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Ch 36 The Cold War Begins, 1945-1952

from

The American Pageant(12th edition)

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Post-War AnxietyMany Americans feared that the end of WWII would bring a

return of the Great Depression.– Many feared that the insecurity, suicide rates, sexual

depression, lower birthrates etc. would comeback and the economic uplift of the war might have been only temporary

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Post-War Anxiety• Initially things did look bleak

– GNP slumped from 46-47– Prices rose 33%– Epidemics of strikes

• 1946 4.6 million laborers went on strike because wages weren’t keeping with inflation

• Could it be 1919 all over again???? AAAHHHHH!

• Conservatives (Republicans) were also out for revenge against FDR’s 4 terms and the New Deal. – They controlled Congress (1st time in 14 years)

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Labor StrugglesThe Taft-Hartley Act delivered a major blow to labor by • outlawing “closed” shops (all-union members only). • [Congress passed the Taft-Hartley Act with an override of Truman’s

veto was passed to check the growing power of labor unions.• On home front in 1946, the post-war USA was characterized by an

epidemic of labor strikes.(Zinn Ch 16 A People’s War? shows how many strikes between 1941-1945 and discusses why there were so many

strikes.)

The growth of organized labor in the post-WWII era was slowed by:• the Taft-Hartley Act, • the rapidly growing number of service-sector workers, • the failure of “Operation Dixie” (to unionize the South by the CIO),

and the growing number of part-time workers (Ex. Women with families);

What about the reduced number of women in the work force? • No, because the number of women in work force actually increased!

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The “GI Bill”Passage of the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act (GI Bill

of Rights) was partly motivated by a fear that the labor markets could not absorb millions of discharged war veterans [which could create socio-economic instability].

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Truman’s Post-War Domestic Policy

• In an effort to forestall an economic downturn, the Truman administration did all of the following {All of the except type question!} (pp.859-860 12th ed.):– created the President’s Council of Economic Advisors (which

had 3 advisors), – sold war factories and other government installations to private

businesses at very low prices, – passed the Employment Act of 1946, which made it

government policy to promote maximum employment, production, and purchasing power

– passed the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act (the “GI Bill of Rights”) [which allowed for veterans to get money for college and low interest home loans/mortgages];

• What about continuing wartime wages and price controls?– No!

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The Post-War Economic Boom

• US GNP climbed in 48 and by ’50 it took off for nearly 20 years– National income doubled in the 50’s– National income doubled again in the 60’s– Americans made up 6% of the world’s population and

enjoyed 40% of its wealth

• This success was experience of course unevenly but it paved the way for – Civil Rights– Welfare programs like Medicare– International leadership

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The Post-War Economic Boom

• Depression survivors were determined to “get theirs” while the getting was good– 2 cars in every garage– Swimming pools– Vacation homes– Gas- guzzling RVs– Washing machines– TV sets– 60% owned their own homes

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The Post-War Economic Boom [and Its Impact on Women]

• Post-WWII prosperity in the USA was most beneficial to women.– (Ex. There were more women in the work force, there were more jobs

open than before, but still a very narrow field for women by today’s standards.)

– Urban offices, service sector jobs– Women made up 25% of workforce at WWII’s end, and 50% 50 years

later. • The “feminist” revolt of the 1960s was sparked by a clash between

the demands of the traditional role of women as wives and mothers and the realities of employment [before, during, and after WWII].– ROSIE THE RIVETOR VS. I LOVE LUCY

• One striking consequence of the postwar economic boom was the vast expansion of the home-owning middle class [from 40% to 60%]

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The Post-War Economic Boom Roots

• WWII Stimulated early– Rebuilt the depression-plagued economy

• Post war military budgets– “permanent war economy”– Korean War– Defense spending 10% of GNP– Aerospace, plastics, and electronics primed by the

Pentagon• low energy costs [because the USA controlled

Arab oil and consequently got it cheap].• Increased productivity

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Demographic Changes, Migration, and Real Estate

• After WWII, American workers made spectacular gains in productivity owing to their rising education levels.

• {Productivity is how much is produced per hour – a rate of efficiency}

• Since 1945, the population of the USA has grown most rapidly in the Sunbelt. (CA, NV, AZ, NM, TX, GA, AK, AL, FL, VA)

• Much of the Sunbelt’s new prosperity was based on its tremendous influx of money and capital from the federal government. (pp.862-862 12th ed.) – {Defense/War industries and military bases – aviation.} [Huge

military contracts and/or installations.]

