Unit 1:
World War II
Section 1:
Rise of Dictatorships
p.2
Section 2:
Europe Goes to War
p.7
Section 3:
Japan Builds an Empire
p.11
Section 4:
America: From Isolation to War
p.14
Section 5:
Mobilization
p.17
Section 6:
The War in Europe
p.21
Section 7:
Genocide
p.27
Section 8:
Holocaust
p.29
Section 9:
The War in the Pacific
p.33
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Section 1: Rise of Dictatorships
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READING FOCUS
• How did Stalin change the government and the economy of the Soviet Union?
• What were the origins and goals of the dictatorships of the Soviet Union, Italy, and Germany in the
1920s and 1930s?
• How did Hitler rise to power in Germany?
• What were the causes and results of the Spanish Civil War?
Setting the Scene
In September 1936, German dictator Adolf Hitler called hundreds of thousands of his followers to a week-long
rally in the German city of Nuremberg. Amid waving red banners and circling searchlights, Hitler led the
audience of 180,000 in a "holy oath" to Germany.
Grand spectacles like the Nuremberg Party Rally were essential to Hitler's totalitarian rule. A totalitarian
government exerts total control over a nation. It dominates every aspect of life, using terror to suppress individual
rights and silence all forms of opposition. The pride and unity of the Nuremberg rally hid the fact that people who
disagreed with Hitler were silenced, beaten, or killed. Hitler's power rested on the destruction of the individual.
Hitler and Italy's Benito Mussolini governed by a philosophy called fascism. Fascism emphasizes the importance
of the nation or an ethnic group and the supreme authority of the leader. In the Soviet Union, Joseph Stalin based
his totalitarian government on a vicious form of communism. Like fascism, communism relies upon a strong,
dictatorial government that does not respect individual rights and freedoms, specifically regarding the economy.
Historically, however, communists and fascists have been fierce enemies.
Stalin's Soviet Union
While Vladimir Lenin led the Soviet Union as their first communist leader, the worldwide communist revolution
he sought never materialized. In his own country, economic failure threatened communist control of the
government. Stalin took over after Lenin's death in 1924. Stalin decided to abandon the compromises Lenin put in
place and take "one great leap forward" to communism. He launched the first of a series of five-year plans to
modernize agriculture and build new industries from the ground up.
Stalin's Economic Plans
To modernize agriculture, Stalin encouraged Soviet farmers to combine their small family farms into huge
collective farms owned and run by the government. Facing widespread resistance, Stalin began forcing peasants
off their land in the late 1920s. The government takeover of farming was completed within a few years, but with
terrible consequences. In Ukraine and other agricultural regions, Stalin punished resistant farmers by confiscating
much or all of the food they produced. Millions of people died from starvation, and millions more fled to the
cities. Stalin also sent approximately 5 million peasants to labor camps in Siberia and northern Russia. In addition
to the human cost, the collectivization campaign caused agricultural production to fall dramatically. Food
shortages forced Stalin to introduce rationing throughout the country.
Stalin pursued rapid industrialization with more success. He assigned millions of laborers from rural areas to build
and run new industrial centers where iron, steel, oil, and coal were produced. Because Stalin poured money and
labor into these basic industries rather than housing, clothing, and consumer goods, the Soviet people endured
severe shortages of essential products, and their standard of living fell sharply. Still, by 1940 Stalin had achieved
his goal of turning the Soviet Union into a modern industrial power, but the individual citizens suffered
throughout the process.
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Stalin's Reign of Terror
During the economic upheaval, Stalin completed his political domination of the Soviet Union through a series of
purges. In political terms, a purge is the process of removing enemies and undesirable individuals from power.
Stalin "purified" the Communist Party by getting rid of his opponents and anyone else he believed to be a threat to
his power or to his ideas. The Great Purge began in 1934 with a series of "show trials," in which the only
possible verdict was "guilty." Stalin's reign of terror did not stop there, however. He and his followers purged
cities, collective farms, the police force, and the army of anyone whom he considered a threat. By 1939, his agents
had arrested more than 7 million people from all levels of society. A million were executed, and millions more
ended up in forced labor camps. Nearly all of the people were innocent victims of Stalin's paranoia. But the
purges successfully eliminated all threats to Stalin's power, real or imagined.
Fascism in Italy
As in the Soviet Union, Italy's totalitarian government arose from the failures of World War I. Benito Mussolini
had fought and been wounded in the war. He believed strongly that the Treaty of Versailles, which ended World
War I, should have granted Italy more territory. A talented speaker, Mussolini began to attract followers,
including other dissatisfied war veterans, opponents of the monarchy, socialists, and anarchists. In 1919,
Mussolini and his supporters formed the revolutionary Fascist Party. Calling himself Il Duce ("the leader"),
Mussolini organized Fascist groups throughout Italy. He relied on gangs of Fascist thugs, called Blackshirts
because of the way they dressed, to terrorize and bring under control those who opposed him. By 1922, Mussolini
had become such a powerful figure that when he threatened to march on Rome, the king panicked and appointed
him prime minister.
Strikes and riots had plagued Italy since World War I. Mussolini vowed to end Italy's economic problems. In the
name of efficiency and order, he suspended elections, outlawed all other political parties, and established a
dictatorship. Italy's ailing economy improved under Il Duce's firm command. Other European nations noted his
success with the Italian economy and applauded him as a miracle worker. They would soon choke on their words
of praise, however, for Mussolini had dreams of forging a “new Roman Empire.” A Fascist slogan summed up
Mussolini's expansionist goals: "The Country Is Nothing Without Conquest."
In October 1935, Mussolini put those words into practice by invading the independent African kingdom of
Ethiopia. The Ethiopians resisted fiercely, but the large Italian army, using warplanes and poison gas,
overpowered the Ethiopian forces. By May 1936, Ethiopia's Emperor Selassie had fled to England, and the
Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, was in Italian hands. Neither the United States nor the League of Nations (the
precursor to the United Nations) did anything to stop the Italians.
Hitler's Rise to Power
While Mussolini was gaining control in Italy, a discontented Austrian was rising to prominence in Germany. Like
Mussolini, Adolf Hitler had been wounded while serving in World War I, though he greatly exaggerated his
service record. He, too, felt enraged by the terms of the Treaty of Versailles settlement, which stripped Germany
of land and colonies and imposed a huge burden of debt to pay for the damage done to France, Belgium, and
Britain. He especially hated the war-guilt clause (the section of the Versailles Treaty that forced Germany to
accept the blame for starting the war).
The Nazi Party
In 1919, Hitler joined a small political group that became known as the National Socialist German Workers' Party,
or Nazi Party. The philosophy and policies of this party came to be called Nazism. Nazism was a form of fascism
shaped by Hitler's fanatical ideas about German nationalism and racial superiority. Like the Italian Fascists, the
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Nazis used thugs, known as Brownshirts, to intimidate their opposition. Hitler's powerful public-speaking abilities
quickly made him a leader of his party. The Nazis held mass meetings at which Hitler spoke passionately against
Germany's national humiliation.
Nazi posters helped to boost attendance:
"White collar and manual workers of our people, you alone have to suffer the consequences of this unheard-of
treaty. Come and protest against Germany being burdened with the war guilt. Protest against the peace treaty of
Versailles which has been forced upon us..."
In November 1923, with some 3,000 followers, Hitler tried to overthrow the German government in an event
known as the Munich Putsch. Authorities easily crushed the uprising. A German court sentenced Hitler to prison.
While in confinement, Hitler began writing an autobiography, titled Mein Kampf ("My Struggle"). In it Hitler
outlined the Nazi philosophy, his views of Germany's problems, and his plans for the nation. According to Mein
Kampf, Germany had been weakened by certain groups that lived within its borders. In particular, Hitler bitterly
criticized the nation's Jewish population, which he irrationally blamed for Germany's defeat in World War I.
In Mein Kampf, Hitler proposed, in defiance of the Versailles Treaty, strengthening Germany's military and
expanding its borders to include Germans living in other countries. He also called for purifying the so-called
"Aryan race" (blond, blue-eyed Germans) by removing from Germany those groups he considered undesirable. In
time, removal came to mean the mass murder of millions of Jews and other peoples.
After Germany's economy recovered from a crisis in the mid-1920s, the Great Depression hit in the early 1930s.
The German people, facing more poverty, looked to their political leaders for help. In response, Hitler and the
Nazis promised to stabilize the country, rebuild the economy, and restore the empire that had been lost.
Hitler Becomes Chancellor
Hitler's promises gradually won him a large following. In the 1932 elections, the Nazi Party became the largest
group in the Reichstag (the lower house of the German parliament). Also in 1932, Hitler placed second to Paul
von Hindenburg, a general in World War I, in the presidential election. In January 1933, bowing to public
pressure, the elderly President Hindenburg made Hitler chancellor, or head of the German government.
Hitler soon moved to suspend freedom of speech and freedom of the press, claiming it was necessary for the
security of the state. Thousands of Nazi Brownshirts, also called storm troopers, waged a violent campaign that
silenced those opposed to Hitler's policies. In the March elections, the Nazis gained enough seats to dominate the
Reichstag. Less than three weeks later, the Reichstag building burned down in a suspicious fire. Hitler blamed the
Communists and used the disaster to convince the parliament to pass an Enabling Bill which gave him dictatorial
powers. When Hindenburg died in August 1934, Hitler became both chancellor and president. He gave himself
the title Der Fuhrer ("the leader"). He would continue to rule, unchecked.
Germany Rearms
Determined to put Germans to work while restoring Germany's military might, the Nazis began spending money
on rearming and expanding the armed forces in violation of the Treaty of Versailles. They also hired unemployed
workers to build massive public buildings and a network of highways known as the autobahn. Unemployment fell
to near zero, industry prospered, and, by 1936, the Depression had ended in Germany. In addition, the Nazis and
their massive military were now in a position to put Hitler's expansion plans into action.
Like Mussolini, Hitler saw expansion as a way to bolster national pride. He also longed to see Germany return to
a dominant position in the world. To do this, he believed, Germans needed more territory, or what he called
lebensraum ("living space"), to the east. Hitler's main goal, therefore, became the conquest of Eastern Europe and
the Soviet Union. First, he needed to assert German military power within Germany's own borders.
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On March 7, 1936, German troops entered the Rhineland, a region in western Germany. The Versailles Treaty had
expressly banned German military forces from this region, which Germany had used as a base for the 1914 attack
on France and Belgium at the start of World War I. Since the Allies had taken no action in 1935 when Hitler
revealed Germany's illegal rearmament, he had reason to believe that the Allies would not enforce the treaty.
Still, Hitler took an enormous gamble in remilitarizing the Rhineland. The German army was not ready for war.
However, neither Britain nor France chose to react to this blatant violation of the Versailles Treaty. Many people
believed that the treaty had been too harsh on Germany. The British and French had not forgotten the awful costs
of World War I, and their leaders were reluctant to challenge Hitler.
Also in 1936, Hitler signed an alliance with the Italian dictator, Mussolini. Their agreement created what
Mussolini called an "axis" between Rome and Berlin, the capitals of the two nations. Germany and Italy, joined
later by Japan, became known as the Axis Powers. This alliance was made for mutual defense and came from
earlier agreements between the three countries to resist communism (i.e. the USSR).
Germany Expands
Two years later, the German Army was much stronger. Hitler began to press his homeland of Austria for
Anschluss, or peaceful political union, with Germany. In March 1938, after Austria's chancellor refused to
surrender his country to Germany, Hitler ordered German troops into the country. Most Austrians warmly
welcomed the Nazis, who were often presented with flowers by cheering crowds. When Britain and France
protested the German actions, Hitler replied that the affair concerned only the German people.
Several months later, Hitler demanded the Sudetenland, an industrial region of western Czechoslovakia with a
heavily German population and many fortifications crucial to Czechoslovakia's defense.
Neville Chamberlain, the British prime minister, met with Hitler twice to try to resolve the issue. Chamberlain
pursued a policy of appeasement, or giving in to a competitor's demands in order to keep the peace. Hitler kept
increasing his demands, so Chamberlain and the French president, Edouard Daladier, met with Hitler and
Mussolini in Munich, Germany, in September 1938. This became known as The Munich Conference.
Because Britain and France were unprepared for a war, they agreed to sacrifice the Sudetenland, in the hopes that
Hitler's appetite for territory would be satisfied. Although France was bound by treaty to defend Czechoslovakia,
Daladier and Chamberlain agreed to let Hitler annex the Sudetenland on his own terms. No one consulted
Czechoslovakia's leaders. British crowds cheered Chamberlain upon his return home for achieving what he called
"peace in our time."
The Spanish Civil War
While Britain and France struggled to maintain peace with Germany, civil war was raging in Spain. Spain's
democratic government held what would be the country's last free elections under the old republic in February
1936. Numerous political parties vied for power, including small Fascist and Communist organizations. In this
atmosphere, labor strikes, assassinations, and street battles became commonplace. A group backed by liberal
parties won, and five months later the military began a rebellion against the newly elected government, whose
supporters were called the Republicans. General Francisco Franco led the rebels, who became known as the
Nationalists. By October, the Nationalists had formed their own government, a military dictatorship under the rule
of Franco.
The uprising turned into a fierce civil war between the Nationalists and the Republicans. Both sides turned to
foreign powers for help. Germany and Italy provided planes, tanks, and soldiers to the Nationalists. Their aid
attracted international attention in 1937 when Hitler's pilots bombed the northern Spanish town of Guernica into
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ruins. Attacking on a market day, they incinerated the town center and fired on civilians from the air. One person,
watching the attack from nearby hills, described it as "a preview of the end of the world." In fact, the attack was a
preview of the destruction that would strike hundreds of cities in Britain, Germany, Poland, and other countries a
few years later.
The Soviet Union sent arms and supplies to the Republicans. Although Britain, France, and the United States did
not intervene, some 40,000 foreigners volunteered to fight for the Republicans as part of the International
Brigades. Mostly young and many of them communist, the soldiers of the International Brigades came from over
50 countries, including the United States. In March 1939, the Nationalist army finally took the Spanish capital of
Madrid and ended the civil war. Franco kept firm control of the government after the war and ruled Spain until his
death in 1975. Although Franco was fascist, Spain would remain neutral in World War II.
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Section 2: Europe Goes To War
READING FOCUS
• How did the German invasion of Poland lead to war with Britain and France?
• What wartime victories and setbacks did Germany experience in Western Europe?
• Why was the Battle of Britain an important victory for Britain?
Setting the Scene
Neville Chamberlain's triumphant return from the Munich Conference in 1938 did not please everyone. Winston
Churchill, a member of the British Parliament who later became Prime Minister, believed that sacrificing part of
Czechoslovakia to preserve peace was a fatal mistake. He made a dire prediction about this choice: "Britain and
France had to choose between war and dishonor," Churchill said. "They chose dishonor. They will have war."
Churchill thought that Hitler had no intention of stopping his military machine and that Chamberlain's peace
agreement would give Britain only a few more months of peace. He and other members of Parliament urged
Chamberlain to reconsider Britain's policy toward Germany. Alfred Duff Cooper, the head of the British navy,
chose to resign rather than accept that policy. In his resignation speech to Parliament, he insisted that Hitler had to
be confronted with British might, not appeased:
"That is the deep difference between the Prime Minister and myself throughout these days. The Prime Minister
has believed in addressing Hitler through the language of sweet reasonableness.
I have believed that he was more open to the language of the mailed [armored] fist. "
-Alfred Duff Cooper, First Lord of the Admiralty, 1938
Hitler had promised that the Sudetenland was all he wanted. But in March 1939, only six months after annexing
the Sudetenland, Hitler occupied the western half of Czechoslovakia and divided the rest of the country among his
allies. Most Czechs were hostile to Hitler and bitterly opposed to the German occupation. The following month,
Italian forces invaded and occupied Albania, a nation on the Balkan Peninsula north of Greece. Although no
shots had been fired, peace in Central Europe was rapidly breaking down.
Invasion of Poland
The March invasion of Czechoslovakia ended Chamberlain's hope of working peacefully with Hitler. Britain and
France abandoned their policy of appeasement and prepared for war. After Hitler took Czechoslovakia, British
and French leaders warned him that any further German expansion would risk war. On March 31, 1939, they
formally pledged their support to Poland, agreeing to come to its aid if Germany invaded. Hitler, however, did not
believe their warning. Hitler did have one major concern. As in 1914, Germany could ill afford to fight a war on
two fronts at the same time. Hitler wanted to deal with Britain and France, his foes to the west, without having to
fear an attack from the east.
Hitler’s Pact with Stalin
Communists and Fascists/Nazis are almost always enemies. Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union had been sworn
enemies, but Hitler and Stalin recognized that they had much to gain by working together, or at least not fighting.
Stalin didn’t believe that Hitler's long-term plans included conquering the Soviet Union, so in August, he and
Hitler signed a ten-year Nonaggression Pact, which eliminated the danger of a Soviet invasion from the East.
A secret document attached to the pact divided up the nations of Eastern Europe between Germany and the Soviet
Union. One week later, on September 1, 1939, Hitler invaded Poland. On September 3, Britain and France (The
Allies) declared war on Germany, marking the official start of World War II.
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Lightning War
Britain, France, and Poland together made an impressive alliance, at least on paper. They had more soldiers and
divisions than Germany. Each German division, however, had superior firepower-more machine guns, artillery,
and powerful tanks. In addition, the Germans practiced a new form of attack that they unveiled in the invasion of
Poland. Called blitzkrieg ("lightning war"), this new military tactic included a fast, concentrated air and land
attack that took the enemy's army by surprise. The German dive-bombing warplanes began the blitzkrieg by
shattering defenses and terrorizing civilians. Then the tanks and mobile artillery of the panzer divisions punched
through enemy lines, encircling and capturing opposing troops. Finally, the infantry moved in to defeat the enemy
and occupy the country.
Using the blitzkrieg tactic, German troops overran Poland in less than a month. They imposed German laws and
imprisoned and murdered Polish citizens. Britain and France watched helplessly, unable to aid Poland in time.
Meanwhile, in mid-September and without drawing much attention, Soviet forces joined the German attack.
Under the secret terms of his Nonaggression Pact with Hitler, Stalin seized eastern Poland for the Soviet Union.
While Stalin would eventually join the Allies, he was neutral at the onset of World War II, only looking to satisfy
his individual goals.
War in the West
After Poland fell, the war entered a quiet period. The British and French held back their troops, fearing
tremendous losses. The American press dubbed this lack of combat the "phony war." The Germans labeled 'the
lull in fighting the sitzkrieg ("sit-down war"). For the next several months, German troops sat and waited while
French forces held their defenses. The key to these defenses was the Maginot Line, a massive string of
fortifications along France's border with Germany.
A triumph of modern technology, the Maginot Line provided housing for troops, recreational areas, and even air
conditioning. Underground rail lines connected its main sections. Thick concrete walls and extra-heavy artillery
stood ready to fend off any invading army. The Maginot Line had two major problems, however. It protected only
the part of the French border that faced Germany, leaving France open to an attack through Belgium. In addition,
all of its heavy guns pointed east, toward Germany. If (when) the Germans got around the line, those guns would
be useless.
Germany Attacks
On April 9, 1940, the phony war came to an end as Hitler began a successful attack on Denmark and Norway.
Then, on May 10, German troops launched a blitzkrieg on the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg. Although
British and French troops rushed to Belgium to defend their neighbor, they were too late. The German army
overran Luxembourg in a day, the Netherlands in five days, and Belgium in less than three weeks. Meanwhile, in
mid-May, German troops in Belgium invaded northern France, skirting the end of the Maginot Line. They raced
from there all the way to the English Channel, splitting the main French armies to the south from the British and
French troops in northern France and Belgium.
Dunkirk Evacuation
The German drive west divided British and French troops into two pockets, one in the north and one in the south.
In the face of Germany's advance, French and British forces in the north retreated to the coastal city of Dunkirk.
There, over a nine-day period in late May and early June, one of the greatest rescues in the history of warfare took
place. While some troops fought to slow the advancing Germans, others hastily assembled a makeshift fleet
consisting mainly of tugboats, yachts, and other small private ships. Braving merciless attacks by the Luftwaffe
(the German air force), about 900 vessels carried some 340,000 soldiers across the English Channel to Great
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Britain. Although Dunkirk marked a retreat for the British, the remarkable boatlift saved British and some French
forces from almost certain capture by the Germans.
The Fall of France
Hitler's armies turned and swept south through France. On June 10, the French government abandoned Paris. With
France's defeat only a matter of time, Italy declared war on France and Britain on the same day. On June 14,
German troops entered Paris, and on June 22 France and its more than 1.5 million soldiers officially surrendered.
Adolf Hitler himself traveled to France to make a brief victory tour of Paris. Britain was stunned by the speed of
Germany's conquest of France.
According to the surrender terms, Germany occupied the northern three-fifths of France and the entire Atlantic
Coast southward to Spain. The surrendered French government was allowed to supervise the south from the
vacation resort of Vichy, and this zone became known as Vichy France. Under General Henri-Philippe Petain,
Vichy France adopted a policy of collaboration, or close cooperation, with Germany. In other words, Vichy
France was a Nazi-puppet government.
Free France, a government-in-exile in London made up of anti-Nazi French, continued the struggle against
German invaders from bases in Britain. Led by General Charles de Gaulle, the Free French also backed the
underground Resistance movement in France. The Resistance consisted of groups of French citizens whose
activities ranged from distributing anti-German leaflets to sabotaging German operations in France.
Until the summer of 1940, Hitler had experienced nothing but success. German armies had conquered most of
Western Europe. He seemed to be on the verge of destroying the Allies, the group of countries who opposed the
Axis Powers. Eventually, the United States and the Soviet Union would join the Allies, but at that time Great
Britain stood alone in Europe.
The Battle of Britain
As France fell, Hitler amassed troops on the French coast. His next invasion target, Great Britain, lay just 20 miles
away, across the English Channel. The British people prepared for the impending Nazi invasion. Winston
Churchill, now Britain's prime minister, pledged that the British would defend their island at all costs:
"We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets,
we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender."
-Winston Churchill
Relentless Attack
Britain's large and well-equipped navy stood between Hitler and England. To neutralize the British navy,
Germany would have to control the air. Hitler turned to the Luftwaffe to destroy Britain's air defenses. In August
1940, he launched the greatest air assault the world had yet seen. This intense attack, called the Battle of Britain,
would continue for months. Day after day, as many as 1,000 planes rained bombs on Britain.
The Hague Draft Rules of Air Warfare, written in 1923, prohibited attacks on civilians. At first, the Germans only
targeted British ports, airfields, and radar installations. But later they attacked aircraft factories and oil storage
tanks. In late August, a group of German bombers strayed off course and dropped their bombs on London. A
new, more deadly type of air war was about to begin.
In early September, Hitler ordered massive bombing raids on London and other cities to try to break the British
people's will to resist. These attacks included firebombs, which carried a mix of chemicals that burned at a
temperature high enough to set buildings on fire. The bombing of London, called the Blitz, would continue off
and on until May 1941. The bombing of population centers, by both sides, would continue throughout the war.
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Courageous Defense
Britain's Royal Air Force (RAF), although greatly outnumbered, bravely defended its homeland. In a typical
raid, slow-moving German bombers, accompanied by speedy fighter planes, would cross the English Channel at a
height of about 15,000 feet. RAF pilots in British Spitfires and Hurricanes dodged the German fighter planes
while trying to shoot down the bombers. They inflicted heavy damage on the attackers, sometimes flying six or
seven missions a day. Hundreds of RAF pilots died defending Britain, but German losses were higher. "Never in
the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few," said Churchill, praising the courageous
resistance of the RAF.
The British people showed equal bravery. Despite massive losses, the British people kept their will to fight. By
the end of 1941, when the German air raids ended, some 20,000 Londoners had been killed and more than 70,000
injured. Whole sections of London had been destroyed, but Britain remained standing.
Besides courageous pilots and citizens, Britain had another advantage. By February 1940, scientists in Britain had
cracked the code that Germany used for top-secret communications. By deciphering coded messages, the British
military could get a general idea of Hitler's battle plans. They knew, for example, that Hitler would not invade
Britain until the Luftwaffe established air superiority-which it never did.
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Section 3: Japan Builds an Empire
READING FOCUS
• What were the causes and effects of Japan's growing military power?
• Why was the Manchurian Incident a turning point for Japan's civilian government?
• What was the initial outcome of Japan's war against China?
• Why did Japan look beyond China for future expansion?
Setting the Scene
By engaging in wars against China (1894-1895) and Russia (1904-1905) Japan expanded its sphere of influence
in East Asia. It took control of Korea and gained considerable influence over the northern Chinese province of
Manchuria, where it stationed soldiers. By World War I, Japan had developed into the strongest nation in East
Asia and one of the most powerful nations in the world.
Growing Military Power
During World War I, Japan joined the Allies. Although Japan played just a minor military role, it conquered
several German possessions in the Pacific and won access to markets abandoned by the Europeans. As a result,
Japan's economy prospered. After the war, Japan enacted political reforms that resulted in a two-party
parliamentary system and a sharp increase in the number of people allowed to vote. Japan also slowed its
territorial expansion. It helped found the League of Nations (which it would eventually leave) and signed
international agreements designed to keep the peace. By signing the 1928 Kellogg-Briand Pact, Japan
condemned war and pledged to solve all disagreements peacefully. Events would soon show how little influence
such international peace agreements really had.
Economic Crisis
In the early 1920s, a series of recessions rocked Japan's economy. As in Germany, conditions grew worse after
1930 because of the Great Depression. Japan's industries depended on selling their goods to foreign countries, but
many of the nation's trading partners put high tariffs on Japanese goods to protect their own businesses. The
resulting industrial decline led to massive layoffs, strikes, and widespread political discontent.
At this point, very few expected that the Japanese would become aggressive on the international stage. At the
Washington Conference in 1922, the Japanese government had accepted limits on the size of its navy. Later it had
cut the strength of the army and prevented the military from challenging the Chinese troops in Manchuria.
Rise of Nationalism
Several radical nationalist groups formed in response to the government's perceived weaknesses. The nationalists
demanded a return to traditional ways and an end to multiparty rule (democracy), powerful businesses, and other
Western-style institutions. Radicals assassinated several business and political leaders. By committing terrorism,
they hoped to force the military to take over the government. Some members of the military, especially younger
officers, supported the radicals.
The Manchurian Incident
Japan, located on a chain of volcanic islands, experienced a population explosion in the 1900s. By 1930, the
population neared 65 million, and it was growing by about one million people per year. Japan lacked the land
needed to feed its rising population and the raw materials and markets needed to power the Japanese economy.
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Many Japanese saw the acquisition of Manchuria as a solution to these problems, both for its coal and iron ore
and for its immense areas of undeveloped land.
In September 1931, part of the Japanese army stationed in Manchuria took matters into its own hands. Claiming
that Chinese soldiers had tried to blow up a railway line, they captured several cities in southern Manchuria.
Chinese troops withdrew from the area. Japan's civilian government tried but failed to prevent the army from
taking further action. By February 1932, the army had seized all of Manchuria. World leaders and many Japanese
expressed shock at what came to be called the Manchurian Incident. However, other than offering harsh words,
the powerful countries of the world did little to deter the Japanese.
In response, Japan announced that Manchuria was now the independent state of Manchukuo, under Japanese
control. Japan installed a new government that would be staffed with Japanese advisors to run the newly
independent territory. In fact, Manchukuo was a puppet state, or a supposedly independent country under the
control of a powerful neighbor – similar to Vichy France.
Japan sent more than a million farmers, entrepreneurs, and soldiers to Manchuria with the goal of securing it as a
Japanese colony. The United States and Britain protested that Japan had broken the Kellogg-Briand Pact, but they
did not act to halt Japan's aggression. The League of Nations ordered Japan to end its occupation of Manchuria.
Japan refused and withdrew from the League instead. This event foreshadowed the ineffectiveness of post-World
War I treaties and organizations in dealing with aggressive, rogue nations.
The Manchurian Incident also greatly increased the Japanese army's power over the Japanese government, but
some radicals in the military wanted complete control (or a military junta). In 1932, Japanese naval officers
helped assassinate the country's prime minister. The military used this opportunity to end the multiparty
government. Civilian politicians began to fear for their lives so much that they dared not criticize the military.
The new prime minister said:
"The military are like an untamed horse left to run wild. If you try head-on to stop it, you'll get kicked to death. The
only hope is to jump on from the side and try to get it under control while still allowing it to have its head to a
certain extent." -Hirota Koki
Japan's military leaders never actually seized control of the government (some historians claim the emperor and
certain members of the civilian government still had a hand in ruling). However, they took a much stronger hand
in governing the nation, especially in the area of foreign policy. They began to develop Manchuria as a base for
even further Japanese expansion in Asia.
War against China
China had been in the midst of civil war since 1927 and was considerably weakened because of it. In July 1937,
taking advantage of the turmoil in China, Japan resumed its invasion of China. By the end of the month, Japanese
forces occupied the major cities of Beijing and Tianjin and threatened the rest of northern China. The Chinese
Nationalists and the Chinese Communists agreed to temporarily suspend their civil war in order to focus on the
common threat posed by the Japanese. The Chinese Nationalist army, led by General Chang Kai-shek, fiercely
resisted the invasion. In battle after battle, however, Japan's superior weapons overcame China's huge man-power
advantage.
Japanese warplanes ruthlessly bombed Chinese cities. During the "Rape of Nanking," Japanese soldiers
brutalized or killed at least 100,000 civilians, including women and children, in the former capital of China. The
United States and other nations condemned Japan's actions. President Franklin Roosevelt (FDR) spoke out
against international aggression, saying that "the epidemic of world lawlessness is spreading" and calling for a
"quarantine" to protect peaceful nations. However, most Americans preferred staying out of foreign
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entanglements. Hence, Congress passed a series of Neutrality Acts that prevented the United States from
becoming involved in foreign conflicts. FDR would need the next few years to convince the American people of
the dangerous threat posed by Japan and the other Axis Powers.
The Soviet Union also voiced its concern and backed up its words with arms, military advisors, and warplanes for
China. The USSR supplied the Chinese Communists, led by Mao Zedong. Later, Britain sent a steady stream of
supplies to the Chinese Nationalists.
The war brought two longtime enemies together. Jiang and Mao, who were locked in a bitter struggle for power,
put aside their differences (temporarily) to fight the Japanese. When direct resistance failed, Jiang withdrew his
armies to the mountains of the remote Sichuan province in the south. Mao split his army into small groups of
soldiers who organized bands of Chinese guerrilla fighters to harass the Japanese. While Japanese troops
controlled the cities, these guerrillas dominated the countryside. By 1939, the war in China had reached a
stalemate.
Looking Beyond China
Meanwhile, the start of the war in Europe distracted European powers from the defense of their colonies in East
Asia. Japanese leaders took this opportunity to expand their influence in the region to its south. In 1940, Japan
declared it would “liberate” Asia from European colonizers. In reality, Japan needed the region's natural
resources, especially oil and rubber, to carry on its war against China. In this way, Japan resembled Hitler's
invasion of other countries for lebensraum ("living space").
In September 1940, Japan officially joined the Axis Powers and allied itself with Germany and Italy through the
Tripartite Pact. That same month, Japan moved troops into the northern part of Indochina, a French territory
that included Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, and Laos. With the Netherlands in German hands, Japan also set its
sights on the oil-rich Dutch East Indies. Then, in April 1941, the Japanese signed a neutrality pact with the Soviet
Union. The stage was now set for Japan to challenge the Europeans and Americans for supremacy in Asia.
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Section 4: America: From Isolation to War
READING FOCUS
• Why did the United States choose neutrality in the 1930s?
• How did American involvement in the European conflict grow from 1939 to 1941?
• Why did Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor lead the United States to declare war?
Setting the Scene
During the 1930s, the United States largely turned away from international affairs. Instead, the government
focused its energies on solving the domestic problems brought about by the Great Depression. Even as Italy,
Germany, and Japan threatened to shatter world peace, the United States clung to its policy of isolationism. The
horrors of World War I still haunted many Americans who refused to be dragged into another foreign conflict.
President Franklin Roosevelt assured Americans that he felt the same way:
"I have seen war. I have seen war on land and sea. I have seen blood running from the wounded. I have seen
men coughing out their gassed lungs. I have seen the dead in the mud. I have seen cities destroyed. I have seen
two hundred limping, exhausted men come out of line-the survivors of a regiment of one thousand that went
forward forty-eight hours before. I have seen children starving. I have seen the agony of mothers and wives. I
hate war."
-Franklin D. Roosevelt, August 1936
Few people in the United States agreed with the actions or the ideas of the Fascists, the Nazis, or the Japanese
radicals. Most Americans sympathized with the victims of aggression. Still, nothing short of a direct attack on the
United States would propel Americans into another war.
The United States Chooses Neutrality
American isolationism increased in the early 1930s, although President Roosevelt, elected in 1932, favored more
international involvement. The demands of carrying out the New Deal (Roosevelt's economic programs to help
the US economy) kept Roosevelt focused on domestic issues, however. He was more concerned with lifting the
United States out of the Depression than with addressing foreign concerns.
In 1930, Congress had passed the Hawley-Smoot Tariff Act to protect American industries from foreign
competitors. This law taxed imported goods, making them more expensive and therefore encouraging Americans
to buy American-made goods. In response, other nations raised their tariff walls against American goods. These
trade barriers prolonged the Depression and isolated the United States.
Congress again prevented international involvement by passing a series of Neutrality Acts. The first of these, in
1935, banned the United States from providing weapons to nations at war. The second, in 1936, banned loans to
such nations. These were altered in 1937, when the world situation became more desperate, and Congress
permitted trade with fighting nations in nonmilitary goods as long as those nations paid cash and transported the
cargo themselves. This policy became known as cash and carry.
The Neutrality Acts prevented the United States from selling arms even to nations that were trying to defend
themselves from aggression. By doing this, as FDR pointed out later, the Neutrality Acts encouraged aggression.
By the end of 1938, Italy had conquered Ethiopia, Japan had invaded China, and Germany had taken Austria and
the Sudetenland. The United States watched warily from a distance, protected by the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.
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American Involvement Grows
As the decade wore on, the American economy somewhat recovered. Unemployment and business failures no
longer required the nation's full attention. At the same time, Germany and Japan stepped up their aggression
against neighboring countries. This combination of events softened Americans' isolationist views and
strengthened the views of interventionists. American opinion shifted even further against the Axis Powers in
September 1939, when Germany invaded Poland. Still, at that time, almost no one believed that America should
enter the war against Germany. But many people felt that the United States shared Britain's interests, and given
the constraints of neutrality, President Roosevelt began to look for ways to send more aid to the Allies.
Debating America's Role
Three weeks after the invasion of Poland, Roosevelt asked Congress to revise the Neutrality Acts to make them
more flexible. Congress did so by repealing the arms embargo and providing Britain and France with the weapons
they needed.
In June 1940, France fell to the Germans, and Hitler prepared to invade Britain. France's rapid collapse shocked
Americans, who had expected the Allies to defend themselves effectively against Germany. Now Britain stood
alone against Hitler, and many Americans supported "all aid short of war" for Britain.
Roosevelt successfully pressed Congress for more aid. On September 3, the United States agreed to send 50 old
destroyers (warships) to Britain in return for permission to build bases on British territory in the Western
Hemisphere. Some Americans saw this exchange as a dangerous step toward direct American military
involvement. Two days after the trade, a group of isolationists formed the America First Committee to block
further aid to Britain. At its height, this group attracted more than 800,000 members, including famous hero pilot
Charles Lindbergh.
Still, during the presidential campaign of 1940, both Roosevelt and his Republican opponent, Wendell Willkie,
supported giving aid to the Allies. They disagreed, however, on how much aid should be given and on what the
aid should be. As Election Day approached, Willkie sharpened his attack, saying that if FDR won, he would
plunge the nation into war. To counter this charge, FDR assured all parents: "Your boys are not going to be sent
into any foreign wars." In reality, both men knew that war would be hard to avoid. By the time the votes were
counted, FDR had won an unprecedented third term as US President.
Lend-Lease
In November 1940, Roosevelt won reelection to a third term as President. His easy victory encouraged him to
push for greater American involvement in the Allied cause. To continue battling Germany, Britain needed
American equipment. Britain, however, faced a financial crisis. Prime Minister Churchill, in a letter to FDR,
confessed that his country was nearly bankrupt. "The moment approaches," he wrote in December, "when we
shall no longer be able to pay cash for shipping and other supplies."
In December 1940, Roosevelt introduced a bold new plan to keep supplies flowing to Britain. He proposed
providing war supplies to Britain without any payment in return. Roosevelt explained his policy to the American
people by the use of a simple comparison: “If your neighbor's house is on fire, you don't sell him a hose. You lend
it to him and take it back after the fire is out.”
The America First Committee campaigned strongly against this new type of aid. Nevertheless, Congress passed
the Lend-Lease Act in March 1941, authorizing the President to aid any nation whose defense he believed was
vital to American security. FDR immediately began sending aid to Britain. After Germany attacked the Soviet
Union, the United States extended lend-lease aid to the Soviets as well. By the end of the war, the United States
had loaned or given away more than $49 billion worth of aid to some 40 nations.
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Japan Attacks Pearl Harbor
Although Roosevelt focused his attention on Europe, he was aware of Japan's aggressive moves in the Pacific. In
July 1940, Roosevelt began limiting what Japan could buy from the United States. In September, he ended sales
of scrap iron and steel. He hoped to use the threat of further trade restrictions to stop Japan's expansion. A year
later, however, Japanese forces took complete control of French Indochina. In response, Roosevelt froze Japanese
financial assets in the United States. Then he cut off all oil shipments. As you have read, Japan desperately
needed raw materials, and this embargo encouraged Japan to look to the lightly defended Dutch East Indies for
new supplies of oil. For the next few months, leaders in the United States and Japan sought ways to avoid conflict
with each other.
Final Weeks of Peace
While Japanese and American diplomats negotiated, a militant army officer took power in Japan. General Hideki
Tojo, who supported war against the United States, became prime minister in October 1941. Yet Roosevelt still
hoped for peace, and he continued negotiations. A year earlier, American technicians had cracked a top-secret
Japanese code. By November 27, based on decoded messages, American military leaders knew that Japanese
aircraft carriers were on the move in the Pacific. They expected an attack, but they did not know where.
Indeed, a Japanese fleet of six aircraft carriers and more than 20 other ships was already on the move. Its target
was Pearl Harbor, the naval base on the Hawaiian island of Oahu that served as the home of the U.S. Pacific Fleet.
Japan's leaders had gambled that they could cripple the American fleet and then achieve their goals in Asia before
the United States could rebuild its navy and challenge Japan.
The Attack
Shortly after 7:00 on the morning of December 7, 1941 an American army radar operator on Oahu noticed a large
blip on his radar screen,. He called his headquarters to report that planes were headed toward the island. The only
officer on duty that Sunday morning believed that the planes were American. "Don't worry about it," the officer
told the radar operator, and he hung up the phone.
Less than an hour later, more than 180 Japanese warplanes streaked overhead. Most of the Pacific Fleet lay at
anchor in Pearl Harbor, crowded into an area less than three square miles. Japanese planes bombed and strafed
(attacked with machine-gun fire) the fleet and the airfields nearby. By 9:45, the attack was over. In less than two
hours, some 2,400 Americans had been killed and nearly 1,200 wounded. Nearly 200 American warplanes had
been damaged or destroyed; 18 warships had been sunk or heavily damaged, including 8 of the fleet's 9
battleships. Japan had lost just 29 planes.
United States Declares War
The attack on Pearl Harbor stunned the American people. Calling December 7, 1941, "a date which will live in
infamy," Roosevelt the next day asked Congress to declare war on Japan:
"Hostilities exist. There is no blinking at the fact that our people, our territory, and our interests are in grave
danger. With confidence in our armed forces-with the unbound determination of our people-we will gain the
inevitable triumph-so help us God."
-Franklin D. Roosevelt, December 8, 1941
Within hours after Roosevelt finished speaking, Congress passed a war resolution. Even the America First
Committee called on its members to back the war effort. In response, and in accordance with the Tripartite Pact,
Germany and Italy declared war on the United States. For the second time in the century, Americans had been
drawn into a world war. Once more, their contributions would make the difference between victory and defeat for
the Allies.
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Section 5: Mobilization
READING FOCUS
• How did Roosevelt mobilize the armed forces?
• In what ways did the government prepare the economy for war?
• How did the war affect daily life on the home front?
Setting the Scene
Well before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, officials in the United States had begun to prepare for war.
President Roosevelt made his concerns and worries clear to the American people in a radio address in December
1940. He stated that the Axis nations, especially Germany, posed a direct threat to the security of the United
States. He appealed to American business owners and workers to support Britain's defensive efforts or face the
ultimate task of defending their own land against the "brute force" of the Axis.
"We must be the great arsenal of democracy. For us this is an emergency as serious as war itself. We must apply
ourselves to our task with the same resolution, the same sense of urgency, the same spirit of patriotism and
sacrifice as we would show were we at war."
-Franklin D. Roosevelt, fireside chat, December 29, 1940
FDR understood that the outcome of the war in Europe ultimately depended on his country's ability to produce
planes, tanks, guns, uniforms, and other war materials for the Allies. Once America joined the war after the Pearl
Harbor attack, the production of those materials became even more important for America.
Mobilizing the Armed Forces
FDR realized that a crucial step he had to take was to strengthen the armed forces if the United States were to
enter the war on the side of the Allies. In September 1940, Congress authorized the first peacetime draft in the
nation's history. The Selective Training and Service Act required all males aged 21 to 36 to register for military
service. A limited number of men were selected from this pool to serve a year in the army. In what came to be
known as the "Four Freedoms speech," FDR shared his vision of what these troops would be fighting for:
"We look forward to a world founded upon four essential freedoms. The first is freedom of speech and
expression… The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own way. ... The third is freedom from
want [need] . ... The fourth is freedom from fear. " -Franklin D. Roosevelt, State of the Union Message, January 6, 1941
After the attack on Pearl Harbor, feelings of patriotism swept over the United States. Millions of men volunteered
to serve in the military.
The GI War
World War II greatly changed the lives of the men and women who were uprooted from home and sent far away
to fight for their country. More than 16 million Americans served as soldiers, sailors, and aviators in the war.
They called themselves GIs, an abbreviation for "Government Issue."
During the war, American GIs slogged through swamps, crossed hot deserts and turbulent seas, and flew through
skies pounded by enemy guns. Soldiers on the front lines often found their experience in the war was a daily
struggle just to stay alive. Between battles, the typical GI dreamed of home and a cherished way of life. When
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asked what he was fighting for, a young marine replied, "What I'd give for a piece of blueberry pie." American
soldiers knew that they were fighting to preserve the freedoms that they held dear.
Diversity in the Armed Forces
Americans from all ethnic and racial backgrounds fought during World War II. More than 300,000 Mexican
Americans served their country, primarily in the army. Some 25,000 Native Americans also served in the military.
A group of Navajos developed a secret code, based on their language, that the enemy could not break. The
marines recruited more than 400 Navajos to serve as radio operators. These "code talkers," as they became
known, provided an important secure communications link in several key battles of the war.
Nearly a million African Americans joined the military. At first, officials limited most black troops to supporting
roles. By late 1942, however, faced with mounting casualties, military authorities reluctantly gave African
Americans the opportunity to fight. African Americans fought in separate, or segregated units from white soldiers.
One such group, called the Tuskegee Airmen, became the first African American flying unit in the United States
military. Near the end of the war, heavy casualties forced the army to accept African Americans into some white
units.
Women in the Military
Not all who served in the military were men. By the war's end, roughly 350,000 American women had
volunteered for military service. Faced with a personnel shortage, officials agreed to use women in almost all
areas except combat. Many worked as clerks, typists, airfield control tower operators, mechanics, photographers,
and drivers. Others ferried planes around the country and towed practice targets for antiaircraft gunners.
Preparing the Economy for War
FDR knew that the federal government would have to coordinate the production of American businesses to meet
Allied demand. The government had already assumed tremendous power over the economy during the New Deal.
Now the Supreme Court, filled with Roosevelt appointees, tended to support FDR's attempts to boost the
government's power even further. In January 1942, the government set up the War Production Board (WPB) to
direct the conversion of peacetime industries to industries that produced war goods. It quickly halted the
production of hundreds of civilian consumer goods, from cars to lawn mowers to bird cages, and encouraged
companies to make goods for the war. The armed forces decided which companies would receive contracts to
manufacture military hardware, but the WPB set priorities and allocated raw materials.
As the war went on, the government established dozens of additional agencies to deal with war production, labor
questions, and scarce resources. In May 1943, the President appointed James F. Byrnes, a longtime member of
Congress and a close presidential advisor, to head the Office of War Mobilization. The office would serve as a
superagency in the centralization of resources. Working from a makeshift office in the White House, Byrnes had
such broad authority that he was often called the "assistant president."
As production of consumer goods stopped, factories converted to war production. The Ford Motor Company built
a huge new factory to make B-24 Liberator bombers using the same assembly-line techniques used to
manufacture cars. Henry J. Kaiser introduced mass production techniques into shipbuilding. The vessels that
made Kaiser famous were called Liberty ships. They were large, sturdy merchant ships that carried supplies or
troops.
To motivate businesses and guarantee profits, the government established the "cost-plus" system for military
contracts. The military paid development and production costs and added a percentage of costs as profit for the
manufacturer. Pride and patriotism also motivated business executives. As in World War I, thousands went to
Washington, D.C., to work in the new federal agencies that coordinated war production.
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Each year of the war, the United States raised its production goals for military materials, and each year it met
these goals. In 1944, American production levels doubled those of all the Axis nations put together. By the middle
of 1945, the nation had produced approximately 300,000 airplanes, 80,000 landing craft, 100,000 tanks and
armored cars, 5,600 merchant ships (including about 2,600 Liberty ships), 6 million rifles and machine guns, and
41 billion rounds of ammunition.
The Wartime Work Force
War production benefited workers by ending the massive unemployment of the 1930s. Unemployment virtually
vanished during the war. Not only did people find jobs, they also earned more money for their work. Average
weekly wages in manufacturing, rose by more than 50 percent between 1940 and 1945. Under pressure to produce
high-quality goods in a hurry, the American labor force delivered. A journalist wrote of a war production factory:
"Not a day passes but you'll hear somebody say to a worker who seems to be slowing down, 'There's a war on,
you know!'"
Financing the War
The United States government vowed to spend whatever was necessary to sustain the war effort. Federal spending
increased from $9 billion a year in 1939 to $95 billion in 1945. The Gross National Product (GNP) more than
doubled. Overall, between 1941 and 1945, the federal government spent about $321 billion-ten times as much as
it had spent in World War I.
Higher taxes paid for about 41 percent of the cost of the war. The government borrowed the rest of the money
from banks, private investors, and the public. The Treasury Department launched bond drives to encourage
Americans to buy war bonds to help finance the war. Total war bond sales brought in about $186 billion.
During the Depression, British economist John Maynard Keynes had argued in favor of deficit spending to get
the economy moving. While spending did increase during the 1930s, the government failed to generate large
deficits until World War II. The country could not afford to pay all the costs of war, so deficits provided a way to
postpone some payments until after the war. High levels of deficit spending helped the United States field a wellequipped army and navy, bring prosperity to workers, and pull the United States out of the Depression. However,
it also boosted the national debt from $43 billion in 1940 to $259 billion in 1945.
Daily Life on the Home Front
The war affected the daily lives of most Americans. Nearly everyone had a relative or a friend in the military, and
people closely followed war news on the radio. The end of the Depression helped lift Americans' spirits. One
measure of people's optimism was an increase in the birthrate. The population grew by 7.5 million between1940
and 1945, nearly double the rate of growth for the 1930s.
Shortages and Controls
Wartime jobs gave many people their first extra cash since the Depression. Still, shortages and rationing limited
the goods that people could buy. Familiar consumer items were simply unavailable during the war. Metal to make
zippers or typewriters went instead into guns, and rubber went to make tires for army trucks instead of tires for
bicycles. Nylon stockings vanished from shops because the nylon was needed for parachutes. The supply of food
also fell short of demand. The government needed great amounts of food for the military.
In addition, the closing of shipping lanes and enemy occupation of foreign countries cut off some of America's
supplies of sugar, tropical fruits, and coffee. Worried that shortages would cause price increases, the government
used tough measures to head off inflation. In April 1941, the Office of Price Administration (OPA) was
established by an executive order. The OPA's job was to control inflation by limiting prices and rents. Such
controls sometimes backfired, however. For example, companies would cut back on the production of goods
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whose prices did not allow for a substantial profit. Such cutbacks could cause the very shortages they were
supposed to prevent. Still, the OPA accomplished its main task, keeping inflation under control. The cost of
living rose, but not nearly as much as it had in World War I.
The OPA also oversaw rationing during the war. The goal of rationing was a fair distribution of scarce items.
Beginning in 1943, the OPA assigned point values to items such as sugar, coffee, meat, butter, canned fruit, and
shoes. It issued ration books of coupons worth a certain number of points for categories of food or clothing to
families. Once consumers had used up their points, they couldn’t buy any more of those items until they received
new ration books or traded coupons with neighbors. Gasoline for cars was strictly rationed, too, on the basis of
need. Signs asked, "Is this trip necessary?" Customers found some shortages and ration rules confusing, but any
complaint could be answered with the question, "Don't you know there's a war on?"
