· University of Washington, Seattle: Students and Faculty Face the Cold War
o May 1948
§ University of Washington in Seattle
· Melvin Radar
o A professor accused of communist actions by two state legislators, members of the state’s Committee on Un-American Activities
o Never was a communist
o He was a self-described liberal
o He was in several organizations supported by Communists
o Served as president of the University of Washington Teacher’s Union
o He was invited to the Communist party
§ Refused
o “I was an American in search of a way—but it was no the Communist way”
o He was caught up in a Red Scare that abridged freedom of speech and political activity
o FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation)
§ Set camps in universities around the United States
§ Spying on students and faculty
§ Screened credentials for jobs and scholarship applicants
§ Sought students to report roommates as Communists
o University of Washing administration
§ Refused to hire J. Robert Oppenheimer
· Atomic scientist that ran the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory
· Robert became an opponent of arms race ad proliferation of nuclear weapons
§ 150 faculty members
· 6 were convicted of being in the Communist party
o Were brought up to the university’s Faculty Committee on Tenure and Academic Freedom
o Charged with violations ranging from neglect of duty and not stating their party membership
o Three were dismissed and three went on probation
o Icy Relations (provoked this paranoia)
§ United States vs. Soviet Union after WWII
· Uneasy allies during WWII
· Countries lined up with one or the other
§ In the United States
· Cold War
o Demanded pledges of loyalty from:
§ Citizens
§ Universities
§ Trade unions
§ Mass media (Hollywood)
· Servicemen’s Readjustment Act (Known as the G.I. Bill of Rights)
o Passed by Congress in 1944
o Offered stipends covering tuition and housing for veterans
o Between 1945-1950
§ 2.3 million students benefitted
§ More than $10 billion was spent by the government
· J. Edgar Hoover
o Director of the FBI
o Said that college campuses were centers of
§ “red propaganda”
§ Filled with teachers “tearing down respect for agencies of government, belittling tradition and moral custom and…creating doubts in the validity of the American way of life”
· Nationwide stats and facts
o 200 faculty members were dismissed
o Thousands of students
§ Dropped out of organizations
§ Changed friends after “visits” from FBI agents
o Main effect of the Cold War
§ Restraint of freedom of speech
§ Fear of criticizing U.S. racial, military, or diplomatic policies
· Global Insecurities at War’s End
§ WWII engulfed the world from 1939 to 1945
§ A 1945 poll indicated
· Peace rested on harmony between the Soviet Union and the US
o Facing the Future
§ 1941, Henry Luce
· Publisher of Time, Life, and Fortune magazines
· Forecasted the dawn of “the American Century”
· He said Americans must “accept wholeheartedly our duty and our opportunity as the most powerful and vital nation in the world and in consequence to assert upon the world the full impact of our influence, for such means as we see fit.”
§ 1945, Truman
· After bombing of Japan, he said the United States is “the most powerful nation in the world—and the most powerful nation, perhaps, in all history.”
§ Post WWII United States
· Unlike great Britain and France, the U.S. prospered
· Capital assets of manufacturing increased 65% over prewar levels
o Equal to half the world’s goods and services
· Prosperity of the economy
o Due to massive government spending for the war rather than New Deal programs
§ $340 billion
· Citizens questioned the duration of the striving economy
o After veterans got home
o After war production slowed
§ Solution to Postwar Economy
· Will Clayton
o Assistant Secretary of State for Economic Affairs
o “We need markets—big markets—in which to buy and sell”
· Maintaining the level of growth in economy
o Needed an estimated $14 billion in exports
· The U.S. became interested in integrating Western Europe and Asia into international economy open to American trade and investment
§ Final Stages of WWII
· Roosevelt and advisers planned to establish U.S. primacy
· July 1944, Brent Woods Conference
o International Monetary Fund (IMF) was created
§ By stabilizing exchange rates, IMF would deter currency and trade conflicts
o International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (World Bank) was established
o They helped rebuild war-torn Europe
o Assisted development in other nations
o The US had the greatest influence over policy for these organizations
§ Supplied funds, $7 billion
o Soviet Union was part of Brent Woods conference but refused involvement
§ Allowing the US to build economies along capitalist lines
o The Division of Europe
§ Atlantic Charter of 1941
· recognized each nation with the right to self determination and to renounce all claims to new territories
· The Allied leaders violated this by dividing occupied Europe into “spheres of influences”
· Soviet Union
o Wanted to reestablish borders in 1941
o Potsdam Conference July 1945
§ Regained and extended territory
· Most of Eastern Europe
o Portion of Poland
o Baltic Nations
o Did the USSR want all of Europe to be Communist?
