End of One War, Beginning of Another (1945-1957)

Question 1

What opportunities were available for American veterans after WWII?

Answer 1

American veterans were able to gain benefits through the GI Bill. This program allowed them to access low-interest home loans and paid college tuition. Soon veterans were buying nice new homes and getting higher paying jobs.

Question 2

How did the American economy perform during the decade following WWII?

Answer 2

The US economy grew thanks to high demand for American goods from overseas, high employment, and growing wages that allowed people to spend more money.

Question 3

What factors contributed to the growth of American suburbs after WWII?

Answer 3

1. Access to low-interest home loans (GI Bill).
2. Growing economy and wages.
3. Growing size of the American family.
4. Increased highway construction.

Question 4

What was the Federal Highway Act?

Answer 4

Legislation created during the Eisenhower presidency that developed the American interstate highway system; allowed people to live further from their place of employment and added to suburb growth. Caused the construction of new businesses like more gas stations and fast food restaurants.

Question 5

What was suburbanization?

Answer 5

The mass movement of Americans to the suburbs that occurred during the decade following WWII; also added to growth of new businesses built to support these new communities.

Question 6

What regions of the country experienced significant population growth after WWII?

Answer 6

The American West and South: nicknamed the “Sun Belt”.

Question 7

Why did the Sun Belt grow after WWII?

Answer 7

Many Sun Belt locations (like Los Angeles and New Orleans) saw considerable economic growth during WWII to support war industries. The people who moved to these locations- loved the area and weather- and decided to stay.

Question 8

What was the Rust Belt?

Answer 8

The Rust Belt is the region that experienced significant economic growth during the Gilded Age (like Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Detroit); but began to grow more slowly after WWII. Many people began moving from the Rust Belt to the Sun Belt after WWII furthering the decline of this region.

Question 9

Why did the baby boom occur after WWII?

Answer 9

As men returned home from war they soon got married and starting having tons of kids! The baby boom was the largest increase in birth rate in US history as these families wanted to feel normal after the horrors of WWII.

Question 10

Why was there a surge in mass popular culture after WWII?

Answer 10

1. new and improved technologies (like record players and television).
2. People had more money to spend because of the growing economy.
3. There were tons of young people in American thanks to the baby boom.

Question 11

What new technological and scientific innovations impacted society after WWII?

Answer 11

1. Television
2. Hi-Fi Record Players
3. Credit Cards.
4. Nuclear Weapons
5. Space-based Satellites
6. Polio vaccine.

Question 12

What positive impacts did new innovations have on American society after WWII?

Answer 12

1. More entertainment (tv and record players).
2. Easier to spend money, less need to carry cash everywhere.
3. The polio vaccine prevented paralysis and death.

Question 13

What negative impacts did new innovations have on American society after WWII?

Answer 13

1. People were spending too much money and saving less. Debt grew.
2. People were terrified of dying in a nuclear weapons attack.
3. The US was falling behind the Soviet Union in the Space Race.

Question 14

How did television impact society after WWII?

Answer 14

More forms of entertainment; however, it contributed to complicated race relations. Many shows were segregated– and those that weren’t created deeper tensions in parts of the country where racism remained intense.

Question 15

Who was Jonas Salk?

Answer 15

Scientist who developed the first polio vaccine; an illness that was eventually eradicated in the US by 1979.

Question 16

What was Sputnik I?

Answer 16

The first space-based satellite; develop by the Soviet Union in 1957. Terrified many Americans who worried the Soviet would launch missiles at the US from outer space.

Question 17

What is NASA?

Answer 17

The government organization created to further the American space program. Formed by the Eisenhower administration in response to the Sputnik launch- as the US fell behind the Soviets in the “Space Race”.

Question 18

What is a Hydrogen Bomb?

Answer 18

Nuclear weapon that furthered the nuclear arms race during the 1950s. The US tested the first H-Bomb in 1952; the Soviets followed in 1953.

Question 19

Why did an Age of Conformity emerge after WWII?

Answer 19

• After the terror of WWII, Americans wanted to return to more traditional and “normal” ways of life; therefore many people began rejecting new ideas or change.
• Television added to this conformity by portraying the “ideal” American family (For example, Leave it to Beaver) and not showing American diversity, poverty, or strain on American women.

Question 20

How did the Age of Conformity impact different populations of Americans?

