1945-1980 Flashcards
1
Q
intro to the Fridge
A
- following WWII US and USSR were only world powers, US was much stronger with atomic weapons and soviets lost 20 million people, US needed open markets around the world for all its products
- USSR encouraged creation of pro-communist countries in eastern Europe, wanted communist buffer between them and Germany, US though communism would keep expanding
- This created idea of Containment introduced by Geroge Kennan - block spread of USSR power, expose failure of Soviet, reduce Kremlins control and influence, and foster seeds of USSR destruction
2
Q
Cold Economic Warfare
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- Truman became president in 1945 and like containment (Trueman Doctrine), first came with Greece and Turkey aid - announced - Trueman Doctrine set US as free and Communism as tyrannical, US would aid anti-communism no matter how undemocratic, as well as global alliances against USSR - creation of National Security Council, CIA, and Atomic Energy Commision which none were democratically elected with little oversight, his doctrine also set up military build up
- Marshall Plan was aid to Europe so they wouldn’t become communist, and helped improve industry in Europe creating mass consumer producer societies
- Japan rebuilt under Mcarther, new constitution, Japan gave women right to vote and gave up war and US would protect it
- Germany split in two, and USSR eventually USSR blocked roads, so Berline Airlift, roads lifted but Berlin Wall set up in 1961, in 1949 NATO was set up, USSR detonated first bomb, Chinese communists won
- Democrats and Republicans came together supported military build up, US intervention seen as necessary to prevent spread of Evil communism, Movies made about how bad communism is, CIA funded pro US anti Commie art like US Expressionism vs Commie Realism
- Soviets Atheist, so US added in 1954 Under God to pledge
- Trueman wanted to pass Fair deal but anti communism prevented, minimum wage, health insurance, Social Security, education spending, but American Medical Association lobbied calling it socialized medicine
- Due to war money was spent on education, science, computers, highway system
- Reason USSR developed nuclear weapons so quickly was espionage, Julius Rosenburg and wife killed even though she was innocent led to 1947 Loyalty Review System for gov employees, and to prove loyalty people would rat, which never found communists - led to 1950 Red Scare and Josph McCarthy
- 1951 Dennis v US said it was crime to be commie leader
- Criticizing US was seen as disloyalty, new definition of freedom as gov serves to keep us free from destruction by evil commies
3
Q
Hot Cold War
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- Korean War (1950-1953) - first time the war was hot, Truman went to UN over congress never calling it war, led by Douglas McArthur who was pop with people but not president, US tried to reunify Korea and made it to China border and in 1950 China counter attacked pushing back to 38th Parallel, scorched Earth Policy
- US Citizens didn’t like losing war so in 1952 Eisenhower won election, Korean war killed many Americans and was expensive, extended executive power and set new precedents for warfare and presidential declarations of war
- Ho Chih Min trying to win independence for Vietnam from France but because of the times, the US saw him as Communist who must be vilified, and because Eisenhower’s domino theory Vietnam couldn’t fall, began with advisors, but under LBJ in 1964 Gulf of Tonkin Resolution began with soldiers landing but president didn’t tell public beginning hiding info from citizens, Tet offensive showed war wouldn’t end soon, lots of bombing, napalm, agent orange
- Up till 1970 most Americans supported Vietnam even through protests began occurring
- 1968 Campaign saw Nixon with secret plan to end the war, appealing to silent majority who weren’t antiwar, gradually leaving fighting to the Vietnamese, more bombing, more troops into Cambodia which didn’t work and destabilized Cambodia leading to its communism
4
Q
Anti War
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- Invention of TV’s allowed people to see the horrors of war, including Mai Lai massacre (1968), poorest drafted at greater rates because rich college students got deferred
- 1971 saw pentagon papers released, which gov had mislead public for years, War Powers Act of 1973 was meant to limit president from sending troops without permission, and after negotiation Nixon pulled out in 1973
- First war US lost, with many deaths and money spent, after the war many Americans began to distrust gov,
