Chapter 31

Theme: New World Order "Multiculturalism"

• In August 2001, Telmo Alvear became a waiter at the Windows on the World restaurant located in the North Tower of the World Trade Center (WTC) in New York City.
  
• The restaurant was part of the transnational community created by the over 50,000 people who work at the World Trade Center.
  
• Many of the firms renting space in the Twin Towers were multinational operations from Latin America, Asia, Africa, and Europe.
  
• The WTC symbolized American leadership and the belief that transnationalism would lay the foundation for a new world order based on democratic liberalism.
  

War in the Middle East

• When Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990, President Bush formed a coalition:
  
  • to prevent Iraqi aggression against Saudi Arabia.
    
  • to enforce economic sanctions against Iraq.
    
• Bush shifted policies and prepared for an offensive war to drive out Iraq. <Movie: The Kingdom (Us relationship with Saudi Arabia>
  
• The U.S. relentlessly bombed Iraq, driving it from Kuwait. (1^st time seeing war live on TV)
  
• The war left Iraq devastated and, although Saddam Hussein remained in power, wreaked ecological havoc in the region. (setting the oil rigs on fire, some actually are still burning)
  
• Mideast tensions worsened due to the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.
  
• A Saudi millionaire built the Al-Qaeda terrorist network. (Osma bin Laden)
  

The Election of 1992

• (Bush: "No New Taxes")
  
• A harsh recession and soaring national debt had eroded public confidence in the Bush administration.
  
• Democrats turned to centrist governor Bill Clinton of Arkansas who stressed the need for fiscal responsibility, a middle class tax cut and new jobs.
  
• Billionaire H. Ross Perot won support for his independent bid with his folksy style and criticism of Washington insiders. (1^st time an independent made a dent in the electoral college)
  
• Clinton focused on the "forgotten middle class" in an effort to return Reagan Democrats to the fold.
  
• Clinton won 43 percent of the vote to Bush's 38 percent and Perot's 19 percent.
  

The Clinton Strategy

• Clinton broke political gridlock by positioning himself between warring Democrats and Republicans.
  
• Often backing ideas friendly to Republicans, he clashed with liberal democrats.
  
• Clinton unsuccessfully promoted a plan for national health insurance:
  
• Clinton pushed through a series of trade agreements (NAFTA and GATT) that raised fears that jobs were being sent abroad while environmental standards were being weakened at home.
  

Peacekeeping in the Balkans

• Human rights became factors in trade and diplomatic relations.
  
• International organizations were formed to work with the United Nations to aid victims of abuses.
  
• Clinton connected with human rights to the expansion of democracy.
  
• Heightened ethnic nationalism and religious fundamentalism created unrest across the globe, especially in the Balkans.
  
• The civil war in Kosovo between the Serbians and Albanians was the worst foreign crisis of Clinton's presidency.
  
• After negotiations failed, NATO bombed Serbian forces that eventually withdrew from Kosovo. Their president was indicted on war crimes.
  

Tech Boom & Silicon Valley

• The greatest stimulus to the economy was the soaring stock market, led by "tech" stocks. (Amazon.com)
  
• The resulting economic boom created huge profits.
  
• Critics noted the ill effects of downsizing and the pay disparity between white and blue collar workers plus the continuing decline of blue-collar jobs.
  
• Silicon Valley in northern California emerged as the capital of the American computer industry.
  
• Although Silicon Valley resembled a suburb, it was a sprawl of two dozen cities that expanded rapidly as the computer industry grew.
  
• Silicon Valley divided along class lines:
  
  • The white male managers and engineers lived in affluent communities.
    
  • non-unionized, Latino and Asian workers lived in poor communities.
    
• By the early 1990s the Silicon Valley had lost its boomtown atmosphere as competition increased.
  

*Quiz online. On Friday we will review Ch. 31, and for the final.

The Racial Divide

• In the spring of 1992, rioting broke out when a jury acquitted four Los Angeles police officers who had been videotaped beating a black motorist. (Rodney King)
  
• Rioters included Latino and African Americans.
  
• The rioting revealed the animosity between Korean storeowners and African American customers who targeted the stores for destruction.
  
• For many African Americans, the Los Angeles situation seemed more desperate than ever and whites seemed not to care at all.
  
• The widening racial divide was also shown by the trial of O. J. Simpson and the percentage of racial minorities in prisons, especially African American males.
  

Random Violence and Terrorism

• During the 1990s and early twenty-first century, random violence and terrorism escalated culminating with the catastrophic September 11, 2001 suicide attacks.
  
• The 1988 bombing of a Pan Am plane was followed by the 1993 attack on the World Trade Center (parking garage, North Tower) that brought terrorism home to the United States. (WTC is the center of US fiscal economy)
  
• In 1998, Middle East terrorists car-bombed U. S. embassies in Africa. (& bombed a military barracks)
  
• The 1995 bombing in Oklahoma City was different in that domestic terrorists were responsible. (All going on in with the media, seen in song lyrics posted online…Flipside, US History)
  
• One of the most tragic incidents of violence the murders at Columbine High school in Littleton, Colorado.
  
• (1 year anniversary of VT…. Brady Bill, Clinton….1^st major push to control guns)
  

Culture Wars

• Culture wars erupted over a struggle to define American values that pit conservative Republicans and Clinton Democrats. (Pat Robinson, Jerry Falwell, & Newt Gingrich) (growing since the end of Nixon's presidency, a lot seen before the 2000 election)
  
• Conservatives supported what they called universal, traditional values.
  
• Democrats supported multiculturalism.
  
• Conflicts also arose over affirmative action, gays, and women.
  
• A growing controversy arose over stem cell research. (when Bush 1^st took office, he discussed with the Pope…against stem cell research)
  

Contract With America

• Throughout his political career, Bill Clinton faced questions of morality. <Monica>
  
• Led by Newt Gingrich, a new breed of younger conservative Republicans swept the Congressional elections of 1994. (mend fences)
  
• Republicans promoted a "Contract with America" to cut welfare and eliminate affirmative action. (instead of working for compromise, just trying to get what they want…radio shows)
  
• Failure to compromise on a budget in 1995 shut the government down and proved a public relations disaster for the GOP. (no one could agree on the budget, so the government shut down)(huge nightmare for PR of the GOP)
  

High Crimes and Misdemeanors

• Bill Clinton proved adept at co-opting Republican issues such as ending big government and balancing the budget.
  
• In the 1996 presidential election, Clinton projected a reasonable, conservative image and portrayed Republicans as conservative radicals.
  
• Clinton easily beat GOP candidate Bob Dole and independent Ross Perot.
  
• In 1998, a sex scandal embroiled the White House, leading to impeachment inquiries. The midterm election resulted in Democratic gains, due in part to the economic prosperity.
  
• The Republican House voted to impeach Clinton for perjury and obstruction of justice but failed to convict him.
  

  
  

The Election of 2000

• Florida, in spotlight.
  
• Campaigns realized they could make a difference by showing up on television shows and magazines. (Cover of Rolling Stone)
  

Your Final will be based exactly how you saw your income.

• Review all old quizzes, they will be in PDF format on WebCT.
  
  • Questions on Final will be similar to those on the quizzes.
    
• Review your notes & the blog.
  
• On the essay portion- choose the one you want to answer, based on readings from WWII on.
  
  • Get note cards, put the title of your reading on the front, on the back, put the author, and briefly what the writing is about.
    
• Bring a BLUEBOOK, Professor Anderson will provide the scantron.
  
• 10 pts. Extra credit.
  
• 47 Questions, 1 essay.
  
• Exam is Next Wednesday at 8:00 AM.
  

(Loosely Comprehensive)

Chapter 31

Ch. 31    Towards a Transnational America, since 1988

Theme: New World Order     "Multiculturalism"

• In August 2001, Telmo Alvear became a waiter at the Windows on the World restaurant located in the North Tower of the World Trade Center (WTC) in New York City.
  
• The restaurant was part of the transnational community created by the over 50,000 people who work at the World Trade Center.
  
• Many of the firms renting space in the Twin Towers were multinational operations from Latin America, Asia, Africa, and Europe.
  
• The WTC symbolized American leadership and the belief that transnationalism would lay the foundation for a new world order based on democratic liberalism.
  

 

War in the Middle East

• When Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990, President Bush formed a coalition:
  
  • to prevent Iraqi aggression against Saudi Arabia.
    
  • to enforce economic sanctions against Iraq.
    
• Bush shifted policies and prepared for an offensive war to drive out Iraq. <Movie: The Kingdom (Us relationship with Saudi Arabia>
  
• The U.S. relentlessly bombed Iraq, driving it from Kuwait. (1^st time seeing war live on TV)
  
• The war left Iraq devastated and, although Saddam Hussein remained in power, wreaked ecological havoc in the region. (setting the oil rigs on fire, some actually are still burning)
  
• Mideast tensions worsened due to the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.
  
• A Saudi millionaire built the Al-Qaeda terrorist network. (Osma bin Laden)
  

 

The Election of 1992

• (Bush: "No New Taxes")
  
• A harsh recession and soaring national debt had eroded public confidence in the Bush administration.
  
• Democrats turned to centrist governor Bill Clinton of Arkansas who stressed the need for fiscal responsibility, a middle class tax cut and new jobs.
  
• Billionaire H. Ross Perot won support for his independent bid with his folksy style and criticism of Washington insiders. (1^st time an independent made a dent in the electoral college)
  
• Clinton focused on the "forgotten middle class" in an effort to return Reagan Democrats to the fold.
  
• Clinton won 43 percent of the vote to Bush's 38 percent and Perot's 19 percent.
  

