Goals 11 and 12•Communist Scare•Duck and Cover•Fall out Shelters•Alger Hiss•Julius and Ethel Rosenberg•ICBMs•Sputnik•National Security Act of 1947•CIA•Taft-Hartley Act of 1947•AFL-CIO•Watergate Scandal

•The Fair Deal•Brown vs. Board of Education [1954]•Federal Highway Act of 1956•The New Left •Détente•Thurgood Marshall•Rosa Parks•Martin Luther King Jr.•The Little Rock Nine•Sit-ins•Swann vs. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools [1971]•Texas vs. Johnson [1989]

Communist Scare • The threat of nuclear war was a very real

threat in the United States during the Cold War with the Soviet Union from 1945 to 1989.

• School children in the United States during the 1950s and 1960s were trained in school to Duck and Cover if they were under attack from a nuclear explosion.

• Students would hide under desks and protect exposed body parts from nuclear blasts.

• Of course this method was not adequate but it was all there was available in case of an actual explosion.

Communist Scare • To protect themselves from explosions and

radiation related to nuclear attacks from the Soviet Union private and public buildings often created Fallout Shelters in the basements.

• Clearly labeled signs instructed citizens to head underground into these shelters that were lined with thick walls and large supplies of water, canned or dried food and batteries for prolonged stays if necessary.

H.U.A.C. [House Un-American Activities Committee]

Formed to root out Communists in the U.S.– Started by investigating movie industry– Led by Richard Nixon– Friendly vs. unfriendly witnesses– Hollywood Ten [a list of ten prominent

movie writers, producers and writers who refused to give testimony to Congress when subpoenaed. They were blacklisted or banned from the movie industry for many years if not permanently].

McCarran Act– 1950 - Passed by Congress– Law made it unlawful to plan actions

that might lead to totalitarianism.– Vetoed by Truman– Overridden by Congress

Spy Cases Stun the Nation Alger Hiss

– State Dept. official– Accused of espionage by

Whittaker Chambers – former Communist Spy

– Nixon gained fame for pursuing Hiss.

– Hiss went to jail for perjury since too much time had passed to be convicted of espionage.

– 1990s – Soviet cables released by the NSA proved Hiss’s guilt.

Spy Cases Stun the Nation Julius and Ethel Rosenberg

– Sept. 3, 1949• USSR exploded an Atomic Bomb

– Klaus Fuchs, an American diplomat, admitted giving info to the Soviet Union

• Implicated Ethel & Julius Rosenberg – minor activists for Communist Party

– Professed innocence– Found guilty on weak and

circumstantial evidence.– Executed via Electric Chair for

Espionage in June 1953.

Competition in arms/technology

• Americans were first in nuclear weapons but the Soviets were first in satellites and ICBMs [Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles].

• In 1957 the USSR launched the space satellite Sputnik via ICBM.

• The satellite was the first to circle the earth from space and could take pictures of the earth’s surface.

• ICBMs could reach targets far from their launch sites [across oceans thousands of miles to different continents].

National Security Act of 1947• In the midst of the so-called Cold War between the United States and the

Soviet Union President Truman signed the National Security Act in 1947.

• The legislation was intended to increase the security of the United States by:[A] Creating the C.I.A. [Central Intelligence Agency] which was designed to

secretly gather intelligence [information] on foreign threats to the U.S. [B] Creating the position of Secretary of Defense led by a civilian manager to lead

all branches of the U.S. Military answering only to the president [previously the position was called Secretary of War].

[C] Creating a National Security Council to advise the president on foreign, domestic and military policy.

Taft-Hartley Act• In 1947 the U.S. Congress

passed a law sponsored by U.S. senators Taft and Hartley.

• The law prohibited [banned] certain actions, such as strikes, by labor unions which protected employers from workers/unions.

• Unions had to give at least 60 days notice of strikes and could not just walk off the job for no reason.

