The Americas in the 20th century

AP World History

Presentation Outline

1) The USA in the Interwar Years-1919-19392) The USA during WW2 and the Cold War- 1941-19893) The USA and the Civil Rights Movement4) Nixon and Watergate5) 20th Century developments in Latin America

1) USA in the interwar years- 1919-19391) President Woodrow Wilson and the post-war order2) Isolationism3) Prosperity4) Social Developments5) The Great Depression

President Wilson and the post-war order• President Woodrow Wilson (1913-

1921) was one of the key statesmen who helped draft the Treaty of Versailles• Wilson promoted his 14 points which

emphasized the creation of a new peaceful world order• Essential to this were the rights of each

nation to self-determination and the establishment of the League of Nations

Isolationism• After Wilson’s presidency ended the United States assumed an isolationist role in world affairs,

concerning itself primarily with its own affairs and letting Europe and the rest of the world fend for itself

• Although Wilson had been the driving force behind the establishment of the League of Nations, ironically the USA did not participate in the League and played a very limited role in international diplomacy in the 1920s and 1930s

Fordney-McCumber Tariff of 1922• Imposed tariffs on imported goods to protect American farmers and producers but its long-term effect

would lead to a gradual decline in worldwide trade

Johnson-Reed Immigration Act of 1924• Imposed set quotas which drastically limited the number of immigrants• Banned immigration from Asia

Neutrality Acts of 1930s• Ensured that the US would not intervene in international conflicts and made no distinctions between

victim and aggressor states

Prosperity• The roaring twenties were a time of general

prosperity Causes of Prosperity:• Impact of the automobile- created jobs, promoted

independence, business, and consumerism• New industries- motion-pictures, radio, electrical

industry• Consumerism- mass production of household

appliances led to a giant consumer industry which created jobs and promoted spending

Social Developments-Prohibition

• The 18th Amendment to the US Constitution prohibited the sale and transport of alcohol from 1919 until its repeal in 1933• Prohibition encouraged the growth of criminal gangs

which ran the liquor trade and provided alcohol illegally• Al Capone, head of the Chicago mafia, was of the key

criminal figures in the prohibition era

Chicago gangster Al Capone

Social Developments- Women’s Rights• The 19th Amendment to the US Constitution gave

women the right to vote• Throughout the 1920s and 1930s more women

joined the workforce, although primarily as secretaries and clerks• During WW2 women played a critical role at the

home front working in factories which produced goods and weapons for the war

Rosie the Riveter- iconic image of the working women of WW2

Social Developments- Racism• During the 1920s the membership of the Ku Klux Klan grew

steadily as Anglo-Saxon White Protestants sought to publicly curtail the any “foreign” influence in the United States

• In particular, the Klan opposed all immigration, Catholics, Jews, and Blacks

• The Klan had considerable influence on politicians during the interwar period, ensuring that all legislation passed served the interests of the White majority

• The Klan was also engaged in violence: vandalism, bombings, lynching, and assassinations which led to its decline in popularity in the northern USA by the early 1930s

• The German American Bund promoted American isolationism, admired Hitler, and opposed any help to Jewish refugees trying to flee Europe

Klan members marching on Washington, 1928

German-American bund on parade in NYC, 1939

The Great Depression 1930s• Stock market crash of 1929• Didn’t realize the effect it would have• No money to replenish what was borrowed• Farmers were already feeling the effects

• Prices of crops went down• Many farms foreclosed

• People could not afford luxuries• Factories shut down• Businesses went out

• Banks could not pay out money• People could not pay their taxes

• Schools shut down due to lack of funds• Many families became homeless and had to live in

shantiesMany found being broke humiliating.