 

The Clinton Strategy

• Clinton broke political gridlock by positioning himself between warring Democrats and Republicans.
  
• Often backing ideas friendly to Republicans, he clashed with liberal democrats.
  
• Clinton unsuccessfully promoted a plan for national health insurance:
  
• Clinton pushed through a series of trade agreements (NAFTA and GATT) that raised fears that jobs were being sent abroad while environmental standards were being weakened at home.
  

 

Peacekeeping in the Balkans

• Human rights became factors in trade and diplomatic relations.
  
• International organizations were formed to work with the United Nations to aid victims of abuses.
  
• Clinton connected with human rights to the expansion of democracy.
  
• Heightened ethnic nationalism and religious fundamentalism created unrest across the globe, especially in the Balkans.
  
• The civil war in Kosovo between the Serbians and Albanians was the worst foreign crisis of Clinton's presidency.
  
• After negotiations failed, NATO bombed Serbian forces that eventually withdrew from Kosovo. Their president was indicted on war crimes.
  

 

Tech Boom & Silicon Valley

• The greatest stimulus to the economy was the soaring stock market, led by "tech" stocks. (Amazon.com)
  
• The resulting economic boom created huge profits.
  
• Critics noted the ill effects of downsizing and the pay disparity between white and blue collar workers plus the continuing decline of blue-collar jobs.
  
• Silicon Valley in northern California emerged as the capital of the American computer industry.
  
• Although Silicon Valley resembled a suburb, it was a sprawl of two dozen cities that expanded rapidly as the computer industry grew.
  
• Silicon Valley divided along class lines:    
  
  •     The white male managers and engineers lived in affluent communities.
    
  •     non-unionized, Latino and Asian workers lived in poor communities.
    
• By the early 1990s the Silicon Valley had lost its boomtown atmosphere as competition increased.
  

  
   

  
   

  *Quiz online. On Friday we will review Ch. 31, and for the final.
  

Ch. 30: The Conservative Ascendancy, 1974—1987

Theme: Grass Roots Conservatism

• In 1962, Garden Grove resident Bee Gathright discovered she was a conservative. Gathright and her husband Neil soon joined the California Republican Assembly and were active in Barry Goldwater's 1964 presidential campaign.
  
• In the 1960s and seventies, Orange County had thousands of "kitchen table" activists began transforming American conservatism and American politics leading to the election of Ronald Reagan as president.
  
• Conservative rhetoric shed its extremist message by stressing less government and family issues. Evangelical religion also played a role.
  

Oil and the Troubled Economy

• High prices and a stagnant economy led Americans to question their faith in progress and prosperity.
  
• Dependence on imported oil had steadily grown.
  
• When the U.S. backed Israel during the 1973 Yom Kippur War, the Arab states that controlled OPEC (Organization of Oil Trading Countries) pushed through an embargo leading to skyrocketing prices and public suspicion that someone was profiting at the public's expense.
  

Oil and Economic Decline

• President Nixon ordered oil conservation measures.
  
• Soaring energy prices led to rapid, sustained inflation.
  
• At the same time, the worst economic decline since the Great Depression began.
  
• Steel and auto making faced stiff competition and declining market shares.
  
• American productivity and quality continued to decline.
  
• Despite increased foreign demand for crops, soaring energy costs hurt farmers now forced to borrow money at high interest rates.
  

Blue-Collar Blues

• Outside of the public sector, the number of unionized workers steadily declined.
  
  • "Nation of hamburger stands."
    
• The number of wage-earning women increased but their income, relative to men, declined.
  
• African American women in the North earned nearly as much as white women, but Hispanic women tended to be confined to the lowest wage sectors. (waitressing, hotel staff, cleaning crew.)
  

Sunbelt/Snowbelt Communities (Where your grandparents are going to retire: warm, cookie-cutter homes, spread out)

• The economic slump of the 1970s was most pronounced in the Midwest and Northeast in contrast to what became known as the Sunbelt.
  
• Large-scale migration fueled Sunbelt population growth.
  
• The burgeoning computer industry and defense contracts helped Sunbelt communities weather the recession.
  
• Sunbelt prosperity was not evenly spread and a two-tier class society developed.
  
• Snowbelt cities like Philadelphia and New York faced urban decay.
  
• Air conditioning, water diversion, and other improvements turned deserts into suburbs.
  

The Ford Presidency (In office for 1 term, jokes that he and Carter didn't do anything)

• Gerald Ford succeeded to the presidency following Richard Nixon's resignation.
  
• After pardoning Nixon, Ford lost the nation's trust. (The United States was upset)
  
• Ford lacked a clear program and vetoed bills to hold down spending, many of which Congress passed over his veto.
  
• Ford narrowly defeated Ronald Reagan for the Republican presidential nomination. (Ford finished out Nixon's term…almost a full term)
  
• Democrats turned to one-term GA Governor Jimmy Carter.
  
• Carter narrowly defeated Ford, building on his moderate image, his outsider status, and his pledge to restore trust. ("I can make things change, I'm new blood")
  

  <Pictures Ford & Carter>
  

The Carter Presidency

• Carter was unable to get his legislation through Congress.
  
• Carter by and large supported conservative policies like deregulation and increased military spending.
  
• Inflation and interest rates soared leading many to conclude that Carter could not turn the economy around.
  
  • "Family Man" (Democrat) – Baptist, very religious.
    
  • Focused on Military spending.
    

The New Urban Politics

• Political mobilization during the 1970s frequently focused on community issues that cut across ideological lines.
  
• College students along with African Americans and other minorities mobilized and won power in numerous communities. (Politics, Policies)
  
• Several major cities elected black mayors. (including Atlanta)
  
• The fiscal crisis of the 1970s frequently foiled their plans for reforms.
  

 

The City and the Neighborhood

• Community groups tried to empower their members to take control over a wide range of issues.
  
• By the end of the 1970s, community-based economic development groups were infusing capital into neighborhoods.
  
• After activists had restored a neighborhood, gentrification soon followed.
  

The Endangered Environment

• <The Rise of Earth Day>
  
• The roots of the environmental movement dated back to the works of Rachel Carson (Silent Spring) in the early 1960s.
  
• Twenty million Americans participated in the first Earth Day.
  
  • 1970- 3 Mile Island, PA – Nuclear Reactor Meltdown. Pg. 931 (infrared picture, Love Canal)
    
• The Three Mile Island incident and the linking of cancer at Love Canal to toxic waste raised U.S. concern over pollution.
  
  • <www.threemileisland.org>
    
• Growing interest in the concept of ecology led Americans to lobby for renewable energy sources, protecting endangered species, and reducing pollution.
  
• Despite public outcries, government officials frequently responded to other pressures.
  

Small-Town America

• A growing number of Americans were leaving metropolitan areas for small towns.
  
• Suburbs and shopping malls sprang up in small towns, frustrating established local merchants who had looked for an economic boom.
  
• Many communities organized to oppose further growth.     
  
• Areas outside of the Sunbelt and away from cities suffered as family farms and other businesses failed.
  

The New Right

• A variety of forces converged to turn back the Great Society and form the new right:
  
  • conservative centers like the Heritage Foundation
    
  • paramilitary groups
    
  • religious conservatives who supplied the strongest boost
    
• The New Right promoted its agenda through televangelists. (oppose abortion, etc. Tammy Fae & Tim Baker)
  
• New Right politicians like Jesse Helms amassed huge campaign chests.
  
• The New Right successfully blocked ratification of the ERA and rallied support for efforts to make abortions illegal.
  

The "Me" Decade

• Critics characterized the 1970s as a decade when Americans:
  
  • abandoned political change
    
  • focused on personal well being
    
  • Fostered a "culture of narcissism."
    
• During the 1970s, a wide range of personal growth techniques (yoga, healing tapes, etc.) flourished among the middle class.
  
• Religious cults grew. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonestown>
  
• Popular music became increasingly despairing and nihilistic, nostalgic, or decadent. (CCR- groups in the 70's- Pinkk Floyd)
  

  Youtube.com/watch?
  

A Thaw in the Cold War

• Presidents Ford and Carter both believe that American power had been declining and that there should be no more Vietnams.
  
• High levels of military spending had hurt the American ability to compete effectively with economic rivals.
  
• American diplomats sought a way to wind down the cold war by getting the Soviets to agree to respect human rights and by negotiating arms control agreements.
  

Foreign Policy and Moral Principles

• Jimmy Carter pledged to put human rights at the center of his foreign policy. (shoots himself in the foot)
  
• Though speaking out about violations in some nations, he overlooked others in areas vital to United States interests.
  
• His greatest success came when he negotiated the Camp David Accord between Egypt and Israel, though the agreement did not bring stability to the region.
  
• Carter reformed the CIA and returning the Canal Zone to Panama.
  
• Carter received contradictory advice urging him to be both tough on and conciliatory towards the Soviets.
  
• His Third World efforts mixed support for both authoritarian and revolutionary governments.
  
• He urged Americans to put aside their "inordinate fear of Communism," but reacted strongly to a Soviet intervention in Afghanistan.
  

The Iran Hostage Crisis

• Carter's decision to allow the deposed Shah of Iran to enter the country for medical treatment backfired.
  
• Iranian students seized the American embassy and held its personnel hostage.
  
• He tried diplomacy and at the same time an ill-fated rescue operation. Both failed.
  

The Election of 1980

• When his programs failed to stimulate the economy, Carter claimed that the nation was experiencing a crisis of confidence.
  
• The plan backfired and voters lost respect for him.
  