§ Germany’s Future
· Allies decided to divide the nation into four occupation zones
o Each government by one Allied nation
o No agreement was made for long term plans
· France and Soviet Union opposed reunification of Germany
o Roosevelt shared the belief with the Soviets
· Truman and Churchill hoped for rebuilding Germany into a powerful counterforce against the Soviet and a good market for U.S. and Britain
· July 1946
o Americans began to have compensation from their zone to have a program of amnesty for former Nazi
· December 1946
o American, British, and French merged zones
o Soviet Union refused offer in fear of resurgence of united Germany
· U.S. envisioned a united Germany as a fortification against Soviet expansion
o The United Nations and Hopes for Collective Security
§ Dumbarton Oaks Conference
· In Washington D.C. late summer and fall of 1944
· Again in April 1945 in San Francisco
· The Allies worked to shape the United Nations
o A world organization that would handle disputes among members as well as hold back aggressors by military force if necessary
§ The United Nations
· All fifty nations that signed the UN charter participated in the General Assembly
· Five Nations served permanently on the Security Council
o United States
o Great Britain
o France
o Soviet Union
o Nationalist China
· The Security Council
o “primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security”
§ They enjoyed veto power
· UN’s Greatest Success was in Humanitarian programs
o Relief agency for Europe and Asia
§ Provided war-torn nations with billions of dollars for:
· Medical supplies
· Food
· Clothing
· UN Protects Human Rights
o High standards of human dignity is owed much to the lobbying of Eleanor Roosevelt
· Cold War
o Operated strictly with this
o Western nations allied with the US
§ Help the balance of power
§ Successfully excluded Communist China
o Polarization between East and West made negotiations settlements impossible
· The Policy of Containment
o Idea of a community of nations dissolved
o Winston Churchill
§ “an iron curtain has descended across the [European] continent”
§ Called the United States to recognize its “awe-inspiring accountability to the future”
· Act aggressively to turn back Soviet expansion
o United States committed to leadership in a struggle against the spread of communism
o The Truman Doctrine
§ Many Americans believed that FDR would have been able to prevent the tensions between the Soviet Union and the US
· His successor lacked talent in diplomacy
§ Truman liked to talk tough and act defiantly
§ February 21, 1947
· Great Britain informed the US State Department that they could no longer afford to prop up the anti-Communist government there
· Announced intention to withdraw all aid
· Truman concluded that Greece, Turkey, and the Middle East would fall under Soviet control
§ March 12, 2947
· Truman appealed for all-out resistance to a “certain ideology” (Communism) wherever it appeared in the world
§ Truman Doctrine:
· Congress approved a $400 million appropriation in aid for Greece and Turkey
o Helped the monarchy and right-wing military crush the rebel movement
§ This victory helped Truman’s popularity in the 1948 election
· “contain” communism, both home and abroad
· Outlasted the events in the Mediterranean
o US declared its right to intervene to save other nations from communism
§ February 1946:
· George F. Kennan sent an 8,000 word telegram to the State Department insisting that Soviet fanaticism made cooperation impossible
o USSR intended to extend its realm by:
§ Military means
§ Subversion within free nations
· US needed to safeguard the “Free World” by diplomatic economic, and military means (if necessary)
o Fused anticommunism and internationalism into an aggressive foreign policy
o The Marshall Plan
§ Marshall Plan:
· Sought to reduce hunger, poverty, desperation, and chaos
· Restore the confidence of the European people in the economic future of their own countries and of Europe as a whole
o Aimed to run back both socialist and Communist electoral bids for power in Europe
· Most successful postwar US diplomatic venture
· Improved the climate for a viable capitalist economy in western Europe
· Brought recipients of aid into a bilateral agreement with the US
· Introduced many Europeans to American consumer goods and lifestyle
· Drove a deeper wedge between the US and the Soviet Union
§ General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT)
· Reduced commercial barriers among member mnations and opened all to US trade and investment
· Was costly to Americans but effective
o Taking 12% of the federal budget in the first year
· Industrial production in European nations covered by the plan rose 200% between 1947 and 1952
· Deflationary programs cut wages and increased unemployment
o HOWEVER, profits soared and the standard of living improved
§ Federal Employees Loyalty and Security Program
· Executive Order 9835:
o Barred Communists and fascists from federal employment
o Outlined procedures for investigating current and prospective federal employees
§ National Security Act
· Established Department of Defense, National Security Council, and the Central Intelligence Agency
§ Smith-Mundt Act
· Launched an overseas campaign of anti-Communist propaganda
§ NSC-68
· National Security Council Paper calling for an expanded and aggressive US defense policy
