US HistorySemester 2 Review

Stages of US Involvement in WWII

1. Neutrality – stay out (1935-1939)European policy of appeasement!!!

2. Assistance – help allies with weapons and cash “Arsenal of Democracy”(1939-1941)

3. Involvement – Pearl Harbor 1941Strategy – defeat Germany 1st , Japan 2nd

Manhattan Project = Atomic BombAtomic bomb dropped to save American lives!

Causes of the Cold War

Long-Range Causes

• Both the United States and the Soviet Union believe their economic and political systems are superior.

• Defeat of Germany creates a power vacuum in Europe and leaves U.S. and Soviet forces occupying parts of Europe.

• The U.S. wants to rebuild Europe’s economy and support democratic governments to ensure peace and security.

Causes of the Cold War (cont.)

Long-Range Causes

• The USSR wants Germany weak and believes nations on its border should have Communist governments to ensure they remain friendly.

Causes of the Cold War (cont.)

Immediate Causes

• George Kennan sends the Long Telegram to U.S. officials, explaining that the Soviets need to be contained. *Policy of Containment*

• Soviets send aid to Communist rebels in Greece and demand Turkey share control of the Dardanelles with the USSR; Truman issues the Truman Doctrine and sends aid to Greece and Turkey.

Effects of the Cold War

Effects in Europe

• U.S. launches the Marshall Plan to rebuild Europe.

• Germany is divided into two separate nations.

• The USSR blockades Berlin; U.S. organizes the Berlin Airlift.

• The U.S. creates NATO; the USSR creates the Warsaw Pact.

Effects of the Cold War (cont.)

Global Effects

• When China falls to communism, the U.S. responds by helping Japan build up its economy and military.

• When Communist North Korea invades South Korea, the U.S. organizes an international force to stop the invasion.

Effects of the Cold War (cont.)

Effects on the United States

• Soviet spies are arrested.

• A new Red Scare leads to laws restricting the Communist Party in the U.S. and to investigations by the House Un-American Activities Committee and Senator Joseph McCarthy.

• Americans practice civil defense; some build bomb shelters.

The Prosperity of the 1950s

Economy and Society

• The GI Bill provided funds and loans to millions of war veterans.

• Consumer spending increased rapidly.

• More Americans owned homes than ever before.

The Prosperity of the 1950s

Population Patterns

• The U.S. population experienced a “baby boom.”

• Millions of Americans moved out of cities to the suburbs.

Science, Technology, and Medicine

• Improvements in communication, transportation, and electronics allowed Americans to work more efficiently.

• Medical breakthroughs included the polio vaccine, antibiotics, and treatments for tuberculosis, cancer, and heart disease.

Popular Culture

• New forms of music, radio, cinema, and literature emerged.

• Television replaced movies and radio as the nation’s new and most popular form of mass media.

The Prosperity of the 1950s

Popular Culture

• Not everyone could afford to buy the new consumer goods available, such as televisions.

• African Americans and other minorities were, for the most part, not depicted on television.

• Many television programs promoted stereotypical gender roles.

The Problems of the 1950s

• The first crisis occurred in Cuba, only 90 miles from American shores.

• Fidel Castro overthrew the corrupt Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista in 1959.

• Castro then established ties with the Soviet Union.

Crises of the Cold War

The Cuban Missile Crisis, October 1962

• Fearing that the Soviets would use Cuba as a base from which to spread revolution throughout the Western Hemisphere, Eisenhower had authorized the CIA to secretly train and arm a group of Cuban exiles, known as La Brigada, to invade the island.

• The invasion was a disaster and the Bay of Pigs was a dark moment for the Kennedy administration.

Crises of the Cold War (cont.)

The Cuban Missile Crisis, October 1962

• Khrushchev wanted to stop the flood of Germans pouring out of Communist East Germany into West Berlin.

• Kennedy refused to withdraw from West Berlin, so Khrushchev built the Berlin Wall.

Crises of the Cold War (cont.)

• On October 22, 1962 Kennedy announced on television that spy planes had taken aerial photographs showing that the Soviet Union had placed long-range missiles in Cuba.

• After a flurry of secret negotiations, the Soviet Union offered to remove the missiles if the United States promised not to invade Cuba and to remove its missiles from Turkey.

Crises of the Cold War (cont.)

• In August 1963 the two countries concluded years of negotiation by agreeing to a treaty that banned testing nuclear weapons in the atmosphere.

• On November 22, 1963, Lee Harvey Oswald shot and killed JFK.

• Jack Ruby then killed Lee Harvey Oswald two days later.

Crises of the Cold War (cont.)

• The report of the Warren Commission left some questions about the assassination unanswered, and theories about a conspiracy to kill the president have persisted.