5
Q
Civil Rights
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- 1950s great for white men, generally pro American because criticizing America was bad, also more prosperity for everyday citizens left little to criticize with amenities, era of suburbanization, hyper consumerism with car culture, American values were individuality, respect for private property, and belief in equal opportunity
- this period didn’t help blacks with housing and job segregation, half lived in poverty, worse education in segregated schools
- Fight for Civil rights was long but they began to win in 1950’s, success began in WWII with Philip Randolph executive order 8802
- 1946 California saw first desegregated schools, Mendez v Westminster made county desegregate, Gov made all schools desegregate
- NAACP under Thurgood Marshall, tried making states live up to separate but equal, (1954) Brown v Board of Education used this to desegregate schools, also segregation psychologically damaged black kids
- Brown v Board faced extreme resistance, closing of schools in South, or made them private only allowing whites to attend
- 1955 Montgomery Alabama, Rosa Parks
- MLk Jr helped organize bus boycott, showing how church played important role in civil rights
- Little Rock 9 1957 Governor used National Guard to prevent integration, so Eisenhower sent 101st Air division to integrate
- By end of 1950s few schools where integrated still
6
Q
1960s
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- Many key civil rights movements happened in 60s, like sit ins, 1961 freedom rides, 1963 Birmingham Alabama had many bombings, television showed many the horrors of beatings, water cannons, used on kids even, getting JFK on the Movement, Birmingham jailed MLK Jr, 1963 saw the march on Washington I have a dream, calling for civil rights bill, help for poor, higher minimum wage, and end to employment discrimination leading to civil rights Act
- JFK occupied with Cold War and Bay of Pigs, but called for congress to pass civil rights bill
- LBJ entered office in 1963, and passed Civil Rights Act of 1964 which prohibited discrimination in public spaces based on race or sex
- March for voting rights in Selma Alabama 1965, 1965 had Voting Rights Act which allowed National Gov to do voting if discrimination was occurring, also passed Hart Celler Act ending quota system and allowing Asian immigrant, but limited immigrants from Western Hemisphere
- LBJ initiatives from 1965 - 1967 were called the Great Society, besides escalating Vietnam he did lots of good, Medicare, Medicaid, War on Poverty done by training people, Clean Air and Water Act, also more education funding
- 1960s shifted in some places from integration to black power, 1964 saw riots in ghettos, Watts CA were very bad, Malcolm X and Black Panthers worked to support blacks without help from gov, Black Power turned many whites away from movement
- American Indian Movement took over Alcatraz in 1968 to symbolize taken land, winning greater tribal control
- 1969 Gay bar raided beginning gay protests, and gay rights movement
- 1962 Silent Spring led to Clean Air and Water Acts
- American Feminist movement, National Organization of Women in 1966, women had worse jobs and lower social status, Equal Pay act of 1963
- 1963 Loving v Virginia upheld interracial marriage
- 1966 Miranda v Arizona
- 1965 Griswold v Connecticut made contraception illegal to ban - 1973 Roe v Wade Guaranteed right to Abortion, both increasing right to privacy
- Protests, counter culture, and liberation movement continued into early 1970s, losing steam as Vietnam War ended, 1968 had Tet Offensive, racial violence after MLk assassination in 1968, Democratic convention in Chicago led to massive riots and police beatings
- All the protests scared many leading to voting to Nixon
7
Q
Rise of Conservatism
A
- Many libertarians from 1950s and 60s disagreed with regulations and their target was the New Deal Programs, some conservatives hated new deal but some were just morally conservative. Both hated communism, and Big Gov - since WWI gov had become much more powerful
- Many of these conservatives believed in the free market, 1964 election, LBJ won and his democratic shift towards civil rights led much of the South to Abandon democratic party, 1968 election Nixon Won was anti communist, and was for silent majority who weren’t anti war and hippie, people who worried rights revolution went too far and were scared of losing American ideals, Nixon said he’d be tough on crime which appeal to racist southerners