Answer 20

• Many Black Americans continued to feel the strain of racism and segregation.
• Women were forced out of the workplace and back into domestic life- especially with the emergence of the baby boom.
• Many teenagers disagreed with older generations and the expectations placed on them; young people were more accepting of changes and modern ways.

Question 21

How did the Age of Conformity contribute to change in society?

Answer 21

• Frustrated Black Americans began to challenge racial boundaries in music (Rock N’ Roll), sports, and began attending college. All of this helped contribute to the eventual Civil Rights Movement.
• Women began to question the expectations placed on them and wanted to be both mothers and workers; this eventually contributed to the eventual women’s liberation movement.
• Teenagers pushed back against their parents desires and supported many future changes as they grew older.

Question 22

What was the Beat Generation?

Answer 22

Group of popular writers that challenged the traditional ideas of society during the Age of Conformity. They supported freedom and adventure, as well as the emergence of new ways of life. For example, Jack Kerouac’s book On the Road.

Question 23

What were Green Books?

Answer 23

Guidebooks that Black families brought with them while traveling the United States; they listed Black-friendly businesses and communities during the era of segregation- so that they could feel more free and enjoy their lives.

Question 24

Who was Betty Friedan?

Answer 24

American, suburban-mother and college graduate who wrote the book The Feminine Mystique. This book featured the stories of many women, like herself, that felt repressed during the Age of Conformity. Released in 1963, it helped inspire the Women’s Liberation Movement.

Question 25

What difference existed between Soviet and American ideology after WWII?

Answer 25

Soviet: Communist; dictatorship; focused on spreading communism.
American: Capitalist, democracy, focused on containing communism.

Question 26

What factors caused the rivalry between the US and Soviets to expand after WWII?

Answer 26

L: Leaders hated and distrusted one another. (Stalin and Truman).
I: Ideological opposites (communism vs. capitalism/democracy)
O: Organizational conflict; especially within the United Nations.
N: No more common enemy: Hitler had died.

Question 27

What is the United Nations?

Answer 27

International peace organization formed at the end of WWII. Within this group; the US and Soviet Union were made permanent members of the “Security Council”- which allows them veto any vote occurring within the UN- deepening tensions during the Cold War.

Question 28

What is containment?

Answer 28

Stopping the spread of communism– not eliminating it altogether (which could lead to a massive global war… with nuclear weapons).

Question 29

What are satellite states?

Answer 29

Communist nations established and supported by the Soviets in their effort to spread communism. Most of Eastern Europe became satellite states after WWII.

Question 30

How did the US apply its policy of containment after WWII?

Answer 30

Financial containment: Marshall Plan, Truman Doctrine, Chinese Civil War (US gave $ to the Nationalists).
Diplomatic containment: Formation of NATO, Berlin Crisis of 1948, Chinese Civil War (US showed political support for Nationalists)
Military Containment: The Korean War, The Vietnam War.

Question 31

What was the Truman Doctrine?

Answer 31

The US sent millions of dollars to support Greece and Turkey– attempting to prevent communism from spreading there.

Question 32

What was the Marshall Plan?

Answer 32

The US sent billions of dollars to support and help rebuild Western Europe after WWII– attempting to prevent communism from spreading there.

Question 33

What is NATO?

Answer 33

North Atlantic Treaty Organization; organization formed during the early Cold War among non-communist countries (US, Canada, W. Europe).

Question 34

What was the Warsaw Pact?

Answer 34

Organization formed during the early Cold War among communist countries (such as the Soviet Union and its satellite states).

Question 35

What was the significance of the Iron Curtain?

Answer 35

• Term coined by Prime Minister Winston Churchill early in the Cold War.
• Described the imaginary line that split Europe between the non-communist West and communist East.

Question 36

How did the division of Germany contribute to tensions after WWII?

Answer 36

• The Soviets were frustrated about the stability of West Germany and West Berlin, leading them to blockade West Berlin from receiving medicine, food, coal, etc.
• During the Berlin Crisis (1948-1949) the US and their western allies, executed and airlift to send supplies to support West Berlin.
• After one year, the Soviets ended the blockade of Berlin.

Question 37

How did communism spread after WWII?

Answer 37

• The Soviet Union created “satellite states” to form a buffer zone in Eastern Europe.
• The Soviets controlled and supported occupation zones among divided nations (Germany, Korea, Vietnam).

