The Age of Containment, 1946-1954
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Chapter 27Chapter 27
Creating a National Security State, 1945-1949
• Alliance between Soviet Union and the United States was not based on collaboration, but on cooperative defeat of Axis powers
• Relations between the two countries descended into suspicion and growing tensions
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Onset of the Cold War• Interpretations of Cold War’s origins
– Traditional: Soviet expansion and desire to spread Communism
– Revisionists: U.S. threatened Soviets into the Cold War– Rival interests made Cold War inevitable
• Harry S. Truman• Joseph Stalin• Potsdam Conference (1945)• Baruch Plan• Soviet sphere of influence in Eastern Europe• “National security”
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Containment Abroad: The Truman Doctrine
• Truman Doctrine (1947)
• “Containment"– George F. Kennan– “X” article in Foreign Affairs
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Truman’s Loyalty Program
• Executive Order 9835– Containment on the home front– loyalty boards
• "Venona files"
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The National Security Act, The Marshall Plan, and the Berlin
Crisis• National Security Act (1947)
– Department of Defense– Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
• Marshall Plan– George C. Marshall
• Berlin Blockade and Airlift (1948-1949)• “Two Germanys”
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The Election of 1948
• Progressive Party– Henry A. Wallace
• State's Rights Party ("Dixiecrats")– Strom Thurmond
• 80th Congress• Thomas E. Dewey• Democratic victory and formula for success
– New Deal Coalition– Truman looked strong on National Security
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The Korean War Era, 1949-1952
• Cold war crises erupted and led to warfare in Korea
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NATO, China, and the Bomb
• North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)– Robert Taft’s opposition
• China– Jiang Jieshi– Mao Zedong– Formosa (Taiwan)
• Soviet atomic bomb• “Hydrogen bomb”
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NSC-68
• National Security Council document 68 (NSC-68)– Paul Nitze
– A blueprint for both the rhetoric and strategy of future cold war foreign policy
– Global ideological clash between U.S. “freedom” and Soviet “slavery”
– Contain Soviet expansion more aggressively, no negotiations
– Massive military buildup
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The Korean War
• North Korea vs. South Korea
• United Nations involvement
• Douglas MacArthur
• Inchon
• Beyond the 38th parallel
• Chinese intervention
• MacArthur fired
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Korea and Containment• American Cold War alliances in Asia
– Japanese-American Security Pact– U.S. bases in the Middle East– ANZUS– Aid to French in retaking Indo-China
• “Campaign of Truth”• Atomic Energy Commission • RAND• “The militarization of American life”• U.S. opposes left-wing movements globally
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Containment at Home
• Late 1940s to Mid-1950s:– Americans in debate over how to counter
alleged communist influences at home– “Witchhunts” or “Red-baiting”
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Anticommunism and the Labor Movement
• Increased labor militancy after WWII
• Labor-Management Relations Act (1947)– Taft-Hartley Act
• CIO expulsion of Communist tainted unions
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HUAC and the Loyalty Program• House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC)
– "Hollywood ten“– “Naming names”
• Richard Nixon– Whittaker Chambers– Alger Hiss
• FBI investigations of artists and intellectuals– W. E. B. Du Bois– Ernest Hemingway
• McCarran-Walter Act
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Targeting Difference
• Alfred Kinsey– Kinsey Report (1948)
• Mattachine Society (1950)
• Daughters of Bilitis (1955)
• Anti-homosexuality and anti-Communism merge
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“The Great Fear”
• Julius and Ethel Rosenberg
• Dennis v. US (1951)
• McCarran Internal Security Act (1950)– Subversive Activities Control Board
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McCarthyism
• Joseph McCarthy– "McCarthyism”
• Millard Tydings
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Domestic Policy: Truman’s Fair Deal
• FDR’s “Second Bill of Rights”• Opposition
– National Association of Manufacturers– Southern Democrats– Republicans
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The Employment Act of 1946 and the Promise of Economic
Growth• Employment Act (1946)
– Council of Economic Advisors
• Keynesian say government can end boom-and-bust cycles
• “Gross national product”• American economic growth linked to development
in the world and all-pervasive concern with national security
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Truman’s Fair Deal
• Fair Deal: Truman’s expansion of the New Deal• Serviceman's Readjustment Act (1944)
– GI Bill of Rights
• Social Security Act of 1950• National Health Insurance
– American Medical Association– Hill-Burton Act
• Housing Act (1949)• Reality of Fair deal was to target specific groups
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Civil Rights
• Civil rights committee (1946)– “To Secure These Rights”
• Dixiecrats
• Military desgregation
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Fair Deal Summary
• New Deal hope of comprehensive socioeconomic planning gives way to Fair Deal view of uninterrupted economic growth
• Fair Deal accepts “partial remedies” rather than the “curealls” of FDR’s “Second Bill of Rights”
A Changing Culture
• Postwar years were time of dramatic change
• Americans created change with progress
• Simultaneously, change was unsettling
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Jackie Robinson and the Baseball “Color Line”
• Jackie Robinson (1947)– Brooklyn Dodgers– National League Rookie of the Year (1947)
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Suburban Development
• Levittown, New York
• Federal Housing Administration (FHA)
• Mortgage interest tax deduction
• “Baby boom”
• “White flight”
• Loans to women could not receive guarantees
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Allure and Danger: Women on Film
• Film Noir
• The File on Thelma Jordan
• Fear of Communism reinforces conformity
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Estimated Median Age at First Marriage, 1890-1990
The Baby Boom
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From Truman to Eisenhower
• Truman declines to run
• Democrats on the defensive
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The Election of 1952
• Democratic nominee Adlai Stevenson
• Republican ticket: Dwight D. Eisenhower and Richard Nixon– Criticized over Korean War– “Korea, corruption, and communism”
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A Soldier-President
• West Point graduate, career military man
• Defeat Conservative Robert Taft for Republican nomination
• Republicans retake Congress
• Solid Democratic South slipping
Conclusion
• Domestic and foreign policies were dominated by containment of communism
• Government power expanded• Truman administration
– Korean war, 1950– Cold war climate– Fair Deal promises guaranteed economic growth
• Eisenhower elected, 1952– Broad personal appeal more than imminent end of
Democratic coalition
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