Popular Culture
With so many goods unavailable, Americans looked for other ways to spend their money. Civilians bought and
read more books and magazines. They purchased recordings of popular songs, such as "White Christmas" by
Irving Berlin, a sentimental favorite of both soldiers and civilians. They flocked to baseball games, even though
most of their favorite players, like Joe DiMaggio and Ted Williams, had gone off to war. Millions of Americansabout 60 percent of the population-also went to the movies every week.
Enlisting Public Support
The government understood the need to maintain morale. It encouraged citizens to participate in the war effort
while persuading them to accept rationing and conserve precious resources: Roosevelt established the Office of
War Information in June 1942 to work with magazine publishers, advertising agencies, and radio stations. It
hired writers and artists to create posters and ads that stirred Americans' patriotic feelings.
One popular idea was the victory garden, a home vegetable garden planted to add to the home food supply and
replace farm produce sent to feed the soldiers. Soon people in cities and suburbs were planting tomatoes, peas,
and radishes in backyards, empty parking lots, and playgrounds. By 1943, victory gardens produced about one
third of the country's fresh vegetables.
The war became a part of everyday life in many ways. People drew their shades for nighttime "blackouts," which
tested their readiness for possible bombing raids. Men too old for the army joined the Civilian Defense effort,
wearing their CD armbands as they tested air raid sirens, and kept their eyes on the skies. Women knit scarves
and socks or rolled bandages for the Red Cross. The government encouraged efforts to recycle scrap metal, paper,
and other materials for war production. The collection drives kept adults and children actively involved in the war
effort.
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Section 6: The War in Europe
READING FOCUS
• Where did Americans join the struggle against the Axis?
• How did the war in the Soviet Union change from 1941 to 1943?
• What role did air power play in the war in Europe?
• Why did the invasion of Western Europe succeed?
• What events marked the end of the war in Europe?
Setting the Scene
In August 1941, unknown to the rest of the world, two warships quietly lay at anchor off the coast of
Newfoundland. Aboard were British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and American President Franklin D.
Roosevelt. Both men believed that the United States would soon join Great Britain's militarily as an ally in war.
The two leaders met in secret to discuss the war's aims and to agree on a set of principles to guide them in the
years ahead. After several days of talks, they issued a joint declaration of those principles which included the
following:
"First, their countries seek no aggrandizement [enlargement}, territorial or other. Second, they desire to see no
territorial changes that do not accord with the freely expressed wishes of the peoples concerned. Third, they
respect the right of all peoples to choose the form of government under which they will live...
…Sixth, after the final destruction of the Nazi tyranny, they hope to see established a peace which will afford to all
nations the means of dwelling in safety within their own boundaries...
…Eighth, they believe that all of the nations of the world… must come to the abandonment of the use of force ..."
-Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston S. Churchill, August 14" 1941
The declaration of principles and war goals became known as the Atlantic Charter. After the war, this charter
would form the basis for the United Nations.
Americans Join the Struggle
The United States entered the war in December 1941, at a critical time for the Allies. London and other major
British cities had suffered heavy damage during the Battle of Britain. The Germans' blitzkrieg had extended Nazi
control across most of Europe. In North Africa, a mixed German and Italian army was bearing down on British
forces. Many people feared that Germany could not be stopped.
The Battle of the Atlantic
At sea, Britain and the United States desperately struggled to control the Atlantic trade routes vital to British
survival. Britain relied on shipments of food and supplies from the United States and from its territories overseas.
As allied merchant ships crossed the Atlantic, German U-boats, or submarines, sailed out from ports in France to
attack them. To protect themselves better, Allied ships formed convoys led by American and British warships.
The Germans countered with groups of as many as 20 U-boats, called wolf packs, that carried out coordinated
nighttime attacks on the convoys.
After the United States entered the war, U-boats began attacking merchant ships within sight of the American
coast. Although Allied warships used underwater sound equipment called sonar to locate and attack U-boats, the
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wolf packs experienced great success. In the Atlantic, they sank nearly 175 ships in June 1942 alone. Allied
convoys later developed better defensive strategies, including the use of long-range sub-hunting aircraft, and the
U-boat success rate plummeted.
The North Africa Campaign
Starting in August 1940, a British army had successfully battled Italian troops in the Egyptian and Libyan deserts
of North Africa. Then, in February 1941, Hitler sent General Erwin Rommel and a German division to reinforce
the Italians. Rommel, who earned the nickname "Desert Fox" for his shrewd tactics, won several battles. The
Germans pushed deep into British-controlled Egypt and threatened the Middle East. Rommel's offensive failed,
however, in November 1942, when the British won a decisive victory at El Alamein. The German army retreated
west.
A few days later, Allied troops landed in the French territories of Morocco and Algeria on the northwest coast of
North Africa. This largely American force, under the command of American General Dwight D. Eisenhower
(who would serve as Supreme Allied Commander), quickly pushed eastward. This invasion was part of the larger
Operation Torch, to free North Africa from Axis control.
Meanwhile, British troops chased Rommel westward from Egypt. In response, Hitler sent some 20,000 combat
troops across the Mediterranean Sea from Italy to reinforce Rommel's army. There, by early May 1943, the Allied
armies had the Axis forces in North Africa trapped. Despite Hitler's instructions to fight to the death, about
240,000 Germans and Italians surrendered.
Churchill and Roosevelt met again in January 1943 at Casablanca, Morocco. At this Casablanca Conference, they
mapped out their strategy for the rest of the war. The two leaders agreed to accept nothing less than the
unconditional surrender of Italy, Germany, and Japan.
The Invasion of Italy
Control of North Africa freed the Allies to make the next move toward retaking Europe. They decided to target
Italy, which lay to the north, across the Mediterranean. In July 1943, the U.S. Seventh Army, under General
George S. Patton, invaded the large island of Sicily with British forces. With the Italian mainland in jeopardy,
Italians lost faith in Mussolini's leadership. An official Fascist council voted to remove him from office, and King
Victor Emmanuel III had him arrested. The Fascist Party was promptly disbanded, but the Germans freed
Mussolini and evacuated him to northern Italy where he set up a Fascist puppet state.
In September 1943, as Allied troops threatened to overrun the south and take Rome, Italy's new government
surrendered. On October 13, the new Italian government declared war on Germany. The German army in Italy,
however, continued to resist, blocking roads and destroying bridges as it retreated northward through the
mountainous Italian peninsula. The Germans set up Mussolini as the puppet ruler of a fascist Italian state in
northern Italy. By November, the Allied advance had stalled in the face of a stiffened German defense. The
German defensive line, stood between the Allies and Rome. In January 1944, the Allies made a surprise move.
They landed Allied soldiers behind German lines on the beach at Anzio, just 35 miles south of Rome. However,
the American commander took too long to organize his forces. A German force blocked off the beach in time to
trap the Allied troops. For the next four months, the Germans fiercely attacked the trapped soldiers. Before the
Americans finally broke through German defenses in May 1944, tens of thousands of Allied soldiers had been
killed or wounded.
Meanwhile, the Allies attacked and succeeded in breaking through the German line. Joining with the forces from
Anzio, the Allied army quickly captured Rome. They faced more months of heavy fighting, however, before the
Germans in northern Italy finally surrendered in April 1945. That same month, Mussolini was shot and killed by
Italians as he tried to flee across the northern Italian border.
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War in the Soviet Union
As the Allies battled their way across North Africa and into Italy, an epic struggle unfolded in Eastern Europe. In
Mein Kampf, Hitler had called for the conquest of the Soviet Union, to give the German people "living space."
Hitler believed that Germany had to be self-sufficient, which meant that it needed its own sources of oil and food.
By 1941, Hitler had taken control of huge oilfields in Romania. Now he planned to seize the farmlands of the
Ukraine. After losing the Battle of Britain, Hitler decided to turn his war machine to the east. He broke his pact
with Stalin and launched an attack against the Soviet Union.
The Germans Advance, 1941-1942
The attack began in the early morning hours of June 22, 1941. Nearly 3.6 million German and other Axis troops
poured across the length of the Soviet border, from Finland in the north to Romania in the south. Nearly 3 million
Red Army soldiers, poorly trained and badly equipped, mobilized to oppose the blitzkrieg. The intensity and the
brutality of the German attack took the Soviet defenders by surprise. The Luftwaffe quickly gained control of the
air, and German ground troops drove deep into Soviet territory. Germany captured hundreds of thousands of
Soviet soldiers who were trapped by the German army's quick advances. Soviet citizens who suffered badly under
Stalin, including Ukrainians and Lithuanians, welcomed the Germans as liberators. Their enthusiasm ended
quickly as German troops introduced forced labor and began executing civilians.
Ten days after the invasion began, Stalin broadcast message to his people: "In case of a forced retreat of the Red
Army," he said, "all rolling stock [trains] must be evacuated; to the enemy must not be left a single engine, a
single railway car, not a single pound of grain or gallon of fuel." Now, as the army began to retreat, it carried out
this policy, destroying everything that might be useful to the enemy. In the meantime, Stalin asked Roosevelt for
help through the Lend-Lease program. American aid began to flow and lasted until the end of the war. By that
autumn, German armies had advanced several hundred miles into the Soviet Union. German troops threatened the
capital, Moscow, and nearly surrounded the historic city of Leningrad, now known as St. Petersburg. Stalin
desperately urged his allies to launch an attack on Western Europe. This action would take pressure off the Soviet
Union's Red Army by forcing Hitler to fight on two fronts at once. Churchill did not feel ready to commit to a
risky invasion. Later, at Casablanca, he would persuade Roosevelt instead to invade Italy, which he called the
"soft underbelly" of Europe. The Soviet people would have to confront the bulk of the German army on their own.
The Siege of Leningrad
At the northern reaches of the Eastern Front, Hitler's armies began a nearly three-year siege of Leningrad in
September 1941. Despite German artillery attacks, the Soviets sustained a heroic effort to transport food and
supplies to the city's three million inhabitants across the frozen surface of Lake Ladoga, Leningrad's only link to
the Soviet Union. About 660,000 residents died of starvation and disease before the Germans retreated in January
1944. Leningrad was awarded the Order of Lenin and the title "Hero City of the Soviet Union" in gratitude for its
stand against Hitler.
The Battle of Stalingrad
The cold Russian winter stopped Germany's advance in October, and the Soviets regained some of their lost
territory. The next summer brought a new German offensive aimed at oil fields to the southeast. The Red Army
decided to make its stand at Stalingrad, a major rail and industrial center on the Volga River. In mid -September
1942, the Germans began a campaign of firebombing and shelling that lasted more than two months. Soviet
fighters took up positions in the charred rubble that remained of Stalingrad. There they engaged the advancing
German troops in bitter house-to-house combat, but lost most of the city.
In mid-November, taking advantage of harsh winter weather, Soviet forces launched a fierce counterattack. As
Hitler had ruled out a retreat, the German army was soon surrounded in the ruined city with few supplies and no
hope of escape. In late January, the Red Army launched a final assault on the freezing enemy. A German soldier
later described the experience:
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"Completely cut off, the men in field grey just slouched on, invariably filthy and invariably louse-ridden, their weary
shoulders sagging, from one defence position to another. The icy winds of those great white wastes which
stretched for ever beyond us to the east lashed a million crystals of razor-like snow into their unshaven faces, skin
now loosely stretched over bone, so utter was the exhaustion, so utter the starvation."
-A German infantryman at Stalingrad, December 1942
On January 31, 1943, more than 90,000 surviving Germans surrendered. In all, Germany lost some 330,000
troops at Stalingrad. Soviet losses are unknown, but estimates range as high as 1,100,000. The Battle of Stalingrad
proved to be the turning point of the war in Eastern Europe. Germany's seemingly unstoppable offensive was
over. After their victory, Soviet forces began a long struggle to regain the territory lost to the Germans. As the
Red Army slowly forced the German invaders back, Stalin continued to push for the long-promised Soviet
invasion of Western Europe.
Opening a Third Front
To be successful, a major invasion of Western Europe by land forces needed the support of air power. By 1943,
Allied pilots had gained plenty of battle experience. Aside from fighting off German attacks, Britain's Royal Air
Force (RAF) had carried out long-range bombing of Germany, as well as Germany's oil facilities in Romania.
As you read earlier, German warplanes started to target cities during the Battle of Britain and British warplanes
followed suit after abandoning attempts to pinpoint targets, the RAF developed a technique called carpet
bombing, in which planes scattered large numbers of bombs over a wide area. German cities suffered heavy
damage as a result.
Allied bombing of Germany intensified after the United States entered the war. In a typical American raid,
hundreds of B-17 Flying Fortresses took off from Britain, escorted by fighters. They rained bombs on German
aircraft factories, railway lines, ball-bearing plants, bridges, and cities. With these massive raids, the Allies aimed
to destroy Germany's ability to fight the war.
In the spring of 1943, the Allies stepped up their bombing campaign yet again in preparation for an eventual
Allied invasion. Like British civilians during the Blitz of London, Germans came to spend nights in underground
air raid shelters while enemy planes flew above. On the night of July 28, 1943, firebombing turned Hamburg into
one huge blaze. A survivor recalled that "a storm started a shrill howling in the street. It grew into a hurricane so
that we had to abandon all hope of fighting the fire." The Hamburg fire department coined the term "firestorm" to
describe this combination of flames driven by fierce heat-generated winds. More than 40,000 civilians died in
four attacks on Hamburg.
By 1944, British and American commanders were conducting coordinated air raids-.American planes bombing by
day and RAP planes bombing by night. At its height, some 3,000 planes took part in this campaign.
The Invasion of Western Europe
Stalin was not the only leader calling for an invasion of Western Europe. George Marshall, a top American
general, voiced the same opinion. At every Allied strategy conference after the United States entered the war, he
pushed for an attack on the German forces occupying France. In late 1943, the British finally agreed to go along
with Marshall's proposal.
The invasion, code-named Operation Overlord, would be launched from Great Britain. General Eisenhower was
the commander of the invasion forces. The Allies began a massive military buildup in southern England. Polish,
Dutch, Belgian, and French troops joined the American, British, and Canadian forces already in place. In
response, the Germans strengthened their defenses along the French coastline, adding machine-gun nests, barbedPage | 24
wire fences, land and water mines, and underwater obstructions. They knew a Western invasion was coming, but
they did not know exactly where or when. The Allies took great pains to keep this information secret.
D-Day
Shortly after midnight on June 6, 1944, some 4,600 invasion craft and warships slipped out of their harbors in
southern England. As the ships crossed the English Channel, about 1,000 RAF bombers pounded German
defenses at Normandy. Meanwhile, some 23,000 airborne British and American soldiers, in a daring nighttime
maneuver, parachuted behind enemy lines.
At dawn on D-Day, the full invasion of Western Europe began; Allied warships in the channel began a massive
shelling of the coast. Some 1,000 American planes continued the RAF's air bombardment. Then, around 150,000
Allied troops and their equipment began to come ashore along 60 miles of the Normandy coast in the largest
landing by sea in history. Despite the advice of his generals to launch a quick counterattack, Hitler hesitated.
Thanks to a complex Allied deception, he feared a second, larger invasion at the narrowest part of the English
Channel near Calais. Nevertheless, the limited German force at Normandy resisted fiercely.
At Omaha Beach, the code name for one landing site, the Allies suffered some 2,000 casualties in a few hours.
One Allied soldier later explained his experience of landing at Omaha Beach:
"It seemed like the whole world exploded. There was gunfire from battleships, destroyers, and cruisers. The
bombers were still hitting the beaches...As we went in we could see small craft from the 116th Infantry that had
gone in ahead, sunk. There were bodies bobbing in the water, even out three or four miles."
-Lieutenant Robert Edlin
In spite of the heavy casualties of D-Day, the invasion was a success. Within six days, a half million men had
come ashore. By late July, the Allied force in France numbered some 2 million troops.
Liberating France
Air power helped the Allies establish a beachhead at Normandy and also held off German reinforcements by
blowing up bridges throughout the region. Allied troops engaged in intense fighting on the ground. In early
August, General Patton used a blitzkrieg to open a hole in the German lines and burst out of Normandy. Armored
units of his U.S. Third Army drove deep into enemy territory and then encircled and destroyed the opposing
forces. After breaking German defenses, Patton led his army on a successful sweep across northern France.
In Paris, an uprising started by the French Resistance freed the city from German control. On August 25, 1944, a
French division of the US First Army officially liberated Paris. That same day, General Charles de Gaulle arrived
in the city, prepared to take charge of the French government. British and Canadian forces freed Belgium a few
days later. In mid-September, a combined Allied force attacked the Germans occupying the Netherlands. At about
the same time, American soldiers crossed the western border of Germany.
The Battle of the Bulge
The Nazis fought desperately to defend their conquests. To the north, the Allied attack on the Netherlands faltered
at the Rhine River. Meanwhile, Hitler reinforced the army with thousands of additional draftees, some as young
as 15. Then, in mid-December 1944, Germany launched a counterattack in Belgium and Luxembourg. The
German attack smashed into the US First Army and pushed it back, forming a bulge in the Allied line. The
resulting clash came to be known as the Battle of the Bulge.
Many small units, cut off from the rest of the American army, fought gallantly against overwhelming odds. From
his headquarters near Paris, Eisenhower ordered more troops to the scene. General Patton rapidly moved his US
Third Army north to help stop the German advance. In just a few weeks, the First and Third Armies, under the
direction of General Omar N. Bradley, knocked the Germans back and restarted the Allied drive into Germany.
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The Battle of the Bulge was the largest battle in Western Europe during World War II, and the largest battle ever
fought by the United States Army. It involved some 600,000 GIs, of whom about 80,000 were killed, wounded, or
captured. German losses totaled about 100,000. After this battle, most Nazi leaders recognized that the war was
lost.
The War in Europe Ends
In March 1945, as Allied bombers continued to strike German cities, American ground forces under General
Bradley crossed the Rhine River and moved toward Berlin from the west. Meanwhile, Soviet troops pushed into
Germany from the east.
Soviet Forces Advance
The struggle between German and Soviet forces from 1941 to 1945 dwarfed the fighting in France. At any given
time, more than 9 million soldiers were fighting on the eastern front. The costs of this struggle were horrific.
Some 11 million Soviet and 3 million German soldiers died, accounting for more than two thirds of the soldiers
killed in all of World War II. Current estimates place the total of Soviet civilian and military deaths at about 18
million.
After the hardships their nation had endured, Soviet leaders considered the capture of Berlin, Germany's capital, a
matter of honor. In late April 1945, Soviet troops fought their way into Berlin. As they had in Stalingrad, they
fought German soldiers for each ruined house and street in the destroyed city. On April 25, at the Elbe River,
they connected with American troops pushing east.
Germany Surrenders
As the Soviet army surrounded Berlin, Hitler refused to take his generals' advice to flee the city. Instead, he chose
to commit suicide in his underground bunker in Berlin on April 30, 1945. A few days later, on May 8, 1945,
Germany's remaining troops surrendered. When the fighting in Europe came to an end, American soldiers
rejoiced, and civilians on the home front celebrated V-E Day (Victory in Europe Day). They knew, however, that
the war would not be over until the Allies had defeated Japan.
The Yalta Conference
As the Nazi empire was crumbling, the three main Allied leaders met in the Soviet Union for a meeting known as
the Yalta Conference. It would have an enormous impact on the shaping of the post-war world. In February
1945, just months before the fall of Berlin, Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin (or the “Big Three”) met at Yalta to
plan the final defeat of Germany and to decide the shape of the postwar world. The leaders agreed to split
Germany into four zones after it surrendered, each zone under the control of one of the major Allies, including
France. They planned a similar division of the city of Berlin, which would lie deep inside the Soviet zone. The
leaders also discussed the formation of the United Nations as a replacement for the weaker League of Nations.
Stalin promised to allow elections in the nations of Eastern Europe that his army had liberated from the Germans.
He also promised to enter the war against Japan within three months of Germany's surrender. Stalin did not fulfill
his promises at Yalta. He refused, for example, to honor his pledge of free elections in Eastern Europe. Critics of
Yalta accused Roosevelt and Churchill of not doing enough to prevent Soviet domination of half of Europe. The
Soviets seemed to have simply replaced Nazi domination with communist domination. The issue of Eastern
Europe would be at the heart of the conflict (The Cold War) that later arose between the Soviet Union and the
United States.
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Section 7: Genocide
READING FOCUS
• How does the process of genocide unfold?
• What circumstances allow genocide to occur?
The 8 Stages of Genocide
By Gregory H. Stanton, President, Genocide Watch
Genocide is a process that develops in eight stages that are predictable but not inexorable. At each
stage, preventive measures can stop it. The process is not linear. Logically, later stages must be
preceded by earlier stages. But all stages continue to operate throughout the process.
1. CLASSIFICATION: All cultures have categories to distinguish people into “us and them” by
ethnicity, race, religion, or nationality: German and Jew, Hutu and Tutsi. Bipolar societies that lack
mixed categories, such as Rwanda and Burundi, are the most likely to have genocide. The main
preventive measure at this early stage is to develop universalistic institutions that transcend ethnic
or racial divisions, that actively promote tolerance and understanding, and that promote
classifications that transcend the divisions. This search for common ground is vital to early
prevention of genocide.
2. SYMBOLIZATION: We give names or other symbols to the classifications. We name people
“Jews” or “Gypsies”, or distinguish them by colors or dress; and apply the symbols to members of
groups. Classification and symbolization are universally human and do not necessarily result in
genocide unless they lead to the next stage, dehumanization. When combined with hatred, symbols
may be forced upon unwilling members of pariah groups: the yellow star for Jews under Nazi rule,
the blue scarf for people from the Eastern Zone in Khmer Rouge Cambodia. To combat
symbolization, hate symbols can be legally forbidden (swastikas) as can hate speech.
3. DEHUMANIZATION: One group denies the humanity of the other group. Members of it are
equated with animals, vermin, insects or diseases. Dehumanization overcomes the normal human
revulsion against murder. At this stage, hate propaganda in print and on hate radios is used to vilify
the victim group. In combating this dehumanization, incitement to genocide should not be confused
with protected speech.
4. ORGANIZATION: Genocide is always organized, usually by the state, often using militias to
provide deniability of state responsibility (the Janjaweed in Darfur.) Sometimes organization is
informal (militants) or decentralized (terrorist groups.) Special army units or militias are often trained
and armed. Plans are made for genocidal killings. To combat this stage, membership in these
militias should be outlawed. Their leaders should be denied visas for foreign travel. The U.N. should
impose arms embargoes on governments and citizens of countries involved in genocidal massacres,
and create commissions to investigate violations, as was done in post-genocide Rwanda.
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5. POLARIZATION: Extremists drive the groups apart. Hate groups broadcast polarizing
propaganda. Laws may forbid intermarriage or social interaction. Extremist terrorism targets
moderates, intimidating and silencing the center. Moderates from the perpetrators’ own group are
most able to stop genocide, so are the first to be arrested and killed. Prevention may mean security
protection for moderate leaders or assistance to human rights groups.
6. PREPARATION: Victims are identified and separated out because of their ethnic or religious
identity. Death lists are drawn up. Members of victim groups are forced to wear identifying symbols.
Their property is expropriated. They are often segregated into ghettoes, deported into concentration
camps, or confined to a famine-struck region and starved. At this stage, a Genocide Emergency
must be declared. If the political will of the great powers, regional alliances, or the U.N. Security
Council can be mobilized, armed international intervention should be prepared, or heavy assistance
provided to the victim group to prepare for its self-defense. Otherwise, at least humanitarian
assistance should be organized by the U.N. and private relief groups for the inevitable tide of
refugees to come.
7. EXTERMINATION begins, and quickly becomes the mass killing legally called “genocide.” It is
“extermination” to the killers because they do not believe their victims to be fully human. When it is
sponsored by the state, the armed forces often work with militias to do the killing. Sometimes the
genocide results in revenge killings by groups against each other, creating the downward whirlpoollike cycle of bilateral genocide (as in Burundi). At this stage, only rapid and overwhelming armed
intervention can stop genocide. Real safe areas or refugee escape corridors should be established
with heavily armed international protection. For larger interventions, a multilateral force authorized
by the U.N. should intervene.
8. DENIAL is the eighth stage that always follows a genocide. It is among the surest indicators of
further genocidal massacres. The perpetrators of genocide dig up the mass graves, burn the bodies,
try to cover up the evidence and intimidate the witnesses. They deny that they committed any
crimes, and often blame what happened on the victims. They block investigations of the crimes, and
continue to govern until driven from power by force, when they flee into exile. There they remain with
impunity unless they are captured and a tribunal is established to try them. The response to denial is
punishment by an international tribunal or national courts.
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Section 8: The Holocaust
READING FOCUS
• In what ways did Germany persecute Jews in the 1930s?
• How did Germany's policies toward Jews develop from murder into genocide?
Setting the Scene
Jews in Europe faced persecution for their religious beliefs for centuries. In the mid-1800s, a new form of antiJewish prejudice arose based on racial theories. Some thinkers claimed that Germanic peoples whom they called
"Aryans" were superior to Middle Eastern peoples called Semites. Semitic peoples included Arabs and Jews, but
the term often applied only to Jews. Although most scholars rejected those theories, a few used them to justify the
continued persecution of "non-Aryans." By the 1880s, the term anti-Semitism was used to describe
discrimination or hostility, often violent, directed at Jews. Despite the rise of anti-Semitism, most European
countries repealed old anti -Jewish laws between the mid- 1800s and World War I.
The suffering caused by World War I and the hardships of the Great Depression led many to look for someone to
blame (a scapegoat) for their problems. Using old theories of anti-Semitism to pin blame on the Jews helped many
Germans to regain national pride and a sense of purpose. In Mein Kampf; Adolf Hitler revived the idea of Aryan
superiority and expressed an especially hateful view of Jews. In particular, he despised the mixing of the two
"races";
"Let the desolation which Jewish hybridization daily visits on our nation be clearly seen, this blood-poisoning that
can be removed from our body national only after centuries or nevermore; let it be pondered, further, how racial
decay drags down, indeed often annuls, the final Aryan values of our German nation . ... "
-Adolf Hitler, from Mein Kampf, 1925
Persecution in Germany
When Hitler became Germany's leader in 1933, he made anti-Semitism the official policy of the nation. No other
persecution of Jews in modern history equals the extent and brutality of the Holocaust, Nazi Germany's
systematic murder of European Jews. In all, some six million Jews, about two thirds of Europe's Jewish
population, would lose their lives. Some 5 to 6 million other people would also die in Nazi captivity.
Nazi Policies
Early Nazi persecution aimed to exclude Germany's Jews from all aspects of the country's political, social, and
economic life. On April 1, 1933, the Nazis ordered a one-day boycott of businesses owned by Jews. In 1935, the
Nuremberg laws stripped Jews of their German citizenship, and outlawed marriage between Jews and non-Jews.
Nazi-controlled newspapers and radio constantly attacked and caricatured Jews as enemies of Germany. In 1938,
the Nazis enacted new policies to make life even more difficult for the Jewish people. Most Jews had already lost
their jobs. The Nazis then forced Jews to surrender their own businesses to Aryans for a fraction of their value,
Jewish doctors and lawyers were forbidden to serve non-Jews, and Jewish students were expelled from public
schools.
A Jew was defined as any person who had three or four Jewish grandparents, regardless of his or her current
religion, as well as any person who had two Jewish grandparents and practiced the Jewish religion. Jews in
Germany and German-occupied countries were forced to sew yellow stars marked "Jew" on their clothing. These
practices exposed Jews to public attacks and police harassment.
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Hitler's Police
When Hitler first came to power, the Gestapo, Germany's new secret police, was formed to identify and pursue
enemies of the Nazi regime. Hitler formed the SS to enforce the Reich’s anti-Semitic laws. The duties of the SS
included guarding the concentration camps, or places where political prisoners were confined, usually under
harsh conditions. In addition to Jews, the Nazi camps soon held many other classes of people whom they
considered "undesirable" –communists, homosexuals, Gypsies, the disabled, and the homeless.
Refugees Seek an Escape
From 1933 through 1937, about one in four Jews fled Germany with Nazi encouragement. At first, most refugees
moved to neighboring European nations. As the Nazi threat grew, however, Jews began to seek protection in the
United States, Latin America, and British-ruled Palestine. Few countries, however, welcomed Jewish refugees as
long as the Depression prevented their own citizens from finding work. Responding to criticism, President
Roosevelt called for an international conference to discuss the growing numbers of Jewish refugees. The
conference in France in July 1938, failed to deal with the situation. With the exception of the Dominican
Republic, each of the 32 nations represented, including the United States, refused to open its doors to more
immigrants.
Kristallnacht
Despite the ever-increasing restrictions on their lives, many Jews believed they could endure persecution until
Hitler lost power. Older people believed staying in Germany was safer than starting a new life-with no money in a
foreign country. Their illusions were destroyed on the night of November 9, 1938, when Nazi thugs throughout
Germany looted and destroyed Jewish stores, houses, and synagogues. This incident became known as
Kristallnacht, or "Night of the Broken Glass," a reference to the broken windows of the Jewish shops.
Nearly every synagogue was destroyed. The Nazis arrested thousands of Jews that night, and shipped them off to
concentration camps. These actions were followed by an enormous fine to make Jews pay for the damage of
Kristallnacht. After that night, Germany's remaining Jews sought any means possible to leave the country. This
night marked the unofficial “start” of the Holocaust.
From Murder to Genocide
As German armies overran most of Europe, more and more Jews, including many who had fled Germany, came
under their control. In 1939, for example, the invasion of Poland brought some 2 million additional Jews under
German control. Nazi plans for dealing with these Jews included the establishment of ghettos, self-contained
areas, usually surrounded by a fence, wall, or armed guards, where Jews were forced to live. In Warsaw, the Nazis
rounded up more than 400,000 Jews, about 30 percent of the Polish capital's population, and confined them in an
area that was less than 3 percent of the entire city. They sectioned off the Warsaw ghetto with a wall topped with
barbed wire and guarded by Germans. Hunger, overcrowding, and a lack of sanitation brought on disease. Each
month, thousands of Jews died in the ghetto. The Nazis, however, sought more efficient ways of killing Jews.
The Einsatzgruppen
During the invasion of the Soviet Union, Hitler ordered Einsatzgruppen or mobile killing squads, to shoot
Communist political leaders as well as all Jews in German-occupied territory. Typically, they rounded up their
victims, drove them to freshly dug pits, and shot them. In a ravine outside Kiev, a Soviet city, the Nazis killed
more than 33,000 Jews in two days. In January 1942, Nazi officials met at the Wannsee Conference outside
Berlin to agree on a new approach. They developed a plan to achieve what one Nazi leader called the "final
solution to the Jewish question." Ultimately, the plan would lead to the construction of special camps in Naziconquered lands where genocide, or the deliberate destruction of an entire ethnic or cultural group, was to be
carried out against Europe's Jewish population.
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The Death Camps
The Nazis chose poison gas as the most effective way to kill people. A pesticide called Zyklon B proved to be the
most efficient killer. In January 1942, the Nazis opened a specially designed gas chamber disguised as a shower
room at the Auschwitz camp in western Poland. The Nazis outfitted six such camps in Poland. Unlike
concentration camps, which functioned as prisons and centers of forced labor, these death camps existed
primarily for mass murder.
Jews in Poland, the Netherlands, Germany, and other lands were crowded into train cars built for cattle and
transported to these extermination centers. Most of them were told they were going to "the East" to work. At four
of the six death camps, nearly all were murdered soon after they arrived. On arrival at the two largest camps,
Auschwitz and Majdanek, prisoners were organized into a line and quickly inspected. The elderly, women with
children, and those who looked too weak to work were herded into gas chambers and killed. Jewish prisoners
carried the dead to the crematoria, or huge furnaces where the bodies were burned.
Those who were selected for work endured almost unbearable conditions. Men and women alike had their heads
shaved and a registration number tattooed on their arms. They were given one set of clothes and slept in crowded,
unheated barracks on hard wooden pallets. Their daily food was usually a cup of imitation coffee, a small piece of
bread, and thin, foul-tasting soup made with rotten vegetables. Diseases swept through the camps and claimed
many who were weakened by harsh labor and starvation.
Others died from torture or from cruel medical experiments. At periodic "selections," German overseers sent
weak prisoners to the gas chambers. The number of people killed in the labor and death camps is staggering. At
Auschwitz, the main Nazi killing center, 12,000 victims could be gassed and cremated in a single day. There the
Nazis killed over 1.5 million people, some 90 percent of them Jews.
Fighting Back
Some Jews resisted the Nazis. In Poland, France, and elsewhere, Jews joined underground resistance groups. Jews
in several ghettos and camps took part in violent uprisings. In August 1943, rioting Jews damaged the Treblinka
death camp so badly that it had to be closed. However, uprisings often came too late to save many people, and
they were quickly crushed by the Germans. Attempted escape was the most common form of resistance. Most
attempts failed, and most of those who escaped were later caught, but a few people managed to bring word of the
death camps to the outside world. After several prisoners escaped from Treblinka, word got back to the Warsaw
ghetto about the fate of nearly 300,000 Jews from Warsaw who had been sent there in 1942. As a result, in April
1943, the approximately 50,000 Jews still in the Warsaw ghetto rose up against a final deportation to Treblinka.
For some 27 days, Jews armed with little more than pistols and homemade bombs held out against more than
2,000 Germans with tanks and artillery. Although the Germans defeated the rebellion, Warsaw's Jews had brought
the deportation drive to a standstill, if only for a time.
Rescue and Liberation
Some in the United States government knew about the mass murder of Jews by the Nazis as early as November
1942. The press showed little interest in reporting the story, and Congress did not raise immigration quotas.
Finally, in January 1944, President Roosevelt created the War Refugee Board (WRB) to try to help people
threatened by the Nazis. Despite its late start, the WRB's programs helped save some 200,000 lives. With WRB
funding, for example, Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg rescued thousands of Hungarian Jews by issuing them
special Swedish passports. As Allied armies advanced in late 1944, the Nazis abandoned the camps outside
Germany. On the eve of liberation, thousands of Jews died on death marches from camp to camp as their German
guards moved them ahead of advancing armies. In 1945, American troops were able to witness the horrors of the
Holocaust for the first time. A young soldier described the conditions he discovered as he entered the barracks at
Buchenwald:
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"The odor was so bad I backed up, but I looked at a bottom bunk and there I saw one man. He was too
weak to get up; he could just barely turn his head...He looked like a skeleton; and his eyes were deep
set. He didn't utter a sound; he just looked at me with those eyes, and they still haunt me today."
-Leon Bass, American soldier
Horrified by the death camps and by Germany's conduct during the war, the Allies placed a number of former
Nazi leaders on trial. They charged them with crimes against peace, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. An
International Military Tribunal composed of members selected by the United States, Great Britain, the Soviet
Union, and France conducted the Nuremberg Trials in November 1945. Of the 24 Nazi defendants, 12 received
a death sentence. More significant than the number of convictions, the trials established the important principle
that individuals must be responsible for their own actions. The tribunal firmly rejected the Nazis' argument that
they were only "following orders."
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Section 9: The War in the Pacific (Japan)
READING FOCUS
• What advances did Japan make in Asia and the Pacific in late 1941 and 1942?
• Which Allied victories turned the tide of war in the Pacific?
• What was the strategy of the United States in the struggle to recapture the Pacific Islands?
• Why were the battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa important?
• How did the Manhattan Project bring the war to an end?
Setting the Scene
The bombing of Pearl Harbor was not the only sudden attack in the Pacific. Just hours after striking Hawaii,
Japanese warplanes bombed Clark Field, the main American air base in the Philippines. Although news of Pearl
Harbor had reached Douglas MacArthur, the islands’ commanding general, the Americans at Clark Field failed to
properly prepare for an attack. The Japanese destroyed about half of MacArthur's airplanes, which were lined up
in rows on the ground.
Within days, a large Japanese force landed on the main Philippine island of Luzon. MacArthur withdrew most of
his troops southward to the Bataan Peninsula. There he set up defenses, hoping the navy would be able to
evacuate his army to safety. American and Filipino troops held out on the Bataan Peninsula under Japanese fire
for several months as hopes dimmed. Eventually, President Roosevelt ordered MacArthur to escape to Australia.
In March 1942, the general reluctantly boarded a torpedo boat and set off through Japanese-controlled waters to
the safety of the southern Philippines. There, he boarded an airplane for Australia. When he landed, MacArthur
made a promise to the people of the Philippines and to his army: "I shall return."
The Japanese Advance, 1941-1942
The Japanese struck Pearl Harbor and Clark Field to try to gain military control of the Western Pacific. By
shattering American forces everywhere in the region, they hoped that the United States would withdraw, leaving
them easy access to the natural resources of Southeast Asia. Oil from the Dutch East Indies would give Japan the
energy independence it needed. With this goal in mind, the Japanese attacked a number of other Allied colonies in
December 1941.
By early March 1942, they had overrun the British strongholds of Hong Kong and Singapore, seized the Dutch
East Indies and Malaya, and Burma. Japan's southern offensive swept aside- British, American, and Dutch naval
power in Southeast Asia and brought a wide band of colonies into the Japanese empire. Japan then turned its
attention to securing the Philippines.
The Philippines Fall
Facing starvation and renewed Japanese attacks, most Allied defenders surrendered in early April 1942. About
2,000 soldiers and nurses escaped to the fortified island of Corregidor, just off the tip of the peninsula, to join the
fort's defenders. American troops on Corregidor survived another month of continual Japanese bombardment by
living in the rock tunnels of the fortress. Finally, running low on ammunition and food, more than 11,000
Americans and Filipinos surrendered to invading Japanese forces on May 6.
With the fall of the Bataan Peninsula in early April and Corregidor in May, the Japanese captured about 76,000
Filipinos and Americans as prisoners of war. Already weakened by disease and lack of food, these prisoners faced
a grueling test in the tropical heat. Their Japanese captors split them into groups of 500 to 1,000 and forcemarched them some 60 miles to a railroad junction. There, the prisoners were boarded on a train that took them to
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within eight miles of an army camp and then walked the rest of the way. During the march, many prisoners were
treated brutally. They were denied water and rest and many were beaten and tortured. At least 10,000 prisoners
died during the 8-day journey. Many were executed by the guards when they grew too weak to keep up. Their
ordeal became known as the Bataan Death March. Those who survived were sent to primitive prison camps,
where an additional 15,000 or more died.
The brutality by Japanese soldiers in Bataan defied accepted international standards of conduct toward prisoners
of war. Those standards had been spelled out in 1929 in the Geneva Convention. "Prisoners of war," the
convention stated, "shall be humanely treated and protected, particularly against acts of violence ..." This brutality
would factor into the decision to try Japanese officials for crimes against humanity when the war came to an end
in 1945.
Defending China and Burma
China joined the Allies on December 9, 1941, by officially declaring war on Germany, Italy, and its longtime foe,
Japan. The United States had already sent military advisors and Lend-Lease arms and equipment to China. They
hoped to strengthen China and thus divert Japan from the drive to conquer Southeast Asia. Shortly after the war
began, China's Nationalist leader Chang Kai-shek asked an American general, Joseph Stilwell, to serve as his
chief of staff.
The War at Sea
At Pearl Harbor, Japan had not achieved one of its main goals: to destroy the aircraft carriers that formed the heart
of the Pacific Fleet. Two of the carriers, (the Lexington and the Enterprise) had been away at sea during the
attack. A third (Saratoga) was undergoing repairs in California. These carriers would prove to be important
American weapons in the war at sea. Since World War I, the design of carriers and the aircraft that relied on them
had improved tremendously. Carriers had become floating airfields, greatly extending the area in which warplanes
could fly. These planes now included dive bombers and torpedo bombers capable of destroying enemy ships. For
example, Japan had used aircraft carriers as a base for the attack on Pearl Harbor.
In April 1942, a group of American bombers took off from the aircraft carrier Hornet on their own secret mission.
Led by Lieutenant Colonel James Doolittle, the planes flew several hundred miles to Japan to carry out a daring
American counterattack. Doolittle's squadron dropped bombs on Tokyo and other cities before crash landing in
China. Most of the pilots survived. The Doolittle Raid caused little physical damage, but it shocked Japan's
leadership and boosted Allied morale at a crucial time.
Japanese forces continued to advance across the Pacific, and the battered American navy fought desperately to
stop them. The fall of the Dutch East Indies opened the way to Australia. In May 1942, a largely American naval
group engaged a superior Japanese fleet in the Coral Sea, northeast of Australia. In the Battle of the Coral Sea,
aircraft launched from aircraft carriers bombed and strafed enemy ships more than 70 miles away. The five-day
battle cost both sides more than half their planes. The Japanese destroyed the Lexington and damaged the
Yorktown, another carrier. One Japanese carrier sank, another lost most of its planes, and a third was put out of
action. The battle prevented the Japanese from invading Australia, a result America saw as a victory.
The Battle of the Coral Sea also opened a new chapter in naval warfare. It was the first naval combat carried out
entirely by aircraft. The enemy ships never came within sight of one another. From now on, aircraft and aircraft
carriers would play the central role in naval battles.
Allied Victories Turn the Tide
In the summer of 1942, while the Soviet Union resisted German attacks and the Allies prepared to invade North
Africa, two critical battles took place in the Pacific. The fight for Midway Island, near Hawaii, and Guadalcanal,
near the Coral Sea, changed the course of the war in the Pacific.
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The Battle of Midway
Japanese Admiral Yamamoto Isoroku, architect of the Pearl Harbor attack, hoped to destroy what remained of the
United States Pacific Fleet by luring it into battle near Midway Island, some 1,100 miles northwest of Hawaii.
Yamamoto committed a large part of Japan's navy to his planned invasion of Midway. He believed, correctly, that
American Admiral Chester Nimitz would use all his resources to protect the island so vital to the defense of
Hawaii. The Battle of Midway opened on June 4, 1942, with a wave of Japanese bomber attacks on the island
and a simultaneous American strike on the Japanese fleet. As in the Battle of the Coral Sea, the Battle of Midway
was fought entirely from the air.
At first, American planes based on Midway's airfields tried to fend off the Japanese carrier-based bombers. Then
the American carriers intervened. Their warplanes surprised Japan's carriers at a vulnerable time as the Japanese
were refueling planes and loading them with bombs. Aboard the targeted Japanese ships, fuel hoses caught fire
and bombs stacked on the decks exploded. The Americans swiftly sank three of the four heavy Japanese carriers
and finished off the fourth later the same day. Before the fourth carrier’s destruction, planes from that carrier had
managed to disable the Yorktown which was later sunk by a Japanese submarine.
Two American carriers, the Enterprise and the Hornet emerged undamaged. The sinking of four Japanese carriers,
combined with the loss of some 250 planes and most of Japan's skilled naval pilots, was a devastating blow to the
Japanese navy. The American victory owed much to Commander Joseph Rochefort, who broke the Japanese code
in time to learn crucial information before the attack began. After the Battle of Midway, Japan was unable to
launch any more offensive operations in the Pacific.
The Battle of Guadalcanal
The victory at Midway allowed the Allies to take the offensive in the Pacific. Their first goal was to capture
Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands, where the Japanese were building an airfield to threaten nearby Allied bases
and lines of communication with Australia. When more than 11,000 marines landed on the island in August 1942,
the 2,200 Japanese who were defending the island fled into the jungle. The Battle of Guadalcanal provided the
marines with their first taste of jungle warfare. They slogged through swamps, crossed rivers, and hacked through
tangles of vines in search of the enemy. The marines made easy targets for Japanese snipers hidden in the thick
underbrush or in the tops of palm trees.
Both sides landed thousands of reinforcements in five months of fighting. After several fierce naval battles, the
American navy took control of the waters around the island in November, limiting Japanese troop landings.
Japan's outnumbered forces finally slipped off the island in February 1943. The Allies had conquered their first
piece of Japanese-held territory. Now they made plans for rolling back Japan's other conquests.
Struggle for the Islands
From Guadalcanal, American forces began island-hopping, a military strategy of selectively attacking specific
enemy-held islands and bypassing others. By capturing only a few crucial islands, the United States effectively
cut off the bypassed islands from supplies and reinforcements and rendered those islands useless to the Japanese.
This strategy also allowed the Americans to move more quickly toward their ultimate goal-Japan itself.
Island-Hopping in the Pacific
In 1943 and 1944, the Allies pushed north from Australia and west across the Central Pacific. Forces under
General MacArthur and Admiral William Halsey leapfrogged through the Solomon Islands while Admiral Nimitz
led a similar island-hopping campaign in the Gilbert Islands. After seizing the island of Tarawa, Nimitz used it to
launch the bombing raids on Japanese bases in the Marshall Islands. By February 1944, these attacks had crippled
Japanese air power, allowing Nimitz's forces to seize islands at the northwest end of the island group. From the
Marshalls, Nimitz captured parts of the Mariana Islands in June. For the first time, Japan was within reach of
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long-range American bombers. By the end of 1944, B-29 Super-fortresses were dropping tons of explosives on
Japanese cities.
The Philippines Campaign
As American forces pushed toward Japan in the summer of 1944, military planners decided to bypass the
Philippine Islands. MacArthur vigorously opposed this strategy, claiming that the United States had an obligation
to free the Filipino people. The general's arguments persuaded Roosevelt, who reversed the decision. In midOctober, some 160,000 American troops invaded the Philippine island of Leyte. After the beach was secure,
General MacArthur dramatically waded ashore from a landing craft. News cameras recorded the historic event as
MacArthur proclaimed, "People of the Philippines, I have returned." While American troops fought their way
inland, the greatest naval battle in world history developed off the coast. More than 280 warships took part in the
three-day Battle of Leyte Gulf. The Japanese high command directed nearly every warship still afloat to attack
the United States Navy. This was the first battle in which Japanese kamikazes, or suicide planes, were used.
Kamikaze pilots loaded their aircraft with bombs and then deliberately crashed them into enemy ships to inflict
maximum damage. Despite this tactic, the American force destroyed the Japanese navy and emerged victorious.
Japanese land forces in the Philippines continued to resist, however. American troops needed two months to
liberate Leyte. Some 80,000 Japanese defenders were killed and fewer than 1,000 Japanese surrendered. The
battle for the Philippines' capital city of Manila, on-the island of Luzon, was equally hard fought. Fighting left
most of Manila in ruins and some 100,000 Filipino civilians dead.
Iwo Jima and Okinawa
The fighting grew deadlier as American troops moved closer to Japan. One of the bloodiest battles of the war took
place on the tiny volcanic island of Iwo Jima, less than 700 miles from Japan. The island's steep, rocky slopes
were honeycombed with caves and tunnels. The natural terrain protected more than 600 Japanese guns, many
encased in concrete bunkers. In November 1944, American bombers based in the recently conquered Marianas,
began to pound Iwo Jima from the air: For 74 days, American planes and warships poured nearly 7,600 tons of
bombs and more than 20,000 shells onto Iwo Jima's defenders. In mid-February 1945, marines stormed the
beaches. They encountered furious resistance from the Japanese. After three days of combat, the marines had
advanced only about 700 yards inland. Eventually nearly 110,000 American troops took part in the campaign.
Although opposed by fewer than 25,000 Japanese, the marines needed almost a month to secure the island. The
enemy fought almost to the last defender. Only 216 Japanese were taken prisoner.
In the Battle of Iwo Jima, American forces suffered an estimated 25,000 casualties. The United States awarded
27 Medals of Honor for actions on Iwo Jima, more than in any other single operation of the war. Admiral Nimitz
described the island as a place in which "uncommon valor was a common virtue.” A photo of servicemen raising
the United States flag on Iwo Jima came to symbolize the struggles and sacrifices of American troops during
World War II.
The Battle of Okinawa, fought from April to June 1945, was equally bloody. The small island of Okinawa, little
more than 350 miles from Japan itself, was historically Japanese soil. It was the last obstacle to an Allied invasion
of the Japanese home islands. With this in mind, many of the island's nearly 100,000 defenders had pledged to
fight to the death.
The Allies gathered some 1,300 warships and more than 180,000 combat troops to drive the enemy from Okinawa
in an effort second only to the Normandy invasion in size. Japanese pilots flew nearly 2,000 kamikaze attacks
against this fleet. As American soldiers stormed ashore, defenders made equally desperate banzai charges-attacks
in which the soldiers tried to kill as many of the enemy as possible until they themselves were killed. One soldier
described the long, hard-fought campaign to take Okinawa:
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"Our attack pattern was: barrage a hill with bombs and shells, move up the foot soldiers, hold it against
counterattacks, fight down the reverse slope, then start on the next one. We would attack during the day; dig in for
the night-not for sleep, but for safety. A hole was never deep enough when the Japanese started their barrage.
And then, at night, they would come, a screaming banzai or a single shadow."
-An American GI at Okinawa
In June, the Japanese resistance finally ended after almost three months. For American forces, the nearly 50,000
casualties made the Battle of Okinawa the costliest engagement of the Pacific war. At long last, however, the
Allies had a clear path to Japan.
The Manhattan Project
The next challenge for American soldiers was to prepare themselves for the invasion of Japan. After the grueling
battles at Iwo Jima and Okinawa, they knew how costly such an invasion would be. Unknown to them, however,
work was nearly complete on a weapon that would make the invasion unnecessary.
In August 1939, President Roosevelt had received a letter from Albert Einstein, a brilliant Jewish physicist who
had fled from Europe. In his letter, Einstein suggested that an incredibly powerful new type of bomb could be
built by the Germans. Determined to build the bomb before Germany did, Roosevelt organized the top secret
Manhattan Project to develop an "atomic" bomb. Scientists had already succeeded in splitting the nucleus of the
uranium atom. To make an atomic bomb, however, they had to discover how to create a chain reaction. In such a
reaction, particles released from the splitting of one atom would cause another atom to break apart, and so on. In
theory, the energy released by the splitting of so many atoms would produce a massive explosion.