• As the election of 1980 approached, an unenthusiastic Democratic convention endorsed him.
  
• The Republicans nominated Ronald Reagan who asked voters "are you better off now than you were four years ago?"
  
• Reagan won 50.9 percent of the vote but an overwhelming majority in the Electoral College.
  

The Great Communicator

• <Picture> Entertainer, actor- "the face of TV" Becomes governor of California in 1966- welfare, attacted student protestors & black militants- "go back to the family." (Anti-abortion, family issues) Delivered a political agenda for GE through TV. Supported Barry Goldwater's 1964 Presidential Campaign.
  

• Ronald Reagan tried to reshape the political landscape of the nation. Reagan's program aimed to stimulate the economy by:
  
  • cutting government spending
    
  • government deregulation
    
  • cutting taxes for the wealthy
    
• He appointed conservatives to head agencies like EPA that abolished or weakened rules protecting the environment and workplace safety.
  
• Reagan called for a massive military buildup.
  

The Election of 1984

• In the 1984 election, Walter Mondale won the Democratic nomination by concentrating on the traditional Democratic constituencies.
  
• Reagan countered Mondale's criticisms by claiming that the nation was strong, united, and prosperous.
  
• Reagan won in one of history's biggest landslides.
  

Recession, Recovery, Fiscal Crisis

• A recession gripped the economy during the early 1980s.
  
• By the mid-1980s the economy grew and inflation was under control.
  
• Critics claimed the growth resulted from increased military spending.
  
• The economic recovery was unevenly spread; most new jobs did not pay enough to support a family.
  
• Enormous budget deficits grew to an unprecedented $2 trillion as the U.S. became the world's leading debtor.
  
• The fiscal crisis was made worse by scandals in securities industry. In 1987, the stock market crashed, ending the bull market of the 1980s.
  

Family Income and Net Worth

• While the 1980s celebrated wealth and moneymaking, the gap between rich and poor widened. The middle class also declined.
  
• Earnings and Poverty
  
• Average weekly earnings declined.
  
• New Jobs and Poverty
  
• Half the new jobs did not pay enough to keep a family out of poverty.
  
• Income, Race, and Gender
  
• Race sharply defined the gap between rich and poor.
  
• Women also experienced declining earning power.
  

Epidemics

• The 1980s saw new epidemics erupt.
  
• "Yuppie" (someone who is young, affluent, trying to look rich- but not really) cocaine and inner-city crack use spiraled, unleashing a crime wave.
  
  • The Reagan administration declared a war on drugs, but concentrated its resources on the overseas supply and did little to control demand at home.
    
• In 1981, doctors identified a puzzling disease initially found among gay men—AIDS.
  
• An epidemic of homelessness grew during the decade. One third were mental patients discharged from psychiatric hospitals.
  

The Evil Empire

• Reagan made anti-Communism the centerpiece of his foreign policy, calling the Soviet Union an "evil empire."
  
• Despite American superiority, Reagan pushed to enlarge the nuclear strike force.
  
• He called for a space-based "Star Wars" missile defense system that many saw as an effort to achieve a first-strike capability.
  
• Attempts at meaningful arms control stalled.
  

The Reagan Doctrine and Central America

• The Reagan Doctrine pursued anti-Communist activity in Central America.
  
• Reagan's "Caribbean Basin Initiative" to stimulate economic growth tied the region's economy closer to American corporations.
  
• Reagan intervened in Grenada, E1 Salvador, and waged a covert war against the revolutionary government of Nicaragua.
  
  • Contra... fighting one government to take over the other government.
    

The Iran-Contra Scandal

• In 1986, news broke of how the United States traded arms to Iran in return for their assistance in freeing hostages held by terrorist groups. The money from the arms sales was used to fund the Contras in Nicaragua.
  
• Oliver North, who ran the enterprise, acknowledged that he had told a web of lies and destroyed evidence, all in the name of patriotism.
  
• An investigating commission concluded that Reagan had allowed a small, unsupervised group to run the operation. <Plausible Deniability- Reagan>
  
• In 1992, outgoing President George Bush, whose involvement had been the target of much speculation, pardoned several officials who were scheduled to be tried.
  

 

Brooklyn Brewery- the community starts to take over.

Chapter 30: The Conservative Ascendancy, 1974—1987

Theme: Grass Roots Conservatism
In 1962, Garden Grove resident Bee Gathright discovered she was a conservative. Gathright and her husband Neil soon joined the California Republican Assembly and were active in Barry Goldwater's 1964 presidential campaign.
In the 1960s and seventies, Orange County had thousands of "kitchen table" activists began transforming American conservatism and American politics leading to the election of Ronald Reagan as president.
Conservative rhetoric shed its extremist message by stressing less government and family issues. Evangelical religion also played a role.

Oil and the Troubled Economy
High prices and a stagnant economy led Americans to question their faith in progress and prosperity.
Dependence on imported oil had steadily grown.
When the U.S. backed Israel during the 1973 Yom Kippur War, the Arab states that controlled OPEC (Organization of Oil Trading Countries) pushed through an embargo leading to skyrocketing prices and public suspicion that someone was profiting at the public's expense.

Oil and Economic Decline
President Nixon ordered oil conservation measures.
Soaring energy prices led to rapid, sustained inflation.
At the same time, the worst economic decline since the Great Depression began.
Steel and auto making faced stiff competition and declining market shares.
American productivity and quality continued to decline.
Despite increased foreign demand for crops, soaring energy costs hurt farmers now forced to borrow money at high interest rates.

Blue-Collar Blues
Outside of the public sector, the number of unionized workers steadily declined.
“Nation of hamburger stands.”
The number of wage-earning women increased but their income, relative to men, declined.
African American women in the North earned nearly as much as white women, but Hispanic women tended to be confined to the lowest wage sectors. (waitressing, hotel staff, cleaning crew.)

Sunbelt/Snowbelt Communities (Where your grandparents are going to retire: warm, cookie-cutter homes, spread out)
The economic slump of the 1970s was most pronounced in the Midwest and Northeast in contrast to what became known as the Sunbelt.
Large-scale migration fueled Sunbelt population growth.
The burgeoning computer industry and defense contracts helped Sunbelt communities weather the recession.
Sunbelt prosperity was not evenly spread and a two-tier class society developed.
Snowbelt cities like Philadelphia and New York faced urban decay.
Air conditioning, water diversion, and other improvements turned deserts into suburbs.

The Ford Presidency (In office for 1 term, jokes that he and Carter didn’t do anything)
Gerald Ford succeeded to the presidency following Richard Nixon’s resignation.
After pardoning Nixon, Ford lost the nation’s trust. (The United States was upset)
Ford lacked a clear program and vetoed bills to hold down spending, many of which Congress passed over his veto.
Ford narrowly defeated Ronald Reagan for the Republican presidential nomination. (Ford finished out Nixon’s term…almost a full term)
Democrats turned to one-term GA Governor Jimmy Carter.
Carter narrowly defeated Ford, building on his moderate image, his outsider status, and his pledge to restore trust. (“I can make things change, I’m new blood”)


The Carter Presidency
Carter was unable to get his legislation through Congress.
Carter by and large supported conservative policies like deregulation and increased military spending.
Inflation and interest rates soared leading many to conclude that Carter could not turn the economy around.
“Family Man” (Democrat) – Baptist, very religious.
Focused on Military spending.

The New Urban Politics
Political mobilization during the 1970s frequently focused on community issues that cut across ideological lines.
College students along with African Americans and other minorities mobilized and won power in numerous communities. (Politics, Policies)
Several major cities elected black mayors. (including Atlanta)
The fiscal crisis of the 1970s frequently foiled their plans for reforms.

The City and the Neighborhood
Community groups tried to empower their members to take control over a wide range of issues.
By the end of the 1970s, community-based economic development groups were infusing capital into neighborhoods.
After activists had restored a neighborhood, gentrification soon followed.

The Endangered Environment
·
The roots of the environmental movement dated back to the works of Rachel Carson (Silent Spring) in the early 1960s.
Twenty million Americans participated in the first Earth Day.
1970- 3 Mile Island, PA – Nuclear Reactor Meltdown. Pg. 931 (infrared picture, Love Canal)
The Three Mile Island incident and the linking of cancer at Love Canal to toxic waste raised U.S. concern over pollution.

Growing interest in the concept of ecology led Americans to lobby for renewable energy sources, protecting endangered species, and reducing pollution.
Despite public outcries, government officials frequently responded to other pressures.

Small-Town America
A growing number of Americans were leaving metropolitan areas for small towns.
Suburbs and shopping malls sprang up in small towns, frustrating established local merchants who had looked for an economic boom.
Many communities organized to oppose further growth.
Areas outside of the Sunbelt and away from cities suffered as family farms and other businesses failed.

The New Conservatism / The New Right
A variety of forces converged to turn back the Great Society and form the new right:
conservative centers like the Heritage Foundation
paramilitary groups
religious conservatives who supplied the strongest boost
The New Right promoted its agenda through televangelists. (oppose abortion, etc. Tammy Fae & Tim Baker)
New Right politicians like Jesse Helms amassed huge campaign chests.
The New Right successfully blocked ratification of the ERA and rallied support for efforts to make abortions illegal.

The “Me” Decade
Critics characterized the 1970s as a decade when Americans:
abandoned political change
focused on personal well being
Fostered a “culture of narcissism.”
During the 1970s, a wide range of personal growth techniques (yoga, healing tapes, etc.) flourished among the middle class.
Religious cults grew.
Popular music became increasingly despairing and nihilistic, nostalgic, or decadent. (CCR- groups in the 70’s- Pinkk Floyd)
Youtube.com/watch?

