RB

Cold War

  • War is over
  • USSR has control over a big portion of Germany because Stalin doesn’t want to give any land to the French, so America and Britain give some of their German land to France
  • Stalin wants more land so he can spread communism
  • 1948, everybody except for Stalin is ready to give Germany back to Germans - Those lands become known as West Germany, with Stalin’s being known as East Germany
  • Also split control of Berlin
  • Could have front of house in West Berlin and the back in East Berlin
  • Stalin wants West Berlin to be communist
  • Communism is not an enjoyable state to live in - doesn’t want people in East Berlin to see the better conditions of West Berlin
  • Gives East Berlin a ton of stuff, cheap consumer goods, nice nightclubs, movie theaters, etc. so it’s communist government seems better
  • People from West Berlin can just go to these nightclubs and theaters, and then go back to West Berlin - get the best of both worlds.
  • Important people in East Berlin can spend a day in West Berlin, don’t come back

Berlin Blockade

  • Stalin closes off Berlin from West Germany
  • Stalin is willing to start World War III
  • Truman’s military wants to attack, but Truman doesn’t - wants to avoid conflict
  • Could give up - it’s a weird situation, would be fair
  • Don’t want to - would be similar to appeasement, giving Stalin too much could end up leading to World War III anyway

Berlin Airlift

  • Giving Supplies to the people of West Berlin constantly
  • If these planes gets shot down, would probably mean war.
  • Truman sends one atomic bomb with each of the planes - won’t use it, but shooting them down would risk total destruction
  • Stalin gives up on this - should be a massive victory for Truman, but American people don’t see it like that

Truman

  • American people think that this entire situation never would have happened if FDR was president, think he’s spineless
  • American people had adjusted to having FDR as President, Truman is like his exact opposite - people don’t like him because of this
  • Truman considered to be one of the worst presidents during his time period
  • Now, Truman’s decisions were almost always correct
  • Notable things with Truman - ends segregation, stops Stalin, doesn’t smoke or drink, takes care of his appearance, takes blame for mistakes he made
  • Much higher in Presidents ranking today than he was right after WWII
  • General Ranking right after WWII - Washington/Lincoln, FDR, TR
  • Truman being top 4 presidents is valid opinion

What is the Cold War?

  • Post War period where it seemed like a possibility that we could go to war with the Soviet Union
  • Russia was a superpower - not as strong today

USA

  • Stuff is going much better now - large portion of Americans are now in the middle class
  • Why?
    • Wartime rationing + wages allowed people to make good money, couldn’t spend all of it because of rationing and self limiting (patriotism)
    • People want to spend the money that they’ve saved - cars, homes, food, etc.
    • Spending money → more jobs → more stuff to buy; cycle of wealth
    • Modern America is made by this ripple effect
  • Suburbs are created - living in a city = living in the city, living in a small town = living in the town - building communities of cheap homes outside of town.
    • Levittown - suburb with house as small as this classroom + some land outside
    • Gave opportunity to get the good things of cities(i.e. nightlife) without the bad things(i.e. pollution)
    • Same demographic of people are buying houses, young people who had experienced the war and getting married
    • Single model of house, could modify a little bit, but not a lot - made from very cheap materials
  • G.I. Bill (~1944) - Basically a way to compensate veterans done right
    • Guaranteed a mortgage; still need to keep up with payments, but will definitely get the mortgage - automatically guaranteed
    • Continued to pay them for a year - doesn’t matter what you do with it, just meant to ease you back into the world
    • Free college - study whatever, wherever, they will pay no matter what
    • Majority don’t take advantage
    • Could already have a family - can’t take the time to go to college
    • Could make just as much money at places like Ford - wouldn’t make that much straight out of college
  • Huge baby boom - then, you could get a job for anything easily as long as you were good at it

Stopping the Spread of Communism

  • Containment
    • Kennan - Knows a lot about Stalin, used to live in Russia
    • Knew what Communism was about - sends telegram to Truman, known as the Long Telegram
    • Truman is convinced, want to stop the spread - lots more communist countries now
    • Kennan creates the idea of containment, Truman creates the policy
  • Truman Doctrine - Truman saying we will contain communism
    • Basically - give money to countries and tell them not to lean to the communist side
    • Marshall Plan - basically this, will give money to anyone that needs it
    • Stalin won’t take the money because then it’s an admission that communism sucks

National Security Act - 1947

  • Germans had plans for everything, how to execute a war
  • America realizes in post war that we need that
  • National Security Act streamlines the process
    • Prevents a lot of rivalry between different groups of military, makes it easier
    • President → Secretary of Defense → Joint Chiefs ( Top Admirals)
    • Joint Chiefs create contingency plans, don’t predict everything, but they do help with coordinating plans a lot faster
  • Created NATO - North Atlantic Treaty Organization
  • Communist countries make the Warsaw Pact
  • Same stuff as World War II - if one is attacked, others defend

Chinese Civil War

  • Chang Kai Shek - leading China, everybody is backing him pretty much
  • Chang leaves, pretty much losing - says Taiwan is real China

