Ma Blog Pour la classe de l'histoire: March 2013

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

The Stalemated Seventies

1. America had enjoyed a long economic boom in the 1950s and 60s. The 1970s would see that boom end.
2. No year's productivity during the 70s would equal any year in the 50s or 60s. There were several reasons for the slow-down.
  1. Women and teens increasingly entered the workforce. Generally speaking, they were less skilled, often had temporary jobs.
  2. Machinery was getting old and run down by this time.
  3. The major cause was the upward spiral of inflation. Vietnam War spending helped cause inflation, but it was caused mostly from increased oil prices.
  4. What's more, the boom-years had put more money in people's hands. Anytime this is the case, prices go up.
3. America's economic lead had dwindled as Germany and Japan had by then rebuilt and caught back up.
Nixon “Vietnamizes” the War
1. Nixon entered the White House promising an honorable end to the war. He pursued "Vietnamization", or returning U.S. troops and turning the war over to the Vietnamese.
  1. This became the "Nixon Doctrine" saying the U.S. would honor its commitments, but the Vietnamese would have to go it without massive American troop numbers.
2. The policy was middle-of-the-road, enough to get him elected. Still, with America so divided, their were still opponents—hawks wanted more action, doves wanted to leave immediately. The doves protested loudly.
  1. Nixon appealed to the “silent majority”, those who supported the war, but without the sound and fury of the protesters.
3. In the earlier part of the war especially, the fighting was done disproportionately by the poorer classes.
  1. Being in college got young men a deferment from the draft (a free pass).
  2. African-Americans suffered casualties at higher rates than whites.
  3. The result was that most Vietnam "grunts" (ground soldiers) were fresh out of high school (the average age was 19).
4. Morale was low too. A bogged down war, with high casualties and no clear mission led to drugs, mutiny, sabotage, and "fragging" troop's own officers. Frustration was best seen in the infamous My Lai Massacre (1968).
  1. At that village, U.S. troops snapped and killed the entire village, including women and children.
  2. My Lai increased protest at home and helped lead to charges of "baby killers"—an unfair charge for nearly all of the troops.
Cambodianizing the Vietnam War
1. The North Vietnamese had been using their neighbor as a staging-ground for attacks. The land was out-of-bounds for U.S. troops, but the North channeled supplies through Cambodia down the "Ho Chi Minh Trail."
  1. In 1970, Nixon ordered the U.S. to invade Cambodia to put a stop to the uneven playing field.
2. On U.S. universities, there was much protest to moving into Cambodia. The logic went, "The U.S. is not at war with Cambodia, why are we invading there?"
  1. A protest at Kent State University got out of hand and the National Guard was called in to disperse the protestors. For some reason, the Guard opened fire and killed four protesters.
  2. A similar situation occurred at Jackson State College killing two.
  3. The rift between hawks and doves had widened. Nixon pulled out of Cambodia after only two months. U.S. troops resented Nixon's reversal and having to fight with "one hand tied behind their back."
3. Congress was regretting the blank check (Tonkin Gulf Resolution). The Senate repealed the Resolution (this was symbolic only).
4. The Twenty-sixth Amendment (1971) was passed. It lowered the voting age to 18. The reasoning was that 18 and 19 year olds should be allowed to vote for the politicians sending them off to war.
5. The New York Times dropped a bombshell in June 1971. They broke the "Pentagon Papers"—a top secret study that showed goof-ups by JFK and LBJ.
  1. The Pentagon Papers helped to the the "credibility gap" which was the gap between what the government said (the war is going great) and the reality (it wasn't).
Nixon’s Détente with Beijing (Peking) and Moscow
1. China and the Soviet Union were fighting (literally at times) over what it means to be a communist. Nixon saw this as a chance to step in and play one against the other.
2. National security adviser Henry A. Kissinger had been secretly meeting in Paris with North Vietnamese officials in hopes of working to an end of the war. He was also preparing the way for Nixon to visit China and Russia.
3. Nixon did visit China, in 1972. It was a symbolic visit where each side promised to get along better. Three months later, Nixon went to Russia. With better U.S.-China relations, he felt Russia would be inclined to give in a bit. He was right.
  1. The U.S.S.R. was low on food. A deal was struck where the U.S. would sell $750+ million grain to the Soviets.
  2. There was some disarmament as well. America and the Soviets agreed to an anti-ballistic missile (ABM) reduction and to a string of "Strategic Arms Limitations Talks" (SALT).
    1. This was a hollow victory though. The quantity may have been limited, but agreements could be easily ignored and were by both sides.
    2. Plus, the move was now toward "MIRVs" (multiple independently targeted reentry vehicles) where several nuclear weapons were mounted on a single missile.
4. Still, getting along better with China and Russia brought on another round of détente (eased tensions).
5. Nixon was still against communism. This is seen in the government's involvement in Latin American governments that were possibly going red.
A New Team on the Supreme Bench
1. Under Chief Justice Earl Warren, the Supreme Court had made a noticeable shift to the left (liberal side) and was activist. Nixon fussed about this move. Several cases showed the trend…
2. Griswold v. Connecticut (1965) - Struck down a state law banning contraceptive use as a "right of privacy."
3. A series of cases gave rights to defendants in criminal cases.
  1. Gideon v. Wainwright (1963) - Said all defendants were entitled to a lawyer.
  2. The Escobedo and Miranda cases (1966) - Said arrested individuals must be told their rights.
4. New York Times v. Sullivan (1964) - A public figure could only sue for libel if "malice" on the writer's part could be proven. This opened wide the door for jabs at politicians and movies stars.
5. Engel v. Vitale (1962) and School District of Abington Township v. Schempp (1963) - Removed prayer and the Bible from schools, arguing the First Amendment separates church and state.
6. Reynolds v. Sims (1964) - Forbade creative district lines that made some people's votes weigh more than others. This type of gerrymandering had been used by southern whites to keep power.
7. Nixon sought to change the Court's liberal trend by appointing otherwise-minded justices. Warren E. Burger was quickly nominated, accepted, and became chief justice. Nixon appointed a total of four supposedly conservative justices.
  1. However, justices are free to rule as they wish, not how the president wants. The Burger Court was reluctant to undo what the Warren Court had done.
  2. Evidence of how the court was not conservative came with the Roe v. Wade decision (1973) which legalized abortion.
Nixon on the Home Front This content copyright © 2010 by WikiNotes.wikidot.com
1. Contrary to what one might guess from a conservative, Nixon made the Great Society programs grow. For example:
  1. Money for Medicare, Medicaid, and Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) increased. The Supplemental Security Income (SSI) was created to help the old, blind, and disabled. Social Security would be automatically increased with inflation.
2. In his controversial "Philadelphia Plan", trade-unions were required to set "goals and timetables" for hiring blacks.
  1. The policy was extended to all federal contracts. It forced businesses to hire a quota of minorities.
  2. The Supreme Court backed Nixon in Griggs v. Duke Power Co. (1971).
    1. The court prohibited things like intelligence tests, saying they limited women and minorities in some fields. The court suggested hiring proportions should be the same ratio as the population.
  3. To many, especially white males, the idea of "affirmative action" had turned into "preferential treatment" or "reverse discrimination."
3. Environmental laws were passed.
  1. The godmother of the modern environmental movement was Rachel Carson. She wrote Silent Spring (1962) about the ill-effects of the pesticide DDT.
  2. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was formed in 1970 along with the Occupational Health and Safety Admin. (OSHA) to set safety standards in workplaces.
  3. The Clean Air Act (1970) and the Endangered Species Act (1973) were passed. Symbolically, "Earth Day" began.
4. Back to the economy, Nixon tried to halt inflation by imposing a 90-day wage and price freeze in 1971.
  1. He surprisingly took the U.S. off the gold standard and devalued the dollar. This ended the "Bretton Woods" system of currency stabilization set after WWII.
5. As a minority president (he'd gotten only 43% of the votes), Nixon gathered southern support by appointing conservative justices, paying little attention to civil rights, and opposing school busing.
The Nixon Landslide of 1972
1. North Vietnam attacked across the dividing line (the "DMZ") in 1972. Nixon responded by ramping up bombings and mining the harbors of the North.
  1. The fear was that Russia and China might respond—they didn't, thanks to Nixon's smoothing of relations.
2. The presidential election of 1972 saw Nixon seek reelection. The Democrats nominated George McGovern who promised to end the war in 90 days.
  1. McGovern was supported by young adults and women. His campaign was hurt when it became known that his V.P. candidate, Thomas Eagleton, had received psychiatric treatment.
  2. 12 days before the election, Henry Kissinger announced that "peace is at hand" and an agreement would be announced in a few days. Nixon won in a huge way, 520 to 17.
3. The agreement Kissinger had spoken of didn't come just yet. Nixon ramped up the bombings in attempt to drive the North back to the bargaining table, it work, and on January 23, 1973 a cease-fire was reached.
  1. Nixon declared "peace with honor", but it was hollow. The U.S. would withdraw, but the North kept 145,000 soldiers and 30% of the South occupied.
The Secret Bombing of Cambodia and the War Powers Act
1. In mid-1973, people were surprised to learn that the U.S. had made some 3,500 secret bombings of Cambodia. This despite assurances from the government that Cambodia's neutrality was intact. The "credibility gap" widened.
  1. Nixon's goal had been to hurt the communists there and help the non-communists.
  2. The end result was that, in the chaos, a tyrant named Pol Pot killed some 2 million of his own people.
2. Congress set out to ensure that no "blank check" like the Tonkin Gulf Resolution would be passed again.
  1. Congress passed the War Powers Act (1973). It said (1) the president must report to Congress within 48 hours of putting troops in harms way in a foreign country and (2) there would be a 60 to 90 day limit.
  2. This law helped start what was called the "New Isolationism."
The Arab Oil Embargo and the Energy Crisis
1. The Arab nations were unhappy about their loss to Israel in the Six-Day War of 1967. In 1973, Egypt and Syria attacked Israel trying to win back lands lost.
