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The post World War II period. The fear for communism, McCarthyism, the Cold War
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- 1.14. Mccarthyism. Communism.
- 1.15.Korean\Vietnamese war.
- Nixon, Watergate chronology.
- 1.18.the civil rights, Martin Luther King.
- American beliefs and values . FREEDOM.
- IDEALIZING WHAT IS PRACTICAL.
1.14.The post World War II period. The fear for communism, McCarthyism, the Cold War. The Cold War was the continuing state from about 1947 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World – primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies – and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States and its allies. Although the chief military forces never engaged in a major battle with each other, they expressed the conflict through military coalitions, strategic conventional force deployments, extensive aid to states deemed vulnerable, proxy wars, espionage, propaganda, conventional and nuclear arms races, appeals to neutral nations, rivalry at sports events, and technological competitions such as the Space Race. After the success of their temporary wartime alliance against Nazi Germany, the USSR and the US saw each other as profound enemies of their basic ways of life. The Soviet Union created the Eastern Bloc with the eastern European countries it occupied, annexing some and maintaining others as satellite states, some of which were later consolidated as the Warsaw Pact (1955–1991). The US financed the recovery of western Europe and forged NATO, a military alliance using containment of communism as a main strategy (Truman Doctrine).The US funded the Marshall Plan to effectuate a more rapid post-War recovery of Europe, while the Soviet Union would not let most Eastern Bloc members participate. Elsewhere, in Latin America and Southeast Asia, the USSR assisted and helped foster communist revolutions, opposed by several Western countries and their regional allies; some they attempted to roll back, with mixed results. Among the countries that the USSR supported in pro-communist revolt was Cuba, led by Fidel Castro. The proximity of communist Cuba to the United States proved to be a centerpoint of the Cold War; the USSR placed multiple nuclear missiles in Cuba, sparking heated tension with the Americans and leading to the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, where full-scale nuclear war threatened. Some countries aligned with NATO and the Warsaw Pact, and others formed the Non-Aligned Movement. The Cold War featured periods of relative calm and of international high tension – the Berlin Blockade (1948–1949), the Korean War (1950–1953), the Berlin Crisis of 1961, the Vietnam War (1959–1975), the Cuban Missile Crisis (1962), the Soviet war in Afghanistan (1979–1989), and the Able Archer 83 NATO exercises in November 1983. Both sides sought detente to relieve political tensions and deter direct military attack, which would probably guarantee their mutual assured destruction with nuclear weapons. In the 1980s, under the Reagan Doctrine, the United States increased diplomatic, military, and economic pressures on the Soviet Union, at a time when the nation was already suffering economic stagnation. In the late 1980s, Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev introduced the liberalizing reforms of perestroika ("reconstruction", "reorganization", 1987) and glasnost ("openness" 1985). The Cold War ended after the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, leaving the United States as the dominant military power. Russia rejected Communism and was no longer regarded as a threat by the U.S. The Cold War and its events have had a significant impact on the world today, and it is often referred to in popular culture, especially films and novels about spies. 1.14. Mccarthyism. Communism. The late 1940s and the 1950s were anxious years for Americans. Despite their prosperity, they were worried by fears of war. The nation they feared was the Soviet Union. Both President Truman and President Eisenhower believed that the Soviet Union's communist way of running a country was cruel and wrong. They made up their minds to stop it from spreading to other countries- to "contain" it . But "containment" was not enough for some Americans. They saw communism as a dangerous disease. They believed that it threatened both the freedom of individual Americans and the "capitalist" economic system of the United States. They wanted to destroy communism, not merely contain it . In 1949 such people received two unpleasant surprises. The first was when communist rulers won control of China. The second was when the Soviet Union exploded an atomic bomb. Only the Americans had possessed atomic bombs until then. A wave of fear swept across the United States. Many Americans started to see communist plots everywhere. When soldiers from communist North Korea invaded South Korea in June 1950, their fears became stronger still. Some even believed that the government itself was full of traitors plotting to betray the country to the Russians. An ambitious and unscrupulous politician named joseph McCarthy used