Election of 1948

  • Truman is the Democratic candidate
    • Definitely can’t win - accidentally nominated, not well liked at his time
  • Tom Dewey - Republican Candidate
    • Governor of New York, prosecutor for Al Capone case
  • Thurmond - Dixiecrat Candidate, Southern Democrats
    • This party’s creation guarantees Truman’s loss
  • Somehow, Truman wins
    • Dewey started acting like he already won, and Truman doesn’t stop trying
    • Truman campaigned through the South, was an underdog
    • Dewey was very overconfident, neglected the West
    • Everyone in the West votes for Truman
  • People are annoyed - still didn’t want him to win
  • During the election, Truman integrated the federal government and the armed forces - no more segregation here
    • Knew that it could’ve lost him votes or the election, but did it because it was right

Korea

  • Forty years of Japanese occupation in Korea
  • Division; thought to be temporary, but no deadline
  • America takes South Korea, Russia takes North Korea
  • North Korea ran by Kim Il Sung, diehard communist
  • South Korea ran by Syngman Rhee, somewhat democratic, but appointed by us - also dead against communism
  • Both sides were brutal - however, South is against communism, so it’s overlooked.
  • Kim Il-Sung wants to invade, but Stalin wants to avoid another World War, so he says no
  • In a speech, Truman doesn’t specify that he’ll defend South Korea, so Stalin ok’s an invasion
  • Invasion is super suprising, completely overwhelmed - American and South Korean troops are pushed way back
  • Troops are completely unexperienced - Weren’t really in World War II, old equipment from WWII, was enough for occupation but not even close to counter an invasion
  • Truman calls a meeting of the UN - Stalin is on boycott until Mao Zedong’s China is admitted, so everyone agrees to stop the aggression in Korea
  • Douglass MacArthur goes to Korea, WWII veteran - makes it seem like they’re in a perfect position
  • Go for Inchon and flank North Korean forces, while Pusan American troops push back - shouldn’t have worked, but it’s very successful
  • Since it’s going so well, US decides to go further into North Korea to try and unite it under anti-Communist rule
  • China tries to tell them to back off, MacArthur doesn’t - thinks he knows how the Asian mind works
  • Chinese troops crossed river, hid, and destroyed the Americans - pushed way back, Seoul is retaken
  • MacArthur wants to use nukes on China, North Korea - Truman is confused
  • MacArthur writing behind Truman’s back
  • Risks of nukes are published in newspapers
  • MacArthur fired because of everything he’s done, approached for presidency
  • Big egos involved in this conflict - Truman, Stalin, Mao
  • Prisoners of War from North Korea and China want to stay - forced out

Election of 1952

  • Stevenson - Democratic Candidate
    • Decent Presidential candidate
  • IKE (Dwight Eisenhower) - Republican Candidate
    • Chosen over MacArthur, has all of his advantages without any of the drawbacks
    • “We Like IKE”
  • IKE wins in a landslide, Stalin dies
  • Lots of disorganization among these major powers, Kim Il Sung sees that this can’t go on forever
  • Armistice between the Koreas - Still going on today

Nixon

  • IKE was old and grandfatherly, needed someone younger to counteract that
  • Nixon - was like the opposite of IKE; from California, young, etc.
  • Nixon Fund threatened his career - was allegedly taking bribes
  • Was part of HUAC - Red hunter

1950’s Red Scare

  • Much worse than the previous red scare - organization made to investigate communism

Loyalty Review Board

  • There are communist spies at this time
  • The government wants to make sure that we don’t have any
  • Looking through everything - any secrets you have are exposed
  • FBI talks to people from years ago to know everything

HUAC

  • Nixon worked for this
  • Biggest enemy for Nixon was Alger Hiss
  • Alger Hiss was thought to be a communist spy who helped Stalin at the Yalta Conference so that he would get his way
  • Alger Hiss maintained that he was innocent, Nixon maintains that he was guilty
  • Alger Hiss likely was a spy - ALES = codename, known from Venona program that decoded Soviet messages

McCarthy

  • McCarthyism - Drags in people, ruins their reputation unless information was given
  • McCarthy was super influential - Only reason IKE got the nomination for President

Civil Rights

  • The Civil Rights movement is bad for America because of American reactions towards it
  • Trying to sell the idea that America’s way of life is the best while certain races are being treated much worse than others
  • Movment really begins in 1950’s, but very beginning is with Jackie Robinson
  • Jackie Robinson, 1947 - First African-American baseball player in fifty years
  • MLB wants to ban black players because of expansion to the South
  • Leagues for black people - still good, but MLB was the best place for a career
  • Branch Ricky wants to integrate the leagues
  • Jackie Robinson - Good, young enough, been in war, great athlete, intelligent, etc.
  • Robinson was going to be harassed - Ricky said to give him three years and he’d be the best player
  • Robinson becomes the best player, and basically integrates black people into the league - other teams aren’t looking at race anymore, only skill