  1. America aided Israel, while Kissinger helped keep the Soviets out of the fray. After tense times, an uneasy peace was reached.
  2. But, Arab nations were not pleased at America's support of Israel.
2. In October of 1973, Arab nations placed an embargo on oil.
  1. Long lines formed at gas stations and prices of gas skyrocketed in the U.S.
3. The "energy crisis" changed things in America.
  1. The Alaska pipeline was approved to flow oil southward.
  2. A 55 MPH speed limit was set to conserve fuel. Americans also moved to smaller cars, like the VW Bug.
  3. There were calls for more use of coal and nuclear power.
4. The embargo was lifted after 5 months. But, the message was clear: America was addicted to oil and the Middle East had nearly all of the cards in their hands.
  1. Using OPEC to exert their will, the Arab nations nearly quadrupled the price of oil by the end of the 70s.
Watergate and the Unmaking of a President
1. During the campaign, five men had been caught breaking into the Democratic party's headquarters in the Watergate building. They were snooping files and planting microphones. It was discovered they were part of CREEP (the Committee to Reelect the President).
  1. The question became, "Who ordered this and who knew of this?" Nixon said he knew nothing of the business.
  2. At about the same time, Nixon's V.P., Spiro Agnew, had his own mini-scandal involving past bribes. Agnew resigned and Gerald Ford was chosen as the new Vice President.
2. The Senate investigated Watergate. A former White House lawyer, John Dean, accused Nixon of a cover-up (to quiet anyone with any knowledge). It was then learned Nixon had tape recordings of all Oval Office conversations, so the tapes were sought. Nixon refused which looked bad.
  1. Also, in the "Saturday Night Massacre", Nixon fired Watergate investigators and the attorney general, which also looked bad.
  2. Some tapes were handed over in 1974 at the Supreme Court's ruling. They revealed Nixon's foul mouth—embarrassing but not impeachable.
  3. A month later, impeachment for "obstruction of justice" was going forward so Nixon handed over all of the tapes. Those revealed Nixon had indeed ordered a cover-up—this was an impeachable offense.
3. Rather than get booted out of office, Nixon resigned on August 8, 1974. Gerald Ford was sworn in as the new president.
The First Unelected President
1. Gerald Ford became president without anyone ever voting for him, either for president or vice president.
2. He was seen as a nice guy, more of an everyman, but a bit of an average-minded and clumsy fellow. None of the negatives were really fair, but that was much of the public view.
3. Surprisingly, Ford pardoned Nixon for any illegal actions he might have done.
  1. This smelled stinky. The deal appeared to have been…Ford was chosen V.P. so that if Nixon ever got into trouble, Ford would cover his back. There is no way to know this, but that was the perception. This would hurt Ford in the 1976 election.
  2. Later, Ford's popularity went downhill when he gave amnesty to draft dodgers. He felt they'd not served out of heartfelt reasons, so they were welcome to return to the U.S.
4. Ford's foreign relation activities centered on the Helsinki accords with the U.S.S.R. In these agreements, (1) the boundaries of eastern Europe were agreed upon, (2) agreements were made on traveling from the U.S. and U.S.S.R., and (3) guarantees were made of human rights.
  1. To many Americans, détente was benefiting Russia, but America was getting little in return.
Defeat in Vietnam
1. America's goal in Vietnam was to contain communism. America left in 1973, generally having done that. In 1975, however, North Vietnam overran and took over South Vietnam.
  1. It was embarrassing that the last Americans were evacuated from the rooftop of the American embassy by helicopter.
2. Technically, America didn't lose the war. America left when it was a tie, then the U.S.-supported South Vietnam lost. But, in reality and in perception, America lost.
Feminist Victories and Defeats
1. The feminist movement of the 60s gained some steam entering the 70s.
2. Congress passed "Title IX" (1972) which prohibited sex discrimination in any federally-funded educational program. This was best seen in the rise of girls' sports to equal boys'.
3. The Supreme Court heard cases regarding women.
  1. Reed v. Reed and Frontiero v. Richardson, dealt with sex discrimination in laws and jobs.
  2. The Roe v. Wade (1973) case legalized abortion.
4. The proposed "Equal Rights Amendment" (ERA) passed Congress in 1972. ERA sought to legislate equality by stating equal rights can't be denied due to gender.
  1. Next, 38 states needed to ratify ERA for passage as a Constitutional Amendment. 28 states ratified it quickly. Feminists were energized.
  2. At this point, opposition stalled ERA. Essentially, the opposition felt ERA would undercut and deteriorate the family.
    1. National child care was proposed. The thinking was that this would weaken family life.
    2. The feminist movement was seen as the cause of divorce. The divorce rate had tripled between 1960 and '76.
    3. Many despised abortion. Catholics and other Christians viewed pregnancy as a blessing and charged the feminists viewed it as an inconvenience.
    4. The leader against ERA was Phyliss Schlafly. She traveled the country advocating "STOP ERA" and advocating traditional roles for women.
    5. ERA was failed in 1982, 3 states short of the needed 38.
The Seventies in Black and White
1. The race issue wouldn't go away. In Milliken v. Bradley, the Supreme Court ruled that, while integrating schools, officials could not force students across district lines.
  1. The practicality of this was that integration took a hit. If students went to their nearest school, the schools would stay largely segregated.
  2. The "white flight" to the suburbs sped up. What was left behind to deal with the tensions of integration were the less-advantaged classes of society.
2. "Affirmative action" (giving preference to minorities in selection) led to charges of "reverse discrimination."
  1. The idea was that affirmative action meant selection for colleges or jobs based on race, not on achievement.
  2. In the Bakke case (1978), the Supreme Court dealt with reverse discrimination.
    1. Bakke had sued saying he'd been turned down grad school due to policies that favored minorities. He won. The Court said admission preference could not be based on race.
    2. Paradoxically, the court also said race can be used in the overall admission policies to help balance out the student body's demographics.
    3. Thurgood Marshall was the only black justice. He voted against Bakke and said the decision might undo years of civil rights progress.
The Bicentennial Campaign and the Carter Victory
1. 1976 was the nation's bicentennial celebration. After years of race problems, Vietnam, and Watergate. Despite all of the turmoil and ousting a president, America and the Constitution had survived. America needed a celebration.
2. It was also an election year. President Ford tried to get elected on his own, the Democrats chose Jimmy Carter.
  1. Carter capitalized on being a “Washington outsider,” and therefore untainted by the supposed corruption of D.C. (he’d previously been governor of Georgia).
  2. The election was very close, but the Republican "brand" had been too tarnished by Watergate nonsense. Carter won 297 to 240.
3. Congress also went heavily Democrat. During his "honeymoon period", Carter got a new Dept. of Energy established. He also got a tax cut through.
  1. Carter's honeymoon was short though. Being a political outsider was good during the election, but not good inside Washington D.C. where "back-slapping" and "back-scratching" is how things get done.
Carter’s Humanitarian Diplomacy
1. Jimmy Carter was a devout Christian and had a high concern for human rights. That would be his guiding principle when it came to foreign policy.
  1. For example, he expressed his concern and support for the oppressed people of Zimbabwe (called Rhodesia then).
2. Carter's crowning foreign policy achievement was a Middle East peace settlement.
  1. Egyptian president Anwar Sadat and Israeli president Menachem Begin met Carter at Camp David in 1978.
  2. They shook hands and agreed that Israel would withdraw from lands gained in the Six-Day War (1967) and Israel's borders would be respected.
3. Full diplomatic relations with China were reestablished.
4. Another agreement planned to turn over the Panama Canal to Panama by the year 2000 (and did).
5. To many, Carter's policies seemed nice, but soft and too willing to give.
  1. Plus, the Cold War kept on going. Thousands of Soviet backed Cuban troops showed up in various African countries to support communist forces there. Carter made no response.
Economic and Energy Woes
1. Carter had worse problems than foreign affairs—the economy was tanking.
  1. Inflation was rising by 13% in 1979 (4% is normal). The cost of importing oil was skyrocketing.
  2. Carter proposed energy conservation laws, but they weren't well received.
  3. Interest rates were very high as well. This meant borrowing money (to buy a home for example) was too expensive.
2. Along with oil, the Middle East gave Carter more headaches in 1979 when the shah of Iran was ousted by Islamic fundamentalists. The shah had been put into power with help from the CIA and was seen as a symbol of the West and the U.S.
  1. The new Muslim government took over the oil fields. Oil production went down and OPEC raised oil prices farther.
  2. Carter went to Camp David, talked with energy experts, then scolded America for its dependence on oil and materialism. This was probably true, but it was a scolding, not an energy solution.
    1. Within a few days he fired four cabinet members and reverted to his close-knit Georgia crew. Some wondered if Carter was losing touch with the people.
Foreign Affairs and the Iranian Imbroglio
1. Another high-note for Carter came with the SALT II agreements. He met with Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev and agreed to limit nuclear weapons.
  1. The high-note was short lived—the Senate was very reluctant to ratify the agreement.
2. At the same time, militant Muslim radicals in Iran stormed the U.S. embassy in Teheran and took everyone hostage.
  1. The militants demanded that the U.S. hand over the shah who'd fled earlier. Worse, what would the U.S. do about the 52 Americans being held hostage?
  2. Another bad event at the same time mixed the Cold War, oil, and the Muslim World.
    1. The Soviet Union suddenly attacked and took over Afghanistan (Dec. 1979). This move threatened (1) to expand communism, (2) oil fields and production, and (3) next-door neighbor Iran.
3. Carter reacted by placing an embargo on the U.S.S.R. and by boycotting the 1980 summer Olympics in Moscow.
  1. He proposed setting up a "Rapid Deployment Force" for trouble-spots and asked that young people, including women, be required to register for a possible military draft.