A Thaw in the Cold War
Presidents Ford and Carter both believe that American power had been declining and that there should be no more Vietnams.
High levels of military spending had hurt the American ability to compete effectively with economic rivals.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

***Reminder- Quiz on WebCT due before class Friday Morning!

...Extended through Monday morning!!!

Chapter 29

Theme: Making Power

• Uptown, Chicago, Illinois
  


• In 1964, a small group of college students tried to help residents in a poor Chicago neighborhood.
  


• The activists were members of Students for a Democratic Society.
  


• Founded by white college students, SDS initially sought reform and grew by 1968 to have 350 chapters and between 60,000 and 100,000 members. <COMMUNITY>
  


• Efforts to mobilize the urban poor were unsuccessful, but SDS members helped break down isolation and strengthened community ties.
  


• By 1967, SDS energies were being directed into protests against the widening war in Vietnam.
  

Johnson's War

• Although pledging not to send American soldiers into combat, he manipulated Congress into passing a resolution that was tantamount to a declaration of war.
  


• When bombing failed to halt North Vietnamese advances, Johnson sent large numbers of troops into Vietnam to prevent a Communist victory. <He was trying to avoid Truman's legacy- stopping the Commies (China)>
  


• Search-and-destroy missions combined with chemical warfare wreaked havoc on the people and the land.
  


• LBJ was committed to a war of attrition to wear out and destroy Vietnam.
  

The Credibility Gap

• Johnson kept his decisions from the American public and distorted accounts of military actions. (Moralie Schafer, CBS)
  


• News media increasingly questioned the official descriptions of the war.
  


• As casualties mounted, more Americans questions LBJ's handling of the war. (800+ men killed a month)
  


• In Congress, Democratic senators led by J, William Fulbright opposed Johnson's handling of the conflict.
  

"The Times They Are A-Changin'"

• People of all ages protested against the war, but young people stood out. (College Campus)
  


• Early campus protests at Berkeley centered on students' rights to free speech. (700 person march, 800 were arrested-1967)
  


• Many felt that the university had become a faceless bureaucratic machine.
  


• In 1967, San Francisco attracted thousands of young people for the "Summer of Love." (Timothy Leary- Harvard Professor encouraged students to take LSD "Turn on, tune in, drop out.")
  


• Events like the Woodstock festival spoke to many young Americans' desires to create a new sense of community or counterculture. (revolutionary)
  

From Campus Protests to Mass Mobilization

• College students organized protests that questioned the war effort and universities' roles in war-related research.
  


• Student strikes merged opposition to the war and other community issues.
  


• Public opinion polarized.
  


• Massive anti and pro-war rallies occurred.
  


• Nonviolent and violent protests erupted at draft boards. (Vietnam)
  

Teenage Soldiers

• The cultural attitudes of protesters were even found among their equally young GI counterparts.
  


• Working-class Latinos and African American young men made up a disproportionate share of the soldiers. (Majority of the men who enlist come out of poverty stricken areas….when overseas, separated by race.)
  


• Many soldiers grew increasingly bitter over government lies about their alleged victories (LBJ trying to figure out the problem- start making stuff up) and the inability of society to accept them once they returned home. (protestors, pro-war- did not exist, anti-war- put on stage of protest spotlight)
  

The Great Society

• Spurred by books like Michael Harrington's The
  Other America, American awareness of the problems of poverty greatly increased.
  


• Johnson established the Office of Economic Opportunity to lead the war on poverty.
  


• The Job Corps failed, but agencies focusing on education were more successful.
  


• Community Action Agencies threatened to become a new political force that challenged those in power. The Legal Service Program and Head Start (youth programs) made differences in the lives of the poor.
  


• The Great Society was opposed to income redistribution. (take taxes and distribute them)
  


• A 1970 study concluded the war on poverty had barely scratched the surface.
  

Crisis in the Cities

• Cities became segregated centers of poverty and pollution with large minority populations. (movie theatres- as white America moved out to cookie cutter suburbs, poverty stayed in the cities. Money wasn't given to the cities, they kept getting worse.)
  


• Urban black frustrations resulting in over 100 riots in northern cities between 1964 and 1968. (we've gotten through the civil rights movements- riots usually broke out from a white police officer assaulting an African American. Pure frustration)
  


• A presidential commission blamed the rioting on white racism, poverty, and police brutality and recommended massive social reforms.
  

1968- The Tet Offensive

• 
  
  On January 30, 1968 the North Vietnamese launched the Tet offensive, shattering the credibility of American officials who had been predicting a quick victory. (attacked South Vietnam all at once)
  
  
  
  
  
  • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfvJqTN-qvT
    


• Despite the military victory, media reports triggered antiwar protests.
  


• LBJ declared a bombing halt and announced he would not seek re-election.

Chapter 28

Theme: Organizing Peace

• In 1955 Montgomery's black community mobilized when Rosa Parks refused to give up her bus seat and comply with segregation laws.
  
• Led by Martin Luther King, Jr., a Baptist minister, a boycott of busses was launched.
  
• A network of local activists organized car pools using private cars to get people to and from work.
  
• Leaders endured violence and legal harassment, but won a court ruling that the segregation ordinance was unconstitutional.
  

Civil Rights After World War II

• Rock The WWII experiences of African Americans laid the foundations for the subsequent struggle.
  
• A mass migration to the North brought political power to African Americans working through the Democratic Party.
  
• The NAACP grew in numbers and its Legal Defense Fund initiated a series of lawsuits to win key rights.
  
• Key ways the African Americans were breaking color barriers included:
  
  • Jackie Robinson's entrance into major league baseball
    
  • Ralph Bunche's winning a Nobel Peace prize
    
• A new generation of jazz musicians created be-bop.
  

Segregation & Brown vs. Board

• In the South, segregation and unequal rights were still the law of the land.
  
• Law and custom kept blacks as second-class citizens with no effective political rights. African Americans had learned to survive and not challenge the situation.
  
  • Brown v. Board of Education
    
• The NAACP initiated a series of court cases challenging the constitutionality of segregation. (trying to turn around Plessy vs. Ferguson.)
  
• Thurgood Marshall was a key lawyer for the NAACP and fought Brown vs. Board of Education for them.
  
• In Brown v. Board of Education, newly appointed Chief Justice Earl Warren led the court to declare that separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.
  
• The court postponed ordering a clear timetable to implement the decision.
  
• Southern whites declared their intention to nullify the decision.
  

Crisis in Little (1^st of many school desegregations)

• In Little Rock, Arkansas, a judge ordered integration.
  
• The governor ordered the National Guard to keep African American children out of Central High. (Orvil Faubus)
  
• When the troops were withdrawn, a riot erupted forcing President Eisenhower to send in more troops to integrate the school.
  
  • (He & Eisenhower made a deal, Faubus backtracks on his deal, troops are withdrawn)
    

Martin Luther King and the SCLC (Southern Christian Leadership Conference)

• Martin Luther King, Jr. emerged from the bus boycott as a prominent national figure.
  
• A well-educated son of a Baptist minister, King taught his followers nonviolent resistance, modeled after the tactics of Mohandas Gandhi.
  
• The civil rights movement was deeply rooted in the traditions of the African American church.
  
• King founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference to promote nonviolent direct action to challenge segregation.
  

Sit-Ins

• African American college students, first in Greensboro, NC, began sitting in at segregated lunch counters.
  
• Nonviolent sit-ins were:
  
  • widely supported by the African American community
    
  • Accompanied by community-wide boycotts of businesses that would not integrate.
    

SNCC and the "Beloved Community"

• A new spirit of militancy was evident among young people.
  
• 120 African American activists created the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) to promote nonviolent direct challenges to segregation. (SCLC & SNCC work together with MLK to make things happen)
  
• The young activists were found at the forefront of nearly every major civil rights battle.
  

The Election of 1960 and Civil Rights

• The race issue had moved to center stage by 1960.
  
• As Vice President, Nixon had strongly supported civil rights.
  
• But Kennedy pressured a judge to release Martin Luther King, Jr. from jail.
  
• African American voters provided Kennedy's margin of victory, though an unfriendly Congress insured that little legislation would come out.
  
• Attorney General Robert Kennedy used the Justice Department to force compliance with desegregation orders.
  

Freedom Rides

• The Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) sponsored a freedom ride of biracial teams to ride interstate buses in the South.
  
• The FBI and Justice Department knew of the plans but were absent when mobs firebombed a bus and severely beat the Freedom Riders.
  
• There was violence and no police protection at other stops.
  
• The Kennedy Administration was forced to mediate a safe conduct for the riders, though 300 people were arrested.
  
• A Justice Department petition led to new rules that effectively ended segregated interstate buses.
  

The Limits of Protest

• Where the federal government was not present, segregationists could triumph.
  
• In Albany, Georgia local authorities kept white mobs from running wild and kept police brutality down to a minimum.
  
• Martin Luther King, Jr. was twice arrested, but Albany remained segregated.
  
• When the federal government intervened, as it did in the University of Mississippi, integration could take place. (5,000 troops in the end.)
  

Birmingham

• In conjunction with the SCLC (Southern Christian Leadership Conference), local activists in Birmingham, Alabama planned a large desegregation campaign.
  
• Demonstrators, including Martin Luther King, Jr., filled the city's jails.
  
• King drafted his Letter From a Birmingham Jail.
  
• A TV audience saw water cannons and snarling dogs break up a children's march.
  
