of Rights

• Social Security Act of 1950• National Health Insurance

– American Medical Association– Hill-Burton Act

• Housing Act (1949)• Reality of Fair deal was to target specific groups


Civil Rights

• Civil rights committee (1946)– “To Secure These Rights”

• Dixiecrats

• Military desgregation


Fair Deal Summary

• New Deal hope of comprehensive socioeconomic planning gives way to Fair Deal view of uninterrupted economic growth

• Fair Deal accepts “partial remedies” rather than the “curealls” of FDR’s “Second Bill of Rights”

A Changing Culture

• Postwar years were time of dramatic change

• Americans created change with progress

• Simultaneously, change was unsettling


Jackie Robinson and the Baseball “Color Line”

• Jackie Robinson (1947)– Brooklyn Dodgers– National League Rookie of the Year (1947)


Suburban Development

• Levittown, New York

• Federal Housing Administration (FHA)

• Mortgage interest tax deduction

• “Baby boom”

• “White flight”

• Loans to women could not receive guarantees


Allure and Danger: Women on Film

• Film Noir

• The File on Thelma Jordan

• Fear of Communism reinforces conformity


Estimated Median Age at First Marriage, 1890-1990

The Baby Boom


From Truman to Eisenhower

• Truman declines to run

• Democrats on the defensive


The Election of 1952

• Democratic nominee Adlai Stevenson

• Republican ticket: Dwight D. Eisenhower and Richard Nixon– Criticized over Korean War– “Korea, corruption, and communism”


A Soldier-President

• West Point graduate, career military man

• Defeat Conservative Robert Taft for Republican nomination

• Republicans retake Congress

• Solid Democratic South slipping

Conclusion

• Domestic and foreign policies were dominated by containment of communism

• Government power expanded• Truman administration

– Korean war, 1950– Cold war climate– Fair Deal promises guaranteed economic growth

• Eisenhower elected, 1952– Broad personal appeal more than imminent end of

Democratic coalition


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