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A P U S H I S T O R Y
The Cold War Begins: 1945-52
Postwar Economic Anxiety
American’s feared a return to the Great Depression after the war.
REASONS:
They had just come out of the Great Depression fueled by the War industry
15 Million soldiers were returning to flood the job market
Gross National Product dipped from 1946-47
Price controls were lifted = inflation (33%)
Labor Union Strikes (4.6 million halted in 1946)
Postwar Economic Anxiety
Labor Unions had grown through Depression/War
Taft-Hartly Act (1947): Banned “closed shops” (you can’t work there unless you join the
union)
Unions responsible for damages
Union leaders had to take a non-communist oath
Still unions tried to expand (South/West) Operation Dixie
Unsuccessful for two reasons
1. Workers in South and West scattered around/not factory workers.
2. Value on individual freedom and hard work in these areas
Postwar Economic Anxiety
Governments Steps to make sure the economy doesn’t slow down…
1. Sold War Factories/Government facilities very cheaply2. The Employment Act (1946)
Promoted Maximum employment, production and purchasing power for Americans
3. The Council of Economic Advisors was formed to assist the President when making economic decisions
4. The GI BILL (1944) Helped pay for soldiers to go to school (raised education levels)
8 Millions took advantage of the schooling Helped provide home loans (stimulated construction industry)
GI Bill shaped economic expansion/prosperity for the postwar era!
The Affluent Society
The Decade after WWII was characterized by the following…
1. Unprecedented prosperity
2. A population explosion known as the baby boom
3. Rapid and extensive suburbanization
The Long Economic Boom 1950-70
By 1950 the American economy began to skyrocket By 1960 it doubled, and again by 1970
By 1973 American’s = 6% of population but 40% of wealth
BIG WINNERS Middle Class:
Doubled in size
New Goal: two cars in the garage and pool outback
Women:
Made up 25% of workforce at wars end, five years later 50%
The Traditional Role of women was still glorified by the media
Television “I Love Lucy”, “Father Knows Best”
The Roots of Postwar Prosperity
Causes for the postwar economic BOOM!
1. The War’s massive production jumpstarted economy
2. Jobs in military related areas
1. Aerospace, plastics, electronics and “R and D”
3. Energy was cheap and plentiful
1. Boosted car sales and other luxuries
4. Worker Production increased
1. More Americans went/stayed in school = higher standard of living
The Roots of Postwar Prosperity
With prosperity in other industries we see a move away from family farms.
REASON: High cost of machinery made farming move toward a BIG BUSINESS operation.
Farmers left for other jobs
Production continued to rise
Due to • New Equipment
• Better Hybrids
• Better Fertilizers
The Smiling Sunbelt
At Wars end many veterans came home and tied the knot. The GI Bill allowed financial flexibility and helped contribute to the
BABY BOOM
With the Baby Boom came the Sunbelt Boom! People began to move South and West from Florida to California.
Power shifted with the people
With Power comes money
WE SEE A SHIFT IN POWER FROM NORTHEAST/MIDWEST TO THE NEW SOUTH AND WEST
Rustbelt to Sunbelt
The Rush to the Suburbs
Highways and Prosperity allowed for the growth of the suburbs.
“White Flight”: Whites moved to the suburbs after WWII
FHA offered cheap home loans
More sensible then renting
New ways of construction made homes cheaper
25% of Americans lived in the suburbs by 1960
EX: Levittown on Long Island, NY “cookie cutter” houses
The Rush to the Suburbs
This massive migration to the suburbs by whites left cities: Black and poor
Racism, segregation, etc. = harder for African-Americans
Along with suburbs comes…
Shopping centers (Malls)
McDonald’s
Etc.
Postwar Baby Boom
Baby Boom peaked in 1957. This generation had a huge impact on America!
Entire Industries would ride this generation to success!
Levi’s Jeans
Burger Joints
Music (Rock and Roll)
Baby Boomers gave rise to the teenage generation!
Yalta Bargain or Betrayal?
In Feb 1945 the “Big Three” met at the Yalta Conference (Last Meeting)
PURPOSE: Sketch out general intentions for peace settlement post WWII
OUTCOME:
Shaped the Cold War
Highlighted by distrust between Britain/US and the Soviet Union
Yalta Bargain or Betrayal?
PROMISES WERE MADE…
RUSSIA: promised to enter war against Japan in return for important port rights in the Pacific and railroad rights in Manchuria.
Russia kept this promise but only after the US had almost won.
Russia also promised free elections in Poland/representative government (Bulgaria, Romania)
Russia clearly broke these promises and set up puppet communist governments
Reasons Russia didn’t trust US…
1. Democracy/Capitalists
2. US waited until 1933 to recognize the USSR
3. Allies were slow to open 2nd front in Europe during WWII
4. America stopped Lend-Lease program to Russia in 1945 but not Britain.
5. America rejected Russia’s request for $6 Billion for reconstruction but gave Germany $3.75 Billion.
FDR was criticized for his poor dealings at the Yalta Conference.
He knew the promises by Stalin would be broken
China fell to communism in coming years and FDR got the blame
Apologists say he had to negotiate with Stalin or all of China would have been taken
The World has two superpowers post WWII both with different agendas
Truman and Containment
Our foreign policy is going to change from Isolationalism to Containment under Truman
Key Points:
Containment was a foreign policy designed to contain or block Soviet expansion.
Containment was the primary U.S. foreign policy from the Truman Doctrine (1947) – Fall of the Berlin Wall (1989)
George Kennan
George Kennan
American Diplomat and expert in Soviet Union
SAID THAT…
The U.S.S.R was expansionist by nature but it could be held in check by firm American containment.
TRUMAN followed this containment doctrine
Truman and Containment
1. Truman Doctrine (1947):
President Truman was determined to block the expansion of the Soviet influence into Greece and Turkey
March 12, 1947, Truman asked Congress for $400 million in economic aid for Greece and Turkey
JUSTIFICATION: Said the US would support “free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugations by armed minorities or by outside pressures.”
Truman and Containment
2. The Marshall Plan Program of economic aid designed to promote the recovery of
war-torn Europe while also preventing the spread of communist influence
Western Europe’s economy was struggling
“ Our policy is directed not against any country or doctrine, but against hunger, poverty, desperation, and chaos. Its purpose should be the revival of a working economy in the world so as to permit the emergence of political and social conditions in which free institutions can exist…Any government that is willing to assist in the task of recovery will find full cooperation, I am sure, on the part of the United States government.”
Marshall Plan Cont’d
We lent financial help to rebuild Europe and keep communism out!
Started by Truman and George Marshall (Sec of State)
Helped form a European Community (EC)
$17 Billion was spent over four years
Congress thought to much until Russia-sponsored Revolution in Czechoslovakia.
Western Europe’s economies rebounded and communist groups lost influence
Truman and Containment
3. NATO Alliance (1948):
Marked the US’s break from isolationism
US didn’t get entangled in alliances (Jefferson, Washington)
10 Western European nations along with the US and Canada formed this defensive military alliance.
North Atlantic Treaty Organization
To attack one meant to attack all
Soviets set the Warsaw Pact with Eastern European Nations.
Truman and Containment
4. Berlin Airlift (1948)
Germany had been divided up at wars end into four military occupation zones (Britain, France, US and Soviets)
The Soviets had blocked the railroads/western land access into West Berlin (Deep in Soviet zone)
Truman ordered a massive airlift of food, fuel and other supplies to the citizens of West Berlin.
MARKED A CRUCIAL AND SUCCESSFUL TEST OF CONTAINMNET!