Brown v. Board of Ed - 1954

  • Black student had to walk through really bad area to get to black school, want to go to the white school
  • No other courts heard the case other than the Supreme Court - Reason is for new justices, Warren and Marshall
  • Warren was very conservative before his time in the court, Warren became very liberal after he entered
  • Marshall - Lawyer for the Brown Family
  • Marshall argues that “separate but equal” is inherently untrue - Supreme Court agrees
  • Integration is ordered, but states take as long as they can to do so - Don’t do it, get sued, forced to do it - several year process

Montgomery Bus Boycott - 1955

  • Generally, when a bus was full, black people sat in the back or had to stand, white people in front
  • Rosa Parks chooses to continue sitting when asked to move to the back
  • Her not giving up her seat was planned - worked with government, act of civil disobedience
  • Parks0 was arrested, no plan after that
  • Martin Luther King Jr - takes charge of the movement, starts the boycott against the buses
  • Would walk to work together - was illegal, only a certain number of African American people could be in a group together, whether in walking or driving
  • King is harassed, house is firebombed
  • Buses continue to run routes, losing money
  • Once desegregated, buses will actually be desegregated - otherwise, money would’ve been lost

Little Rock 9 - 1957

  • Eisenhower didn’t do anything about Civil Rights - saw it as a state issue
  • 9 students want to go to school at a white school
  • Governor says no, brings in National Guard to intimidate
  • Eisenhower gets involved, lets students go to school

Stalin

  • A couple of people near Stalin either killed him or let him die
  • Nikita Khrushchev - Stalin’s replacement, scares people because he might be crazy

Hungary

  • America broadcasts things to Eastern countries, saying that they will help any of them with rebellion
  • Hungary revolts, Russia immediately crushes them
  • America starting war against Russia would lead to World War III, so America decides not to help
  • Sends two messages - America won’t help as much as they could, and Russia will destroy rebellions

Vietnam

  • Ho Chi Minh - important Vietnamese leader, wants self determination, not allowed
  • Ho Chi Minh helped US in WWII, want to maintain that relationship
  • France has a colony, US doesn’t want them to let go of it so they can keep being a superpower
  • Ho Chi Minh comes out as communist, US withdraws support for Vietnam
  • Vietnam is living in stone age era, like it this way - want independence, want to be left alone,

Dien Bien Phu - 1954

  • Fought like an Eastern war
  • France wants to pull out, US doesn’t want them to
  • A couple of people in Vietnam don’t want communism
  • Temporarily divide country at the 17th parallel
  • Ho Chi Minh has North Vietnam, Diem has South Vietnam
  • Both doing similar things, corrupt government
  • US doesn’t like Diem, but have to deal with him - he will be assassinated by the people
  • Ho Chi Minh would win an election, so US calls off the election
  • US says that communists would cheat in elections, so they don’t do election
  • Vietnamese don’t care about Communism or Capitalism - care about Ho Chi Minh
  • Communists would probably cheat
  • Permanent division of Vietnam - give Diem a lot of resources to defend
  • US assumed that all communist countries were being led by Russia - incorrect

Suez Canal

  • Coup in Egypt
  • Nasser wants to rebuild Egyptian infrastructure
  • US wants to help, give money - Nasser wants to see if Communists will give money too, so US call off the deal
  • Nasser attacks Suez Canal - British and French go to war
  • Soviet Union is supporting Egypt now
  • Britain, France, Israel vs. Egypt, Soviet Union
  • US and Soviet Union come together in Union for quick end

Eisenhower Doctrine 1957

  • Eisenhower says he would defend the Middle East
  • Turns out that there is a lot of oil in the Middle East
  • OPEC is made - basically decides how much oil will be produced, practically control everything
  • US is falling behind the Soviet Union in terms of technology
  • Sputnik - Russia sends something to space, could use these for warfare
  • IKE had a policy to prevent warfare - Massive Retalliation, respond with nukes - not as good anymore since everyone has one
  • MAD - Mutual Assured Destruction - if one side launches, the other will too, both will be destroyed

Election of 1956

  • Still Like IKE - beats Stevenson again, gets second term

Election of 1960

  • IKE can’t go for a third term because of constintution
  • Heath wasn’t great - two heart attacks
  • Republicans - Nixon, Lodge;
    • Nixon is the next best thing to IKE, basically was groomed to be president during IKE’s second term
    • Nixon gets Lodge for Massachusetts so that he can take the state from Kennedy
  • Democrats - JFK, LBJ; JFK is intelligent, charismatic, articulate, good-looking, wealthy, young, energetic, younger wife that could be more intelligent, but he didn’t have a lot of experience, especially compared to Nixon
    • JFK barely got the nomination - Lyndon Johnson was more experienced, feels that his chances were stolen by JFK
    • Johnson gets vice president nomination, takes it because he knows that it could result in him becoming president
  • JFK wins - debates generally favor the underdog
  • Debates are televised, Nixon is not as marketable - older, kids are older too
  • JFK used to be a movie star, knew exactly what to wear to make himself look better
  • Nixon doesn’t look nearly as good