- Nixon in some ways continued the Great Society because congress had many democrats - 1974 Endangered Species Act
- 1978 University of CA v Bakke upheld affirmative action
- 1973 Roe v Wade upheld abortion, scaring Catholics and American evangelicals,
- In 1960s and 1970s many suburban Americans felt like traditional American values were deteriorating which they looked to republican candidates to fix, scared by sexual revolution with Griswald and Roe, in 1975 divorce rates soared, women bore much less children, also scared of 1972 passing of Title 9 preventing gender discrimination in education, Equal Rights Amendment passing in congress but not ratified till 2020, scared that it would ruin the family, some women like Phyllis Schlafly argued inventions like vacuum cleaner would liberate women
- Even though Nixon couldn’t possibly loose he did a Watergate in 1972 he would have FBi not investigate, and pay burglars to stay quiet , Nixon had the special plumber unit to stop leaks like the pentagon papers, 1974 he resigned
- African Americans saw political and economic success, women gained laws that demarginalized them, the federal gov became a huge part of people lives, gov ended up spying on people, and trying to stop the civil rights movement undermining liberal belief that the gov was good and thus it had to be minimized
8
Q
Bust of the 1970s
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- America had great growth since war and in 19790s it came to halt, inflation and slow growth, gradual decline in manufacturing to other countries to countries we helped grow like Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan, ignoring their tariffs and subsidizing their defense allowing them to invest in their industry, 1971 US finally had more imports than exports for the first time in 20th century, US was on gold standard making our currency valuable and our products expensive across the world so Nixon took US off the gold standard, but didn’t help because of competition putting American firms out of business, 1940s and 50s helped unionized workers, but with all the retirees they had to pay compensation and ended high paying manufacturing jobs, automate, or shift to low income regions in the US, Rust belt became a thing by 1980 manufacturing collapsed in this area, this ruined tax base and many cities couldn’t provide basic services, 1973 oil shocks due to support of Israel and OPEC stopping exports to US, with higher gas prices everything got expensive, 1979 saw high prices due to Iranian Revolution
- Stagflation - low growth and high inflation, creation of Misery index (unemployment + inflation) and it was rising
- Beginning in 1973 real wages wouldn’t rise for 20 years
- 1974 Ford pardoned Nixon,
- 1976 Carter was elected - tried to fight unemployment and inflation by cutting gov spending, deregulating trucking and airline industries, and supported higher interest rates, Crisis of Confidence told Americans they suck and to do more with less, Jimmy Carte’s plan involved investing in nuclear, until 3-mile island incident, focused on fighting 3rd world poverty and spread of nuclear weapons, transferred Panama Canal back to PAnama
9
Q
Jimmy Carter 1977-1981
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- 1976 Carter was elected - tried to fight unemployment and inflation by cutting gov spending, deregulating trucking and airline industries, and supported higher interest rates, Crisis of Confidence told Americans they suck and to do more with less, Jimmy Carte’s plan involved investing in nuclear, until 3-mile island incident, focused on fighting 3rd world poverty and spread of nuclear weapons, transferred Panama Canal back to Panama, helped broker Camp David accords between Egypt and Israel, US helped Iranian dictator making Iran hate the US and led to hostage situation for 444 days and they didn’t get released till Reagan took Office
- USSR invaded Afghanistan in 1979, Carter Doctrine - US would use force to protect interests in middle east
- the economic failures ended support for New Deal Liberalism and appealed to conservative ideas like lower taxes and less spending
- this started under democrat Jimmy Cartner not Reagan
10
Q
Reagan Revolution
A
- Reagan elected in 1980 by appealing to conservatives with states rights, “welfare cheats”, and condemned busing and affirmative action, won religious conservatives by standing for family values, many whites angry at African American improvement through government and Raegan said government was the problem, anti-Soviet and optimistic