o Included greater military spending and higher taxes
§ Internal Security Act
· Also known as McCarran Act and Subversive Activities Control Act
· Provided for the registration of all Communist and totalitarian groups
· Authorized the arrest of suspect persons during a national emergency
§ Psychological Strategy Board created
· Created to coordinate anti-Communist propaganda campaigns
§ Immigration and Nationality Act (McCarran Walter Immigration Act)
· Reaffirmed the national origins quota system
· Tightened immigration controls
· Barred homosexuals and people considered subversive from entering the US
o The Berlin Crisis and the Formation of NATO
§ US and Britain introduced a common currency in the western zones
§ Berlin Blockade: June 24, 1948
· Stalin halted all traffic to West Berlin
o Formally controlled by Western allies but situated deep within the Soviet occupied zone
· Created a crisis as well as an opportunity for the Truman administration to test itself
§ US began an around-the-clock airlift of historic proportions
· Royal Air Force
· Operation Vittles
o Delivered nearly 2 million tons of supplies to West Berliners
§ Soviet Union finally lifted the blockade in May 1949
· Federal Republic of West Germany
o Cleared the way for the Western powers to merge their occupation zones into a single nation
§ German Democratic Republic
· USSR countered in their sector
§ Berlin crisis made a US led military alliance against the USSR attractive to western European nations
§ North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
· April 1949
· Included 10 European nations, US, & Canada
· A mutual defense pact in which “an armed attack against one or more of them…shall be considered an attack against them all”
· Complemented the Marchall Plan
o Strengthened economic ties among the member nations by keeping “the Russians out, the Americans in, and the Germans down”
· Deepened divisions between eastern and western Europe
o Permanent military mobilization on both side inevitable
§ Congress approved $1.3 billion in military aid
· Involved the creation of US Army bases and the deployment of American troops abroad
§ Robert A. Taft
· Warned that the US could not afford to police all Europe without sidetracking domestic policies and undercutting the UN
§ Opinion polls revealed strong support for Truman’s line against the Soviets
§ When NATO extended membership to West Germany, the Soviet Union created the Warsaw Pact, which included East Germany
· Division of East and West was complete
o Atomic diplomacy
§ Truman invested his faith in the US monopoly of atomic weapons
· US began to build atomic stockpiles
· Conducted test s on the Bikini Islands in the Pacific
· By 1950, the US “had a stockpile capable of somewhat more than reproducing World War II in a single day”
§ US military analysts estimated it would take the USSR 3-10 years to produce an atomic bomb
· Proved wrong in 1949 when the Soviet Union tested an atomic bomb
§ Within a few years...
· Both the US and the Soviet Union had tested hydrogen bombs a thousand times more powerful than the weapons dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki
§ US and Soviet Union were now firmly locked into the Cold War
· Nuclear arms race imperiled their futures
· Diverted their economics
· Fostered fears of impending doom
§ Prospects of global peace had disappeared
· The world had again divided into hostile camps
· Cold War Liberalism
o Truman portrayed himself as a fighter against all challengers
§ Wanted to enlarge the New Deal
· Settled on a modest agenda to promote social welfare and an anti-Communist policy
§ Cold war liberalism
· Domestic and foreign policy became more entangled
o “To Err is Truman”
§ Harry Truman rated lower in public approval than any 20th century president EXCEPT Herbert Hoover
· Responsibility of reestablishing peacetime conditions overwhelmed Truman’s administration
§ From wartime to peacetime economy…
· President faced millions of consumers that were tired of rationing
o Eager to spend their wartime savings
o Rapidly outran supply which fueled inflation and created a huge black market
· Truman asked Congress to extend wartime price controls
o Republicans (backed by business leaders) refused and cut back the powers of the OPA
§ Prices kept skyrocketing
§ 1945-1946
· Homemakers protested rising prices by boycotting
· Industrial workers struck in large numbers
· Employers slashed wages or at least held them steady
o Workers wanted a bigger cut of the huge war profits they heard about
· Nearly 4.6 million workers on picket line
§ May 1946
· Truman suggested to draft striking railroad workers into the army
o Conservative Senate denied this plan
§ Congress defeated most of Truman’s ideas to revive the New Deal
§ One week after Japan’s surrender:
· President introduced a 21 point program which included:
o Greater unemployment compensation
o Higher minimum wages
o Housing assistance
o Later added proposals for national health insurance & atomic energy legislation
§ Congress turned back most of the bills
o Passed the Employment Act of 1946
§ Created a new executive body
· The Council of Economic Advisers
o Conferred with the president and formulated policies for maintaining employment, production, and purchasing power
o Did not include funding mechanisms to guarantee full employment
§ By 1946 Truman’s popularity went downhill
· Republicans began asking voters, “Had enough?”