  2. Carter admitted he'd misjudged the Soviets at the SALT II talks. This is when SALT II died.
4. The Iran hostage situation was still going—it would be the undoing of Carter.
  1. The U.S. tried economic sanctions, they failed.
  2. A secret rescue mission was planned and tried. It literally went down in flames in a sandstorm.
  3. Carter was unable to resolve the Iran hostage situation. Fair or not, the American hostages in Iran became a symbol of problems which Carter could not solve.

Chapter 38 - The Stormy Sixtie

Kennedy’s “New Frontier” Spirit
1. Kennedy was the youngest president ever elected (though Teddy Roosevelt had taken over at a younger age). JFK personified the glamor and optimism of a younger, robust, vibrant America. Inaugural addresses seldom are memorable, Kennedy's was memorable with the line, "…ask not, what your country can do for you: ask what you can do for your country."
  1. JFK also put together a young cabinet, "the best and the brightest", including his brother Robert Kennedy, 35 years old, as Attorney General.
    1. "Bobby" Kennedy focused the FBI's efforts on "internal security", not-so-much on organized crime, and none on civil rights.
    2. Longtime FBI head J. Edgar Hoover did not like the reforms.
  2. Robert McNamara left a business background to become head of the Defense Department.
2. JFK had high expectations. He'd spoken of a "New Frontier", hinting that America was on the brink of something newly great. He was optimistic and idealistic.
  1. Kennedy started the Peace Corps where mostly young, idealistic Americans would go to third world nations to help out and teach. Usually the fields were health, agriculture, languages and math.
3. Kennedy was wealthy, Harvard-educated, witty. He and his cabinet went to the White House very confident.
The New Frontier at Home
1. The New Frontier, his domestic social program, was threatened by both Democrat and Republican conservatives. Some of Kennedy's steps were put made…
  1. The House Rules Committee was expanded—this might help avoid conservative hang-ups.
  2. A noninflationary wage agreement was settled, contingent on companies keeping prices down. When steel companies did not, Kennedy called in their leaders into the White House, reprimanded them, and they backed down.
  3. Supporters of free enterprise and laissez-faire capitalism were not happy about these actions. They did support JFK when he said he would not increase spending but would cut taxes to stimulate the economy.
2. Kennedy initiated the quest to put a man on the moon by the end of the decade. The goal was almost unthinkable when he said it, but in July, 1969, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin set foot on the moon.
Rumblings in Europe
1. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev met in 1961. Khrushchev bullied and young president. JFK was shaken, but stood his ground.
2. East Berliners were flooding into West Berlin—this was an unacceptable embarrassment to the U.S.S.R. So, the Soviet Union began to build the Berlin Wall that same year to keep folks in.
  1. The Berlin Wall would become the most obvious symbol of the Cold War split and what Winston Churchill had called the "Iron Curtain" between the east and west.
3. Western Europe had made a great turn-around, thanks in large part to the Marshall Plan's help.
  1. To further help Western Europe, Kennedy got the Trade Expansion Act passed. It was to lower tariffs by up to 50% and thus help the new Common Market in trade. Lowering the tariffs did increase trade substantially.
4. France, however, was not as receptive to the U.S. Pres. Charles de Gaulle was making a name for himself by sticking up to and sticking out his chest at the Americans. For example, he'd vetoed Britain's request to join the Common Market in fear of a "special relationship" with America. He also pursued nuclear weapons for France, fearing America would not come through in a crisis.
  1. Amazingly, de Gualle seemed to have forgotten that less than 20 years earlier, Hitler and the Nazis had controlled the streets of Paris until America pushed them out.
Foreign Flare-Ups and “Flexible Response”
1. When the French left Southeast Asia in 1954, Laos was left without a government and a civil war started.
  1. The Americans feared a communist government would emerge—Ike had put money into the country and Kennedy looked for a diplomatic way out. The Geneva Conference (1962) set up a peace, though it stood on shaky legs.
2. Sec. of Defense Robert McNamara moved America's policy away from "massive retaliation" to "flexible response." He didn't want a small nation with relatively small problems to give America two options: backing down or nuclear holocaust. Rather, he wanted to deal with situations with a variety of options.
  1. The logic was good, the reality came to haunt the U.S.—America could now get in just a little bit, maybe a bit more, but then once in, how to get out without looking bad? This would be the story of Vietnam.
  2. To match the situation with the force necessary, Kennedy upped spending on the Special Forces (Green Berets).
Stepping into the Vietnam Quagmire
1. Vietnam was split at the 17th parallel. The South was led by Ngo Din Diem and back by the U.S. The shaky government wasn't a democracy in the American sense, but it wasn't communist. The North was led by Ho Chi Minh and was communist. They threatened to overrun the South.
2. To defend from the North, Kennedy sent "military advisers" (U.S. troops) to South Vietnam. They were supposedly there to instruct on how to fight, but not fight themselves. Kennedy, "in the final analysis", said it was "their war."
  1. By the time of his death, JFK had sent about 15,000 "advisers." It was now becoming difficult to just leave without looking bad.
Cuban Confrontations
1. Kennedy improved relations with Latin America with the Alliance for Progress (called the "Marshall Plan for Latin America"). His goal was to curb the threat of rising communism by narrowing the rich-poor gap.
  1. Progress, however, was minimal. Some American "gimmies" weren't going to suddenly solve huge problems.
2. JFK got a major embarrassment with the Bay of Pigs Invasion (1961).
  1. The CIA secretly trained Cuban exiles with the goal of invading Cuba, rallying all the people, and overthrowing Castro. Castro's troops met and halted the attack at the Bay of Pigs. Kennedy would not help the attackers, there was no ground-swelling of support from within Cuba, and the attack was crushed.
  2. Added to secret American attempts to get Castro assassinated, the Bay of Pigs pushed Castro even more toward communism.
  3. JFK took full responsibility for the attack, and in doing so, his popularity actually went up.
3. Cuba was again on the world stage with the Cuban Missile Crisis that took place in October of 1961.
  1. Aerial photos showed that the U.S.S.R. was putting nuclear missiles in Cuba. For America, Russian nukes 90 miles from Florida could not stand.
  2. Kennedy listened to options. At his brother Bobby's suggestion, JFK chose to impose a naval blockade since it was middle-ground between an invasion and an embargo. It put the ball back into Khrushchev's court.
    1. Khrushchev promised to run the blockade and continue assembling the missile sites.
  3. For 13 days, the world was as close to nuclear war as it'd ever been. Thankfully, Khrushchev backed down and the Soviet ships turned back.
  4. In return for removing the missile sites, Kennedy agreed to remove missiles from Turkey (these were outdated anyway). A "hot line" was installed between Washington and Moscow to avoid lacking communication in a crisis.
4. Kennedy also encouraged Americans to stop thinking of the Russians as monsters, but rather as people just like them. This was the beginnings of "détente" or relaxed tensions.
The Struggle for Civil Rights This content copyright © 2010 by WikiNotes.wikidot.com
1. Kennedy had campaigned toward and received black support. He was slow to grab onto the civil rights movement, however. Still, things were happening fast in the movement…
2. Freedom Riders, generally young white northerners, rode buses through the South to draw attention to segregation. Some Southerners turned violent against the buses—this drew more attention to the Freedom Riders.
3. Kennedy slowly stepped into the civil rights movement.
  1. He was concerned that if he linked with Martin Luther King, Jr., it might be revealed that King had friends who had communist connections. Robert Kennedy had J. Edgar Hoover investigate and keep a file on MLK to that end, even tap MLK's phone line.
  2. John Kennedy did help SNCC get started with funds. They started the Voter Education Project to register southern black voters.
4. Despite Brown v. Board 6+ years prior, integration was slow.
  1. At the Univ. of Mississippi, James Meredith was blocked from enrolling by white students. Kennedy sent in federal marshals and troops so Meredith could go to class.
  2. Martin Luther King, Jr. organized a peaceful protest of segregation in Birmingham, AL in early 1963.
    1. The protesters were attacked by police dogs, electric cattle prods, and high pressure water hoses.
    2. America watched these vicious scenes on TV. These types of instances helped to slowly start changing public opinion in favor of the protesters.
  3. Kennedy went on TV in June of 1963 and called the race situation a "moral issue" for America. He publicly aligned himself with the civil rights movement and called for new civil rights legislation.
5. In August, 1963, MLK led 200,000 demonstrators in the famous "March on Washington." There he gave his "I Have a Dream" speech, then met with Kennedy for talks.
6. Violence kept on, however. Medgar Evers, a black civil rights worker, was shot and killed the very night Kennedy came on TV. In September, a bomb exploded in a black church killing four black girls.
The Killing of Kennedy
1. In November of 1963 JFK made a campaign trip down South (his weakest area). Kennedy was shot and killed in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963 by Lee Harvey Oswald.
  1. Oswald was shot and killed on TV a couple of days later by Jack Ruby.
2. Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn in as president on Air Force One heading back to Washington.
3. America was stunned. Her young, charismatic and idealistic president was gone.
  1. Sadly, his reputation would later be hurt when his womanizing and connections to organized crime came to light.
The LBJ Brand on the Presidency
1. Lyndon Baines Johnson was a former senator and held FDR as his hero. LBJ was a master at getting Congress to go his way by giving the "Johnson treatment"—getting up-in-the-face and jabbing a finger-in-the-chest.
  1. LBJ was a true cuss from Texas. He was vain, super egotistical, and crude.
2. LBJ went liberal as president. Congress passed the Civil Rights Act that JFK had called for and LBJ signed it.
  1. The law banned discrimination in public facilities and sought to end segregation.
  2. It also set up the Equal Employment Opportunity Comm. (EEOC) to serve as watchdog for fair hiring practices.
3. Johnson spoke of his vision which he called the "Great Society". It was a continuation of New Deal types of programs. The idealistic thinking was that America was so prosperous, there was no reason to accept anything less than prosperity for all. He launched a "War on Poverty."
  1. He got support when Michael Harrington wrote The Other America (1962) which said that despite the affluence, 20% of Americans lived in poverty (40% of blacks).