Under the direction of J. Robert Oppenheimer, scientists worked secretly to design a bomb that could store the
raw materials and trigger a powerful chain reaction on demand. On July 16, 1945, Manhattan Project scientists
field-tested the world's first atomic bomb in the desert of New Mexico. With a blinding flash of light, the
explosion blew a huge crater in the earth and shattered windows some 125 miles away. As he watched,
Oppenheimer, who had supervised the building of the bomb, remembered the words of a Hindu holy book: "Now
I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds."
The Decision to Drop the Bomb
Once the bomb was ready, the question became whether or not to use it against Japan. There were a number of
alternative possibilities for ending the war:
1. A massive invasion of Japan, expected to cost up to one million Allied casualties
2. A naval blockade to starve Japan, along with continued conventional bombing
3. A demonstration of the new weapon on a deserted island to pressure Japan to surrender
4. A softening of Allied demands for an unconditional surrender
A small group of scientists, military leaders, and government officials, called the Interim Committee, met in the
spring of 1945 to debate these ideas. It could not recommend any of the alternatives. Heavy American casualties
at Iwo Jima and Okinawa were a factor in the committee's support for using the bomb. The final decision,
however, rested with President Harry Truman, who had taken office barely three months earlier, after President
Roosevelt's death in April 1945. Truman had no difficulty making his decision. He considered the bomb to be a
military weapon and had no doubt that it should be used. Truman never regretted his decision. "You should do
your weeping at Pearl Harbor," he later said to his critics.
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Japan Surrenders
On August 6, 1945, an American plane, the Enola Gay dropped a single atomic bomb on Hiroshima, a city in
southern Japan. A blast of intense heat annihilated the city's center and its residents in an instant. Many buildings
that survived the initial blast were destroyed by fires spread by powerful winds. Over 100,000 died and at least as
many were injured by fire, radiation sickness, and the force of the explosion. About 95 percent of the city's
buildings were damaged or totally destroyed. A Hiroshima resident described the scene after the bombing:
"Wherever you went, you didn't bother to take the roads. Everything was flat, nothing was standing, no gates,
pillars, walls, or fences. You walked in a straight line to where you wanted to go. Practically everywhere you came
across small bones that had been left behind." -Hiroshima survivor
When Japan didn't immediately surrender, three days later, a second bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. On August
14, the government of Japan accepted the American terms for surrender. The next day, Americans celebrated V-J
Day (Victory in Japan Day). The formal surrender agreement was signed on September 2, 1945, aboard the USS
Missouri in Tokyo Bay. The long and destructive war had finally come to an end.
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Unit 2:
The Cold War
Section 1:
Origins of the Cold War
p.40
Section 2:
Cold War ‘Heats’ up
p.45
Section 3:
The Korean War
p.49
Section 4:
Fear in the U.S.
p.52
Section 5:
The Cold War Expands in the 1950s
p.55
Section 6:
The Economy of the 1950s
p.58
Section 7:
Social Issues of the 1950s
p.62
Section 8:
The Cold War in the early 1960s
p.65
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Section 1: Origins of the Cold War
READING FOCUS
• Why was 1945 a critical year in United States foreign relations?
• What were the postwar goals of the United States and the Soviet Union?
• How did the iron curtain tighten the Soviet Union's hold over Eastern Europe?
• How did the Truman Doctrine complement the policy of containment?
Setting the Scene
"I know you will not mind my being brutally frank when I tell you that I can personally handle Stalin," President
Roosevelt told Winston Churchill during World War II. "He thinks he likes me better, and I hope he will continue
to." By 1944, Roosevelt was so sure of Stalin's cooperation that he began calling the ruthless Soviet dictator
"Uncle Joe."
A Roosevelt advisor later wrote that the President did not have "any real comprehension of the great gulf that
separated their thinking." Nor did he understand just what a wily and difficult adversary Stalin would turn out to
be. Churchill, however, clearly understood the situation. "Germany is finished," he declared. "The real problem is
Russia. I can't get the Americans to see it."
1945-A Critical Year
The wartime cooperation between the United States and the Soviet Union was certainly a temporary arrangement.
There had been a history of bad feelings between the two nations ever since the Communist Revolution of 1917.
During that revolt, President Wilson had dispatched American troops to Russia to support anti-communist
resistance. The United States had not even recognized the existence of the Soviet government until 1933. These
actions caused considerable resentment in the Soviet Union. As wartime allies, the Soviets often disagreed with
their American and British partners over battle tactics and postwar plans. The United States was angered by the
'nonaggression pact that Stalin had signed with Hitler (which Hitler had broken), and Stalin was angry that the
Allies had not invaded Europe sooner, to take the pressure off the Russian front. As the end of the war
approached, relations between the communist Soviet Union and the two Western democracies grew increasingly
tense.
Differences at Yalta
In February 1945, Roosevelt met with Stalin and Churchill at Yalta to work out the future of Germany and
Poland. They agreed on the division of Germany into American, British, French, and Soviet occupation zones.
Later, the American, British, and French zones were combined to create a new country - West Germany. The
Soviet zone became East Germany. Roosevelt and Churchill rejected Stalin's demand that Germany pay the
Soviet Union $20 billion in war damages.
At the meeting, Roosevelt pressed Stalin to declare war on Japan. The atomic bomb had not yet been tested, and
the President wanted Soviet help if an invasion of Japan became necessary. Stalin promised to enter the war
against Japan soon after Germany surrendered.
Poland proved the most difficult issue at Yalta. The Red Army had occupied that country and supported the
communist-dominated government. Stalin opposed the return of Poland's prewar government, then in exile in
London. Historically, Poland provided an invasion route into Russia, as Hitler had just demonstrated. The Polish
government, Stalin insisted, must be sympathetic to Soviet security needs. The Yalta meeting stalled until Stalin
agreed on elections to let Poles choose their government. He would later break this agreement, and used Soviet
troops to support the communist government there.
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The United Nations
One item on which the leaders at Yalta all agreed was the creation of the United Nations (UN), a new
international peacekeeping organization. The League of Nations, founded after World War I, had failed largely
because the United States refused to join. This time, policymakers got congressional support for the UN. In April
1945, delegates from 50 nations met in San Francisco to adopt a charter, or statement of principles, for the UN.
The charter stated that members would try to settle their differences peacefully and would promote justice and
cooperation in solving international problems. In addition, they would try to stop wars from starting and "take
effective collective measures" to end those that did break out.
All member nations belonged to the UN's General Assembly. Representatives of 11 countries sat on a Security
Council. The United States, the Soviet Union, Great Britain, France, and China had (and still have) permanent
seats on the Security Council and a veto over proposed policies.
Truman Takes Command
Roosevelt never lived to see his dream of the United Nations fulfilled. On April 12, 1945, just two weeks before
the UN's first meeting, and less than a month before the end of the war in Europe, the President died while
vacationing at Warm Springs, Georgia. Although he was in poor health and noticeably tired, his unexpected death
shocked the nation. No one was more surprised than Vice President Harry Truman, who suddenly found himself
President. Few Vice Presidents have been less prepared to become President. Although he had spent ten years in
Congress, Truman had been Vice President for only a few months. Roosevelt had never involved him in major
foreign policy discussions. Truman at first seemed willing to compromise with the Soviets. But before long his
attitude hardened.
The Potsdam Conference
Truman's first meeting with Stalin occurred in July 1945 in the Berlin suburb of Potsdam. Stalin renewed his
demand for war payments from Germany, and Truman insisted on the promised Polish elections. At Potsdam,
Truman got word that the atomic bomb had been tested in New Mexico. Hoping to intimidate Stalin, Truman told
him that the United States had a new weapon of extraordinary force. Stalin, who already knew of the bomb from
Soviet spies, simply nodded and said that he hoped it would be put to good use. Stalin's casual manner hid his
concern over America's new strategic advantage.
Conflicting Postwar Goals
Shortly after Truman took office, he scolded the Soviet Foreign Minister, Vyacheslav Molotov, for the Soviet
Union's failure to allow Polish elections. Molotov was offended by Truman's bluntness. "I have never been talked
to like that in my life," Molotov protested. "Carry out your agreements and you won't get talked to like that,"
Truman snapped.
The American View
Tensions over Poland illustrated the differing views of the world held by American and Soviet leaders. Americans
had fought to bring democracy and economic opportunity to the conquered nations of Europe and
Asia. The United States hoped to see these goals achieved in the postwar world. An economically strong and
politically open world would also serve American interests by providing markets for its products. Therefore, the
US found it necessary to spread capitalism (free market economies). Arguably, it was more important to the US
to spread capitalism than it even was to spread democracy.
The Soviet View
After losing millions of people during the war and suffering widespread destruction, the Soviet Union was
determined to rebuild in ways that would protect its own interests. One way was to establish satellite nations,
countries that had been taken over by the Soviets at the end of World War II and forced to be communist. These
nations were on the western borders of the Soviet Union that would serve as a buffer zone against attacks. The
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Soviet Union also looked forward to the spread of communism throughout the world, an economic system that
stresses equality over individual success. According to communist doctrine, revolution to overthrow the capitalist
system was inevitable, and the role of communist governments was to support and speed up these revolutionary
processes in other countries. Stalin thus refused to cooperate with new agencies such as the World Bank and the
International Monetary Fund, intended to help build strong capitalist economies. Instead, Stalin installed or
supported totalitarian communist governments in Eastern Europe.
Soviets Tighten Their Hold
The Soviet Union quickly gained political control over nations that the Red Army had freed from the Nazis.
The promised elections in Poland did not take place for nearly two years. By that time, Poland’s Soviet-installed
government had virtually eliminated all political opposition, so the elections were a sham. Similar actions were
taken by Soviet-installed governments throughout Eastern Europe.
Albania and Bulgaria
In Albania, communist guerrilla forces had driven out the Germans by 1944. When elections were held the
following year, all anti-communist leaders had been silenced. Soviet troops rolled into. Bulgaria in 1944, and the
communists secured their hold on the country by 1948.
Czechoslovakia
The Czechs desperately tried to hold on to their democratic political system. The communists plotted to take
power by replacing all non-communist police officers with party members. With support from the Soviet Union,
they also staged rallies, strikes, and a violent uprising. By 1948, Czechoslovakia was a Soviet satellite nation.
Hungary and Romania
After Communist candidates lost elections in Hungary in late 1945, Soviet troops remained there and demanded
Communist control of the police. The arrest of anti-Communist leaders allowed the Communists to win new
elections held in 1947. The Red Army also stayed in Romania, and in 1945 the Soviets forced the Romanian king
to name a Communist as prime minister. Less than two years later, the prime minister forced the king to step
down.
East Germany
While the Western Allies wanted a strong, rebuilt Germany at the center of Europe, Stalin was determined that the
Germans would never threaten his nation again. He established national control of all East German resources and
installed a brutal totalitarian government there. In 1949, under the Communist government, the country became
known as the German Democratic Republic (even though it was not a democracy).
Finland and Yugoslavia
In spite of the Soviet successes occurring all around them, two countries did manage to maintain a degree of
independence from the Soviet Union. Finland signed a treaty of cooperation with the Soviets in 1948. The treaty
required Finland to remain neutral in foreign affairs but allowed it to manage its own domestic affairs. In
Yugoslavia, Communists gained control in 1945 under the leadership of Josip Broz, better known as Marshall
Tito. A fiercely independent dictator, Tito refused to take orders from Stalin, who unsuccessfully tried to topple
him in 1948. For the next three decades, Tito would pursue his own brand of communism relatively free from
Soviet interference.
The Iron Curtain
In a February 1946 speech, Stalin predicted the ultimate triumph of communism over capitalism. Yet he knew that
it would be years before the Soviets were strong enough militarily to directly confront the United States. In the
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meantime, Stalin called on Communists to spread their system by other means. A month after Stalin's speech,
Winston Churchill responded. Speaking in Missouri, he condemned the division of Europe that Stalin had already
accomplished:
"From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the Continent. Behind
that line lie all the capitals of Central and Eastern Europe…The Communist parties, which were very small in all
these Eastern States of Europe, have been raised to preeminence and power far beyond their numbers and are
seeking everywhere to obtain totalitarian control...This is certainly not the Liberated Europe we fought to build up.
Nor is it one which contains the essentials of permanent peace."
- "Iron Curtain" speech, Winston Churchill, March 5, 1946
Churchill also called on Americans to help keep Stalin from enclosing any more nations behind the iron curtain
of Communist domination and oppression. These two speeches of 1946 -by Stalin and by Churchill- set the tone
for the Cold War, the competition that developed between the United States and the Soviet Union for power and
influence in the world. For nearly 50 years, until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Cold War was
characterized by political and economic conflict and military tensions. The rivalry stopped just short of a "hot"
war-a direct military engagement-between the two competing nations. However, United States military forces did
engage in combat in other nations as part of the American effort to defeat Soviet-supported uprisings and
invasions wherever they occurred. These smaller “hot wars” against Soviet allies are known as proxy wars.
Containment
In a long telegram to the State Department in 1946, George Kennan, a top American diplomat stationed in
Moscow, analyzed Soviet behavior and policy. Later, in an anonymous journal article, Kennan warned that the
Soviets had "no real faith in the possibility of a permanently happy coexistence of the Socialist and capitalist
worlds" and that they also believed in the inevitable triumph of communism. Therefore, Kennan concluded that
the Soviet Union "cannot be easily defeated or discouraged by a single victory on the part of its opponents ... but
only by intelligent long-range policies."
According to Kennan, the "United States policy toward the Soviet Union must be that of a long-term, patient but
firm and vigilant containment of Russian expansive tendencies." The American policy of containment emerged
from Kennan's analysis. This policy recognized the possibility that Eastern Europe was already lost to
communism. It called for the United States to resist Soviet attempts to form Communist governments elsewhere
in the world.
Critics saw containment as too moderate an approach to Soviet-American relations. They called for action to push
the Communists out of Eastern Europe, Russia, and anywhere else they had taken power. Kennan, however,
argued that the Soviet system "bears within it the seeds of its own decay" and would eventually crumble. Thus,
although containment remained controversial, it became the cornerstone of America's Cold War foreign policy.
The policy of containment would be the main US policy throughout the entire Cold War.
The Truman Doctrine
President Truman soon had an opportunity to apply the policy of containment. Since 1945, the Soviet Union had
been making threats against Turkey. Stalin wanted control of the Dardanelles, a narrow strait in Turkey that
would give Soviet ports on the Black Sea access to the Mediterranean. In addition, a civil war had broken out in
nearby Greece in the closing days of World War II. There, Communists fought to overthrow the government that
had returned to power after the Axis invaders had withdrawn.
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Still suffering from the economic devastation of the war, Great Britain announced in February 1947 that it could
no longer afford to provide aid to Greece and Turkey. The British suggested that the United States take over
responsibility for defending the region. State Department officials developed a plan to provide American aid to
Greece and Turkey.
In March 1947, in a speech before Congress, President Truman called on the United States to take a leadership
role in the world. In a statement of principles known as the Truman Doctrine, he established another major
policy that would guide American actions in the Cold War.
"Nearly every nation must choose between alternative ways of life. The choice is too often not a free one. One
way of life is based upon the will of the majority...The second way of life is based upon the will of a minority
forcibly imposed upon the majority...I believe that it must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples
who are resisting attempted subjugation [conquest] by armed minorities or by outside pressures. I believe that we
must assist free peoples to work out their own destinies in their own way."
-Truman Doctrine, March 12, 1947
Responding to Truman's appeal, Congress approved $400 million in aid for Greece and Turkey. In addition, the
United States soon established military bases in both countries. This was the first example of containment being
the basis of official US foreign policy. During the next four decades, the Truman Doctrine and the policy of
containment would lead the United States into controversial involvements in both "hot" and "cold" conflicts
around the world.
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Section Two: Cold War “Heats” up
READING FOCUS
• How did the Marshall Plan, the Berlin airlift, and NATO help to achieve American goals in postwar
Europe?
• What early Cold War events benefitted the Soviets? What early Cold War events benefitted the US?
Setting the Scene
The end of World War II caused a profound change in the way world leaders and ordinary citizens thought about
war. The devastation caused by the atomic bombs dropped on Japan and the efforts of the Soviet Union to acquire
similar weapons instilled fear in both East and West. In his last State of the Union address, President Truman
declared:
"We have entered the atomic age and war has undergone a technological change which makes it a very different
thing from what it used to be. War today between the Soviet empire and the free nations might dig the grave not
only of our Stalinist opponents, but· of our own society, our world as well as theirs ... Such a war is not a possible
policy for rational men." -President Harry S Truman
Anxiety about a "hot" and catastrophic nuclear war became a constant backdrop to the Cold War policies of both
the United States and the Soviet Union.
The Marshall Plan
In addition to worrying about the new threat of nuclear war, American policymakers were determined not to
repeat the mistakes of the post-World War I era. This time the United States would help restore the war-torn
nations so that they might create stable democracies and achieve economic recovery. World War II had devastated
Europe to a degree never seen before. About 21 million people had been made homeless. In Poland, some 20
percent of the population had died. Nearly 1 of every 5 houses in France and Belgium had been damaged or
destroyed. Across Europe, industries and transportation were in ruins. Agriculture suffered from the loss of
livestock and equipment. In France alone, damage equaled three times the nation's annual income. Countries in
such a state of disarray were often susceptible to radicalization (i.e. Communism or Fascism) since the people
become desperate for solutions to their woes.
These conditions led to two fundamental shifts in American foreign policy that were designed to strengthen
European democracies and their economies. The first was the Truman Doctrine. The other was the Marshall
Plan, which called for the nations of Europe to draw up a program for economic recovery from the war. The
United States would then support the program with financial aid. The plan was unveiled by Secretary of State
George C. Marshall in 1947. The Marshall Plan was a response to American concerns that Communist parties
were growing stronger across Europe, and that the Soviet Union might intervene to support more of these
Communist movements. The plan also reflected the belief that United States aid for European economic recovery
would create strong democracies and open new markets for American goods. Marshall described his plan in a
speech at Harvard University in June 1947:
"It is logical that the United States should do whatever it is able to assist in the return of normal economic health
in the world, without which there can be no political stability and no assured peace. Our policy is directed not
against any country or doctrine but against hunger, poverty, desperation, and chaos. Its purpose should be the
revival of a working economy in the world so as to permit the emergence of political and social conditions in which
free institutions can exist."
-Marshall Plan speech, George C. Marshall, June 5, 1947
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The Soviet Union was invited to participate in the Marshall Plan, but it refused the help and pressured its satellite
nations to do so too. Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov called the Marshall Plan a vicious American
scheme for using dollars to "buy its way" into European affairs. Soviet leaders did not want outside scrutiny of
their country's economy. In 1948, Congress approved the Marshall Plan, which was formally known as the
European Recovery Program. Seventeen Western European nations joined the plan: Austria, Belgium, Denmark,
France, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland,
Turkey, the United Kingdom, and West Germany. Over the next four years, the United States allocated some $14
billion in grants and loans to Western Europe. The region's economies were quickly restored, and the United
States gained strong trading partners in the region. Without question, the Marshall Plan’s ulterior motive was
containment, and the Plan successfully slowed the spread of communism.
The Berlin Airlift
The Allies could not agree on what to do with Germany following World War II. In March 1948, the Western
Allies announced plans to make the zones they controlled in Germany into a single unit. The United States,
Britain, and France prepared to merge their three occupation zones to create a new nation, the Federal Republic of
Germany, or West Germany. The western part of Berlin, which lay in the Soviet zone, would become part of West
Germany. The Soviets responded in 1949 by forming a Communist state, the German Democratic Republic, or
East Germany. Capitalist West Berlin and Communist East Berlin became visible symbols of the developing Cold
War struggle between the Soviet Union and the United States. Hundreds of thousands of Eastern Europeans left
their homes in Communist-dominated nations, fled to East Berlin, and then crossed into West Berlin'. From there
they booked passage to freedom in the United States, Canada, or Western Europe.
Stalin decided to close this escape route by forcing the Western powers to abandon West Berlin. He found his
excuse in June 1948, when a new German currency was introduced in West Germany, including West Berlin.
Stalin considered the new currency and the new nation it represented to be a threat. The city of West Berlinlocated within East Germany-was a symbol of that threat. The Soviets used the dispute over the new currency as
an excuse to block Allied access to West Berlin. Stalin ordered the Berlin Blockade. (THIS IS NOT THE SAME
AS THE BERLIN WALL – the Wall wasn’t built until 1961)
All shipments to the city through East Germany were banned. The blockade threatened to create severe shortages
of food and other supplies needed by the 2.5 million people in West Berlin. Truman did not want to risk starting a
war by using military force to open the transportation routes. Nor did he want to give up West Berlin to the
Soviets. Instead, Truman decided on an airlift, moving supplies into West Berlin by plane. During the next 15
months, British and American military aircraft made more than 200,000 flights to deliver food, fuel, and other
supplies. At the height of the Berlin Airlift, nearly 13,000 tons of goods arrived in West Berlin daily.
The Soviets finally gave up the blockade in May 1949, and the airlift ended the following September. The Berlin
Blockade and Airlift became the first direct “conflict” of the Cold War between the US and the Soviets. In the
case of the Airlift, the Soviets backed down. By that time, the Marshall Plan had helped achieve economic
stability in the capitalist nations of Western Europe, including West Germany. Berlin, however, remained a focal
point of East-West conflict.
NATO
In the early postwar period, the international community looked to the United Nations to protect nations from
invasion or destabilization by foreign governments, and to maintain world peace. However, the Soviet Union's
frequent use of its veto power in the Security Council prevented the UN from effectively dealing with a number
of postwar problems. Thus it became clear that Western Europe would have to look beyond the UN for protection
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from Soviet aggression. Truman was determined to prevent the United States from returning to pre-World War II
isolationism. The Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan soon demonstrated his commitment to making
America a leader in postwar world affairs. Yet Truman did not want the United States to be the only nation in the
Western Hemisphere pledged to defend Western Europe from the Communists.
In April 1949, Canada and the United States joined Belgium, Britain, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy,
Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, and Portugal to form the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
Member nations agreed that "an armed attack against one or more of them ... shall be considered an attack against
them all." This principle of mutual military assistance is called collective security. The United States became
actively involved in European affairs. NATO became the first peace-time alliance that the US had joined in
modern history. This alliance still exists today (even though the USSR collapsed in the early-1990s). For example,
NATO fought alongside the US in the War on Terror in Afghanistan and around the world.
In 1955, the Soviet Union responded to the formation of NATO by creating the Warsaw Pact, a military alliance
with its satellite nations in Eastern Europe.
Communist Advances
In 1949, two events heightened American concerns about the Cold War. The first was President Truman's
terrifying announcement that the Soviet Union had successfully tested an atomic bomb. Then, just a few weeks
later, communist forces took control of China.
The Soviet Atomic Threat
"We have evidence that within recent weeks an atomic explosion occurred in the USSR," Truman told reporters in
September 1949. The news jolted Americans. New York, Los Angeles, and other American cities were now in
danger of suffering the horrible fate of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Truman's response to the Soviet atomic threat
was to forge ahead with a new weapon to maintain America's nuclear superiority. In early 1950, he gave approval
for the development of a hydrogen, or thermonuclear, bomb (H-Bomb) that would be many times more
destructive than the atomic bomb. The first successful thermonuclear test occurred in 1952, reestablishing the
United States as the world's leading nuclear power. However, the Soviets were already close to developing their
own H-Bomb. It became clear that the Cold War had developed a very dangerous arms race.
At about the same time, Truman organized the Federal Civil Defense Administration (FCDA). The new agency
flooded the nation with posters and other information about how to survive a nuclear attack. These materials
included plans for building bomb shelters and instructions for holding air raid drills in schools. Privately,
however, experts ridiculed these programs as almost totally ineffective.
China Falls to the Communists
The Communist takeover of China also came as a shock to many Americans. However, in actuality the struggle
between China's Nationalists and Communists had been going on since the 1920s. During World War II, the
Communist leader Mao Zedong and the Nationalist (anti-Communist) leader Chiang Kai-shek grudgingly
cooperated to resist the invading Japanese. But the war also enabled Mao to strengthen his forces and to launch
popular political, social, and economic reforms in the regions of China that he controlled.
As World War II drew to a close, the fighting between the Communists and government forces resumed. The
Truman administration at first provided economic and military assistance to Chiang. Despite this aid, by 1947
Mao's forces had occupied much of China's countryside and had begun to take control of the northern cities.
When Chiang asked for more American help, Truman and his advisors concluded that Mao's takeover of China
probably could not be prevented. While continuing to give some aid to him, the United States decided to focus
instead on saving Western Europe from Soviet domination.
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In early 1949, China's capital of Peking (now Beijing) fell to the Communists. A few months later, Mao
proclaimed the creation of a Communist state, the People's Republic of China. The Nationalist government
withdrew to the island of Taiwan, off the Chinese mainland. There they continued as the Republic of China,
claiming to be the legitimate government of the entire Chinese nation.
Many Americans viewed the "loss of China" as a stain on the record of the Truman administration. Members of
Congress and others who held this view called for greater efforts to protect the rest of Asia from communism.
Some Americans also began to suspect the loyalties of those involved in making military and foreign policy, even
though such speculation was completely without merit.
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Section 3: The Korean War
READING FOCUS
• How did Communist expansion in Asia set the stage for the Korean War?
• Who fought in the Korean War, and what were the three stages of the war?
• What were the effects of the Korean War?
Setting the Scene
The Korean War is sometimes called America's forgotten war, but the soldiers who fought in Korea never forgot
it. In 1950, American troops struggled to push back the Communists, who had made huge advances. One
American marine recalled the fierce fighting:
"To push the North Koreans back across the river we had to kick them off a series of ridges...It was straight uphill.
No cover. There were machine guns, mortars, grenades going off. The volume of fire was terrific. They were
pouring everything they had into us. Guys were cursing and yelling and dropping all around me..." -Arnold Winter
Both sides dug in to hold their positions. Infantryman Tom Clawson said later, "I didn't realize it at the time, but
when I got to Korea the war of movement had just ended. What they called the sitting war had taken its place." He
described what "the sitting war" was like:
"You spent hours every day improving your position, working on the foxholes and trenches and bunkers. But I
never liked to get too fancy, because sooner or later we'd be shifted to a different position...Most times [after going
on patrol] you'd return to the place you started from, but the day would always come when you wouldn't. You'd
come back and move directly to a new position. But all the positions were always somewhere on the same
ridgeline." -Tom Clawson
Although it lacked the glory of World War II and the turmoil of the Vietnam War, the Korean conflict had
important effects on the United States. This would be the US’s first proxy war of the larger Cold War.
Communist Expansion in Asia
While the attention of most Americans was focused on the Communist threat in Europe, events were unfolding in
Asia that would cause the Cold War to flare up into a "hot" military confrontation. The roots of this armed
conflict were found in the Chinese Civil War and in Japanese aggression in both China and Korea before and
during World War II.
The Chinese Civil War
The Chinese Civil War dated back to the aftermath of World War I, when the Communists and the Nationalists
fought for control of the country. By the late-1930s, the Nationalists and the Communists had cooperated to resist
invading Japanese forces, but after World War II the Chinese Civil War became more intense. The Nationalists
lost support because of their harsh treatment of the population, high taxes, and corruption. Mao's land reforms and
his promise of equality, as well as his military victories, led the Communists to power in 1949. The Nationalists
fled to Taiwan, where they still claimed to be the legitimate government of China.
Dividing Korea
In addition to seeking territory and influence in China before World War I, Japan had also annexed the Korean
peninsula. Japanese rule of Korea was harsh, and Koreans hoped that their nation would be restored after the
Japanese were finally defeated in World War II. However, the war ended before careful plans for Korean
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independence could be worked out. In 1945, the Allies agreed on a temporary solution. Soviet soldiers accepted
the surrender of Japanese troops north of the 38th parallel, the latitude line running across Korea at
approximately the midpoint of the peninsula; American forces did the same south of the parallel. While the
dividing line was never intended to be permanent, Korea was divided-temporarily- into a Soviet-occupied
northern zone and an American-occupied southern zone. Soon a pro-American government, led by Syngman
Rhee, formed in South Korea and a Communist regime, led by Kim Il Sung, was established in North Korea.
Occupying forces withdrew from both zones in 1948 and 1949.
The Korean Conflict
Koreans on both sides of the dividing line wanted to unify their nation. In June 1950, the Korean War broke out
when North Korean troops streamed across the 38th parallel, determined to reunite Korea by force. The invasion
took South Korea and the United States by surprise. It turned out that the action had been orchestrated by the
Soviet Union. The fall of China to the Communists had been a shock to the United States; now it seemed as
though communism was on the advance again. Faced with what he viewed as a clear case of aggression, President
Truman was determined to respond. He recalled earlier instances "when the strong had attacked the weak." Each
time that the democracies failed to act, Truman remembered, it had encouraged the aggressors. "If this [invasion
of South Korea] was allowed to go unchallenged, it would mean a third world war, just as similar incidents
brought on the Second World War," Truman said.
The UN Police Action
After the defeat of the Chinese Nationalists in 1949, the United States had blocked Communist China's admission
to the United Nations. The Soviet delegation to the UN had walked out in protest, and thus could not exercise its
veto when President Truman brought the issue of North Korean aggression to the UN. The United States gained
unanimous approval for resolutions that branded North Korea an aggressor and that called on member states to
help defend South Korea and restore peace.
President Truman wasted no time. He commanded the American Seventh Fleet to protect Taiwan, and he ordered
American air and naval support for the South Koreans. Later he sent ground troops as well. Although Truman did
not go to Congress for a declaration of war as required by the Constitution, both Democrats and Republicans
praised him for his strong action. Members of the House stood and cheered when they heard of it. The UN set up
the United Nations Command and asked the United States to choose the commander of the UN forces. Eventually,
16 member nations contributed troops or arms, but Americans made up roughly 80 percent of the troops that
served in the UN police action in Korea.
Waging the War
A hero of two world wars and a strong anti-Communist, General Douglas MacArthur was Truman's choice to
lead the UN forces in Korea. MacArthur was based in Japan, where he headed the postwar occupation. He was
responsible for establishing Western democracy there and for creating Japan's new democratic constitution. He
had been less successful in implementing democracy in South Korea, where he also commanded American
occupation forces. Despite a difficult personality, MacArthur was an excellent military strategist, and he
developed a bold plan to drive the invaders from South Korea. With Soviet tanks and air power, the North
Koreans had swept through South Korea. Only a small part of the country, near the port city of Pusan, remained
unconquered.
MacArthur suspected that the North Koreans' rapid advance had left their supply lines stretched thin. He decided
to strike at this weakness. After first sending forces to defend Pusan, in September of 1950, he landed troops at
Inchon in northwestern South Korea and attacked enemy supply lines from behind. MacArthur's strategy
worked. Caught between UN forces in the north and in the south, and with their supplies cut off, the invaders fled
back across the 38th parallel. UN troops pursued them northward. American and South Korean leaders began to
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boast of reuniting Korea under South Korean control. Such talk alarmed the Chinese Communists, who had been
in power less than a year and who did not want a pro-Western nation next door.
As UN troops approached North Korea's border with China, the Chinese warned them not to advance any farther.
MacArthur ignored the warning. On November 24, 1950, the general announced his "Home by Christmas"
offensive, designed to drive the enemy across the North Korean border at the Yalu River into China and end the
war.
However, Chinese troops poured across the Yalu to take the offensive. The Chinese and the North Koreans
pushed the UN forces back into South Korea. A stalemate developed. MacArthur favored -breaking-the stalemate
by opening a second front. He wanted the Chinese opposition forces on the island of Taiwan to return to the
mainland to attack the Chinese Communists.
Truman opposed this strategy, fearing it could lead to a widespread war in Asia that would involve the USSR and
their atomic weapons. Unable to sway Truman, MacArthur sent a letter to House Minority Leader Joseph Martin
in March 1951, attacking the President's policies. Martin made the letter public. On April 11, Truman fired
MacArthur for insubordination. Truman was able to keep the war limited. However, the struggle dragged on for
over two more years, into the presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower. When peace talks stalled, Eisenhower's
threat to use atomic weapons got the talks going again. Finally, a truce was signed in 1953, leaving Korea divided
at almost exactly the same place as before the war, near the 38th parallel.
The Effects of the Korean War
Korea is still divided at the 38th parallel today. North Korea is still communist and is controlled by the Kim
Dynasty (leadership passed from Kim Il Sung to his son, Kim Jong Il, and then to his grandson, Kim Jong Un).
South Korea has grown into a thriving free-market democracy. Even with the collapse of the USSR, North Korea
remains a threat to world peace and is considered an enemy of the United States. This explains why the DMZ at
the 38 parallel is the most heavily fortified border in the world.
The Korean War caused enormous frustration for the United States. Americans wondered why roughly 54,000 of
their soldiers had been killed and 103,000 wounded for such limited results. They questioned whether their
government was serious about stopping communism. On the other hand, Communist forces had been pushed back
beyond the 38th parallel. What's more, this containment had occurred without nuclear war. It seemed that
Americans would have to get used to more limited wars.
One change was in the military itself. Although President Truman had ordered the integration of the armed forces
in 1948, the Korean War was the first war in which white Americans and African Americans served in the same
units. The Korean War also led to a huge increase in military spending. The military had taken less than a third of
the federal budget in 1950; a decade later, military spending made up about half of federal expenditures. At the
same time, the United States came to accept the demands of permanent mobilization. Over a million American
soldiers were stationed around the world. At home, the military became more powerful as it developed links to the
corporate and scientific communities. These ties created a powerful military-industrial complex that employed
3.5 million Americans by 1960. Later, on his way out of office, Eisenhower criticized the growing importance of
this institution.
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Section 4: Fear in the US
READING FOCUS
• How the fear impact American life during the Cold War?
• What were the characteristics of the McCarthy era?
The Cold War at Home
Throughout the Great Depression, tens of thousands of Americans had joined the Communist Party, which was a
legal organization. Many were desperate people who had developed serious doubts about the American capitalist
system, partly because of the economic collapse of the 1930s. Others were attracted to Communist ideals. After
World War II, improved economic times and the increasing distrust of Stalin caused many people to become
disillusioned with and distrustful of communism. Most American Communists quit the party, although some
remained members. Now, as a new Red Scare began to grip America, their pasts came back to haunt them.
During the presidencies of Truman and Eisenhower, concern about the growth of world communism raised fears
of a conspiracy to overthrow the American government, particularly when a number of Communist spies were
caught and put on trial. These fears launched an anti-Communist crusade that violated the civil liberties of many
Americans. Anyone who had ever had Communist party ties and many who had never even been communists
were swept up in the wave of persecutions.
The Loyalty Program
As the Truman administration pursued its containment policy abroad, government officials launched programs to
root out any element of communism that might have infiltrated the United States. (Since the end of the Cold War,
new evidence of Soviet infiltration has come to light. It is known, for instance, that Soviet spies gathered
information on the United States nuclear program that helped the Soviet Union advance its own atomic
development.)
When Republicans made big gains in the 1946 congressional elections, Truman worried that his rivals would take
political advantage of the loyalty issue. To head off this possibility, he began his own investigation, establishing a
federal employee loyalty program in 1947. Under this program, all new employees hired by the federal
government were to be investigated. In addition, the FBI checked its files for evidence of current government
employees who might be engaged in "suspicious" activities. What was considered suspicious varied greatly.
Those accused of disloyalty were brought before a Loyalty Review Board. While civil rights were supposed to be
safeguarded, in fact those accused of disloyalty to their country often had little chance to defend themselves.
Rather than being considered innocent until proven guilty, they found that the accusation alone made it difficult to
clear their names. The Truman program examined several million government employees, yet only a few hundred
were actually removed from their jobs. Nonetheless, the loyalty program added to a climate of suspicion taking
hold in the nation. No one was above suspicion.
HUAC
Congress pursued its own loyalty programs. The House Un-American Activities Committee, known as HUAC,
began a postwar probe of communist infiltration of government agencies and, more spectacularly, a probe of the
Hollywood movie industry. Claiming that movies had tremendous power to influence the public, in 1947 HUAC
charged that numerous Hollywood figures had communist leanings that affected their filmmaking. In fact, some,
not many, Hollywood personalities were or had been members of the Communist Party. Others in the industry had
openly supported various causes and movements with philosophical similarities to communism (which did not
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make them communists). With government encouragement, Hollywood had also produced some movies favorable
to the Soviet Union and its people. These films had been made during the war, when the United States and the
Soviet Union had been allies. Many movie stars protested HUAC's attitude and procedures. Actor Frederic March
asked Americans to consider where it all could lead: "Who's next? . . . Is it you who will have to look around
nervously before you can say what's on your mind? ... This reaches into every American city and town."
The Hollywood Ten
In September and October of 1947, HUAC called a number of Hollywood writers, directors, actors, and producers
to testify in front of the House of Representatives. They were a distinguished group, responsible for some of
Hollywood's best films of the previous decade. Facing the committee, celebrities who were accused of having
suspicious political associations had little chance to defend themselves. The committee chairman, Republican
Representative J. Parnell Thomas of New Jersey, first called witnesses who were allowed to make accusations
based on rumors and other flimsy evidence. Then the accused were called. Over and over the committee asked,
"Are you now or have you ever been a member of the Communist Party?" When some of those called before
HUAC attempted to make statements, they were denied permission. Invoking their Constitutional rights, ten of
the accused declined to answer the committee's questions. The Hollywood Ten were cited for contempt of
Congress and served jail terms ranging from six months to a year.
The HUAC investigations had a powerful impact on filmmaking. Nervous motion picture executives denounced
the Hollywood Ten for having done a disservice to their industry. The studios compiled a blacklist (under
government pressure), a list circulated among employers, containing the names of persons who should not be
hired. Many other entertainment figures were added to the Hollywood blacklist simply because they seemed
subversive or because they opposed the idea of a blacklist. The list included actors, screenwriters, directors, and
broadcasters. In the past, Hollywood had been willing to make movies on controversial subjects such as racism
and anti-Semitism. Now studios resisted all films dealing with social problems and concentrated on pure
entertainment.
The McCarran Internal Security Act
While HUAC carried out its work in the House, Democrat Pat McCarran led a Senate hunt for communists in the
movie industry, labor unions, the State Department, and the UN. In 1950, Senator McCarran sponsored a bill that
would allow for government persecution of any groups or individuals who “supported” totalitarianism,
communism, or anarchism. This bill became known as The McCarran Internal Security Act. Also, Senator
McCarran became convinced that most disloyal Americans were immigrants from Communist-dominated parts of
the world. At his urging, Congress passed the McCarran-Walter Act in 1952. It discriminated against potential
immigrants from Asia and from Southern and Central Europe. President Truman vetoed McCarran's bill, calling it
"one of the most un-American acts I have ever witnessed in my public career." Congress, however, passed the bill
over the President's veto.
Spy Cases Inflame the Nation
Two famous spy cases helped fuel the suspicion that a conspiracy within the United States was helping foreign
Communists gain military and political successes overseas. In 1948, HUAC (led at the time by a young Richard
Nixon) investigated Alger Hiss, who had been a high-ranking State Department official before he left
government service. Whittaker Chambers, a former Communist who had become a successful Time magazine
editor, accused Hiss of having been a Communist in the 1930s. Hiss denied the charge and sued Chambers for
slander. Chambers then declared that Hiss had been a Soviet spy. Too much time had passed for the spying charge
to be pressed. After two trials, Hiss was convicted of lying to a federal grand jury investigating him for espionage,
however. In 1950, he went to prison for four years. Not all Americans were convinced that he was guilty, and the
case was debated for years. Soviet documents released in the 1990s seem to provide ample evidence that Hiss was
actually a spy. Still, even at the time, the case seemed to prove that there was a real Communist threat in the
United States.
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Several months after Hiss's conviction, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, a married couple who were members of the
Communist Party, were accused of passing atomic secrets to the Soviets during World War II. After a highly
controversial trial, the Rosenbergs were convicted of espionage and executed in 1953. The case was another event
that inflamed anti-communist passions and focused attention on a possible internal threat to the nation's security.
Like the Hiss case, the Rosenbergs' convictions were debated for years afterward. Careful work by historians in
once-classified American records and in secret Soviet records opened at the end of the Cold War indicates that
Julius Rosenberg was guilty. While Ethel Rosenberg may have had some knowledge of her husband's activities, it
now appears that she was not guilty of espionage.
McCarthyism, The new “witch-hunt”
In 1950, it seemed to many Americans that Senator Joseph McCarthy's sensational charges of communist
infiltration throughout the US government could very well be accurate. Using the Hiss case as evidence, and
HUAC as his personal attack squad, McCarthy claimed communists were everywhere in America, including
working for the federal government. When pressed for details, the senator would rarely produce actual facts or
names to support his claims. Nevertheless, McCarthy's accusations sparked an anti-Communist hysteria and
national search for communists that caused suspicion and fear across the nation, known as the Red Scare.
McCarthy's Rise to Power
Joseph McCarthy's first term in the Senate had been undistinguished and he needed an issue to arouse public
support. He found that issue in the menace of communism. Piling baseless accusations on top of improvable
charges, McCarthy took his crusade to the floor of the Senate and engaged in the smear tactics that came to be
called McCarthyism. Not only was McCarthy reelected, but he became chairman of an investigations
subcommittee. Merely being accused by McCarthy caused people to lose their jobs and reputations. McCarthy
soon took on larger targets. He attacked former Secretary of State George Marshall, a national hero and a man of
unquestioned integrity. McCarthy claimed that Marshall was involved in "a conspiracy so immense and an infamy
so black as to dwarf any previous venture in the history of man," because of his inability to stop the Communist
triumph in China. Even other senators came to fear McCarthy. They worried that opposition to his tactics would
brand them as Communist sympathizers.
McCarthy's Fall
In 1954, when one of his assistants was drafted, McCarthy charged that even the army was full of communists.
Army officials, in turn, charged McCarthy with seeking special treatment for his aide. As charges and
countercharges flew back and forth, the senator's subcommittee voted to investigate the claims. The ArmyMcCarthy hearings began in late April 1954. Democrats asked that the hearings be televised, hoping that the
public would see McCarthy for what he was. Ever eager for publicity, the senator agreed. For weeks, Americans
were riveted to their television sets. Most were horrified by McCarthy's bullying tactics and baseless allegations.
By the time the hearings ended in mid June, the senator had lost even his strongest supporters. The Senate
formally condemned him for his reckless actions. Unrepentant, McCarthy charged his accusers with being tools of
the communists, but he no longer had credibility. Eventually this Second Red Scare, much like the one that
followed World War I, subsided. But the nation was damaged by the era's suppression of free speech and open,
honest debate.
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Section 5: The Cold War Expands in the 1950s
READING FOCUS
• How was the Cold War waged in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America during the
1950s?
• How did the arms race develop?
The Cold War in the 1950s
American Cold War policy entered a new phase when Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower became President in
1953. Eisenhower's Secretary of State, John Foster Dulles, was a harsh anti-Communist who considered winning
the Cold War to be a moral crusade. Dulles believed that Truman's containment policy was too cautious. As a
military leader, Eisenhower recognized the risks of confronting the Soviets. He acted as a brake on Dulles's more
extreme views. In Eisenhower's judgment, the United States could not intervene in the affairs of the Soviet
Union's Eastern European satellites. So when East Germans revolted in 1953, and Poles and Hungarians in 1956,
the United States kept its distance as Soviet troops crushed the uprisings. Eisenhower felt that any other response
risked war with the Soviet Union. He wanted to avoid that at all costs. Covert (secret) operations, led by the
Central Intelligence Agency, were done in order to accomplish more aggressive containments without the general
population being aware of such tactics. The CIA is a federal government agency founded after World War II. Its
purpose is to gather intelligence on foreign governments and if necessary, intervene against or with those
governments to enhance U.S. interests. It played a large role in American foreign policy during the Cold War and
still does today.
Communist Events in Asia
In July 1953, Eisenhower fulfilled a campaign promise to bring the Korean War to an end with the signing of the
Armistice. The death of Stalin in March, and the rapid rise of the more moderate Soviet leader Nikita
Khrushchev, contributed to the resolution of this conflict. Meanwhile, the United States continued to provide
substantial military aid to France, which was trying to retain control of its colony, Vietnam. When an international
conference divided Vietnam, like Korea, into a communist north and an anti-communist south, the United States
provided aid to South Vietnam, but for the time being, resisted greater involvement.
The Middle East
The Cold War was also played out in the historic tensions of the Middle East. In the 1930s and 1940s, the
Holocaust had forced many Jews to seek safety in Palestine, the Biblical home of the Jewish people, now
controlled by the British. Calls for an official Jewish state in Palestine intensified after WWII. In 1947, the British
turned the question over to the UN, which created two states in the area, one Jewish and one Arab. In May 1948,
the Jews in Palestine proclaimed the new nation of Israel. Israel's Arab neighbors, who also viewed Palestine as
their ancient homeland, attacked the Jewish state in 1948. Israel repelled the Arab assault. As Arab hostility to
the idea of a Jewish state continued, the United States supported Israel, while the Soviet Union generally backed
Arab interests.
Meanwhile, the United States also worked to prevent oil-rich Arab nations from falling under the influence of the
Soviet Union. In 1952, a communist-sympathetic leader, Dr. Mossadegh, gained control in Iran. Soon after, the
United States backed groups that overthrew his government and restored the pro-American Shah of Iran to power.
Next came the Suez crisis of 1956. When Egypt's ruler, Gamal Abdel Nasser, sought Soviet support, the United
States and Great Britain cut off their aid to Egypt. Nasser responded by seizing the British-owned Suez Canal.
This canal was a vital waterway that passed through Egypt and allowed Middle East oil to reach Europe via the
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Mediterranean. In late 1956, British and French forces attacked Egypt to regain control of the canal. Reacting to
Soviet threats of "dangerous consequences," a furious Eisenhower persuaded his NATO allies to withdraw from
Egypt, which retained control of the canal.
To combat further Soviet influence in the Middle East, the President announced the Eisenhower Doctrine in
January 1957. This policy stated that the United States would use force "to safeguard the independence of any
country in the Middle East against communist aggression." Eisenhower used his doctrine in 1958 to justify
landing troops in Lebanon to put down a revolt against its pro-American government.
Latin America
The United States also acted to support pro-American governments and to suppress Communist influences in
Latin America, especially where American companies had large investments. Since the 1920s, the United States
had exercised control over the economies of ten Latin American nations. In Central America for example, United
States troops had invaded Nicaragua and Honduras to prop up leaders who supported American interests.
In 1954, the CIA helped overthrow the government of Guatemala on the grounds that its leaders were sympathetic
to radical causes. The CIA takeover restored the property of an American corporation, the United Fruit Company,
which had been seized by the Guatemalan government. Such actions fueled a Soviet perception that America was
escalating the Cold War.
The Arms Race
Throughout the 1950s, the United States and the Soviet Union waged an increasingly intense struggle for world
leadership. Nowhere was this competition more dangerous than in the arms race, the struggle to gain weapons
superiority.
The Growth of Nuclear Arsenals
In August 1953, less than a year after the United States exploded its first thermonuclear device, the Soviet Union
successfully tested its own hydrogen bomb. As part of the policy of deterrence begun by President Truman,
Eisenhower stepped up American weapons development. Deterrence is the policy of making the military power of
the United States and its allies so strong that no enemy would dare begin an attack for fear of retaliation.
Between 1954 and 1958, the United States conducted 19 hydrogen bomb tests in the Pacific. One of these
explosions, in March 1954, was over 750 times more powerful than the atomic bomb that had been dropped on
Nagasaki in World War II. Japanese fishermen 100 miles from the blast suffered severe radiation burns. The test
was a chilling warning that nuclear war could threaten the entire world with radioactive contamination.
Brinkmanship
American policymakers used the fear of nuclear war to achieve their Cold War objectives. In 1956, Secretary of
State John Dulles made it clear that the United States was prepared to risk war to protect its national interests.
Dulles explained the policy of brinkmanship this way: "The ability to get to the verge without getting into the
war is the necessary art. If you cannot master it, you inevitably get into war. If you try to run away from it, if you
are scared to go to the brink, you are lost."
Many Americans agreed with the reaction of Democratic leader Adlai Stevenson: "I am shocked that the
Secretary of State is willing to play Russian roulette with the life of our nation." Still, the Eisenhower
administration relied on the policy of brinkmanship.
Cold War in the Skies
To carry hydrogen bombs to their targets, American military planners relied mainly on airplanes. Unable to match
this strength, the Soviets focused on long-range rockets known as intercontinental ballistic missiles, or ICBMs.
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Americans also worked to develop ICBMs. However, in part because of its dependence on conventional air
power, the United States lagged behind the Soviet Union in missile development.
The size of this technology gap became apparent in 1957, when the Soviets used one of their rockets to launch
Sputnik, the first artificial satellite to orbit Earth. The realization that the rocket used to launch Sputnik could
carry a hydrogen bomb to American shores added to American shock and fear. The arms race was about to take
on a new component: the space race.
In May 1960, the Soviet military shot down an American U-2 spy plane over Soviet territory. Because these spy
planes flew more than so high, American officials had assumed that they were invulnerable to attack. The U-2
incident shattered this confidence, and made Americans willing to expend considerable resources to catch up toand surpass- the Soviet Union. The incident also damaged relations further between the countries, as Eisenhower
had stated to Khrushchev that the U.S. was not spying on its rival prior to the destruction of the plane. In fact,
without Khrushchev's permission, American U-2's had been gathering photographic information over the Soviet
Union for years.