1929 crash led to the collapse of the global financial system

Roosevelt’s New Deal

• President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) (1933-1945) immediately took steps to try to end the Great Depression by stimulating the American economy by spending and creating jobs• His reforms called the New Deal provided public works

jobs, regulated banking, and created a large bureaucracy to ensure that electricity, food, etc. could be fairly, cheaply, and relatively evenly distributed• It was not, however, until WW2 that the US economy

began to recover dramatically• Largely because of Roosevelt’s reforms, there has not been

a second major economic depression

President FDR

FDR’s New Deal dramatically changed AmericaBut, the New Deal

did not lead to recovery in the

American economy

By 1938, nearly10 million

people were unemployed

Wealth remained unevenly divided

US Unemployment Numbers, 1929-1942

2) USA during WW2 and the Cold War1) America’s contribution during WW22) The Truman Doctrine and Marshall Plan3) The Korean War4) McCarthyism5) Cuban Missile Crisis6) The Vietnam War7) Space race

America’s contribution during WW2

• The USA entered the war only in 1941 after Pearl Harbor was attacked by Japan

• US troops fought on all major fronts, playing significant roles in naval battles against Japan in the Pacific, and land battles against Nazi Germany in Europe and Africa

• The US played a critical role in the Normandy invasion in June, 1944 which accelerated Nazi Germany’s defeat

• The US was responsible for developing and dropping the first atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945

• The US was the leading economic power in the world in 1945, and was, along with the Soviet Union, a military superpower

The Truman Doctrine and Marshall Aid• President Harry Truman (1945-1953) promoted the Truman

Doctrine which stated that the USA would do everything in its power to stop the spread of communism• An essential part of promoting the Truman Doctrine was the

implementation of the Marshall Plan which sent billions of dollars in aid to Western Europe in order to rebuild post-war European economies, create markets for American goods, and secure US alliance

President Truman, 1945-1953

Korean War

• This was the first major cold war showdown between the USA and the Soviet Union• The US and UN forces backed the

South, while Communist China and the Soviet Union backed the North• In the end, the division remained the

same with North and South Korea divided at the 38th parallel

McCarthyism• The 1950s saw a wave of anti-communism hysteria• Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin alleged that there

were communist agents and spies plotting against the US at all levels of governments and in all parts of American society

• McCarthy led the charge to create the Congressional House Committee on Un-American Activities

• Americans suspected of having communist ties were arrested and many actors and directors in Hollywood were blacklisted

• Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were executed for treason in 1953

• By the mid to late 1950s Congress and the American public grew weary of McCarthyism and the anti-communist purges came to an end

Senator Joseph McCarthy

Cuban Missile Crisis• Tensions between the United States and Cuba grew

in 1959 after Communist revolutionary leader Fidel Castro seized power, severed relations with the USA, and began an alliance with the Soviet Union• An aborted US backed invasion of Cuba in 1961

called the Bay of Pigs only inflamed tensions further• When an American U2 spy plane spotted Soviet

made missiles in Cuba in 1962, President Kennedy (1961-1963) decided to take decisive action by setting up a naval blockade around the island• In the end Kennedy was able to negotiate an end to

the crisis by getting Soviet premier Khrushchev's agreement to remove the missiles from Cuba

Range of Cuban missiles

Vietnam War• After the passing of Gulf of Tonkin Resolution in

1964, President Johnson (1963-1969) initiated the American escalation in the War in Vietnam

• By 1967 there were nearly 500,000 US troops in Vietnam

• The Domino Theory provided the justification for US involvement in Southeast Asia

• It was clear, however, by 1969 that there was no end in sight to the conflict

• The war was becoming increasingly unpopular with the American public

• In the end nearly 60,000 American soldiers died in Vietnam

• The last American soldiers left Vietnam in 1973

My Lai Massacre of Vietnam Villagers by American soldiers

Space race

• In addition to the arms race, the cold war involved a race between the superpowers for supremacy in space exploration• The Soviets took the lead in 1957 with the launching of

Sputnik, the first space satellite• This was followed by the first manned orbit of the earth by

Soviet pilot Yuri Gagarin in 1961• By the late 1960s the US had gained the edge, and in 1969

launched the first ever moon landing

Soviet stamp commemorating Sputnik

3) USA and the Civil Rights Movement• Although slavery had been abolished in the USA in 1865 with

the 13th Amendment to the US Constitution, Black Americans did not have equal rights in the United States, and suffered severe discrimination in the American South in particular

• In response to federal efforts to rebuild the South after the Civil War and grant Blacks equal rights, Southerners created a Jim Crow system of segregation where Blacks and Whites lived separately and unequally

• The landmark 1954 Supreme Court Case Brown v. The Board of Education made segregation unconstitutional

• Presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy enforced the court ruling which angered Southerners