Johnson Battles Goldwater in 1964
1. In the 1964 presidential election, Johnson sought to win on his own for the Democrats as a New Dealish liberal. The Republicans chose Sen. Barry Goldwater, a conservative.
2. Goldwater criticized income taxes, Social Security, the TVA, civil rights laws, nuclear test bans, and the Great Society.
3. LBJ countered as being a more poised statesman.
  1. In August 1964, there was the Gulf of Tonkin Incident. There, two U.S. warships had been attacked by the North Vietnamese. In response, the Tonkin Gulf Resolution was passed by Congress essentially giving the president a blank check for return action.
  2. Barry Goldwater talked a tough game versus the communists. He hinted that he might even use nuclear weapons if needed. LBJ seized this in an attack ad on TV. It showed a little girl picking daisies, then exploding in a nuclear mushroom cloud. The message: elect Goldwater and Ka-Boom!
4. LBJ won the election 486 to 52.
The Great Society Congress
1. Democrats also won large victories in the Congress. This opened the door for the Great Society programs.
2. The War on Poverty was stepped up. The Office of Economic Opportunity had its budget doubled to $2 billion. Another billion was to be spent on Appalachia, a region of America that had been little touched by modern prosperity.
3. At LBJ's pushing two new cabinet offices were created: the Dept. of Transportation (DOT) and the Dept. of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). America's first black cabinet member, Robert C. Weaver, was named to head HUD.
4. Johnson's Great Society sought to improve the Big Four areas:
  1. Education - Money was given to students and not schools to thus get around the separation of church and state issue. Project Head Start was preschool for kids who otherwise couldn't afford it.
  2. Medical care - Medicare for the elderly and Medicaid for the poor were passed in 1965. These programs would become staple rights in America's minds; they'd also become a major cause of national debt.
  3. Immigration reform - The Immigration and Nationality Act got rid of the old quota system around since 1921. The law doubled the number of immigrants allowed in (to 290,000), allowed family members in, and for the first time limited the number of Western Hemisphere immigrants (to 120,000). Immigration was changing from Europe to Latin American and Asia.
  4. Voting rights - LBJ wanted to get more blacks voting (see the section below).
Battling for Black Rights
1. Voting among blacks in the south was rare (only 5% in Mississippi) as whites used tricks to prevent black votes.
  1. The Voting Rights Act (1965) sought to end the racial discrimination that accompanied voting. It banned literacy tests and it sent registrars to the polls to watch out for dirty dealings.
  2. The Twenty-fourth Amendment forbade poll taxes where you had to pay to vote.
2. The Civil Rights Movement marched on.
  1. In the "Freedom Summer" (1964), blacks and whites joined hands and sang "We Shall Overcome" to protest racism.
  2. In June of that year, three civil rights workers were found beaten to death in Mississippi (one black, two white). 21 whites were arrested, including the sheriff. The white jury did not convict anyone.
  3. Martin Luther King, Jr. set up a voter registration drive in Selma, Alabama. The plan was to march from Selma to the capital of Montgomery.
    1. State police used tear gas, whips. Two people died in the chaos.
    2. Lyndon Johnson joined the Civil Rights Movement by calling for an end to "bigotry and injustice." This is when the Voting Rights Act gained steam and passed.
Black Power
1. Martin Luther King's approach was nonviolent. By 1965, he was making progress, though it was slow. To many young blacks, it was too slow—they wanted to take matters into their own hands.
2. A riot broke out in the Watts area of Los Angeles. The ghetto burned for a week, 34 people died.
3. New black leaders dismissed nonviolent protest. Some made fun of MLK calling him "de Lawd."
  1. Malcolm Little changed his named to Malcolm X. He'd been influenced by black militants in the Nation of Islam. The Nation of Islam had been founded by Elijah Poole (who changed his name to Elijah Muhammad).
    1. Malcolm X was a fantastic speaker. But ironically, he was likely as racist against whites as he criticized whites as being racist against blacks.
    2. Malcolm X later turned away from Elijah Muhammad, toward mainstream Islam. He was shot and killed in 1965 by Nation of Islam gunmen.
  2. The Black Panthers roamed the streets of Oakland armed with powerful weapons "for protection."
  3. Stokely Carmichael (from Trinidad) led the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). SNCC had begun with the peaceful sit-ins of the 50's. Now, it'd taken a rather "non-Nonviolent" stance.
    1. Carmichael spoke of Black Power, a catch-all phrase calling for blacks to carry out their political and economic power.
    2. Many blacks interpreted "Black Power" as a separatist movement. There was a movement to emphasize uniqueness such as "Afro" hair, clothes, names for children, and African studies in colleges.
4. More riots broke out in black ghettos, such as in Detroit (which left 43 dead) and Newark, NJ (25 dead).
5. To whites, these actions were troubling—it seemed chaos was becoming the rule. Northern whites were shocked when riots came to their hometown. They'd figured the "negro problem" was a southern problem.
6. Unfortunately, the voice of nonviolence ended when Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in April of 1968.
  1. Riots followed and over 40 died. But, things changed as voter registration skyrocketed and within four years, about half of black children were in integrated schools.
Combating Communism in Two Hemispheres
1. When a revolt broke out in the Dominican Republic, Johnson saw it as communism trying to crop up. He sent 25,000 troops to quell the revolt. He was criticized for making a knee-jerk reaction.
2. In Vietnam, things were stepping up in a big way.
  1. Johnson ordered "Operation Rolling Thunder"—full-out bombing on North Vietnam.
  2. LBJ used the Tonkin Gulf Resolution to follow a policy of "escalation." In 1965, he sent some 400,000 soldiers to Vietnam. This is usually marked as the starting-point for the Vietnam War.
  3. America's was "all in" in Vietnam at this point, win or lose. It was costing up to $30 billion per year too.
Vietnam Vexations
1. The war in Vietnam was dragging on in an ugly manner, and the U.S. was criticized internationally. Charles de Gaulle of France (who always looked for an instance to poke at America) ordered NATO out of France.
2. In the Six-Day War (June 1967), Israel shocked and beat U.S.S.R.-supported Egypt. Israel gained land in the Sinai Peninsula, Golan Heights, Gaza Strip, and the West Bank of the Jordan River (including Jerusalem).
  1. These lands brought 100,000 Palestinians under Israeli control. This situation still breeds problems.
3. Back in the U.S., protests against the Vietnam War increased. Students held "teach-ins", burnt draft cards and fled to Canada to avoid being drafted.
  1. America was being split into "doves" against the war and "hawks" who supported the war.
4. There was opposition in the government too, led by Sen. William Fulbright, head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, held televised hearings where people spoke against the war.
5. The CIA investigated people at home, a no-no. In Cointelpro, the FBI investigated "dove" leaders at home. This seemed more like a totalitarian state, but LBJ had it done anyway.
6. By 1968, the war had become the longest and most unpopular in U.S. history. LBJ said the war's end was near, but it was not.
Vietnam Topples Johnson
1. January 1968 was the break point of the war. At that time, North Vietnam launched a massive "Tet Offensive" against southern cities. The U.S. stopped the attack, but it showed the enemy was not all-but-done and that there were years of fighting left.
  1. The war was taking a toll on Johnson too, emotionally and physically.
2. American brass asked for more troops, but Johnson would not send them.
3. The war also split the Democratic party (1968 was another election year).
  1. Eugene McCarthy was the voice of the doves. He was supported by peace-loving college students. He scored a high 42% of the New Hampshire primary vote.
  2. Days later, Robert Kennedy entered the race, also as a dove. He brought the Kennedy name and charisma.
  3. A bigger shock came when LBJ announced that (a) he was freezing troop levels in Vietnam and (b) he would not run for reelection. The Democratic party was wide open.
The Presidential Sweepstakes of 1968
1. LBJ out of the race, V.P. Hubert H. Humphrey seemed the next logical choice. It was now McCarthy, Kennedy, and Humphrey for the Democrats.
  1. Just as it seemed Robert Kennedy would become the Democratic nominee, he was shot and killed. Humphrey would be nominated.
2. Richard Nixon would run as the Republican. He was a "hawk" and spoke of getting law-and-order in the cities at home.
3. Another candidate, George C. Wallace, ran for the American Independent party. He ran almost exclusively on a pro-segregation ticket saying "Segregation now! Segregation tomorrow! Segregation forever!"
4. Nixon would win the election, 301 to Humphrey's 191. Wallace got 46 southern electoral votes.
The Obituary of Lyndon Johnson
1. Lyndon Johnson and his Great Society was drug down by Vietnam.
2. He was in a position where no matter what he did in Vietnam, either the hawks or doves would not be happy.
3. He went home to his Texas ranch and died in 1973.
The Cultural Upheaval of the 1960s
1. The 1960's were a boom of cultural changes and challenges. Young people propelled the cultural changes—the slogan was, "Trust no one over 30."
2. The roots of the counterculture went back to the "beatniks" of the 1950's. Poet Allen Ginsburg and writer Jack Kerouac's book On the Road were the prelude for the hippie generation.
  1. Movies hinted at a frustrated youth too, like The Wild One with Marlon Brando and Rebel Without a Cause with James Dean.
3. One of the first big protests took place at Univ. of California at Berkeley in 1964 called the "Free Speech Movement." This protest was rather clean-cut, later ones would be "far out" with psychedelic drugs, "acid rock", and the call to "tune in and drop out" of school.
4. A "sexual revolution" took place in the 1960's.
  1. The birth-control pill reduced pregnancies and made sex seem more casual. Feminists like the pill for freeing women from being pregnant all the time.
  2. Gays called for acceptance. When some gay men in New York were attacked, the movement had some fuel. Later, in the 1980's AIDS popped up, mostly within the gay male community. This set back the gay movement.
5. The group Students for a Democratic Society had stood against poverty and war. By this time, they'd started a secret group called the "Weathermen" which was essentially an underground terrorist group. They started riots in the name of fighting poverty and war.