these fears to win fame and power for himself. He starred what came to be called a "witch hum"- a search for people he could blame for the supposed threats to the United States. In the early 1950s McCarthy accused all kinds of people government officials. scientists, famous entertainers of secretly working for the Soviet Union. He never gave proof, but Americans were so full of fears about communism that many believed him. McCarthy ruined hundreds of innocent people. People grew afraid to give jobs or even to show friendship to anyone he accused. If they did, they risked being named as traitors themselves. Then people began to doubt McCarthy. They watched him questioning "suspects" on television. They saw that he was a bully and a liar . By the mid 1950s McCarthy had lost his power. He went on making wild accusations. but nobody listened. ln 1957 he died . But '"McCarthy " had done serious damage to the United States' reputation for justice and fair play. 1.15.Korean\Vietnamese war. The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was a military conflict between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China, with military material aid from the Soviet Union. The war was a result of the physical division of Korea by an agreement of the victorious Allies at the conclusion of the Pacific War at the end of World War II. The Korean peninsula was ruled by Japan from 1910 until the end of World War II. American administrators divided the peninsula along the 38th Parallel, with United States troops occupying the southern part and Soviet troops occupying the northern part. The failure to hold free elections throughout the Korean Peninsula in 1948 deepened the division between the two sides, and the North established a Communist government. The 38th Parallel increasingly became a political border between the two Koreas. Although reunification negotiations continued in the months preceding the war, tension intensified. Cross-border skirmishes and raids at the 38th Parallel persisted. The situation escalated into open warfare when North Korean forces invaded South Korea on 25 June 1950. It was the first significant armed conflict of the Cold War. The United Nations, particularly the United States, came to the aid of South Korea in repelling the invasion. A rapid UN counter-offensive drove the North Koreans past the 38th Parallel and almost to the Yalu River, and the People's Republic of China entered the war on the side of the North. The Chinese launched a counter-offensive that pushed the United Nations forces back across the 38th Parallel. The Soviet Union materially aided the North Korean and Chinese armies. In 1953, the war ceased with an armistice that restored the border between the Koreas near the 38th Parallel and created the Korean Demilitarized Zone , a 4.0 km)wide buffer zone between the two Koreas. Minor outbreaks of fighting continue to the present day. With both North and South Korea sponsored by external powers, the Korean War was a proxy war. From a military science perspective, it combined strategies and tactics of World War I and World War II: it began with a mobile campaign of swift infantry attacks followed by air bombing raids, but became a static trench war by July 1951. The Vietnam War was a Cold War era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of South Vietnam, supported by the United States and other anti-communist nations. The Viet Cong, a lightly armed South Vietnamese communist-controlled common front, largely fought a guerrilla war against anti-communist forces in the region. The Vietnam People's Army engaged in a more conventional war, at times committing large units into battle. U.S. and South Vietnamese forces relied on air superiority and overwhelming firepower to conduct search and destroy operations, involving ground forces, artillery and airstrikes. The U.S. government viewed involvement in the war as a way to prevent a communist takeover of South Vietnam and part of their wider strategy of containment. The North Vietnamese government viewed the war as a colonial war, fought initially against France, backed by the U.S., and later against South Vietnam, which it regarded as a U.S. puppet state. U.S. military advisors arrived beginning in 1950. U.S. involvement escalated in the early 1960s, with U.S. troop levels tripling in 1961 and tripling again in 1962.U.S. combat units were deployed beginning in 1965. Operations spanned borders, with Laos and Cambodia heavily bombed. Involvement peaked in 1968 at the time of the Tet Offensive. After this, U.S. ground forces were withdrawn as part of a policy called Vietnamization. Despite the Paris Peace Accords, signed by all parties in January 1973, fighting continued. U.S. military involvement ended on 15 August 1973 as a result of the Case–Church Amendment passed by the U.S. Congress. The capture of Saigon by the North Vietnamese army in April 1975 marked the end of the Vietnam War. North and South Vietnam were reunified the following year. The war exacted a huge human cost in terms of fatalities. Estimates of the number of Vietnamese soldiers and civilians killed vary from less than one million to more than three million.