• A settlement was negotiated that desegregated businesses. (though denounced by many southern whites) (Kennedy sent in 3,000 troops to break up the violence) (Spike Lee- 4 Little Girls)
  
• Birmingham changed the nature of the civil rights movement by bringing in black unemployed and working poor for the first time.
  

JFK and the March on Washington

• The shifting public consensus led President Kennedy to appeal for civil rights legislation.
  
• A. Philip Randolph's (Head of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters) old idea of a march on Washington was revived.
  
• The march presented a unified call for change and held up the dream of universal freedom and brotherhood. (largest political assembly in American history
  

LBJ and the Civil Rights Act of 1964

• The assassination of John Kennedy threw a cloud over the movement as the new president, Lyndon Baines Johnson, had never been a good friend to civil rights.
  
• LBJ used his skills as a political insider to push through the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that put a virtual end to Jim Crow. ("Prohibited discrimination in places of…. On basis of race, color, religion, and national origin. Authorized Justice Department to desegregate schools, finically helped.)
  

Mississippi Freedom Summer

• In 1964 civil rights activists targeted Mississippi for a "freedom summer" that saw 900 volunteers come to open up this closed society.
  
  • Mississippi-forerunner of Mississippi Black Codes… Try to desegregate.
    
• Two white activists and a local black activist were quickly killed. (Movie- Mississippi Burning -> FBI was not there)
  
• Tensions developed between white volunteers and black movement veterans.
  
• The project riveted national attention on Mississippi.
  
• With an overwhelming Democratic victory in the 1964 elections, movement leaders pushed for federal legislation to protect the right to vote.
  

Malcom X and Black Consciousness (Malcolm was his first name & X was his slave last name- didn't know)

• Many younger civil rights activists were drawn to the vision of Malcolm X, who:
  
  • ridiculed integrationist goals
    
  • urged black audiences to take pride in their African heritage
    
  • break free from white domination
    
• He broke with the Nation of Islam (whites were not the dominated race- blacks were, whites came from black people), made a pilgrimage to Mecca, and returned to America with changed views.
  
• He sought common ground with the civil rights movement, but was murdered in 1965.
  
• Even in death, he continued to point to a new black consciousness.    (Black Power)
  

Selma

• In Selma, Alabama, whites had kept blacks off the voting lists and brutally responded to protests.
  
• A planned march to Montgomery ended when police beat marchers.
  
• Just when it appeared the Selma campaign would fade, a white gang attacked a group of Northern whites who had come to help out, one of whom died.
  
• President Johnson addressed the nation and thoroughly identified himself with the civil rights cause, declaring "we shall overcome."
  
• The march went forward.
  

The Voting Rights Act of 1965

• In August 1965 LBJ signed the Voting Rights Act that authorized federal supervision of voter registration in the South.
  

Mexican Americans

• "Operation Wetback"
  
• Mexican Americans formed groups to fight for their rights and used the courts to challenge discrimination.
  
• Legal and illegal Mexican migration increased dramatically during and after WWII. During the 1950s, efforts to round up undocumented immigrants led to a denial of basic civil rights and a distrust of Anglos.
  

Puerto Ricans

• Although Puerto Rican communities had been forming since the 1920s, the great migration came after WWII.
  
• Despite being citizens, Puerto Ricans faced both economic and cultural discrimination.
  
• In the 1960s and seventies, the decline in manufacturing jobs and urban decay severely hit them. (US acclaimed the Island in 1878- 1917- gained US citizenship.
  

Asian Americans & American Indian Peoples

• During the 1950s, Congress removed the old ban against Japanese immigration and naturalization.
  
• In 1965, a new immigration law increased opportunities for Asians to immigrate to the United States.
  
• As a result, the demographics of the Asian-American population drastically changed.
  
• During the 1950s, Congress passed a series of termination bills that ended tribal rights in return for cash payments and division of tribal assets.
  
• Indian activists challenged government policies leading to court decisions that reasserted the principle of tribal sovereignty.
  
• Reservation Indians remained trapped in poverty. (National Congress of American Indians)
  
• Indians who had left the reservation lost much of their tribal identities.
  
• Urban Indian groups arose and focused on civil instead of tribal rights.

Study Questions

(28-1) Origins of the Movement

The migration of African Americans to northern cities led to increased economic and political opportunities. Voting power and legal action by the NAACP led to increased civil rights. In the South, segregation prevailed. After World War II, the NAACP legal strategy culminated in the victory in Brown v. Board of Education that ended segregation in the schools. A crisis in Little Rock, Arkansas forced President Eisenhower to use National Guard troops to integrate the schools there.

1. During the 1940s, the African American population in the U.S.
   
   1. lost most of the employment gains made during wartime.
      
   2. largely returned to farming in the South.
      
   3. doubled in northern cities due to reduced racial discrimination in housing and employment.
      
   4. stopped pressing for civil rights.
      
2. African Americans found they had as little political power in the North as in the South, once they migrated to cities and factory towns during World War II
   
   1. False
      
   2. True
      
3. All of the following were steps President Truman took that shifted most black voters into the Democratic Party except:
   
   1. He desegregated the armed forces by executive order
      
   2. He met with Thurgood Marshall and praised the NAACP
      
   3. Truman publicly endorsed the report To Secure These Rights
      
   4. Appointment of a Presidential Committee on Civil Rights that made ambitious recommendations.
      
4. By the end of World War II, the South was home to fewer than half of all African Americans.
   
   1. True
      
   2. False
      
5. A combination of legal and violent acts kept all but the most determined blacks from voting in the late 1940s, who represented this proportion of the eligible African American adults:
   
   1. ten percent.
      
   2. five percent.
      
   3. fifteen percent.
      
   4. one percent.
      
6. During the 1930s NAACP attorneys launched a frontal assault on the "separate but equal" doctrine enshrined in the Plessy Supreme Court decision.
   
   1. True
      
   2. False
      
7. The strategy civil rights attorneys used in the 1939 case Missouri v. ex.rel. Gaines to reduce official segregation was
   
   1. demanding separate but equal facilities that would be too expensive to maintain.
      
   2. claiming that segregation infringed on the educational rights of white students.
      
   3. making a frontal assault on the Plessy separate-but-equal rule.
      
   4. attacking segregation as a violation of religious freedom.
      
8. The lead attorney who argued for integrated schools in the Brown v. Board of Education case was
   
   1. Thurgood Marshall.
      
   2. Clarence Darrow.
      
   3. Earl Warren.
      
   4. Kenneth B. Clark.
      
9. The victory in Brown v. Board of Education was limited by a second Supreme Court ruling
   
   1. accepting the idea of "interposition" as a legal argument.
      
   2. schools would have ten years to implement an integration plan.
      
   3. giving responsibility for implementation to local school boards.
      
   4. that monitoring would be decided by the local community.
      
10. In 1957, President Eisenhower sent troops to integrate a high school in
    
    1. Little Rock, Arkansas.
       
    2. Oxford, Mississippi.
       
    3. Selma, Alabama.
       
    4. Atlanta, Georgia.
       

Answers: C, B, B, B, A, B, A, A, C, A

Chapter 28

Theme: Organizing Peace

• In 1955 Montgomery's black community mobilized when Rosa Parks refused to give up her bus seat and comply with segregation laws.
  
• Led by Martin Luther King, Jr., a Baptist minister, a boycott of busses was launched.
  
• A network of local activists organized car pools using private cars to get people to and from work.
  
• Leaders endured violence and legal harassment, but won a court ruling that the segregation ordinance was unconstitutional.
  

Civil Rights After World War II

• Rock The WWII experiences of African Americans laid the foundations for the subsequent struggle.
  
• A mass migration to the North brought political power to African Americans working through the Democratic Party.
  
• The NAACP grew in numbers and its Legal Defense Fund initiated a series of lawsuits to win key rights.
  
• Key ways the African Americans were breaking color barriers included:
  
  • Jackie Robinson's entrance into major league baseball
    
  • Ralph Bunche's winning a Nobel Peace prize
    
• A new generation of jazz musicians created be-bop.
  

Segregation & Brown vs. Board

• In the South, segregation and unequal rights were still the law of the land.
  
• Law and custom kept blacks as second-class citizens with no effective political rights. African Americans had learned to survive and not challenge the situation.
  
  • Brown v. Board of Education
    
• The NAACP initiated a series of court cases challenging the constitutionality of segregation. (trying to turn around Plessy vs. Ferguson.)
  
• Thurgood Marshall was a key lawyer for the NAACP and fought Brown vs. Board of Education for them.
  
• In Brown v. Board of Education, newly appointed Chief Justice Earl Warren led the court to declare that separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.
  
• The court postponed ordering a clear timetable to implement the decision.
  
• Southern whites declared their intention to nullify the decision.
  

Crisis in Little (1^st of many school desegregations)

• In Little Rock, Arkansas, a judge ordered integration.
  
• The governor ordered the National Guard to keep African American children out of Central High. (Orvil Faubus)
  
• When the troops were withdrawn, a riot erupted forcing President Eisenhower to send in more troops to integrate the school.
  
  • (He & Eisenhower made a deal, Faubus backtracks on his deal, troops are withdrawn)
    

Martin Luther King and the SCLC (Southern Christian Leadership Conference)

• Martin Luther King, Jr. emerged from the bus boycott as a prominent national figure.
  
• A well-educated son of a Baptist minister, King taught his followers nonviolent resistance, modeled after the tactics of Mohandas Gandhi.
  
• The civil rights movement was deeply rooted in the traditions of the African American church.
  
• King founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference to promote nonviolent direct action to challenge segregation.
  

Sit-Ins

• African American college students, first in Greensboro, NC, began sitting in at segregated lunch counters.
  
