Chapter+26-Stephanie+Dunn

STEPHANIE'S PAGE!!!!!!!!!

1) Postwar America A) 15 million soldiers, sailors, and marines returned to US B) GI Bill-help for vets I) Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944 (1) AKA-GI Bill of Rights (2) continued education at gov’t expense (3) postwar boom of higher education (4) vets received $16 billion in low-interest loans for homes C) Baby Boom I) 1945-1960 II) 50 million new babies III) by 1960-1/3 of all married women worked outside of the house D) Suburban Growth I) William J. Levitt (1) led development of postwar suburbia (2) built Levittownà17,000 mass produced, low $ homes in Long Island II) Low interest rates on mortgages (1) Gov’t insured (2) tax deductible III) led to disaster for cities (1) By 1960s cities became increasingly poor and racially divided E) Rise of the Sunbelt I) Many Americans decided to move to Sunbelt states (1) Florida to California II) helped shift industry, people, and political power to the South and West 2) Postwar Politics A) Harry Truman replaced Henry Wallace as FDR’s VP in 1944 election I) Truman became President in April 1945 after FDR’s death B) Economic Program and Civil Rights I) Employment Act of 1946 (1) created the Council of Economic Advisers to council the president and Congress on means of promoting national economic welfare II) Inflation (1) Truman asked Congress to continue price controls to hold inflation in check (2) instead they relaxed control of Office of Price Administration (3) inflation rate of almost 25% in 1st year and a half of peace III) Strikes (1) workers/unions wanted higher wages (2) over 4.5 million workers went on strike in 1946 (3) strikes by railroad/mine workers threatened national safety (4) Truman seized the mines (5) used soldiers to keep mines operating (6) strike by United Mine Workers Union IV) Civil rights (1) established Committee on Civil Rights in 1946 (2) strengthened civil rights division of Justice Department (3) ordered end of Racial Discrimination in departments of fed. Gov’t and all 3 branches of armed forces (4) Truman urged Congress to create a fair Employment Practices Commission to stop employers from discriminating against hiring African Americans, but Southern Democrats blocked the legislation C) Republican control of the 18th Congress I) 22nd Amendment (1) made a limit of 2 terms in office for president (2) made in reaction to Roosevelt’s 4 terms II) Taft-Hartley Act (1947) (1) outlawed the closed shop (2) permitted states to outlaw the Union shop (3) outlawed secondary boycotts (4) gave president power to invoke an 80 day cooling off period before a strike endangering national security can be called D) The Election of 1948 I) Liberal Democrats formed a Progressive party (1) nominated Henry Wallace II) Southern Democrats formed the States’ Rights Party (1) aka-the Dixiecrats (2) nominated J. Strom Thurmond of South Carolina III) Republicans nominated New York Governor Thomas E. Dewey IV) Truman ran for President again and won E) The Fair Deal I) Truman launched a reform program called the Fair Deal II) 1949-Urged Congress to enact: (1) national health care insurance (2) federal aid for education (3) funds for public housing (4) civil rights legislation (5) a new Farm Program III) Conservatives blocked all except for increase in minimum wage(40 to 75 cents per hour) (1) also allowed inclusion of more workers under social security IV) most of Fair Deal was defeated because of: (1) Truman’s political conflicts w/ Congress (2) pressing foreign policy concerns of Cold War 4) Containment in Europe A) The Truman Doctrine I) implemented a containment policy in response to: (1) a Communist led uprising against gov’t in Greece (2) Soviet demands for control of Turkey’s Dardanelles II) the president asked congress for $400 million in economic/military aid in March 1947 III) gained bipartisan support for Republicans/Democrats in Congress B) The Marshall Plan I) June 1947 (1) George Marshall outlined an extensive program of US economic aid to help nations in Europe II) December (1) Truman submitted a $17 billion European Recovery Program to Congress III) 1948 (1) $12 million in aid was approved IV) Effects (1) US dollars helped Western Europe achieve self-sustaining growth by 1950’s (2) ended any threat of Communist political success in the region (3) increased US exports to Europe (4) deepened rift between non-communist west/communist East C) The Berlin Airlift-11 month blockade I) June 1948 (1) soviets cut off all access by land to Germany