Chapters 35 and 36 Flashcards
Harry Truman
33rd Pres (1945 to 1953)
An accidental president, Truman was called the “average man’s average man”
He was stubbornly loyal to his “Missouri gang” on occasion, he would send critics hot-tempered and profane “s.o.b” letters and he was confident to the point of cockiness
A sign on his desk read “the buck stops here” meaning that the Pres had to make the final division. One of his fav sayings “if you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.”
The Cold War
The Cold War is when there is rising tension of communism (Soviet Union) vs democracy (US) but no actual war
Bretton Woods Conference (IMF, World Bank)
At Bretton Woods, NH, the Western Allies formed:
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) to encourage world trade by regulating currency exchange rates
The International bank for Reconstruction and Development (IDRD- later called the World Bank) changed with providing economic assistance to struggling nations
United Nations (Security Council, General Assembly)
The first UN Conference opened on April 25, 1945. IN Jan 1942, 26 nations at war with the Axis powers signed the Dec of the United Nations and endorsed the Atlantic Charter. This replaced the League of Nations
The Security Council is made up of 5 permanent nations (The US, The UK, the USSR (now Russian Fed.), France, and China– remember these are this were the most powerful nations and are still on it today), plus ten members are rotated in from the General Assembly for two-year terms (so 15 in total)
Berlin Airlift
(June 1948-May 1949): The Western Allies organized a massive airlift to drop supplies on West Berlin.
The US called this “Operation Vittles.” A plane landed every 45 seconds. Over 200,000 aircraft were involved
The Soviets lift the blockade after a year and Germany was divided two weeks later into two separate states (West Germany and East Germany.)
Note: the Berlin Wall was not erected until 1961. Associate that with the Kennedy era.
containment
Containment doctrine involved using economic measures and psychological warfare to defend the world from Soviet expansion.
Truman Doctrine
The Truman Doctrine: it must be the policy of the US to suport free people who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures
Money was sent to Greece and Turkey to help them resist Soviet Influence
the Marshall Plan
Western European countries were still suffering hunger and economic chaos spawned by the war
Sec of State George C. Marshall invited the European to get together and work out a joint economic recovery plan financed by the US
The European Recovery Program (Marshall Plan) called for spending billions (about 44 billion in the end) yet it proved to be very successful. The Soviet Union and its satellite nations didnt particpite
The European Economic Community (EEC), a free-trade area, later evolved into the Euopean Union (EU)
the National Security Act
The National Security Act of 1947 established the National Security Council to advice the president and the CIA to oversee foreign fact-finding (spying lol)
NATO vs. Warsaw Pact
The US joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in 1949- an alliance of (now 30) former allied nations
NATO remains the largest peacetime military alliance in the world. Most of the former Warsaw Pact nations (except Russia) have since joined NATO
The Soviets formed the Warsaw Pact in 1955 in opposition. (This was dissolved in 1991)
Korean War (cause & effect)
Cause: Korea split up and the North Korean army crossed the boundary, pushing the South Korean army south to around Pusan. The US stepped in to support South Korea.
Effect: The NSC-68, Excutive Order 19981,
There still is no formal peace treaty with North Korea. The US and South Korea signed a mutual defense treaty, and the DMZ was established between the two Koreas
Douglas MacArthur
He was a war hero that served in WW1, WW2, and the Korean War.
MacArthur proposed a blockade of the Chinese coast and a massive bombardment of Chinese bases with 50-100 atomic bombs (wtf dude)
Truman didnt support this plan (no kidding) he didnt want a large land war
MacArthur began to publicly complain about Truman’s policies. Truman and the Joint Chiefs removed him from command in April 1951. General Matt Ridgwar took over
MacArthur returned home a hero, saying “old soldiers dont die, they just fade away”
NSC-68
A proposed massive US military expansion as stated in National Security Council Memorandum 68 NSC-68) was brought to fruition in Korea.
3.5 mil soldiers, 50 billion dollars a year (quadrupling the military budget)
Major step in the militarization of American foreign policy.
Odd for the US bc the US was typically isolationist, but post WW2, the US is looking outward, getting more involved in the world
38th parallel
After Japan surrendered, Korea was divided at the 38th paralell. The US oversaw southern korea, while the USSR oversaw northern Korea
Executive Order 9981
Truman issued Executive Order 9981, which desegregated the armed forces
Loyalty Review Board
The Loyalty Review Board was tasked with investigating more than 3 million federal employees as there was a fear that communist spies undermining the gov.
Over 3k either resigned or were dismissed.
Individual states became security-conscious, demanding loyalty oaths of their employees, especially teachers
Smith Act
The Smith Act (1940) was the first peacetime anti-sedition law since 1798, time of John Adams.
HUAC
The House Committee on Un-American Activites was established in 1938. This is a committee that looks for people who are acting un-american, which is technically anything they didnt like
Alger Hiss
In 1948, Congressman Richard Nixon led the chase after Alger Hiss, a high-level clerk in the State Department who was accused of being a communist spy. He was convicted of perjury and sentenced to 5 years in prison.
Hiss was marked as a communist by “reformed communist” and journalist Whittaker Chambers. The evidence was flawed at best.
The McCarran Internal Security Bill
The McCarran Internal Security Bill (1950) allowed the president to arrest and detain sus people during an internal security emergency (it passed over Trumans veto). This act ended in the mid 1970s.
Klaus Fuchs and the Rosenbergs
Klaus Fuchs and Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were tried for espionage (selling secrets about the atomic bomb to the Soviets.)
Fuchs was sentenced to 14 years in jail, and the Rosenburgs were electrocuted in 1953.
McCarthyism
Sentator Joseph McCarthy gained attention for his reelection campaign by claiming that known communists worked for the State Dept. (the actual number varied depended on the day)
High profile figures were named (like George Marshall and Sec of State Deam Acheson)
Eisenhower hated McCarthy but chose to do nothing
Senator Maragret Chase Smith (Republican from Maine) gave her now famous “Declaration of Conscience” speech against McCarthyism in June 1950
McCathy went too far when he attacked the US army. In the Army-McCarthy hearings, in which he defended himself, he was censured by the Senate for unbecoming behavior
The whole thing is that he didnt have any names, he just wanted to get attention smh
Taft-Hartley Act
This act outlawed the closed shop and required union leaders to take an oath that they werent communists.
The act passed over Trumans’s veto, but he used it many times while in office.
It as called a “slave-labor law” by labor leaders.
The anti-communist oath was found unconditional in 1965.
“Right to work” laws in many states make it illegal to force someone to join a union.
The Taft-Hartley Act is still in effect today.
Dixiecrats
This is the 1948 name for Southern Democrats bc they split from the Democratic Party bc of Trumans nomination. They felt alienated by Trumans strong stand on civil rights and thus nominated SC Gov. Strom Thurmond.
Truman’s Fair Deal
The Fair Deal (1949) was similar to the New Deal: it called for improved housing, full employment, a higher minimum wage, better farm price supports, new TVA-like projects, and an extension of Social Security.
Major successes: raising the minimum wage, providing for public housing and extending old-age insurance.
Truman established the President’s Committee on Civil Rights to investigate civil rights abuses
Truman’s “Point Four” program called for the US to lend money and technical aid to underdeveloped countries
Truman’s Committee on Civil Rights
Truman established the President’s Committee on Civil Rights to investigate civil rights abuses
GI Bill
The GI Bill made provisions for sending veterans to school and paid them 20 dollars a week for a year