One legacy of the Cold War was the creation of what Eisenhower called a "permanent arms industry of vast
proportions." As he left office, he warned that the existence of this "military-industrial complex", employing
millions of Americans and having a financial stake in war-making, could become a threat to peace:
“Our arms must be mighty, ready for instant action...We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet
we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications...[In] government, we must guard against the acquisition of
unwarranted [unnecessary] influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The
potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist."
- Dwight D. Eisenhower, Farewell Address, 1961
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Section 6: The Economy of the 1950s
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READING FOCUS
• How did businesses reorganize after World War II?
• How did technology transform life after World War II?
• In what ways did the nation's work force change following World War II?
• Why did suburbs and highway systems grow after World War II?
• How did postwar conditions affect consumer credit?
Setting the Scene
When American soldiers returned from the battlefields after World War II, they wanted to put the horrors of the
war behind them and enjoy the comforts of home. During the war, many items were rationed or not produced at
all. Many people had simply put their money into savings. Now most Americans were eager to acquire everything
the war-and before that, the Depression-had denied them. The marriage rate increased dramatically after the war,
and the population boomed. Fueled by a growing economy, suburbs sprang up with look-alike houses in answer to
a postwar housing shortage. Suburban families enjoyed incomes that were considerably higher than those in rural
communities. They spent large sums of money on recreation. By the end of the 1950s, about 75 percent of
families owned a car, and even more owned a TV set. America's consumer economy was thriving.
Businesses Reorganize
During the postwar years, the United States embarked on one of its greatest periods of economic expansion. The
gross national product (GNP - the cost of all goods and services produced by a country in one year) more than
doubled, jumping from $212 billion in 1945 to $504 billion in 1960. Per capita income, the average annual
income per person, increased from $1,223 to $2,219 during the same period. Major corporate expansion
accompanied economic growth. Industrialists provided consumers the goods they desired, as they reconverted
their businesses to civilian production at the end of the war. At the same time, American industry had benefited
from technological advances made during the war. Research and development funded by the government helped
create a variety of new products, such as radar and the computer, that could be used in the civilian economy.
In the 1950s, a few large firms dominated many industries. General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler overshadowed all
competitors in the automobile industry; General Electric and Westinghouse enjoyed similar positions in the
electrical industry. The Great Depression, however, had made many giant corporations wary of investing all their
resources in a single business. A conglomerate, a corporation made up of many unrelated businesses, was better
able to defend against economic downturns. For this reason, some corporations chose to become conglomerates.
In the event one industry or area of the economy failed, the conglomerate could rely on its earnings in another
industry.
At the same time, another kind of expansion took place. In 1954, salesman Ray Kroc was amazed when two
brothers who owned a small restaurant in San Bernardino, California, gave him an order for their eighth
Multimixer, a brand of milkshake machine. Because of the restaurant's fast, efficient service and its prime
location along a busy highway, it was experiencing great success. Intrigued by the possibilities, Kroc purchased
the two brothers' idea of assembly-line food production. He also acquired the restaurant - McDonald's. Kroc built
a nationwide chain of fast-food restaurants by selling eager entrepreneurs the right to open a franchise-a business
that contracts to offer certain goods and services from a larger parent company. Franchise agreements generally
allow each owner to use the company's name, suppliers, products, and production methods. Each franchise, then,
is operated as a small business whose owners profit from the parent company's guidance. Franchise owners
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assume less risk than small business owners, in that they sell a product that is well known and presumably liked
by the consumer. Many other restaurant franchises followed.
Technology Transforms Life
Meanwhile, developments in technology spurred industrial growth. Rushing to keep up with demand, businesses
produced hundreds of new products, such as dishwashers and gas-powered lawnmowers, aimed at saving the
consumer time and money. Eager Americans filled their homes with the latest inventions.
Television
Americans fell in love with television in the 1950s. The technology for television had been developed throughout
the 1930s, but then stalled during the war. After World War II, television became enormously popular. In 1955,
the average American family watched television four hours a day. Children grew up on such programs as Howdy
Doody and The Mickey Mouse Club. Teenagers danced to rock-and-roll music played on American Bandstand.
Other viewers followed comedies, including I Love Lucy and Father Knows Best. Three large networks
controlled television programming, ABC, CBS, and NBC. As had been the case with radio, they raised the money
to broadcast their shows by selling advertising time. Television became a powerful new medium for advertisers,
allowing them to reach millions of viewers. As a result, Americans watched their favorite shows interrupted by
commercials, a practice that continues today.
The Computer Industry
Another innovation appeared in the 1950s that would transform American life in the decades to come. Wartime
research led to the development of ever more powerful calculators and computers. During the 1950s, American
businesses reached out to embrace the computer industry.
In 1947, scientists at Bell Telephone Laboratories invented the first transistor, a tiny circuit device that amplifies,
controls, and generates electrical signals. The transistor could do the work of a much larger vacuum tube, but took
up less space and generated less heat. The transistor could be used in radios, computers, and other electronic
devices, and greatly changed the electronics industry. Because of the transistor, giant machines that once filled
whole rooms could now fit on a desk.
Nuclear Power
An entirely new industry, the generation of electrical power through the use of atomic energy, resulted from the
research that had produced the atomic bomb. Nuclear fission, which involves splitting uranium or plutonium
atoms, could produce a huge explosion if the reaction occurred quickly. But fission, carefully controlled, could
also produce heat to generate steam and drive turbines to provide electricity to communities or large military
vessels. In 1954, the Navy produced the first nuclear-powered submarine, which had a small reactor in the hull.
The submarine's technology provided a model for the first nuclear power plant on land, which opened in
Shippingport, Pennsylvania, in 1957.
Advances in Medicine
Americans also found hope in developments made in medicine. In 1954, Dr. Jonas Salk and Dr. Thomas Francis
conducted a successful field test of a vaccine to prevent one of the most feared diseases-poliomyelitis.
Before the vaccine, the disease, known commonly as polio, had killed or disabled more than 20,000 children in
the United States every year. Franklin D. Roosevelt suffered the effects of polio throughout much of his life.
Salk's injected vaccine, together with an oral version developed later by Dr. Albert Sabin, effectively eliminated
the threat of polio.
Research in the development of drugs used to fight bacterial infections had been underway long before the start of
World War II. By 1944, advances in the production of antibiotics such as penicillin were saving countless lives.
During the 1950s, doctors discovered other antibiotics that were effective against penicillin-resistant bacteria.
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Doctors who had served during the war saving the lives of wounded soldiers helped usher in a new era of surgical
advances. Surgical techniques developed during the war allowed doctors to correct heart defects, and the specialty
of heart surgery grew rapidly.
Changes in the Work Force
In earlier years, most Americans made a living as blue-collar workers, producing goods or performing services
that depended on manual labor. After the war, however, new machines assumed many of the jobs previously
performed by people. This process is called automation. Some blue-collar workers learned new skills and found
white-collar jobs. Young people, particularly former servicemen with new college degrees, also chose whitecollar jobs as they joined the work force. Corporate expansion meant that more people were needed to keep
growing organizations running. By 1956, for the first time in US history, a majority of American workers held
white-collar jobs. Many were managing offices, working in sales, and performing professional and clerical
duties with little manual labor. The growth of the service industry had a great effect on the lives of Americans.
The new white-collar workers felt encouraged by the working conditions they found: the buildings were clean, the
offices bright. Physically, the work was less exhausting than blue-collar labor, it was not as dangerous, and some
workers had the opportunity to rise into executive positions. But office jobs had their drawbacks. Employment in
large corporations was often impersonal. White-collar workers in large companies had less connection with the
products and services that their companies provided. Employees sometimes felt pressure to dress, think, and act
alike.
Postwar prosperity also brought blue-collar workers into the expanding middle class. Starting in the 1940s, their
wages and working conditions improved. Some workers won important gains, such as cost-of-living increases,
designed to adjust wages to keep up with the rate of inflation. By 1955, nearly 33 percent of the total labor force
in the United States was unionized. In that year, the two largest unions, the American Federation of Labor (AFL)
and the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO), merged. The new and more powerful organization, called the
AFL-CIO, remains a major force today, although union membership across the U.S. has decreased over the last
two decades.
Suburbs and Highways
With so many people working and making a better living than ever before, the baby boom that had begun in the
mid-1940s continued. The birthrate continued to soar for years and the baby boom generation would become the
largest in US history.
Moving to the Suburbs
Seeking more room, growing families retreated from aging cities to new suburbs. World War II veterans
expanded their opportunities with the help of the Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, or GI Bill of Rights,
which gave them low-interest mortgages to purchase new homes and provided them with scholarships for college
or graduate school. With more people purchasing homes, builders began to cater to the demand for housing. To
produce homes faster, builders often made every home in a neighborhood the same size, shape, and color. One
builder, William J. Levitt, mass-produced houses in suburban communities and was able to sell them for
reasonable prices. These communities became known as Levittowns.
Suburban growth brought with it other changes. Following their customers, some stores began to move from cities
to newly built shopping centers located in the suburbs. Many Americans, living in suburbs built beyond the reach
of public transportation, depended more and more on automobiles. To meet the demand, automakers started
introducing new car designs every year. People eagerly awaited the unveiling of the latest models. During the
1950s, American automakers produced about 8 million new cars each year, more than ever before. From 1948 to
1958, passenger car sales increased by more than 50 percent.
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Growth in the car industry created a need for more and better roads. The 1956 Federal-Aid Highway Actsometimes called the Interstate Highway Act-provided $25 billion to build an interstate highway system more
than 40,000 miles long. The project provided a grid of new roads which allowed families to travel and businesses
to expand. The car culture inspired the development of many new businesses including gas stations, repair shops,
parts stores, and drive-in restaurants and movie theatres.
The Growth of Consumer Credit
Eager to cash in on the increasing number of cars on the road, gasoline companies began offering credit cards to
loyal customers. These cards allowed people to charge gas purchases. Americans found the cards convenient and
easy to use. Lending agencies picked up the credit card idea and made borrowing easy, encouraging consumers to
spend. The increased spending helped the overall economy, but consumer debt rose steadily as Americans tried to
keep up with their neighbors by purchasing new goods.
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Section 7: Social Issues of the 1950s
READING FOCUS
• Why were comfort and security so important to Americans in the 1950s?
• What were the accepted roles of men and women during the 1950s?
• How did some people challenge conformity during the 1950s?
Setting the Scene
Most Americans were comfortable during the 1950s, but the nation was still recovering from years of economic
depression and war. Americans applauded the apparent harmony between individuals and groups in the United
States that conformity seemed to encourage. Conformity led people to act in a way that wouldn't be viewed as
"standing out" in their families, jobs, or communities. People wanted to enjoy their newly won prosperity and
provide even better opportunities for their children.
Youth Culture
The strong economy of the 1950s allowed more young people to stay in school rather than having to leave early to
find a job. Before World War I, most Americans left school in their mid-teens to help support their families.
However, by the 1950s, most middle-class teenagers were expected to stay in school, holding only part-time jobs,
if they worked at all. With more leisure time, some young people appeared to devote all their energies to
organizing parties and pranks, joining fraternities and sororities, and generally pursuing entertainment and fun.
Some teenagers baby-sat the growing number of children in their spare time. Others went to newly constructed
community parks or pools, play organized sports at their schools, and travelled with their families on the new
highway system.
Businesses seized the opportunity to sell products to the youth market. Advertisements and movies helped to build
an image of what it meant to be a teenager in the 1950s. The girls were shown in bobby socks and poodle skirts,
and the boys wore letter sweaters. These images created a greater sense of conformity in style. The media's ideal
of the clean-cut teen could also be seen on such television shows as Leave It to Beaver and Father Knows Best.
Magazines targeting youth, including Seventeen, Datebook, Teen, and Cool, offered plenty of advice to teenagersnot only on how to dress, but on how best to behave, especially when it came to dating. Teenage girls collected
items such as silver and linens in anticipation of marriage, which for most came shortly after high school. The
number of teenage brides rose in the 1950s, close to half of all brides were in their teens, typically marrying
grooms just slightly older.
A Resurgence in Religion
In the 1950s, Americans, who had drifted away from religion in earlier years, flocked back to their churches and
synagogues. The renewed interest in religion was in part a response to the Cold War struggle against "godless
communism" (many communist countries demanded atheism from their citizens.) Some looked to religion to find
hope in the face of the threat of nuclear war. Evidence of the newfound commitment to religion was abundant. In
1954, Congress added the words "under God" to the Pledge of Allegiance, and the next year it required the phrase
"In God We Trust" to appear on all American currency. Like other aspects of American life, religion became
more commercial. Those in need could call Dial-a-Prayer, and new slogans that sounded a lot like advertising"the family that prays together stays together," for example-became commonplace. Priests and ministers used
radio and television to carry their messages to more people than ever before. By the end of the 1950s, about 95
percent of all Americans said they felt connected to some formal religious group.
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Men's and Women's Roles
Americans in the post-World War II years were keenly aware of the roles that they were expected to play as men
and women. These roles were defined by social and religious traditions that had broad appeal to Americans. Men
were expected to go to school and then find jobs to support wives and children. Theirs was the public sphere, the
world away from home, where they earned money and made important political, economic, and social decisions.
Women were expected to play a supporting role in their husbands' lives. They kept house, cooked meals, and
raised children.
Many parents turned to pediatrician Dr. Benjamin Spock for child-care advice. His best-selling book The
Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care had a major impact on child-rearing practices. Most middle-class
women settled into the domestic role and took on the demands of raising children and maintaining their suburban
homes.
Challenges to Conformity
Social conformity made it easy to mask the differences among individuals and groups. Not all Americans fit the
model of American middle-class life described above, however.
Women at Work
Many women had enjoyed working outside the home during World War II and were reluctant to give up their
jobs. However, after the War, the norm was for women to leave their jobs once they were married and had
children. Most of the women who worked outside the home held jobs as secretaries, teachers, nurses, and sales
clerks. Besides the satisfaction of earning their own money, women wanted to be able to buy the items that were
part of "the good life," such as cars and electric appliances, but social pressures prevented most women from
beginning and advancing careers. This would soon change.
In 1963, Betty Friedan published a critique of the 1950s ideal of womanhood. In The Feminine Mystique,
Friedan lashed out at the culture that made it difficult for women to succeed in college and the workforce.
Millions of women, Friedan argued, were frustrated with their roles in the 1950s:
"It was unquestioned gospel in the 1950s that women could identify with nothing beyond the home-not politics, not
art, not science, not events large or small, war or peace, in the United States or the world, unless it could be
approached through female experience as a wife or mother or translated into domestic detail!"
-Betty Friedan, The Feminine Mystique
Youthful Rebellions
Some young people also began to challenge the norms of society. A group of teenagers rejected the values of
their parents and society, and challenged the conformist culture of the 50s. A few films, such as Rebel Without a
Cause released in 1955, captured these feelings. The movie's young star, James Dean, became a teen idol and a
film legend. Holden Caulfield, the main character in J. D. Salinger's 1951 novel The Catcher in the Rye is
troubled by the "phonies" he sees at boarding school and in the world around him. Throughout the book, Holden
struggles to preserve his own integrity despite the fierce pressure to conform. Many young readers could relate to
this experience.
Young people sought a style they could call their own. In 1951, disc jockey Alan Freed began hosting a radio
show in Cleveland, Ohio, playing what was then called "rhythm-and-blues" music for a largely black audience.
"Moondog Rock 'n' Roll Party" gave important exposure to the music, which grew out of rhythm-and-blues and
came to be called rock-and-roll. Teenagers across the nation quickly became fans of the driving beat and simple
melodies that characterized rock-and-roll. They rushed to buy records of their favorite performers such as Chuck
Berry, Little Richard, Bill Haley and the Comets, and Buddy Holly. One of the best-known rock-and-roll singers
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was Elvis Presley. Presley's performances showcased his flamboyant style and good looks. He attracted hordes of
screaming teenage girls everywhere he went. Presley released many records that became huge hits, and
eventually crossed over to TV and movie fame, and was called "The King of Rock and Roll."
From the United States, rock music spread to Europe and Asia, becoming popular with listeners and influencing
musicians. Many adults disliked the new music, fearing it would cause a rise in immorality. For some people,
opposition to rock-and-roll had to do with race. Rock-and-roll, in its appeal to both black and white teenagers, and
in its black rhythm-and-blues origins, threatened many who were comfortable with racial segregation in the 1950s
and who were uncomfortable with the idea of black and white teenagers attending the same concerts and dancing
to the same music. Despite some efforts to ban rock concerts and keep records out of stores, rock-and-roll's
popularity continued to soar.
Members of the "Beat Generation," called beatniks, launched a different kind of challenge. This small group of
young people, some of them writers, some artists, some simply participants in the movement, promoted
spontaneity, or acting at a moment's notice without planning. They stressed spirituality over organized religion,
and preached the need for release from the world of money and property. Beatniks, forerunners of 1960s hippies,
challenged traditional patterns of respectability and shocked other Americans with their more open sexuality and
their use of illegal drugs. Author Jack Kerouac, whom many considered the leader of the beat generation,
gathered with others in coffee houses in San Francisco, California, to share ideas and experiences. The
unconventional Kerouac published his best-selling novel On the Road in 1957, spreading the ideas of the
beatniks.
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Section 8: The Cold War in the early 1960s
READING FOCUS
• What were the goals of the Bay of Pigs invasion, and what was the outcome?
• What events led to the Berlin crisis and to the Cuban Missile Crisis?
• What were the goals of the Alliance for Progress and the Peace Corps?
• Which Cold War conflicts did President Johnson become involved in?
NOTE: This section refers to President John Kennedy and President Lyndon Johnson. In this
section we will only discuss the Cold War events and foreign policy that were dealt with during their
presidencies. We will discuss their elections and domestic policies in later sections.
Setting the Scene
Although they would have liked to dedicate more of America's resources to improving conditions at home, both
Kennedy and Johnson found themselves in the front lines of the Cold War. It was a dangerous and expensive
battle, but, as Kennedy argued, it was one worth fighting. As President at the height of the Cold War between the
Soviet Union and the United States, Kennedy spoke boldly. In the crises he faced as President, though, Kennedy
found that he had to act more cautiously to prevent a local conflict from sparking a global war.
The Bay of Pigs Invasion
Kennedy's first foreign crisis arose in Cuba, an island about 90 miles off the Florida coast. The United States had
been concerned about Cuba ever since 1959, when communist Fidel Castro overthrew the U.S.-backed leader
Fulgencio Batista. Some Cubans had supported Castro because he promised to improve the lives of poor people.
Castro claimed that the poor were being exploited by wealthy Cubans and by United States companies operating
in Cuba.
Once in power, Castro's government seized large, privately owned plantations and property owned by foreign
corporations, including some U.S. businesses. The United States broke diplomatic relations with Cuba and
refused to accept Castro as the country's legitimate leader. When Castro developed ties to the Soviet Union and its
leader Nikita Khrushchev, American officials began to fear that Cuba could become a model for revolutionary
upheaval throughout Latin America.
A Plan to Overthrow Castro
After Kennedy became President, he was informed about a plan that President Eisenhower had approved in 1960.
Under this plan, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was training a group of anti-Castro Cubans to invade
Cuba and overthrow the new leader. The training took place in Guatemala, a nearby Central American country.
Kennedy and his advisors expected the Cuban people to help the invaders defeat Castro once they landed
Resistance to the plan soon surfaced, however. When Democratic Senator J. William Fulbright, head of the
Foreign Relations Committee, learned of the scheme, he called it an "endless can of worms." He warned the
President:
"To give this activity even covert [secret] support is of a piece with the hypocrisy and cynicism for which the
United States is constantly denouncing [condemning] the Soviet Union in the United Nations and elsewhere. This
point will not be lost on the rest of the world, nor on our own consciences."
-Senator J. William Fulbright, memo to President Kennedy, March 29, 1961
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Despite such reservations and those of some military leaders, Kennedy accepted the advice of the CIA and agreed
to push ahead with the invasion plan.
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A Military Catastrophe
The Bay of Pigs invasion took place on April 17, 1961. It was a total disaster. Cuban troops, who knew of the
attack through spies, were more than a match for the 1,500 U.S.-backed invaders. When Kennedy's advisors urged
him to use American planes to provide air cover for the attackers, he refused. Rather than continue a hopeless
effort, he chose simply to accept defeat. The United States lost a great deal of prestige in the disastrous attack. To
begin with, the invasion was clumsy and incompetent. Furthermore, America's support of an effort to overthrow
another nation's government was exposed to the world. The United States faced anger from other countries in
Latin America for violating agreements not to interfere in the Western Hemisphere. European leaders, who had
high hopes for the new President, were concerned about the kind of leadership he would provide.
The Berlin Crisis
Upset by the failure at the Bay of Pigs, Kennedy was now even more determined to prove his toughness against
communism. Later in 1961, he had another opportunity when a new crisis arose over a familiar issue: Berlin.
Rekindled Tensions Over Germany
After the Soviet attempt to cut off access to Berlin in 1948 had failed as a result of President Truman's successful
Berlin airlift, they were eager to find a new way to stop Eastern European citizens from defecting, (illegally
moving for political reasons) to the West. Their goal was to cut off the large flow of East Germans escaping into
West Germany, particularly through Berlin. Kennedy feared that the Soviet effort in Germany was part of a larger
plan to take over the rest of Europe. Adding to his fears, his first meeting with Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev,
in Vienna, Austria, in June 1961, went poorly. When Khrushchev made a public ultimatum regarding Berlin,
Kennedy felt bullied by the Soviet leader.
Kennedy Takes Action
Upon returning home, Kennedy decided to show the Soviets that the United States would not be intimidated. He
asked Congress for a huge increase of more than $3 billion for defense. He doubled the number of young men
being drafted into the armed services and called up reserve forces for active duty. At the same time, he sought
more than $200 million for a program to build fallout shelters across the country. He argued that the United
States had to be prepared if the crisis led to nuclear war. Kennedy appeared on television to tell the American
people that West Berlin was "the great testing place of Western courage and will, a focal point where our solemn
commitments…and Soviet ambitions now meet in basic confrontation." The United States, he said, would not be
pushed around: "We do not want to fight-but we have fought before."
In August 1961, the Soviets responded by building a wall to separate communist and non-communist Berlin. The
Berlin Wall became a somber symbol of the Cold War and a physical representation of the Iron Curtain. Still, by
stopping the flow of East Germans to the West, the Soviet Union had found a way to avoid a showdown over East
Berlin. Although the immediate crisis was over, the tensions of the Cold War continued. Speaking in West
Germany, in June 1963, Kennedy declared that the United States "will risk its cities to defend yours because we
need your freedom to protect ours." Two days later, the President addressed a cheering crowd near the Berlin
Wall. To symbolize his commitment to the city, he concluded his speech with the rousing words, Ich bin ein
Berliner or "I am a Berliner."
The Cuban Missile Crisis
Kennedy also had a chance to restore American prestige in another crisis with Cuba. The Soviet Union, disturbed
by the attempted Bay of Pigs invasion, had pledged to support Castro's government. On October 16, 1962,
photographs taken from an American spy plane revealed that the Soviets were building missile bases on Cuban
soil-dangerously close to the America. What followed was the Cuban Missile Crisis, a terrifying standoff
between the United States and the Soviet Union that brought the superpowers to the brink of nuclear war.
Page | 67
Kennedy's Options
The Soviet missiles in Cuba did not radically change the military balance between the United States and the
Soviet Union. Yet installing missiles so close to the United States seemed to be an effort by the Soviets to
intimidate the Americans. In addition, the Soviets intended their missiles in Cuba to counter American missiles
close to the USSR in Turkey. Kennedy was convinced that the missiles presented a direct challenge to which he
must respond. But how?
The President quickly assembled his top advisors in a series of secret meetings. They outlined four possible
responses:
1. Engage in further negotiations with Khrushchev. This option, although peaceful, risked making Kennedy look
hesitant and weak in the face of the bold Soviet move.
2. Invade Cuba. This would give the US a strong chance of eliminating the missile threat and achieving the
additional goal of ousting Fidel Castro. A Cuban invasion had failed before, though, and this plan risked all-out
nuclear war with the Soviets.
3. Blockade Cuba. This action would prevent Soviet ships from making further missile deliveries. It would force
Khrushchev either to back off or to take aggressive action against U.S. warships. However, no one knew how the
Soviet leader might react to this step, and it did not remove the missiles already in Cuba.
4. Bomb the missile sites. A series of airstrikes could quickly knock out the missiles. Yet, would the Soviets
launch a counterstrike, and where?
Attorney General Robert Kennedy argued against the airstrike option. It seemed, he said, too much like the
Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor that had launched the United States into World War II. At one point former
Secretary of State Dean Acheson joined the discussions and declared that the United States had to knock out the
Soviet missiles. He was asked what would happen next. He replied that the USSR would probably strike US bases
in Turkey leading to a broader war. Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara argued for a blockade to hold the
Soviets at bay until negotiation can be reached. Army officials were in favor an invasion of Cuba. In the end, one
man would decide the course of action to take, and the stakes could not have been higher.
Kennedy Decides
President Kennedy ordered United States forces on full alert. U.S. bombers were armed with nuclear missiles. The
navy was ready to move, and army and marine units prepared to invade Cuba from Florida. Kennedy listened to
the different views of his advisors, grilling them with questions. Then, in solitude, he weighed the options, facing
one of the most dangerous and agonizing decisions any President has had to make.
On Monday, October 22,-Kennedy went on television and radio to respond to the media rumors that had begun to
circulate about Cuba. "[U]nmistakable evidence has established the fact that a series of offensive missile sites is
now in preparation on that imprisoned island," he said. The President then announced his decision: He had
authorized a naval "quarantine" around Cuba. He was careful not to call the action a "blockade" because a
blockade is an act of war. He demanded that Khrushchev "halt and eliminate this reckless and provocative
threat…" America did not desire confrontation, Kennedy said, but neither would it shrink from aggression.
The World Waits
The two most powerful nations in the world stood teetering on the brink of disaster. The immediate public
reaction was a mixture of anger and fear. The naval quarantine went into effect, with a dozen Soviet cargo ships
steaming toward it. Then, to everyone's great relief, the Soviet ships suddenly reversed direction. Khrushchev had
called them back.
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Disaster Avoided
The crisis was not yet over, however. The original missiles remained in Cuba, and Khrushchev sent Kennedy a
long letter in which he pledged to remove the missiles if Kennedy promised that the United States would end the
quarantine and stay out of Cuba. A second letter delivered the next day demanded that the United States remove
its missiles from Turkey in exchange for the withdrawal of Soviet missiles in Cuba. Kennedy publicly accepted
the terms of the first note. He responded to the second note through secret negotiations and eventually met the
demand. With that, the crisis ended. As Secretary of State Dean Rusk observed to President Kennedy, "We have
won a considerable victory. You and I are still alive."
The Cuban Missile Crisis brought the world closer than ever before to nuclear war. Such a war would have caused
unimaginable death and destruction-far more, for example, than the atomic bombings of Japan in 1945, because
more powerful hydrogen bombs and ICBMs had replaced those early atomic weapons. Kennedy emerged from
the confrontation as a hero. He had stood up to the Soviets and shown that the United States would not be pushed
around.
The Aftereffects
The Cuban Missile Crisis led to a number of efforts to reduce the risk of nuclear war. Once the confrontation was
over, Kennedy and Khrushchev established a "hot line" between their two nations to allow the Soviet and
American leaders to communicate quickly in the event of a future crisis. In addition, in the summer of 1963 the
two countries (along with Great Britain) signed the first nuclear treaty since the development of the atomic bomb.
This agreement, the Limited Test Ban Treaty, banned nuclear testing above the ground. By doing so, it sought to
eliminate the radioactive fallout that threatened to contaminate human, animal, and plant life. The treaty still
permitted underground nuclear testing, and the United States and the Soviet Union continued to build bigger and
bigger bombs. Nonetheless, as Kennedy noted, the treaty marked "an important first step toward peace, a step
toward reason, a step away from war."
Johnson's Foreign Policy
In 1963, Lyndon Johnson assumed the presidency upon Kennedy's death. Johnson was more concerned with
solving America's problems than with world affairs. But his foreign policy, like Kennedy's, focused on
containing communism around the world. The United States and its allies continued to battle communist
expansion in the 1960s.
The Dominican Republic
In 1965, Johnson received word that the military-backed government in the Dominican Republic, a Caribbean
nation close to Cuba, had been attacked by rebels. Johnson feared that the disruption might endanger American
citizens living there. Arguing (wrongly, it turned out) that Communist elements were causing the disruption,
Johnson sent 22,000 marines to the Dominican Republic. Their presence tipped the balance away from the rebels.
Within a few months a provisional government backed by the United States was put in place. Elections were held
the following year.
Vietnam
Johnson also became deeply involved in the ongoing conflict in Southeast Asia between Communist North
Vietnam and non-Communist South Vietnam. Like Kennedy, Johnson was determined to prevent the spread of
communism there. By 1963, about 16,000 American military advisors were in South Vietnam. The United States
was also contributing economic aid to the South Vietnamese government. In his 1964 campaign for President,
Johnson opposed more direct United States involvement in the war. Yet, before long he faced the prospect of a
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Communist takeover of South Vietnam, which he could not tolerate. During 1965, American involvement in the
conflict deepened as more and more troops and money were sent to prop up the South Vietnamese government.
Unit 3:
The Civil Rights Movement
Section 1:
Start of the Modern Civil Rights Movement p.70
Section 2:
Leaders and Strategies
p.75
Section 3:
The Struggle Intensifies
p.79
Section 4:
The Government Responds
p.82
Section 5:
The Movement Splits
p.86
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Section One: Start of the Modern Civil Rights Movement
READING FOCUS
• What events and cultural trends led to a rise in African American influence in the twentieth century?
• How did Americans respond to the Supreme Court's decision in Brown v. Board of Education?
• How did the Montgomery bus boycott affect the civil rights movement?
• How did other minorities begin to demand civil rights in the 1950s?
Setting the Scene
In August 1945, Branch Rickey, the general manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers, called a young man named Jackie
Robinson into his office. Rickey told Robinson of his plan to challenge the rule in Major League Baseball that
required black baseball players to play in a separate Negro League. Rickey wanted Robinson, a promising athlete
in college and a World War II veteran, to be the first player to break the color barrier. To test how Robinson
would respond to the pressure he was likely to face, Rickey acted the part of those who might try to discourage
him. He roared insults at Robinson and threatened him with violence. "Mr. Rickey," Robinson finally said, "do
you want a ballplayer who's afraid to fight back?" Rickey answered, "I want a player with guts enough NOT to
fight back." In 1947, Robinson joined the Brooklyn Dodgers, becoming the first African American to play in the
Major Leagues. Despite many instances of prejudice and discrimination, Robinson behaved with dignity and
bravery and had an amazing first season. He was named Rookie of the Year in 1947. In 1949, he was voted the
league's most valuable player. Just as important, Robinson fostered pride in African Americans around the
country and paved the way for other African Americans to follow him into previously all-white professional
sports and other areas of America life.
The Rise of African American Influence
Before and during World War II, African Americans were not treated as equals by a large portion of American
society. After the war, however, the campaign for civil rights began to accelerate. Millions of people believed that
the time had come to demand that the nation live up to its creed that all are equal before the law. Several factors
contributed to this growing demand:
The Great Migration
After the Civil War, many African Americans migrated to large northern cities. Between 1910 and 1940, the black
population of New York City leaped from 60,000 to 450,000. Other northern cities experienced a similar growth
in black population. Out of these expanding black communities emerged a small but growing number of
prominent citizens, including doctors and lawyers, who gained political influence.
The New Deal
During the Depression and World War II, Roosevelt and the Democrats began to court black votes and gain
African Americans' support for New Deal policies. Under Roosevelt, the number of African Americans working
for the federal government increased significantly.
World War II
During the war, increased demands for labor in northern cities led to a rise in the black population in the North.
This increase in numbers gave African Americans considerable voting power in some northern cities. Another
impact of World War II was ideological. The end of the war revealed the horrors of the Holocaust, and opened
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many people's eyes to the racism and discrimination taking place in the United States. This realization did not
spread to everyone, nor did it have a sudden impact. Rather, these new ideas crept into the climate of the country.
Rise of the NAACP
Amidst these cultural changes, the NAACP (the National Association for the Advancement of Colored
People) worked hard in the courts to challenge segregation laws throughout the country. (While "colored" was an
acceptable term for black Americans at the time of the founding of the NAACP, it no longer is. The organization
has chosen to keep its original name, however.) For years the NAACP had tried to get the 1896 Plessy v.
Ferguson decision overturned. That decision held that segregation of the races in public institutions and
accommodations was legal and constitutional as long as facilities were "separate but equal." In practice, equal
facilities were rarely-if ever-the case.
One of the NAACP's greatest assets was its legal team. Leading the NAACP's Legal Defense Fund was
Thurgood Marshall, who had joined the association in the 1930s. Known as "Mr. Civil Rights," Marshall fought
many battles over segregation in the courts and achieved great gains. His success was bolstered by the support of
an exceptional team of lawyers. One lawyer in particular, Oliver Hill, from Virginia, won many civil rights suits
that focused on issues of discrimination in education and wages. According to the Washington Post, Hill's team of
lawyers had succeeded in winning more than $50 million in higher pay and better educational facilities for black
students and teachers. Little by little, Marshall and Hill managed to chip away at the "separate but equal" clause
of Plessy v. Ferguson. Finally, in 1951, they took on the greatest and most important fight yet.
Brown v. Board of Education
In 1951, Oliver Brown sued the Topeka, Kansas Board of Education to allow his 8-year-old daughter Linda to
attend a nearby school for whites only. Everyday, Linda walked past the school on her way to the bus that took
her to a distant school for African Americans. After appeals, the case reached the Supreme Court. There,
Thurgood Marshall argued on behalf of Brown and against segregation in America's schools. On May 17, 1954, in
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, the Supreme Court issued its historic ruling.
"Does segregation of children in public schools solely on the basis of race deprive the children of the minority
group of equal educational opportunities? We believe that it does...To separate them from others of similar age
and qualifications solely because of their race generates a feeling of inferiority as to their status in the community
that may affect their hearts and minds in a way unlikely to ever be undone. We conclude that in the field of public
education the doctrine of 'separate but equal' has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently
unequal."
-Chief Justice Earl Warren
In a unanimous decision, the Court declared that the "separate but equal" doctrine was unconstitutional and could
not be applied to public education. A year later, the Court ruled that local school boards should move to
desegregate "with all deliberate speed."
Reaction to Brown v. Board of Education
The public's reaction to the Supreme Court's ruling was mixed. African Americans rejoiced. Many white
Americans, even if they did not agree, accepted the decision and hoped that desegregation could take place
peacefully. President Eisenhower, who disagreed with the Brown ruling, said only that "the Supreme Court has
spoken and I am sworn to uphold the constitutional processes in this country, and I am trying. I will obey."
Not everyone, however, was willing to obey. The ruling in Brown v. Board of Education caused many southern
whites, especially in the deep South, to react with fear and angry resistance. In Georgia, Governor Herman
Talmadge made it clear that his state would "not tolerate the mixing of the races in the public schools or any other
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institution." The Ku Klux Klan also became more active, threatening those who advocated acceptance of the
Brown decision.
The congressional representatives of states in the South joined together in March 1956 to protest the Supreme
Court's order to desegregate public schools. More than 90 members of Congress expressed their opposition to the
Court's ruling in what was known as the "Southern Manifesto." The congressmen stated that the Supreme Court
had overstepped its bounds and had "no legal basis for such action." The decision, they claimed, violated states'
rights and was an example of "judicial usurpation." Many believed that desegregation would lead to violence and
chaos in several southern states. As a result, they refused to comply with the court's ruling:
"We pledge ourselves to use all lawful means to bring about a reversal of this decision, which is contrary to the
Constitution, and to prevent the use of force in its implementation."
-From the Congressional Record, 84th Congress, 2nd session
Resistance in Little Rock
In the fall of 1957, Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus declared that he could not keep order if he had to enforce
integration, or the bringing together of different races. In blatant defiance of the Supreme Court's Brown
decision, Governor Faubus posted Arkansas National Guard troops at Central High School in Little Rock,
Arkansas, and instructed them to turn away the nine' African American students who were supposed to attend the
school that year. Outside the school, mobs of angry protesters gathered to prevent the entry of the black students.
One of those students, 15-year-old Elizabeth Eckford, remembered that day:
"[The Arkansas national guardsmen] glared at me with a mean look and I was very frightened and didn't know what
to do. I turned around and the crowd came toward me. They moved closer and closer. Somebody started yelling
'Lynch her! Lynch her!' I tried to see a friendly face somewhere in the mob-someone who maybe would help. I
looked into the face of an old woman and it seemed a kind face; but when I looked at her again, she spat on me."
-Elizabeth Eckford
Although President Eisenhower was not an ally of the civil rights movement, Faubus' actions were a direct
challenge to the Constitution and to Eisenhower's authority as President. Eisenhower acted by placing the
National Guard under federal command. He then sent U.S. Army soldiers to Arkansas to protect the nine students.
In a speech to the nation a week later, Eisenhower told the nation that his actions were necessary to defend the
authority of the Supreme Court.
The Montgomery Bus Boycott
In 1955, the nation's attention shifted from the courts to the streets of Montgomery, Alabama. In December, Rosa
Parks, a seamstress who had been the secretary of the Montgomery NAACP for 12 years, took a seat at the front
of the "colored" section of a bus. The front of the bus was reserved for white passengers. African Americans,
however, were expected to give up their seats for white passengers if no seats were available in the "whites only"
section. When a white man got on at the next stop and had no seat, the bus driver ordered Parks to give up hers.
She refused. Even when threatened with arrest, she held her ground. At the next stop, police seized her and
ordered her to stand trial for violating the segregation laws.
Civil rights leaders in Montgomery organized the Montgomery bus boycott. The plan called for African
Americans to refuse to use the entire bus system until the bus company agreed to change its segregation policy.
Robinson and other members of the WPC wrote and distributed leaflets announcing the boycott. Martin Luther
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King, Jr., the 26-year-old minister of the Baptist church where the original boycott meeting took place, soon
became the spokesperson for the protest movement. He proclaimed:
"There comes a time when people get tired...tired of being segregated and humiliated, tired of being kicked about
by the brutal feet of oppression. We have no alternative but to protest."
-Martin Luther King, Jr.
The morning of the first day of the boycott, King roamed the streets of Montgomery. He was anxious to see how
many African Americans would participate, and recorded his observations:
"During the rush hours the sidewalks were crowded with laborers and domestic workers, many of them well past
middle age, trudging patiently to their jobs and home again, sometimes as much as twelve miles. They knew why
they walked, and the knowledge was evident in the way they carried themselves. And as I watched them I knew
that there is nothing more majestic than the determined courage of individuals willing to suffer and sacrifice for
their freedom and dignity."
-Martin Luther King, Jr.
Over the next year, 50,000 African Americans in Montgomery walked, rode bicycles, or joined car pools to avoid
the city buses. Despite losing money, the bus company refused to change its policies. Finally, in 1956, the
Supreme Court ruled that bus segregation, like school segregation, was unconstitutional. The Montgomery bus
boycott encouraged a new generation of leaders in the African American community, most notably Martin Luther
King, Jr. In addition, it gave minority groups hope that steps toward equality could be made through peaceful
protest.
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Section 2: Leaders and Strategies
READING FOCUS
• How did early groups lay the groundwork for the civil rights movement?
• What was the philosophy of nonviolence?
• How did SNCC give students a voice in the civil rights movement?
Setting the Scene
"It really hit me when I was fifteen years old, when I heard about Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Montgomery bus
boycott. Black people were walking the streets for more than a year rather than riding segregated buses. That
more than any other event was the turning point for me, I think. It gave me a way out. When I graduated from high
school, I enrolled at the American Baptist Theological Seminary in Nashville…While I was there I began attending
these workshops, studying the philosophy and discipline of nonviolence: the life and times of Gandhi, and the
philosophy of civil disobedience. And we began to think about how we could apply these lessons to the problem of
segregation." -John Lewis
In the 1960s, many young people, like John Lewis, became active in the struggle for civil rights. They knew that
battling segregation and gaining civil rights would require organization and strong commitment.
The Philosophy of Nonviolence
Growing opposition to the gains made by African Americans through the Brown decision and the Montgomery
bus boycott resulted in increasing violence and hostility toward African Americans. Even so, rising new leaders
such as Martin Luther King, Jr., preached a philosophy of nonviolence. They asked anyone involved in the fight
for civil rights not to retaliate with violence out of fear or hate.
The civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s was a grass-roots effort of ordinary citizens determined to end
racial injustice in the United States. Although no central organization directed the movement, several major
groups formed to share information and coordinate civil rights activities. Each of these groups had its own
priorities, strategies, and ways of operating, but they all helped to focus the energies of thousands of Americans
committed to securing civil rights for all citizens.
NAACP
Behind the case of Brown v. Board of Education was the National Association for the Advancement of Colored
People (NAACP), one of the oldest civil rights organizations in the United States. The group formed in 1909 as an
interracial organization-one with both African Americans and white Americans as members. W.E.B. Du Bois, a
prominent African American scholar, was a founding member. Du Bois had been the first African American to
receive a doctoral degree from Harvard University. He served as the NAACP's director of publicity and research
and also edited the NAACP magazine, Crisis. Du Bois summarized the NAACP's goals this way:
"The main object of this association is to secure for colored people, and particularly for Americans of Negro
descent, free and equal participation in the democracy of modern culture. This means the clearing away of
obstructions to such participation…and it means also the making of a world democracy in which all men may
participate." -W.E.B. Du Bois
From the start, the NAACP focused on challenging the laws that prevented African Americans from exercising
their full rights as citizens. The NAACP worked to secure full legal equality for all Americans and to remove
barriers that kept them from voting. In the 1920s and 1930s, lynching was still a threat to African Americans,
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particularly in the South. Working to end such violence, the NAACP succeeded in getting two anti-lynching bills
passed by the House of Representatives in the 1930s. Southern leaders in the Senate prevented the bills from
becoming law, but the NAACP continued to keep the issue of lynching in the public eye. The NAACP appealed
mainly to educated, middle- and upper-class African Americans and some liberal white Americans.
CORE
Founded by pacifists in 1942, the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) was dedicated to bringing about change
through peaceful confrontation. It too was interracial, with both African American and white members. During
World War II, CORE organized demonstrations against segregation in cities including Baltimore, Chicago,
Denver, and Detroit. In the years after World War II, CORE director James Farmer worked without pay in order
to keep the organization alive. The growing interest in civil rights in the 1950s gave him a new base of support
and allowed him to turn CORE into a national organization, one that would play a major role in the confrontations
that lay ahead.
SCLC
In 1957, Martin Luther King, Jr., and other African American clergymen began a new and significant civil rights
organization, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). SCLC advocated the practice of
nonviolent protest, a peaceful way of protesting against restrictive racial policies. Nonviolent protesters do not
resist even when attacked by opponents. In its first official statement, SCLC set out this principle:
"To understand that nonviolence is not a symbol of weakness or cowardice, but as Jesus demonstrated,
nonviolent resistance transforms weakness into strength and breeds courage in the face of danger."
SCLC shifted the focus of the civil rights movement to the South. Earlier organizations had been dominated by
northerners. Now southern African American church leaders moved into the forefront of the struggle for equal
rights. Among them, Martin Luther King, Jr., became a national figure.
Dr. King Leads the Way
When the Montgomery bus boycott began, Martin Luther King, Jr., was a young Baptist preacher. Within a few
years he would become one of the most loved and admired-and also one of the most hated-people in the United
States. King became not only a leader in the African American civil rights movement but also a symbol of
nonviolent protest for the entire world. As he became more and more involved in the civil rights movement,
King was influenced by the beliefs of Mohandas Gandhi. Gandhi had been a leader in India's long struggle to gain
independence from Great Britain, an effort that finally succeeded in 1947. Gandhi preached a philosophy of
nonviolence as the only way to achieve victory against much stronger foes. Those who fight for justice must
peacefully refuse to obey unjust laws, Gandhi taught. They must remain nonviolent, regardless of the violent
reactions such peaceful resistance might provoke-a tactic that requires tremendous discipline and courage.
As the Montgomery boycott ended and boycotters prepared to ride the newly integrated buses, King began
training volunteers for what they might expect in the months ahead. Films, songs, and skits showed Gandhi's
activities and demonstrated the success of passive resistance in India. As a result of his role in the Montgomery
boycott, King gained national prominence. He went on to playa key role in almost every major civil rights event.
His work earned him the Nobel peace prize in 1964.
A New Voice for Students
Nonviolent protest was a practical strategy in the civil rights struggle. It also represented a moral philosophy. "To
accept passively an unjust system is to cooperate with that system; thereby the oppressed become as evil as the
oppressor," King said. "Noncooperation with evil is as much a moral obligation as is cooperation with good."
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The Formation of SNCC A new, student organization conceived by the SCLC took a somewhat different
approach. The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, usually known as SNCC (pronounced "snick"),
began in 1960 at a meeting in Raleigh, North Carolina. SCLC executive director Ella Baker thought that the
NAACP and SCLC were not keeping up with the demands of young African Americans. She wanted to give them
a way to play an even greater role in the civil rights movement. Nearly 200 students showed up for the first SNCC
meeting. Most came from southern communities, but some northerners attended as well. Martin Luther King, Jr.,
spoke to the young audience, calling the civil rights movement "a revolt against the apathy and complacency of
adults in the Negro community...." By the end of the year, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee was a
permanent and powerful organization.
SNCC filled its own niche in the American civil rights movement. The focus of the civil rights movement shifted
away from church leaders alone and gave young activists a chance to make decisions about priorities and tactics.
SNCC also sought more immediate change, as opposed to the gradual change advocated by most of the older
organizations.
Robert Moses
One of SNCC's most influential leaders was Robert Moses, a Harvard graduate student and a mathematics teacher
in Harlem. As the civil rights movement developed, he wanted to be involved. He first went to work for SNCC in
Atlanta, and later headed for Mississippi to recruit black and white volunteers to help rural blacks register to vote.
While Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke with eloquence and passion, Moses was more soft-spoken. He took time to
gather his thoughts, and then he spoke slowly. With fresh new ideas and strong leaders like Bob Moses, SNCC
became a strong and vital organization for students wanting to take part in the civil rights movement. As the
struggle intensified, SNCC became a powerful force, and many students found that they would risk almost
anything for their beliefs.
Major Non-violent Civil Rights Protests, 1954-1965
_________________________________
1954 Brown v. Board of Education
Supreme Court ruled against the "separate but equal" doctrine and ordered the desegregation of all
public schools. Violent protests in southern states followed.
1955-1956 Montgomery Bus Boycott
Bus company desegregated its buses. Martin Luther King, Jr. emerged as an important civil rights
leader.
1960s Sit-ins
Peaceful actions sparked violent reactions and many protesters were jailed. The tactic gained
momentum for the civil rights movement.
1961 Freedom Rides
Attempts to desegregate interstate travelled to mob violence. The Interstate Commerce Commission
banned segregation in interstate transportation.
1962 James Meredith Enrolls at the University of Mississippi
The Supreme Court upheld Meredith's right to enter the all-white institution. Violence erupts on the
campus.
1963 Protest Marches and Boycotts in Birmingham, Alabama
Violence against peaceful demonstrators shocked the nation. Under pressure, Birmingham
desegregated public facilities.
1963 March on Washington
More than 200,000 people demonstrated in an impressive display of support for civil rights.
1965 Selma March
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State troopers attacked marchers. President Johnson used federal force to protect the route from
Selma to Montgomery, and thousands joined the march, which was designed to call attention to the
issue of voting rights.
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Section 3: The Struggle Intensifies
READING FOCUS
• What were the goals of sit-ins and Freedom Rides?
• What was the reaction to James Meredith's integration at the University of Mississippi?
• How did the events in Birmingham, Alabama, affect the nation's attitudes toward the civil rights
movement?
Setting the Scene
As a child in the rural Mississippi town of Centreville, Anne Moody grew up wondering what "the white folks'
secret" was. "Their homes were large and beautiful with indoor toilets and every other convenience that I knew of
at the time," she observed. "Every house I had ever lived in was a one- or two-room shack with an outdoor toilet."
Moody was horrified when 14-year-old Emmett Till, visiting from Chicago, was killed in Mississippi supposedly
because he had whistled at a white woman. While in college, Moody became involved in the civil rights
movement. She joined the NAACP and also worked with CORE and SNCC. She took part in the first sit-ins in
Jackson, Mississippi, in 1963. Like so many other students in the 1960s, Moody was jailed for taking part in civil
rights demonstrations. Worse was the reaction from her family at home. Her mother, afraid for the lives of her
relatives, begged Moody to end her involvement with the civil rights movement. The local sheriff had warned that
Moody should never return to her hometown. Moody's brother had been beaten up and almost lynched by a group
of white boys. Her sister angrily told her that her activism was threatening the life of every African American in
Centreville.
Against all that resistance, Moody persevered. She participated in demonstrations, helped force the desegregation
of local facilities, and remained determined to do everything she could to make the South a better place for
African Americans. But it was never easy, and the gains came at tremendous personal cost. Like many other
Americans committed to changing society through nonviolent means, Moody learned that challenging white
supremacy often provoked an ugly and violent reaction.
Sit-ins Challenge Segregation
The Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) created the sit-in to desegregate the Jack Spratt Coffee House in
Chicago. In this technique, a group of CORE members simply sat down at a segregated lunch counter or other
public place. If they were refused service at first, they simply stayed where they were.