6. A drug culture emerged. Smoking "grass" turned into dropping LSD. The dirty underworld of drug dealers and drug addicts emerged.
7. The older and more traditional generations were appalled at these goings-on. They'd grown up through the Great Depression and WWII, were thankful for what they had, and understood sacrifice.
  1. To traditionalists, the counterculture generation was little more than spoiled baby boomers. They had too much time in college to study mush-mush ideas and too much money in their pockets to fool around with.

Chapter 36 - The Cold War Begins

Postwar Economic Anxieties
1. Many feared a return to the Great Depression or at least a post-war recession.
  1. When the war time price controls ended, inflation did increase significantly.
2. Labor unions had made steady gains during the Depression and the war. With the economy now strong, the pendulum now swung back against unions.
  1. Congress passed the Taft-Hartley Act. It banned "closed shops" (closed to anyone not joining the union). It also made unions liable for certain damages and that union leaders take a non-communist oath. Opposite of the Wagner Act of the New Deal, Taft-Hartley weakened labor unions.
  2. Unions tried to move into the South and the West, in the CIO's "Operation Dixie." This was unsuccessful.
    1. Two factors caused the failure: (1) Workers in the South and West were generally not factory workers but were scattered around and thus not easily unionized, and (2) these areas had a longtime value on individual freedom and hard work, and thus a disdain for labor unions which focused on group action to yield more pay with lower hours.
3. The government took steps to ward off any slow-down in the economy.
  1. War factories and government facilities were sold to businesses at rock bottom prices.
  2. The Employment Act (1946) got the government to "promote maximum employment, production, and purchasing power."
  3. The Council of Economic Advisors were to give the president solid data to make solid decisions.
4. The Servicemen's Readjustment Act (1944) was better known at the GI Bill of Rights. It sent 8 million former soldiers to vocational schools and colleges.
The Long Economic Boom, 1950-1970
1. The economy held its ground through the late 40's. By 1950, the economy began to skyrocket. America pushed toward, and reached, a new age of prosperity.
  1. By 1960, America's national income nearly doubled, then nearly doubled again by 1970. By 1973, Americans made up 6% of the world's population and held 40% of the money.
2. The middle class was the big winner during these years. The class doubled in size and they expanded their ambitions: two cars in the garage, and a pool out back, and whatever else can be thrown in.
3. Women benefited from the good times as well. Many women found jobs in new offices and shops. Women were 25% of the workforce at war's end, about 50% five years later.
  1. The traditional roles of women at home was still glorified in popular media. A clash was being set up between women at work and women at home.
The Roots of Postwar Prosperity
1. The postwar economic boom had several causes and propellants…
  1. The war's massive production jump-started the entire economy.
  2. Post-war military projects kept the "military-industrial complex" in business.
    1. There were tons of jobs in military-related areas, such as aerospace, plastics, electronics, and "R and D" (research and development).
  3. Energy was cheap and plentiful. High car sales reflected the cheap gas. A strong infrastructure of power lines, gas lines helped feed homes and businesses.
  4. Worker production increased. More Americans went to and stayed in school. Increased education meant increased standard of living.
2. Farms changed and turned toward big-businesses and away from family farms. Machinery costs fueled this change. Former farmers left for other jobs. Still, with new equipment and better hybrids and fertilizers, food production increased.
The Smiling Sunbelt
1. Many babies arrived in the baby boom and many families had moved around the country. Unable to just ask her mother what-to-do question, many new moms turned to Dr. Benjamin Spock's how-to The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care. It was a huge seller.
2. The Sunbelt, from California to Florida, began a boom of its own.
  1. There was a shift-of-power from the old Northeast and Midwest to the new South and West—from the Frostbelt and Rustbelt to the Sunbelt.
    1. Symbolizing this shift, California became the most populous state in the 50's, passing New York.
  2. Immigration helped increase the Sunbelt's population.
  3. Many of the government's new military facilities were built in the Sunbelt. Good-paying jobs came with them.
  4. A political battle was shaping up. By 1990, the Sunbelt received $125 billion more federal money than the northern areas. And, with their populations increased, more Congressional and presidential votes had moved down to the Sunbelt states.
The Rush to the Suburbs
1. After the war, whites abandoned the inner-cities and moved out to the grass and trees of the suburbs.
  1. Cheap home loans offered by the FHA and the Veteran's Administration made buying a home more sensible than renting an apartment in town.
  2. 25% of Americans lived in the suburbs by 1960.
2. The best example of a post-war suburb was Levittown on Long Island.
  1. The Levitt brothers perfected the "cookie cutter" house. They were identical but also very affordable.
  2. Despite their monotony, many in the 50's actually preferred the standardization, conformity, and comfort-factor the houses gave. It was like the McDonald's theory (which also started and boomed at the time)—no matter which McDonald's you go in, you always get the same burger.
3. This so-called "white flight" left blacks in the inner-cities, and left the cities poor.
  1. Symbolic of this movement would be the growth of shopping centers and Wal-Marts and the the "closed" signs on downtown shops.
  2. Blacks often had a hard time getting loans, even from government agencies, due to the "risk" involved. Thus, whites were able to move to the suburbs, blacks were not.
The Postwar Baby Boom This content copyright © 2010 by WikiNotes.wikidot.com
1. When the soldiers returned from war, the baby boom began. The birthrate peaked in 1957. It then slowed and started a "birth dearth."
2. The baby boom generation has had a huge impact on America.
  1. While they grew up, entire industries rode their wave. For example in clothing, Levi's jeans went from work pants to standard teenage wear; burger joints boomed; music changed (rock 'n' roll).
  2. Prior, children and adolescents were expected to dress and act like small adults. By the 50's, youth dressed and acted their own way and did their own thing.
3. The baby boom, and later birth dearth, created a swell and then a narrowing, in the population of generations. Simply put, the baby boomers far outnumber other generations.
  1. By 2020, when most baby boomers are retired, it is projected that the Social Security system will go broke.
Truman: the “Gutty” Man from Missouri
1. Harry S Truman was at the helm just after WWII. He had a big smile, was a sharp dresser, and a small but very spunky fellow. He was the first president in many years without a college education.
  1. Truman was called "The Man from Independence" (Missouri). His cabinet was made of the "Missouri gang", and like Harding of the 20's, Truman was prone to stick by his boys when they got caught in some wrong-doings.
  2. Truman gained confidence as he went along. He also earned the nickname of "Give 'em Hell Harry." He also a bit prone to making hot-headed or rash decisions, or sticking with a bad decision out of stubbornness.
2. Despite little drawbacks, Truman was decisive, "real", responsible, had moxie. He loved the sayings "The buck stops here," and "If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen."
Yalta: Bargain or Betrayal?
1. The Big Three (Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin) had met at the Yalta Conference in Feb. 1945 (there last meeting). That meeting shaped the Cold War to come. It was highlighted by distrust between the U.S./Britain and the Soviet Union.
  1. FDR and Churchill did not trust Russia's ambitions for the post-war, ditto Russia the other way.
2. Promises were made…
  1. Russia promised to enter the war against Japan. In return, Russia would get land—1/2 of Sakhalin Island, Japan's Kurile Islands, railroads in Manchuria, and Port Arthur on the Pacific.
    1. This promise was kept. However, by the time Russia entered, the U.S. had all but won. It appeared Russia entered to just look good and accept the spoils of victory.
  2. Russia pledged free elections for Poland and a representative government; also elections in Bulgaria and Romania. These promises were flatly broken. The Soviets set up puppet communist governments.
3. FDR was roundly criticized for doing poorly at the Yalta Conference.
  1. Promises had been accepted from Stalin only to be broken.
  2. China fell to the communists a few years later (1948) and FDR got some of the blame for selling out Chiang Kai-Shek and China to communist Russia.
4. Defenders of FDR say he did what he could in the circumstances. If he'd not bargained with Stalin over Japan, the Soviets may have even taken more of China.
The United States and the Soviet Union
1. The post-war world had two superpowers: the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics). Distrust was high.
2. The Soviet Union felt put-out by the Americans because: (1) the U.S. had waited until 1933 to officially recognize the U.S.S.R., (2) the Allies had been slow to start a second front, (3) America withdrew the lend-lease program to Russia in 1945, and (4) America rejected Russia's request for a $6 billion reconstruction loan, but gave one for Germany for $3.75 billion.
  1. Russia perceived all of these things as insults.
3. Russia had been attacked from the west twice within about 25 years, so, Stalin wanted a protective buffer from Western Europe. To create that protection, Russia set up puppet communist governments in Eastern Europe. These "satellite nations" would serve as a buffer zone to the Soviet Union.
4. Both the U.S. and U.S.S.R. had now been thrown into the international spotlight. They'd both been isolationist, but now had to drive international policies. Both had a history of "missionary" diplomacy—of trying to press their ways onto others.
5. The U.S. and U.S.S.R. had opposing economic-political systems (capitalism and democracy vs. communism) and they didn't trust the other side. The "Cold War" had begun. Their actions and policies would dominate international affairs for the next 40 years.
Shaping the Postwar World
1. The Atlantic Charter had called for a new League of Nations. That was realized.
2. A meeting was held at Bretton Woods, NH (1944). There, the Allies set up the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to propell world trade and regulate currency exchange rates. It also started the World Bank to give loans to needy nations (ravaged by war or just poor).
3. Days after FDR died, a charter was drawn up for the United Nations in April 1945 in San Francisco. 50 nations participated. It's headquarters would be in New York City.
4. The U.N. was like the League in concept, the U.N.'s structure was different. It had three main categories…
  1. The General Assembly—the main meeting place where each nation got 2 votes.
  2. The Security Council dealing with conflict and war. It had 11 member nations, 5 were permanent with total veto power (U.S., Britain, France, U.S.S.R. and China). The Security Council would prove to be the most influential and active in world affairs.