• Nonviolent sit-ins were:
  
  • widely supported by the African American community
    
  • accompanied by community-wide boycotts of businesses that would not integrate.
    

SNCC and the "Beloved Community"

• A new spirit of militancy was evident among young people.
  
• 120 African American activists created the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) to promote nonviolent direct challenges to segregation. (SCLC & SNCC work together with MLK to make things happen)
  
• The young activists were found at the forefront of nearly every major civil rights battle.

Chapter 27

Theme: Backdoor Fear

• Memphis was a rapidly growing segregated city with whites and blacks of various classes.
  
• Elvis Presley listened to both "white" and "black" music.
  
• Sam Phillips, a white producer, recognized that Elvis could sing with the emotional intensity and power of black performers.
  
• Elvis blended black styles of music with white styles to help create a new style of music.
  
• Rock n' roll united teenagers and gave them the feeling that it was their music (and misunderstood by adults).
  

The Eisenhower Presidency

• President Dwight D. Eisenhower inspired confidence and adopted a middle-of-the-road style.
  
• He ran the government in a businesslike, cooperative manner, pursuing policies that helped private companies and allowing practices that harmed on the environment. (GM)
  
  
  • 1953- Submerged Lands Act- land we were drilling, handed out to private corporations.
    
• He also rejected calls from conservatives to dismantle the welfare state.
  
• Although his presidency included two brief recessions, he presided over an extensive increase in real wages. (more money in your pockets.)
  

Subsidizing Prosperity & Suburbia

• The federal government helped subsidize this prosperity by providing loans for homes and assisting the growth of suburbs. (government provide low cost mortages to people, would pay 10% or less on downpayment of loans taken from the government, over 30 years, would pay back to the government.)
  
• One of the first planned communities was built by William Levitt and encompassed 17,000 homes, without a single African American resident. (50's- economic divide between blacks & whites- "other side of the track")
  
• The federal government:
  
  
  • paid for veterans' college education (GI Bill)
    
  • built an interstate highway system
    
  • following the Russian launch of a satellite (Sputnick-1957)spent millions on education. (worried we were not producing enough scientist- National Education Defense Act)
    
• Suburban life:
  
  
  • strengthened the domestic ideal
    
  • provided a model of the efficient, patient suburban wife for television
    
• Suburban growth corresponded with an increase in church attendance.
  
• (People also wanted the 2^nd vehicle.)
  
• Popular religious figures stressed the importance of fitting in.
  
• California came to embody postwar suburban life, with the cars connecting its components. (art-deco, everything drive-through)
  

AFL-CIO

• In the mid-1950s, trade unions reached a peak of membership and influence, especially in the Democratic Party.
  
• The merger of the AFL (American Federation of Labor) and the CIO (Congress of Industrial Organizations) marked the zenith of the unions.
  
• Total membership numbers declined after 1955 but new inroads were made in the public sector.
  

Conformists

• Critics found the suburbs as dull and conformist—points that obscured the real class and ethnic differences found in many suburbs. (People were expanding out from the city- cookie cutter culture society- "Donna Reid")
  
• David Reisman said that Americans had become overly conforming, less individualistic, and more peer-oriented.
  
• C. Wright Mills wrote how people sold not only their time and energy but their personalities.
  

Higher Education & Healthcare

• The postwar baby boom was paralleled by a tremendous expansion of higher education, assisted by extensive federal aid. (Federal Aid- GI Bill, National Education Defense Act)
  
• Colleges accepted the values of corporate culture with 20 percent of all graduates majoring in business.
  
• Students tried to conform to the corporate values.
  
• Immunization begun during the war continued after peace. (FDR had Polio)
  
• New medicines, like antibiotics, and new vaccines against diseases like polio allowed many Americans to live healthier lives.
  
• (Gone were the days of home doctors, hospitals expanding, more expensive)
  
• Doctor shortages, however, meant that poor and elderly Americans and those in rural areas lacked access to these improvements.
  
• Truman & Eisenhower had plans for national healthcare, but AMA disapproved.
  
  

The Youth Market

• The word "teenager" became common in the American language after WWII.
  
• Young people's numbers grew and their purchasing power increased.
  
• The marketplace, schools, mass media reinforced the notion of teenagers as a special community.
  
• "Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll"
  
• Structural changes in the media transformed radio into a music-dominated medium.
  
• In addition, small independent record labels promoted black rhythm-and-blues artists, many of whom "crossed over" to white audiences.
  
• Established record companies offered toned-down white "cover" versions that frequently outsold the originals.
  
• Alan Freed, a white Cleveland disc jockey promoted black artists and set the stage for the first major white performer who could play rock-'n'-roll, Elvis Presley.
  
• Black singer-guitarist Chuck Berry was probably the most influential artist after Elvis.
  
  

Almost Grown

• Rock-'n'-roll united teenagers by giving them a feeling that it was their music and that it focused on the trials and tribulations of teenage life.
  
• Ironically teenagers were torn between their identification with youth culture and the desire to become adults as quickly as possible.
  
• Many adult observers saw rock-'n'-roll as unleashing youthful passions in a dangerous way.
  
• Rock 'n' roll was closely linked to juvenile delinquency.
  
• Popular films like The Wild One and Rebel Without a Cause showed the different reactions of youth and adults to the growing generation gap.
  
  

Television

• Television's development as a mass medium was eased by the prior existence of radio.
  
• The high cost of TV changed advertising as sponsors left production to others.
  
• Early TV replicated radio formats including situation comedies set among urban ethnic families.
  
• By the late 1950s, situation comedies featured idealized, white suburban families. (The Honeymooners, I Love Lucy, Leave it to Beaver, Father Knows Best)
  
• As revenues declined (big middle class families were moving out of the cities, urban poor not going to theater), movie studios sold off old films and began to produce Westerns and cop shows for TV.
  
• Television also created overnight fads and sensations. (Milton Burrow Show- 1^st great American TV show- interviewed stars) (White situational comedies- Father Knows Best- mom cooking dinner, dad comes home, son does something wrong, dad gives wisdom)
  
• Prime-time shows made no references to contemporary political issues and avoided being tainted with Communist influence. (escapism)
  
• Television did bring important congressional hearings before mass audiences and by 1952, slick ads began to shape presidential campaigns. (Lyndon Johnson- Daisy Girl, famous daisy- http://www.adjab.com/2006/06/12/lyndon-johnsons-flower-girl-ad/)
  

Culture Critics

• The new mass culture prompted a growing chorus of critics.
  
• Intellectual critics bemoaned the great "Middlebrow Culture" that was driving out high culture.
  
• The "Beats" articulated some of the sharpest dissents from conformity, celebrating spontaneity, jazz, open sexuality, drug use, and American outcasts.
  
• The "Beats" foreshadowed the mass youth rebellion of the 1960s.
  

The "New Look" in Foreign Affairs

• Eisenhower favored a reliance on American nuclear superiority in favor of more expensive conventional forces.
  
• Secretary of State John Foster Dulles called for a policy of rollback to reverse communist gains.
  
• This "new look" for American foreign policy was in conflict with Eisenhower's cautious approach.
  
• The Changing Cold War
  
• Ike refused to intervene to aid anti-Communist uprisings in East Berlin and Hungary. After Stalin died, new Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev raised hopes for a warming of relations.
  
• Following some steps toward a more peaceful coexistence, the thaw quickly froze when the Soviets shot down an American spy plane. (picture in book, Khrushchev in Iowa eating) (Frances Geary Powers- in US-U2 spy plane, shot down by USSR)
  

Covert Action and Intervention

• Eisenhower favored covert action.
  
• The CIA sponsored paramilitary operations in the Third World when newly emerging nations sought to recover resources from foreign investors. (nobody knew what the CIA did.)
  
• American interventions in Iran overthrew the government and helped secure oil concessions.
  
• Support for Israel was challenged when Ike rejected European appeals to help seize and return the Suez Canal to Britain. (waited things out)
  
• In just one of several actions, the CIA-sponsored coup overthrew the government of Jacobo Arbenz Guzman in Guatemala. (He was protecting American interest with Covert operations, in denial this is going on.) (Providing France with military money too- Archamedes Patty, lead 15 guys to Vietnam)
  

Vietnam

• The United States provided France with massive military aid in its struggle to hold on to Vietnam.
  
• Ike rejected the use of American ground troops, but believed that if Vietnam fell the rest of Southeast Asia would fall like dominoes.
  
• Vietnam was temporarily divided at the 17th parallel.
  

Ike's Warning

• A growing public anxiety over nuclear weapons led to small but well-publicized protests.
  
• Ike expressed his own doubts when he warned the nation of the growing "military industrial complex."

John F. Kennedy and New Frontier Liberalism

• JFK was a young man from a wealthy Irish-Catholic family who became a Senator from Massachusetts. (Irish-Catholic)
  
• After winning the Democratic nomination, Kennedy won a narrow victory over Republican vice-president Richard Nixon. (Nixon hated Kennedy) (Slick ads & presidential debates, 1^st debate JFK & Nixon)
  
• His inauguration brought out a bevy of intellectuals who heard him inspire a sense of sacrifice among young Americans.
  
• JFK supported efforts to improve employment equality for women.
  
• He used fiscal policy to stimulate the economy.
  
• JFK committed the country to expanding its manned space program. (NASA)
  
• JFK's greatest achievement may have been strengthening the executive branch of government.
  
  

Kennedy and the Cold War

• In his three years as president, JFK's foreign policy shifted from containment to easing tensions.
  
• He expanded both nuclear and conventional weapons and created the Green Berets who fought unsuccessfully to stop Communist movements in Laos and Vietnam.
  