• The Ku Klux Klan was re-emerged and began an anti civil rights resistance movement

• In response Civil Rights leader Martin Luther King organized non-violent protests against discrimination and called on the American government to intervene and pass new laws to secure the rights of all Americans• In 1964 President Johnson signed the Civil

Rights Act which made discrimination in employment, education, and housing illegal• In 1965 Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act

which ended the discriminatory poll taxes and guaranteed that Blacks could now vote throughout the US South

Martin Luther King addresses large crowd gather in Washington where he gives his famous “I have a dream speech,” 1963

A Comparison of the Percentage of Black and White Voters in 1965 and 2004

• The Civil Rights Movement also affected women• The Equal Pay Act of 1963

ensured that women and men would get paid the same wage for the same amount of work• The 1973 Supreme Court decision

in Roe vs. Wade decriminalized abortion

4) Nixon and Watergate• President Nixon’s (1969-74) resignation in 1974

was the first time in American history that a US president resigned from office• The FBI investigation into the Watergate hotel

break-in revealed that Nixon operatives broke into the hotel to spy on the rival Democratic Party during the 1972 presidential election• It was not proven that Nixon ordered the break-in

but his cover up of his knowledge of the event led to his disgraceful resignation• The American public had become increasingly

cynical about politicians since the 1960s, and it was now made clear that it could not trust even its president

4) 20th Century developments in Latin America1)19th Century legacy2) Cuba3)Brazil4)Argentina5) US interventions

Latin America in the 19th Century

• Gained independence• Legacy of colonization left many problems:• Powerful militaries• One-crop economies• Sharp class divisions

• European and U.S. economic domination• Dependency Theory

• Rulers more interested in personal power than in democracy

Political Instability

• Influence of caudillos• Creole elites supported the status quo• Little experience with European

democracy• Foreign Intervention• Monroe Doctrine• Spanish American War• Panama Canal

Cuban Revolution• Preliminary• Fulgencio Batista• Economic growth• U.S. Influence

• In 1958, Fidel Castro overthrew Batista• 26th of July Movement• Aided by Ernesto “Che”

Guevara

Fidel Castro Che Guevara

Fidel Castro’s Cuba

• Provided reforms: economy, literacy, health care, improvement for women.• Harsh dictator - suspended elections, jailed or executed opponents,

restricted the press.• Nationalized Cuban economy Castro turned to Soviets for economic

and military aid.• Cuban Missile Crisis

Brazilian Government in the Early 20th Century

• Originally government supports coffee and cacao planters and rubber exporters• Large gap between rich and poor

• Getulio Vargas rules as a dictator in 1930s• Suppressed political opposition.• Promoted economic growth and helped

make Brazil a modern industrial nation.

Getulio Vargas

Post-WWII Brazil

• Government dominated by dictators• Continued economic modernization• Encouraged foreign investment to promote

development projects.• Debt soared and inflation increased, causing hardship

for most Brazilians.

• Movements towards democracy since 1980• Hampered by government corruption

Argentina after WWII• Juan Peron (1946-1954) promoted

“nationalistic populism”• Called for industrialization• Supported the working classes• Limited foreign economic intervention

• Military dictators dominate 60s, 70s, & 80s• “Death Squads” fought a “dirty war” against

subversives from 1976-1983

• Democratic reforms demanded in the 1980s

Juan Peron

Eva Peron

• Immigrant and soap-opera star married Juan Peron in 1944• Ministered to the needs of

the descamisados “shirtless ones”• Formed Eva Peron Foundation

to help poor• Died in 1952 at age of 33• Husband lost popularity after

her death

US Interventions

• Reformers threaten to nationalize industry and agriculture in Guatemala• United Fruit Co. threatened by

reforms

• C.I.A. helps topple reformist government in 1954• U.S. supported dictatorship

Other U.S. Interventions

• Banana Republics• U.S. backed dictators in a capitalist economic system

• U.S. backed dictatorships• Augusto Pinochet in Chile• Manuel Noriega in Panama

• Military intervention• Sandinistas (USSR) vs. Contras (US) in Nicaragua

Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet seized power in 1973 in a CIA backed coup. Like many dictators in Latin America, he did pave the way for market reforms and some democratization during the mid 1980s.