POST WAR ERA
The Cold War and Civil Rights
THE BIG QUESTIONS:
Why
did the United States and
Soviet Union enter into the Cold
War?
Why did the Cold War last so
long?
How did Civil Rights leaders
change American Society?
THE COLD WAR
•
•
The SUPERPOWERS, the U.S.
and Soviet Union were the big
rivals after WWII
Called the “Cold” war because
both sides had nuclear weapons
but never confronted each other
directly in open warfare
ROOTS OF THE COLD WAR
 Competing
ideological systems (democracy/free
enterprise vs. communism)
 The U.S. wanted to spread democracy and free
enterprise
 The Soviets wanted to spread Communism.
 Stalin was supposed to be creating a
classless society that helped all workers, but
actually established a brutal dictatorship
under his absolute control.
 Suspected critics and opponents were
arrested and sent to gulags (forced labor
camps) in Siberia
Category
Political
System
Organizations
Economic
System
Religion
Individual
Rights
Soviet Communism
American Democracy
THE SOVIET UNION’S IDEOLOGY
 One
political party – Communism
 All labor groups and associations are run by
the Communist Party
 Industries and farms are owned by the state,
central planners determine economic needs for
the nation, private property was limited,
education and health care provided by the
state
 Religion was discouraged
 Secret police arrested opponents, censorship
was common, people could not exercise beliefs
freely
AMERICAN IDEOLOGY
A multi-party democracy
 Unions and other organizations negotiated
openly with employers
 Free enterprise, private ownership of property,
supply and demand determined prices, people
met their own needs with some limited
government involvement
 Freedom of religion
 Freedom of the press and expression

USE THE NOTES ON THE PREVIOUS SLIDES TO COMPLETE THE GRAPHIC
ORGANIZER BELOW.
Category
Political
System
Organizati
ons
Economic
System
Religion
Individual
Rights
Soviet Communism
American Democracy
THE YALTA AND POSTDAM CONFERENCES
 In
Feb. 1945, Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin
met at Yalta to plan the reorganization of
Europe at the end of the war
 Agree on the formation of the United Nations
 Agreed that Germany would be divided into 4
occupation zones
 Agreed to allow free elections in the countries
they liberated (including Poland)
 6 months later, when Truman and Stalin met
at the Potsdam Conference in Germany,
serious differences began to emerge
THE COLD WAR BEGINS
 After
the war, the Soviets saw a growing
threat from capitalist governments
 Stalin distrusted the West
 He created a wall of satellite countries as a
buffer against future invasions
 Refused to allow free elections in Poland and
other countries it occupied in Eastern
Europe
 Cut off trade between Eastern and Western
Europe (closed the East to the West)
 The U.S. refused to share the secrets behind
the atom bomb
ORIGINS OF THE U.S.
CONTAINMENT POLICY
 American
leaders responded to the
Soviet domination of Eastern Europe
by developing a policy of
containment.
 Under this policy, they did not
attempt to overturn Communism
where it already existed, but
resolved to prevent it from spreading
further
APPLYING WHAT YOU HAVE LEARNED:

Speaking on a visit to Missouri, Winston
Churchill told Americans in 1946 that “from
Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an
iron curtain has descended across the Continent.”
What did Churchill mean by the phrase “iron
curtain”?
TRUMAN DOCTRINE
 When
Communist rebels threatened
Greece and Stalin pressured Turkey,
Truman offered them military aid
 He believed that economic and
financial aid should be used first
 Did not want to make the mistake of
“appeasement” that had failed
against Hitler
THE MARSHALL PLAN (1948)
 After
6 years of war, much of Europe faced
famine due to decreased farm production
 Whole cities had to be rebuilt
 Truman believed miserable and desperate
people were more likely to turn to Communism
 George C. Marshall (Sec. of State) proposed
that massive aid be given to war-torn
European countries to help rebuild their
economies
 Unlike WWI, it included aid to Germany and
Italy
 Created strong allies and trading partners for
the U.S.
SUCCESS OF THE MARSHALL PLAN
 Greatly
benefited the American
economy in helping to rebuild wartorn Europe
 Speeded the economic recovery of
Western Europe (from 1948 to 1952,
European economies grew at an
unprecedented rate)
 Created good will towards the U.S.
A DIVIDED GERMANY
 In
1948, the French, British, &
Americans merged their German
zones of occupation into a single
state, West Germany
 Berlin, the old capital, was located in
the Soviet zone
 The Soviets reacted to the merging
of the Western zones by announcing
a blockade of West Berlin, closing all
highway and railroad links to the
West
THE BERLIN AIRLIFT
 Western
Allies refused to abandon
West Berlin
 They began a massive airlift to feed
and supply the city
 Within a year, Stalin lifted the Soviet
blockade
 The U.S. and its allies had shown that
they would not retreat when faced
with aggressive behavior by the Soviet
Union
ASSIGNMENT:
 Using
the previous slides on the
powerpoint, complete the first three boxes
on your graphic organizer “Roots of The
Cold War”.
Soviet vs. American
Systems:
Truman Doctrine
Marshall Plan:
ROOTS OF THE COLD WAR
Berlin Airlift:
Formation of NATO:
Communism in China:
FORMATION OF NATO AND THE
WARSAW PACT
 The
North Atlantic Treaty Organization
(NATO) was made up of the U.S., Canada,
and 10 Western European countries (1949)
 Based on the concept of collective security
 Each member pledged to defend every other
member if attacked
 The U.S. extended its umbrella of
protection from nuclear weapons to
Western Europe
 The Soviets responded by creating the
Warsaw Pact with its Eastern European
satellites in 1955
FRICTION BEHIND THE IRON CURTAIN
 Although
Americans condemned Soviet acts
of force, the U.S. never directly intervened
behind the Iron Curtain
 Soviet leaders successfully suppressed an
anti-Communist revolution that broke out in
Hungary in 1956
 They erected the Berlin Wall in 1961 to
prevent East Germans from escaping to the
West
 invaded Czechoslovakia in 1968 to
overthrow a Czech reform government
CONTAINMENT IN ASIA
Just when Americans believed their containment
policy had stopped the spread of Communism in
Europe, the world’s most populous country
became Communist in Asia
 The question was raised: could American leaders
check the spread of Communism, not only in
Europe, but around the world?

CHINA FALLS TO COMMUNISM, 1949
Communists had tried to overthrow the
Nationalist government in China since the 1920s
 After 1945, they were helped by the Soviets
 Communists led by Mao Zedong defeated the
Nationalists in 1949
 Nationalist leaders fled to the island of Taiwan
 Mao created the world’s largest Communist state