• JFK supported the Alliance for Progress, ostensibly a Marshall Plan for Latin America.
  

The Cuban Revolution and the Bay of Pigs

• The Cuban Revolution brought Fidel Castro to power in 1959.
  
• Ike cut off aid when Castro began a land reform program and later the United States severed diplomatic relations. (socialist types of economic policy)
  
• JFK implemented Ike's plan for a CIA-backed invasion by Cuban exiles. (Bay of Pigs)
  
• The plan failed, leading Castro to ask Khrushchev for help.
  

The Missile Crisis

• The Soviets began shipping missiles to Cuba.
  
• JFK rejected calls for an immediate attack but ordered a blockade on Cuba.
  
• The Soviets backed down and withdrew the missiles and JFK pledged not to invade Cuba.
  
• Kennedy tried to improve cooperation with the Soviets.
  

Assassination

• The November 22, 1963 assassination of Kennedy made him a martyr and raised questions about what he would have achieved, had he lived. (Every presidents have faults… affairs w. Marlyin Monroe- ect., Matyr- god like hero, save country from the commies, very liberal ideas.
  
• (Jackie married Aristotle Anoysis- famous shipping method for protection)
  
  
• America in 1963 still enjoyed the postwar economic boom, but Kennedy's election had symbolized the changing of generations.
  
  
• Family- cookie cutter homes, small communities- suburbs
• Advertisement is an advertisement for advertisements. "Women have buying power." – sell your products to woman. McCall's magazine.
  

Chapter 26

Theme: Backdoor Fear

• American Communities
  
• University of Washington, Seattle
  
• In 1948
  philosophy professor Melvin Rader was falsely accused of being a Communist conspirator.
  
• During the cold war era, the federal government was providing substantial support for higher education through the GI Bill.
  
• The student population at the University of Washington grew rapidly and a strong sense of community among the students grew, led by older, former soldiers.
  
• The Cold War put a damper on this community.
  
• Wild charges of communist subversion led several states to require state employees to take loyalty oaths.
  
• In this repressed atmosphere, faculty were dismissed, students dropped out of school, and the free speech was restrained on the campuses.
  

 

Global Insecurities at War's End

• During WWII, the United States and Soviet Union had temporarily put aside their differences in a common fight.
  
• Divergent interests made a continued alliance unlikely.
  
• Fears of the return of depression led the United States to take a much more active international stance.
  
  • (FDR set up the International Monetary Fund (IMF) & World Bank)
    
• The Soviet Union interpreted the aggressive American economic moves as a threat.
  
• FDR's realism allowed him to recognize that some kinds of spheres of influence were inevitable for the winning powers.
  
  • Stalin (picture)
    
  • Truman (picture)
    

 

Dividing Europe

• The Soviet Union lay in virtual economic ruins and had established military dominance over much of Eastern Europe, partially as a buffer zone.
  
• German had been temporarily divided into 4 occupation zones, but its long-term fate was unresolved.
  
• USSR had created a buffer zone with its bordering Western countries.
  
• The West grew increasingly restive over the Soviets' spheres of influence.
  
• UN formed in 1945; many hoped that a stronger United Nations would be the source for collective security that the League of Nations could not provide.
  
• Although the UN in its early years operated along lines of the Cold War, it proved effective at providing humanitarian relief. (Eleanor Roosevelt, one of 1^st dignitaries that went over to give aid.)
  
  • UN recognized 50 nations (5 permanently on the Security Council- US, GB, USSR, France, Nationalist China)
    
• Western nations allied with US and held the balance of power.
  

 

The Truman Doctrine

• While FDR favored diplomacy and compromise, Truman was committed to a get-tough policy with the Soviets.
  
  • Winston Churchill made a mention of the "iron curtain" (splitting off Russia from everyone else.)
    
• When civil war threatened the governments in Turkey and Greece, the United States warned of a communist coup and provided $400 million to defeat the rebels.
  
• The Truman Doctrine committed the United States to a policy of trying to contain Communism.
  

The Marshall Plan, Berlin Crisis, & NATO

• The Marshall Plan provided $13 billion to rebuild Europe.
  
  • (Introduced by George C. Marshal at comencment speech at Harvard.)
    
• The plan had the long-term impact of revitalizing the European capitalist economy and driving a further wedge between the West and Soviet Union.
  
• The gap widened when the western zones of Germany merged.
  
• When the Soviets cut off land access to West Berlin, the United States airlifted supplies to the city. (Berlin Airlift)
  
• The United States also created an alliance of anti-Soviet nations, NATO, and the Soviets responded with the Warsaw Pact.
  
• The East/West split seemed permanent.
  
• The American policy of containing Communism (Truman Doctrine) rested on the ability to stop its expansion by military means.
  
• After the Soviets developed nuclear weapons, both sides amassed lethal stockpiles. The U.S. and Soviets could not come up with a plan to control them. Within a few years both sides had a stockpile of hydrogen bombs.
  
  • (An H-Bomb would essentially take out the entire Western coast of the US.)
    
  • The rise of the bomb shelter.
    
  • (Picture- Berlin Airlift)
    
  • 
    

 

"To Err is Truman"

• The early years of the Truman presidency were plagued by protests by Americans tired of war-time sacrifices.
  
• An inability to bring troops home quickly or end rationing really hurt Truman's popularity. Inflation spread and strikes paralyzed the nation.
  
• Congress blocked Truman's plans for reconversion.
  
• In 1946, Republicans gained control of Congress and started to undo the New Deal. Over Truman's veto, Republicans passed the Taft-Hartley bill that curtailed the power of labor. (Also ratified the 2 term limit amendment.)
  

 

The 1948 Election

• Going into the 1948 election the liberal community was divided.
  
• Liberals feuded with Truman over how to extend the New Deal and the extent of the Soviet threat.
  
• Henry Wallace challenged Truman by running on the Progressive ticket, a campaign effectively quashed by red-baiting.
  
  • Red-baiting- accusing Wallace of being a Communist
    
• Truman repositioned himself to the left by warning voters that Republicans would make the United States "an economic colony of Wall Street."
  
• He also offered a liberal legislative package that Congress defeated.
  
• The Democrats split again over civil rights when segregationists ran Strom Thurmond (racist) for president.
  
• Truman managed to hold on to the New Deal coalition and won re-election.
  

 

The Fair Deal

• In 1949 he proposed a package of reforms, the Fair Deal.
  
• Truman said that everyone had a right to expect from our government a "fair deal."
  
• Truman won some gains in public housing, minimum wage and Social Security increases, but little else.
  
• Truman helped to define Cold War liberalism as promoting economic growth through expanded foreign trade and federal expenditures, chiefly defense.
  

 

The National Security Act of 1947

• A climate of fear developed after the war that the United States was the target of or had already fallen prey to subversive influences. (Pg. 791)
  
• The Cold War triggered a massive reordering of governmental power.
  
• Established under the National Security Act of 1947, the Defense Department became a huge and powerful bureaucracy. (Donald Rumsfeld- today)
  
• The Department of Defense and the National Science Foundation pursued scientific research, especially related to physics.
  
• New agencies like the CIA fed off the fear of communism.
  

 

The Loyalty-Security Program

• Allegedly to combat subversive influences, Truman promoted a loyalty program.
  
• The Attorney General published a list of potentially subversive organizations. (churches, groups, etc.)(McCarthy?)
  
• Many groups disbanded and prior membership in them destroyed individuals' careers. A wide range of restrictions on alleged subversives passed Congress.
  

 

The Red Scare in Hollywood

• The House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) launched investigations into Communist influence in Hollywood.
  
• A parade of friendly witnesses denounced Communists. (writers being accussed)
  
• Many people gave names of suspect former friends so that they themselves would be cleared and able to work again. (survive)
  
• A few witnesses (many blacklisted later) attacked HUAC and a handful went to prison for contempt of Congress.
  

 

Spy Cases

• Public anxieties were heightened when former State Department advisor Alger Hiss was accused of being a Communist spy. ("Pumpkin Papers")
  
• Richard Nixon pursued the charges. ("Tricky Dick")
  
• Hiss went to jail for perjury.
  
• Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were executed despite worldwide protests. (Executed- killed, by the government for being communist- accused March 1951, killed June 1953)
  

 

McCarthyism

• Sen. Joseph McCarthy caused a sensation when he charged that 200 Communists worked for the State Department.
  
• His lack of evidence did not stop him from striking a chord with many Americans. (Homosexuals- easily swayed, Communist)
  
• He played into fears that Communism was a demonic force and that eastern elites had successfully manipulated the public.
  
• McCarthyism attacked Jews, blacks, women's organizations, and homosexuals. Effective use of the media made McCarthyism seem credible.
  
• McCarthy's crusade was destroyed when he went on national TV and appeared deranged, making wild charges of Communist infiltration of the army.
  
  • ("Good Night & Good Luck"- Media fight McCarthy had with Edward R. Murrow)
    

 

An Anxious Mood

• After World War II, millions of Americans achieved middle-class status.
  
• But prosperity did not dispel American anxiety over nuclear war and economic depression. (People moving out of cities, nuclear attack- small suburbs growing)
  
• Movies and plays reflected cold war anxieties and alienation as well as anti-communism.
  
  • ("The Best Years of Our Lives"-"Flags of Our Fathers"-"Body Snatchers"-"Death of a Salesman"-"Catcher in the Rye")
    
• The move to the suburbs, high levels of consumption, and even the rush towards marriage and parenthood illustrated these fears. (Baby boom)
  
• The baby boom and high consumer spending changed the middle-class family.
  