· Gave Republicans majorities in both houses of Congress and in the state capitals
· Repudiation of Roosevelt
o Passed an amendment to the Constitution establishing a two-term limit for the presidency
§ Republicans dominant for the first time since 1931
· Prepared counteroffensive against the New Deal
o Attack on organized labor
o Unions had reached a peak in size
§ Membership topping 15 million
§ Encompassing 40% of wage earners
· “labor had gone too far”
o Republican-dominated Eightieth Congress aimed to outlaw many practices approved by the Wagner Act of 1935
§ Taft-Hartley Act (Labor-Management Relations Act of 1947)
· Brought an end to…
o Closed shop
o Secondary boycott
o Use of union dues for political activities
· Mandated an eighty day cooling off period in case of strikes affecting national safety or health
· Required all union officials to swear under oath that they were not Communists
o Abridged freedoms ordinarily guaranteed by the First Amendment
· Unions that refused to cooperate were denied the services of the National Labor Relations Board
o Arbitrated strikes and issued credentials to unions
§ Truman regained some support when he vetoed the Taft-Hartley Act
· It would “conflict with important principles of our democratic society”
· Congress overrode his veto
· The 1948 Election
o By 1946, Truman had forced out advisers who had been the social planners of the New Deals
§ Believed some of Roosevelt’s advisers to have been “crackpots and lunatic fringe”
§ Fired secretary of commerce Henry Wallace for advocating a more conciliatory policy toward the Soviet Union
· Refused to retreat
· Made plans to run against Truman for the presidency
· Pledged to expand New Deal programs by moving bolding to establish full employment, racial equality, and stronger labor unions
· Promoted peace with the Soviet Union
· As 1948 election approached, Wallace appeared viable candidate for the New Progressive Party
o Then…Truman accused him of being a tool of Communists
o Truman had to contend with Democrats defecting from the Right
§ At the party convention, Democrats endorsed a civil rights platform that called on Congress to “wipe out discrimination”
· Proposed by liberal Minneapolis mayor Hubert Humphrey
· Plank almost passed
o Then the bulk of the conservative southern delegation bolted
§ Southern Democrats then endorsed the States’ Rights (Dixiecrat) ticket
· Headed by Governor Thurmond of South Carolina that was known for having racist views
o As the South began to seem a lost cause to Truman, Republicans Thomas Dewey appeared to be a tough opponent for Truman in the coming election
o Truman set to reposition himself by discrediting congressional Republicans
§ Proposed bold programs calling for federal funds for education and new housing and a national program of medical insurance
§ Also called a reluctant Congress back for a special session
· Truman then signed two executive orders
o One integrated the federal workforce
o Another integrated the US armed forces
§ Then began to hammer away at the Republican controlled “do-nothing Congress”
o “Give ‘em Hell Harry”
§ Campaigned vigorously and garnered lots of grassroots support
§ Fear of the Republicans won back the bulk of organized labor
§ Recognition of the new State or Israel (1948) helped prevent the defection of many liberal Jewish voters from Democratic ranks
§ Success of the Berlin airlift also buoyed Truman’s popularity
§ By the election, Truman had deprived Wallace of almost all his liberal support and had gone far in reviving the New Deal coalition
o On the other hand, Dewey was expected to coast to victory
o Truman won the popular vote by a margin of 5% and trounced Dewey in the electoral college 303 to 189
§ Democrats again had majorities in both houses of Congress
o However, Truman had hit his highest point of popularity and was about to begin a steady downfall
· The Fair Deal
o “Every segment of our population and every individual his a right to expect from our Government a fair deal” ~Truman (1949)
o The return of Democratic congressional majorities, he hoped, would enable him to translate campaign promises into concrete legislative achievements and expand the New Deal
§ However, a powerful block of conservative southern Democrats and Midwestern Republicans turned back his domestic agenda
o Truman broke no new ground
§ Congress passed a National Housing Act (1949)
· Promoted federally funded construction of low income housing
· Raised the minimum wage
· Expanded the Social Security Program to cover an additional 10 million people
§ Otherwise, Truman made little other impacts
o Truman and other congressional liberals introduced a variety of bills
§ Weaken southern segregationism (federal antilynching laws)
§ Outlaw the poll tax
§ Prohibit discrimination in interstate transportation
§ *these measures were defeated by southern led filibusters*
o Proposals to create a national health insurance plan, provide federal aid for education, and repeal or modify Taft-Hartley remained bottled up in committees
o Truman managed best to lay out basic principles of cold war liberalism
§ Toned down the rhetoric of economic equality espoused by the visionary wing of the Roosevelt coalition
§ Fair Deals exalted economic growth, not the reapportionment of wealth or political power, as the proper mechanism for ensuring social harmony and national welfare
§ The administration insisted on an ambitious program of expanded foreign trade while relying on the government to encourage high levels of productivity at home
§ Truman further reshaped liberalism by making anticommunism a key in both foreign and domestic agendas
· The Cold War at Home
o Republican senator McCarthy claimed to have in his possession a list of Communists secretly serving in government agencies
o By this time, the Communist Party of the USA was losing ground
o In the earliest days of the cold war, anticommunism already occupied the center stage of domestic policies
§ FBI director Hoover characteristically warned Americans not to be complacent in the face of low number of Communists
o The federal government with the help of the media led a campaign to find in the threat of communism a rationale for the massive recording of its operation and the quieting of the voices of dissent
o Far reaching quest for security led to a greater concentration of power in government
· Also promised to lead the “free world” by allowing many of their own rights to be circumscribed
o Imperative of national security destroyed old0fashioned isolation
§ Forced the US into international alliances such as NATO and into the role of world leader
§ Truman successfully argued that national security demanded a substantial increase in the size of the federal government
· Both military and surveillance
§ Security measures were required to keep the nation in a steady state of preparedness, readily justified during wartime, and extended into peacetime
o National Security Act of 1947