Crises of the Cold War (cont.)

• After his election, Johnson began working with Congress to create the “Great Society” he had promised during his campaign.

• Major goals also were achieved through the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

The Great Society

What Was the Great Society?

• Johnson’s ambitious vision encompassed more than 60 programs that were initiated between 1965 and 1968.

• Among the most significant programs were Medicare and Medicaid.

• The Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 granted millions of dollars to public and private schools.

• Project Head Start and Upward Bound were two other education programs.

The Great Society (cont.)

C & E Trans

Origins of the Civil Rights Movement

Long-Range Causes

• Widespread racial segregation in the American South

• Lack of voting rights for African Americans in the American South

Immediate Causes

• The arrival of large numbers of African Americans in the North after the Great Migration gives them increased political influence and greater voting power.

• African American contributions during World War II lead many African Americans to believe it is time to take action to demand change.

• NAACP strategy of using lawsuits to weaken segregation scores a major victory in 1954 with the Brown v. Board of Education ruling.

• African American churches serve as organizational bases, and pastors rally African Americans and organize protests.

Origins of the Civil Rights Movement

Major Events of the Civil Rights Movement

• African American community in Montgomery, Alabama, led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., organizes the Montgomery bus boycott.

• African American students are blocked from entering Little Rock High School. President Eisenhower sends in federal troops and asks Congress to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1957.

• Sit-ins begin in Greensboro, and soon young people are staging sit-ins across the South to integrate public facilities.

• Freedom Riders end segregation on interstate bus travel.

• Martin Luther King, Jr., leads a march in Birmingham, then a March on Washington to support the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Major Events of the Civil Rights Movement

• Martin Luther King, Jr., leads a march in Selma to pressure Congress to pass the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Major Events of the Civil Rights Movement

Major Results of the Civil Rights Movement

• Civil Rights Act of 1957

• Civil Rights Act of 1964

• Voting Rights Act of 1965

• Civil Rights Act of 1968

• End of legal segregation in schools and public facilities

Major Results of the Civil Rights Movement

• Restoration of voting rights for African Americans

• Ban on discrimination based on race in the workplace

• Increased federal power to protect civil rights

Causes of the Vietnam War

• During World War II, the United States helps the people of Indochina fight the Japanese, who had invaded the region.

• After World War II, France refuses to give independence to the people of Indochina and sends troops to reestablish control.

• Led by Ho Chi Minh, the Vietminh fight the French. Ho Chi Minh wants Vietnam to be independent but also wants to build a Communist society in Vietnam.

Causes of the Vietnam War

• Concerned about the spread of communism, President Eisenhower sends aid to help the French retain control in Vietnam.

• After losing the battle of Dien Bien Phu, France pulls out of Vietnam. The Geneva Accords create North and South Vietnam.

• Ho Chi Minh becomes the leader of North Vietnam and makes it a Communist nation allied with the USSR and China. North Vietnam begins arming guerrillas to fight the South Vietnamese government.

• American leaders become worried that a “domino effect” might cause all of Southeast Asia to fall to communism if South Vietnam falls.

• President Kennedy sharply increases military aid to South Vietnam.

• President Johnson escalates U.S. involvement and gains war powers after the Gulf of Tonkin incident.

Causes of the Vietnam War

Effects of the Vietnam War

• Americans applaud President Johnson’s response to a Vietcong attack with aggressive air strikes.

• United States commits over 380,000 ground troops to fighting in Vietnam by the end of 1966.

• American people question the government’s honesty about the war, creating the so-called “credibility gap.”

• The war casualties and the unfair draft system cause civil unrest.

• The wartime economy hurts domestic spending for programs such as the Great Society.

• President Nixon is elected largely on promises to end the war and unite a divided country.

• Congress passes the War Powers Act to limit the power of the president during wartime.

Effects of the Vietnam War

Causes of the New Protest Movements

• Earlier “beat” movement questioned American values.

• The successes of African Americans’ fight for civil rights demonstrated to other groups that change was possible if people demanded change.

• Many in the baby boom generation became frustrated with society as they entered college and began to advocate social reform.

• The Vietnam War and the draft led many students to join protests.

• Women began to question their position in postwar society. Betty Friedan’s book The Feminine Mystique influenced many young women.

• The Kennedy administration began to pay attention to women’s issues, passing the Equal Pay Act and creating the President’s Commission on the Status of Women.

Causes of the New Protest Movements

Effects of the New Protest Movements

• New student groups, including Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), were formed. Court cases affirmed student rights to free speech on campus.

• New women’s groups, such as the National Organization for Women (NOW), emerged. They fought for equal economic rights in the workplace and in society; they demanded equal opportunities in education.

• A campaign began for the Equal Rights Amendment, but the amendment was not ratified.