Key Terms and People for Periods 8-9
The 1945 -2000
The Truman Years 1945 - 1952
The Fair Deal
Truman's domestic programs His Fair Deal recommended that all Americans have health insurance, that the minimum wage (the lowest amount of money per hour that someone can be paid) be increased, and that, by law, all Americans be guaranteed equal rights. Truman's plans were not popular with the Republican members of Congress. They rejected his plans for national health insurance though they did raise the minimum wage. Truman also proposed the Fair Employment Practices Act, which would outlaw racial and religious discrimination in hiring. Congress passed the Employment Act in 1946 and clearly stated the government's responsibility in helping to achieve full employment.
"The Secure These Rights"
The report identified race discrimination in virtually every area of American life — education, employment, voting, military service, and so on — and its recommendations charted the course of the civil rights movement for the next 20 years.
Executive Order 9981
Ended racial discrimination in the Federal government and desegregated the U.S. Military
Dixicrats
Angry over Truman's support for civil rights platform southern democrats bolted from the party in 1948 nearly costing his re-election.
Truman Doctrine/Containment
Pledged US support for countries resisting aggression. Issued in light communist attempts to overthrow Greek and Turkish elected governments. Committed the US to last international aid. This is also related to Churchill's "iron curtain speech"
Marshall Plan
Massive aid package to rebuild war torn Europe and Japan. Though to help stop the spread of communism by building up economies against attraction to communism.
Berlin Crisis 1948-49
Soviet attempt to block off sector of Berlin. Truman orders airlift (Operation Vittles) to bypass the Soviet blockade and sends US bombers to bases in Britain. Soviets back down but accelerate their quest for nuclear weapons commencing the "arms race" detonate first device in 1949.
NATO
In light of Soviet aggression in Berlin Crisis the US and most of western Europe plus Canada commit to lasting mutual defense pact. First time in U.S. History to join peacetime alliance. NATO has grown since the end of Cold War including much of central and eastern Europe.
The Fall of China to Communism
In 1949 communist forces under Mao Zedong defeated U.S. backed Nationalists under Chiang kai-shek. Nationalist remains escaped to Taiwan and to this day there are two Chinas though the U.S. has never given full recognition to Taiwan.
The Korean War 1950-1953
Kim il-sung invaded US backed South Korea attempting to unify peninsula under communism. A UN resolution called for U.S. led military under Douglas MacArthur. US forces made a daring amphibious landing at Inchon cutting North Korean forces lines of communication forcing a withdrawal. However, when the US crossed the 38th parallel China invades and directly attacks UN forces. Lines stabilized in 1953 and an armistice was declared. No treaty has ever been reached and a technical state of war still exists. 78,000 US troops are still in South Korea.
The National Security Act 1947
The CIA is formally created and the USAF is created. Also the McCarren Security Act is passing allowing for Loyalty Oath to be legal. Expanded investigation powers of subversives. Another Red Scare begins.
NSC-68
In 1950 National Security Council document 68 declares communist intentions a threat calling for a massive peacetime military buildup. This is a component of containment policy and the Truman Doctrine.
State of Israel 1948
Truman goes against advice from State department to give official diplomatic recognition and military aid to Israel
Smith et al v. U.S. (1951)
Calling for overthrow of the government is not condoned as free speech.
Eisenhower Years 1952-1960
The New Look
A new military plan predicated on use of nuclear deterrent and a smaller, more flexible military to deal with communist insurgency….”more bang for the buck”
Allan and John Foster Dulles
Allan Dulles was head of the CIA (which was going to be more active against communism) and John Dulles was the Secretary of State. The concept of “brinkmanship,” a more aggressive stance than mere containment led the U.S. to overthrow the PM of Iran and replace with the pro-U.S. Shah of Iran.
The Suez War
British, French, and Israel combine to invade Egypt after Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal. The Soviets threaten an attack to support Egypt which threatened to involve the U.S. Eisenhower Doctrine states that the U.S. would use force to keep any state (meaning the Soviets) from dominating the oil-rich Middle East.
Vietnam (Indochina)
The U.S. gives recognition and military aid to South Vietnam as a bulwark against the communist supported North Vietnam. The two are divided at the 17th parallel (see Geneva Accords) but Ho Chi Minh in the north starts a guerilla war against the South (See Viet Cong). By the end of Eisenhower years U.S. military “advisors” are in the South.