§ Laid the foundation for expansion for national security
§ Act established the Department of Defense and the National Security Council (NSC) to administer and coordinate defense policies and advise the president
§ Department of Defense replaced the War Department and untied the armed forces (army, navy, and air force) under the jurisdiction of a single secretary with cabinet-level status
· The distinction between citizen and soldier blurred
· The ties between the armed forces and the State Department grew closer as former military officers began to fill State Department and diplomatic corps positions
§ The act created the National Security Resources Board (NSRB)
· Coordinated plans throughout the government “in the event of a war”
§ The Department of Defense in alliance with the NSRB became the principal sponsor of scientific research during the first ten years of the cold war
§ Established the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
o The Loyalty-Security Program
§ National security required increased surveillance at home
§ Within two weeks of the Truman Doctrine, Truman signed Executive Order 9835 (1947)
· Established a loyalty program for all federal employees
· The Federal Employees Loyalty and Security Program established a political test for federal employment and outlined procedures for investigating current and prospective federal employees
o The Red Scare in Hollywood
§ Anti-Communist Democratic representative Martin Dies of Texas chaired a congressional committee on “un-American activities”
· A few years later, J. Thomas of New Jersey directed the committee to investigate supposed Communist infiltration of the movie industry
§ House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC)
· Had the power to subpoena witnesses and compel them to answer all questions of face contempt of Congress charges
· Small, but prominent minority refused to cooperate with HUAC
known as “unfriendly witnesses”
· Declined to testify by claiming freedom and speech
· Several received prison sentences
§ Hollywood studios refused to employ anyone who refused to cooperate with HUAC
· Resulted in a blacklist that remained in effect until the 1960s
o Spy Cases
§ Hiss was president of Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and a former member of FDR’s State Department
· Charged as a fellow Communist in the Washington underground during the 1930s
· Convicted of perjury and received a 5 year prison term
· Hiss was released two years later
§ Many Democrats including Truman at first dismissed the allegations against Hiss
§ The most dramatic spy case involved Julius Rosenberg
· Former government engineer
· Accused of stealing and plotting to convey atomic secrets to Soviet agents during WWII
· Government had a weak case
· Found guilty of conspiring to commit espionage
· Press showed no sympathy, but convictions were largely protested in the US and abroad
· McCarthyism
o Joseph R. McCarthy
§ Republican senator of Wisconsin
§ Announced that the US had been sold out by the “traitorous actions” of men holding important positions in the federal government
§ Conspiracy theory; charging 205 card-carrying Communists who were working in the State Department
§ But he refused to reveal names
o Investigations uncovered not a single Communist in the State Department
§ However, there was an offensive against New Deal Democrats and the Truman administration for failing to defend national security
o McCarthyism
§ The entire campaign to silence critics of the cold war
o Communism seemed to many Americans to be much more than a military threat
§ “Better Dead Than Red”
§ People proclaimed themselves ready for atomic warfare
o Civil rights organizations faced the worst persecution since the 1920s
§ Destruction of the Civil Rights Congress and the Negro Youth Council
§ Public Figures lost popularity
· W. E. B. Du Bois
· Paul Robeson
o Anti-Communist rhetoric cloaked deep fears about changing sexual mores
§ John Peurify
· Deputy under-secretary
§ “purge of the perverts”
· Firing of up to sixty homosexuals per month
· Dishonorable discharge of up to 2,000 per year
o McCarthy’s rhetoric was a ruthless attempt to gain power and fame by exploiting cold war fears
o But he brought on his own demise
§ In 1954 he accused several high-ranking officers in the Army of plotting subversion
§ He failed to prove his wild charges, and in the glare of television cameras he appeared deranged.
§ The media lost interest in his, McCarthy became an alcoholic, and he died three years later
· Cold War Culture
o Cold War Culture
§ The cold war did not necessarily depend on military confrontation; nor was it defined exclusively by a quest for economic supremacy
§ It was a contest of values
o An Anxious Mood
§ Manny Americans feared an economic backslide
· If war production had ended the hardships of the Great Depression, how would the economy fare in peacetime
§ Peace seemed precarious
· President Truman himself suggested that WW III appeared inevitable
· “Permanent alert”
§ Anxieties by the cold war surfaced major themes in popular culture
· The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
· The feeling of community shared with wartime buddies dissipated, leaving only a profound sense of loneliness
§ The genre of film noir deepened the mood into an aesthetic
§ Movies that featured stories of ruthless fate and betrayal
· Out of the Past
· Detour
· They Live by Night
· Feelings of frustration and loss of control came alive in tough, cynical characters
§ Plays and novels also described alienation and anxiety in vivid terms
· Arthur Miller
o Death of a Salesman (1949)
o An exacting portrait of self-destructive individualism
· J. D. Salinger
o Catcher in the Rye (1951)
§ The mental anguish of a teenage boy estranged from the crass materialism of his parents
§ Cold war anxiety manifested itself in a flurry of UFO sightings
· Americans imagined Communist-like invasions from outer space
· Or they hoped that superior creatures might arrive to show the way to world peace
· The Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
· The Family As Bulwark
o Postwar prosperity helped to strengthen the ideal of domesticity
§ Rush to marriage and parenthood
o The ultimate symbol of postwar prosperity was the new home in the suburbs
o Atomic Age
§ Boom in real estate with country properties located at least fifty miles outside of major cities
§ Many suburbanites built underground shelters made of steel-reinforced concrete and outfitted with provisions to maintain a family for several weeks after an atomic explosion
o Baby boom
§ Young couples were marrying younger and producing more children than at any time in the past century
§ The birthrate continued to grow at a record pace, peaking in 1957
o Life magazine
§ “The year 1946 finds the U.S. on the threshold of marvels, ranging from runless stockings and shineless serge suits to jet-propelled airplanes that will flash across the country in just a little less than the speed of sound.”