• To sustain support of larger families and high rates of consumer spending, a growing number of married, middle-class women sought employment.
  
• Commentators bemoaned the destruction of the traditional family that they linked to the threat of Communism. (Benjamin Spock- "let's be a nice family"- psychotherapy)
  
• High-profile experts weighed in with popular books and articles about the dangers of women who abandoned their housewife roles.
  

The conservative trend was also evident in declining numbers of woman college graduates.

Chapter 25- WWII

The Coming of the War

• Militaristic authoritarian regimes that had emerged in Japan, Italy & Germany threatened peace throughout the world.
• Japan took over Manchuria and then invaded China. (1937- Nanking, killed over 300,000 Chinese)
• Italy made Ethiopia a colony. (Bentito Muslinia)
• German aggression against Caechoslovakia threatened to force Britain & France into the war. (Adolf Hitler)
  

Isolation

• By the mid-1930's, many Americans had concluded that entry into WWI and an active foreign role for the United States had been a serious mistake.
• College students protested the war.
• Congress passed the Neutrality Acts to limit the sale of munitions to warring countries
• Prominent Americans urged a policy of "America First" to promote non-intervention FDR promoted military preparedness, despite little national support.
  

FDR Readies for War

• FDR had a hard time getting ready at home.
• The combined German-Soviet invasion of Poland plunged Europe into war.
  
  
  • Blitzkrieg Western Europe 1940
• German blitzkrieg techniques quickly led to takeovers of Denmark, Norway, and later Belgium & France.
• As the Nazi air force pounded Britain, FDR pushed for increased military expenditures.
• Since 1940 was an election year, FDR said he would 'keep the boys' out of war. After winning his 3^rd term, FDR expanded American involvement.
• FDR met with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill & drafter the Atlantic Charter- a statement of war aims.
  

Pearl Harbor

• Japan joined with Italy and Germany in 1940.
• The Japanese threatened to seize Europe's Asian colonies after taking Indochina.
• FDR cut off trade with Japan, including oil supplies.
• Japan attacked the base in Pearl Harbor Dec. 7^th, 1941. (A day that will live in infamy…)
• The United States declared war; declarations against Germany & Italy followed.
  

Mobilizing for War

• Congress and FDR created laws and new agencies to promote mobilization.
• President given power in the War Powers Act (reorganize Federal Government, create new agencies, abridging civil agencies, seize property owned by foreigners, create contracts w/o federal biding)
• The Office of War Information controlled war news and promoted morale at home.
• War bonds were used to promote support as well as raise funds.
• As mobilization proceeded, New Deal agencies vanished. (didn't need any more > now have the jobs)
• War Productions Board transformed civilian firms civilian firms to operate for war purposes and industry was prepped for all-out production
• An unprecedented economic boom pulled the country out of the depression.
• The largest firms, especially those in the West and South, received large shares of wartime contracts.
• The war increased farm profits, but thousands of small farms disappeared.
  

New Workers

• The demand for labor brought Mexicans,
  Indians, African Americans, and women into the industrial labor force.
• The entry of these new female workers broke down many stereotypes. (Changing gender roles at home)
• Many woman wanted to keep working past the war but plans were already in place to give their jobs to returning war veterans.
• Workers' wages went up (50%), but not as fast as profits or prices.
• Prior to American entry, militant unions had led a number of strikes.
• Once the United States entered the
  war, the major unions:
  
  
  • agreed to no-strike pledges
  • increased their membership and won new benefits
• African American union membership doubled.
• Some illegal strikes did break out, leading to federal antistrike legislation.
  

The Home Front

• The war spurred marriage rates.
• Shortages of housing and retail goods added to the difficulties families encountered. (Ration Cards)
• With one-parent households increasing, childcare issues arose. Some day-care assistance was available, though it scarcely met people's needs.
• The rise in unsupervised youths created problems with juvenile crime. The availability of jobs led to higher high school dropout rates.
• Public health improved greatly during the war. (Technology is advancing- increased earnings lead to dental care) (Lowest death rates in the country.)
  

The Internment of Japanese Americans & Race Relations at Home

• In 1942, over 112,000 Japanese were removed from their homes in the West to relocation centers, often enduring harsh living conditions.
• The Supreme Court upheld the policy (challenged with Koretmatsu vs US, 1941), though in 1988 the U.S. Congress voted reparations and public apologies.
• (Pg. 756- "action will be taken.")
• African American activists launched a "Double V" campaign calling for victory overseas and equal rights at home.
• FDR responded to a threatened march on Washington by banning racial discrimination in defense industries.
• New civil rights organizations emerged while older ones grew. (NAACP increased from 50,000 in 1940 to 250,000 in 1946?)
• Over 1 million blacks left the South to take jobs in war industries. (Langston Hughes poem pg. 758)
  
• *Flipside ("US History")
  
• They often encountered violent resistance from local whites.
  

Zoot-Suit Riots

• Whites' bitter resentment against Mexican Americans exploded in 1943.
• The zoot-suit riots erupted when whites concluded that Mexican youths that wore the flamboyant clothes were unpatriotic. (West Coast- LA.)
• Most Mexican Americans served in the military or worked in war industries.
• Popular culture seemed to bridge the racial divisions. (Southerners were bringing their music up North, & African Americans- mixing different sounds together- "the tie that binds.")
• Southerners moving to northern cities brought musical styles and changed the sound of popular culture.
• Popular entertainment, whether in film or comic books, emphasized the wartime spirit, as did fashion. (Superman) (Everything you see was being regulated by the Office of War Information)
  

Men and Women in Uniform

• Even before formally entering the war, the government had begun a draft.
• The officer corps, except for General Eisenhower, tended to be professional, conservative, and autocratic.
• Junior officers were trained in special military schools and developed close ties with their troops. {Saving Private Ryan- maintaining ties well past the war}
• For the first time, the War Department created women's divisions of the major services.
  
  
  • WAC
  • WAVES
  • Marine Corps Women's Reserve
• Most women stayed in the country and performed clerical or health-related duties. Some flew planes and others went into combat with the troops. (1,000 woman participated)
  

African Americans in the Military

• Despite suspicions of the military's racism, 1 million African Americans served in the armed forces. (Henry Stinson- army can't be a sociological laboratory, pg. 761. Blood separated by white & black blood.)
• These soldiers encountered segregation at every point.
• Many racial or ethnic minorities (along with homosexuals) also served and often found their experience made them feel more included in American society.
• In Europe, American troops met a mixed welcome, in part dictated by their actions.
  

The Medical Corps and POW's

• The risk of injury was much higher than that of getting killed in battle. (Only 1 in 50 would die in a battle.)
• Battle fatigue was a huge problem. (Battles could last up to 200 days.)
• The army depended on a wide variety of medical personnel to care for sick and wounded soldiers. {Flags of Our Fathers} (85% of emergency surgeries on battlefront survived- medical technology had vastly improved.)
• The true heroes of the battlefront were the medics attached to each infantry battalion.
• Nurses during the war were given military rank.
• POWs held in German camps were treated much better than those held by the Japanese. (Japanese POWs were treated ruthlessly. Treatment was worse than death.) (Russians held in German camps were starved and murdered in the German camps- Americans were just "bored.")
• This treatment, along with racism, led Americans to treat Japanese POWs more harshly than those captured in the European theater.
  
• (What John McCain went through)
  

The World at War

• During the first year of American involvement, FDR called the war news "all bad."
• The burden of fighting the Nazis fell to the Soviets who blocked the German advance on Moscow.
• The Soviets broke the siege of Stalingrad in February 1943 and began to push the Germans back. (Russians lost more men in Stalingrad than America lost during the whole war.)
• Although the Soviets appealed for the Allies to open up a "second front" in Western Europe, they instead attacked North Africa and Italy. (Towards the end of the war- the Soviets were pleading for a second front.)
• Churchill and FDR met in Casablanca and agreed to seek an unconditional German surrender. (Stalin did not want this- felt that if we kept pushing, it would keep angering the Germans)
• American and British planes poured bombs on German cities that:
  
• weakened their economy
• undermined civilian morale
• crippled the German air force
• (Flying Fortress V-17, great for day- but at night, not good)
  

The Allied Invasion of Europe

• The Allied invasion forced Italy out of the war, though German troops stalled Allied advances. {Life is Beautiful}
• Uprisings against Nazi rule tied up German power.
• By early 1944, Allied units were preparing for the D-Day assault on France.
• Paris was taken on August 25, 1944. France and other occupied countries fell as Allied units overran the Germans. (D-Day invasion- June 6, 1944)
• The Battle of the Bulge temporarily halted the Allied advance. (By Christmas 1944- the Germans were moved back to their own territory.)
• On May 8, 1945, Germany surrendered. (Hitler also committed suicide.)
  

The War in Asia and the Pacific

• In the Pacific theater Allied forces stopped Japanese advances by June 1942.
• Naval battles and island hopping brought United States forces closer to the Japanese home islands. (3.5 million people died.)
• Victories in the Philippines, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa enabled the Allies to bomb Japanese cities. (US lost more guys in Okinawa than Normandy.) {Grave with the Fireflies}
• Britain and the United States pressed for rapid surrender to prevent the Soviets from taking any Japanese-held territories.
• The US saw a very bloody result were we to involve ourselves in that conflict.
  

The Holocaust

• The horror of the Nazi's systematic extermination of Jews, Gypsies, homosexuals, and other "inferior" races was slow to enter American consciousness. (We were very weary after coming out of WWII about these holocaust camps- FDR started doing backtracking to help the refugees)