- Reagan Freedom - economic freedom, reduce union power, reduce federal regulation of industry and environment, and lower taxes, 1981 Reagan lower top tax rate from 70% to 50%, 1986 he lowered it to 28%, low taxes is supply side economics or trickle economics, rich make more so they spend more investing in economy helping everyone else
- from early 1980s to late 1980s inflation decreased and economy improved, stock market boomed but wages didn’t change, some programs cut but not Medicare, Medicaid, and military and instead spending increased due to national defense spending, 1981 air traffic controllers went on strike so Reagan fired thousands
- Rich got richer, middle class stagnated and the poor got poorer, rapid closing of asylums and mental institutions leaving many homeless
- left new deal and great society programs intact, divorce rates went up, abortion continued, women didn’t leave the workforce, USSR ended later and Reagan made military go burr leading to Freeze Movement, in second term Reagan would work to demilitarize with soviets, in second term he rolled back spending a little and worked on cooperation, 1986 they reduced numbers, almost eliminated nuclear weapons except for Star Wars, Iran Contra scandal, sell arms to Iranians and send money to contras behind Congress back
11
Q
Geroge HW Bush, Republican 1988
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- New era of negative ads, Dukkas is liberal weak on crime, Berlin Wall fell in 1989, Strategic Arms reduction 1991, Gulf War due to Sadam Hussain invading Kuwait and this left power vacuum, Gulf war made him popular, democratic congress expanded head start and Family and Medical leave bill, Americans with disabilities act in 1991, Rodney King riots in CA led to mass protest of his death, recession from 1990 to 1992, early 90s saw worse unemployment, Bush made a tax increase and lost his base
12
Q
Bill Clinton 1993 - 2001
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- 1993 Oslo Accords, Israel recognized Palestine liberation organization, pushed NATO to do something in Yugoslavia with killing of Bosnians ending with Dayton accords, US did nothing for Rwandan Genocide, Terrorism became a thing with Trade City and Oklahoma Bomber
- Tried to get gay in military and got don’t ask don’t tell, 1993 health initiative by Hillary Clinton as US was only industrialized nation without universal healthcare, didn’t work, 1994 saw republicans take over senate and house, congress shut down in 1995 due to radical republicans who wanted to cut everything, Clinton wanted to oppose them while meeting some of their demands, Communications Act of 1996 deregulated broadcasts
- Clinton did welfare reform, Personal Responsibility, and Work Opportunity Act of 1996 - these tied strings to aid like work requirements, and many liberals saw this as betrayal
- During Clinton computers and internet became a thing
- Globalization occurred, including economic growth, manufacturing moved to other countries with less environmental regulation
- Growth of free-flowing capitol in 1990s saw economic problems more common because money could flow in and out, many Americans became invested in market, .com burst with new companies, rich grew richer
- Many new immigrants from Latin America and Asia, many where educated,
- Gay and Trans people became more common, as well as single parents, and premarital sex
- AIDS epidemic killed many, new imprisonment with tough on crime and war on drugs
- Many thought liberalism had gone too far, and Monica Lewinsky,
- Political divisions grew deeper
13
Q
Geroge Bush, 2001
A
- Won electoral vote, and controversy, bared money for stem cell research, and supported oil drilling in Alaska, and would not abide by 1997 Kyoto Protocol on Emission, No Child Left Behind made rigorous testing standards and measuring, largest tax cut in history,
- 2001 happened right before Bush took office, Terrorists hate freedom, Gov keeps us safe sometimes imposing on freedoms, Bush Doctrine war with Terrorism, first strikes on Taliban led Afghanistan protecting Osama bin Laden al Queda leader, set up new Afgan gov., by 2007 Taliban making comeback, 2002 Iraq, Iran, and North Korea Axis of Evil
- Bush Doctrine protected freedom - political democracy, free expression, religious toleration, and free markets
- 2003 Invasion of Iraq based off claims of weapons and possibly holding Sadam Hussain, this became a disaster
- Patriot Act allowed wiretapping, warrantless wire tapping, 2005 congress banned torture
- Bush won in 2004, employment was bad in early 2000s due to declining manufacturing
- 2005 Hurrican Katrina, saw national response was bad, and ended with 2008 recession
14
Q
Obama
A
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