This tactic was a popular form of protest in the early 1960s. It often worked because it forced business owners to
decide between serving the protesters or risking a disruption and loss of business. In some places, sit-ins brought
strong reactions. Soon, thousands of students were involved in the sit-in campaign, which gained the support of
SCLC. Martin Luther King, Jr. told students that arrest was a "badge of honor." By the end of 1960, some 70,000
students had participated in sit-ins, and 3,600 had served time in jail for doing so. The protests began a process of
change that could not be stopped.
The Freedom Rides
In Boynton v. Virginia (1960), the Supreme Court expanded its earlier ban on segregation to include interstate
buses. As a result, bus station waiting rooms and restaurants that served interstate travelers could not be
segregated either. In 1961, CORE and SNCC organized and carried out the Freedom Rides. They were designed
to test whether southern states would obey the Supreme Court ruling and allow African Americans to exercise the
rights recently granted to them.
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Violence Greets the Riders
The first Freedom Ride departed Washington, D.C., on May 4, 1961. Both black and white volunteers boarded
two interstate buses heading south. At first the group encountered only minor conflicts. But in Atlanta the two
buses split up and headed for the deep south. There the trip turned dangerous. In Anniston, Alabama, a heavily
armed white mob met the first bus at the terminal. The bus attempted to leave. CORE director James Farmer
described what happened next:
"Before the bus pulled out, however, members of the mob took their sharp instruments and slashed tires. The bus
got to the outskirts of Anniston and the tires blew out and the bus ground to a halt. Members of the mob had
boarded cars and followed the bus, and now with the disabled bus standing there, the members of the mob
surrounded it, held the door closed, and a member of the mob threw a firebomb into the bus, breaking a window
to do so. Incidentally, there were some local policemen mingling with the mob, fraternizing with them while this
was going on." -James Farmer
Most riders escaped before the bus burst into flames, but many were beaten by the mob as they stumbled out of
the vehicle, choking on the smoke. They had anticipated trouble, since they meant to provoke a confrontation. But
this level of violence took them by surprise. As a result of the savage response, Farmer considered calling off the
project. SNCC leaders, though, begged to go on. Farmer warned, "You know that may be suicide." Student Diane
Nash replied, "If we let them stop us with violence, the movement is dead! " The rides continued.
National Reactions
Photographs of the smoldering bus in Anniston horrified the country. Burke Marshall, the Assistant Attorney
General who headed the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, was astonished "that people-presumably
otherwise sane, sensible, rational-would have this kind of reaction simply to where people were sitting on a bus."
The violence intensified in Birmingham and Montgomery. Upon their arrival in Jackson, Mississippi, the riders
met no mobs but were arrested immediately. New volunteers arrived to replace them and were also arrested. This
first Freedom Ride died out in Jackson, but about 300 Freedom Riders continued the protest throughout that
summer.
President Kennedy and his brother, Attorney General Robert Kennedy, had at first been reluctant to lend
federal support to the protest, but had no choice after the bombing. They sent federal marshals to protect the
Freedom Riders. Robert Kennedy then took further measures. He pressured the Interstate Commerce Commission
to issue a ruling that prohibited segregation in all interstate transportation-trains, planes, and buses. The Justice
Department sued local communities that did not comply.
Integration at "Ole Miss"
In 1961, James Meredith, an African American Air Force veteran, fought a personal battle for equal rights.
Meredith was a student at Jackson State College, but he wanted to transfer to the all-white University of
Mississippi, known as "Ole Miss." After being rejected because of his race, Meredith got legal help from the
NAACP. It filed a lawsuit on Meredith's behalf. In the summer of 1962, the Supreme Court upheld Meredith's
claim.
Mississippi Governor Ross Barnett, however, declared that Meredith could not enroll, regardless of what the
Court said. Barnett personally physically blocked the way to the admissions office. Barnett's defiance of the
Supreme Court decision forced a reluctant President Kennedy to act. Kennedy sent federal marshals to accompany
Meredith to the campus. Crowds of angry white protesters, who had gathered around campus, destroyed their
vehicles. As violence erupted on campus, tear gas covered the grounds. Two bystanders were killed and hundreds
of people hurt. Finally, President Kennedy sent army troops to restore order, but federal marshals continued to
escort Meredith to class.
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Clash in Birmingham
Elsewhere, civil rights leaders looked for chances to protest segregation nonviolently. The Reverend Fred
Shuttlesworth, head of the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights, in Birmingham, invited Martin
Luther King, Jr., and the SCLC to visit the city in April 1963. Birmingham's population was 40 percent African
American, but King called it "the most segregated city in America." Victory there could be a model for the rest
of the south.. King and Shuttlesworth planned boycotts of downtown stores and attempts to integrate local
churches. Business leaders, fearing disruptions and lost sales, tried to negotiate with Shuttlesworth to call off the
plan, without success. When reporters wanted to know how long King planned to stay, he drew on a biblical story
and told them he would remain until "Pharaoh lets God's people go." Birmingham police Commissioner Eugene
"Bull" Connor, a determined segregationist, replied, "I got plenty of room in the jail."
From Birmingham Jail
The campaign began nonviolently with protest marches and sit-ins. City officials declared that the marches
violated a regulation prohibiting parades without a permit. Connor then arrested King and other demonstrators.
When a group of white clergy criticized the campaign as an ill-timed threat to law and order by an "outsider,"
King responded from his cell. In his "Letter from Birmingham Jail," he defended his tactics and his timing:
"Frankly, I have yet to engage in a campaign that was 'well-timed' in the view of those who have not suffered from
the disease of segregation. For years now I have heard the word 'Wait!' It rings in the ear of every Negro with
piercing familiarity. This 'Wait!' has almost always meant 'Never’."
-"Letter from Birmingham Jail," Martin Luther King, Jr., 1963
After more than a week, King was released on bail. Soon after, he made a difficult decision: to let young people
join the campaign. Though dangerous, it would test the conscience of the Birmingham authorities and the nation.
As the children marched with the adults, "Bull" Connor arrested more than 900 of the young people. Police used
high-pressure fire hoses, which could tear the bark from trees, on the demonstrators. They also brought out trained
police dogs that attacked marchers' arms and legs. When protesters fell to the ground, policemen beat them with
clubs and took them off to jail.
The Nation Watches
Television cameras brought the scenes of violence to people across the country. Even those unsympathetic to the
civil rights movement were appalled. In the end, the protesters won. A compromise arranged by Kennedy's
administration led to desegregation of city facilities and fairer hiring practices. An interracial committee was set
up to aid communication. The success of the Birmingham marches was just one example that proved how
effective nonviolent protest could be. Sometimes the technique did not work, or worked only slowly.
Nevertheless, nonviolent protest as a means to social change had earned itself a place of honor in the history of
civil rights in the United States.
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Section Four: The Government Responds
READING FOCUS
• What was President Kennedy's approach to civil rights?
• Why did civil rights leaders propose a march on Washington?
• What were the goals of the Civil Rights Act of 1964?
• How did African Americans fight to gain voting rights?
Setting the Scene
In October 1960, just weeks before the presidential election, John F. Kennedy had an opportunity to make a
powerful gesture of goodwill toward African Americans. Martin Luther King, Jr., had been arrested in Georgia
and sentenced to four months of hard labor. His family feared for his life in the prison camp. Kennedy called
Coretta Scott King, Dr. King's wife, and offered his help. Then, Robert Kennedy, John's younger brother,
persuaded the Georgia sentencing judge to release King on bail. Word of the Kennedys' actions spread quickly
throughout the African American community, and many switched their votes from Nixon to Kennedy. These
votes were crucial in Kennedy's slim margin of victory in the election.
Kennedy on Civil Rights
As a senator from Massachusetts, John F. Kennedy had voted for civil rights measures but had never actively
pushed the issue. During his presidential campaign, however, Kennedy had sought and won many African
American votes with bold rhetoric. In 1960, he proclaimed, "If the President does not himself wage the struggle
for equal rights-if he stands above the battle- then the battle will inevitably be lost." Once in office, however,
Kennedy moved slowly on issues such as fair housing. He did not want to anger southern Democratic senators
whose votes he needed on other issues. Yet Kennedy did appoint a number of African Americans to prominent
positions. For example, Thurgood Marshall, who would later become the first African American Supreme Court
Justice, joined the United States Circuit Court under Kennedy. At the same time, however, Kennedy also named a
number of segregationists to federal courts to please Southern Democrats in the House and Senate.
As the civil rights movement gained momentum and violence began to spread, Kennedy could no longer avoid the
issue. He was deeply disturbed by the scenes of violence in the South that flooded the media. The race riots
surrounding the Freedom Rides in 1961 embarrassed the President when he met with Soviet leader Nikita
Khrushchev. Observers around the world watched the brutality in Birmingham early in 1963. Aware that he had
to respond, Kennedy spoke to the American people on television:
"We preach freedom around the world, and we mean it, and we cherish our freedom here at home, but are we to
say to the world, and much more importantly, to each other that this is the land of the free except for the
Negroes? The time has come for this nation to fulfill its promise."
-President John F. Kennedy, television address, June 1963
Hours after Kennedy's broadcast, civil rights leader Medgar Evers was gunned down outside his home. Evers
worked for the NAACP in Mississippi. He worked on recruiting members and organized various voter registration
drives throughout the state. Police charged a white supremacist, Byron de la Beckwith, with the murder. After two
hung juries failed to convict him, Beckwith was set free in 1964. (Beckwith was convicted of murder in 1994 after
the case was reopened.) The timing of the Evers murder and the violence in Birmingham made it clear that the
government needed to take action. After the crisis in Birmingham, Kennedy announced he would propose a strong
civil rights bill to Congress. The bill would prohibit segregation in all public places, and ban discrimination
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wherever federal funding was involved. Powerful southern segregationists in Congress, however, kept the bill
from coming up for a vote.
The March on Washington
To focus national attention on Kennedy's bill, civil rights leaders proposed a march on Washington, D.C. The
March on Washington took place in August 1963. Almost 250,000 people came from all over the country to call
for "jobs and freedom," the official slogan of the march. Participants included religious leaders and celebrities
such as writer James Baldwin, entertainer Sammy Davis, Jr., and baseball player Jackie Robinson. Leading folk
singers of the early 1960s, such as Joan Baez and Bob Dylan, were also there. Dylan's powerful protest song
"Blowin' in the Wind" was performed at the march by the popular group Peter, Paul, and Mary:
"How many years can a mountain exist
Before it's washed to the sea?
Yes, 'n' how many years can some people exist
Before they're allowed to be free.
Yes, 'n ' how many times can a man turn his head,
Pretending he just doesn't see?
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind,
The answer is blowin' in the wind."
-Bob Dylan, ©1962
The march was peaceful and orderly. After many songs and speeches, Martin Luther King, Jr., delivered what was
to become his best-known address. With power and eloquence, he spoke to all Americans:
"I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed, 'We hold these
truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.’' I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia,
the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of
brotherhood...I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged
by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character...When we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring
from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all
of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join
hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: 'Free at last. Free at last. Thank God Almighty, we are free
at last."
- "I Have a Dream" speech, Martin Luther King, Jr., August 28, 1963
King's words echoed around the country. President Kennedy, watching the speech on television, was impressed
with King's skill. But still the civil rights bill remained stalled in Congress.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964
Three months after the March on Washington, President Kennedy was assassinated, and his civil rights bill was
not much closer to passage. The new President, Lyndon Johnson, was finally able to move the legislation along.
Johnson's Role
Lyndon Johnson, a former member of Congress from Texas, worked successfully to get a minor civil rights bill
passed in 1957. Upon becoming President, he was eager to use his political skills to build support for Kennedy's
bill. In his first public address, he told Congress and the country that nothing "could more eloquently honor
President Kennedy's memory than the earliest possible passage of the civil rights bill." Johnson promised African
American leaders that he would push for the measure "with every energy [he] possessed," and he made good on
that commitment. Johnson let Congress know that he would accept no compromise on civil rights. After the
House of Representatives passed the bill, civil rights opponents in the Senate started a lengthy filibuster,
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exercising their right of unlimited day-and-night debate. (A filibuster is a tactic in which senators prevent a vote
on a measure by taking the floor and refusing to stop talking.) Johnson finally enlisted his former colleague,
Republican minority leader Everett Dirksen, to support the rarely used procedure called cloture-a procedure that
may be used to end debate and call for a vote. In June 1964, the Senate voted for cloture, which successfully
ended the filibuster. Soon after, the bill passed with support from both Democrats and Republicans.
The Provisions of the Act
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 had an impact on many areas, including voting, schools, and jobs. It gave the
Justice Department the authority to act vigorously in school desegregation and voting rights cases. The law's
major sections (called titles) included these provisions:
-Title II prohibited discrimination in public accommodations, such as motels, restaurants, gas stations, theaters,
and sports arenas.
-Title VI allowed the withholding of federal funds from public or private programs that practice discrimination.
-Title VII banned discrimination on the basis of race, sex, religion, or national origin by employers, and also
created the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to investigate claims of job discrimination.
Fighting for the (actual) Vote
African Americans were granted the right to vote in the 1860s, yet Southern states had used poll taxes and literacy
tests to block them from voting. Even with a strong new law, change came slowly, because racists in the South
would use other means of intimidation to prevent African Americans from registering to vote.
Freedom Summer
In 1964, leaders of the major civil rights groups organized a voter registration drive in Mississippi. About a
thousand African American and white volunteers, mostly college students, joined in what came to be called
Freedom Summer. Many white Mississippians were already angry about the new Civil Rights Act before the
volunteers arrived. The Ku Klux Klan held rallies to intimidate the volunteers. Soon, three young civil rights
workers, James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner, were reported missing. Later in the
summer, FBI agents found their bodies buried in a new earthen dam a few miles from where their burned-out car
had been found. These three murders were only part of the turbulence reported that summer. Civil rights leaders
also reported about 80 mob attacks. Volunteers were beaten up and a few wounded by gunfire. About a thousand
were arrested. African American churches and homes were burned and firebombed.
The Selma March
Many black southerners still had trouble obtaining their voting rights. In Selma, Alabama, police and sheriff's
deputies arrested people just for standing in line to register to vote. To call attention to the voting rights issue,
King and other leaders decided to organize a protest march. They would walk from Selma to the state capital,
Montgomery, about 50 miles away. As the marchers set out on a Sunday morning in March 1965, armed state
troopers on horseback charged into the crowd with whips, clubs, and tear gas. TV pictures of the attack again
shocked many viewers. In response, President Johnson put the Alabama sent members of the National Guard,
along with federal marshals and army helicopters, to protect the march route. When the Selma marchers started
out again, supporters from all over the country flocked to join them. By the time the march reached Montgomery,
its ranks had swelled to about 25,000 people.
Voting Rights Protected
Reacting to Selma and the violence during Freedom Summer, Johnson went on national television, promising a
strong new law to protect voting rights. Raising his arms, Johnson repeated, "And ... we ... shall ... overcome!", a
popular slogan used by King and SNCC. That summer, despite another filibuster, Congress passed the Voting
Rights Act of 1965. Under the act, federal officials could register voters in places where local officials were
blocking registration by African Americans. The act also eliminated literacy tests.
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Another legal landmark was the Twenty-fourth Amendment to the Constitution, ratified in 1964. This
amendment outlawed the poll tax, which was still being used in several southern states to keep poor African
Americans from voting. In the two years after the new laws passed, more than 600,000 African Americans
registered to vote in Mississippi and Alabama.
Together with the Civil Rights Act of 1964, these new laws created an entirely new voting population in the
South. This new block of voters meant that more black Americans would be elected to political office. But for
some African Americans, new laws were not nearly enough. While the laws eliminated de jure segregation, or
segregation by law, they did little to alleviate de facto segregation, or segregation by custom. Impatient with the
slow pace of progress, they were ready to listen to more militant leaders.
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Section 5: The Movement Splits
READING FOCUS
• What was Malcolm X's approach to gaining civil rights?
• What were the major goals of the black power movement?
• Why did violent riots erupt in many urban streets?
• How did the tragic events of 1968 affect the nation?
Setting the Scene
James Baldwin's essays and novels included powerful descriptions of the African American experience that
touched both black and white Americans deeply. As a strong voice for the civil rights movement, Baldwin wrote
about the damaging effects of segregation in the United States. He recounted "the Negro's past, of ... death and
humiliation; fear by day and night; fear as deep as the marrow of the bone; doubt that he was worthy of life, since
everyone around him denied it…" In 1963, in the bestseller The Fire Next Time, Baldwin told how generations of
oppression and suffering had set African Americans apart but had also made them stronger. Now, he said, they
were tired of promises. Their anger was ready to erupt. As Baldwin put it, "The Negro himself no longer believes
in the good faith of white Americans-if, indeed, he ever could have." Over time, the passage of civil rights laws
would help African Americans to win court battles that would tear down segregation. But in the meantime,
African Americans still faced economic and social discrimination. Many were angry at the slow pace of change.
Growing anger led to a divide within the civil rights movement.
Malcolm X and Black Nationalism
Outside the mainstream non-violent civil rights movement, more radical and militant political leaders emerged.
The most well known of these leaders was Malcolm X (born Malcolm Little). His father, a Baptist minister who
spread the "back-to-Africa" message of Marcus Garvey, died when Little was a child. Growing up in ghettos in
Detroit, Boston, and New York, Little turned to crime. At age 20, he was arrested for burglary and served seven
years in prison. While in jail he joined the Nation of Islam, a group often called the Black Muslims. Viewing
white society as oppressive, it preached black separation and self-help, and opposed integration.
Black Nationalism
Elijah Muhammad, the leader of the Nation of Islam, taught that Allah (the Muslim name for God) would bring
about a "Black Nation," a union among all nonwhite peoples. According to Elijah Muhammad, one of the keys to
self-knowledge was knowing one's enemy. For him, the enemy of the Nation of Islam was white society.
Members of the Nation of Islam did not seek change through political means or non-violent protest, but waited for
Allah to create the Black Nation. In the meantime, they tried to lead righteous lives and become economically
self-sufficient. Released from prison in 1952, Malcolm Little changed his name to Malcolm X. (The name Little,
he said, had come from slave owners.) He spent the next 12 years as a minister of the Nation of Islam, spreading
the ideas of black nationalism, a belief in the separate identity and racial unity of the African American
community. His fiery speeches won him many followers, a large number of young people who were growing
impatient with King's message.
Opposition to Integration
Malcolm X disagreed with both the tactics and the goals of the early civil rights movement. He called the March
on Washington the "Farce on Washington," and voiced his irritation at "all of this non-violent, begging-the-whiteman kind of dying . . . all of this sitting-in, sliding-in, wading-fn, eating-in, diving-in, and all the rest." Instead of
preaching love, he rejected ideas of integration. Asking why anyone would want to join white society, he noted:
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"No sane black man really wants integration! No sane white man really wants integration! No sane black man
really believes that the white man ever will give the black man anything more than token integration. The
American black man should be focusing his effort toward building his own businesses, and decent homes for
himself. That's the only way the American black man is ever going to get respect."
-Malcolm X
Malcolm X and Elijah Muhammad came to disagree about many things, including political action. In 1964,
Malcolm X left the Nation of Islam and formed his own religious organization, called Muslim Mosque, Inc. He
then made a pilgrimage, or religious journey, to Mecca, the holy city of Islam, in Saudi Arabia. Seeing millions of
people of all races worshipping and working together peacefully had a profound effect on Malcolm X. It changed
his views about separatism and hatred of white people. When he returned, he was ready to work with other civil
rights leaders and even with white Americans. His change of heart, however, had earned him some enemies.
Malcolm X had only nine months to spread his new beliefs. In February 1965, he was shot to death at a rally in
New York. Three members of the Nation of Islam were charged with the murder. Malcolm X's message lived on,
however. He particularly influenced younger members of SNCC, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating
Committee.
The Black Power Movement
One SNCC leader who heard Malcolm's message was Stokely Carmichael. Born in Trinidad, a Caribbean island,
Carmichael came to the United States at the age of 11 and was soon involved in protests. At Howard University in
Washington, D.C., he and other students became actively involved in SNCC.
SNCC Shifts Gears
As Carmichael rose to SNCC leadership, the group became more radical. After being beaten and jailed for his
participation in demonstrations, he was tired of nonviolent protest. He called on SNCC workers to carry guns for
self-defense. He wanted to make the group exclusively black, rejecting white activists. The split in the civil rights
movement became obvious in June 1966. At a protest march in Greenwood, Mississippi, while King's followers
were singing "We Shall Overcome," Carmichael's supporters drowned them out with "We Shall Overrun." Then
Carmichael, just out of jail, jumped into the back of an open truck to challenge the moderate leaders:
"This is the twenty-seventh time I have been arrested, and l ain't going to jail no more! We been saying freedom
for six years-and we ain't got nothin'. What we gonna start saying now is 'black power!'"
-Stokely Carmichael, public address, June 1966
As he repeated "We ... want ... black ... power!" the audience excitedly echoed the new slogan. Carmichael's idea
of black power resonated with many African Americans. It was a call "to unite, to recognize their heritage, to
build a sense of community ... to begin to define their own goals, to lead their own organizations and support
those organizations." King was still the most popular leader in the movement, but was losing followers to leaders
who followed this new type of thinking.
The Black Panthers
In the fall of 1966, a new militant group, the Black Panthers, was formed by activists Bobby Seale and Huey
Newton in Oakland, California. The Panthers wanted African Americans to lead their own communities. They
demanded that the federal government rebuild the nation's ghettos to make up for years of neglect. The Panthers
also wanted to combat what they saw as police brutality. Often, as a result of their monitoring the police, they
became engaged in direct confrontation with white authorities. Newton repeated the words of Chinese Communist
leader Mao Zedong: "Power flows from the barrel of a gun." Although they did organize some beneficial
community programs, the Panthers more often found themselves in violent encounters with police.
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Riots in the Streets
The early civil rights movement focused on battling de jure segregation, racial separation created by law.
Changes in the law, however, did not address the more difficult issue of de facto segregation, the separation
caused by social conditions such as poverty. De facto segregation was a fact of life in most American cities, not
just in the South. There were no "whites only" signs above water fountains in northern cities, yet discrimination
continued in education, housing, and employment. African Americans were kept out of well-paying jobs, job
training programs, and suburban housing. Inner-city schools were rundown and poorly equipped.
Residents of ghetto neighborhoods viewed police officers as dangerous oppressors, not upholders of justice.
James Baldwin remarked that a white police officer in one of these neighborhoods was "like an occupying soldier
in a bitterly hostile country." Eventually, frustration and anger boiled over into riots and looting. In 1964, riots
ravaged Rochester, New York; New York City; and several cities in New Jersey. One of the most violent riots
occurred in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Watts. Police in Watts pulled over a 21-year-old black man for
drunk driving. When the suspect resisted arrest, one police officer panicked and began swinging his riot baton. A
gathered crowd was outraged, and the scene touched off six days of rioting. Thousands of people filled the streets,
burning cars and stores, and exchanging gunfire with authorities. When the National Guard and local police
finally gained control, 34 people were dead and more than a thousand had been injured. Violence spread to other
cities in 1966 and 1967. Cries of "Burn, baby, burn" replaced the gentler slogans of the earlier civil rights
movement. A concerned federal government set up a special National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders,
headed by former Illinois Governor Otto Kerner, to investigate. In 1968, the Kerner Commission report declared
flatly that the riots were an explosion of the anger that had been smoldering in the inner-city ghettos. It declared
that "our nation is moving toward two societies, one black, one white-separate and unequal."
Tragedy Strikes in 1968
In the troubled decade of the 1960s, the most shattering year was 1968. A series of tragic events hit with such
force that, month by month, the nation seemed to be coming apart. Against a backdrop of domestic violence,
chaos, and confrontation, many Americans began to believe that the chance of achieving peaceful social change
through political activism was hopeless. For many Americans, the memory of President Kennedy's assassination
in 1963 was still vivid and haunting five years later. They looked to other leaders to carryon the spirit and
idealism of the Kennedy years. But in 1968, people's hopes were again shattered by the burst of bullets from
assassins' guns.
Martin Luther King Jr., Is Assassinated
In 1968, Dr. King turned his attention to economic issues. Convinced that poverty bred violence, he broadened his
approach to attack economic injustice. Calling his new crusade the Poor People's Campaign, King began planning
a Poor People's March on Washington. Traveling around the United States to mobilize support, he went to
Memphis, Tennessee, in early April. There he offered his assistance to striking garbage workers who were
seeking better working conditions.
While in Memphis, as King stood on the balcony of his motel, a bullet fired from a high-powered rifle tore into
him. An hour later, King was dead. King's assassination sparked violent reactions across the nation. In an outburst
of rage and frustration, some African Americans rioted, setting fires and looting stores in more than 120 cities.
The riots, and the police response to them, left 50 people dead. President Johnson ordered flags on federal
buildings to be flown at half mast to honor King, but it took more than 50,000 troops to slow the violence. For
many Americans of all races, King's death eroded faith in the idea of nonviolent change.
Robert F. Kennedy Is Assassinated
Since the assassination of President Kennedy, his brother, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, had come to support the
civil rights movement and to oppose the Vietnam War. In 1968, he decided to enter the race for the Democratic
presidential nomination. President Johnson had lost support from many Democrats because of America's
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involvement in the Vietnam War. On March 16, Kennedy entered the campaign. His candidacy received a critical
boost on March 31, when Johnson stunned the nation by announcing that he would not run for a second term as
President. In the years since his brother's death, Robert Kennedy had reached out to many Americans, including
Hispanics, Native Americans, African Americans, and poor white families. He condemned the killing of both
Americans and Vietnamese in the Vietnam War. He criticized the Johnson administration for financing a war
instead of funding the programs needed to help the poor and disadvantaged at home.
Kennedy spent the spring of 1968 battling in the Democratic primary elections. On June 4, he won a key victory
in California's primary. But just after midnight, after giving his victory speech in a Los Angeles hotel, Robert
Kennedy was shot by an assassin. He died the next day. When the shooting was reported, several campaign
workers who had watched the speech on TV were waiting for Kennedy in his hotel room. One of them, civil
rights leader John Lewis, later said, "We all just fell to the floor and started crying. To me that was like the
darkest, saddest moment." Kennedy's death ended many people's hopes for an inspirational leader who could heal
the nation's wounds.
Legacy of the Movement
At times, both black and white Americans wondered whether real progress in civil rights was possible. Many
young activists felt frustrated and discouraged when the movement failed to bring changes quickly. Lyndon
Johnson was devastated by the violence that exploded near the end of his presidency. "How is it possible," he
asked, "after all we've accomplished?" Still, the measures passed by his administration had brought tremendous
change. Segregation was now illegal, and racism was declining. Because of voter registration drives, millions of
African Americans could now vote without having hurdles to leap over. The power they wielded changed the
nature of American political life. Changes in business, sports, the military, and show business also reflected the
powerful impact the Civil Rights Movement had on American society.
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Unit 4:
The 1960s
Section 1:
JFK and the New Frontier
p.89
Section 2:
LBJ and the Great Society
p.92
Section 3:
The Women’s Movement
p.96
Section 4:
The Counterculture
p.99
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Section 1: JFK and the New Frontier
READING FOCUS
• What factors affected the election of 1960?
• What domestic programs did President Kennedy's New Frontier pursue?
• What circumstances surrounded Kennedy's assassination?
Setting the Scene
On September 26, 1960 American politics changed forever. From a CBS television studio in Chicago, two
presidential candidates (Republican Richard Nixon and Democrat John F. Kennedy) faced off in the first of four
live, televised debates broadcast by all the networks. Nixon had been ill, and looked haggard and pasty. Tanned,
relaxed, and smiling, JFK breezed into the studio. The camera favored his young, handsome face, and Kennedy
spoke directly to the camera, paying little attention to his opponent and addressing the viewing voters instead.
Who won the debate? Surveys showed that most of the 70 million TV viewers thought Kennedy won. Yet many
radio listeners gave the victory to Nixon. The undisputed winner that night was television itself. The presidential
debates of 1960 put TV in the national spotlight and made it the communications vehicle of choice for politicians.
The Election of 1960
Kennedy, a Massachusetts Democrat, had served in the United States House of Representatives and Senate for 14
years, following distinguished service in the United States Navy in World War II. Yet the senator faced serious
obstacles in his quest for the presidency.
A New Type of Candidate
John Kennedy was only 43 years old, and many questioned whether he had the experience needed for the nation's
highest office. He would be the youngest American ever to be elected president. In addition, Kennedy was a
Roman Catholic, and no Catholic had ever been elected President. Kennedy helped put an end to the religion issue
when he won the primary of the largely Protestant state of West Virginia. He campaigned hard, promising to spur
the sluggish economy. While the economy had boomed after World War II, during the last years of the
Eisenhower administration, the Gross National Product (GNP) had grown very slowly, and the economy had
suffered several recessions. During the campaign, Kennedy proclaimed that it was time to "get America moving
again."
A Narrow Kennedy Victory
Kennedy and his running mate, Lyndon Baines Johnson, won the election by an extraordinarily close margin.
Although the electoral vote was 303 to 219 in Kennedy's favor, he won by fewer than 119,000 popular votes out
of nearly 69 million cast, a difference of less than one-half of one percent. In Illinois, Nixon could have inched
by Kennedy with just a few thousand more votes, and accusations were made that the Democrats had won the
state through fraud.
As a result of this razor-thin victory, Kennedy entered office without a strong mandate, or public endorsement of
his proposals. Without a mandate, Kennedy would have difficulty pushing his more controversial measures
through Congress.
Kennedy's Domestic Programs
In a speech early in his presidency, Kennedy said that the nation was poised at the edge of a "New Frontier."
The name stuck. It referred to Kennedy's proposals to improve the economy, assist the poor, and speed up the
space program.
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The Economy
Concerned about the continuing recession, Kennedy hoped to work with business leaders to promote economic
growth. Often, however, he faced resistance from executives who were suspicious of his plans. Their worst fears
were realized in the spring of 1962. When the U.S. Steel Company announced that it was raising the price of steel
by $6 a ton, other firms did the same. Worried about inflation, Kennedy called the price increase unjustifiable and
charged that it showed "utter contempt for the public interest." He ordered a federal investigation into the
possibility of price fixing, a practice where competing businesses work together and agree to keep prices high.
Under that pressure, U.S. Steel and the other companies backed down. Business leaders remained angry, feeling
that President Kennedy overstepped his powers. Consumer confidence fell, and the stock market suffered its
steepest drop since the Great Crash of1929. To help end the economic slump, Kennedy proposed a large tax cut
over three years. At first, the measure would reduce government income and create a budget deficit. Kennedy
believed, however, that the extra cash in taxpayers' wallets would stimulate the economy and eventually bring in
added tax revenues. However, as often happened, the President's proposal became stuck in Congress.
Combating Poverty and Inequality
Kennedy also was eager to take action against poverty and inequality. In his first two years in office, he hoped
that he could help the poor simply by stimulating the economy. In 1962, though, author Michael Harrington
described the lives of the growing number of poor Americans in his book, The Other America. Harrington's book
revealed that while many Americans were enjoying the prosperity of the 1950s, a shocking one fifth of the
population was living below the poverty line. Kennedy became convinced that the poor needed direct federal aid.
Kennedy's ambitious plans for federal education aid and medical care for the elderly both failed in Congress.
Some measures did make it through Congress, however. Congress passed both an increase in the minimum wage
and the Housing Act of 1961, which provided $4.9 billion for urban renewal. Congress also approved the TwentyFourth Amendment, which outlawed the poll tax.
Other Kennedy Initiatives
In the face of congressional roadblocks, Kennedy, like many Presidents, sought to achieve his goals through
executive orders. Among them were orders on providing equal opportunity in housing and establishing an
expanded program of food distribution to needy families. Other orders established the President's Committee on
Equal Employment, the President's Commission on the Status of Women, and the President's Council on Aging.
Other acts in Kennedy's shortened presidency-some carried out in collaboration with Congress- included the
following:
1. an executive order providing high-quality surplus food to unemployed Americans;
2. the largest, fastest defense buildup in peacetime history, as Kennedy boosted missile programs during the arms
race;
3. an Area Redevelopment law to help communities plagued with long-term unemployment;
4. changes in Social Security extending benefits to 5 million people and allowing Americans to retire and collect
benefits at age 62;
5. a law doubling federal resources to combat water pollution;
6. the expansion and increase of the minimum wage;
7. the creation of the first federal program to address juvenile delinquency;
8. signing of the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, the first nuclear weapons agreement.
The Space Program
Kennedy was also successful in his effort to breathe life into the space program. Following the Soviet Union's
launch of the Sputnik satellite in 1957, government agencies and private industries had been working with the
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to place a manned spacecraft in orbit around Earth. In
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April 1961, the Soviet Union announced that Yuri Gagarin had circled Earth on board the Soviet spacecraft
Vostok, becoming the first human to travel in space. Gagarin's flight rekindled Americans' fears that their
technology was falling behind that of the Soviet Union. Less than a year later, on February 20, 1962, John Glenn
successfully completed three orbits around Earth and landed in the Atlantic Ocean. Over the course of the decade,
NASA flights brought the country closer and closer to its goal of landing an American on the moon. Finally, on
July 20, 1969, astronaut Neil Armstrong became the first person to walk on the moon. Unfortunately, Kennedy
would not live to see the fulfillment of the goal he set in motion.
Camelot
The name Camelot came to represent the energetic, idealistic image of the Kennedy White House. The musical
Camelot, which opened on Broadway the same year Kennedy won his election, portrayed the legendary kingdom
of the British King Arthur. Arthur dreamed of transforming medieval Britain from a country in which "might
makes right," or the strong always get their way, into one in which power would be used to achieve what is right.
JFK’s “Roundtable” was his group of advisers, whom he referred to as the “best and the brightest”.
The Kennedys themselves embodied the royal, romantic spirit of Camelot. The President and First Lady,
Jacqueline Kennedy, an intelligent and beautiful woman, brought an atmosphere of style and grace to the White
House. The couple's young children, Caroline and John, Jr., added to the lively atmosphere. They played with
their father in the Oval Office and in a swimming pool and tree house on the White House lawn. Magazine
photographers and the growing medium of television captured the Kennedy family during moments of everyday
life and transformed them into celebrities reaching beyond the world of politics. The fact that the Kennedys had
young children made it all the more tragic when Camelot came to a sudden end.
Kennedy Is Assassinated
On November 22, 1963, as Kennedy looked ahead to his reelection campaign the following year, he traveled to
Texas to mobilize support. Texas Governor John Connally and his wife, Nelly, met the President and the First
Lady, Jacqueline Kennedy, at the airport in Dallas. Together they rode through the streets of downtown Dallas in
an open limousine, surrounded by Secret Service agents and police officers. Newspapers had published the
parade route ahead of time so supporters could welcome the Kennedys, and it was jammed with thousands of
people hoping for a glimpse of the President. The motorcade (group of cars) slowed as it turned a corner in front
of the Texas School Book Depository. Its employees had been sent to lunch so they could watch the event outside.
Yet one man stayed behind. From a sixth-floor window, he aimed his rifle. Suddenly shots rang out. Bullets
struck both Governor Connally and President Kennedy. Connally would eventually recover from his injuries. The
President, slumped over in Jacqueline's lap, was mortally wounded. The motorcade sped to a nearby hospital,
where doctors made what they knew was a hopeless attempt to save the President. Kennedy was pronounced dead
at 1:00 P.M. An aide delivered the news to a stunned Lyndon Johnson, addressing him as "Mr. President."
The prime suspect in Kennedy's murder was Lee Harvey Oswald, a former marine and supporter of Cuban leader
Fidel Castro. He was apprehended later that afternoon, but revealed little information to the police. Two days after
Kennedy's assassination, the TV cameras rolled as Oswald was being transferred from one jail to another. As the
nation watched, a Dallas nightclub owner, Jack Ruby, stepped through the crowd of reporters and fatally shot
Oswald before the assassin revealed any information about the murder or was put on trial.
Ruby’s murder of Oswald led many to believe that multiple people were in on the assassination, making it a
conspiracy. Without Oswald to gather information from, rumors about the assassination spread quickly. To
combat these rumors, President Johnson appointed The Warren Commission, after its chairman, Supreme Court
Chief Justice Earl Warren, to investigate the assassination of President Kennedy. After months of investigation,
the Warren Commission determined that Oswald had acted alone in shooting the President. Since then, the case
has been explored in millions of pages of books that suggest a larger conspiracy.
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Section 2: LBJ and the Great Society
READING FOCUS
• What was Lyndon Johnson's path to the presidency?
• What were some of the goals and programs of the Great Society?
• What were some of the cases that made the Warren Court both important and controversial?
LBJ's Path to the White House
The grief of a nation, and the responsibility for healing it, hung heavily upon the new President. Lyndon B.
Johnson began the recovery process in a speech to Congress just days after Kennedy’s assassination:
"All I have I would have given gladly not to be standing here today...No words are sad enough to express our
sense of loss. No words are strong enough to express our determination to continue the forward thrust of America
that [Kennedy] began...[T]he ideas and the ideals which he so nobly represented must and will be translated into
effective action."
-Lyndon Johnson, address to a joint session of Congress, November 27, 1963
Although he came to the Oval Office through tragedy, Johnson found himself in a job he had long sought. LBJ's
road to the presidency was laid carefully and cunningly, through years of skillful political maneuvering and strong
leadership. Lyndon Johnson arrived in the United States House of Representatives in 1937 as a Democrat from
Texas. In 1948, he won a seat in the Senate, but only by a tiny margin of 87 votes. In the Senate, Johnson
demonstrated both political talent and an unstoppable ambition. In 1953, he became the youngest Senator ever to
be elected Minority Leader. When the Democrats won control of the Senate the following year, LBJ became
Majority Leader. In this powerful post he became famous for his ability to use the political system to accomplish
his goals. He controlled the legislative agenda and the votes to get bills passed by rewarding his friends and
punishing his enemies. Johnson inspired fear and awe among his colleagues. He was "not a likeable man," former
Secretary of State; Dean Acheson once told him. But Johnson was more concerned with accomplishment than
popularity, and his single-minded intensity enabled him to get his way.
Other senators marveled at the "Johnson treatment," in which he carefully researched a bill, and then
approached in a hallway or office the legislator whose vote he needed. If he thought it was the best way to
persuade the legislator, he would attack, "his face a scant millimeter from his target, his eyes widening and
narrowing, his eyebrows rising and falling." Johnson might grab his victim by the lapels or by the shoulders,
flattering, insulting, and shouting in turn. Nearly without fail, he got the vote he wanted. When Johnson's bid for
the Democratic nomination failed in 1960, he accepted Kennedy's invitation to run for the vice presidency. Once
elected, however, Johnson was frustrated with the job, which lacked any real power. He was also unhappy being
away from Congress, where he had been so effective. Yet Johnson was not powerless for long. While it had been
a long journey to the vice presidency, it was a tragically short trip to the Oval Office in 1963.
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The Great Society
Great Society - Major Legislation, 1964 -1966
Civil Rights Act, 1964
Economic Opportunity Act, 1964
Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA), 1964
Voting Rights Act, 1965
Medicare, 1965
Medicaid, 1965
Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965
Immigration Act of 1965
The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), 1965
The National Foundations of the Arts and Humanities, 1965
Water Quality Act, 1965;
Clean Water Restoration Act, 1966
The National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act, 1966
Johnson was aware that the American people needed some action that would help heal the wound caused by the
loss of their President. To that end, he used all the talents he had developed as Senate Majority Leader to push
through Congress an extraordinary program of reforms on domestic issues. Johnson's agenda included Kennedy's
civil rights and tax-cut bills. It also embraced laws to aid public education, provide medical care for the elderly,
and eliminate poverty. He began to use the phrase Great Society to describe his goals.
Johnson's Great Society was a series of major legislative initiatives that emerged in his second term. The Great
Society programs included major poverty relief, education aid, healthcare, voting rights, conservation and
beautification projects, urban renewal, and economic development in depressed areas.
The Election of 1964
Johnson's early successes paved the way for his landslide victory over Republican Barry Goldwater in the election
of 1964. Goldwater, a senator from Arizona, held views that seemed excessive to many Americans, as well as to
many members of his own party. For example, he opposed civil rights legislation, and he believed that military
commanders should be allowed to use nuclear weapons as they saw fit on the battlefield. The Johnson campaign
took advantage of voters' fears of nuclear war. It aired a controversial television commercial in which a little girl's
innocent counting game turned into the countdown for a nuclear explosion. Johnson received 61 percent of the
popular vote and an overwhelming 486 to 52 tally in the Electoral College. The Democrats won majorities in both
houses of Congress: 295 Democrats to 140 Republicans in the House of Representatives and 68 to 32 in the
Senate. "Landslide Lyndon" now had the mandate to move ahead even more aggressively with his Great Society.
The Tax Cut
Like Kennedy, Johnson believed that a budget deficit could be used to improve the economy. Not everyone
agreed. To gain conservatives' support for Kennedy's tax-cut bill, which was likely to bring about a deficit,
Johnson also agreed to cut government spending. With that agreement, the measure passed and worked just as
planned. When the tax cut went into effect, the Gross National Product (GNP) rose by 7.1 percent in 1964, by 8.1
percent in 1965, and by 9 .5 percent in 1966. The deficit, which many people feared would grow, actually shrank
because the renewed prosperity generated new tax revenues. Unemployment fell, and inflation remained in check.
However, the deficit would eventually grow under Johnson as he later increased federal government spending.
The War on Poverty
Growing up in an impoverished area of rural Texas, Johnson was one of the few presidents to have experienced
the pain of poverty firsthand. He now pressed for the antipoverty program that Kennedy had begun to consider. In
his 1964 State of the Union message, Johnson vowed, "This administration today, here and now, declares
unconditional war on poverty in America." The Economic Opportunity Act, passed in the summer of 1964, was
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created to combat several causes of poverty, including illiteracy and unemployment. The act gave poor people a
voice in defining housing, health, and education policies in their own neighborhoods. The act also provided nearly
$950 million for ten separate projects, including education and work-training programs such as the Job Corps.
Two of the best-mown programs created under the act were Head Start and VISTA. Head Start is a preschool
program for children from low income families that also provides healthcare, nutrition services, and social
services. Volunteers in
Service to America (VISTA) sent volunteers to help people in poor communities.
Aid to Education
Johnson's education initiatives moved through Congress as well. The Elementary and Secondary Education Act of
1965 provided $1.3 billion in aid to states, based on the number of children in each state from low-income homes.
The funds went to public and private schools, including parochial schools. Johnson signed the Education Act into
law in the small Texas school he had attended as a child. The graph at left shows federal aid to schools from 1959
to 1972.
Medicare and Medicaid President Johnson also focused attention on the increasing cost of medical care. Harry
Truman had proposed a medical assistance plan as part of his Fair Deal program, but it had never been passed into
law. In 1965, Johnson used his leadership skills to push through Congress two new programs, Medicare and
Medicaid. Medicare provides hospital and low-cost medical insurance to most Americans age 65 and older. "No
longer will older Americans be denied the healing miracle of modern medicine," Johnson declared. "No longer
will illness crush and destroy the savings that they have so carefully, put away." Medicaid provides low-cost
health insurance coverage to poor Americans of any age who cannot afford their own private health insurance.
Immigration Reform The Great Society also revised the immigration policies that had been in place since the
1920s. Laws passed in 1921 and 1924 had set quotas, or numerical limits, for newcomers from each foreign
nation. Low quotas had been established for countries from southern and eastern Europe, and immigration from
Asia had almost been eliminated. The Immigration Act of 1965 replaced the varying quotas with a limit of
20,000 immigrants per year from any country outside the Western Hemisphere. In addition, the act set overall
limits of 170,000 immigrants from the Eastern Hemisphere and 120,000 from the Western Hemisphere. Family
members of United States citizens were exempted from the quotas, as were political refugees. In the 1960s, some
350,000 immigrants entered the United States each year; in the 1970s, the number rose to more than 400,000 a
year.
Effects of the Great Society
At first, the Great Society seemed enormously successful. Opinion polls taken in 1964 showed Johnson to be
more popular than Kennedy had been at a comparable point in his presidency. Meanwhile, some Americans
complained that too many of their tax dollars were being spent on poor people. For decades following the Great
Society, a major political debate continued over the criticism that antipoverty programs encouraged poor people
to become dependent on government aid and created successive generations of families on welfare instead of in
jobs. Other critics argued that Great Society programs put too much authority into the hands of the federal
government. They opposed the expansion of the federal bureaucracy that accompanied the new programs.
Nevertheless, the number of Americans living in poverty in the United States was cut in half during the 1960s and
early 1970s In the midst of praise and criticism, Johnson himself was proud of his Great Society programs. In his
view, they were "major accomplishments without equal or close parallel in the present era."
The Warren Court
The Kennedy-Johnson years featured many of the landmark decisions of the Supreme Court, often called the
Warren Court after its Chief Justice, Earl Warren. As it had in earlier civil rights cases, the Supreme Court under
Chief Justice Earl Warren overturned many old laws and rulings and established new legal precedents.
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Social Issues
In an explosive 1962 case, the Court ruled that religious prayer in public schools was unconstitutional according
to the First Amendment principle of separation of church and state (Engel v. Vitale). In 1965, the Court struck
down a Connecticut law that prohibited the use of birth control (Griswold v. Connecticut).
Criminal Procedure
The Warren Court was also concerned with safeguarding the constitutional rights of the individual against the
power of the government. In particular, the Court handed down several decisions protecting the rights of persons
accused of crimes. Mapp v. Ohio (1961) established the exclusionary rule, which states that evidence seized
illegally cannot be used in a trial. The Court's decision in Gideon v. Wainwright (1963) stated that suspects in
criminal cases who could not afford a lawyer had the right to free legal aid. In Escobedo v. Illinois (1964), the
justices ruled that accused individuals had to be given access to an attorney while being questioned. The Court's
decision in Miranda v. Arizona (1966) stated that a suspect must be warned of his or her rights before being
questioned. As a result of this Miranda rule, police must inform accused persons that they have the right to
remain silent, that anything they say can be used against them in court, that they have a right to an attorney, and
that if they cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed for them.
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Section 3: The Women’s Movement
READING FOCUS
• What was the background of the women's movement?
• How did women organize to gain support and to effect change?
• What was the impact of feminism?
• Which groups opposed the women's movement and why?
Setting the Scene
The sixties ushered in an era of activism, as some groups and their supporters seized the opportunity to make their
voices heard. One demand for change came from women who did not want to be limited to the traditional roles of
wife and mother. These women demanded the same opportunities as men.
Background of the Women's Movement
The crusade for women's rights was not new in the 1960s. In the late 1800s, women had worked for the right to
vote, something afforded to them by neither the federal government nor most states. The term feminism, which
came to be associated with the 1960s, had first come into recorded use in 1895 to describe the theory of political,
economic, and social equality of men and women. Feminists were those who believed in this equality or took
action to bring it about.
By the time the 1960s came, some American women were happy with their traditional roles as wife, mother, and
homemaker, as their husbands earned a living to financially support the family. But a growing number of others
pursued a change in America that would offer females increased educational and work opportunities. The
women's movement of the 1960s sought to change aspects of American life that had been accepted for decades.
The 1950s stereotype of women still placed them in the home, married and raising children. Feminists in the
1960s sought to shatter that stereotype.
Education and Employment
An increasing number of women began going to college after World War II. Better-educated women had high
hopes for the future, but they were often discouraged by the discrimination they faced when they looked for jobs
or tried to advance in their professions. In many cases, employers were reluctant to invest in training women
because they expected female employees to leave their jobs after a few years to start families. Other employers
simply refused to hire qualified women because they believed that home and family should be a woman's only
responsibility. Women who did enter the work force often found themselves underemployed, performing jobs and
earning salaries below their abilities. This inequality created a growing sense of frustration among women and led
to renewed demands for equal pay for equal work.
The Impact of the Civil Rights Movement
While social, educational, and economic conditions set the scene for the women's movement, the civil rights
movement provided a "how-to" model for action. It also provided inspiration. Black and white women had joined
in the struggle for civil rights and gained valuable skills from their work in the movement. The civil rights
movement also provided women with legal tools to fight discrimination. One such tool was the 1964 Civil Rights
Act. Originally, the section of the act called Title VII prohibited discrimination based on race, religion, or national
origin. When Congress debated the bill, however, some opponents of civil rights added an amendment to outlaw
discrimination on the basis of sex. This action was a strategy to make the entire bill look ridiculous, so that it
would fail in the final vote. To the dismay of its opponents, both the amendment and the bill passed. The Civil
Rights Act now had a provision that gave women a legal framework to challenge discrimination.
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Women's Groups Organize
As the 1960s unfolded, women began to meet in groups to compare experiences. Women active in the civil rights
movement met to look for ways in which they could play a larger role in that struggle. Soon they went beyond
politics, exploring other aspects of their lives. The growing movement drew women who were active in other
forms of protest and reform. They included student radicals, opponents of the Vietnam War and the draft, and
workers for welfare rights and other social issues.
Another major influence on the movement was Betty Friedan's 1963 book The Feminine Mystique. Her book
criticized the different expectations America had for men and women. The dissatisfied housewives that Friedan
described in her book began meeting, too, to discuss their lives and their roles in society. Friedan's book is often
credited with igniting the desire for change in millions of American women.
Organizing NOW
In 1966, a group of 28 professional women, including Betty Friedan, established the National Organization for
Women (NOW). These women were frustrated that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission would not
take women's grievances more seriously. The goal of NOW was "to take action to bring American women into
full participation in the mainstream of American society now." NOW sought fair pay and equal job opportunities.
