The Cold War Begins

1. The Cold War Begins 1945-1952

2. Post-War America

3. 1946 to 1961: Four Main Themes • COLD WAR • CONFIDENT NATION • CONSUMERISM • CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT Was it a time of “happy days or anxiety, alienation, and social unrest”?

4. 1948 to 1968: The “Vital Center” A political consensus developed • Anti-Communist • Economic growth can solve societies problems • Political pluralism

5. Postwar Economic Anxiety • Fear of return to depression • Businesses called for an end to government controls over the economy

6. 1946-47 saw an economic slump & inflation increase 33% • Removal of price controls led to the increase in inflation

7. Labor Trouble & Inflation • Worries about job security & inflation led to new labor demands • Organized labor called for crippling strikes in major industries

8. Increasing numbers of strikes led to Truman warning strikers of federal intervention • 1946 Congressional Elections: Republicans gained control of both houses of Congress

9. Taft-Hartley Labor Bill (1947) • Passed over Truman’s veto • Banned closed shop & weakened labors rights

10. Labor frustrated in its attempts to unionize the southern textile industries in its “Operation Dixie”

11. Truman’s Economic Policy • Employment Act of 1946 • Created the Council of Economic Advisors • Sought to promote maximum employment, production & purchasing power

12. Servicemen’s Readjustment Act (1944) • GI Bill of Rights • Servicemen given educational & economic benefits

13. Total cost of the World War II education program was $14.5 billion.

14. Civil Rights • African-American’s fared a little better economically & politically, despite congressional refusal to pass civil rights & fair labor laws

15. 1947: Color line crossed in baseball when Brooklyn Dodgers hired Jackie Robinson • 1948: Armed forces began desegregating

16. Long Economic Boom: 1950-1970 • GNP (Gross National Product) began to climb after 1948 – nearly doubling in the 1950s & again in 1960s

17. By 1950, the economy will begin to skyrocket & reach a plateau of growth that will last until 1970

18. Middle Class Prosperity • “Chicken in every pot” of depression became desire for 2 cars in every garage • Plus a TV, air conditioner, swimming pool, vacation home, RVs & hoola-hoops for the kids

19. Women in the Workforce • Many women decided to keep working after the war but did so under gender discrimination

20. Women account for 25% of the workforce by the end of the war & will have 50% of the jobs by the 1990s

21. Cult of domesticity re-emerges & supported by science & popular culture • Clash of these dual roles will lead to the feminist movement of the 1960s

22. Suburban LivingThe Typical TV Suburban Families Leave It to Beaver1957-1963 The Donna Reed Show1958-1966 Father Knows Best1954-1958 The Ozzie & Harriet Show1952-1966

23. Causes of growth • Much of the continued economic growth caused by the “war economy” appropriations of the Cold War

24. Korean War, Arms Race, Space Race, & Vietnam will keep American defense spending rolling through two decades

25. National Defense Budget [1940-1964]

26. America enjoyed the benefits of cheap energy & lack of environmental controls

27. America productivity increased & educational levels rose • By 1970, 90% of the school age population was enrolled in school

28. Farmers dropped from 15% of the workforce in the 40s to 2% by the 90s but harvested a large percentage of the world’s food

29. The Sunbelt • Invention of air-conditioning, existence of cheap fuel, & large number of defense jobs in the south & west caused many Americans to move to the “sunbelt” following the war

30. The U. S. population was on the move in the late 1940s and into the 1950s. • NE & Mid-W  S & SW (“Sunbelt” states)

31. The Suburbs • Low interest FHA & VA loans made it economical to own a home

32. The Burbs

33. Levitt brothers pioneered the “assembly line” construction of suburban homes (Levittown)

34. $7,990 or $60/month with no down payment

35. Post-war families snatched up these “cookie cutter” tract homes • They filled the yards with barbeques & kids • Lots of kids

36. Suburban Living • SHIFTS IN POPULATION DISTRIBUTION, 1940-1970 • 194019501960 1970 • Central Cities 31.6% 32.3% 32.6% 32.0% • Suburbs 19.5% 23.8% 30.7% 41.6% • Rural Areas/ 48.9% 43.9% 36.7% 26.4% • Small Towns • U. S. Bureau of the Census

37. The Baby Boom • Huge birthrate jump began in 1945, peaked in 1957, & tapered off to 1961 • “Baby boom” generation has had a major impact on the economy & culture in America

38. Baby Boomers “It seems to me that every other young housewife I see is pregnant.” British visitor to America, 1958

39. The Truman Era 1945-1952

40. Harry S. Truman • “The average man’s average man.” • First president in many years without a college education

41. Failed at business but worked his way up in local Missouri politics • Truman’s bluntness & hard-headedness worried & upset many people

42. Roots of The Cold War

43. US & USSR Similarities • US & USSR resembled each other in many troublesome ways: • Large, expansionist, born in revolution, & believed their way was the best way

44. Conflicting Interests • Soviet Goals • Wanted to rebuild Europe in ways that would help the Soviet Union recover from the huge losses it suffered during the war • Wanted to establish Soviet satellite nations, countries subject to Soviet domination and sympathetic to Soviet goals • Wanted to promote the spread of communism throughout the world • American Goals • Wanted conquered European nations to experience the democracy and economic opportunity that the United States had fought for during the war • Wanted to develop strong capitalist economies, which would provide good markets for American products vs

45. The Cold War Summary: vs • Uneasy peace between the U.S. & Soviet Union. • Competition for world dominance & global power. • Fought on political & economic fronts rather than on military battlefields - even though the threat of war was always present. • Defined American foreign policy from 1946-1989. • It affected domestic politics & how Americans viewed the world & themselves. • Constant state of military preparedness & arms race • Propaganda war: Democracy vs. Communism • US policy: Support nations threatened by Communism

46. The Cold War [1945-1991]: An Ideological Struggle Soviet & Eastern Bloc Nations[“Iron Curtain”] US & the Western Democracies GOAL “Containment” of Communism & the eventual collapse of the Communist world.[George Kennan] GOAL spread world-wide Communism • METHODOLOGIES: • Espionage [KGB vs. CIA] • Arms Race [nuclear escalation] • Ideological Competition for the minds and hearts of Third World peoples [Communist govt. & command economy vs. democratic govt. & capitalist economy]  “proxy wars” • Bi-Polarization of Europe [NATO vs. Warsaw Pact]

47. Yalta Conference • Before A-bomb tested, US believed Soviet military would be needed to defeat the Japanese

48. Soviets agreed to allow democratic elections in Eastern Europe • They lied leaving the USSR in control of a large sphere of influence

49. Conservatives accused Roosevelt of selling out China & Eastern Europe to the Soviet Union

50. Potsdam Conference • Stalin warned indirectly about the existence of the Atomic bomb • Soviets felt slighted about being out the loop on the Manhattan Project