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Demographic Changes, Migration, and Real Estate continued

• Americans were encouraged to move to suburbs because of the following:– home-loan guarantees from Federal Housing Authority (FHA) and the Veterans’ Administration

(VA), – Government built highways (which were largely constructed to move missiles and troops in case of

war), (Interstate System) – tax reductions for interest payments on home mortgages, and– “white flight” from racial change (in cities moving to suburbs);

• What about the development of fuel efficient automobiles in the late 1940s? – [And through the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, ????

• The rapid rise of suburbia was due to:– the baby boom [The “Baby Boomer’ generation – war and post-war babies born up through the

early 1960s] (Such “baby booms” always precede and follow wars– government mortgage guarantees, – new highways- Interstates, – “white flight;”

• What about an environmental crisis?– No!

• By 1960, the proportion of Americans who lived in areas classified as metropolitan (city) suburbs was approximately one out of four or 25%. (p.864 12th ed.)

• The growth of suburbs led to an increase in urban poverty (*as the socio-economic tax-base shifts and wealth leaves the city and moves to the suburbs – which hurts city finances, especially schools – plus ghettos and crime exacerbate the problem.)

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Demographic Changes, Migration, and Real Estate finale

• The population distribution after WWII followed a pattern of an urban-suburban segregation of blacks and whites in major metropolitan (city) areas [“white flight”].

• Refusal of the Federal Housing Authority (FHA) to grant home-loans to blacks contributed to driving many blacks into public housing (Ex. the “projects”).

• The huge post-war “baby boom” reached its peak in the late 1950s (1957). (pp.864 & 866 12th ed.)

• The “Baby Boomers” will create a major problem in the future [when they retire by] placing an enormous strain on the Social Security System. (Starting to occur now)

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Children in the Post-War USA

• One sign of stress that the widespread post-war geographic mobility placed on American families was the popularity of advice books on child rearing (such as the book by Dr. Spock)

• [resulting in a lack of inter-generational contact to learn from successive generations because families moved apart from each other and were then isolated- couldn’t walk over to grannies for advice/ Also, many of the younger generations usually rebelled against their parents “old school” tactics of discipline, etc. (Ex. Time outs instead of “whoopings!”].

[Use Mr. Spock’s Vulcan Nerve Pinch to Subdue Misbehaving Children! ]

This would be an

awesome power to

have!

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Farmers in Post-War America• The dramatically reduced number of American farms and farmers in

the postwar era was accompanied by spectacular gains in American agricultural productivity and food growing [Agribusiness]

Therefore, as agribusiness grew = corporate farming, many small, individual farmers were losing their farms and were going under and

out of business.

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“Give ‘em Hell” Harry S. Truman• Before he was elected Vice-President of the USA in 1944 on the Democratic

ticket with FDR, Harry S. Truman had served as:– a haberdashery storeowner (men’s clothing store), – a WWI artillery officer (Major despite lack of college ed.), – a Missouri judge– a US Senator form MO (the battleship USS Missouri was chosen for the

Japanese surrender on 9-2-1945 largely because of his daughter christening the ship and it being his home state);

• What about Secretary of the Navy/(SecNav)?– No!

• {Truman had risen through the Pendergast political machine • [“Give ‘em Hell Harry.”] (“The buck stops here.”)}• Characteristics of President Truman:

– few pretensions– willingness to accept responsibility (Ex. “The buck stops here.”), – honesty (for a politician?), – Courage

(What would Zinn Ch 16 A People’s War? say about him/what did he say in?)

USS Harry S. Truman CVN – 75USS Missouri

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Conferences

• Tehran- (1943) FDR and J. Stalin met face to face, but many postwar issues remained

• Yalta- Big 3 (1945) reached agreements on final assault on Germany, assigning occupation zones, Independent Poland, Bulgaria and Romania with free elections, United Nations, Russia would attack Japan w/in 3 months after the collapse of Germany in return for ½ of Sakhalin Island wich was lost by Russia to Japan in 1905 and Japan’s Kurile Islands.