It attacked the "false image of women" in the media, such as advertising that used sexist slogans or photographs.
NOW also called for more balance in marriages, with men and women sharing parenting and household
responsibilities. A year after NOW was founded, it had over 1,000 members. NOW served as a rallying point to
end gender discrimination and to promote equality for all women, and still does today.
The Impact of Feminism
The women's movement came of age in the early 1970s. In August 1970, a New York City march celebrating the
fiftieth anniversary of women's suffrage drew tens of thousands of demonstrators supporting women's equality.
More women began identifying themselves as feminists. Even those who did not join feminist groups could now
find new kinds of information and opinions on women's issues. In 1972, journalist Gloria Steinem and several
other women founded Ms. magazine. Devoted to feminist issues, Ms. provided women with viewpoints that were
decidedly different from those in Good Housekeeping, Ladies' Home Journal and other women's magazines of the
day.
A Shift in Attitudes
Slowly the women's movement brought a shift in attitudes and in the law. For example, in 1972, Congress passed
a prohibition against sex discrimination as part of the Higher Education Act. A survey of first-year college
students revealed a significant change in career goals-and opportunities. In 1970, men interested in fields such as
business, law, engineering, and medicine outnumbered women by eight to one. Five years later, the margin had
dropped to three to one. More women entered law school and medical school. Women were finally admitted to
military academies to be trained as officers. In 1971, the National Women's Political Caucus was formed to
expand women's participation in politics. By working from within the system, women were able to gain broader
support for the goals of the women's movement. Women also became more influential in politics, which paved the
way for Sandra Day O'Connor's appointment as the first female Supreme Court Justice in 1983 and Geraldine
Ferraro's selection as the Democratic Party's vice presidential candidate in 1984.
Many women did not actively participate in or support the women's movement. Still, most agreed with NOW's
goal to provide women with better job opportunities. Many were also pleased that the women's movement brought
a greater recognition of issues important to women. These issues included the need for child -care facilities,
shelters for homeless women, more attention to women's health concerns, and increased awareness of sexual
harassment. Despite many shared concerns, the women's movement continued to be divided regarding some of its
goals and strategies.
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Roe v. Wade
One issue that had the potential to divide the movement was abortion. NOW and other groups worked to reform
the laws governing a woman's decision to choose an abortion instead of continuing an unwanted pregnancy. Many
states outlawed or severely restricted access to abortion. Women who could afford to travel to another state or out
of the country could usually find legal medical services, but poorer women often turned to abortion methods that
were not only illegal but unsafe. A landmark social and legal change came in 1973, when the Supreme Court
legalized abortion in the controversial Roe v. Wade decision. The justices based their decision on the
constitutional right to personal privacy, and struck down state regulation of abortion in the first three months of
pregnancy. However, the ruling still restricts abortions during the later stages (2nd and 3rd trimesters) of
pregnancy. The case was, and remains, highly controversial, with radical thinkers on both sides of the argument.
The Equal Rights Amendment
Many women also took part in the campaign for a change to the Constitution that would make discrimination
based on a person's sex illegal. In 1972, Congress approved passage of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) to
the Constitution, but it would fail to be ratified by enough states.
Opposition to the Women's Movement
It was a woman, conservative political activist Phyllis Schlafly, who led a national campaign to block ratification
of the ERA. Women already had legal backing for their rights, Schlafly argued. ERA supporters contested
Schlafly's charges about the supposed effects of the ERA, such as the establishment of coed bathrooms and the
end of alimony. Nevertheless, arguments such as Schlafly's were instrumental in preventing the ERA from being
ratified by the states before the deadline. Schlafly was not alone in her opposition to the ERA and to the women's
movement in general. Many men were also hostile to the feminist movement, which was sometimes scornfully
called "women's liberation" or "women's lib."
Nevertheless, the women's movement continued to make gains, to change minds, and to expand opportunities for
women. In so doing, it became one of several important strands of reform in the era of activism.
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Section 4: The Counterculture
READING FOCUS
• What social changes were promoted by the counterculture?
• How did music both reflect and contribute to the cultural changes of this era?
Setting the Scene
If the man in the-gray flannel suit was the symbol of the conformist 1950s, then the long-haired hippie dressed as
outrageously as possible in bright colors, beads, and flowers, was the symbol of the feel-good 1960s. The hippie
generation favored "flower power" over corporate and military power, and eventually influenced the dominant
culture.
Meanwhile, Americans began to pay more attention to environmental and consumer concerns. Companies came
under scrutiny over how their products or manufacturing processes were impacting the environment. Also,
consumers became concerned that there wasn’t enough regulation of industry and production to keep people safe.
A Time of Change
In the 1960s, many young people adopted values that ran counter to, or against, the mainstream culture that they
saw around them. Members of this counterculture valued youth, spontaneity, and individuality. Also called
hippies, these young people promoted peace, love, and freedom. And they experimented with new styles of dress
and music, freer attitudes toward sexual relationships, and the recreational use of drugs. The result was often a
generation gap, or a lack of understanding between the older and younger generations.
The youth generation had an enormous influence on American society. First of all, it was the largest generation in
American history. The "baby boom" that followed World War II resulted in a huge student population in the
1960s. By sheer numbers, the baby boomers became a force for change. The music industry rushed to produce
the music they liked; clothing designers copied the styles they introduced; colleges changed courses and rules to
accommodate them.
Sixties Style
The look of the 1960s was distinctive and free. But it was also a sign of changing attitudes. The counterculture
rejected rules, restrictions, and authority. Many young women gave up the structured hairstyles of the 1950s,
while young men let their hair grow long and free, while wearing facial hair – two things that were not done by
most men in the 1950s. Their clothing was as different from the conformity of the 1950s as they could make it.
“Hippie dress” became a kind of uniform for the youth generation, including jeans, floral blouses, ponchos, tiedye, and jewelry from Native American and African cultures.
The Sexual Revolution
Just as participants in the counterculture demanded more freedom to make personal choices in how they dressed,
they also demanded more freedom to choose how they lived. Their new views of sexual conduct, which rejected
many traditional restrictions on behavior, were labeled "the sexual revolution." Some of those who led this
revolution argued that sex should be separated from its traditional ties to family life. Many of them also
experimented with new living patterns. Some hippies rejected traditional relationships and lived together in
communal groups, where they often shared property and chores. Others simply lived together as couples, without
getting married. The sexual revolution in the counterculture led to more open discussion of sexual subjects in the
mainstream media.
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The Drug Scene
Some members of the 1960s counterculture also turned to psychedelic drugs. In the 1960s, the use of drugs,
especially marijuana, became much more widespread among the nation's youth. Just like today, the possibility of
death from an overdose or from an accident while under the influence of drugs was very real. Three leading
musicians of the 1960s-Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, and Jimi Hendrix-died of complications from drug overdoses.
And they were not the only ones. Their deaths represented the tragic excesses to which some people were driven
by their reliance on drugs to enhance or to escape from reality.
The Music World
Music both reflected and contributed to the cultural changes of the 1960s. The rock and roll of the late 1950s had
begun a musical revolution, giving young people a music of their own that scandalized many adults. The year
1964 marked a revolution in rock music that some called the British Invasion. It was the year that the Beatles first
toured America. The "Fab Four", as the Beatles were called, had already taken their native England by storm.
They became a sensation in the United States as well, not only for their music but also for their irreverent sense of
humor and their "mop top" long hair. The Beatles heavily influenced the music of the period, as did another
British group, the Rolling Stones. Mick Jagger of the Stones was a dramatic and electrifying showman. The
strands of the counterculture all came together at the Woodstock Music and Art Fair in August 1969. About
400,000 people gathered for several days in a large pasture in rural New York to listen to the major bands of the
rock world and to celebrate the counterculture.
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Unit 5:
The Vietnam War
Section 1:
Section 2:
Section 3:
Section 4:
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Background of Vietnam War
US Fighting in Vietnam
Home-Front during the Vietnam War
The End of the Vietnam War
p.102
p.105
p.109
p.112
Section 1: Background of the Vietnam War
READING FOCUS
• What events led to the war between North Vietnam and South Vietnam?
• What were the Vietnam policies of President Kennedy and Robert McNamara?
• How did President Johnson change the course of the war?
Setting the Scene American involvement in Vietnam began during the early years of the Cold War. It was
based on President Harry Truman's policy of containment, which called for the United States to resist Soviet
attempts to spread communism around the world. At a news conference in 1954, President Dwight D. Eisenhower
described the principle that became associated with American involvement in Southeast Asia:
" You have a row of dominoes set up, you knock over the first one, and what will happen to the last one is the
certainty that it will go over very quickly. " -Dwight D. Eisenhower
The domino theory, described above, refers to the fear that if one Southeast Asian nation fell to the communists
the others would also fall. And perhaps, other Asian nations would then fall. While Vietnam’s falling to
communism wouldn’t pose much of a threat to the U.S., Eisenhower painted a picture of an entire continent
falling to communism because Vietnam fell.
Background of the War
Vietnam had a history of nationalism that extended back nearly 2,000 years. The Vietnamese spent much of that
time resisting attempts by neighboring China to swallow their small country. In the 1800s, France established
itself as a new colonial power in Vietnam, and the French met similar resistance from the Vietnamese. Ho Chi
Minh, who sympathized with communist ideas, fought for independence before, during, and after World War II.
He was head of the League for the Independence of Vietnam, commonly called the Vietminh. Ho Chi Minh
aroused his people's feelings of nationalism against French control. The French opposed the Vietminh by forming
the Republic of Vietnam, a puppet state headed by the emperor Bao Dai. War between these opposing forces
continued until May 1954, when the Vietminh defeated the French after a long siege at a fortress in Dien Bien
Phu, despite the French receiving aid from the U.S. to put down the communist rebels.
A Divided Vietnam In April 1954, an international conference met in Geneva, Switzerland. After the French
defeat in Vietnam, representatives of Ho Chi Minh, Bao Dai, France, and the United States arranged a peace
settlement. As a result of the Geneva Accords, Vietnam was divided near the 17th parallel into two separate
nations in July 1954. Ho Chi Minh became president of the new Communist-dominated North Vietnam, with its
capital in Hanoi. Ngo Dinh Diem, a former Vietnamese official who had been living in exile in the United States,
became president of anti-Communist South Vietnam, with its capital in Saigon. The Geneva agreements called for
elections to be held in 1956 to unify the country. South Vietnam refused to support this part of the agreement,
claiming that the Communists would not hold fair elections. As a result, Vietnam remained divided.
United States Involvement After World War II, President Truman had pledged American aid to any nation
threatened by communists. Beginning in 1950, the United States provided economic aid to the French effort in
Vietnam as a way of gaining French support for the policy of containment in Europe. After the French defeat, the
United States began to support anti-communist South Vietnam. President Eisenhower pledged his support to
South Vietnam's Diem. By 1960, about 600 United States military advisors were in South Vietnam to assist in that
country's struggle against the North. Thus the United States became involved in the Vietnam War.
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Kennedy's Vietnam Policy
When President John F. Kennedy took office in 1961, he was determined to prevent the spread of communism at
all costs. This meant strengthening and protecting the government that the United States had helped create in
South Vietnam. Kennedy sent Vice President Lyndon Johnson to Vietnam to assess the situation there. Diem told
Johnson that South Vietnam would need even more aid if it was to survive. In response, Kennedy increased the
number of American military advisors to Vietnam. By 1963, that number had grown to more than 16,000.
Military aid by itself could not ensure success. Diem lacked support in his own country. He imprisoned people
who criticized his government and filled many government positions with members of his own family. United
States aid intended for economic reforms went instead to the military and into the pockets of Diem’s family and
corrupt officials.
Diem's Downfall Diem launched an unpopular program which relocated peasants from their ancestral lands to
"strategic villages." These government-run farming communities were intended to isolate the
peasants from communist influences seeping into South Vietnam. In addition, Diem was a Catholic in a largely
Buddhist country. When Diem insisted that Buddhists obey Catholic religious laws, serious opposition developed.
In June 1963, a Buddhist monk burned himself to death on the streets of Saigon. Photographs showing his silent,
grisly protest appeared on the front pages of newspapers around the world. Other monks followed the example,
but their martyrdom did not budge Diem.
Kennedy finally realized that the struggle against communism in Vietnam could not be won under Diem's rule.
United States officials told South Vietnamese military leaders that the United States would not
object to Diem's overthrow. With that encouragement, military leaders staged a coup in November 1963. They
seized control of the government and assassinated Diem as he tried to flee.
McNamara's Role One of the American officials who helped create the Kennedy administration's Vietnam
policy was Robert McNamara, President Kennedy's Secretary of Defense. A Republican with a strong business
background, McNamara became one of Kennedy's closest advisors on Vietnam. Later he helped shape the policies
that drew the United States deeper into the war.
As Secretary of Defense, McNamara applied his business knowledge, managing to cut costs while modernizing
the armed forces. He turned the Pentagon's thinking away from reliance on the threat of nuclear bombs toward the
development of a "flexible response" to military crises. He also began to focus his attention on how to handle the
conflict in Vietnam. Later, under Lyndon Johnson, McNamara pushed for direct American involvement in the
war. In 1963, however, he still questioned whether a complete withdrawal was not the better alternative. Looking
back on that period later, McNamara revealed his feelings:
" I believed that we had done all the training we could. Whether the South Vietnamese were qualified or
not to turn back the North Vietnamese, I was certain that if they weren't, it wasn't for lack of our training.
More training wouldn't strengthen them; therefore we should get out. The President (Kennedy) agreed."
-Robert McNamara
As you will read later, the United States did not withdraw. It continued to back South Vietnam and the military
leaders who took over the government, and later increased involvement to include thousands of American troops.
Johnson Commits to Containment
Three weeks after Diem's assassination, President Kennedy himself fell to an assassin's bullet in Dallas,
Texas. Lyndon Johnson assumed the presidency and faced an escalating crisis in Vietnam. Johnson believed
strongly in the need for containment.
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Communist Advances Diem's successors established a new military government in South Vietnam that
proved to be both unsuccessful and unpopular. The ruling generals bickered among themselves and failed to direct
the South Vietnamese army effectively. Communist guerrillas in the south, known as the Viet Cong, and their
political arm, called the National Liberation Front, gained control of more territory and earned the loyalty of an
increasing number of the South Vietnamese people, who were concerned about growing American involvement.
Ho Chi Minh and the North Vietnamese aided the Viet Cong throughout the struggle by sending them weapons
from the Soviet Union.
Johnson did not want the Southeast Asian "dominoes" to be set in motion by the fall of Vietnam. But released
taped conversations between Johnson and his advisors revealed that Johnson was skeptical about the war. While
he did not wish to pursue a full-scale war, he also did not want to risk damaging the authority of the United States
by pulling out. In the end, Johnson was convinced of the need to escalate the war by his advisors.
Expanding Presidential Power In August 1964, Johnson made a dramatic announcement: North Vietnamese
torpedo boats had attacked United States destroyers in the international waters of the Gulf of Tonkin, off the coast
of North Vietnam. This announcement would change the course of the war.
Although details at the time were sketchy, it was later shown that the attacks did not occur. In any case,
Johnson used the Gulf of Tonkin incident to deepen American involvement in Vietnam. Based on his version of
the attack, President Johnson asked Congress for and obtained a resolution giving him authority to "take all
necessary measures to repel any attack against the forces of the United States and to prevent further aggression."
Congress passed this Gulf of Tonkin Resolution on August 7 by a vote of 416 to 0 in the House of
Representatives and 88 to 2 in the Senate. Johnson had been waiting for some time for an opportunity to propose
the resolution, which, he noted, "covered everything." The President now had nearly complete control over what
the United States did in Vietnam, even without an official declaration of war from Congress.
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Section 2: U.S. Fighting in Vietnam
READING FOCUS
• How did battlefield conditions in Vietnam affect American soldiers?
• How would you describe the course of the war between 1965 and 1968?
• Why was the Tet Offensive a turning point in the war?
Setting the Scene After the incident in the Gulf of Tonkin, 3 million Americans served in the Vietnam War.
These soldiers found themselves thousands of miles from home, fighting under conditions that were far different
from those they had seen in war films:
" We moved through the boiling heat with 60 pounds of weapons and gear, causing a typical Marine to
drop 20 percent of his body weight while in the bush. When we stopped we dug chest-deep fighting
holes and slit trenches for toilets. We slept on the ground under makeshift poncho [tents} . . . . Sleep
itself was fitful, never more than an hour or two at a stretch for months at a time as we mixed daytime
patrolling with night-time ambushes, listening posts, foxhole duty, and radio watches. Ringworm,
hookworm, malaria, and dysentery were common, as was trench foot when the monsoons came." James Webb, U.S. Soldier in Vietnam
Battlefield Conditions
When Americans first started arriving in Vietnam in large numbers, they encountered all the frustrations of
guerrilla warfare that the French dealt with the previous decade. American forces had incredibly superior arms
and supplies. The Viet Cong, however, had some advantages of their own. For one thing, they were familiar with
the swamps and jungles of Vietnam. In addition, they could find protection across the border in Cambodia and
Laos. Finally, the Viet Cong could often count on the support of the local population.
Many American soldiers found the war confusing and disturbing. They were trying to defend the freedom of the
South Vietnamese, but the people seemed indifferent to the Americans' effort. The dishonest and inept
government in Saigon may have caused that indifference. "We are the unwilling working for the unqualified to do
the unnecessary for the ungrateful," Kit Bowen of the First Infantry Division wrote to his father in Oregon.
American troops never knew what to expect next, and they never could be sure who was a friend and who was an
enemy. The Vietnamese woman selling soft drinks by the roadside might be a Viet Cong ally, counting soldiers as
they passed. A child peddling candy might be concealing a live grenade. In the face of this uncertain situation,
one GI wrote home:
" The VC [Viet Cong] are getting much stronger, so I think this war is going to get worse before it gets
better . ... I try and take great pride in my unit and the men I work with. A lot of the men have been in a
lot of trouble and have no education or money. But I feel honored to have them call me a friend. " Letter home from an American soldier
The Ground War The Viet Cong lacked the sophisticated equipment of the United States troops, so they
avoided head-on clashes. Instead they used guerrilla warfare tactics, working in small groups to launch sneak
attacks and practice sabotage. They often frustrated American search parties by hiding themselves in elaborate
underground tunnels. Some of these were equipped with running water and electricity. The largest contained
hospitals, stores, and weapons storage facilities. The various booby traps set by the guerrilla fighters posed
constant hazards to the Americans as well. A soldier might step into a punji trap-a camouflaged pit filled with
razor-sharp stakes that were sometimes poisoned. The pressure of a footstep could set off a land mine-an
explosive device planted in the ground. Many soldiers were wounded or killed by grenades, which were triggered
by concealed trip wires. The jungles contained untold numbers of Viet Cong snipers. GIs could go weeks
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without making contact with the enemy-in fact, most never did-but there was always the possibility of sudden
danger and death.
The war was also devastating for Vietnamese civilians. Because American soldiers were never sure who might be
sympathetic to the Viet Cong, civilians suffered as much as soldiers. As the struggle intensified, the destruction
worsened. The war affected everyone in Vietnam. Le Thanh, a North Vietnamese, recalled the horrors he had
witnessed as a child in the 1960s:
" Nobody could get away from the war. It didn't matter if you were in the countryside or the city. While I
was living in the country I saw terrible things ... I saw children who had been killed, pagodas and
churches that had been destroyed, monks and priests dead in the ruins, schoolboys who were killed
when schools were bombed." -Le Thanh
The Air War In April 1966, the Americans introduced the huge B-52 bomber into the war to smash roads and
heavy bridges in North Vietnam. During air raids, these planes could drop thousands of tons of explosives over
large areas. This saturation bombing tore North Vietnam apart. Many of the bombs used in these raids threw
pieces of their metal casings in all directions when they exploded. These fragmentation bombs were not
confined to the north alone. They were also used in the south, where
they killed and maimed countless civilians. Near the village of My Thuy Phuong, the war suddenly intruded on
the life of a peasant who later described the frightening incident:
" One day I was walking back home from the ricefield, carrying tools on my shoulder. Then behind me I
heard a large, loud noise. A very bad noise. I looked back and saw an American helicopter following
me, shooting down the path toward me. I was very scared, so [I] jumped
into the water by the side. Just one moment later, the bullets went right by. So scary."
-Vietnamese farmer
United States forces also used chemical weapons against the Vietnamese. Pilots dropped an herbicide known as
Agent Orange on dense jungle landscapes. By killing the leaves and thick undergrowth, the herbicide exposed
Viet Cong hiding places. Agent Orange also killed crops. Later it was discovered that Agent Orange caused
various health problems in livestock and cancer in humans, affecting Vietnamese civilians and American soldiers.
Another destructive chemical used in Vietnam was called napalm. When dropped from airplanes, this jellylike
substance splattered and burned uncontrollably. It also stuck to people's bodies and seared off their flesh.
The Course of the War, 1965-1968
After winning the election in 1964, President Johnson started a gradual military escalation, or expansion, of the
war. Enemy gains in South Vietnam led Johnson to devote more American money and personnel to the conflict.
Initially, United States soldiers had gone to Vietnam to advise the South Vietnamese. Now they took on the task
of propping up the South Vietnamese government.
Intensifying the War By 1965, the Viet Cong were steadily expanding within South Vietnam.
North Vietnamese troops and supplies poured into the south via the Ho Chi Minh Trail, a supply route that
passed through Laos and Cambodia. In February, a Viet Cong attack at Pleiku within South Vietnam killed 8
Americans and wounded 126. President Johnson responded by authorizing the bombing of
North Vietnam.
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Following the Pleiku attack, President Johnson authorized Operation Rolling Thunder - the relentless bombing
campaign of both Viet Cong and North Vietnamese targets. Although the bombing produced damage, it failed to
stop the Viet Cong. The enemy dug thousands of miles of tunnels through which troops and supplies moved south
from North Vietnam. A lack of significant military targets also hampered the success of the bombings. The U.S.
was winning the "body count war" by killing thousands of enemies, but this failed to have a significant effect on
the overall course of the war. Nothing seemed to diminish the enemy's willingness or ability to continue fighting.
When the Viet Cong suffered heavy losses, North Vietnam sent new troops.
Following the beginning of the bombings, General William Westmoreland, the commander of United States
forces in Vietnam, requested more soldiers. Johnson heeded the request, beginning a rapid buildup of American
combat troops. At the start of 1965, some 25,000 American soldiers were stationed in Vietnam. By the end of the
year, the number had risen to 184,000. Despite this large buildup of American troops, between 1965 and 1967 the
war was at a stalemate. The American objective was not to conquer North Vietnam but rather to force the enemy
to stop fighting and preserve the democracy in South Vietnam. The North Vietnamese and Viet Cong, however,
refused to break and continued withstand the American military.
Hawks and Doves As the war unfolded, it came under increasing criticism at home from both hawks-those
who supported the war-and doves-those who opposed the war. Senator J. William Fulbright, a Democrat and a
leading dove, raised questions about the expansion and purpose of the war. As head of the Senate Foreign
Relations Committee, Fulbright held televised hearings to examine U.S. policy in 1966. At the hearings,
Secretary of State Dean Rusk defended President Johnson and American involvement in Vietnam. George
Kennan, who had helped draft U.S. foreign policy after World War II, opposed involvement in Vietnam. He
argued that Vietnam was not strategically important to the United States and that Americans should not be called
upon to solve the problems of that nation. Although both sides gave voice to their opinions, the war continued in
Vietnam.
The Tet Offensive: A Turning Point
The Americans brought with them advanced weaponry and new tactics that achieved some success.
However, the American forces failed to drive out the Viet Cong, who were masters at jungle warfare. Month after
month the fighting continued. United States planes bombed North Vietnam, and the flow of American soldiers
into the south increased. Their number climbed to 385,000 by the end of 1966, to 470,000 by the end of 1967, and
to 586,000 by the end of l968. Despite the large United States presence in South Vietnam, the communist forces
intensified their efforts. It appeared that as more American soldiers arrived in Vietnam, more Vietnamese joined
the Viet Cong.
Early in 1968, during Tet, the Vietnamese New Year, on January 30, the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese
coordinated to launch a major attack. The Tet Offensive included surprise attacks on major cities and towns and
American military bases throughout South Vietnam. In Saigon, the South Vietnamese capital, the Viet Cong
attacked the American embassy and the presidential palace. Fierce fighting continued in Saigon for several weeks.
Communist Brutality During the Tet Offensive, communists were uncommonly brutal, slaughtering anyone
they labeled an enemy, including minor officials, teachers, and doctors. While the Communists had control of
Hue, they ordered all civil servants, military personnel, and those who had worked for the Americans to report to
special locations. Of those who obeyed, some 3,000 to 5,000 were killed. Their bodies were found in mass graves
after American and South Vietnamese forces retook the city.
The Tet Offensive became a turning point in the war. Even though the Viet Cong were turned back with heavy
losses, they had won a psychological victory. The Tet Offensive demonstrated that the Viet Cong could launch a
massive attack on targets throughout South Vietnam. Furthermore, as images of the fighting flooded American
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television, many people at home began to express reservations about American involvement in Vietnam. Many
Americans were discouraged, believing that U.S. troops had not been allowed to win the war. In spite of the vocal
antiwar protesters, many Americans supported a policy tougher than the one pursued by the administration.
President Johnson, caught in the middle, saw his popularity plunge.
Massacre at My Lai Surrounded by brutality and under extreme distress, American soldiers also sometimes
committed atrocities. Such brutality came into sharp focus at My Lai ("me lie"), a small village in South Vietnam.
In response to word that My Lai was sheltering 250 members of the Viet Cong, a United States infantry company
moved in to clear out the village in March 1968. Rather than enemy soldiers, the company found women,
children, and elderly people. Lieutenant William Calley was in charge. First he ordered, "Round everybody up."
Then he gave the command for the prisoners to be killed. Private Paul Meadlo later described what happened to
one group of Vietnamese in My Lai:
" We huddled them up. We made them squat down . . . . I poured about four clips [about 68 shots] into
the group . ... Well, we kept right on firing.... I still dream about it. ... Some nights, I can 't even sleep. I
just lay there thinking about it. " -Private Paul Meadlo
504 Vietnamese died in the My Lai massacre. Even more would have perished without the heroic actions of a
helicopter crew that stepped in to halt the slaughter. At great risk to himself and his crew, pilot Hugh Thompson
landed the helicopter between the soldiers and the fleeing Vietnamese. He ordered his door gunner, 18-year-old
Lawrence Colburn, to fire his machine gun at the American troops if they began shooting the villagers. Thompson
got out, confronted the soldiers, and then arranged to evacuate the surviving civilians. Thompson's crew chief,
Glenn Andreotta, pulled a child from a ditch full of dead bodies.
Such breaches of the rules of military combat did not go unpunished. Thompson testified about Calley's conduct
at My Lai. Although at first his testimony was covered up, three years later Lieutenant Calley began serving a
sentence of life in prison. Many Americans saw him as a scapegoat, however, because many senior officers went
unpunished. As a result, President Nixon reduced his sentence and Calley was served only three years of house
arrest. The heroics 'of the helicopter crew also did not go unnoticed. In 1998,(thirty years after the massacre), the
United States honored all three men with the Soldier's Medal, the highest award for bravery unrelated to fighting
an enemy.
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Section 3: Home-Front During the Vietnam War
READING FOCUS
• What was the "generation gap" and what were the causes of it?
• Why did President Johnson decide not to run for another term?
• Who were the key players in the 1968 presidential election? What was the outcome?
Setting the Scene As the war in Vietnam unfolded, many Americans favored increasing the war effort in order
to bring about military victory. Others believed that the war was morally wrong and urged immediate withdrawal
of U.S. troops. Opposing viewpoints created deep divisions within the United States as the war waged on.
Student Activism
In the early 1960s, members of the baby-boom generation began to graduate from high school. Years of
prosperity gave many of these students opportunities unknown to previous generations. Instead of going directly
into the working world after high school, many young men and women could afford to continue their education.
College enrollments swelled with more students than ever before, and change was in the air.
It had been building for a while, even through the conformist years of the 1950s. The popular culture of that
decade, including rock-and-roll music and rebellious youths on the movie screen, indicated that many young
Americans were not satisfied with the values of their parents. The early 1960s saw a widening of this generation
gap. Baby boomers not only disagreed with their parents on social issues and music, but also on the War. Their
parents were part of the World War II generation, and tended to support the government and military intervention
in Vietnam, while most young people were doves.
Students for a Democratic Society The civil rights movement, discussed in an earlier chapter, also became a
steppingstone to other movements for change. Civil rights activists were among those who helped organize
Students for a Democratic Society (SDS). SDS was a tiny organization at the start, beginning on the campus of
the University of Michigan. But its ideas and popularity rapidly spread, and it had a major influence on the
development of a new political movement that came to be called the New Left. The New Left was a movement
made up young people, primarily college students, who believed that radical change was needed to solve
America's problems. It included SDS and many other youth-led organizations for change and peace.
The Free Speech Movement Student activism led to confrontation at the University of California at Berkeley
in September 1964. Students became angry when the university administration refused to allow them to distribute
civil rights leaflets outside the main gate of the campus. The students, who had fought for equal rights in the
South, argued that their right to free speech was being challenged. When police came to arrest one of their leaders,
students surrounded the police car and prevented it from moving. The free speech movement was underway. The
university decided to hold student leaders responsible for their actions and filed charges against some of them.
That night police moved in. They arrested more
than 700 students. Other students, supported by some faculty members, went on strike. They stopped attending
classes to show their support for the free speech demonstrators.
Berkeley remained the most radical campus, but student activism spread to other colleges and universities across
the United States. As the war went on, activists at dozens of schools launched protests against regulations they
thought curbed their freedom.
The Teach-in Movement Students were among the first to protest the Vietnam War. Some opposed what they
regarded as American imperialism. Others viewed the conflict as a civil war that should be resolved by the
Vietnamese alone. As escalation continued, antiwar activists used new methods to protest the war. The first
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teach-in took place at the University of Michigan when a group of faculty members decided to make a public
statement against the war. Some 50 professors taught a special night session in which issues concerning the war
could be discussed. To their surprise, several thousand people showed up and made the evening a monumental
success. Soon other teach-ins followed at colleges around the country. Supporters as well as opponents of the war
appeared at the early teach-ins, but soon antiwar voices dominated the sessions.
Draft Resistance A Selective Service Act allowing the government to draft men between ·the ages of 18 and
26 had been in place since 1951. Relatively few people refused to be drafted in the first half of the 1960s. Most
who did were conscientious objectors who opposed fighting in the war on moral or
religious grounds.
Following the Gulf of Tonkin incident, President Johnson doubled the number of men who could be drafted into
the armed forces. By the end of 1965, he had doubled the number again. These actions led to the rise of a draftresistance movement that urged young men not to cooperate with their local draft boards. As more and more
young men were called into service and sent to fight in Vietnam, Americans began to question the morality and
fairness of the draft. College students could receive a deferment, or official postponement of their call to serve.
Usually this meant they would not have to go to war. Those who could not afford college did not have this avenue
open to them. In 1966, the Selective Service System announced that college students who ranked low
academically could be drafted.
In 1967, resistance to the military draft began to sweep the country. Many young men tried to avoid the draft by
claiming that they had physical disabilities. Others applied for conscientious objector status. Still others left the
country. By the end of the war an estimated 100,000 draft resisters were believed to
have gone to countries such as Canada. Hundreds of anti-draft public protests were held across the nation, where
some young men burned their draft cards as a sign of their distaste for the war.
Johnson Decides Not to Run
Continuing protests and a growing list of American casualties had steadily increased public opposition to
Johnson's handling of the war. By 1967, Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara had lost faith in the war effort.
Privately, he urged the President to turn more of the fighting over to the South Vietnamese and to stop the
bombing of North Vietnam. Johnson, fearful of risking defeat on the battlefield, and therefore a major political
embarrassment, ignored the proposal. As a result of the Tet Offensive in 1968, polls showed for the first time that
a majority of Americans opposed the war. Television news coverage of Tet increased the impact that the attack
had on the public.
After the Tet Offensive, Johnson rarely left the White House for fear of being assaulted by angry crowds of
protesters. He later said he felt like "a jackrabbit in a hailstorm, hunkering up and taking it." In early
1968, Johnson watched the campaign of antiwar candidate Eugene McCarthy gain momentum. In March
McCarthy made a strong showing against Johnson in the New Hampshire Democratic primary. Four days later,
another critic of the war, Robert Kennedy, joined the race for the Democratic nomination. Kennedy, the younger
brother of President John Kennedy and a senator from New York, had been speaking out against the war in
Congress. Now Kennedy was running against Johnson for the Democratic nomination for President.
A few weeks later, on March 31, 1968, President Johnson declared dramatically in a nationally televised speech
that he would not run for another term as President:
" I do not believe that I should devote an hour or a day of my time to any personal partisan causes or to
any duties other than the awesome duties of this office-the presidency of your country. Accordingly, I
shall not seek, and I will not accept, the nomination of my party for
another term as your president. " -Lyndon Johnson
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The Election of 1968
Even before Johnson's announcement, the same issues that were dividing the American public had led to a split in
the Democratic Party.
The Democratic Convention Delegates to the Democratic convention met in Chicago that summer to
nominate candidates for President and Vice President. By the time the Democrats convened, their party was in
shreds. Robert Kennedy had been assassinated in June, and party regulars thought McCarthy was too far out of
the mainstream and was therefore not electable against any Republican candidate in the general election that fall.
Instead they supported Johnson's Vice President Hubert Humphrey, a longtime advocate of social justice and civil
rights. Humphrey, however, was hurt by his defense of Johnson's policies on Vietnam. In the face of growing
antiwar protest, he hardly seemed the one to bring the party together.
The scene was more dramatic outside the hotel where the convention was being held. As thousands of protesters
from several different dissatisfied groups gathered for a rally, the police moved in, using their nightsticks to club
anyone on the street, including bystanders, hotel guests, and reporters. Much of the violence took place in front
of television cameras, while crowds chanted "The whole world is watching." In the end, Humphrey was
nominated, but the Democratic Party had been further torn apart.
The Republicans and the Nation Choose Nixon The Republicans had already held their convention in
early August. They had chosen Richard M. Nixon, who had narrowly lost the presidential election of 1960 to John
Kennedy. During his campaign, Nixon backed law and order and boasted of a secret plan to end the war in
Vietnam. With a well-run and well-financed campaign, Nixon quickly took the lead over Humphrey in public
opinion polls.
Adding to the Democrats' problems was a third-party candidate for President. Alabama governor George Wallace,
who had been a lifelong Democrat, had gained national fame for playing on racial tensions among southerners.
Wallace was well known around the country for his fierce resistance to integration in Birmingham and at the
University of Alabama. He gathered support in the south, but most other found his views outdated.
Many disillusioned Democrats stayed home on election day, voting for no one. Nixon won the popular vote by a
close margin, but gained 302 electoral votes to 191 for Humphrey and 45 for Wallace. Although Democrats kept
control of both houses of Congress, the Republicans had regained the White House. The war significantly
influenced the election of 1968, and significantly damaged the Democratic party. Nixon's win marked the start of
a Republican hold on the presidency that would last, with only one interruption, for 24 years. Four of the next five
presidents would come from that party. This political shift reflected how unsettling the 1960s had become for
mainstream Americans, a group sometimes called Middle America. In an era of chaos and confrontation, Middle
America turned to the Republican Party for stability.
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Section 4: The End of the Vietnam War
• How did President Nixon's policies lead Paris peace talks to American withdrawal from Vietnam?
• Why did President Nixon campaign promising to restore law and order?
• What happened in Vietnam after the withdrawal of American forces?
• What was the legacy of the Vietnam War?
Setting the Scene A year after his election, President Nixon was still seeking-and receiving-the support of
Middle America. But he was also well aware of increasing opposition to the Vietnam War. A few months into his
first term, Nixon gave a speech about Vietnam. Sometimes called the "silent majority speech" because of the
President's appeal to those he felt quietly supported his policies, Nixon noted that under his administration,
"United States casualties have declined" and that "we are finally bringing American men home." He also
acknowledged, however, that the war was far from over.
" My fellow Americans, I am sure you can recognize from what I have said that we really only have two
choices open to us if we want to end this war. I can order an immediate withdrawal of all Americans
from Vietnam without regard to the effects of that action. Or we can persist in
our search for a just peace through a negotiated settlement if possible, or through continued
implementation of our plan for Vietnamization if necessary, a plan in which we will withdraw all of our
forces from Vietnam on a schedule in accordance with our program, as the South
Vietnamese become strong enough to defend their own freedom. I have chosen this second course. It
is not the easy way. It is the right way. ...And so tonight - to you, the great silent majority of my fellow
Americans-I ask for your support." -Richard Nixon
Nixon's Vietnam Policy
As President Johnson's term drew to a close, he cut back on the bombing of North Vietnam and called for peace
negotiations. The Paris peace talks began in May 1968, but failed to produce an agreement. Richard Nixon's
claim that he had a secret plan to end the war in Vietnam helped him win the presidency in November.
Withdrawing Troops In June 1969, President Nixon and his National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger
announced a new policy known as Vietnamization. This involved gradually removing American forces and
replacing them with South Vietnamese soldiers. By 1972, after three years of Vietnamization, American troop
strength had dropped from over half a million in 1968 to 24,000. As much as Nixon wanted to defuse antiwar
sentiment at home, he was determined not to lose the war. Therefore, as he withdrew American troops, he ordered
increased bombing raids in North Vietnam to increase American negotiating power in Paris.
The War Spreads to Cambodia President Nixon also widened the war beyond the borders of Vietnam. In
April 1970, Nixon publicly announced that United States and South Vietnamese ground forces had moved into
neighboring Cambodia. Their goal was to clear out Viet Cong camps there, from which the enemy was mounting
attacks on South Vietnam. The United States, he asserted, would not stand by like "a pitiful helpless giant" while
the Viet Cong attacked from Cambodia. Nixon knew that the invasion of Cambodia would not win the war, but
he thought it would help at the bargaining table. He was willing to intensify the war in order to strengthen the
American position at the peace talks.
Nixon Calls for Law and Order
One of Nixon's campaign pledges had been to restore law and order in the country. This need seemed particularly
apparent to Americans in October '1969 when one SDS faction turned to violence. This group called their
organization “the Weathermen”, after a line in a Bob Dylan song -"You don't need a weatherman to know which
way the wind blows." They were determined to bring about a revolution immediately. In October, the group
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converged on Chicago. Dressed in hard hats, boots, and work gloves, members of the Weathermen rampaged
through the streets wielding pipes, clubs, rocks, and chains. They tangled with police (as they had planned),
regrouped, and came back for still another confrontation. This kind of violence alarmed Americans and turned
some against the antiwar movement.
The Silent Majority President Nixon recognized that student radicals, antiwar protesters, and the counterculture
in general had never appealed to many Americans. While these people were often the topic of new stories and
conversation, the vast majority of Americans did not act in such a manner. Some firmly supported American
involvement in Vietnam. Others questioned the war but were troubled by the lawlessness and radicalism of many
antiwar protests. These people did not receive the media coverage of their more outspoken neighbors. But Nixon
knew those people were still a force in America.
Many of these adults held student protesters responsible for rising crime, growing drug use, and
permissive attitudes toward sex. Some of these Americans expressed their patriotism by putting flag decals on
their car windows or by attaching bumper stickers that read "My Country, Right or Wrong" and "Love It or Leave
It." In the 1969 speech quoted at the beginning of this section, Nixon referred to this large group of Americans as
the silent majority. To strengthen his position on law and order, Nixon aimed to discourage protest, especially
against the war. In his "silent majority speech" he declared, "If a vocal minority, however fervent its cause,
prevails over reason and the will of the majority, this nation has no future as a free society."
Kent State Tensions between antiwar activists and law-and-order supporters reached a peak in 1970. The U.S.
invasion of Cambodia in 1970 fueled the protest movement on college campuses in the United States. At Kent
State University in Ohio, students reacted angrily to the President's actions. They broke windows in the business
district downtown. They also burned the army Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) building, which had
become a hated symbol of the war.
In response, the governor of Ohio ordered the National Guard to Kent State. Tension mounted. When students
threw rocks at them, the guardsmen loaded their guns and donned gas masks. They hurled tear gas at the students,
ordering them to disperse. Then the guardsmen retreated to another position. At the top of a hill, they suddenly
turned and began firing on the students below. Seconds later, four students lay dead, with nine others wounded.
Two of the dead had been demonstrators almost 300 feet away from the guardsmen. The other two were
bystanders, over 400 feet away. The killings further divided America.
American Withdrawal
The war dragged on, as did the Paris peace talks. In January 1972, while running for a second term as President,
Nixon announced that North Vietnam had refused to accept a proposed settlement. At the end of March, the North
Vietnamese began a major assault on South Vietnam. This led Nixon to order the most intensive bombing
campaign of the war. The United States bombed the North Vietnamese capital of
Hanoi and mined North Vietnamese harbors. Just days before the 1972 election, Henry Kissinger announced,
"Peace is at hand." As it turned out, the settlement was not actually final. After Nixon's reelection in November
and another round of B-52 bombings of Hanoi in December, peace finally arrived. In January 1973, the United
States, South Vietnam, North Vietnam, and the Viet Cong signed a formal agreement in Paris. Among the
provisions in the agreement were these:
1. The United States would withdraw all its forces from South Vietnam within
60 days.
2. All prisoners of war would be released.
3. All parties to the agreement would end military activities in Laos and Cambodia.
4. The 17th parallel would continue to divide North and South Vietnam.
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Aftermath of the War in Asia
American involvement in the war came to an end in 1973, but the fighting between North and South Vietnam
continued for another two years. Americans had believed that they could defend the world from communism
anywhere, at any time. American technology and money, they assumed, could
always bring victory. Vietnam proved that assumption to be false.
South Vietnam Falls After the withdrawal of American forces, South Vietnamese
soldiers steadily lost ground to their North Vietnamese enemies. In the spring of 1975, the North Vietnamese
launched a campaign of strikes against strategic cities throughout South Vietnam, the final objective being the
government in Saigon.
South Vietnamese forces crumpled in the face of this campaign. On April 29, 1975, with communist forces
surrounding Saigon, the United States carried out a dramatic last-minute evacuation. American helicopters
airlifted more than 1,000 Americans and nearly 6,000 Vietnamese from the city to aircraft carriers waiting
offshore. On April 30, North Vietnam completed its conquest of South Vietnam, and the Saigon government
officially surrendered. After decades of fighting, Vietnam was a single nation under a communist government.
Southeast Asia After the War One reason for American involvement in Vietnam was the belief in the domino
theory. As you recall, this was the assumption that the entire region would collapse if the Communists won in
Vietnam. With the North Vietnamese victory, two additional dominoes did topple-Laos and Cambodia. The rest
of the region, however, did not fall.
The suffering of the Cambodian people was one of the most tragic effects of the war in Vietnam. In April 1975,
Cambodia fell to the Khmer Rouge, a force of communists led by the fanatical Pol Pot. In five years of fighting,
Cambodia had already suffered as many as a half million civilian casualties, mostly by American bombs. Worse
was to come. The Khmer Rouge in effect declared war on anyone "tainted" with Western ways, and they killed as
many as 1.5 million Cambodians-a quarter of the population. Many were shot, while the rest died of starvation,
from disease, from mistreatment in labor camps, or on forced marches. Although not so extreme, Vietnam's new
leaders also forced hundreds of thousands of South Vietnamese soldiers, civil servants, and other professionals
into "re-education camps." Meanwhile, more than 1.5 million Vietnamese fled their country by boat, leaving
behind all personal possessions in their determination to escape. In addition to these refugees, hundreds of
thousands of Cambodians and Laotians also fled their homelands, many making their way to the United States.
The Legacy of the War
The Vietnam War resulted in almost 59,000 Americans dead and 300,000 wounded. In addition, more than 2,500
Americans were listed as POWs (prisoners of war) and MIAs (missing in action) at the end of the war. Many of
them remain unaccounted for. After Vietnam, soldiers came home to a reception that was quite different than the
ones their fathers and grandfathers had received following the World
Wars. There were no welcoming ticker-tape parades. Many veterans complained that Americans did not
appreciate the sacrifices they had made for their country.
Counting the Costs The Vietnam War was the longest and the least successful war in American history. The
costs of the war were enormous. The United States spent at least $150 billion on the
war. This expense resulted in growing inflation and economic instability.
The costs of the war were high for Vietnam as well. More bombs rained down on Vietnam than had fallen on all
the Axis powers during World War II. The number of dead and wounded Vietnamese soldiers ran into the
millions, with countless civilian casualties. The landscape itself would long bear the scars of war. In the
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mid1990s, the United States announced an end to the long-standing American trade embargo against Vietnam,
and soon after agreed to restore full diplomatic relations with its former enemy.
The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Aside from the Civil War, the Vietnam War divided the nation more than
any other conflict in American history. The issues were so difficult and emotional that for many years something
was neglected - that the Americans who died in Vietnam should be honored with a
national monument. In 1979, a group of veterans began making plans for a Vietnam Veterans Memorial. They
wanted to recognize the courage of American GIs during the Vietnam ordeal and to help heal the wounds the war
had caused. A Vietnam veteran named Jan Scruggs started a fund for the memorial. Eventually, he won support
from Congress to build a monument in Washington, D.C., near the Lincoln Memorial. The question quickly arose:
How could the memorial honor the people who gave their lives, while avoiding the hard political issues
surrounding the war?
Scruggs's committee held a contest. Famous architects and artists submitted their ideas. Many were surprised
when the winner was a 21 -year-old college student named Maya Lin. Her idea was to build a long wall of black
granite, cut down into the ground. This wall would display the names of every American man and woman who
died in the Vietnam War. Lin had a reason for each element of the memorial. She chose black granite because it
reflects light like a mirror, allowing visitors to see reflections of themselves and the nature around them. She put
the memorial on a slope that led below ground level to create a quiet place where visitors could think about life
and death and sorrow. She placed the names in the order people died, rather than in alphabetical order, so that the
individual passing of each life would be emphasized. The memorial was to be long, but not tall, so that visitors
could easily see and touch every name. Lin's concept suited the needs of a nation that needed to heal. Her simple
design would allow visitors to carry their own beliefs to the memorial, without creating images that might disturb
or distract them. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial was completed in 1982, and ever since, people have added to it
by leaving personal notes and items at the wall in memory of their loved ones.
‘
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Unit 6:
The 70s and 80s
Section 1:
Richard Nixon
p.117
Section 2:
Watergate
p.122
Section 3:
Gerald Ford
p.126
Section 4:
Jimmy Carter
p.129
Section 5:
Ronald Reagan
p.133
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Section 1: Richard Nixon
READING FOCUS
• How did Richard Nixon's personality affect his relationship with his staff?
deficit spending
• How did Nixon's domestic policies differ from those of his predecessors?
• How did Nixon apply his "southern strategy" to the issue of civil rights and to his choice of Supreme
Court justices?
• Describe the first manned moon landing.
• What role did Henry Kissinger play in relaxing tensions between the United States and the major
Communist powers?
• What was Nixon's policy toward the People's Republic of China?
• How did Nixon reach an agreement with the Soviet Union on limiting nuclear arms?
Setting the Scene Richard Nixon's victory in 1968 was, for him, particularly sweet. His earlier bid for the
presidency, in 1960, had failed. Two years later he had lost another election, for governor of California. Deeply
unhappy, Nixon had vowed to retire from politics. Instead, he came back from those bitter defeats to win the
nation's highest office at a time when the country sorely needed strong leadership.
Nixon grew up in a low-income family in California. He never got over his sense of being an outsider. In 1963, he
described how that feeling drove him to achieve:
" What starts the process really are laughs and slights and snubs when you are a kid. Sometimes it's
because you're poor or Irish or Jewish or Catholic or ugly or simply that you are
skinny. But if you are reasonably intelligent and if your anger is deep enough and strong enough, you
learn that you can change those attitudes by excellence, personal gut performance. . .. " -Richard Nixon
Nixon in Person
Unlike most politicians, Richard Nixon was a reserved and remote man. Uncomfortable with people, he often
seemed stiff and lacking in humor and charm. But many Americans looked beyond Nixon's personality traits.
They respected him for his experience and his service as Vice President under Dwight Eisenhower. Many others,
though, neither trusted nor liked him. According to Patrick Buchanan, then a Nixon speech writer, there was "a
mean side to his nature." He was willing to say or do anything to defeat his enemies. Those enemies included his
political opponents, the government bureaucracy, the media, and leaders of the antiwar movement. Nixon was
fully prepared to confront these forces. Insulating himself from people and the media, Nixon had few close
friends. He found support and security in his family: his wife Pat and their two daughters. Away from the White
House, he stayed far from crowds by spending time at his estates in Florida and California. When he took office,
he gathered a close circle of trusted advisors around him.
Nixon's Staff
Cabinet members, representatives of the executive branch departments, have historically been a President's top
advisors. Many have been independent-minded people. More than most other
post-World War II Presidents, Nixon avoided his Cabinet and preferred to rely on his White House staff to
develop his policies. Staff members were team players. They gave him unwavering loyalty. Two key appointees
had direct access to Nixon. They shielded him from the outside world and carried out his orders without
hesitation. One was H. R. Haldeman, an advertising executive who had campaigned tirelessly for Nixon. He
became chief of staff. Haldeman once summarized how he served the President: "I get done what he wants done
and I take the heat instead of him."