A.F.L.-C.I.O.• In 1955 two labor unions, the American

Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations, merged to create the United States largest workers’ organization called the A.F.L.-C.I.O.

• The A.F.L. was founded and led by famous union leader Samuel Gompers who was known for promoting and combining craft unions.

• The C.I.O. was founded and led by politically powerful John L. Lewis who organized mining workers and helped raise pay, improved working conditions and created retirement pensions.

• The C.I.O. had heavy communist influences which were criticized. The Taft-Hartley Act mandated non-communist oaths for union membership. After the merger there was no communist influence.

The Fair Deal• In 1948 after President Harry

Truman was elected serve to serve in his own right as president [he became president after F.D.R.’s death initially] he unveiled a domestic policy agenda called the Fair Deal.

• His policy strengthened the progressive agendas of F.D.R.’s New Deal and the Teddy Roosevelt’s Square Deal before that.

• Increases in funding for Social Security payments, increases in the federal minimum wage, creation of federal housing projects, increased benefits for war veterans and much more.

Brown v. Board of Education [1954]: The “Separate Schools” Case

Facts of the Case:

A third grade student named Linda Brown

Was forbidden from going to an all-whiteschool 7 blocks from her home. Instead she was forced to walk 6 blocks Across train tracks and past junk yards towait at a bus stop to attend a “colored”school 1 mile from her home. Her parents were persuaded by the NAACP to sue the school, system after

tryingto register their child and being refused. All their appeals were rejected because

ofthe precedent [stare decisis] set by thePlessy case decision which allowed separate but equal public facilities . The Brown family was granted an

appeal [certiorari] to the Court in 1954.

Constitutional Issue(s):Would the legal precedent set in the Plessy

case be overturned?

Were racial segregation [separation]

laws allowable?

Supreme Court’s RulingSupreme Court’s Ruling::The opinion of the Court determined The opinion of the Court determined

Separate but EqualSeparate but Equal effected black children’s effected black children’s

ability to learn because based on studiesability to learn because based on studies

also harmed their self image.also harmed their self image. The Court’s The Court’s previous ruling in previous ruling in Plessy was overturnedPlessy was overturned because they believed the 14because they believed the 14ththAmendment of Amendment of the U.S. Constitution allowed equal protection the U.S. Constitution allowed equal protection under the law.under the law.

Federal-Aid Highway Act [National Highway Act] of 1956• President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed legislation

authorizing funding and construction of a national interstate highway system in 1956.

• During his early U.S. Army career he realized the nation had great shortcomings with regard to its main road systems.

• The interstate highway system connected all regions of the nation [North to South and East to West]. Taxes on gasoline, tires and vehicles paid for the project. 90% federal funding and 10% from the states.

The New Left • In the late 1950s many young socialist thinkers, especially college students,

became disenchanted and disgruntled with Communism as it manifested itself in China, Cuba and the Soviet Union.

• Authoritarian dictatorships ,where citizens’ rights were trampled, led people with communist “leanings” associated with the New Left to use democratic principles such as protesting and demonstrations to force social changes.

• The New Left called its target, the conservative federal government or anyone who disagreed with it, The Establishment.

• The new left was inspired by former many labor leaders but also by European philosophers such as Albert Camus and Jean Paul Sartre who questioned government legitimacy.

Détente: French for eased tension• Richard Nixon became president in 1968. Prior to his terms as vice president to

Eisenhower he had been an the outspoken chairman of H.U.A.C. [House Un-American Activities Committee].

• The Soviet Union was concerned that relations with the U.S. would deteriorate. However, with Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, the U.S. engaged its two biggest communist rivals: China and the Soviet Union in productive peace and trade talks.

• The U.S. and the Soviet Union were able to ease tensions between them by negotiating nuclear weapons reductions during the S.A.L.T. I and S.A.L.T. II conferences . The second conference ended with the U.S. not ratifying the arms treaty because of Soviet military actions in Cuba and Afghanistan.

