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U.S. History Chapter 22
After WWII:
Presidential Election of 1948:
- The Cold War
The Cold War was the period of conflict, tension and competition between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies from the mid-1940s until the early 1990s. Throughout the period, the rivalry between the two superpowers was played out in multiple arenas: military coalitions; ideology, psychology, and espionage; military, industrial, and technological developments, including the space race; costly defense spending; a massive conventional and nuclear arms race; and many proxy wars.
Although the U.S. and the Soviet Union had been allied against Nazi Germany, the two sides differed on how to reconstruct the postwar world even before the end of the World War II. Over the following decades, the Cold War spread outside Europe to every region of the world, as the U.S. sought the "containment" of communism and forged numerous alliances to this end, particularly in Western Europe, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia.
The U-2 Crisis
There were also periods when tension was reduced as both sides sought d'tente. Direct military attacks on adversaries were deterred by the potential for Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD) using deliverable nuclear weapons. The Cold War drew to a close in the late 1980s following the launching of Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev's reform programs, Perestroika and Glasnost. The Soviet Union consequently ceded power over Eastern Europe and was dissolved in 1991.
The Berlin Wall, its construction and ultimate destruction, was a visible symbol of the cold war between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R.
- The Nuclear Arms Race
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In the years immediately after the Second World War, the United States had a nuclear monopoly on both specific knowledge and, most importantly, raw materials. Initially, it was thought that uranium was relatively rare in the world, but this was discovered to be incorrect.
While American thinkers had predicted that the USSR would not have nuclear weapons until the mid-1950s, the first Soviet bomb was detonated on August 29 of 1949, shocking the entire world. The weapon (called "Joe One" by the West) was more or less a copy of the weapon which the United States had dropped on Japan.
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Governments devoted massive amounts of resources to increasing the quality and quantity of their nuclear arsenal. Both nations quickly began work on hydrogen bombs and the United States detonated the first such device on November 1, 1952.
The most important development in terms of delivery in the 1950s was the introduction of ICBMs. Missiles had long been seen as the ideal platform for nuclear weapons and in 1957 on the 4th of October with the launch of Sputnik the Soviet Union showed the world that they had missiles that could hit anywhere in the world.
This period also saw attempts begin to defend against nuclear weapons. Both powers built large radar arrays to detect incoming bombers and missiles. Large underground bunkers were constructed to save the leadership of the superpowers, and individuals were told to build fallout shelters and taught how to react to a nuclear attack (civil defense). These bombs could kill millions in the event of an attack by either side.
All of these defensive measures were far from foolproof and by the 1950s both the United States and Soviet Union had the power to obliterate the other side. Both sides developed a "second-strike" capability, i.e. they could launch a devastating attack even after sustaining a full assault from the other side (especially by means of submarines). This policy was part of what became known as Mutually Assured Destruction: both sides knew that any attack upon the other would be suicide for themselves as well, and thus would (in theory) restrain from attacking one another.
- The United Kingdom became the third nation to possess nuclear weapons when it detonated an atomic bomb in Operation Hurricane in Australia on October 3, 1952.
- France became the fourth nation to possess nuclear weapons on February 13, 1960, when the atomic bomb Gerboise Bleue was detonated in Algeria
- The People's Republic of China became the fifth nuclear power on October 16, 1964, when it detonated a uranium-235 bomb in a test codenamed 596.
- The Nuclear Weapon Archive
- The Truman Doctrine
An address to a Joint Session of Congress, March 12, 1947 
The doctrine stated that the U.S. would support Greece and Turkey economically and militarily to prevent their falling under Soviet control.
President Truman made the proclamation in an address to the U.S. Congress on March 12, 1947, amid the crisis of the Greek Civil War (1946-1949). He called upon the U.S. to "support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures," which generalized his hopes for Greece and Turkey into a doctrine applicable throughout the world.
Truman insisted that if Greece and Turkey did not receive the aid that they needed, they would inevitably fall to Communism with consequences throughout the region.
- McCarthy Hearings
McCarthyism is a term describing the intense anti-communist suspicion in the United States in a period that lasted roughly from the late 1940s to the late 1950s. This period is also referred to as the Second Red Scare, and coincided with increased fears about communist influence on American institutions and espionage by Soviet agents. The convictions of Alger Hiss and Julius and Ethel Rosenberg led some to believe that there were Communist infiltrators still operating in the government.
During this time many thousands of Americans were accused of being Communists or communist sympathizers and became the subject of aggressive investigations and questioning before government or private-industry panels, committees and agencies. The primary targets of such suspicions were government employees, those in the entertainment industry, educators and union activists. Suspicions were often given credence despite inconclusive or questionable evidence, and the level of threat posed by a person's real or supposed leftist associations or beliefs was often greatly exaggerated.
Many people suffered loss of employment, destruction of their careers, and even imprisonment. Most of these punishments came about through trial verdicts later overturned, laws that would be declared unconstitutional, dismissals for reasons later declared illegal or actionable, or extra-legal procedures that would come into general disrepute.
The most famous examples of McCarthyism include the Hollywood blacklist and the investigations and hearings conducted by Joseph McCarthy. It was a widespread social and cultural phenomenon that affected all levels of society and was the source of a great deal of debate and conflict in the United States.
Originally coined to criticize the actions of U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy during the hearings, "McCarthyism" later took on a more general meaning, not necessarily referring to the conduct of Joseph McCarthy alone.