  3. Other relief-based agencies, such as UNESCO (U.N. Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Org.), the FAO (Food and Agricultural Org.) and WHO (World Health Org.).
5. Unlike the old League of Nations, the senate was favorable to the U.N. It was accepted by a vote of 89 to 2.
6. The U.N. helped keep the peace in Iran, Kashmir, and other hotspots. It also helped set up Israel as a homeland for the Jews.
7. The pressing issue was atomic weaponry. America was the only nation with an atomic bomb at the time—though Russia was getting very close.
  1. U.S. delegate to the United Nations Bernard Baruch called for a U.N. agency to totally regulate atomic weapons. Russia was distrustful of American ambitions.
  2. The Soviets proposed a total ban on atomic weapons. Neither proposal was accepted and thus regulation of atomic weapons did not happen. The nations were to go at it on their own.
The Problem of Germany
1. Nazi leaders were tried at the Nuremberg Trials just after the war for crimes against humanity. Everyone's rationale was that they'd just been following their orders. Twelve hanged, seven were given long sentences. Hermann Goering killed himself with cyanide.
2. There was disagreement with what to do about Germany. The U.S. wanted Germany to rebuild as that's good for Europe's economy. Russia wanted reparations.
  1. To avoid Germany rearming, the country was divided into four zones. The U.S., France, Britain, and Russia would oversee one zone. The idea was to reunite Germany, but Russia balked at the idea. Germany was going to remain split.
  2. West Germany would be a democracy, East Germany was a puppet communist nation.
3. Berlin was located in East Germany (Russia's section) and it was also split into four zones. The end result was a free West Berlin located inside Russian-controlled East Germany, like an island.
  1. Russia suddenly cut off the railway to West Berlin (1948) in attempt to strangle West Berlin into giving itself over to the East.
  2. America's response was the Berlin Airlift where the U.S. simply flew in needed supplies to West Berlin. The operation was on a massive scale, and it worked. The Soviet Union ended their blockade the next year.
The Cold War Congeals
1. Wanting oil fields, Stalin failed to fulfill a treaty to remove troops in Iran, but rather he helped some rebels. Pres. Truman was not happy. By this time, deep distrust was the rule, and both sides hardened toward the other.
2. The American position toward Russia became formal with the George F. Kennan's "containment doctrine." It simply said the U.S.S.R. was expansionist by nature and but it could be held in check by firm American containment.
  1. Pres. Truman made the containment policy official by announcing the Truman Doctrine (1947). In the doctrine he asked Congress for $400 million to aid Greece and Turkey who were feeling communist pressures.
  2. Though focused on Greece and Turkey at the time, the Truman Doctrine was greatly broadened—the U.S. was to stop communism anywhere it seemed to be trying to expand. This policy would dominate U.S. foreign policy for the next four decades.
3. Western Europe's economy was struggling badly. To help, Truman and Sec. of State George C. Marshall started the Marshall Plan, a massive project to lend financial help to rebuild Europe.
  1. The plan helped in the formation of the European Community (EC).
  2. Some $12.5 billion was spent over four years, a huge sum. Congress thought the number too high (they'd already given $2 billion to U.N. agencies), but a Russia-sponsored revolution in Czechoslovakia changed their minds.
  3. The Marshall Plan worked. Western Europe's economies rebounded, and communist groups in those nations lost influence.
4. Pres. Truman formally recognized Israel on May 14, 1948, the day it was started. He wanted to help the Jews after the Holocaust, but also hurt the Soviet influence there.
  1. Arab nations were not pleased. America's decision to support Israel, along with oil in the region, would long affect U.S.-Arab relations.
America Begins to Rearm
1. The military reorganized in 1947 with the National Security Act.
  1. The old War Department was replaced with the Department of Defense; the Sec. of War replaced with the Sec. of Defense. Civilian secretaries would also head the army, navy, and air force. The military heads of each branch were to meet in the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
2. The National Security Council (NSC) was formed by the National Security Act. The council was to advise the president on security matters. The act also formed the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to gather foreign intelligence.
3. America fired up the propaganda machine. Congress okayed the Voice of America (1948) radio broadcast to be transmitted into Eastern Europe.
4. The military draft was brought back. Young men 19 to 25 might be drafted by the Selective Service System.
5. The old allies organized in 1948. The U.S. joined up with Britain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg united to start the North Atlantic Treaty Org. (NATO). It was an alliance where attacking one meant attacking them all. The U.S. joined despite an unwritten national policy and tradition of avoiding "entangling alliances."
  1. NATO would later grow. Greece and Turkey joined up in 1952, West Germany in 1955. NATO had 15 nations by then.
  2. Not to be outdone by the West, the Soviets set up the Warsaw Pact made up of the U.S.S.R. and the Eastern European nations.
Reconstruction and Revolution in Asia
1. Japan also had to be managed after the war. Gen. Douglas MacArthur essentially ran as a dictator to draw up a new Japanese constitution based on the U.S. Constitution (1946).
  1. Japan was a success story. It quickly and successfully embraced democracy and also recovered economically to become one of the world's richest and most productive nations.
2. China, however, was having problems.
  1. Mao Zedong led communist forces in a civil war against Chiang Kai-Shek's (AKA Jiang Jieshi) Nationalist government.
  2. Mao and the communists won in 1949. Chiang Kai-Shek and the Nationalists had to retreat offshore to the island of Formosa (Taiwan).
3. With a huge nation like China going communist, this was a bad loss for the U.S. in the Cold War.
  1. Truman was criticized for not dong enough to stop the loss. Likely, he couldn't have stopped it anyway.
4. The nuclear arms race began in Sept. 1949 when the U.S.S.R. announced it'd successfully detonated an atomic bomb, ending America's "nuclear monopoly."
  1. In 1952, the U.S. detonated a hydrogen bomb. The "H-bomb" (which relies on nuclear fusion of hydrogen) was a 1,000 times more powerful than an "A-bomb" (which relies on fission of a heavy element like uranium).
  2. It was so powerful that both Albert Einstein and J. Robert Oppenheimer spoke out. Einstein had written a letter to FDR to initiate the A-bomb's construction and Oppenheimer had been in charge of the Manhattan Project which built the bomb. They both advised to not build the H-bomb.
  3. Not only was the arms race on, but the H-bomb had greatly raised the stakes.
Ferreting Out Alleged Communists
1. The question then became, "Are any communists here in America?"
  1. The attorney general named 90 possibly-communist organizations. They were not allowed to defend themselves.
  2. The Loyalty Review Board was started to investigate the loyalties of some 3 million federal employees. About 3,000 either resigned or were fired. Many states made "loyalty" a priority. Teachers, especially, were often made to take "loyalty oaths."
  3. The obvious problems were the rights to free speech, press, and thought being hampered. Still, at this time, those rights were muffled.
2. 11 communists were tried in New York in 1949 under the Smith Act. It was a peacetime anti-sedition act (the first since 1798). They were convicted, imprisoned, and their case upheld by the Supreme Court in Dennis v. U.S. (1951).
3. The House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) set out to investigate "subversion".
  1. Richard Nixon made a name for himself as a red hunter by pursuing Alger Hiss. He was convicted of perjury and served five years.
4. Sen. Joseph McCarthy wanted to show himself a red hunter too. He threw around wild accusations with little or no basis to them.
5. Some people started to think the red hunting business was going too far—turning from concern to hysteria.
  1. Pres. Truman vetoed the McCarran Internal Security Bill. It was to allow the president to arrest and hold suspicious persons during an "internal security emergency." Congress passed the bill over Truman's veto.
  2. Since the U.S.S.R. had built the atomic bomb quicker than was expected, many Americans suspected spies within the U.S. had sold nuclear secrets.
    1. Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were suspected of leaking U.S. secrets to Russia. They were convicted for espionage and executed. The whole nasty business of trial and execution, and their two newly orphaned children, began to sober up Americans against red hunting.
Democratic Divisions in 1948
1. The Republican had won control of the House in 1946 and were feeling confident in '48. They nominated Thomas Dewey as candidate for president.
2. The Democrats wanted Gen. Eisenhower, but he refused the nomination. So, Pres. Truman was up for reelection. This split the party.
  1. Southern Democrats (called "Dixiecrats") nominated Gov. Strom Thurmond of SC for the States' Rights Party.
3. A new Progressive Party offered former V.P. Henry Wallace.
4. It was really a Dewey vs. Truman race. Dewey seemed to have the momentum, but the Democratic vote had been split three ways.
  1. The Chicago Daily Tribune jumped the gun and infamously printed the headline "DEWEY DEFEATS TRUMAN."
  2. Truman actually won 303 to 189 in the electoral (Thurmond also got 39). The Democrats also retook Congress.
  3. Pres. Truman had gotten support from regular folks, especially farmers, workers, and blacks.
5. Reinvigorated, he started a program named "Point Four." It was to give money and technical help to underdeveloped nations. It was a humanitarian effort, but it was also to prevent them from going communist.
6. He outlined a new domestic program called the "Fair Deal." It was a mini-New Deal. The Fair Deal was to improve housing; increase employment, minimum wage, farm price supports; start a new TVA, and extend Social Security.
  1. Many of these programs were shot down in Congress.
  2. Its major successes were in upping the minimum wage, passing the Housing Act (1949) to provide public housing, and extending old-age benefits in a new Social Securities Act (1950).
The Korean Volcano Erupts (1950)
1. As Germany had been split, so too had Korea. North Korea had a communist government thanks to Russia, South Korea was democratic thanks to the U.S. North and South Korea were split at the 38th parallel.
2. Things were okay until June 25, 1950 when the North suddenly invaded the South. The South was overrun except for the southernmost city of Pusan.
  1. America's Truman Doctrine policy of containment was being challenged. It was time to put-up or shut-up.
3. Pres. Truman took action and used Korea as an opportunity to build up the U.S. military.
  1. The National Security Council had recommended in 1950 document called NSC-68 that America's defense spending be quadrupled. Truman put NSC-68 into action.