• POTSDAM: (1945) after collapse of Germany, Big Three: Truman, Stalin, Atlee (replaced Churchill)

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Yalta: Bargain or Betrayal

• Concessions to the Russians gave them control over industrial centers in China

• We didn’t end up needing Russia’s help due to the Atomic Bombs

• Critics say FDR sold Chiang Kai-Shek down the river which contributed to his overthrow by communists

• Also, Stalin later reneged and established communist satellites in Poland and other Eastern European states

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Shaping the Postwar World- No more Isolation

• Bretton Woods Conference- (1944) established the IMF to encourage world trade by regulating currency exchange rates; founded the World Bank to promote economic growth in war ravaged and underdeveloped areas.

• This was in contrast to behavior after WWI with isolation

• The US took the lead in creating these international bodies and supplied funding

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Shaping the Postwar World- No more Isolation

• United Nations, April 25, 1945– Successor to the League of Nations– Differed:

• Security Council (Big 5: US, USSR, BRITAIN, FRANCE and CHINA)

– No member of the security coundil could have action taken against it without its consent

– The UN assumed great-power cooperation, not great-power conflict

• General Assembly- allowed participation by smaller countries

• The Senate overwhelmingly approved the UN Charter 89-2.

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Shaping the Postwar World- No more Isolation

• United Nations, April 25, 1945– Jewish State of Israel– UNESCO (United Nations Educational,

Scientific, and Cultural Organization) – FAO (Food and Agricultural Organization) – WHO (World Health Organization)

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The United Nations – Success or Failure?

• In its early years, the United Nations (UN) was {somewhat} successful in its efforts:– preserving peace in several “hot spots” like Iran, – guiding several former colonies to independent

nationhood (but not Vietnam, French Indochina – consider USA’s interests in giving French Indochina back to France and letting them fight communists there from 1945 until 1954),

– helping create a new Jewish state of Israel in Palestine (Has been a rough ride)

• {USA pushed & aided, then Arabs tried to destroy – led to bitter, nasty fighting on and off with Arab states from then until today},

• establishing international health, science, and food agencies.

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The United Nations – Success or Failure? continued

• Unlike the failed League of Nations, the new United Nations (UN) was established in a spirit of cooperation before the end of the war (WWII).

• (Would Zinn Ch 16 A People’s War? agree? What type of cooperation, and for what purpose? Was it totally benevolent?)

• The earliest and most serious failure of the UN involved its inability to control atomic energy, especially the manufacture of weapons.

• [Ex. The USA wanted to maintain a military advantage and technological edge]

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Nuremberg and Other War Crimes Trials• The victorious WWII Allies quickly agreed that Nazism

should be destroyed in Germany and that high-ranking (and later, lesser ranking) Nazis should be tried and punished for war crimes. The List of Charges:– Crimes Against Peace – planning and waging an aggressive

war– War Crimes – acts against the customs of warfare, such as

killing hostages and POWs, plundering private property, and destruction of towns and cities

– Crimes Against Humanity – murder, extermination, deportation, enslavement of civilians.

– { Nazi officials pointed to Allied hypocrisy in charging the Nazis for things that the Allies had also done.}

• Japanese War Crimes Trials – Sort of Worse and Sort of Better with Similar Charges – Explain

Herman Goering after taking poison

the night before his execution.

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The US built up two former enemies and prepared for war with a former ally!

• Postwar Japan had its military leaders tried for war crimes, as had occurred in Germany. (p.878 12th ed.)– Tojo took the fall for Hirohito – not like Germany.– Shiro Ishi of Unit 731 and the scientists got off without people knowing

what they did

• – USA wanted data on their experiments – sickening – but Cold War – justifiable or not?

• That does not seem the same as had occurred in Germany to me though.

• The USA built up West Germany too – along with Japan – and both became economic powerhouses and allies of the USA.

Shiro Ishi of Unit 731General Tomoyuki Yamashita (second right) was tried in Manila between October 29 and December 7, 1945, by a

U.S. military commission, on charges relating to the Manila Massacre and earlier occurrences in Singapore, and was sentenced to death. The case set a precedent

regarding the responsibility of commanders for war crimes, and is known as the Yamashita Standard. The

legitimacy of the hasty trial has been called into question.