II) Truman ordered an airlift to West Berlin III) Truman sent 60 bombers capable of carrying atomic bombs to bases in England IV) May 1949 (1) soviets opened up highways to Berlin D) Created two Germanies I) the Federal Republic of Germany (1) west Germany-US ally II) the German Democratic Republic (1) East Germany -Soviet satellite E) NATO and National Security I) National Security Act (1947) (1) a centralized department of defense to coordinate operations of the Army, Navy, and Air force (2) creation of the National Security Council (NSC) to coordinate foreign policy in Cold War (3) creation of CIA to employ spies to gather info on foreign gov’ts (4) 1948-Selective Service System/peacetime draft instituted II) Atomic weapons (1) Soviet Union and US enter into an arms race (2) from 1945 to 1949 US was only country with the atomic bomb (3) US developed long-range bombers for delivering atomic bombs (4) Soviets tested 1st atomic bomb in fall of 1949 (5) Truman ordered the creation of a more powerful bomb, the A- bomb, and the H-bomb III) National Security Council recommended: (1) quadrupled US government defense spending to 20% of GNP (2) form alliances with non-Communist Countries around World (3) Convinced America that an arms build up was necessary for national defense IV) Evaluating Us Policy (1) Critics of NATO accused Truman of initiating an arms race (2) Soviet Union collapsed in 1991 5) Cold War in Asia A) Japan I) Japan was solely under the control of the US II) General Douglass MacArthur took control of reconstruction of Japan III) 7 Japanese generals were tried and executed IV) the new constitution set up a parliamentary democracy in May 1947 V) Japan depended on US military protection VI) US-Japanese Security treaty (1) occupation of Japan ended in 1951 w/ signing of a peace treaty (2) Japan agreed to surrender its claims to Korea and island in the Pacific VII) Second treaty-1951 (1) ended formal occupation of Japan (2) provided for US troops to remain in military bases in Japan for their protection against communism VIII) Japan became a strong ally/prospered under American shield B) The Philippines and the pacific I) July 4, 1946 (1) Philippines became an independent republic II) US retained naval/air bases there throughout the Cold War C) China I) US policy (1) sent George Marshall to China in 1946 to negotiate an end to civil war (2) 1948-Congress gave $400 million to Nationalist government II) Two Chinas (1) all of mainland China was communist (2) only Taiwan was left to Nationalists D) The Korean War I) Invasion (1) June 25, 1950-North Korean army invaded South Korea (2) UN sent in troops from different countries to help South Korea (3) Truman didn’t declare war-instead he called it a “police action” II) US lost to North Korea (1) the worst defeat in US military history III) Armistice (1) war stalemated along a front just north of the 38th parallel (2) more than 54,000 Americans died in Korea IV) Political consequences (1) Truman’s containment policy stopped Communist aggression in Korea (2) created a new jet bomber (3) more US troops were sent overseas 6) The Second Red Scare A) Security and Civil Rights I) Prosecutions under the Smith Act (1) leaders of American Communist party jailed for advocating the overthrow of the US Gov’t (2) Dennis et al v. US (1951) -Supreme Court upheld constitutionality of Smith Act(1898) -made it illegal to advocate/teach the overthrow of gov’t II) McCarran Internal Security Act (1950) (1) made it illegal to advocate/support establishment of a totalitarian gov’t (2) restricted employment/travel of Communist front organizations (3) authorized creation of detention camps for subversives III) House of Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC)-1939 (1) reactivated to find Communists (2) American Civil Liberties Union argued that 1st Amendment protected free expression of unpopular political views/membership in political groups B) Espionage Cases I) Hiss Case-Alger Hiss (1) Whittaker Chambers was a witness for HUAC (2) convicted of perjury and sent to prison in 1950 II) Rosenberg case-Julius and Ethel Rosenberg (1) Rosenbergs found guilty of treason and executed in 1953 C) The Rise of Joseph McCarthy I) McCarty’s tactics (1) used unsupported accusations about Communists in gov’t to keep media focus in himself and to discredit Truman administration II) Army-McCarthy hearings (1) McCarthy’s tactics were exposed on television in 1954 D) Truman in retirement I) Truman went back to Missouri (1) called it his “promotion”