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The other key staffer was lawyer John Ehrlichman. Ehrlichman served as Nixon's personal lawyer and rose to the
post of chief domestic advisor. Haldeman and Ehrlichman stood between the President and anybody else who
wanted to speak to him. Together they became known as the "Berlin Wall" for the way they protected Nixon's
privacy. Another of Nixon's closest advisors did not fit the mold of Haldeman, and Ehrlichman,. Henry
Kissinger, a Harvard professor, had no previous ties to Nixon. Still, he acquired tremendous power in the Nixon
White House. Nixon first appointed Kissinger to be his national security advisor on Vietnam, and then to be
Secretary of State. Kissinger played a major role in shaping foreign policy, both as an advisor to the President and
in behind-the-scenes diplomacy, and won Nixon's trust.
Domestic Policy
The Vietnam War and domestic policy had both been important in the 1968 political campaign. As you have read,
restoring law and order was one element of Nixon's domestic policy. Other domestic issues also required
attention, and on these, Nixon broke with many of the policies of Presidents Kennedy
and Johnson.
Inflation The economy was shaky when Nixon took office. Largely because of rising spending for the Vietnam
War, inflation had doubled between 1965 and 1968. In addition, the government was spending more than it was
taking in from taxes, so the budget deficit was growing. Unemployment was also growing. Nixon's first priority
was to halt inflation. He wanted to bring federal spending under control, even if it led to further unemployment.
Oil Crisis In some ways, the United States had been heading toward an energy crisis long before Nixon took
office. The nation's growing population and economy used more energy each year. Coal was plentiful, but
environmental concerns discouraged its use. Federal regulations imposed in the mid-1950s kept the price of
natural gas low, which meant producers had little incentive to raise their output. Furthermore, the nation's oil
production began to decline in 1972. At the time, Americans depended on cheap, imported oil for about a third of
their energy needs. Nixon placed price controls on oil, hoping to lower inflation. However, the controls limited
profits and discouraged companies from producing the product, creating a shortage and making the problem
worse. Long lines at gas stations were common, as were signs placed in front of the stations, saying, "NO GAS."
Unrest in the Middle East turned the energy problem into a crisis. In 1973, Israel and the Arab nations of Egypt
and Syria went to war. The United States backed its ally Israel. In response, the Arab members of the
Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) imposed an embargo, on the shipping of oil to the
United States. OPEC, a group of oil-producing nations that cooperate with each other to set oil prices and
production levels, also quadrupled its prices. The cost of foreign oil skyrocketed. Higher foreign oil prices, and
the lack of production of oil in the U.S. worsened inflation. A loaf of bread that had cost 28 cents in 1971 cost 89
cents in 1973. Americans had paid 25 cents a gallon for gas but now paid 65 cents. Consumers reacted to the
higher prices by cutting back on spending. The result was a recession.
Social Programs President Nixon hoped to halt the growth of government spending by cutting back or shutting
down some of the social programs that had mushroomed under Johnson's Great Society. Critics claimed that these
programs were wasteful, encouraged "welfare cheaters," (people who took advantage of War on Poverty
programs), and discouraged people from seeking work.
Nixon had voiced similar complaints in his campaign, but he now faced a dilemma. On the one hand, he wanted
to please conservative voters who demanded cutbacks. On the other hand, he hoped to appeal to traditionally
Democratic blue-collar voters and others who favored social programs. In an attempt to compromise, Nixon
called for a new partnership between the federal government and the state governments known as the New
Federalism. Under this policy, states would assume greater responsibility for the well-being of their own citizens.
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Congress passed a series of "revenue-sharing" bills that granted federal funds to state and local governments to
use as they wished.
The First Moon Landing
The Nixon years witnessed the fulfillment of President Kennedy's commitment in 1961 to achieve the goal,
"before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon." That man was Apollo 11 astronaut Neil Armstrong. On
July 20, 1969, at 10:56 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, Armstrong descended from the Eagle lunar landing craft and
set foot on the moon's surface. Armstrong radioed back the famous message: "That's one small step for man, one
giant leap for mankind."
Television viewers around the world witnessed this triumph of the Apollo program, carried out by the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The Apollo 11 crew included Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin, who landed
with Armstrong in the Eagle) and Michael Collins, who remained in the Apollo 11 command module circling the
moon. Aldrin joined Armstrong in the two-hour moon walk, during which they collected rock and soil samples
and set up scientific instruments to monitor conditions on the moon. They also photographed the landing site, a
dusty plain in an area called the Sea of Tranquility. The Eagle and its crew stayed on the moon for 21 hours and
36 minutes before lifting off to rejoin Collins for the return trip. After a safe splashdown, the astronauts were
quarantined for 18 days to ensure that they had not picked up any unknown lunar microbes. They emerged to a
hero's welcome.
Nixon’s Foreign Policy
As President, Richard Nixon's greatest achievements came in the field of foreign policy. In his first
Inaugural Address, Nixon set the stage for a new direction in foreign relations:
" After a period of confrontation, we are entering an era of negotiation. Let all nations know that during
this administration our lines of communication will be open. We seek an open world. Open to ideas,
open to the exchange of goods and people. A world in which no people, great
or small, will live in angry isolation. We cannot expect to make everyone our friend, but we can try to
make no one our enemy. " - Nixon's First Inaugural Address, January 20, 1969
Nixon's creative approach to foreign affairs helped ease Cold War tensions. Not since the Cold War began had a
U.S. president spoke in such optimistic phrases. Aided by the skillful diplomacy of Henry Kissinger, Nixon
helped establish ties with China and crafted stronger relations with the Soviet Union.
Henry Kissinger While Nixon had a keen understanding of foreign policy, he relied heavily on Henry Kissinger
in charting his course. Kissinger quickly gained the President's confidence. By the time Nixon appointed
Kissinger Secretary of State in 1973, he was a dominant figure in the administration. Nixon liked to be flattered,
and he liked people who could talk tough. Kissinger, who understood what Nixon wanted from an advisor, soon
became the man Nixon talked to most. "Henry, of course, was not a personal friend," Nixon later said, but the two
spoke five or six times a day, sometimes in person, sometimes by phone, and often for hours at a time. Both men
were suspicious and secretive. They tended not to seek consensus, or general agreement with others, but to keep
information to themselves. Kissinger also understood the power of the media. He had a remarkable ability to use
the media to shape public opinion. Journalists depended on him for stories, so they were afraid to anger him. "You
know you are being played like a violin," a Time magazine reporter observed, "but it's still extremely seductive."
Kissinger's efforts in ending the Vietnam War and easing Cold War tensions made him a celebrity. He shared the
1973 Nobel peace prize with North Vietnam's Le Duc Tho (who refused it); he appeared on 21 Time magazine
covers; and in a 1973 Gallup poll, he led the list of the most-admired Americans. Kissinger's efforts in the Nixon
administration left a lasting mark on American foreign policy.
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Relaxing Tensions
Nixon and Kissinger's greatest accomplishment was in bringing about detente, ("day-taunt"), or a relaxation in
tensions, between the United States and the world's two communist giants. China and the Soviet Union were
sworn enemies of the United States. Nixon's willingness to conduct talks with them stunned many observers. In
the 1950s, Nixon had been one of the most bitter and active anticommunists in government. He had made his
reputation by demanding that the United States stand firm against the communist threat. As President, however,
Nixon dealt imaginatively with both China and the Soviet Union. Nixon distrusted government bureaucracy, so he
kept much of his diplomacy secret. Bypassing Congress, and often bypassing his own advisors, he and Kissinger
reversed the direction of postwar American foreign policy. Nixon drew on Kissinger's understanding that foreign
affairs were more complex than a simple standoff between the United States and communism.
A New Approach to China
The most surprising policy shift was toward China. In 1949, the Communists had taken power and established the
People's Republic of China. Many Americans saw all Communists as part of a united plot to dominate the world.
As a result, the United States did not formally recognize the new Chinese government. In effect, the United States
officially pretended that it did not exist.
Opportunity for Change Quietly, Nixon and Kissinger began to prepare the way for a renewal of relations
with the communist nation. The administration undertook a series of moves designed to improve the relationship
between the United States and China:
1. In January 1970, American and Chinese ambassadors met in Warsaw, Poland.
2. In October 1970, in a first for an American President, Nixon referred to China by its official title, the People's
Republic of China.
3. In April 1971, an American table-tennis team accepted a Chinese invitation to visit the country, beginning what
was called "ping-pong diplomacy."
4. In June 1971, the United States ended its 21-year embargo on trade with the People's Republic of China.
In July 1971, after extensive secret diplomacy by Kissinger, Nixon made the dramatic announcement that he
planned to visit China the following year. He would be the first United States President ever to travel to that
country. Nixon understood that the People's Republic was an established government that would not simply
disappear; other nations had recognized the government, and it was time for the United States to do the same.
Nixon traveled to China in February 1972. He met with Mao Zedong, the Chinese leader who had led the
revolution in 1949. He and his wife Pat toured the Great Wall and other Chinese sights, all in front of television
cameras that sent the historic pictures home. When he returned to the United States, Nixon waited in his plane
until prime time so that his return would be seen by as many television viewers as possible. Formal relations were
not yet restored-that would take a few more years-but the basis for diplomatic ties had been established. While
some members of Congress remained outspoken in their opposition to Communist China, most members-and
most Americans- applauded Nixon for taking a more realistic approach to Asia and attempting to turn an enemy
into an ally.
Limiting Nuclear Arms
Several months after his 1972 China trip, Nixon visited the Soviet Union. He received as warm a welcome in
Moscow as he had in Beijing. In a series of friendly meetings between Nixon and Premier Leonid Brezhnev, the
two nations reached several decisions. They agreed to work together to explore space, eased longstanding trade
limits, and completed negotiations on a weapons pact.
Balancing the Superpowers Nixon viewed arms control as a vital part of his foreign policy. Like many
Americans, he was worried about the superpowers' growing stockpiles of nuclear weapons. Kennedy and
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Khrushchev's Limited Test Ban Treaty of 1963 had ended testing of new bombs in the atmosphere, but
underground testing continued. The two superpowers were making bigger and more powerful weapons all the
time. Some people feared that the world might be destroyed unless these weapons were brought under control.
Nixon was determined to address the nuclear threat and to deal creatively with the Soviet Union at the same time.
He had taken office with the intention of building more nuclear weapons to keep ahead of the Soviet Union, but
he came to believe that this kind of arms race made little sense. Each nation already had more than enough
weapons to destroy its enemy many times over. The nuclear age demanded balance between the superpowers.
Weapons Talks To address the issue, the United States and the Soviet Union had begun the Strategic Arms
Limitation Talks in 1969. In 1972, the talks produced a treaty that would limit nuclear weapons. This treaty was
ready for Nixon to sign during his visit to Moscow. The first Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty, known as SALT
I, included a five-year agreement that froze the number of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) and
submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) at 1972 levels. The treaty also included an agreement restricting
the development and deployment of antiballistic missile defense systems (ABMs), which were being designed to
shoot down attacking missiles. In showing that arms control agreements between the superpowers were possible,
SALT I paved the way for more progress in the future.
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Section 2: Watergate
FOCUS
• How did the Nixon White House battle its political enemies?
• How did the Committee to Reelect the President conduct itself during Nixon's reelection campaign?
• What was the Watergate break-in, and how did the story of the scandal unfold?
• What events led directly to Nixon's resignation?
Setting the Scene President Nixon was determined to win an overwhelming victory in the 1972 election. With
such a mandate, he would be in a strong position to move his programs through Congress. Fiercely loyal aides
carried out schemes to help ensure that the President would win, some of them committing crimes in the process.
When Nixon tried to hide their illegal actions, he involved himself in a scandal that ended his presidency and
shook the foundations of American government.
Battling Political Enemies
The President's suspicious and secretive nature caused the White House to operate as if it were surrounded by
political enemies. Nixon's staff tried to protect him at all costs from anything that
might weaken his political position.
The Enemies List One result of this mind-set was what became known as the "enemies list." Nixon developed
a list of prominent people who were seen as unsympathetic to the administration. It included politicians such as
Senator Edward Kennedy, reporters such as Daniel Schorr, and a number of outspoken performers such as
comedian Dick Gregory and actors Jane Fonda and Steve McQueen. Aides then considered how to harass these
White House "enemies."
Wiretaps In 1968, Nixon had campaigned as a man who believed in law and order. Sometimes, however, he was
willing to take illegal actions. In 1969, someone in the National Security Council appeared to have leaked secret
information to the New York Times. In response, Nixon ordered Henry Kissinger to install wiretaps, or listening
devices, on the telephones of several members of his own staff. These wiretaps, installed for national security
reasons, were legal at the time. Yet they would lead to other, illegal wiretaps, many of them for political purposes.
The Plumbers In the spring of 1971, Daniel Ellsberg, a former Defense Department official, handed the New
York Times a huge, secret Pentagon study of the Vietnam War. In June 1971, as you have read, the New York
Times began to publish this study, which became known as the Pentagon Papers. The documents showed that
previous Presidents had deceived Congress and the American people about the real situation in Vietnam.
Nixon was furious that Ellsberg could get away with leaking secret government information. He was even more
furious when leaks to the press continued. He and Kissinger were in the midst of secret discussions
with China and the Soviet Union, and he did not want those talks to become public. Nixon approved a plan to
organize a special White House unit to stop government leaks. The group was nicknamed the Plumbers. In
September 1971, with approval from White House chief domestic advisor John Ehrlichman, the undercover unit
broke into the office of Ellsberg's psychiatrist. The Plumbers hoped to find and disclose damaging information
about Ellsberg's private life. Their goal was to punish Ellsberg for leaking the Pentagon Papers.
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Nixon's Reelection Campaign
Determined to ensure Nixon's victory in 1972, the Committee to Reelect the President used similarly questionable
tactics. Though a few of the Committee's actions might have been considered annoying pranks, others were
damaging. In 1972, people on the Committee payroll made up a letter attempting to discredit Edmund Muskie, a
Democratic senator from Maine and a leading presidential contender. Then they leaked the letter to a conservative
New Hampshire newspaper. Charging Muskie with making insulting remarks about French Canadians living in
the state, the letter was timed to arrive two weeks before the New Hampshire primary. The letter also claimed that
Muskie's wife was an alcoholic. The normally composed Muskie broke down in tears in front of TV cameras,
seriously hurting his candidacy.
Attempts such as this to sabotage Nixon's political opponents came to be known as "dirty tricks." They included
sending hecklers to disrupt Democratic campaign meetings and assigning spies to join the campaigns of major
candidates.
The Watergate Break-In
Within the Committee to Reelect the President, a group formed to gather intelligence. The group masterminded
several outlandish plans. One scheme called for wiretapping top Democrats to try to find damaging information
about delegates at their convention. In March 1972, he approved a different idea. They would oversee the
wiretapping of phones at Democratic National Committee headquarters in the Watergate complex in Washington,
D.C.. An attempt to do just that early on the morning of June 17, 1972, ended with the arrest of the five men
involved. One suspect was James McCord, a former CIA employee working as a security officer for the
Committee to Reelect the President. The Watergate burglars carried money that could be linked to the Committee,
thus tying the break-in directly to Nixon's reelection campaign.
When the FBI traced the money carried by the Watergate burglars to the reelection committee, Nixon tried to
persuade the FBI to stop its investigation on the grounds that the matter involved "national security." This action
would come back to haunt the President. The break-in and the cover-up became known as the Watergate
scandal.
In the months following the Watergate break-in, the incident barely reached the public’s notice. Behind the scenes
in the White House, some of the President's closest aides worked feverishly to keep the
truth hidden.
In the summer of 1972, some Nixon advisors and others launched a scheme to bribe the arrested Watergate
burglars. They distributed hundreds of thousands of dollars in illegal "hush money" to buy their silence. Also, to
shield the President, Nixon’s advisors coached the defendants about how to commit perjury by lying under oath in
court.
In the election, Nixon trounced Senator George McGovern of South Dakota by 520 to 17 electoral votes. Nixon
had the mandate he wanted, though he did not get a Republican majority in Congress.
The Scandal Unfolds
Despite Nixon's victory in the election, the Watergate story refused to go away. The Washington Post continued to
ask probing questions of administration officials. Nixon himself had proclaimed publicly that "no one in the
White House staff, no one in this administration, presently employed, was involved in this very bizarre incident."
Not everyone believed him.
Woodward and Bernstein Two Washington Post reporters were following a trail of leads. Bob Woodward
and Carl Bernstein, both young and eager, sensed that the trail would lead to the White House. Even before the
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election, Woodward and Bernstein had learned about some of the secrets funds of the Committee to Reelect the
President from an otherwise anonymous source who claimed to be close to Nixon. They had written about the
political spying and sabotage.
The Watergate Trial The trial of the Watergate burglars began in January 1973 before Judge John J. Sirica. All
the defendants either pleaded guilty or were found guilty. Meanwhile, the White House and the President himself
were becoming more deeply involved. In March 1973, just before the judge handed down the sentences, Nixon
personally approved the payment of "hush money" to some of the burglars. At sentencing time, Judge Sirica was
not convinced that the full story had yet been told.
Criticizing the prosecution, he said:
" I have not been satisfied, and I am still not satisfied that all the pertinent facts that might be available-I
say might be available-have been produced before an American jury . ... I would hope that the Senate
committee is granted the power by Congress . .. to try to get to the bottom of what happened in this
case. "
To prompt the burglars to talk, Sirica sentenced them to long prison terms, up to 40 years. Their sentences could
be reduced, he suggested, if they cooperated with the upcoming Senate hearings on Watergate.
The Senate Investigates In February 1973, a Senate Committee had begun to investigate the Watergate affair.
The stories by Woodward and Bernstein helped the probe. In turn, leaks from the Senate committee aided these
and other reporters. As rumors of White House involvement grew, Nixon tried to protect himself.
In April 1973, he forced Haldeman and Ehrlichman, his two closest aides, to resign. On national television he
proclaimed that he would take final responsibility for the mistakes of others.
The investigation ground on. In May 1973, the Senate committee began televised public hearings on Watergate.
Millions of Americans watched, fascinated, as the story unfolded like a mystery thriller. John Dean, the
President's personal legal counselor, sought to save himself by testifying that Nixon knew about the cover-up.
Other staffers described illegal activities at the White House.
The most dramatic moment came when a former presidential assistant revealed the existence of a secret taping
system in the President's office that recorded all meetings and telephone conversations. The system had been set
up to provide a historical record of Nixon's presidency. Now those audiotapes could show whether or not Nixon
had been involved in the cover-up.
An Administration in Jeopardy By that time, Nixon was in serious trouble. His public approval rating
plummeted. Time magazine declared, "The President Should Resign." Meanwhile, a subplot had emerged in the
troubled White House. Vice President Spiro Agnew stood accused of evading income taxes and taking bribes.
Early in October 1973, he resigned in disgrace. To succeed Agnew, Nixon named Gerald R. Ford, a member of
the House of Representatives. For nearly two months, until the Senate confirmed Ford, the nation had a President
in big trouble-and no Vice President.
Hearings Begin Nixon had to make another move. Congress had begun the process to help them determine if
they should impeach the President-to charge him with misconduct while in office.
In July 1974, the House Judiciary Committee, began to hold hearings to determine if there were adequate grounds
for impeachment. This debate, like the earlier hearings, was broadcast on national television.
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By sizable tallies, the House Judiciary Committee voted to impeach the President on charges of obstruction of
justice, abuse of power, and refusal to obey a congressional order to turn over his tapes. To remove him from
office, a majority of the full House of Representatives would have to vote for impeachment, and the Senate would
then have to hold a trial, with two thirds of the senators present voting to convict. The outcome seemed obvious.
Nixon Resigns
On August 5, after a brief delay, Nixon finally obeyed a Supreme Court ruling and released the tapes. They
contained a disturbing gap of 18 minutes, during which the conversation had been mysteriously erased. Still, the
tapes gave clear evidence of Nixon's involvement in the cover-up.
Three days later, Nixon appeared on television and painfully announced that he would leave the office of
President the next day. On August 9, 1974, Nixon resigned, the first President ever to do so. That same day, in a
smooth constitutional transition, Vice President Gerald Ford was sworn in. "Our long national nightmare is over,"
he said. The Watergate scandal still stands as a low point in American political history. Government officials
abused the powers granted to them by the people. A President was forced to resign in disgrace. Many Americans
lost a great deal of faith and trust in their government. However, the scandal also proved the strength of the
nation's constitutional system, especially its balance of powers. When members of the executive branch violated
the law instead of enforcing it, the judicial and legislative branches of government stepped in and stopped them.
As President Ford said upon taking office, "Our constitution works. Our great republic is a government of laws,
not of men."
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Section 3: Gerald Ford
READING FOCUS
• How did Gerald Ford become President, and why did he pardon Richard Nixon?
• What economic problems did the Ford administration face?
• What actions in foreign policy did President Ford take during his term?
• How did Americans celebrate the nation's bicentennial?
Setting the Scene The new President, Gerald Ford, faced a difficult job. In his autobiography he recalled the
situation he faced when he took office in August 1974:
" The years of suspicion and scandal that had culminated in Nixon 's resignation had demoralized our
people. They had lost faith in their elected leaders and in their institutions. I knew that unless I did
something to restore their trust, I couldn't win their consent [approval] to do anything else . ... The New
Frontier and Great Society promises of the 1960s had been partly responsible for the national
disillusionment. The country didn't need more promises; It yearned for performance instead."
- Gerald R. Ford, A Time to Heal
Ford had to help the United States emerge from its worst political scandal. At the same time, the economy was in
trouble, and the divisions over the Vietnam War had hardly begun to heal.
Ford Becomes President
"Jerry" Ford was one of the most popular politicians in Washington when he was appointed Vice President in
October 1973, following Spiro Agnew's resignation as he faced criminal charges. A football star at the University
of Michigan, Ford had played on two national championship teams and had been a college all-star. After earning a
law degree and serving in the navy during World War II, he entered politics. In 1948, he won election to the
House of Representatives, where he rose to become Minority Leader in 1965.
He was an unassuming man who believed in hard work and self-reliance. Over the years, he had opposed
increased government spending on many programs, but he had supported defense spending and measures for law
and order. Nixon saw Ford as a noncontroversial figure who might bolster his own support in Congress. When
Ford was confirmed as Vice President, Congress and the public were interested mainly in his reputation for
honesty, integrity, and stability, which was strong. Some, however, questioned whether he was qualified to take
over the presidency if that became necessary. Despite Ford's long experience in Congress, he had little experience
as an administrator or in foreign affairs.
Ford acknowledged his own limitations when he was sworn in, saying, "I am a Ford, not a Lincoln." When Nixon
resigned in August 1974, Ford became the first nonelected President. Other Vice Presidents who had moved into
the White House had been elected to the vice presidency as part of the national ticket. To fill the vice-presidential
vacancy, Ford named former New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller. This created the unique situation of having
both a President and a Vice President who had been appointed, not elected.
The Nixon Pardon
Ford became President at the end of a turbulent time in the country's history. The nation was disillusioned by
Watergate. Few people looked forward to the prospect of an impeachment trial. It would have been only the
second in United States history; the first was that of Andrew Johnson in 1868. When Ford assumed the
presidency, the nation needed a leader who could take it beyond the ugliness of Watergate. In response to this
public mood, President Ford declared that it was a time for "communication, conciliation, compromise and
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cooperation." Americans were on his side. Time magazine noted "a mood of good feeling and even exhilaration in
Washington that the city had not experienced for many years."
All too quickly, Ford lost some popular support. Barely a month after Nixon had resigned, Ford pardoned the
former President for "all offenses" he might have committed, avoiding further investigation, trials, and
punishments. On national television, Ford explained that he had looked to God and his own conscience in
deciding "the right thing" to do about Nixon:
" His is an American tragedy in which we have all played a part. It could go on and on and on, or
someone must write the end to it. I have concluded that only I can do that, and if I can I must. ... My
conscience tells me that only I, as President, have the constitutional power to firmly shut and seal this
book. My conscience tells me that it is my duty not merely to proclaim domestic tranquility but to use
every means that I have to ensure it. " -Gerald R. Ford, September 8, 1974
Ford expected criticism of the pardon, but he underestimated the widespread negative reaction. Many of Nixon's
loyalists were facing (and received) prison time for their role in Watergate. The former President, however,
walked away without a penalty. Although some people supported Ford's action, his generous gesture backfired.
Some people suggested that a bargain had been made when Nixon resigned. Many also criticized the new
President's judgment. Ford was occasionally booed when he made public speeches after the pardon. The public,
angry both at Watergate and the pardon, voted a number of Republicans out of office two months later in the 1974
congressional elections.
Economic Problems
While focusing on the Watergate scandal, the nation had paid less attention to other issues. In the meantime, some
conditions had grown worse. Now, facing a hostile Congress, the new administration found it hard to provide
direction.
The Economy Stalls Months of preoccupation with Watergate had kept Nixon from dealing with the economy.
By 1974, inflation was at about 11 percent, much higher than it had been in the past. Unemployment climbed
from about 5 percent in January to just over 7 percent by the year's end. Home building, usually a sign of a
healthy economy, slowed as interest rates rose. The fears of investors brought a drop in stock prices.
By the time Ford assumed the presidency, the country was in a recession, a period in which the economy is
shrinking. Not since Franklin Roosevelt took office during the Great Depression had a new President faced such
harsh economic troubles. Ford's approach was to try to restore public confidence in the economy. Early in
October 1974, he sent Congress an economic program called "WIN," or "Whip Inflation Now." The President
asked Americans to wear red and white "WIN" buttons; to save money, not spend it; to conserve fuel; and to plant
vegetable gardens to counter high grocery store prices. The WIN campaign depended on people voluntarily
changing their everyday actions, but it had no real incentives. It soon faded away. Job layoffs were widespread.
Unemployment soared to over 8 percent in 1975. Congress then backed an anti-recession spending program.
Despite his belief in less government spending, Ford backed an increase in unemployment benefits; he also
supported a multibillion-dollar tax cut. While the economy did recover slightly, inflation and unemployment
remained high throughout his time in office.
Conflicts With Congress In spite of his long experience as a congressional leader, President Ford was often at
odds with the Democratic-controlled Congress. He basically believed in limited government, while Congress
wanted the government to take a more active role in the economy.
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Foreign Policy Actions
In foreign policy, Ford generally followed Nixon's approach and worked for detente. He kept Henry Kissinger on
as Secretary of State. In 1974 and 1975 , Ford made a series of trips abroad. He met with European leaders and
was the first American President to visit Japan. Ford also visited China in order to continue improving the
political and trade ties that Nixon had initiated.
Southeast Asia In his policy toward Southeast Asia, Ford paid the price for Nixon's poor relationship with
Congress. In 1973, Congress had passed the War Powers Act over Nixon's veto. This law was designed to limit a
President's ability to involve the United States in foreign conflicts without receiving a formal declaration of war
from Congress. The Act was clearly a response to Johnson's escalation in Vietnam without a Congressional
Declaration of War. It stated that:
1. Within 48 hours of committing troops to overseas combat, the President must notify Congress of the reasons
for this decision and the expected length of the mission.
2. The troops may not stay overseas for more than 60 days without congressional approval.
3. Congress can demand that the President bring the troops home.
In the spring of 1975, North Vietnam began a new offensive against the South. Ford asked for military aid to help
South Vietnam meet the attack, but Congress rejected his request. Most Americans had no wish to become
involved in Vietnam again, and Congress was willing to do anything-including using the War Powers Act if
necessary-to make sure the United States stayed out of the war.
By late April, the South Vietnamese capital, Saigon, was about to fall. Ford agreed to an American airlift that
helped evacuate thousands of Americans and Vietnamese. Southeast Asia remained a foreign policy problem even
after the fall of South Vietnam. In May 1975, soldiers from communist Cambodia (which had fallen to the Khmer
Rouge) captured the Mayaguez, an American merchant ship cruising in Cambodian waters. When protests by the
United States went unanswered, Ford sent marines to recapture the ship. The crew was retrieved, but at a high
cost: 41 Americans were killed.
The Nation's Birthday
Americans held a nationwide birthday party to mark July 4, 1976, the bicentennial, the 200th anniversary of the
approval of the Declaration of Independence. Throughout the summer, people in small towns and big cities across
the country celebrated with parades, concerts, air shows, political speeches, and fireworks . With so many
Americans discouraged by Watergate, Vietnam, and the recession, the celebrations could not have been better
timed. On the Fourth of July, hundreds of sailing ships paraded into New York City's harbor while millions
watched from many countries. Cities across the nation staged spectacular fireworks shows and long parades.
Many observers saw in the bicentennial celebrations a revival of optimism and patriotism after years of gloom.
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Section 4: Jimmy Carter
READING FOCUS
• What changes did Jimmy Carter bring to the presidency?
• How did Carter deal with domestic issues?
• What ideals guided Carter's foreign policy?
• What factors influenced the outcome of the 1980 election?
Setting the Scene The 1976 presidential campaign brought surprises for both political parties. Gerald Ford,
who said at first that he would not be a candidate for President, later changed his mind. Even though Ford was the
incumbent - the current office holder - he faced strong opposition from conservative fellow Republicans inside
his own party. The Democrats nominated a candidate few Americans had even heard of at the start of the
campaign: James Earl ("Jimmy") Carter, a former governor of Georgia. Carter went on to defeat Ford by a narrow
margin.
Carter's Presidency
Jimmy Carter, a southerner with no national political experience, was different from his recent predecessors in the
White House. His family had lived for generations in the rural South. A graduate of the United States Naval
Academy, Carter served as an engineering officer on nuclear submarines. When his father died, he took over
management of the family's peanut farm and warehouse. He entered local politics in 1962 and was elected
governor of Georgia in 1970. Carter was a born-again Baptist whose deep religious faith was central to his view
of the world. While holding his own strong religious beliefs, though, Carter respected those of others.
At first, people responded warmly to Carter's "down home" approach. They loved it when he and his wife
Rosalynn dismissed their limousine after the inauguration and strolled on foot down Pennsylvania Avenue with
their young daughter. He spoke to the nation on television wearing a cardigan sweater instead of a business suit.
He eliminated many of the ceremonial details of White House life, such as trumpets to announce his entrance at
official receptions. Some critics, however, began to complain about a lack of dignity and ceremony in the
presidency.
Carter's lack of connections to Washington had helped him in the election campaign, since he had not been
tarnished by failure or scandal. Once he became President, though, the "Washington outsider" role had
disadvantages. The White House staff and other close advisors were also southerners, mostly
Georgians. They had little sense of how crucial it was for the President to work with Congress. Carter himself was
uneasy with Congress's demands and found it difficult to get legislation passed.
Carter's Domestic Policies
Jimmy Carter had little success in promoting his domestic programs. Looking back, he wrote, "I quickly learned
that it is a lot easier to hold a meeting, reach a tentative agreement, or make a speech than to get a controversial
program through Congress."
Economic Issues Carter inherited an unstable economy. Like his predecessors, he had trouble controlling
inflation without hurting economic growth. To prevent another recession, Carter tried to stimulate the economy
with deficit spending. As deficits grew, the Federal Reserve Board raised interest rates. However, inflation then
rose even higher to about 10 percent. In an attempt to stop inflation and reduce the deficit, Carter then cut federal
spending. The cuts fell mostly on social programs, angering liberal Democrats. At the same time, the slowdown in
the economy increased unemployment and the number of business closures . The situation became worse in 1980,
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when the new federal budget called for increased government spending. Americans lost confidence in Carter and
his economic advisors.
Energy Issues In the late 1970s, more than 40 percent of the oil used in the United States came from
other countries. OPEC, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, had been raising oil prices steadily
since 1973. In April 1977, Carter presented his energy program to Congress and the public. He asked people to
save fuel by driving less and using less heat and air conditioning in their homes and offices. H e also created a
new Cabinet department, the Department of Energy, to coordinate the federal programs promoting conservation
and researching new energy sources. The need to reduce the dependence on foreign oil prompted viewpoints
strongly for and against nuclear power.
Representatives from states that produced oil and gas fiercely opposed Carter's energy plan. Many proposals were
stalled in Congress for months. In 1978, though, the National Energy Act finally passed. It included these
directives:
1. Higher taxes will be placed on the sale of inefficient, "gas-guzzling," cars.
2. Public facilities should try to convert new utilities to fuels other than oil or natural gas.
3. Deregulate government price controls on domestic oil and natural gas.
4. Provide tax credits or loans to homeowners for using solar energy and improving the insulation in their homes.
5. Fund research for alternative energy sources such as solar energy and synthetic fuels.
Nuclear power seemed to be a promising alternative energy source. Serious questions remained about its cost and
safety, however. In March 1979, people's doubts appeared to be confirmed by an accident
at the nuclear power plant at Three Mile Island, near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. A partial meltdown of the reactor
core occurred, releasing some radiation. About 140,000 people who lived near the plant fled their homes, terrified
by the idea of a radioactive leak. Despite no deaths from the meltdown, the story made headlines around the
world, and sensationalized misinformation about nuclear power spread quickly, causing many to question its use
in the U.S.
Civil Rights Issues Carter's concern for moral values influenced his approach to domestic questions. Soon after
taking office, he carried out his promise to grant amnesty-a general pardon-to those who had evaded the draft
during the Vietnam War. Because that war still divided Americans, reactions were mixed.
As governor of Georgia, Carter had had a good civil rights record. As President, Carter tried to move beyond the
civil rights battles of the 1950s and 1960s. Many of Carter's staff appointments, such as the United Nations
ambassadorship for Andrew Young, won the approval of African Americans. On the
other hand, many African Americans were disappointed by the President's weak support for social programs.
In 1978, the Supreme Court ruled on a civil rights case that would have important effects on affirmative action
policies. First enacted during Lyndon Johnson's presidency, such policies aim to make up for past discrimination
against women and members of racial minority groups by increasing their opportunities in
areas such as employment and education. Allan Bakke, a white applicant, was refused admission to the medical
school at the University of California (Davis) in 1973 and 1974. He sued the school, saying that its affirmative
action policy amounted to "reverse discrimination." Specifically, Bakke charged that the
policy of reserving 16 of 100 class spaces for minority group applicants violated both the Civil Rights Act of 1964
and the Constitution.
In a complex ruling in University of California v. Bakke the Court upheld the school's right to consider race as one
factor in admission decisions, but it did not allow the use of numerical quotas. While the Court decision supported
the concept of affirmative action, the case signaled the start of a backlash against the policy.
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Carter's Foreign Policy
Although Jimmy Carter had little diplomatic experience when he took office, his personal beliefs greatly
influenced his decisions on foreign affairs. Support for human rights was the cornerstone of Carter's foreign
policy.
Camp David Accords Carter's commitment to finding ethical solutions to complicated problems was most
visible in the Middle East. In that unstable region, Israel and the Arab nations like Egypt and Syria had fought
several recent wars. In 1977, though, Egypt's President Anwar el-Sadat made a historic visit to Israel to begin
negotiations with Prime Minister Menachem Begin. The two men had such different personalities, however, that
they had trouble compromising. Carter intervened, inviting them to Camp David, the presidential retreat in the
Maryland hills.
At Camp David, Carter assumed the role of peacemaker. He practiced highly effective personal diplomacy to
bridge the gap between Sadat and Begin. They finally agreed on a framework for peace that became known as the
Camp David Accords. Under the resulting peace treaty, Israel would withdraw from the Sinai peninsula in
Egypt, which it had occupied for a decade. Egypt, in return, became the first Arab country to recognize Israel's
existence as a nation, and promised not to attack Israel. The Camp David Accords, of course, did not solve all the
problems in the Middle East, but did offer hope that the U.S. could successfully negotiate peace in the future of
that region.
Soviet-American Relations Several issues complicated the relationship between the United States and the
Soviet Union. Detente was at a high point when Carter took office thanks to positive actions of Nixon and Ford.
However, Carter's stand on human rights angered Soviet leaders, undermining the efforts of the two nations to
work together. The Soviets were especially annoyed when the President spoke in support of Soviet dissidentswriters and other activists who criticized the actions of their government. Soviet citizens were denied the right to
speak freely or to criticize their political leaders. Carter believed that such rights were essential and was
outspoken in defending them, even when such a defense caused international friction.
In spite of the tension between Carter and the Soviets, a second round of Strategic Arms Limitation Talks led
Carter and Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev to sign a new treaty (SALT II) in June 1979. Like SALT I, this
agreement again limited the number of nuclear warheads and missiles held by each superpower.
Late in 1979, before the Senate could ratify SALT II, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, a country on its
southern border, to defend a Soviet-supported government there that was under attack by rebels. Carter
telephoned Brezhnev and told him that the invasion was "a clear threat to peace." He added, "Unless you draw
back from your present course of action, this will inevitably jeopardize the course of United States-Soviet
relations throughout the world."
A United Nations resolution also called for Soviet withdrawal. Realizing that SALT II surely would be turned
down, Carter removed the treaty from Senate consideration. Carter also imposed a boycott on the 1980 summer
Olympic Games to be held in Moscow. Eventually, some 60 other nations joined the Olympic boycott. Detente
was effectively dead.
The Iran Hostage Crisis Iran, Afghanistan's neighbor to the west, was the scene of the worst foreign policy
crisis of the Carter administration. For years the United States had supported the shah (or king) of Iran. The shah
had taken many steps to modernize Iran. He was also a reliable supplier of oil and a pro-Western force in the
region. For these reasons, Americans overlooked the corruption and harsh repression of the shah's government.
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In January 1979, revolution broke out in Iran. It was led by Muslim fundamentalists, many of them college
students, who wanted to remove the shah and his Western influence and bring back traditional ways. As the
revolution spread, the shah fled the country. He was replaced by an elderly Islamic leader, the Ayatollah Ruholla
Khomeini. Khomeini and his followers were aggressively anti-Western and planned to make Iran a strict Islamic
state. In October, out of concern for the shah's health, Carter let him enter the United States for medical treatment.
Many Iranians were outraged. On November 4,1979, angry followers of Khomeini seized the American embassy
in Tehran and took Americans, mostly embassy workers, hostage. For 444 days, revolutionaries imprisoned 52
hostages. The prisoners were blindfolded and moved from place to place. Some were tied up and beaten. Others
spent time in solitary confinement and faced mock executions intended to terrorize them.
Meanwhile, the American public became more impatient for the hostages' release. President Carter tried many
approaches to secure the hostages' freedom. He broke diplomatic relations with Iran and froze all Iranian assets in
the United States. Khomeini held out, insisting that the shah be sent back for trial. In April 1980, Carter
authorized a risky commando rescue mission. It ended in disaster when several helicopters broke down in the
desert. In the retreat, two aircraft collided, killing eight American soldiers. The government was humiliated, and
Carter's popularity dropped further. Even after the shah died in July, the standoff continued. Carter's chances for
reelection appeared dim.
The 1980 Election
Despite Carter's achievements in the Middle East and his sincere desire to improve America, his administration
had lost the confidence of many Americans. Rising inflation in early 1980 dropped his approval rating to under 30
percent in public opinion polls. Unemployment was still high. At times Carter himself seemed to have lost
confidence. In two speeches in July of that election year, he spoke of a national "crisis of confidence" and a
"national malaise." In the Democratic primaries leading up to the 1980 elections, Massachusetts Senator Edward
M. Kennedy won a large number of delegate votes. Kennedy withdrew just as the Democratic National
Convention began, however, and Carter was nominated again. Nonetheless, many people were ready for the
optimism of the Republican candidate, Ronald Reagan. A leading conservative with strong communication skills,
Reagan won the nomination, and went on to win the election by a landslide.
After months of secret talks, the Iranians agreed to release the 52 hostages in early 1981. Not until the day Carter
left office, however, were they allowed to come home. Newly elected President Reagan sent Carter, as a private
citizen, to greet the hostages as they arrived at a U.S. military base in West Germany.
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Section 5: Ronald Reagan
READING FOCUS
• How did President Reagan attempt to change the economy?
• In what ways did Reagan change the federal government?
• What were the major initiatives and key foreign policy crises of Reagan's first term?
• What were some important social debates that continued through Reagan's term in office?
• How did the economy evolve during the 1980s?
• How did Reagan's hands-off style of governing lead to problems later in his presidency?
Turning Point: The Election of 1980
Setting the Scene
The growing strength of conservatives in the Republican Party gave Ronald Reagan the Republican presidential
nomination in 1980. During the campaign, Reagan seized on growing discontent. His attacks on incumbent
Jimmy Carter's handling of the economy were particularly effective. The continuing hostage crisis in Iran, as well
as other issues, hurt Carter, and Reagan won in a landslide. Carter won only 49 electoral votes while Reagan
picked up 489, the largest loss an incumbent president had ever suffered.
Swept along by Reagan's popularity, the Republicans gained control of the Senate for the first time since
Eisenhower's first term thirty years earlier. Conservative Republicans now controlled the nation's agenda, and the
country's government shifted to the “right wing” of the political spectrum. Even Democrats who would win
national office (like Bill Clinton) had to portray themselves as moderate Democrats, while Republican candidates
felt no need to distance themselves from right-wing conservatism.
During the 1980 campaign, Ronald Reagan stressed three broad policies that he would pursue if elected President:
slashing taxes, eliminating unnecessary government programs, and bolstering the defense capability of the
United States. His goals included restoring the country's strength and prosperity, as well as increasing the
confidence of the American people in their country. In his first term, Reagan moved aggressively to put his
principles into action.
Changing the Economy
President Reagan brought to Washington a plan for economic change that conservatives had long sought to
implement. In simple terms, he wanted to cut taxes so as to put more money back into people's pockets, in the
hopes that they would use it to expand businesses, thereby lowering unemployment and inflation.
Supply-Side Economics
Reagan's main goal was to spur business growth. His economic program, dubbed "Reaganomics," rested on the
theory of supply-side economics.
Supply-side economics focuses not on the demand for goods but on the supply of goods. It predicts that cutting
taxes would put more money into the hands of businesses and investors-those who supplied the goods for
consumers to buy. The theory assumed that businesses would then hire more people and produce more goods and
services, making the economy grow faster. The real key, therefore, was encouraging business leaders to invest in
their companies. Their individual actions would create and promote greater national economic abundance. But
without tax cuts, high taxes would discourage entrepreneurs from investing, and drain needed capital from the
economy.
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Cutting Taxes
Reagan's first priority was a tax cut. In 1981, a 5 percent cut went into effect, followed by 10 percent cuts in 1982
and 1983. In 1986, during Reagan's second term, Congress passed the most sweeping tax reform in history. It
simplified the tax system by reducing the number of income brackets that determined how much tax a person
paid. While all taxpayers benefited from these measures, wealthy Americans benefited most. The tax rate on the
highest incomes dropped from 70 percent before Reagan took office to 50 percent in 1984, and to 28 percent after
the 1986 tax reform.
Changing the Government
As you read in the previous section, for generations' conservatives had criticized government growth. Now,
however, they had a Chief Executive committed to limiting both the size and the role of the federal government.
Cutting Regulations
Reagan embarked on a major program of deregulation. Reagan wanted to eliminate government regulations that
he believed stifled free market competition in the economy. By the time of Reagan's presidency, regulation had
been expanding for nearly a century. Reagan argued that regulations made life difficult for producers, which
meant fewer jobs for workers and higher prices for consumers. The more that businesses spent to comply with
government rules, he claimed, the less they could spend on new factories and equipment.
Reagan also challenged the powers of labor unions. In August 1981, the Professional Air Traffic Controllers
Organization (PATCO) called a strike to win higher pay and improved working conditions. The move threatened
to interrupt air travel across the country because air traffic controllers determine how and where the nation's
commercial aircraft fly between airports. Reagan gave the 13,000 strikers two days to return to work, and when
most chose to stay out on strike, he fired them. His decisive move caused short-term problems in the air traffic
control system, but Reagan savored a victory that "convinced people who might have thought otherwise that I
meant what I said."
Slowing Federal Growth
Reagan also attempted to cut the size of the federal government. The President believed that any American could
succeed through individual effort. This belief ran counter to the argument on which welfare was based: that
government should help people who could not help themselves. Reagan charged that the government had become
too intrusive in people's lives:
"It is...my intention...to make [government] work-work with us, not over us; to stand by our side, not ride on our
back. Government can and must provide opportunity, not smother it; foster productivity, not stifle it." -Ronald
Reagan, First Inaugural Address, 1981
Reagan's Foreign Policy
While taking decisive measures to change the direction of domestic policy, Reagan was equally determined to
defend American interests in the Cold War. He believed in a tough approach toward the Soviet Union, which he
called an "evil empire." He favored large defense budgets to strengthen both conventional military forces and the
nuclear arsenal.
Military Buildup
The costs of the buildup were enormous. Over a five-year period, the United States spent an unprecedented $1.1
trillion on defense. These expenditures contributed to the growing budget deficits. Conservatives considered this
the cost of fighting the Cold War. Much of this money went into new weapons and new technology. The United
States continued to develop new missiles, such as the intercontinental MX, as well as new bombers and
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submarines that could carry nuclear weapons. Reagan also explored ways to protect American territory against
nuclear attack. In 1983, Reagan announced the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), popularly known as "Star
Wars" after the 1977 film. SDI proposed the creation of a massive satellite shield in space to intercept and destroy
incoming Soviet missiles.
Trouble Spots Abroad
Relations with the Soviet Union remained frosty during Reagan's first term. The Soviets criticized the American
defense buildup. They also complained when the United States stationed new intermediate-range nuclear missiles
in Western Europe. Reagan refused to budge.
The United States encountered difficulties in the Middle East as well. The country of Lebanon had become a
battleground for a variety of armed political groups, some backed by neighboring countries. In 1982, Reagan sent
several thousand marines to Beirut, the Lebanese capital, as part of a peacekeeping force. In 1983, a terrorist truck
loaded with explosives crashed through the gates of a marine barracks, killing 241 Americans. The attack
horrified the nation.
The North African nation of Libya, under General Qaddafi, sponsored terrorist attacks on American and Israeli
targets in Europe. One such incident, a bombing in West Berlin in 1986 in which an American serviceman was
killed, cause Reagan to respond by ordering air attacks on Libya.
Fighting Communism in the Americas
Reagan feared that Communist forces would gain power and threaten American interests in the Western
Hemisphere. In the central American nation of El Salvador, the United States supported a repressive military
regime in its efforts to resist communist guerrillas. Reagan increased military aid to El Salvador to the level of
about $1 million a day. Nearby in Nicaragua, the United States helped guerrillas who were fighting to overthrow
that nation's leftist government.
Reagan claimed a victory over communism on the tiny Caribbean island of Grenada. He ordered United States
military forces to Grenada in October 1983, after a military group staged a coup and installed a government
sympathetic to communist Cuba. The official aim of the invasion was to safeguard several hundred American
medical students on the island. However, United States forces also overthrew the Grenadian government and
remained in Grenada to oversee free elections.
Recession and Recovery
During Reagan's first two years in office, the United States experienced a sharp economic downturn. By 1982,
unemployment had reached a postwar high of 10.8 percent and several hundred businesses were going bankrupt
each week. The recession did, however, pave the way for a healthier economy. Inflation slowed and as Reagan's
tax cuts took effect, consumer spending began to rise. By 1983, both inflation and unemployment had already
dropped below 10 percent. Business leaders gained new confidence and increased their investments. The stock
market pushed upward. Republicans claimed that the recovery demonstrated the wisdom of supply-side
economics. Poverty rates and homelessness, however, remained high.
An important prediction of the supply-side theorists had not come true, however. Cuts in tax rates were supposed
to generate so much economic growth that the government's tax revenues would actually increase. As a result, the
federal deficit, or the amount by which the government's spending exceeds its income in a given year, was
supposed to decrease.
During the 1980 campaign, Reagan had vowed to balance the federal budget if elected. But, the combination of
tax cuts and increased defense spending pushed the deficit up, not down. The deficit ballooned from nearly $80
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billion in 1980 to a peak of $221 billion in 1986. Even though the government sharply cut back on domestic
spending, deficits drove the nation as a whole deeper into debt. The national debt, the total amount of money
owed by the government, tripled from $1 trillion in 1980 to $3 trillion in 1990. Future generations would have to
bear the burden of interest payments on this monumental debt.
In spite of these challenges, many Americans supported President Reagan. They shared his values and principles.
In 1981, the nation reacted with horror when Reagan was wounded in an assassination attempt. The courage and
humor with which he faced the situation only reinforced Americans' respect for Reagan.
Reagan’s Second Term
Campaigning for reelection in 1984, Ronald Reagan asked voters if they were better off than they had been four
years before. Reagan faced Democrat Walter Mondale, former Vice President under Carter. Mondale's running
mate was New York Representative Geraldine Ferraro, the first woman ever on a major party's presidential
ticket. The strength of the economy and Reagan's popularity gave the President a landslide victory over Mondale.
Reagan took 59 percent of the popular vote and all the electoral votes except those of Mondale's home state of
Minnesota and Washington D.C.
In the years leading to Reagan's election, conservatives gained public support with their stands on social issues as
well as economic issues. In the 1980s, conservative policies on social issues made these "hot" issues even hotter.
Sexual Orientation
The campaign for homosexual rights caused similar polarization. Contributing to the backlash was the sudden
spread of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, known simply as AIDS. Most victims of the virus were
intravenous drug users and homosexual men. Some people contracted the virus through contaminated blood
transfusions. By the late 1980s, the rising costs associated with researching a cure and treating and caring for
AIDS patients caused alarm among some Americans. Many people believed the government should promote
abstinence as the best way to prevent AIDS, rather than providing controversial information on alternative forms
of prevention. Even as AIDS spread into the larger community, the resistance to gay rights grew more vocal.