o By 1950, the majority of Americans could own consumer durables
o The baby boom and high rates of consumer spending encouraged a major change in the middle-class family
§ Women wished to continue full-time employment
§ By 1952, 2 million more wives worked than during the war
§ But they had to get minimum-wage jobs
· Clerical work
· Health care
· Education
· Restaurant
· Hotel
· Retail services
§ Older women worked because they had come to value a job for its own sake
§ Younger women often worked for reasons of “economic necessity”
· To maintain a middle-class standard of living that now required more than one income
§ But popular opinion and expert advice urged women to return to their homes
o Modern Woman: The Lost Sex (1947)
§ Attributed the “super-jittery age in which we live” to women’s abandonment of the home to pursue careers
§ Proposed federally funded psychotherapy to readjust women to their housewifely roles
o Articles in popular magazines, television shows, and high-profile experts chimed in with similar messages
§ Talcott Parsons
· DISTINGUISHED Harvard sociologist
· Delineated the parameters of the “democratic” family
o Husbands served as breadwinners while wives, “the emotional hub of the family,” stayed home to care for their families
o Patterns of women’s higher education reflected this conservative trend
§ G.I. Bill
· Huge upsurge in male enrollment in college
· Women represented 40% of all college grads in 1940 but only 25% a decade later
o “American Woman’s Dilemma”
§ How could women comfortably take part in a world beyond the home and at the same time heed the advice of FBI director Hoover who told the nation’s women to fight “the twin enemies of freedom – crime and communism” by being homemakers and mothers?
· Military-Industrial Communities in the West
o Trans-Mississippi West most impacted by cold war
o WWII spending stimulated economy in the west
§ Caused mass migration of people looking for jobs in industry
o Successful peacetime production
§ Los Angeles
· 1/8 all new businesses in nation
o Cold war boosted western economy
§ Revived defense funding
§ Department of Defense and other private corporations invested billions of dollars in research and development of military equipment
o Federal government poured defense money into California
§ 10% of entire military budget
§ California’s economic growth rate from 1949 to 1952 exceeded the country’s
§ 40% from manufacture of aircrafts
§ 1/3 of all workers in Los Angeles were employed in defense industries
· Mostly aerospace
§ Concentration on defense greater in LA suburbs
· Orange County became major producer of communication equipment
· Cities like San Francisco Bay, Sunnyvale, Mountain View, and San Jose also prospered economically and in technology
o Cold war pumped new life into grown communities
§ Centers for Manhattan Project
· Created many jobs in the construction of cold war nuclear arsenal
o More jobs than for the construction of the WWII atomic bombs
· Hanford, Washington
· Los Alamos, New Mexico
o Grew into fast pace city in 30 years
o Had one of the highest population densities in the state
o Still secretive and restrictive
o Government still in charge of architecture
§ Espanola Valley, New Mexico
· Population 90% Hispanic and Native American
· Growing economy
· Center of Waste Isolation Pilot Project
o Dump site of laboratory’s waste
§ Alamogordo, New Mexico
· 200% increase in population during first decade of cold war
· Located next to White Sands Missile Range and Holloman Air Force Base
o New communities resulted from growth of US military bases and training camps
§ Hospitals and supply depots
· Some lasted and expanded until virtual warfare end of cold war
§ Twenty western bases reopened from 1950 to 1953
§ California and Texas become home to many military personnel
§ Land availability made the west more attractive
· Especially to military planners
o White Sands Missile Range in New Mexican Desert
o Developments welcomed by politicians, real estate agents, and merchants
§ Sources of revenue and employment
o Costs for unplanned growth
§ Government money for highways to accommodate for new population
· Did nothing for public transportation
§ Traffic congestion, air pollution, and limited water and energy resources
§ Environmental degradation in communities near nuclear weapons testing grounds
· Also increased cancer rates later on
· Zeal for Democracy
o Revitalized patriotism from WWII
§ Pledging allegiance to flag became more meaningful
§ Children taught to avoid saluting
· Thought to be similar to Nazi hand-raising
· Right hand over heart instead
§ Flag Day became more important
o Americans chastised for “national apathy” by organizations
§ Freedoms Foundation of Valley Forge
· Wanted to defend “the American way”
§ American Heritage Foundation
· Founded in 1947
§ American Legion
§ Chamber of Commerce
§ Other local businesses and veterans groups
o “Democracy Beats Communism” Week
§ Supported by Junior Chamber of Commerce of Kansas City in 1948 election year
§ Speakers explained American democratic virtues over Soviet slavery
· Superiority of free enterprise over state-controlled economy
· 1 in 5 Americans have a phone while 1 in 188 Russians had a phone
§ “Torch of Freedom” parade
· Carried message to all parts of Kansas City
o American Legion of Mosinee, Wisconsin
§ Used political theatre to demonstrate American virtues