U.S. REACTION TO COMMUNIST
CHINA
 Considered
a crushing blow to the U.S.
 Truman refused to extend diplomatic
recognition to Communist China
 Using its veto power in the United
Nations, the U.S. also prevented “Red
China” from being admitted to the U.N.
 Also pledged to protect the Nationalist
government on Taiwan against any
Communist attacks
ASSIGNMENT:
 Using
the previous slides on the
powerpoint, complete the graphic
organizer “Roots of The Cold War”.
THE KOREAN WAR
 Many
Americans criticized U.S. foreign
policy, because they believed the
government had not done enough to
prevent the fall of China to
Communism
 After WWII, Korea (a former Japanese
colony) was divided into two zones
 The South was a non-communist state
with an elected government
 The North was under communist rule
CONTINUED…
 In
1950, North Korean forces invaded South
Korea to try to unify the country under
Communist rule
 Reminded of Nazi aggression before WWII,
President Truman decided to oppose the
North Koreans
 The U.S. was able to get the United Nations
to pass a resolution to send U.N. troops to
Korea
 This was the first time an international
peace keeping force was used to force a halt
to aggression
CONTINUED…
 General
Douglas MacArthur commanded
U.N. forces
 The U.N. forces were able to push the North
Koreans back to their border and liberate
Seoul
 MacArthur then attacked North Korea and
advanced toward the North Korean border
with China
 This brought a large Chinese army into the
war, forcing MacArthur to retreat
CONTINUED…
 Truman
and MacArthur openly disagreed
about tactics of the war
 MacArthur was relieved of his command (an
unpopular step in the U.S.)
 In 1952, Dwight Eisenhower was elected
President and pledged to end the war
 An armistice was signed in 1953
 It provided for a demilitarized zone between
North and South Korea and a transfer of
prisoners of war (Korea was divided exactly as
it had been before the war)
COMPLETE
THE FLOW CHART USING INFORMATION FROM THE POWERPOINT ABOUT THE
KOREAN WAR FLOW CHART
In 1950, North
Korean forces
invaded South
Korea
An armistice was
signed in 1953 –
Korea is divided as it
was before the war
KOREAN WAR:
THE ARMS RACE
 By
1949, the Soviets had developed the
atomic bomb leading to a nuclear “arms race”
 In 1952, the U.S. developed the hydrogen
bomb, which was immensely more powerful
than the original atom bomb
 The Soviet Union exploded their first
hydrogen bomb a year later
 In the 1950s, U.S. military leaders used
nuclear weapons as a deterrent rather than
rely on a large military force
HTTP://WWW.YOUTUBE.COM/WATCH?V=IUNCBZHFKBQ
THE SPACE RACE
 In
1957, the Soviet Union launched the first
man-made satellite into space
 Sputnik was a little larger than a basketball,
weighed 184 pounds, and orbited the earth
once every 98 minutes and was tracked by
transmitting radio signals
 This began a space race, since Americans
were afraid the Soviets would use missiles to
launch bombs and felt the U.S. was falling
behind
 The U.S. government started new programs
in science education and also launched its
own satellite in 1958
ADVANCES IN MEDICINE
 The
post-war period saw many advances in
medicine
 Antibiotics treated infections and gave new
hopes for cures
 Jonas Salk developed the first vaccine for
polio (paralyzed thousands of American
children each year). He used a dead virus as
the basis for the vaccine
 Measles vaccine
 First heart transplant
 Discovery of streptomycin, an antibiotic to
treat tuberculosis
THE HOUSE UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES
COMMITTEE
 Truman
established Loyalty Review
Boards to investigate individual “unAmerican” activities (such as
participation in the American
Communist Party)
 Many Americans were accused of
actions on very little evidence and
had no way to defend themselves
(this violated their constitutional
rights)
CONTINUED…
 Congress
established the House Un-American
Activities Committee to conduct its own
loyalty checks
 The committee questions actors, directors,
writers, and others about possible Communist
sympathies
 Those identified with ties to Communism
were frequently “Blacklisted” and lost their
jobs
 Some, like Alger Hiss, were later prosecuted
for perjury
 Those that cooperated, were often asked to
inform on others
THE ROSENBERG TRIALS
 In
1950, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were
charged with selling national secrets to the
Soviet Union about making the atomic bomb
 They were found guilty and executed for
spying
 Some people doubted their guilt (they were
reminded of the Sacco & Venzetti case in the
20s)
 However, the Verona Papers (released in
1997) revealed the identities of several
Americans who had spied for the Soviets,
and Julius Rosenberg was on it
THE MCCARTHY HEARINGS
 The
fall of China increased fears of internal
subversion (people wanting to break up our
democracy)
 Senator Joseph McCarthy claimed he knew
the names of hundreds of Communists who
had influenced the State Department and
other government agencies
 Like the Red Scare, McCarthy’s allegations
created fear
 Three years of hearings never provided
concrete evidence or proof of his charges
 “McCarthyism” is making harsh accusations
without evidence
THE ARMS RACE:
THE SPACE RACE:
ADVANCES IN MEDICINE:
THE COLD WAR AT HOME
HOUSE UN-AMERICAN
ACTIVITIES COMMITTEE:
ROSENBERG TRIAL/
VENONA PAPERS:
“McCARTHYISM:
THE EISENHOWER PRESIDENCY (1953-1960)
 Foreign




Policy:
Gave control of foreign policy to John Foster
Dulles, his Secretary of State
Sought to contain the spread of Communism
by preventing the Soviets from gaining
additional influence
In 1957, Eisenhower announced he would
send U.S. forces to any Middle Eastern
nation that requested help in defending
against Communism (Eisenhower Doctrine)
Signed a series of treaties around the world
to contain Communism
CONTINUED…
 Domestic





Policy:
The 1950s was a period of recovery and
economic growth
Veterans received special benefits like low
interest rates and educational grants
Eisenhower signed the Interstate Highway
Act (1956) creating a system of federal
highways
Defense spending remained high because
of the Cold War
A time of prosperity and growth of the
middle class
Housing Boom. This was a time of high birth rates, known as the “baby
boom.” This boom and the G.I. Bill (Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of
1944) helping veterans led developers to build cheaper, mass-produced
housing. Home ownership increased by 50%. The movement of middle-income
families to the suburbs led to a declining urban tax base and decaying inner
cities.
DOMESTIC DEVELOPMENTS DURING THE
EISENHOWER PRESIDENCY
Economic Prosperity. The
demand for consumer goods
reached all-time highs. Millions of
autos and TV sets were sold. The
use of refrigerators and other
appliances became widespread.
The gross domestic product
doubled between 1945 and 1960.
America dominated world trade.
Conformity. In the 1950s, there
was a greater emphasis on
conformity. Unusual ideas were
regarded with suspicion. Fear of
Communism strengthened the
dislike of non-conformist attitudes.