Conservatives on the Supreme Court
Reagan's appointees to the federal courts were fairly conservative. In 1981, he selected Arizona judge Sandra
Day O'Connor as the nation's first female Supreme Court justice. In 1986, Reagan chose another conservative,
Antonin Scalia, for the Supreme Court and raised conservative Justice William Rehnquist to the post of Chief
Justice.
The Iran-Contra Affair
In Nicaragua, the Reagan administration sought to undermine the communist government that had seized power
in 1979. The ruling group, the Sandinistas, was considered an enemy of American interests. Reagan feared that
the Sandinistas' revolution would spread upheaval to other Latin American countries. Working through the
Central Intelligence Agency, the United States trained and armed Nicaraguan guerrillas known as Contras. This
policy violated laws on American intervention in the affairs of other nations. Congress discovered these secret
missions and in 1984 banned military aid to the Contras. Some members of the Reagan administration still
believed that aid to the Contras was justified.
These officials took the profits from secret arms sales to Iran and then sent the profits to the Contras. The arms
sales were meant to encourage the release of American hostages held by pro-Iranian terrorists. When the secret
actions became public in 1986, Oliver North, the marine lieutenant colonel who had made the arrangements, took
the blame. The Iran-Contra affair, as this scandal came to be called, caused the most serious criticism that the
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Reagan administration ever faced. The President himself claimed no knowledge of North's operations, and was
not punished.
The Reagan Legacy
The Iran-Contra affair did not damage Ronald Reagan's personal approval ratings. When he left office in 1989,
polls showed that 64 percent of the American people gave him high marks for his overall performance, a
remarkably high number for an outgoing president. (George W. Bush left office in 2009 with an approval rating
of 29 percent.)
Foreign Policy Success
One reason for the President's continued popularity was the improvement in relations between the United States
and the Soviet Union during Reagan's second term. Despite his fierce anti-communist stance, Reagan developed a
close relationship with Mikhail Gorbachev, who became the Soviet leader in 1985.
To reform the ailing Soviet Union, Gorbachev proposed a program of glasnost, a Russian word meaning "political
openness," allowing freedoms not seen in that country since before the communist revolution. He also initiated
perestroika, or "restructuring," an economic policy to allow limited free enterprise. These moves paved the way
toward better relations between the United States and the Soviet Union, and eventually, the end of the Cold War.
Reagan and Gorbachev signed the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty in 1987. The INF Treaty
provided for the destruction of about 2,500 Soviet and American missiles.
Domestic Policy Initiatives
Another reason for Reagan's popularity was his stated commitment to reducing the size of government. Reagan's
policies, however, did not dramatically reduce the Washington bureaucracy. The American public put more stock
into what Reagan said than what he actually did. Payments for entitlement programs such as Social Security,
Medicare, and Medicaid, which guarantee payments to a particular group of recipients-grew faster than
policymakers had expected. Social Security expenditures, for example, skyrocketed as the nation's elderly
population continued to rise. The Reagan administration could not restrain the growth of these programs.
Economic turmoil erupted near the end of Reagan's presidency. Investor fears about the huge budget deficits and
rising national debt prompted a stock market crash in 1987.
Although the stock market did recover, Reagan's successor, George H. W. Bush, inherited many economic
problems. By the end of the decade, the nation found itself in the midst of another recession.
For most Americans, Ronald Reagan's two-term presidency was marked by his vigorous emphasis on restoring
national pride, and the force of his own optimistic personality. Reagan's presidency made many Americans feel
confident for the first time since the end of World War II.
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Unit 7:
The 1990s and 2000s
Section 1:
George H.W. Bush
p.139
Section 2:
Bill Clinton
p.142
Section 3:
George W. Bush
p.148
Section 4:
Barack Obama
p.152
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Section 1: George H.W. Bush
READING FOCUS
• What challenges did George Bush face in the 1988 presidential election?
• How did the Cold War come to an end?
• In what ways did the United States play a new international role after the end of the Cold War?
• What effect did domestic issues have on Bush's presidency?
Setting the Scene
Ronald Reagan remained enormously popular as he left office in 1989, and George H.W. Bush sought to continue
the “conservative revolution” his predecessor had begun. But he lacked Reagan's charismatic appeal and found
that it was not always easy to measure up.
The 1988 Election
The son of a well-to-do Connecticut senator, Bush served in World War II as a bomber pilot in the Pacific and
was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. After the war, he had a profitable career in the Texas oil industry. In
1966, he began a long and distinguished political career, serving in many roles: member of Congress from Texas;
ambassador to the United Nations under Nixon, ambassador to China under Ford; and head of the Central
Intelligence Agency (CIA). He was well connected and earned a reputation as a moderate and loyal Republican.
Despite these impressive credentials, Bush lacked the support of conservatives in the Republican Party. Some
Republicans, whose hero was Ronald Reagan, questioned Bush's commitment to their cause. Bush's loyal service
as Reagan's Vice President for eight years had failed to ease their fears.
Bush began the 1988 campaign behind his Democratic opponent, Governor Michael Dukakis of Massachusetts.
Bush took the offensive in what soon became a nasty contest. One part of his campaign was a pledge that there
would be "no new taxes" if he became president. President Reagan's popular tax cuts had contributed to the huge
budget deficit and national debt. Reagan's successor would be under great pressure to raise taxes in order to
reduce the deficit. Yet Bush publicly committed himself to holding the line on taxes.
Americans complained that neither candidate addressed the major issues facing the country. Nearly half of all
eligible voters stayed home. Bush won a solid 54 percent of the popular vote and carried 40 states in a 426-111
electoral vote win. But Democrats controlled both houses of Congress.
The Cold War Ends
Bush's major triumphs came in foreign policy. Like Reagan, Bush benefited from the historic changes in the
communist world that were unleashed by Mikhail Gorbachev. The Soviet leader started a chain reaction that
would eventually bring down Europe's "Iron Curtain" and dissolve the Soviet Union. It began with Gorbachev's
public statements encouraging Eastern European leaders to adopt perestroika and glasnost. The suggestion was
unthinkable in a region where police states efficiently smothered all opposition, and had done so since World War
II. Yet it was enough to give hope and inspiration to anti-communist movements throughout Eastern Europe that
had worked for decades, at great risk, to keep a democratic spirit alive.
Poland
In Poland, the stage was set for the downfall of Soviet communism. Electrician Lech Walesa became involved in
anti-communist protests, and soon led the movement to replace the oppressive government there. Facing
enormous public pressure from the movement, the communist-led government agreed to schedule free elections
for June 1989. In Poland's first free elections in half a century, voters chose Walesa as their new president.
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The Berlin Wall Falls
After Poland, anti-communist revolts broke out all over Eastern Europe. Each country had its own stories of
courage and its own heroes. In Czechoslovakia, a poet and playwright once persecuted by the communists, Vaclav
Havel, was elected president. Eventually, new regimes also took charge in Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, and
Albania.
But the most dramatic events of 1989 took place in East Germany. East Germany's communist rulers tried to
maintain a strong grip on the state, symbolized by the Berlin Wall that divided East Germans from the democratic
West. On November 9, the government announced that East Germans could travel freely to West Germany. East
Germans flooded around and over the hated Berlin Wall. Germans scaled it from both sides and stood atop the
structure, cheering and chanting and waving signs. They came with sledgehammers and smashed it with glee.
Soon after, East and West Germany reunified as Germany under democracy.
The Soviet Union
Gorbachev hoped to reform the Soviet system while keeping the communist Party in power, but events slipped
beyond his control. In 1991, conservative communists in the Soviet Union staged a coup and held Gorbachev
captive, hoping to pressure him to resign. The coup quickly collapsed, but the
Soviet Union's 15 republics sensed weakness in the central government and began to move toward independence.
Gorbachev resigned the presidency of the Soviet Union on December 25, 1991. One week later the Soviet Union
no longer existed. It had been replaced by a loose alliance of former Soviet republics called the Commonwealth of
Independent States. The CIS included 12 states, the largest and most powerful of which was Russia. Russia's new
president, Boris Yeltsin, emerged as the dominant leader in this fragmented land.
As the Soviet Union disintegrated, Bush continued arms-control talks with Russia. The first Strategic Arms
Reduction Treaty, known as START I, called for dramatic reductions in the two nations' supplies of long-range
nuclear weapons. It was signed in 1991. After the Soviet Union collapsed, Bush continued to negotiate with
President Boris Yeltsin of Russia. "The Cold War is now behind us," Gorbachev had declared. "Let us not
wrangle over who won it." But clearly the United States was now the world's lone superpower.
A New International Role
President Bush hoped the world would move smoothly from the hostility of the Cold War to a peaceful "New
World Order" under the leadership of the United States and its allies. Instead, conflicts in different regions of the
world became the focus of American foreign policy. As the world's sole superpower, the United States needed to
respond to crises abroad in a new way.
Tiananmen Square
The People's Republic of China occupied much of America's attention in 1989. As Communist governments
began to crumble in Eastern Europe, Chinese students gathered in the capital, Beijing, to march for democracy
and reform in their country. In May, protesters occupied Tiananmen Square in the heart of the city, despite
official orders to leave. Their numbers soon swelled to more than one million across the city, indicating a strong
desire to reform the Chinese government and grant more freedom to the people. During the protests, Chinese
students built a "Goddess of Democracy" modeled on the Statue of Liberty. But the government was unimpressed.
China's leaders ordered the army to attack the protester camps. Thousands of demonstrators died and others
quickly scattered in the face of overwhelming military force. The government cracked down on the democracy
movement after the attack and many more people were imprisoned and executed.
The Invasion of Panama
Bush enjoyed more support later that year when he acted against the Central American nation of Panama. Bush
suspected General Manuel Noriega, Panama's dictator, of smuggling cocaine into the United States. Noriega had
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once been an ally of the US due to his anti-communist leanings, but the end of the Cold War made the foundation
of the alliance crack. After Noriega declared war on the United States, Bush launched a lightning attack against
Panama in December 1989 and quickly won control of the country. Noriega surrendered to American forces on
January 3, 1990, and two years later a federal jury in Florida convicted him of drug smuggling. The invasion
demonstrated Bush's willingness to act boldly to stop the flow of drugs into the United States.
The Persian Gulf War
In August 1990, the Arab nation of Iraq, headed by a brutal dictator, Saddam Hussein, launched a sudden
invasion of neighboring Kuwait. He had his sights on Kuwait's substantial oil wealth, and had his troops take over
and control the many oil wells of Kuwait. Of note, Hussein had received weapons from the United States during
the 1980s to fight Iran –another example of Cold War agreements that backfired.
Of concern to the Bush administration was the flow of Kuwaiti oil to the West. Bush viewed the protection of
those oil reserves as an issue of national security. The administration was also concerned about the security of
Saudi Arabia, a key U.S. ally in the region. Americans at first seemed reluctant to get involved in a territorial
matter between Arab nations. As the weeks passed, however, rising oil prices and reports of Iraqi atrocities
against Kuwaiti civilians drew increasing concern. Months of diplomatic efforts failed to persuade Hussein to
withdraw from Kuwait. Finally, the United States, working through the United Nations, mobilized an alliance of
28 UN countries to launch the Persian Gulf War. It was a military operation to drive Iraqi forces out of Kuwait.
A series of massive air strikes, known as "Operation Desert Storm," began on January 16, 1991. UN forces,
directed by General Colin Powell and led by Norman Schwarzkopf of the U.S., liberated Kuwait in just six weeks
of war. The allies had lost fewer than 300 soldiers, while tens of thousands of Iraqi troops had died. Bush opted
not to send troops deep into Iraq to oust Hussein, expecting that his opponents would soon overthrow him. Yet
Hussein's opposition proved weaker than Bush's advisors had thought, and he remained in power - for now.
After the War
America’s positive feelings over the success of the war would be short-lived. The percentage of Americans who
approved of Bush's job performance plunged from a record high of 89 percent just after the Gulf War to only 29
percent leading up to the election the following year. The drop can be attributed to an economic recession that
again saw high inflation and unemployment rates. To combat the recession, Bush went against his campaign
promise of "no new taxes." When the tax increase failed to solve the recession, his victory for a second term in
1992 was in serious doubt.
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Section 2: Bill Clinton
READING FOCUS
• What led to Bill Clinton's election in 1992 and what issues did he tackle during his first term?
• Why did Republicans issue a Contract with America?
• What scandals were debated during Clinton's second term?
• What political changes took place in the post-Cold War world?
• What conflicts proved difficult to resolve during the post-Cold War years?
The 1992 Election
The 1992 presidential campaign was a three-way race. Not since 1912, when incumbent President William Taft
faced both Woodrow Wilson and former President Theodore Roosevelt, had a third candidate played such a major
role in a presidential election.
The Candidates
On the Republican side, President George H. W. Bush sought a second term. The Republicans argued that they
could best deal with what they saw was a continuing decline in family values and an increasing violent crime rate.
In addition, they hailed President Bush for his role in overseeing the end of the Cold War and winning the Gulf
War. However, the recession of the early 1990s continued, and economic issues dominated the campaign.
Independent candidate Ross Perot, a billionaire Texas businessman, entered the race out of frustration over
government policies dealing with the budget and the economy. Perot ran as a Washington "outsider." He said that
he had no ties to special interest groups or either political party and pledged that he would consider the needs of
the country as a whole.
The Democrats nominated Arkansas governor Bill Clinton as their candidate. Clinton promised to end the
recession and deal with the nation's other economic problems, demonstrating that he was a “moderate” Democrat.
He also pledged to address the federal budget deficit and the problems in the healthcare system.
The Election
Clinton, a baby-boomer at 46, was a full generation younger than the 68-year-old Bush, which helped him appeal
to younger voters. On Election Day, Clinton received 43 percent of the votes, while Bush collected 38 percent.
Perot's strong showing of 19 percent meant that Clinton became President with well less than a majority of the
popular vote. In the Electoral College, Clinton won 370 votes versus 168 for Bush. Perot won no electoral votes,
but had a major impact on the outcome of the election, as most of his voters were republicans or conservativeleaning independents.
Clinton's First Term
Bill Clinton began his first term as President in January 1993. He was buoyed by the fact that Democratic
majorities existed in both the House and the Senate; the executive and legislative branches would be in the hands
of the same political party.
Economic Reform
In dealing with the economy, Clinton tried to follow a middle course. He wanted to end the lingering recession by
raising spending or cutting taxes. At the same time he needed to reduce the budget deficit, which meant cutting
spending or raising taxes. Following this course proved more challenging than Clinton had anticipated. Congress
did approve Clinton's first budget, but just barely. The House passed the measure by only two votes and, in the
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Senate, Vice President Al Gore had to break a 50-50 tie. To reduce the deficit, the budget included both spending
cuts and tax increases. Neither action was well received by the public, but deficit spending was reduced, and in
his second term Clinton would accomplish a balanced budget.
The Battle Over Healthcare
When Clinton took office, an estimated 37 million Americans had no health insurance. For years this number had
been rising, along with the costs of healthcare. Many Americans found it increasingly difficult to afford medical
care. "This healthcare system of ours is badly broken, and it is time to fix it," Clinton declared to a national TV
audience in 1993. His wife, Hillary, an accomplished lawyer, helped Clinton draft a proposal to help American
uninsured. The proposal he presented to Congress called for the creation of a government-supervised health
insurance program that would guarantee affordable coverage to every American (very similar to President
Obama's Affordable Care Act twenty years later.) A number of insurance, professional, and small-business groups
vigorously opposed Clinton's program. Republicans attacked it as an example of big government. Democrats, too,
disagreed on how far the program should go. After a year of debate, Clinton's plan for healthcare reform failed to
gain the necessary support in Congress.
The Republicans' “Contract With America”
The failure of his healthcare plan signaled trouble for the President. During the 1994 midterm elections, Georgia
Representative, and future Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich called on Republican candidates to endorse
what he called a "Contract with America". This contract was a pledge to scale back the role of the federal
government, eliminate some regulations, and cut taxes. Many voters, feeling that the Democratic-controlled
Congress had lost touch with their concerns, responded enthusiastically. In November 1994, voters elected
Republicans in large numbers, giving them majorities in both houses of Congress for the first time in more than
four decades, making President Clinton's job more difficult for him.
Congress Versus the President
The first-term Republicans quickly became a potent force in the House. For leadership they looked to Gingrich,
who was elected Speaker of the House. There was talk of a new era in American politics in which Congress, not
the President, would set the nation's course. Many of the bills approved by the House never became law, however.
The Senate rejected some, while Clinton vetoed others. Even so, Gingrich claimed that he had "changed the whole
debate in American politics." That is, Americans were no longer debating whether to cut government and balance
the budget, but rather how to do so.
At the end of 1995, Clinton and Gingrich clashed over balancing the budget. Their failure to compromise led to
the temporary closure of federal offices, a "government shutdown", disrupting services to millions of Americans.
The battle over the budget marked the start of yet another Clinton comeback. Many Americans blamed
congressional republicans for the government shutdown and began to regard them as uncompromising and
extreme. By labeling proposed republican spending cuts as mean-spirited and by presenting himself as one who
truly cared about the American people, Clinton raised his approval rating in national polls. The Congressional
Republicans started a trend of bitter partisanship (whereby a party is staunch and unwilling to compromise with
the other party) that continues to this day.
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Welfare Reform
In 1996, Congress and Clinton agreed on a sweeping reform of the nation's welfare system. Affected were 13
million people receiving Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC). The new law eliminated federal
guarantees of cash assistance and gave states authority to run their own welfare programs with block grants of
federal money. It also established a lifetime limit of five years of aid per family and required most adults to work
within two years of receiving aid. The historic policy change reversed six decades of increased social welfare
legislation.
Terrorism and the United States
During Clinton's time in office, Americans began learning about a new threat to the nation: terrorism. Terrorism
is defined as organized, politically-motivated violence against civilians. Two major attacks took place on
American soil. In February 1993, a bomb exploded in the World Trade Center in New York City, leaving six
people dead and more than 1,000 injured. Six men were later convicted for the crime. The group had links,
however, to larger terrorist organizations based in the Middle East who were angry about America's role in world
affairs.
Two years later, in April 1995, a bomb exploded outside a federal building in Oklahoma City. The explosion
killed 168 people, 19 of whom were young children in a daycare center. Investigators soon learned that this act
was not carried out by foreign terrorists, but by Americans angry about the increasing size of the federal
government. Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols were both convicted for their roles in the bombing. McVeigh
was executed in 2001.
The United States also faced terrorist attacks overseas. In 1998, bombs planted at United States embassies in
Kenya and Tanzania killed more than 200 people in Africa. In 2000, terrorists attacked the USS Cole, an
American warship that was refueling in a port in Yemen in the Middle East. Seventeen American sailors died.
Federal officials linked the attacks to a terrorist organization called Al Qaeda, headed by Osama bin Laden.
Neither bin Laden nor Al Qaeda were finished attacking the United States.
Clinton's Second Term
When the Republicans took control of both houses of Congress halfway through Clinton's first term, his chances
for reelection seemed slim. The Republican message appeared to have great appeal to voters. In the months that
followed, Clinton worked hard to counter that message and to show that he was not a "tax-and-spend liberal."
The 1996 Election
The Republican nominee for President in 1996 was Bob Dole. A wounded World War II veteran , he became
Senate Majority Leader and a respected member of Congress from Kansas for 35 years. Ross Perot again entered
the race, this time as the nominee of the newly created Reform Party. As the election approached, Clinton
successfully maneuvered several popular bills through Congress, including one raising the minimum wage. In
addition, the economy, which had been an important factor in the 1992 campaign, had become strong. Again, the
economy worked in Clinton's favor. On Election Day, voters returned Clinton to office with 49 percent of the
popular vote. Dole received 41 percent, while Perot dropped off to 8 percent. In the Electoral College, Clinton
gathered 379 votes to 159 for Dole.
Scandal and the Second Term
Charges of scandal in Clinton's first term, which Bob Dole had emphasized in the 1996 campaign, continued into
the new administration. In what came to be known as the Whitewater affair, Clinton was accused of having
taken part in fraudulent loans and land deals in Arkansas years earlier and of having used his influence as thengovernor to block an investigation of his business partners. Some of Clinton's friends and former associates were
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convicted of various crimes and sentenced to prison, yet no evidence was found to link the President to any
wrongdoing. Another charge made against Clinton, shortly after his reelection, was that he had accepted illegal
campaign donations in return for political favors. A Senate committee found violations of campaign finance laws
by members of both political parties, but again Clinton was not directly linked to these violations.
Clinton Is Impeached
Clinton's sixth year in office, 1998, began with good news: the government had achieved its first budget surplus
since the 1960s. This bright moment was short-lived, however. When Congressional Republicans couldn’t tie
Clinton to the previous accusations they began to dig deeper to try to find some incriminating details that could
ruin the president. Their efforts led to a scandal that engulfed Clinton, leading to only the second impeachment of
a President in the nation's history.
The crisis arose when the special prosecutor, Kenneth Starr, who had been looking into the Whitewater affair,
began to investigate the romantic relationship between Clinton and a young White House intern. In the summer of
1998, while under oath in a separate sexual harassment lawsuit, Clinton had denied having sexual relations with
the intern. He repeated this denial again to a grand jury. Eventually, only after evidence of the affair surfaced,
Clinton admitted to having had an "inappropriate relationship" and to having "misled" his family and the country.
In September, Starr sent a report listing numerous grounds for impeachment to the House of Representatives. This
report led to a bitterly partisan debate in the House and throughout the country. Polls showed that while most
Americans criticized Clinton's actions, a majority believed that he was doing a good job as President and should
not be impeached.
The midterm elections in November 1998 reflected the voting public's general support of Clinton. Democrats
gained five seats in the House, while Senate totals did not change. Nonetheless, on December 19, the House voted
to have the Senate impeach Clinton on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice. The Senate trial that followed
opened in January 1999. Many senators believed that Clinton had committed offenses, but debate centered on
whether these offenses qualified as "high crimes and misdemeanors," the constitutional requirement for
conviction of a President in an impeachment trial. In February, the Senate voted to acquit the President. Most
Republicans voted to impeach, most Democrats voted to acquit. Support for Clinton throughout the process may
have been bolstered by an unprecedented economic boom. The Clinton presidency marked the longest period of
economic expansion in American history. As the economy continued to grow, the nation maintained low levels of
unemployment and inflation.
Foreign Policy in the 1990s
In the 1980s, during the Cold War years, communism seemed a permanent aspect of the Soviet Union. The
collapse of communism there and throughout Eastern Europe came as a shock to the world. Similarly unexpected
changes occurred in South Africa and, to a lesser extent, China. In each case the United States stood ready to
assist the transition from an oppressive system to one that valued political and economic freedom.
Russia
As the old Soviet empire crumbled, the United States tried to promote the move toward Western-style democracy
in the former Soviet republics. For example, it applauded the election that brought Boris Yeltsin to power as
president of Russia. To help Russia create a free market economy, the international community offered billions in
aid, but it was far from enough. Goods remained in short supply and the Russian economy remained unstable. In
the fall of 1993, the Russian parliament resisted reforms that Yeltsin argued were necessary. In response, he
dissolved the parliament and tightened censorship in a bid to silence his political opponents. Russian reformers,
upset by these curbs on freedom, soon grew angry. Yeltsin, in poor health, resigned his post. In the next
presidential election, Russian voters officially elected Vladmir Putin their new president. Putin pushed for
reforms that would streamline Russia's bloated bureaucracy and encourage economic growth. He also worked to
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strengthen Russia's ties with the international community. In general, the United States remained on friendly
terms with the Russian leadership. Several factors led to conflict between the United States and Russia in the early
twenty-first century however. Relations were strained when Russia opposed the United States invasion of Iraq in
2003. The two countries also have sparred over the spread of nuclear technology to Iran and political events in
former Soviet republics.
South Africa
Just as stunning as the collapse of communism was South Africa's rejection of apartheid, the systematic
separation of people of different racial backgrounds. South Africa's white minority, which made up only about 15
percent of the population, had long denied equal rights to the black majority. Apartheid was a much more severe
version of the segregation that plagued the United States following the Civil War. To encourage reform, the
United States and other nations had used economic sanctions, or trade restrictions intended to punish another
nation. Finally, in 1990, Prime Minister F. W. de Klerk released anti-apartheid leader Nelson Mandela from jail.
Mandela had been held prisoner for 27 years for his leadership of an equality movement. Former rivals de Klerk
and Mandela worked together to end apartheid. In 1994, South Africa held its first elections in which blacks as
well as whites voted. The elections produced a new government, led by President Nelson Mandela.
China
While the United States supported democratic change within other nations, it also sought to remain on peaceful
terms with Communist China. China's economic growth, combined with its size, made it an increasingly
important power. As a result, the United States began working more closely with China on various issues,
including trade and regional security. However, tensions between the two nations always remain just below the
surface.
Tensions between China and the United States slowly lessened, thanks in part to mutual economic interests. In
2000, President Clinton signed the U.S.-China Relations Act, permanently normalizing trade relations with China.
The act also lowered tariffs on exports from the United States, further opening China's huge market to American
businesses. Following the election of George W. Bush, the United States continued to enjoy improvement in its
access to Chinese markets. By 2005, China had become one of the top buyers of American products. The
Americans and Chinese have also worked together on regional matters, especially the difficult question of North
Korea.
Post-Cold War Conflicts
For the United States, spreading democracy and decreasing world tensions were satisfying challenges. Far less
satisfying was the task of trying to stop the terrifying violence that erupted in several different regions of the
world. The government had to balance Americans' desire to promote peace with their fear of costly commitmentsa fear magnified by memories of the Vietnam War.
Africa
Conflicts in Africa demonstrated how hard it was to maintain this balance. In the early 1990s, the East African
nation of Somalia suffered from a devastating famine, made worse by a civil war. President George H. W. Bush
sent American troops to Somalia in 1992 to assist a United Nations (UN) relief effort. The food crisis eased, but
Somalia's government remained unable to control the armed groups that ruled the countryside. The following
year, after more than a dozen U.S. soldiers were killed in a battle with Somali rebels, President Clinton recalled
the troops without having restored order. To this day, Somalia is considered to be in a state of civil war.
In 1994, the government of the central African nation of Rwanda set out to exterminate a minority group. The
government, run by the Hutu people, had a longstanding rivalry with the Tutsi minority. Haunted by the Somalia
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episode, the United States failed to intervene. Almost one million Tutsis died in the genocidal rampage by Hutu
militias, soldiers, and ordinary citizens.
Yugoslavia
The United States did play a key role in the peacekeeping process elsewhere. One place in which peace seemed
especially difficult to achieve was Yugoslavia, a nation of several distinct ethnic and religious groups. Tensions
among these groups had remained below the surface for decades after World War II, while a communist
government ruled Yugoslavia. After the collapse of communism, however, these underlying problems erupted
into violent conflict. Some Yugoslav republics, including Bosnia, wanted to become independent nations. The
republic of Serbia, and its leader Slobodan Milosevic, wanted to preserve a unified Yugoslavia, dominated by
Serbia. Milosevic used torture and violence to terrorize those who disagreed. In 1995, an American-led NATO
bombing campaign pushed the Serbs into peace talks. These talks, held in Dayton, Ohio, produced a cease-fire
and the commitment to allow foreign peacekeeping troops, including thousands of U .S. soldiers, to monitor the
region.
In 1999, after Serbs refused to commit to a peace conference, the United States and NATO launched a series of
airstrikes against Serbia. These forced Serbian leader Milosevic to allow international peacekeepers into Kosovo.
Serbs organized a revolt and forced Milosevic from power. Today, the former Yugoslavia has become seven
independent nations.
Israel and Palestine
In September 1993, Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) leader Yasir Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister
Yitzhalz Rabin signed a historic peace agreement in Washington, D.C. It was an extremely difficult step for both
sides. The PLO formally recognized Israel's right to exist. Radicals on both sides, however, tried to destroy the
agreement by carrying out terrorist attacks. In 1995, a Jewish extremist assassinated Prime Minister Rabin. The
prospects for peace declined.
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Section 3: George W. Bush
READING FOCUS
• What were the results of the 2000 election, and what goals did the new President set?
• How did Americans respond to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001?
• What was the reasoning behind the War in Iraq in 2003?
• How did the economy perform during George W. Bush’s presidency?
The 2000 Election
The mixture of a strong economy and a scandal-ridden presidency promised a close presidential election in 2000.
This promise was fulfilled. During the campaign, Republicans spoke of returning morality and respect to the
White House. Leading up to the election, polls showed that the Republican candidate, Texas Governor George W.
Bush (son of former President George H.W. Bush), was virtually tied with the Democratic candidate, Vice
President Al Gore.
On election night, the votes in several states were too close to call; neither candidate had captured the 270
electoral votes needed to win the presidency. One undecided state, Florida, could give either candidate enough
electoral votes to win the presidency. Bush won the Florida majority initially, but because the difference there was
so close, state law required a recount of the ballots. Florida became a battleground for the presidency as lawyers,
politicians, and the media swarmed there to monitor the recount. Of note, Florida’s governor was responsible for
appointing individuals to certify the election results, and he happened to be George W. Bush's brother, Jeb.
After over a month of argument and legal wrangling, matters reached the U.S. Supreme Court in the case of Bush
v. Gore. Like the nation, the nine justices were sharply divided about how to remedy the election crisis. By a
majority of five to four (each justice siding with the political party that appointed him/her), they issued a ruling
that discontinued all recounts in Florida. This ruling effectively secured the presidency for George W. Bush.
Although Gore won the national popular vote, Bush won 271 electoral votes to Gore's 266. Without question,
Bush lacked a mandate
George W. Bush's First Term
After being sworn in as President in January 2001, George W. Bush faced many challenges. From the outset, he
conducted the presidency in a much different style from that of his predecessor. Early in his presidency, Bush
focused on a few central issues. In particular, he succeeded in gaining congressional approval of a major tax cut,
the largest in history. Bush argued that by returning money to the taxpayers, he would jumpstart a faltering
economy. With the wars that were to follow, this tax policy would end up drastically increasing the national debt.
Bush also pushed for the passage of a major education reform bill, No Child Left Behind. The President's plan
called for increased accountability for student performance and targeted funds for improving schools and teacher
quality through research-based programs and practices. Despite these successes, domestic policy soon faded into
the background. Before the end of his first year in office, President Bush would be forced to devote much of his
time and energy to foreign affairs as the result of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
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The War on Terrorism
In the 1990s, most Americans believed that their country was immune to the kind of violence that wracked Israel
and other parts of the world. That opinion changed radically with an attack launched against the United States in
late summer 2001. That attack would result in a broad-based war on terrorism.
Attack on America
On September 11, 2001, Americans reacted with horror when terrorists struck at targets in New York City and
just outside Washington, D.C. Using hijacked commercial airplanes as their weapons, the terrorists crashed into
both towers of New York's World Trade Center and plowed into part of the Pentagon. A fourth plane crashed in a
field near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. A total of 266 passengers and crew on the four planes lost their lives. The
attack on the Pentagon took place less than an hour after the first plane hit New York. Fires raged for hours,
preventing emergency workers from entering the wreckage. More than 180 people in the Pentagon were killed. In
New York, the impact of the fully fueled jets caused both towers to burst into flames. Debris rained down on
employees evacuating the buildings and on emergency workers rushing to respond to the scene. The fires led to
the catastrophic collapse of both 110-story buildings as well as other buildings in the World Trade Center
complex. Tragically, the speedy response to the disaster led to the deaths of hundreds of firefighters and police
officers who were in and around the buildings when they collapsed. 2,999 victims died in the four attacks.
The U.S. Responds
Law-enforcement agencies immediately began an intensive investigation. Countries around the world pledged to
support to the effort to hunt down the criminals responsible for the attacks. Within days, government officials
named Osama bin Laden, a wealthy Saudi who had a history of organizing terrorist attacks against the U.S., as
"a prime suspect" for masterminding the plot. Bin Laden, the head of a terrorist network of Muslim extremists
known as Al Qaeda, was believed to be hiding in Afghanistan.
President Bush addressed the nation on television regularly in the weeks that followed the attacks. During one of
these addresses, he made clear his determination to hold those who organized and supported the attacks
responsible for their crimes. He added that the U.S. would begin to hunt anti-Western organizations like Al
Qaeda all over the world to prevent any future terrorist attacks against the U.S., its military, or its allies. His
administration called this tactic "The War on Terrorism." Bush added that the U.S. was not declaring war on
any particular country or government, but that the American military would search any country for signs of
terrorism, and if found, would fight it.
War in Afghanistan
The first target in President Bush's War on Terrorism was a group of people in Afghanistan. After the Soviet
Union withdrew from Afghanistan in 1989, the civil war there continued, as several private armies vied for
power. In 1996, one of those militias, a group of Islamic fundamentalists called the Taliban, seized the Afghan
capital of Kabul. Taliban leaders sought to set up their version of a pure Islamic state, banning such things as
television and music. The Taliban also provided sanctuary for Osama bin Laden, who established terrorist training
camps in the countryside. After the attacks of September 11, the United States demanded that the Taliban shut
down the training camps and turn over bin Laden and other terrorist leaders. The Taliban refused to meet those
demands. As a result, President Bush vowed that they would "pay a price."
Three weeks after the attacks, the United States, along with Great Britain, launched a bombing campaign known
as "Operation Enduring Freedom" on Taliban military and communications bases in Afghanistan. After just two
months, United States and rebel Afghan forces defeated the Taliban, ending their five-year rule. By the end of the
year, those forces had established an interim government in Kabul. This war, according to Bush, would not be
limited to "instant retaliation and isolated strikes" but would be "a lengthy campaign, unlike any other we have
seen." The President stressed the importance of global cooperation in this campaign. "Every nation, in every
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region, now has a decision to make," Bush warned. "Either you are with us or you are with the terrorists."
However, bin Laden escaped from Afghanistan and the Taliban ended up rallying to continue the war. The U.S.
continued to fight for the people of Afghanistan against the Taliban. Still today, the government of Afghanistan is
unstable.
Homeland Security
The President also moved quickly to combat terrorism at home. Less than a month after the 9/11 attacks, Bush
created the Department of Homeland Security. The new department brought together 180,000 employees and
merged 22 existing agencies, including the Customs Service, the Immigration and Naturalization Service, the
Border Patrol, the Coast Guard, and the Secret Service. The agencies would work together to prevent terrorist
attacks, to reduce the country's vulnerability to terrorism, and to design ways of dealing with the potential damage
of an attack. The Department of Homeland Security set to work to make Americans feel more secure. Perhaps the
most obvious effects of the department's efforts could be found at airports across the country. Thorough screening
of passengers and baggage caused lengthy waits for air travelers, although most people initially welcomed the
tighter security.
War With Iraq
As part of the War on Terrorism, President Bush sent a warning to hostile nations to stop developing weapons of
mass destruction. He classified these "WMDs" as nuclear, chemical or biological weapons. "The United States
of America," Bush said, "will not permit the world's most dangerous regimes to threaten us with the world's most
destructive weapons." Bush declared Iraq, Iran, and North Korea to be part of an "axis of evil."
With the conflict in Afghanistan seemingly winding down, President Bush turned his attention to Iraq, where he
claimed U.S. intelligence had provided him evidence of WMDs. Despite Iraq's defeat in the Gulf War, Iraqi leader
Saddam Hussein continued his brutal oppression of the Iraqi people. In 1998, Hussein had put a halt to all UN
weapons inspecting activities in his country. Bush pointed to these actions as he sought support in Congress and
among America's allies for a possible attack on Iraq. In October 2002, Congress passed a resolution authorizing
the President to use force against Iraq. Under mounting pressure, Hussein allowed UN inspectors to return to his
country. They reported that they had found no banned chemical or biological weapons or any sign of a nuclearweapons program. Bush continued to argue that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. He also prepared the
country for war. Few American allies agreed to help, with only Great Britain, Poland, and a handful other nations
providing soldiers and other support.
Without UN approval, the war, called "Operation Iraqi Freedom," started in March 2003. Precision-guided
missiles and bombs struck at key targets, paving the way for ground troops. Those troops moved toward Baghdad.
Tanks and armored personnel carriers rumbled north out of Kuwait, while U.S. Special Operations forces slipped
quietly into Iraq from the west. The Iraqi military put up only slight resistance. Three weeks after the start of the
fighting, U.S. tanks arrived in Baghdad. Hussein's regime had fallen. Hussein initially escaped from Baghdad, but
was captured hiding in the Iraqi desert in December 2003.
Peace, however, had not come to Iraq. Insurgents, who included supporters of Hussein, religious militants, and
foreign fighters (including al Qaeda) seeking to harm American forces, made frequent attacks. In the year
following President Bush's announcement of "Mission Accomplished in Iraq", the end of official combat
operations, thousands of Americans and Iraqis were killed. Meanwhile, the U.S. worked with the Iraqi people to
establish a new democratic government and to rebuild the nation. In June 2004, the Americans handed governing
authority to a new Iraqi government. This was followed in January 2005 by a national election in which citizens
chose members of an assembly that would write a new constitution. The coalition continued to work with Iraqis to
build an all-Iraqi security force. Insurgent attacks, however, continued. In the United States, President Bush urged
ongoing support for the mission in Iraq. This task was complicated by criticism of his handling of the war.
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Criticism continued when the U.S. failed to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, raising questions about the
decision to go to war.
The 2004 Election
The 2004 presidential election played out against the backdrop of terrorism, a difficult war in Iraq, and an
uncertain economy at home. President Bush and his Democratic challenger, Massachusetts Senator John Kerry,
stayed locked in a close campaign. Neither candidate enjoyed a clear lead in the polls in the weeks leading up to
the election. President Bush and the Republicans cast doubt on Kerry's reliability and honesty, while Senator
Kerry and the Democrats pointed to Iraq and the shaky economy as areas where Senator Kerry could improve on
Bush's performance.
Election night in November 2004 closely resembled election night in 2000. People in the United States and
around the world intently watched televisions and the internet, eagerly awaiting the outcome. In another close
election, Bush gained the electoral votes he needed to win reelection. By a narrow margin, the voters had decided
to send Bush back to the White House for a second term. Despite seeing his approval rating decline and the
economy get worse during his first term, George W. Bush won reelection.
Second Term
In addition to the ongoing issues from his first term, Bush would face new challenges after the election. These
would include the opportunity to name two new justices to the Supreme Court, following the retirement of Sandra
Day O'Connor and the death of William Rehnquist in the summer of 2005. After a set of hearings, the Senate
confirmed John Roberts as the new Chief Justice.
As Bush's second term continued, the American economy again struggled. His tax relief strategy from the 2001
recession had offered a short-term solution, ending the recession. However, the increase in government spending
due to the War on Terror had added a tremendous amount to the American debt, harming consumer confidence
and starting a second recession in 2007. This second recession led to a serious collapse in the American real
estate market, harming the economy even further.
In August of 2005, a major tropical storm struck the Gulf coast of the United States. Hurricane Katrina struck
Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi and Florida, killing almost 2,000 Americans and causing over $100
billion dollars in damage. Much of the damage and death occurred in the city of New Orleans, directly in the
center of the storm's path. President Bush was criticized by many in the media and the city for what they saw as a
slow response to use the federal government to help those affected by Katrina.
The two hotspots for the War on Terrorism also proved difficult for President Bush in his second term. While
Iraq had democracy and was ridded of its dictator, insurgents continued to target American troops and members
of the new government, and no WMDs were found. As of 2014, almost 5,000 Americans have been killed and
over 30,000 have been wounded fighting in Iraq. Afghanistan too, was a struggle for the President. The Taliban
remained strong, and Osama bin Laden, the primary target for the War on Terrorism, would not be captured until
after Bush left office. Almost 2,500 U.S. troops have died there.
Legacy
Bush holds two distinctions of note: 1. The highest approval rating in U.S. history, and 2. The lowest approval
rating in U.S. history. While he was highly regarded for his immediate handling of the September 11th attacks,
most Americans criticized his long-term management of the War on Terrorism and the economy. This attitude
was shown in the 2006 midterm elections, when Democrats won a majority of seats in both the House and Senate
for the first time since 1994. When he left office, only about 25% of the American people responded that he had
been a “good” president.
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Section 4: Barack Obama
Reading Focus
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What issues and events attracted support for Barack Obama's presidential campaign?
How did the economic recession and housing crisis affect Obama's domestic goals?
What other major domestic events defined Obama's first years as president?
What did the results of the 2010 congressional elections say about the mood of the nation at that time?
What approach did Obama take to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq?
The Election of 2008
In 2007 a major financial crisis developed. Millions of Americans found themselves unable to make payments on
their home mortgages. Financial institutions failed. As the 2008 election approached, the economy had replaced
the war in Iraq as the most important issue for most Americans.
Choosing the Candidates
Senator John McCain of Arizona, a widely admired hero of the Vietnam War, won the Republican nomination
for president. He chose Sarah Palin, the conservative governor of Alaska, as his running mate. Illinois senator
Barack Obama bested New York senator Hillary Clinton to win the Democratic nomination. Obama had delivered
the keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. His speech impressed Democrats and made him
a national political figure. Senator Joe Biden of Delaware was his running mate. Biden's 35 years in the Senate
helped balance criticism of Obama's relative inexperience.
Obama Wins
In October 2008, President Bush and Congress passed a $700 billion bailout for the nation's financial institutions,
intended to help the worsening financial crisis. Most Americans opposed it. With the approval ratings of the
president and Congress at all-time lows, McCain and Obama both promised change. Obama made good use of the
internet and formed a strong grassroots network of young supporters. On Election Day, Obama won 53 percent of
the popular vote and 364 electoral votes. It was the biggest victory for a Democratic candidate since Lyndon
Johnson beat Barry Goldwater in 1964. Obama, the first African American to win the presidency, exulted:
"This is our moment ... to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to
restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim the American Dream and reaffirm that
fundamental truth - that out of many, we are one; where we are met with those who tell us that we can't,
we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people: Yes We Can."
Barack Obama's Address at Grant Park, November 4, 2008
Financial Meltdown
When Americans voted President Obama into office, many expected him to improve the shaky economy. Obama's
domestic agenda included proposals to create jobs, relieve families suffering from unemployment, assist home
owners in paying their mortgages, and ease the financial crisis. Yet as the economy worsened, Obama's specific
plans to solve the nation's problems drew criticism. Some people believed he was not doing enough, while others
argued that he was misusing government authority by doing too much.
The Economy in 2009
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Despite the Bush administration's bailout of financial institutions and insurance companies, the American
economy continued to weaken. More Americans lost their homes, and banks closed. Many large companies
reported record losses. They laid-off workers, contributing to a spike in unemployment. With fewer workers, less
tax money was collected, adding to the country's already growing debt. As the economic crisis spread across the
world, global trade lessened and the world economy shrank.
Obama's Response
In response to the failing economy, President Obama signed the American Recovery Act in February 2009. The
act aimed to stimulate the economy by providing tax cuts to working families and small businesses. It provided
billions in federal funds for growth and investment as well as for education, health, and other entitlement
programs.
Many Americans were still angry about Bush's bailout plan. They believed it favored large businesses at the
expense of ordinary people. To counter this anger, this act set up a system to monitor how federal money was
spent. President Obama pushed additional legislation through the Democrat-controlled Congress in July 2010.
This financial reform bill provided protection for consumers and called for more government oversight of
financial institutions and large companies. By the end of 2009, there were signs that some of Obama's measures
were working. The nation's gross domestic product (GDP) had climbed. Some of the large businesses that had
accepted stimulus funds were reporting gains. The unemployment rate, however, continued to rise, as did the
federal deficit. And many Americans were uncomfortable with what they viewed as a rapidly growing role for the
federal government in the economy.
Health Care Reform, Energy, and the Environment
As a candidate, Obama stressed many other domestic issues. Two priorities were to reform and expand the health
care system and to solve the nation's energy and environmental problems.
Health Care Reform
Obama's health care reform plan aimed to lower health care costs and to ensure that all Americans were covered
by some type of health insurance that would help them pay for medical bills, including office visits, prescriptions,
surgeries, and rehabilitation. In a speech to Congress delivered in 2009, he said, "We are the only advanced
democracy on Earth-the only wealthy nation-that allows such hardships for millions of its people. There are now
more than thirty million American citizens who cannot get coverage."
Obama wanted to pay for the plan through higher taxes on the wealthy and by reducing wasteful spending. Yet
some Americans opposed what they saw as another expensive government intrusion. Months of heated partisan
debate took place within Congress. No Republican voted for the final bill that passed in March 2010, and many
vowed to overturn it. Though Obama had promised to reform the system of earmarks, the bill contained many.
The bill, known as the Affordable Care Act, contained many important provisions:
1. All Americans must be covered under some type of health insurance by 2015, or face financial penalties.
2. Americans who are not covered by health insurance given to them by their employers or the federal
government, and who cannot afford to buy it from a private company, may use “healthcare exchanges” to
purchase health insurance. These exchanges are set up by the federal government and use tax dollars to help
Americans purchase relatively low-cost insurance.
3. Health insurance companies that offer coverage to children of covered parents must offer families to right to
choose to keep those children covered until age 26.
4. Americans who have been denied insurance by private companies because they had “preexisting medical
conditions” may also purchase insurance from health-care exchanges.
Medicare and Medicaid remained unchanged by the Affordable Care Act. Between October 2013, when the
exchanges opened, and April 2014, over seven million previously uninsured Americans bought coverage.
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President Obama and Democrats in Congress trumpeted “ObamaCare”, as the Act came to be known, as a
success. Republicans and many healthcare professionals, however, continue to debate the merits of the plan, and
call for its revision or removal.
Energy Policy and the Environment
President Obama's energy plan called for strong enforcement of limits on the amount of pollution companies
could emit. Conservatives opposed the plan, saying it would hurt businesses and possibly force companies to
outsource jobs to countries with fewer environmental regulations. Then, an environmental disaster struck the Gulf
of Mexico in April 2010. A British Petroleum (BP) oil rig exploded, sending nearly 5 million barrels of oil into
the Gulf. It was the worst marine oil spill in history. Commercial fishing and tourism in the Gulf region suffered.
Obama required BP to create a $20 billion fund to assist people affected by the oil spill. Federal agencies directed
the recovery, and support for the President’s environmental policy increased. He also encouraged companies and
citizens to develop and purchase products that used alternative energy sources.
2010 Midterm Elections
As the 2010 midterm elections approached, Obama's approval rating dipped below 50 percent for the first time.
Many Americans felt that the stimulus and health care bills had been too expensive and had not strengthened the
economy. A conservative movement called the "Tea Party" sprang up to protest the Obama administration. The
movement took its name from a reference to the Boston Tea Party protests against British taxation. Most in the
movement opposed what they called "big government" - including higher taxes, health care reform, and the
economic stimulus plans. The Tea Party gained support and encouraged Americans to vote out Democrats in the
midterms.
Republicans gained a rousing win in the midterm elections. Republicans gained 60 seats in the House of
Representatives and took back control of that House of Congress. The Republicans also captured six Senate seats,
though the Democrats maintained the majority. President Obama was humble the following day, accepting blame
for the Democrats’ defeat. He admitted that many members of Congress who lost their jobs did so because they
voted for his economic and healthcare bills. President Obama said, "Over the last two years, we've made progress.
But, clearly, too many Americans haven't felt that progress yet, and they told us that yesterday."
Foreign Policy
President Obama ended U.S. involvement in Iraq by slowly removing U.S. forces throughout 2010 and 2011. By
December 2011, almost all American troops had left Iraq, effectively ending the nine-year conflict. Part of the
reason Obama pushed for ending involvement in Iraq was his desire to refocus U.S. efforts to fight against the
Taliban in Afghanistan and to expand the search for Osama bin Laden, who was still at large nearly a decade after
the attacks of 2001.
In May of 2011, US Special Forces launched a daring raid on a compound in Pakistan that intelligence reports
indicated was home to bin Laden. The Navy Seal team was successful in killing bin Laden and the al Qaeda
associates located at the compound. President Obama addressed the nation on television shortly before midnight,
breaking the news.
“Good evening. Tonight, I can report to the American people and to the world that the United States has
conducted an operation that killed Osama bin Laden, the leader of al-Qaeda, and a terrorist who was
responsible for the murder of thousands of innocent men, women, and children.” – Barack Obama,
televised speech to the American public, May 2, 2011
Large crowds gathered to celebrate in the streets in many big cities. Obama also authorized the use of deadly
force against al Qaeda members, even without the need of due process. This authorization was highlighted in the
military’s increased use of drone strikes to target al Qaeda operatives in Yemen, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.
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Much change came to the Middle East during the Obama years through the protests of the Arab Spring. In the
spring of 2011, the dictators of Egypt, Tunisia, and Libya were removed from power by freedom movements of
citizens. And while the dictator of Syria has maintained his power, he has had to use his military to attempt to
crush popular rebellions. Many experts gave credit to the internet, and social networking sites like Facebook and
Twitter in helping to bring down the totalitarian regimes in the Middle East. Protestors used the sites to spread
idea of freedom and to pass information about the protests. The future of these countries is uncertain. While
democracy could flourish, some analysts worry that extremists may use the upheaval as an opportunity to seize
power.
Election of 2012
After a primary battle, the Republicans nominated Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, to
challenge Obama in the general election. This election shined a spotlight on the divisive partisanship that exists
today. Economically, Romney was a follower of supply-side economics while Obama subscribed to a more
government-regulated model. Socially, Romney favored having morality be regulated by the government, while
Obama favored a society of individual choice. Obama defeated Romney, 332 electoral votes to 206, and won over
51 percent of the popular vote to Romney’s 47. Congressionally, Democrats held control of the Senate and
Republicans continued their majority in the House.
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