The “Open Skies”
Eisenhower proposes a thawing of Cold War tensions with Soviet Premiere Khrushchev about allowing inspectors in each other’s country as a step toward de-escalation of the Cold War. This doesn’t last long. (See U-2 Incident)
The “Kitchen Debate”
VP Nixon famous photo op of he and Khrushchev debating the strengths of capitalism vs. communism at a demonstration of the modern American appliance-filled kitchen.
McCarthyism Begins
The Second Red Scare (as opposed to the 1920s) begins at Senator Joseph McCarthy (Rep) Wisconsin asserts that communist sympathizers have infiltrated high positions in business, government and the military. His accusations led to investigation Alger Hiss and Whitaker Chambers as Soviet spies (and as it turns out Hiss was likely one). McCarthy’s brief “witch hunt” ends as a televised hearing is aired called the Army-McCarthy Hearings. His alcoholism and lack of hard evidence made the once powerful Senator look stupid.
The Rosenberg case
Julius Rosenberg was accused of atomic spying for the USSR and his wife Ethel was thought to have evidence which she would not yield. Shocking both were convicted and died in the electric chair.
The Launch of Sputnik
The first satellite ever launched into space, was launched by the Russians; began the "race for space" where Americans competed with the Russians to get farther into space. It led to increased defense spending b/c the Soviets seemed ahead in science and technology. It also led to National Defense and Education Act which created the National Science Foundation. Additionally, the massive spending bill increased tremendously and at the end of Eisenhower's administration he warned about forming a "military-industrial complex" in which industry received huge government contracts to build for the military.
Fidel Castro
He engineered a revolution in Cuba in 1959. He denounced the imperialists and took valuable American property for a land-distribution program. When the U.S. cut off U.S. imports of Cuban sugar, Castro took more U.S. land and resulting from that his dictatorship became similar to Stalin's in Russia. (Communism in the Western Hemisphere). This will lead to more tensions during the JFK Administration (See Bay of Pigs Invasion and Missile Crisis)
Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott
Rosa Parks a seamstress and a secretary for the Montgomery chapter of the NAACP, was known as the "mother of the civil rights movement." In December of 1955, Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white rider. She was jailed and fined $14 for the offense. This led to Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Montgomery Bus Boycott.
Brown v. Board of Education
The Supreme Court handed down its ruling in the landmark case of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas. The Court’s unanimous decision overturned provisions of the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson decision, which had allowed for “separate but equal” public facilities, including public schools in the United States. Declaring that “separate educational facilities are inherently unequal,” the Brown v. Board decision helped break the back of state-sponsored segregation, and provided a spark to the American civil rights movement.
Little Rock Nine
September 1957, testing a landmark 1954 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that declared segregation in public schools unconstitutional. The court had mandated that all public schools in the country be integrated “with all deliberate speed” in its decision related to the groundbreaking case Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka. On September 4, 1957, the first day of classes at Central High, Governor Orval Faubus of Arkansas called in the state National Guard to bar the black students’ entry into the school. Later in the month, President Dwight D. Eisenhower sent in federal troops to escort the “Little Rock Nine” into the school, and they started their first full day of classes on September 25.
The Checkers Speech
VP Nixon was facing allegations that he benefited from an $18,000 trust fund set up for a future U.S. Senate campaign. He denied the charges, but Eisenhower, under the advice of his campaign staff, was considering dropping Nixon from the campaign, based on public reaction to the speech. Nixon’s speech was carefully crafted to take advantage of the new medium of television and the sensitivity of Republican voters, including a full disclosure of his financial history. The speech was so named because Nixon said that the only gift he’d ever kept was a little dog named Checkers that his family had received from an admirer.