Richard Nixon (1969-74) was elected to take Johnson's place as President. Nixon was a Republican. He was much less interested than Kennedy and johnson in helping the poor. The government was paying out more than enough money on welfare schemes already, he said. He believed that people should overcome hardship by their own efforts. In November 1972. the American people re-elected Nixon. The main reason for this was that by then he was close to getting the United States out of the hated war in Vietnam. A cease-fire was finally signed in January 1973. Arrangements were made for all American fighting men to come home. The American people felt a huge sense of relief. It was Nixon 's moment of greatest triumph. But soon he was in trouble. He was accused of being involved in an illegal plan to discredit his political opponents called the "Watergate Affair. " Congress threatened to put him on trial- "impeach" him – for misusing his powers. To avoid this. Nixon resigned as President. Watergate scandal was a political scandal during the 1970s in the United States resulting from the break-in of the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C. Effects of the scandal eventually led to the resignation of the President of the United States, Richard Nixon, on August 9, 1974, the first and only resignation of any U.S. President. It also resulted in the indictment, trial, conviction and incarceration of several Nixon administration officials. The affair began with the arrest of five men for breaking and entering into the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate complex on June 17, 1972. The FBI connected the payments to the burglars to a slush fund used by the 1972 Committee to Re-elect the President. As evidence mounted against the president's staff, which included former staff members testifying against them in an investigation conducted by the Senate Watergate Committee, it was revealed that President Nixon had a tape recording system in his offices and that he had recorded many conversations. Recordings from these tapes implicated the president, revealing that he had attempted to cover up the break-in. After a series of court battles, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the president had to hand over the tapes; he ultimately complied. Facing near-certain impeachment in the House of Representatives and a strong possibility of a conviction in the Senate, Nixon resigned the office of the presidency on August 9, 1974. His successor, Gerald Ford, issued a pardon to President Nixon after his resignation.
In 1961 a new President called John F. Kennedy (1961-3) was elected. Kennedy told the American people that they were facing a "new frontier;" one with both opportunities and problems. One big problem in their own country was poverty. Although most Americans were well-off millions of others were too poor to lead decent lives. Some were crowded together in city slums. Others lived in places like old coal producing districts where the mines had closed. Kennedy was a Democrat as Roosevelt had been. He tried to help the poor with government money and food. He also wanted to help other groups who were not getting a fair deal like black Americans. Butbefore Kenned y could do all these things he was shot and killed. This happened while he was driving through the streets of Dallas in November 1963. Crisis over Cuba. Cuba is an island nation only ninety miles from the coast of the United States. In 1959 a revolutionary reformer named Fidel Castro took over its government. Cuba's banks, railroads and many other businesses were owned by Americans at this time. So, too, were many of its big sugar plantations. Castro needed money to make changes in Cuba. To obtain it he began to take over American-owned businesses. In the opinion of the United States government this was stealing American property. Not only this, but Castro seemed to be organizing a communist state right on the doorstep of the United States. In 1960 President Eisenhower agreed to give weapons an d ships to refugees from Cuba who wanted to overthrow Castro. When Eisenhower retired in January. 1961, the plan was supported also by the new President, John F. Kennedy. On April 17, 1961, a force of 1400 anti-Castro Cubans landed at the Bay of Pigs on Cuba's south coast. Castro had ranks and 20,000 men waiting, Within days the invaders were all captured or killed. But Castro believed [hat Kennedy would attack again, so he asked the Sevier Union for help. Khrushchev sent him shiploads of rifles, ranks, and aircraft. Kennedy grew worried and ordered a dose watch to be kept on Cuba. On Sunday, October 14-, 1962, an American U-2 spy plane flew high over the island raking photographs. They showed Russian missile launching sites being built. What had happened was this: Ever since the U-2 incident of 1960 Khrushehev had been making threats against the United Stares. These had alarmed Kennedy. Although the Americans already had more long-range missiles than the Russians, Kennedy ordered nearly a thousand more. The new missiles tipped the "balance of terror" strongly in favor of the United States. When Castro asked for help, Khrushehev saw a chance to level up the balance of terror. He would threaten the United States from missile bases on its own doorstep- Cuba. Kennedy was shocked by the U-2 photographs. Some advisers wanted him to send bombers to destroy the missile bases. He also thought about sending American soldiers to capture them. But instead he ordered American ships and aircraft to set up a blockade. They were to stop any Soviet ships carrying more missile equipment to Cuba. Kenned y then told Khrushchev to take away the Soviet missiles and destroy the bases. He warned that any missile fared from Cuba would be treated as a direct Soviet attack on the United States and ordered 156 long-range missiles aimed at the Soviet Union to be made ready for fire. For ten terrifying days in October 1962, the world trembled on the edge of nuclear war. People waited in fear for the next news flash on their radios and televisions.. Finally Khrushehev ordered his technicians in Cuba to destroy the launching sires and return the missiles to the Soviet Union. In return, Kennedy called off the blockade and promised to leave Cuba alone. Privately he also agreed to remove American missiles sited on the border of the Soviet Union in Turkey. The most dangerous crisis of the Cold