Japanese Prime Minister Hideki Tojo

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Germany divided into 4 occupational zones, each assigned to one of the Big 4 powers (France, Britain, US, and USSR)

• Western Allies desired a speedy economic recovery to avoid same mistakes as after WWI; Soviets were suspicious of another Germany invasion (1812, 1914, 1942)

•The western allies refused to allow Moscow to bleed their zones of the reparations that Stalin insisted he had been promised at Yalta

•Germany remained divided: West Germany became independent attached to the West, East Germany along with Soviet-dominated Eastern Europe (Poland, Hungary) became satellite states of the Soviet Union

Maps of East and West Germany and East and West Berlin

The Berlin Wall

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American Occupation of Japan and the Japanese Constitution

• The USA occupied Japan in the immediate post-war period with General Douglas MacArthur in command.

• The US immediately sought to rebuilding the country to thwart the perception of the threat of communism in Asia, and reformed the government and society with a democratic government and constitution.

• The new Japanese government created in 1946 by General Douglas MacArthur’s staff:– pledged itself to providing for the equality of women,

{This was largely due to women on MacArthur’s staff.} – introduced a Western-style democratic constitution, – paved the way for spectacular economic recovery– renounced militarism (*Japan does not teach about its aggression in

WWII only its victimization);• What about Japan joining a military alliance to prevent the spread of

communism in East Asia (as the West Germans joined NATO in Europe)?– No! The Japanese constitution did not provide for that.

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Why would the Soviets want to invade Japan?

• In early 1945, the USA was eager to have the USSR participate in the projected invasion of Japan because Soviet help could reduce the number of American casualties. (Then came Manhattan! – No need for Soviets?)

• [Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) – The Soviet Union – “Commies” – “Reds” – the Sickle and Hammer]

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The Origins of the Cold War

• The origins of the Cold War lay in the fundamental disagreement between the USA and the USSR over postwar arrangements in Eastern Europe (behind the infamous “Iron Curtain”).

• [Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) – The Soviet Union – “Commies” – “Reds” – the Sickle and Hammer]

• Joseph Stalin’s postwar security concerns focused primarily on Eastern Europe (satellites – “friendly nations” – a “buffer” against the Germans, the “West”).

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Two Superpowers• The USA and the USSR resembled each other in that they both had

largely been isolated from world affairs and practiced an ideological “missionary” foreign policy (born in their respective revolutions the need to proselytize their respective economic and political ideologies – even more during the Cold War).

• {Isolation of course is relative to European affairs as both nations expanded ruthlessly through their “interiors” subjugating people and claiming territories through war and conquest.}

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Who caused the Cold War?• Responsibility for starting the Cold War rests with (both) the USA

and the USSR • Who Was Responsible for the Cold War? This is worth reading!)• Winston Churchill's "Sinews of Peace" address of 5 March 1946, at

Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri, used the term "iron curtain" in the context of Soviet-dominated Eastern Europe:

• “From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic an "iron curtain" has descended across the Continent. Behind that line lie all the capitals of the ancient states of Central and Eastern Europe. Warsaw, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Belgrade, Bucharest and Sofia; all these famous cities and the populations around them lie in what I must call the Soviet sphere, and all are subject, in one form or another, not only to Soviet influence but to a very high and in some cases increasing measure of control from Moscow.”

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WWII Yalta Conference• At the wartime Yalta Conference (on the Black Sea with

FDR, Stalin, and Churchill), the Big Three Allies (USA, USSR, and Great Britain) agreed to establish a postwar international peacekeeping organization and that the Soviets would enter the Pacific war against Japan within 3 months of the surrender of Germany (5-8-45).

• {Note that the USSR invaded Manchuria on 8-8-45, after 8/6/45, Hiroshima, and the day before 8/9/45, Nagasaki.}

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Cold War Tensions• By 1945, the Soviet Union (Joseph Stalin) had reason to

be suspicious of the USA because the British and Americans had delayed in opening a second front in Europe during WWII, and the British and Americans had not informed the Soviets of an atomic bomb project until it was completed.

• {Davidson & Lytle Ch13 The Decision to Drop the Bomb – the US and Great Britain were more worried about Soviet spies, not really the Axis so much, which did not matter in the end because the Soviets had spies working on the Manhattan Project anyway.}

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Maps of East and West Germany and East and West Berlin

The Berlin Wall