Early Cold War Politics
Truman, McCarthy & Eisenhower
Harry Truman
Unprepared?
Chinese Civil War
• “Truman lost
China”
“The Buck Stops Here”
“Fair Deal”
• Continuation of New Deal
liberalism
• Universal health care system
• Protection for labor unions
• Civil rights
• Fair Employment Practices Commission
(FEPC)
• Integration of armed forces
• Opposed by Congress
• conservative Republicans
• southern Democrats
Universal Health Care?
Labor Unions?
• Taft-Hartley Act, 1947
• Was Passed over Truman’s
veto
• Anti-union law
• Sponsored by Republicans
• End of New Deal labor policies
• Provisions
–
–
–
–
Prohibited closed shops
Non-Communist oath
Stopped donations to campaigns
60-day cool off before strike
Civil Rights?
Integration of the Armed Forces
Dixiecrats
• “States Rights
Democratic Party”
• Strom Thurmond
• Abandoned Truman
in the 1948 election
b/c of civil rights
Election of 1948
Election of 1948
22nd Amendment
The Second Red Scare
First Red Scare
• 1910s-1920s
• Hysteria
– Anarchism
– Bolshevism
– Immigrants
Truman’s Loyalty Program
• 1947
• Investigations of
“disloyal” Americans
Taft-Hartley Act, 1947
AFL-CIO
House Unamerican Activities Committee
• HUAC
• “I am not now,
nor have I ever
been, a
member of the
communist
party.”
Hollywood Ten
Dennis v. U.S., 1951
• Communist Party
– 1st Amendment?
– Subversion of U.S.
government?
• Ruling:
– No specific threats of
violence, but…
– Guilty of conspiracy
against U.S. government
1952 McCarran-Walter Act
• Immigration restrictions on
Communist countries
– Soviet Union
– Soviet bloc
– China
• Provisions
– Quotas
– Deportation procedures
Spy Cases
Whittaker Chambers
• Soviet spy from
1935-1938
• Editor of Time
Magazine
• 1948 – Brought
before HUAC
– Accused Alger Hiss
of being a spy
– Hid documents in
a pumpkin on his
farm
Nixon & the “Pumpkin Papers”
Alger Hiss
• Tried for
perjury
• Imprisoned
1950-1954
• Maintained his
innocence until
his death
Julius & Ethel Rosenberg
• Members of
Communist
Party
• Accused of
being atomic
spies
David Greenglass
• Brother of
Ethel
Rosenberg
• Employee at
Los Alamos
• Testified
against Julius
& Ethel
1953 Execution
The Venona Papers
• Hiss was guilty
• Julius was guilty
• Ethel was probably
not guilty
McCarthyism
Joseph McCarthy & Roy Cohn
McCarthy’s Tactics
• Hatch Act (1938)
– made it illegal
for the federal
government to
employ members
of the Communist
party
• “I hold in my
hand a list of
names…”
McCarthy to Truman
Truman to McCarthy
A Controversial Figure
Margaret Chase Smith
• “Declaration of
Conscience” Speech
• It is not “un-American”
to
–
–
–
–
Criticize
Protest
Hold unpopular beliefs
Think independently
McCarthyism
The Army Hearings – G. David Schine
The Army Hearings – Television
The Army Hearings – Joseph Welch
• Attorney for the Army
• Condemned
McCarthy’s bullying
tactics
– “Have you no sense of
decency, sir?”
• Video link
– McCarthy-Welch
Exchange
Arthur Miller
• Married Marilyn
Monroe
• Playwright
– Death of a
Salesman, 1948
– The Crucible,
1953
• McCarthyism &
Salem Witch Trials
The Crucible
Dwight
Eisenhower
1952 Campaign
1952 Campaign
“Modern Republicanism”
• Compromise between conservatism &
liberal “big government”
– “Common Good”: Department of Health,
Education
& Welfare (HEW)
– Infrastructure: Interstate highway system
– Energy: “Atoms for Peace”
– Space Race: Sputnik sparks NASA
– Defense: nuclear weapons build-up
– Civil rights: Brown v. Board of Education
– Education: National Defense Education Act & Little Rock Crisis
• Alaska & Hawaii Statehood
• Farewell Address: “Military-industrial complex”
• Continuation of Cold War containment policy
HEW
National Highway Act
National Highway Act
Urban/Suburban Sprawl
“Atoms for Peace”
Sputnik, 1957
NASA, 1958
National Defense Education Act, 1958
Brown v. Board of Education, 1954
Little Rock Crisis
Spending: Nukes vs. Conventional Military
Eisenhower’s Farewell Address
• Dangers of the
“military-industrial
complex”
Alaska & Hawaii Statehood
Life in
Suburbia
1959 Cadillac: Conspicuous Consumption
Growth of the Middle Class
Civil Defense
Fallout Shelters
Audio:
Civil defense radio
announcement
“Duck & Cover”
Click here for
the educational
video
“Duck & Cover”