Question 38

Where did the US intervene to contain communism?

Answer 38

• During the Korean War, the US joined to support South Korea- following the invasion by communist North Korea in 1950.
• During the 1950s, the US began sending “military advisors” to support the South Vietnamese as tension built in Vietnam.
• The US also had financial and diplomatic policies that featured containment in: Germany, China, Western Europe.

Question 39

What is the 38th Parallel?

Answer 39

• The line selected to divide North and South Korea at the end of WWII.
• It is close to the current border, that was agreed upon in 1953 upon the ceasefire in the Korea War.

Question 40

What is the 17th Parallel?

Answer 40

• The line selected to divide North and South Vietnamese after the French decided to exit French Indochina in 1953.

Question 41

What is the domino theory?

Answer 41

American theory that if one nation “fell” to communism, other nearby nation’s would as well.

Question 42

How did the domino theory reflect America’s commitment to containment?

Answer 42

The theory led the United States to intervene in Southeast Asia (Korea and Vietnam) over fears that if China could become communist and other smaller countries became communist- all of Asia would.

Question 43

How did the nuclear arms race intensify during the period following WWII?

Answer 43

• Four years after WWII, the Soviets became the second nation to gain an atomic bomb.
• Afterward both countries competed to make a more powerful weapon- the Hydrogen Bomb.
• Afterward both countries competed to make more and more powerful weapons, as well as ICBMs.

Question 44

What is an ICBM?

Answer 44

An Intercontinental Ballistic Missile; these were missiles developed by the US and Soviets during the nuclear arms race which allow an attacker to launch nuclear weapons great distance- even to distant continents. ICBMs greatly deepened fears during the nuclear arms race.

Question 45

How did fears associated with the nuclear arms race impact American society after WWII?

Answer 45

• People were convinced they would die in a nuclear attack; they built bomb shelters at home and in community buildings; children practiced “duck and cover drills” to protect themselves during a nuclear attack.
• People began to suspect everyone was an enemy- and the government became more aggressive in monitored Americans.

Question 46

What caused the Second Red Scare to emerge after WWII?

Answer 46

• People were incredibly fearful that communism would threaten the US.
• Events like the nuclear arms race and the successful launch of Sputnik I terrified Americans.

Question 47

Who was Alger Hiss?

Answer 47

High-ranking American State Department official who was convicted on charges of being a Soviet spy early in the Cold War. Added to Second Red Scare fears.

Question 48

Who were Julius and Ethel Rosenberg?

Answer 48

• Julius Rosenberg had worked on the Manhattan Project during WWII, and eventually became a Soviet spy.
• Julius and his wife Ethel, were found to have given nuclear secrets to the Soviets that helped them build an atomic bomb.
• The Rosenbergs were arrested, convicted, and executed for doing so.

Question 49

How did the US government respond to concerns of Soviet spies during the Second Red Scare?

Answer 49

• The government used HUAC and Loyalty Review Board to investigate Americans.
• This eventually led to the period of McCarthyism.

Question 50

What are Loyalty Review Boards?

Answer 50

Government programs created to seek out communists or potential Soviet spies working within the US government during the Second Red Scare.

Question 51

What was HUAC?

Answer 51

The House Un-American Activities Committee; congressional committee created to hunt out communists or Soviet spies operated in many roles throughout the US (teachers, doctors, Hollywood, etc).

Question 52

Who were the Hollywood Ten?

Answer 52

• Group of Hollywood directors, producers, writers, etc. who refused to testify before Congress about potential communist propaganda in Hollywood.
• HUAC convinced Hollywood studios to “blacklist” them- so they would never work again in the industry.

Question 53

What was McCarthyism?

Answer 53

• Period of mass hysteria that occurred during the Second Red Scare, caused by US Senator Joseph McCarthy (of Wisconsin).
• He made unwarranted and unevidenced claims that he had long “lists” of names of dangerous communists in different aspects of American society.

Question 54

How did the actions of Joseph McCarthy demonstrate the extreme nature of the Second Red Scare?

Answer 54

• Even though McCarthy has no evidence of his claims, people were so freaked out that they were willing to believe him- and turn in friends, neighbors, family members- that worsened the Second Red Scare.
• It took a televised McCarthy hearing of the US Army before people saw through his unreasonable actions.