§ Orchestrated imaginary Communist coup
§ May Day 1950
· Traditional Communist holiday
· “Communist agents” forced mayor out of his home
o Announced Council of People’s Commissars had taken over local government
· Similar things happened to chief of police
· Restaurants served Soviet fare
o Black bread, potato soup, and coffee
· Mosinee Times printed special edition on pink paper with masthead “Red Star”
· All property taken over by states and all rights were annulled
· All adults had to work four extra hours without compensation
· Residents rallied in “Red Square” and declared an end to Communist rule
· Covered in the media as “Day Under Communism”
o “Freedom Train”
§ Planned by Attorney General Tom Clark
§ American Heritage Foundation
§ Funded by private donors
§ Supported by President Truman
§ Carried copies of the Bill of Rights and the Constitution to various cities
§ About 8,500 people went to see patriotic displays each day
§ Songwriter Irving Berlin said “you’ll find a precious freight”
o Patriotic messages in public education
§ Truman told teachers to “strengthen national security through education”
· Lesson plans designed to show the superiority of America
§ “Zeal for Democracy”
· Launched in 1947 by the federal Office of Education
· Implemented by school boards across the nation
· Propaganda
o Promote and strengthen democratic thinking
§ Children taught to duck and cover in case of surprise nuclear attack from the Soviets
o Protest of cold war programs
§ Langston Hughes
· Hoped Freedom Train would not carry a Jim Crow car
§ Scholars claimed infringement of academic freedom
§ Many were reluctant to express contrary ideas
Stalemate for the Democrats
· United States and Soviet Union did not think they would come close to a war
o Communists in China seized power in 1949
§ “loss of China”
o Communists threatened to take Korea in June 1950
§ Americans sanctioned police action in Korea
· 1.8 million Americans sent to war with no victory in sight
§ Stalemate in Korea
o Proved political suicide to Truman
· The “Loss” of China
o US secured Japan as stabilizing force in Asia after WWII
o General Douglas MacArthur
§ Created interim government and reconstruction program
· Included
o Creation of independent trade unions
o Abolition of contract marriages
o Granting of woman suffrage
o Sweeping demilitarization
o Constitutional democracy that barred Communists from all posts
§ Americans tried to recreate nation’s economy with capital ideas
· Integrate Japan into an anti-Soviet bloc
o Japan housed military bases to hold US troops and weapons close to Soviet Union
o Difficult situation in China
§ Pro-Western Nationalist government of Jiang Jieshi collapsed after civil war
· US sent aid to unpopular government since end of WWII
· Warned Jiang that government would fall without reforms
· Wanted Jiang to accept a coalition government
§ Jiang’s troops forced to surrender to C0mmunists
· Led by Mao Zedong
o Had support of Chinese countryside
§ 85% of population
· Surrendered entire China mainland
§ Withdrew to Formosa (Taiwan)
§ Established People’s Republic of China (PRC) on October 1, 1949
o Fall of China created uproar in United States
§ Asia First wing of Republican Party
· Envisioned Far East as prime site for US trade and investment
· Blamed Truman administration for “loss” of China
§ Worse for Truman
· USSR and PRC formed alliance in February 1950
· Called Democrats “party of treason”
The Korean War
· Allies divided the small peninsula of Korea at the 38th parallel
· They hoped to reunite the Korean Government under its own government
o The line between the north and the south hardened
§ Syngman Rhee(The Republic of Korea)
§ Soviet Union sponsored North Korea Kim II Sung
· June 25, 1950 North Korea attacks South Korea
o Truman asks the UN council to send troops to South Korea
o The UN council agrees but only because the soviet delegate was not present
o Truman send troops to North Korea under General Douglas Macarthur
· Seoul the capital city of South Korea falls to the communist North Korea
o Truman reacts and tells the authorizes General Macarthur for an amphibious invasion
o On September 15,1960 The general lands on Inchon and halts the North Koreans
o October 1960 UN troops take back South Korea
· Truman wanted more than to get back South Korea
o Wanted to show that the democrats were not soft on communism
o Wanted to push the communists behind the 38th parallel and reunite the nation
o Macarthur told Truman he would win with ease at a conference on Wake Island.
· China warned the Americans that any attempt to cross the 38th parallel would be considered a threat to national security
o MacArthur attacked but was surprised
o The Chinese attacked in human waves and crushed MacArthur’s force
o The Chinese also blockaded the Chinese coast
§ These actions would eventually lead to the Chinese-American war
· April 10,1951
· Truman dismissed MacArthur for insubordination and other unauthorized activates
I. The Price of National Security
· Korean War had profound implications for the use of executive power
o Truman by passed congressional authority by instituting a peacetime draft in 1948 and ordering American troops into Korea
o Taft called the Truman’s actions “a complete usurpation” of democratic checks and balances
§ Taft charged Truman with transforming his office into an “imperial presidency.”