John F. Kennedy 1960-1963
New Frontier
The New Frontier was the new programs introduced by President Kennedy in the early 1960's. These programs included the space program to the moon and the peace corp. This dramatically increased funding for NASA
March on Washington
In August of 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. organized a massive protest on Washington, D.C. where he gave his "I have a dream" speech. The march was organized to protest racial discrimination and to demonstrate support for major civil-rights legislation that was pending in Congress
The Freedom Riders
In 1961 group of 13 African-American and white civil rights activists launched the Freedom Rides, a series of bus trips through the American South to protest segregation in interstate bus terminals. The Freedom Riders, who were recruited by the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), a U.S. civil rights group, departed from Washington, D.C., and attempted to integrate facilities at bus terminals along the way into the Deep South. African-American Freedom Riders tried to use “whites-only” restrooms and lunch counters, and vice versa. The group encountered tremendous violence from white protestors along the route, but also drew international attention to their cause. Over the next few months, several hundred Freedom Riders engaged in similar actions. In September 1961, the Interstate Commerce Commission issued regulations prohibiting segregation in bus and train stations nationwide.
Alliance of Progress
Like the Good Neighbor Policy under FDR the Alliance of Progress - this was a Marshall Plan for Latin America that was suggested by President Kennedy to help the Good Neighbors close the gap between the rich and the poor and to help quiet the communist agitation. It was unsuccessful because there was little alliance and no progress. The Peace Corps was a similar JFK initiative designed to put young Americans to work to “win hearts and minds”
Bay of Pigs
Kennedy was told that there were enough people in Cuba that would support an uprising, so he sent American troops along with Cuban exiles to the Bay of Pigs. When no one was there to support the raid, Kennedy withdrew air support. Therefore, Castro was able to defeat the uprising. This was Kennedy's big failure in his foreign policy.
Cuban Missile Crisis
Known as the “13 days” the world came to the break of war when U.S. intelligence confirmed reports that the U.S.S.R. was constructing missile launching sites in Cuba. President Kennedy rejected a full-scale attack and, instead, delivered a public ultimatum to the U.S.S.R. The U.S.S.R. backed down and the U.S. promised not to overthrow the Cuban government.
Flexible response
Resembling to some degree Eisenhower’s idea of “more bang for the buck” Kennedy's plan to deal with foreign powers by not always resorting to nuclear weapons but using specialist like the Green Berets.
Vietnam
JFK increased U.S. aid and military advisers in South Vietnam and also initiated the strategic hamlets idea of attacking the Viet Cong. The Green Berets begin long range recon and direct actions vs Viet Cong. The first dead Americans start coming home. Ngo Diem, the President of South Vietnam is assassinated and some believe it was a CIA action directed by JFK
The Assassination and the Warren Commission
Lyndon Johnson (1908-1973), established a commission to investigate Kennedy’s death. After a nearly yearlong investigation, the commission, led by Chief Justice Earl Warren (1891-1974), concluded that alleged gunman Lee Harvey Oswald (1939-1963) had acted alone in assassinating America’s 35th president, and that there was no conspiracy, either domestic or international, involved. Despite its seemingly firm conclusions, the report proved controversial and failed to silence conspiracy theories surrounding the event. Subsequent investigations have both supported and called into question the Warren Commission’s report.
The LBJ Years 1963 - 1968
Students for a Democratic Society (SDS)
Formed in 1962 in Port Huron, Michigan, SDS condemned anti-Democratic tendencies of large corporations, racism and poverty, and called for a participatory Democracy.
"Flower Children"
Hippies who were unified by their rejection of traditional values and assumptions of Western society.
Election of 1964: Lyndon Baines Johnson, Barry Goldwater
Goldwater alienated people and was believed to be too conservative. He was perceived as an extremist who advocated the use of nuclear weapons if needed to win the war in Vietnam. LBJ won by the largest margin ever.
Great Society
Platform for LBJ's campaign, it stressed the 5 P's: Peace, Prosperity, anti-Poverty, Prudence and Progress.
Office of Economic Opportunity
1965 - Part of the war on poverty, it was headed by R. Sargent Shiver, and was ineffective due to the complexity of the problem. It provided Job Corps, loans, training, VISTA, and educational programs.
War on Poverty
1965 - Johnson figured that since the Gross National Profit had risen, the country had lots of extra money "just lying around," so he'd use it to fight poverty. It started many small programs, Medicare, Head Start, and reorganized immigration to eliminate national origin quotas. It was put on hold during the Vietnam War.
Elementary and Secondary Act
1965 - Provided federal funding for primary and secondary education and was meant to improve the education of poor people. This was the first federal program to fund education.
Medicare
Enacted in 1965 - provided, under Social Security, for federal subsidies to pay for the hospitalization of sick people age 65 and over.