    1. NSC-68 was symbolic in that (1) it showed the fear of communism and (2) it showed the seemingly limitless production possibilities of the U.S. to even order such a massive build-up.
4. Truman also used the U.N. With Russia and their veto temporarily out, the U.N. named North Korea the aggressor. The U.N. called for action to restore peace—this was the go-ahead to military action.
  1. Within the week, Truman sent Gen. MacArthur's troops to South Korea in a "police action." The U.N. named MacArthur commander of the entire operation, but he took orders from Washington.
The Military Seesaw in Korea
1. There were three phases of the war…
  1. First, was the North's invasion of the South in 1950.
  2. Secondly, MacArthur's troops set up at Pusan then did a bold "end-around" and hit behind enemy lines at Inchon. Surprised, the North Koreans were quickly driven northward. They went nearly all the way to the Yalu River, the China border. MacArthur thought the war nearly over. Crossing the 38th parallel into the North raised the stakes.
  3. Third, some 200,000 Chinese "volunteers" helped push back southward to the original line at the 38th parallel.
    1. MacArthur called for a blockade and bombing of China. Washington didn't want to take the war that big. MacArthur pressed the issue and went public with it.
    2. Pres. Truman fired MacArthur. Truman was criticized for removing the popular general, but he felt he had no choice. The American military is ultimately run by civilians, not the military.
    3. The war bogged down there for two more years, and that's where it ended in 1953.

Chapter 35-America in World War II

The Allies Trade Space for Time
1. Pearl Harbor jarred many Americans' minds out of isolationism and into revenge-on-Japan mode. This was especially true on the west coast where there was only water between the U.S. and the Japanese fleet.
2. FDR held back the reins against Japan, however, and vowed to "get Germany first." Many folks were upset at putting Japan second on the list, but Germany was the more pressing problem.
3. The plan was to absolutely not let Britain fall to Germany and meanwhile send just enough effort to hold Japan at bay for the time being.
  1. The problem was preparedness. To execute this plan, the U.S. needed time to gear up for war.
  2. The task was monumental: to change industry for a total war, organize a massive military, ship everything in two directions across the world, and feed the Allies.
The Shock of War
1. National unity was strong after the Pearl Harbor attack.
2. There were no ethnic witch-hunts, with the glaring exception of Japanese-Americans.
  1. Mostly living on the west coast, Japanese-Americans were rounded up and sent to internment camps.
  2. The official reasoning was to protect them from rogues on the streets who may want to take out their Pearl Harbor frustrations on them.
  3. The ulterior motive was that there was distrust. Some believed the Japanese-Americans were more loyal to Japan than the U.S. and were really spies. This was untrue.
  4. Though jailed without due process of law, the Supreme Court upheld the internment camps in the Korematsu v. U.S. case.
    1. Notably, in 1988, the government apologized and offered reparations of $20,000 to each camp survivor.
3. Many New Deal programs were ended as the war began. Now, all jobs would be war jobs.
4. Unlike WWI, WWII was not made out to be an idealistic crusade. It was just the dirty work of defeating the bad guys.
Building the War Machine
1. The Great Depression ended when huge orders for the war effort came in. More than $100 billion was ordered in 1942.
2. Henry J. Kaiser was nicknamed "Sir Launchalot" because his crews could build an entire ship in only 14 days.
3. The War Production Board took control of industry. It halted production of non-essential items like passenger cars.
  1. Rubber was a much-needed item because Japan had overtaken the rubber tree fields of British Malaya. Gasoline was rationed to help save tires.
4. Agricultural production was incredible. Though many farm boys went to war, new equipment and fertilizers yielded record harvests.
5. Prices rose, however. The Office of Price Administration regulated prices.
  1. Critical items were rationed to keep consumption down, like meat and butter.
  2. The War Labor Board set ceilings on wages (lower wages means lower prices).
6. Though they hated the wage regulations, labor unions promised to not strike during the war. Some did anyway, like the United Mine Workers led by John L. Lewis.
  1. Congress passed the Smith-Connally Anti-Strike Act (1943) giving the federal government the authority to seize and run industries crippled by strikes. The government took over the coal mines and railroads, briefly.
  2. All-in-all, strikes were minimal during the war.
Manpower and Womanpower
1. There were some 15 million men and 216,000 women in the military during WWII.
  1. The most famous women were the WAACS (in the Army), the WAVES (Navy), and the SPARS (Coast Guard).
2. Since most able-bodied men were off at war, industry needed workers.
  1. The bracero program brought workers from Mexico to harvest crops. The program was successful and stayed on about 20 years after the war.
  2. Women stepped up and took the war jobs. For many women, this was the first "real job" outside of the home. Almost certainly, this was the first job for women in industry—women built planes, artillery shells, tanks, everything.
    1. The symbol for women-workers was "Rosie the Riveter" with her sleeves rolled up and rivet gun in hand.
    2. Without question, the war opened things up for women in the workplace. Women "proved themselves" and gained respect.
    3. But, after the war most women (about 2/3) left the workplace. A post-war baby boom resulted when the boys got home from war. Most women returned to their other "job" of being homemakers and mothers.
Wartime Migrations
1. As during the Depression, the war forced people to move around the country.
2. FDR had long been determined to help the economically-hurting South. He funneled money southward in defense contracts. This would plant the seeds of the "Sunbelt's" boom after the war.
3. African-Americans moved out of the South in large numbers, usually heading Northern cities, but also to the West.
  1. Black leader A. Philip Randolph prepared a "Negro March on Washington" to clamor for more blacks in defense jobs and military. FDR responded by banning discrimination in defense industries.
  2. FDR also set up the Fair Employment Practices Commission (FEPC) to serve as a watchdog over the discrimination ban.
  3. Blacks served in segregated units in the military.
    1. Aside from the segregation, there was discrimination such as separate blood banks for each race, and often the roles of blacks were more menial such as cooks, truck drivers, etc.
    2. Generally, however, the war and the efforts of Blacks encouraged African-Americans to strive for equality. The slogan was the "Double V"—victory overseas vs. dictators and victory at home vs. racism.
  4. Black organizations increased in membership. The NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) neared the half-million mark and CORE (Congress of Racial Equality) was founded.
  5. The mechanical cotton picker was invented. This freed blacks from the age-old cotton picking job—another reason many moved.
4. Native Americans also fought in the war in large numbers.
  1. Famously, Navajo and Comanche Indians were "code talkers." They traded messages using their traditional language. Their "codes" were never broken.
5. All the moving around mixed people who weren't accustomed to it, and there were some clashes. For example, some white sailors attacked some Mexican and Mexican-Americans in L.A. in 1943. Also, 25 blacks and 9 whites were killed in a Detroit race riot.
Holding the Home Front This content copyright © 2010 by WikiNotes.wikidot.com
1. The United States entered WWII still in the Depression. The U.S. came out of WWII very prosperous (the only nation to do so).
  1. GNP (Gross National Product) had doubled. Corporate profits doubled too.
  2. Disposable income (money left to spend) also doubled. Inflation would suit and rise as well.
2. Despite all of the New Deal programs, it was the production for WWII that ended the Great Depression.
  1. The war's cost was assessed at $330 billion (ten times WWI).
  2. To help pay for the war, four times more people were required to pay income taxes. Most of the payments, however, were on credit. This meant the national debt shot up from $49 to $259 billion.
The Rising Sun in the Pacific
1. Japan began to take action on its dream of a new empire—the land of the rising sun. The Japanese took island after island, including: Guam, Wake Island, the Philippines, Hong Kong, British Malaya, Burma, the Dutch East Indies, and much of coastal China.
2. The Philippines had been embarrassing for the U.S. Gen. Douglas MacArthur had to sneak away. The general made a pledge, however, to return.
  1. After the U.S. lost in the Philippines, the Japanese made the captured soldiers hike the infamous "Bataan Death March"—85 miles where, if you stumbled, you died.
  2. The U.S. finally gave up and surrendered Corregidor, an island/fort in Manila Harbor.
Japan’s High Tide at Midway
1. The first big U.S.-Japan naval battle was the Battle of Coral Sea. It was the world’s first naval battle where the ships never saw one another (they fought with aircraft via carriers). Both sides had heavy losses.
2. Intercepted messages hinted at an attack on Midway Island. American Adm. Chester Nimitz correctly sent the U.S. fleet and the Battle of Midway (June 1942) followed. Instead of being surprised, the U.S. gave the surprise.
  1. Adm. Raymond Spruance was the the admiral on the water. Midway was a rout for the U.S. as four Japanese aircraft carriers were sunk.
  2. Midway proved to be the turning point in the Pacific war, the place where Japanese expansion was halted.
3. Japan did capture the islands of Kiska and Attu in the Aleutian chain of Alaska. The islands are home to a few hundred native Aleuts, snow, and rocks, but the mere idea the Japanese taking American soil hit hard. The northwestern states feared an invasion.
  1. The "Alcan" Highway was built from Alaska, through Canada, to the continental states to help protect Alaska.
American Leapfrogging Toward Tokyo
1. Japan's expansion halted, America then began "island-hopping" toward Japan. The plan was to not attack the stronghold, take the weaker islands and build airbases on them. The stronger islands would be taken by bombing and strangling of resources.
2. There would be two main thrusts: in the south led by Gen. Douglas MacArthur and in the central Pacific led by Adm. Chester Nimitz.
  1. Island-hopping began in the south Pacific with victories at Guadalcanal (Aug. 1942). This southern strike reached New Guinea in August of 1944. MacArthur was working his way back to the Philippines.
  2. Northward, Tarawa and Makin in the Gilbert Islands were captured. Next, the Marshall Island chain was won.
    1. The "Marianas Turkey Shoot" was an American highlight where American "Hellcat" fighters had their way in the air shooting down 250 enemy planes. The Marianas Islands also were close enough so that B-29 bombers could strike Japan and return (if the winds were favorable).