U.S. President Nixon

Soviet Premier Brezhnev

Thurgood Marshall• Marshall was a Howard University

trained lawyer who argued more cases before the U.S. Supreme Court than any other lawyer in history [won 29 out of 32 cases there].

• He was the chief counsel of the N.A.A.C.P.’s Legal Defense Fund for over 20 years.

• His most famous case was the 1954 Brown vs. Topeka Board of Education.

• The Court ruled that segregation of public schools was unconstitutional.

• Unfortunately, the case’s effect was blocked by Southern governors from Mississippi to Arkansas to Georgia.

• Marshall was confirmed as the first black U.S. Supreme Court justice in 1967.

Chief Justice Earl Warren• Earl Warren was a former governor of California and

unsuccessful Republican vice presidential candidate with Thomas Dewey in 1948.

• He was confirmed as a U.S. Supreme Court justice in 1953 and served until 1969.

• The “Warren Court” was known for its momentous 4 Landmark decisions:

• Brown vs. Board of Education of 1954 [public segregation]• Gideon vs. Wainwright of 1963 [right to counsel]• Reynolds vs. Sims of 1964 [one man one vote]• Miranda vs. Arizona of 1966 [freedom from self-

incrimination]

Rosa Parks

• Up until her arrest on December 1, 1955 Rosa Parks was a nondescript department store employee in Montgomery Alabama.

• After her work shift was over, she boarded a public bus to go home. She refused to obey the orders of a bus driver to move her seat to a different section of the bus according to an Alabama Jim Crow law created in 1900.

• She was arrested and convicted of disorderly conduct and fined a total of $14 including court costs.

• Her actions led to the so-called Montgomery Bus Boycott that lasted 20 days until the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Browder vs. Gayle that Alabama’s bus segregation laws were unconstitutional.

Martin Luther King Jr.• King was an Atlanta born minister who ministered at a church in Montgomery, Alabama.• Due to what he deemed unacceptably discriminatory, racist laws in Alabama he

embraced the non-violent methods on Indian freedom fighter Mohandas Gandhi.• He led non-violent, anti-segregation marches on Alabama’s state capital as well as the

famous March on Washington in 1963 where he delivered the legendary I Have a Dream speech advocating an end to racial egregation.

• He was arrested, attacked and threatened many times during his Civil Rights Movement. After years of threats he was murdered on April 4, 1968 on a hotel balcony in Memphis, Tennessee.

The Little Rock Nine• Following the Brown vs. Board of Education ruling to desegregate the Little Rock,

Arkansas School Board agreed to institute gradual integration and by 1957 have integration completed.

• 9 black students were chosen for Little Rock Central High School based on their excellent academic record. Local white residents were incensed with the change.

• Arkansas’ Governor Orvil Faubus sent in the state’s National Guard to appease defiant white residents and blockade the Little Rock Nine from entering the school.

• Eventually, at the local mayor’s request, President Eisenhower took command of the state’s National Guard and sent in the 101st Airborne Division to escort and protect the Little Rock Nine. Despite abuse and threats all 9 students graduated.

Sit-ins• On February 1, 1960 four college freshmen from North Carolina A&T in Greensboro entered

a Woolworth’s department store at the lunch counter to attempt to receive service.• Woolworth’s policy was to not serve blacks due to their segregation policy. The students

were not served that afternoon instead they were heckled and harassed by other patrons.• In the following days dozens and dozens more black students and youth participated in sit-

ins and eventually the store reversed its policy voluntarily after the movement gained national attention and spread to other Southern states. President Eisenhower was also sympathetic to the cause.

• The Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibited the segregation of all public accommodations.

Swann vs. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education [1971]: The “Forced Busing” Case

Facts of the Case:

After all efforts to desegregate schools in North Carolina schools in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg system remained heavilyracially segregated [separated by color].

The parents of black 6-year old James Swann believed that not being able to go to a school of their choice beyond their neighborhood was preventing the child from receiving a proper education.

