United States Since 1945

1
United States Since 1945
2
Introduction

• United States in 1945
• Reactions to the end of the war Ecstasy
  Concern
• Partying
• What would happen next
• Quest for security a theme for this time
• Security at home economic security
• Security abroad focus on national defense

3
Quest for economic security 1945-1972

• Strategy for maintaining economic security Mixed
  economy. New Deal Approach and the market economy
• Securing activist government, Step One Harry
  Trumans Fair Deal
• Importance of the 1948 presidential election
• Republican reaction to defeat Exploit the Second
  Red Scare
• Alger Hiss Case the Rise of Joe McCarthy

4
Quest for economic security 1945-1972(Cont.)

• Securing activist government Step Two The Ike
  Years Eisenhower as President
• Eisenhowers victory in 1952
• Eisenhowers role in securing activist government
• Ending the Second Red Scare
• Limited Extension of Activist government
• National Defense Highway Act of 1956
• Rejecting a change in course. Eisenhower wanted
  Republicans to accept the New Deal Approach
• United States in 1960 a consensus

5
Quest for economic security 1945-1972(Cont.)

• Great Society 1960-1972
• Three presidencies John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B.
  Johnson, Richard M. Nixon. Johnson proposed the
  Great Society in 1965
• Second Reconstruction Three branches of federal
  government attack racial injustice
• Supreme Court Brown v Topeka Board of
  Education-1954
• President Eisenhower 1957 in Little Rock, AR
• Congress enacts Civil Rights laws in 1957, 1960,
  1964, 1965, 1968

6
Quest for economic security 1945-1972 (cont.)

• Great Society 1960-1972 (Cont.)
• War on Poverty
• Federal government attempted to wipe out poverty
  in an affluent society. Major attempt to grapple
  with the Old Poverty a la 1930s.
• Concept of a culture of poverty
• Environmental Protection
• Birth of the Environmental Protection Agency
  (EPA) 1970

7
Declining Trust in government converted to a
rejection of activist government

• Stagflation Stagnant economic growth
  Inflation
• Imperial Presidency
• Effects of Vietnam War Credibility Gap
• Effects of Watergate Affair Presidency not
  trustworthy
• Roles of New Left and Counterculture
• Neo-conservative intellectuals provide muscle
  power

8
Declining Trust in government converted to a
rejection of activist government

• Ronald Reagan as President
• Provides charismatic leadership to transform
  anti-government mood into an effective political
  force
• Program centered on Government was not the
  solution to the problems government was the
  problem.

9
Cold War 1945-1991

• Sources of the Cold War
• Sovietization of Eastern Europe after World War II

10
Cold War 1945-1991 (cont.)

• Strategy for Fighting the Cold War
• Birth of Containment Role of George Kennan as
  the Father of Containment
• Pillars of Containment
• Harry Truman declared the Cold War with the
  Truman Doctrine (1947)
• George Marshall proposed the Marshall plan to
  stimulate economic recovery in Western Europe
  (1948)
• North Atlantic Treaty Organization (1949). United
  States joined a peacetime military alliance.
  Applied Collective Security
• NSC 68 (1950). Built up U.S. military power
  globally

11
Cold War 1945-1991(cont.)

• Korean War 1950-1953 4 stages
• North Korean Invasion June-Sept. 1950
• United Nations counterattack Sept.-Nov. 1950
• Chinese Attack Nov.1950-March 1951
• StalemateMarch 1951-July 1953
• Armistice signed July 27, 1953

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Cold War 1945-1991(cont.)

• Vietnam War
• Vietnam's Background as a French colony
• Rise of Ho Chi Minh and the Viet Minh
• World War II
• First Indochina War 1945-1954
• Viet Minh victory at Dien Bien Phu May 1954
• Geneva Accords 1954
• Nation-Building 1954-1964
• U.S. Goal Secure non-Communist government in the
  south
• Ngo Dinh Diem 1954-1963
• Rise of the Viet Cong and the Birth of the NLF
  Rooted in opposition of Diem
• November 1, 1963 coup detat
• Gulf of Tonkin Resolution August 1964

13
Cold War 1945-1991(cont.)

• Vietnam War (cont.)
• United States at war
• Decision for deeper involvement Operation
  Rolling Thunder July 1965 decision
• U.S. Strategy Use fire power to win war of
  attrition
• Nature of the military side
• Role of Selective Service. OR how the Draft
  worked
• Casualties Almost 60,000 U.S. service personnel
  died in the war while 300,000 were injured
• Stalemate 1965-1968
• Declining support at home for the policy
  College-based anti-war movement, loss of
  political support, Lets win the war and get
  out!
• Signs of success, but

14
Cold War 1945-1991(cont.)

• Vietnam War
• Tet Offensive Jan.-Mar. 1968
• United States policy now emphasized negotiations
• Nixons policy to end the war
• Fire power
• Vietnamization
• Open and secret negotiations. Role of Henry
  Kissinger
• Truce Agreement January 1973 in Paris, France
• End of the Cold War the Collapse of the Soviet
  Union
• Reagan pushes, the Soviet Afghan War (1979-1989),
  and the role of Mikhail Gorbachev