    2. This would later be the take-off point for the atomic bomb planes.
3. Though island-hopping made steady progress, it was slow, hard-fought, and bloody.
  1. American sailors shelled the beachheads with artillery, U.S. Marines stormed ashore (while the navy shelled over their heads), and American bombers attacked the Japanese. Heroism and self-sacrifice were common.
  2. One example was when Lt. Robert J. Albert piloted a B-24 “Liberator” on 36 missions. His final run was a record 18 hour and 25 minute strike. His tour of duty was complete, but his crew's was not. He volunteered to pilot the flight so that his men would not fly behind a rookie pilot.
The Allied Halting of Hitler
1. As with the Pacific, progress in Europe has slow at first. History has shown the American war machine slow to get going, but awesome when it is going.
2. German u-boats were proving to be very effective. The German "enigma code" was broken thanks to spies' actions and lives sacrificed to get an enigma machine to decode messages. These messages helped locate German u-boat wolfpacks.
3. The Battle of the Atlantic, the war for control of the ocean, went on until 1943 when the Allies gained control.
  1. The win over the seas was a close one. It was learned after the war that the amazing German engineers were nearing completion of a sub that could stay submerged indefinitely and cruise at 17 knots.
4. 1942 was the turning point year in Europe (like Midway in '42 in the Pacific).
  1. The British bombed the Germans in Cologne, France. American B-17's bombed Germany itself.
  2. German Gen. Erwin Rommel (nicknamed the "Desert Fox" because he was clever with maneuvers) was having great success in North Africa. He was almost to the Suez Canal in Egypt—taking the canal would link the Mediterranean Sea (Italy and Germany) with the Indian and Pacific Oceans (Japan).
    1. However, Brit. Gen. Bernard Montgomery, at the Battle of El Alamein (Oct. 1942) stopped the Germans. From there, Germany would be pushed back.
  3. The Russians also stopped the Germans at Stalingrad (Sep. 1942). A month later, Russia began pushing back and recaptured 2/3 of their lost land in one year.
A Second Front from North Africa to Rome
1. Some 20 million Russians would die by the end of the war so the Soviet Union wanted the allies to start a second front against Germany and ease Russia's burden.
  1. Britain and the U.S. wanted this, but had different views. America wanted to ram straight at the Nazis through France.
  2. Britain wanted to lure the war away from England. Winston Churchill suggested they hit Germany's "soft underbelly", meaning up from North Africa and through Italy.
2. The soft underbelly approach was decided upon.
  1. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower led an attack on North Africa (Nov. 1942). The Allies pushed the Germans out of Africa by May 1943.
3. The Roosevelt and Churchill met at the Casablanca Conference to flesh out plans (Jan. 1943). They agreed to seek the "unconditional surrender" of Germany.
4. The soft underbelly attack continued.
  1. The Allies leapfrogged to Sicily. Mussolini was overthrown (and later murdered) at about the same time and Italy surrendered (Sept. 1943). German soldiers were still in Italy, however, and they were determined to keep fighting.
  2. The Allies then moved to the lower portion of the Italian boot, then started edging northward. By this time, it was clear that the soft underbelly really wasn't very soft.
    1. The German were dug in at Monte Cassino. After taking a beachhead at Anzio, the Allies finally took Rome on June 4, 1944.
    2. The Allied thrust essentially bogged down and stalled at this point, roughly half way up the Italian peninsula. The D-Day invasion would make the Italian assault a mere diversion.
5. The soft underbelly attack had mixed results. The good: it drew some of Hitler's men and supplies and it did defeat Italy. The bad: it delayed the D-Day invasion and gave Russia extra time to draw farther into Eastern Europe.
D-Day: June 6, 1944
1. Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin met at the Tehran Conference (Nov.-Dec. 1943) to formulate goals and coordinate attacks.
2. The groundwork was laid for a massive assault across the English channel (eventual D-Day invasion).
  1. Gen. Eisenhower was placed in charge of the assault.
  2. The attack would take place on the beaches of Normandy on the French coast. The Germans had guessed the sure-to-come attack would be at Calais because that's the narrowest point of the channel. The Allies offered fakes and bluffs there to confuse the enemy.
3. The D-Day Invasion began on June 6, 1944. It was the largest amphibious assault in history.
  1. The Allies had to cross the channel, wade ashore, cross the wide beach, scale 100 foot bluffs, and overtake German bunkers—while being shot at by machine guns and artillery. The Allies did it.
  2. After gaining a toehold at Normandy, the Allies began spreading out. Gen. George S. Patton led U.S. troops across the French countryside.
  3. Paris was liberated in August of 1944—a major morale boost for the Allies.
FDR: The Fourth-Termite of 1944
1. Despite the ongoing war in 1944, an election year came again. The Republican party nominated Thomas E. Dewey. He was known as a liberal and attacker of corruption.
2. The Democrats nominated FDR for a fourth term. There was no other viable choice for the party.
  1. The real question was who'd be the vice-presidential candidate. The nomination was made for Harry S Truman who was largely without enemies.
Roosevelt Defeats Dewey
1. Dewey campaigned hard against Roosevelt. He attacked "twelve long years" and emphasized it was "time for a change."
2. FDR didn't campaign much until election day neared.
  1. Roosevelt got a lot of financial help from the CIO's new political action committee (PAC). The PAC was set up to avoid a ban on using union money for politics.
3. FDR won the election in a big way, again. The electoral vote was 432 to 99. The main reason that he won was that the war was moving along well at this point.
The Last Days of Hitler
1. The Nazi army was on the retreat at this point. Hitler made one last big push at the Ardenne Forest. The Americans were surprised and pushed back; the result was a bulge in the battle line.
  1. The Americans held on at Bastogne. Germany asked for a surrender but Gen. A.C. McCauliffe answered, "Nuts."
  2. Reinforcements came and the U.S. won the Battle of the Bulge. From there, steady progress was made toward Berlin. Russia was simultaneously converging on Berlin.
2. Along the way, the Allies discovered the horrors of the Holocaust.
  1. There had been rumors of such goings-on, but it was believed they were either untrue or exaggerated. They were not—the Holocaust was worse than imagined.
  2. The death camps, still stinking, made the horrors clear. Eisenhower forced German civilians to march through the camps after the war to see what they're government had done.
3. The Russians reached Germany first. Hitler killed himself in a bunker (Apr. 1945), along with his mistress-turned-wife Eva Braun.
4. Only two weeks prior, while vacationing at Warm Springs, GA, Franklin Roosevelt suddenly died. Truman became president.
5. The German officials surrendered on May 7; May 8, 1945 was named V-E Day (Victory in Europe). The celebration began.
Japan Dies Hard
1. The war with Japan was still on.
  1. American subs were devastating Japanese merchant ships—1,042 were destroyed.
  2. American bombers were devastating Japanese cities. In a two-day fire-bomb raid on Tokyo in March of 1945, the destruction was: 250,000 buildings, 1/4 of the city, and 83,000 lives. This was about the equivalent of the atomic bombs that were to come.
2. Gen. MacArthur was determined to return to the Philippines where he'd been booted.
  1. After retaking New Guinea, MacArthur made his Filipino return in October, 1944.
  2. Hard naval fighting followed at Leyte Gulf. The U.S. won, although Adm. William Halsey was suckered into a feint. Leyte Gulf was the last huge battle in the Pacific—Japan's navy was all but destroyed at this point.
  3. MacArthur then took Luzon and finally captured the capital city of Manila (Mar. 1945).
3. The same month, the small island of Iwo Jima was captured by America in some of the toughest fighting yet. It was strategically located halfway between the Marianas Islands and Japan. Thus, it provided an important airstrip.
  1. The famous flag-raising photo was snapped atop Mt. Suribachi while the fighting still raged.
4. Okinawa was the next target. It was the last island before the Japanese mainlands. Okinawa was taken (June 1945) after 50,000 American casualties.
  1. In a last-ditch effort, Japan unleashed the full fury of their "kamikaze" suicide pilots. Likening themselves to the samurai warriors of old the kamikazes felt they were dying for their god-emperor.
The Atomic Bombs
1. Rookie Pres. Harry Truman met with Stalin and British officials at the Potsdam Conference (July 1945). The final statement to Japan was: surrender or be destroyed.
2. Meanwhile, the U.S. had been working on a super-secret project all along: to build the atomic bomb.
  1. Early on, many German scientists had fled Nazi Germany, notably Albert Einstein. In 1940, FDR convinced these scientists to start working on the bomb.
  2. FDR had gotten Congress to approve the money in fear that Germany may well develop the bomb first. The Manhattan Project secretly developed and built the world's first atomic bomb. It was tested in Alamogordo, NM (July 1945) and was ready for use.
3. Still belligerent, the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan (Aug. 6, 1945). 70,000 died instantly, 180,000 total casualties.
4. On Aug. 8, Russia entered the war against Japan and attacked Manchuria.
5. On Aug. 9, a second atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, Japan. 80,000 were killed or missing. That's was it.
6. Japan surrendered on Aug. 19, 1945. The Japanese emperor was aloud to stay on the throne as a symbolic gesture.
  1. The official and ceremonial surrender came a few weeks later aboard the U.S.S. Missouri. Gen. MacArthur accepted the surrender from Emperor Hirohito.
The Allies Triumphant
1. One million casualties was the American cost of WWII. But, despite the sacrifices, America came out of the war tougher and stronger-than-ever, whereas other nations came out of the war beaten down.
  1. The casualty number was incredibly large, but actually small as compared to other nations. The numbers were kept down in part due to new drugs, particularly penicillin.
  2. The American homeland was almost entirely untouched (again, unlike other nations were in rubble).
2. Though slow-starting, America had run the war well. It was a huge undertaking, but had been undertaken in a systematic and effective manner.
  1. The U.S. had been blessed with great leaders during the war, civilian and military.
  2. Another major factor contributing to victory was America's incredible resources and industry.