The parents believed that busing should be provided to insure that desegregation was really happening and their child was goingto a school that was appropriate.

All lower courts ruled in the school district’s favor because all but most elementary

schools were busing students.

Constitutional Issue(s):

Was the ruling in the Brown case being

obeyed by this school district?

Must a state government agency “go out of

its way” to insure constitutional rights?

Supreme Court’s RulingSupreme Court’s Ruling::

The opinion of the court stated that The opinion of the court stated that

without forced busing of students to without forced busing of students to

eveneven

out the racial mix of schools the out the racial mix of schools the

district was district was not doing enough to make not doing enough to make

sure schools weresure schools were

not racially segregatednot racially segregated..

Forced busing become mandatory if Forced busing become mandatory if

the schools wanted to do it.the schools wanted to do it.

Nixon and the Watergate Scandal

• Was a member of the Republican political party.

• He ran for re-election in 1972 against the Democratic party his opponent.

• He allegedly sent men to break into a hotel in Washington, D.C. where the Democratic Party was headquartered.

• Why did he do this you ask?

Nixon and the Watergate Scandal

• President Richard was by many accounts a was a paranoid person.

• Why else?• To gain info on his opponents.

• The men placed listening devices (bugs) at offices of his opponents at the Watergate hotel.

Watergate

• Five (5) men were caught breaking into the Democratic headquarters and arrested.

• So?

• The investigation led all the way back to the president.

• Nixon denied all involvement at first.

Other branches of government enter…

• The House of Representatives launched an investigation.

• They uncovered a “cover up” by the president.

• Evidence of “high crimes and misdemeanors”

Impeachment

• The House of Representatives decided to impeach the president.

• Then what?

• They needed evidence (proof).

• They remembered that everything in the White House was audio recorded.

Enter the Courts

• The infamous “smoking gun” tapes were subpoenaed (called for).

• What was Nixon’s response?

• He refused citing executive privilege.

The final branch

• Nixon eventually gave up highly edited versions of the tapes.

• The Supreme Court ordered that Nixon hand over the tapes without delay.

• Evidence from the unedited versions proved his involvement.

Final result?

• Dick Nixon became the first president ever to resign.

• Why?

• He did not want to be removed.

• What was the whole point?

• This cased proved that no one is above the law which .

Regents of the University of California v Bakke: “The Med School Quota Case”

Facts of the Case:

Allan Bakke believed he had been discriminated against, because he was white, after he applied to medical school and was rejected.

The medical school in California he applied to had different programs to getin.

One for “disadvantaged” and one for“regular” students.

After being rejected twice and learningnon-white students with lower scoresthan he were admitted he sued.

California State Courts later ordered Bakke

admitted because the medical schoolillegally created quotas [slots specially

setaside] for non-whites which was considereddiscrimination.

The Regents of the University of Californiaappealed the decision to the High Court.

Issues before Supreme Court:

Were racial quotas a fair method of preventing racism in college entrance?

Were racial quotas preventing everyone

from equal treatment?Ruling by the Supreme Court:

Race could only be one factor used to

consider whether to allow a student

into a school.

If it was the sole or major reason it was in violation of equal protection under the law.

Texas v Johnson:“The Burnt Flag Case” Facts of the Case:

As a way to protest against President Ronald Reagan and his policies GregoryJohnson burned an American flag at the Republican Convention in Dallas, Texas.

He was eventually sentenced to 1 year in jailand a $2,000 fine by the state of Texas.

48 out of 50 states at that time had laws banning abuse to the U.S. flag.

His conviction was overturned and upheld by all courts on appeal.

The State of Texas appealed to the High Court.

Issues before Supreme Court:

Were Johnson’s actions a protected form of expression even though it was very unpatriotic and insulting?

Can states make laws protectingcertain symbols?

Ruling by the Supreme Court:

The opinion of the Court was that

although this expression was very offensive

to democracy and its symbol the symbolic

action was an acceptable form of protected

speech.

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