The Soul of a Superpower: Postwar United States (1945- early 1970s)

The Soul of a Superpower: Postwar United States (1945- early 1970s)

Baby Boom Generation

Suburbanization – linked to conformity

Realities of International Politics

• Soviet Union had emerged from WWII as the other superpower

• Soviets occupied Eastern Europe as a buffer zone against possibility of future German invasion

• Communists were winning in China and took over in 1949

• It would be expensive to meet the communist threat

Divided Germany

Berlin Blockade/Airlift (1948-1949)

Europe’s “Iron Curtain”

Korean War (1950-1953)

Second Red Scare

Space Race

Emergence of Modern Civil Rights Movement

Key Events in 1950s Civil Rights

• Brown vs. Board of Education decision on segregation of schools (1954)

• Arrest of Rosa Parks and resulting Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955-1956)

• Desegregation of Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas (1957)

Election of 1960

Bay of Pigs Invasion (Apr ‘61)

Background on U.S. Involvement in Vietnam War

• U.S. government had backed an independent Vietnam in 1945 even though led by communist-trained Ho Chi Minh

• But French used priorities of the Cold War to secure U.S. assistance in retaking control of their former colony in Southeast Asia

• U.S. bankrolled much of the failed French war effort and then tried to prop up South Vietnam as an anti-communist state.

Advisory Effort in Vietnam

Cuban Missile Crisis (Oct ‘62)

Cuban Missile Crisis Details

• U.S. and Soviet officials eventually agreed that missiles would be removed in exchange for U.S. promise not to invade Cuba

• Secret provision of deal had Kennedy promise to remove U.S. nuclear missiles from Soviet neighbor of Turkey (though missiles were defunct – not known by Soviets)

• U.S. forces went to DEFCON-2, which was highest level of readiness short of nuclear war

Birmingham Demonstrations

Phases of Modern Civil Rights Movement

• Mid-1950s – Focus on using legal system to break down barriers

• Late-1950s to Mid-1960s – Focus on using forms of peaceful protest to desegregate, i.e., integrate communities

• Mid-1960s to Early 1970s – Rise of black nationalism encouraged greater militancy and disagreement within African American community

Black Nationalism vs. Integrationism

LBJ’s Great Society

Features of Great Society

• Two major pieces of civil rights legislation in 1964 and 1965 – ended widespread disenfranchisement of blacks in former Confederate states

• War on Poverty to include Medicare, Medicaid and food stamps

Gulf of Tonkin Incident/Resolution (Aug ‘64)

LBJ & The Vietnam War

Tet Offensive - 1968

Shocks to Political System in 1968

• Tet Offensive suggests war in Vietnam far from over

• President Johnson drops out of re-election campaign

• Assassination of MLK, Jr. • Assassination of Senator Robert Kennedy while

running for president• Democratic convention in Chicago degenerates

into street battles with protestors

Election of 1968

Rise of Women’s Liberation

Watergate Burglary & Fall of Richard Nixon

Useful Primary Sources

• Winston Churchill’s “Iron Curtain” speech (1946)• Truman Doctrine (1947)• Senator Joseph McCarthy launching anti-

communist crusade in Wheeling, WV (1950)• President Dwight Eisenhower Farewell Address

on “Military-Industrial Complex” (1961)• John F. Kennedy Inaugural Address (1961)• Port Huron statement by SDS (1962)

Useful Primary Sources (continued)

• MLK’s “I Have a Dream” speech (1963)• Senator J. William Fulbright’s “Arrogance of

Power” speech (1966)• Stokely Carmichael’s “Black Power” speech

(1967)• Redstockings Manifesto (1969)