§ Truman avoided the criticisms and their constitutional implications by referring to the military deployment as unsanctioned “police action”
· NSC-68
o President derived his authority
o Paper released to Truman by the National Security Council Act in April 1950
o reinterpreted both the basic policy of containment and decision making at the highest levels of government
o pledged the US to contain communism and take a further step back to drive communist influence wherever it appeared
§ “foster the seeds of destruction within the Soviet Union”
o Specified that American citizens must be willing to make sacrifices
o Articulated the intellectual and psychological rationale behind US national security policies for the next forty years
· Truman fulfilled the prescriptions of NSC-68 after the outbreak of the Korean War
o Agreed to its mandate for rapid and permanent military build uo
o Defense budget quadrupled in 1953
§ $13.5 billion to more than $52 billion
o US army grown six times its size at the beginning of the conflict
§ Went up to $13.5 billion in 1953
o Federal government accelerated the development conventional and nonconventional weapons in 1953
§ H-bomb was tested in November 1952
· President Truman had taken steps to transform the OWI into a peacetime program that operated a smaller budget
o By 1948, Congress doubled the budget for such programming,
§ granted $3 million to revive the Voice of America
§ Voice of America- short-wave internatiofnal radio program
o Funded the development of film, print media, cultural exchange programs
o Created a foundation to promote anti-Communist propaganda throughout the world
o By mid-1950, the immediate goal was the “reorientation” of North Korea toward the Free World
· Government’s vast “information programs” were designed to literate countries already taken under communist rule by causing disaffection among the people
o Campaign of Truth 1951
o Reached 53 nations
o Voice of America broadcasted anti-communist programming in 45 languages
· Project Troy
o Initially designed by professors from Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
o Aimed to penetrate the Iron Curtain
§ Used air balloons to distribute leaflets and cheap American goods, such as playing cards and plastic chess sets
o Army pilots joined the effort dropping leaflets on North Korean troops
o On April 4, 1951, President Truman signed the order that created Psychological strategy Board to coordinate various operations aimed to rollback Soviet power
§ Requested $155 million to fund these programs but he managed to only get $85 million
o Korean War cost the US approximately$100 billion
§ inaugurated an era of huge deficits in the federal budget
§ massive national debt but did nothing to improve the case for rolling back communism
o settlement was reached in which North Korea and South Korea occupied almost the same territory as when the war began
o approximately 54 thousand Americans died in Korea
§ north Koreans and Chinese lost well over 2 million people
o UN troops had employed carpet booming and napalm
§ Destroyed most of their housing and food supplies in both Korea’s
§ Majority of people killed were women and children
§ Nearly 1 million Koreans were left homeless
o Korean War did much to establish ominous trade by contrasting the Communist North with the “democratic” south
§ Casted the conflict in the ideological terms of the cold war
o MacArthur’s early victories had promised the liberation of North Korea and even the eventual disintegration of the Soviet and Chinese regimes
· Americans recognized that Truman had pledged the US to defend a corrupt government and a brutal dictator
o Korean War inspired M*A*S*H
§ Adapted for television from film from written by Hollywood screen writer Ring Lardner Jr.
o Ring Lardner Jr.
§ “unfriendly witness” before HUAC
§ Jailed during Korean War for contempt of congress
· The Korean War was only one burning issue during the election campaign of 152
o Truman’s popularity had wavered continually since he took office in 1945
§ Sunk to an all time low in the early 1950’s after he dismissed MacArthur as commander of the UN troops in Korea
§ Congress received many letters and telegrams calling for Truman’s impeachment
· Dissatisfaction with Truman increased
o The Asia First lobby argued that if the president had acted more aggressively to turn back communism in China, the “limited war” in Korea would not have been necessary
o Accusations in large scale corruption
o Newspaper reported that several agencies had been dealing in 5 percent kickbacks for government contracts
o 1952- Guallup poll showed the president’s approval for rating 23 percent
· Truman turned to the governor of Illinois, Adlai E. Stevenson Jr.
o Admired his honestly and intelligence
o Offered no solutions to the conflict in Korea
· Republicans made the most of the Democrat’s dilemma
o K1C2
§ Korea, Communism, and Corruption
§ Took steady aim at the Truman Administration
· Richard Nixon
o Eisenhower’s vice president
o Waged a relentless and defamatory attack on Stevenson
o Called him an Adlai the Appeaser”
· Republic Campaign
o Nixon had been caught accepting personal gifts from wealthy benefactors
§ Pleading his case on television, admitting he accepted one gift, a puppy.
§ “the Poor Richard Show”, defused the scandal without answering the most important charges
· Eisenhower continued to enchant the voters to a peace candidate
o Ten days before the election he announced “I shall go to Korea” to settle the war.
o Received 55 percent of the vote and carried thirty nine states
o Won the popular vote in much of the south and in the northern cities of New York, Boston, and Cleveland
o Republicans regained narrow control of congress
o The New Deal coalition of ethnic and black voters, labor, northern liberals, and southern conservatives no longer commanded a majority