Presidential Election of 1952:
- Dwight D. Eisenhower - Republican
- Adlai Stevenson - Democrat
- Eisenhower won with 55.2% of the popular vote
- Eisenhower's "Atoms for Peace" Speech at the United Nations, December 8, 1953
Presidential Election of 1956:
Presidential Election of 1960:
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President Kennedy was buried at Arlington National Cemetery on November 25, 1963
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Presidential Election of 1964:
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Go to the Vietnam War page - 1959 to 1975
The Vietnam War was the longest and most unpopular military conflict in U.S. history.
Direct U.S. involvement began in 1959 with the arrival of the first "advisors". Combat troops were in Vietnam from 1965 to 1975.
The financial cost to the U.S. was over $150 billion dollars.
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The Veitnam Veterans Memorial is a 500 foot black granite wall cut into a small hill.
Names, which are sandblasted (not carved), are listed in the order they became casualties.
A diamond beside a name signifies death.
A cross beside a name signifies MIA.
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Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. - April 4, 1968
Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy - June 5, 1968
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Sirhan Sirhan was convicted of the assassination on April 17, 1969 and sentenced to death. The sentence was commuted to life in prison in 1972.
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Presidential Election of 1968:
Decline of Communism:
Social Change In The United States:
- Feminist Movement
- The phrase "Women's Liberation" was first used in the United States in 1964 and first appeared in print in 1966. By 1968, it was starting to refer to the whole women's movement.
- Bra-burning also became associated with the movement.
- The bra-burning myth
Those legendary bra-burning women's-libbers of the 1960s actually didn't even get to so much as strike a match when the idea was planted in the popular culture at a demonstration against the Miss America Pageant in 1968.
That's not to say bra-burning never happened anywhere during the turbulent '60s and '70s, but the feminists credited with the defiant act say it didn't happen quite the way history would have it.
"I was there. It never happened," Alix Kates Shulman says. She says the protest in Atlantic City marked the first national demonstration of the movement.
"Some of us got inside (the building where the pageant was being held) and unfurled a banner that said 'Women's Liberation' in the balcony. It was on national television. Initially, we had planned to burn some things, but since it was a wooden boardwalk in Atlantic City, we couldn't get a permit to have a fire.
"So, instead, we had something called a Freedom Trash Can, and into it we threw various items symbolic of women's oppression, including Playboy magazines, brooms, bras and a bunch of stuff.
"I think that maybe a press release had gone out in advance saying we were going to burn things, but in fact, there was no burning. Even so, it was a wonderful demonstration."
- Hillary Rodham Clinton, remarks to the U.N. 4th World Converence on Women,
delivered September 5, 1995, Beijing, China
- Brown v. Board of Education - 1954
A landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court, which overturned earlier rulings going back to Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896, by declaring that state laws that established separate public schools for black and white students denied black children equal educational opportunities.
Handed down on May 17, 1954, the Warren Court's unanimous (9-0) decision stated that "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal." As a result, de jure racial segregation was ruled a violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution. This victory paved the way for integration and the civil rights movement.
- Technology Revolution (History of Technology)
- Political Scandals
- Watergate
The Watergate scandals were a series of political scandals during the presidency of Richard Nixon that resulted in the indictment of several of Nixon's closest advisors and ultimately his resignation on August 9, 1974.
On September 8, 1974, President Gerald Ford granted Nixon a controversial full and unconditional pardon for any crimes he may have committed while President. Thus preventing any criminal investigation into Nixon's actions.
- Iran-Contra affair
The Iran-Contra affair was a political scandal which was revealed in November 1986 as a result of earlier events during the Reagan administration. It began as an operation to increase U.S.-Iranian relations, wherein Israel would ship weapons to a moderate, politically influential group of Iranians opposed to the Ayatollah Khomeini; the U.S. would reimburse Israel for those weapons and receive payment from Israel.
The moderate Iranians agreed to do everything in their power to achieve the release of six U.S. hostages, who were being held by Hezbollah. The plan eventually deteriorated into an arms-for-hostages scheme, in which members of the executive branch sold weapons to Iran in exchange for the release of the American hostages, without the direct authorization of President Ronald Reagan. Large modifications to the plan were conjured by Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North of the National Security Council in late 1985.
- Clinton impeachment
President of the United States Bill Clinton was impeached by the House of Representatives on December 19, 1998, and acquitted by the Senate on February 12, 1999. The charges, perjury, obstruction of justice and abuse of power arose from the Monica Lewinsky scandal and the Paula Jones law suit.
- 22nd Amendment
No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice
- 25th Amendment
- Gideon v. Wainwright - Decided March 18, 1963
The Supreme Court unanimously ruled that state courts are required under the Sixth Amendment of the Constitution to provide counsel in criminal cases for defendants unable to afford their own attorneys.
- Miranda v. Arizona - Decided June 13, 1966
The decision mandated the "Miranda Warning" as a means of protecting a criminal suspect's Fifth Amendment right to avoid coercive self-incrimination. As a result, the verb Mirandize was coined, meaning "to read to a suspect his or her Miranda rights" when arrested.
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"You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to have an attorney present during questioning. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed for you. Do you understand these rights?"
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- Conservative and Liberal Economic Strategies (economics)
Presidential Election of 1972:
Presidential Election of 1976:
Presidential Election of 1980:
- Ronald Reagan - Republican
- Jimmy Carter - Democrat
- Reagan won with 50.7% of the popular vote
- President Reagan's First Inaugural Address
Presidential Election of 1984:
Presidential Election of 1988:
 Fall of the Berlin Wall - 1989
Presidential Election of 1992:
Presidential Election of 1996:
Presidential Election of 2000:
- George W. Bush - Republican
- Al Gore - Democrat
- Gore won the popular vote, 48.4% to 47.9%
- Bush won the electoral vote, 271 to 266
- Bush won the electon
Presidential Election of 2004:
Presidential Election of 2008:
Presidential Election of 2012:
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