War was over. 1.18.the civil rights, Martin Luther King. With goals which included desegregation, fair housing, equal employment opportunities, and fair voting laws, the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 60s had the momentum of a social revolution. Until his assassination in 1968, Dr Martin Luther King, Jr, provided leadership and strategy for the mass movement. He supported nonviolent tactics such as "sit-ins" at restaurants which segregated the races. Some radical black leaders later advocated violent revolution as the way blacks could finally take control of the economic and political aspects of their lives. The civil rights movement was a success in the areas of voting rights and public accommodations and facilities. Civil rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil life of the state without discrimination or repression. Civil rights include the ensuring of peoples' physical integrity and safety; protection from discrimination on grounds such as physical or mental disability, gender, religion, race, national origin, age, or sexual orientation; and individual rights such as the freedoms of thought and conscience, speech and expression, religion, the press, and movement. The phrase "civil rights" is a translation of Latin ius civis (rights of citizens). Roman citizens could be either free or servile, but they all had rights in law. These rights also included the freedom of religion. Harry Truman supported the civil rights movement. He believed in political equality, though not in social equality, and recognized the growing importance of the black urban vote. When apprised in 1946 of lynching and other forms of mob violence still practiced in the South, he appointed a committee on civil rights to investigate discrimination based on race and religion. The report, issued the next year, documented blacks' second-class status in American life. It asserted the need for the federal government to secure the rights guaranteed to all citizens. Martin Luther King had emerged as the preeminent spokesman for civil rights. But the rhetoric of the civil rights movement at first failed to bring progress. President Kennedy was initially reluctant to press white Southerners for support on civil rights because he needed their votes on other issues. 00000000000000000000000 2.1. political system. The United States is a representative democracy. All government power rests ultimately with the people, who direct policies by voting for government representatives. All public officials of the national as well as state governments must swear to abide by the Constitution, which was created to protect the democratic interests of the people and government. The principle of limited government is basic to the Constitution. When the Constitution was first written about two hundred years ago, many Americans feared that government power could become concentrated in the hands of a few. Several features were created to guard against this possibility: 1) the federal organization of government; 2) the separation of powers among dif ferent branches of government; and 3) a system of checks and balances to restrict the powers of each branch. Under federalism, the principle of limited government was achieved by dividing authority between the central government and the individual states. The federal (national) government has powers over areas of wide concern. For example, it has the power to control communications among states, borrow money, provide for the national defense, and declare war. The states possess those powers which are not given to the national govern ment. For example, each state establishes its own criminal justice system, public schools, and marriage and divorce laws. There are certain powers, called concurrent powers, which both the federal and state government share. Examples include the power to tax, set up courts, and charter banks. Besides the division of power between state and national governments, power is also limited by the separation of power among three branches — legislative, executive, and judicial. In the United States, each branch has a separate function. The function of the legislative branch is to make laws. The legislative branch is made up of representatives elected to Congress. Congress is comprised of two groups, called houses: the House of Representatives and the Senate. The number of representatives each state sends to the House depends upon the number of districts in each state. Each district chooses one representative. The number of districts in each state is determined by popula tion. The most heavily populated states have more districts and, therefore, more representatives than the sparsely populated states. There are currently 435 representatives in the House. Each representative is elected to a two-year term. The Senate is the smaller of the two bodies. Each state has two senators. The senatorial term is six years. Every two years, one third of the Senate stands for election. The Constitution gives the president many important power. Today there are 13 major departments in the executive branch: the Departments of State, Treasury, Defense, Justice, Interior, Agriculture, Commerce, Labor, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, Transportation, Energy, and Education. As chief executive, the president also appoints senior officials of the many agencies in the expan sive bureaucracy. The third branch of government is the judicial branch, which is headed by the Supreme Court. Under the Supreme Court, there are many state and federal courts. The United States has had only two major parties throughout its history. Federal ists and Anti-Federalists. Since then, two major parties have alternated in power. For over one hundred years, America's two-party system has been dominated by the Democratic and Republican Parties. Neither party, however, has ever completely dominated American politics. The way candidates are elected explains why two major parties have come to dominate the American political scene. Elections are held according to the single-member district system, based on the principle of "winner take all." Under this system, only one candidate is elected to a given office from any one district. Many people will not vote for a minor party candidate; they feel they are throwing away a vote since only one person wins. 2.2. economy usa. The economy of the United States is the world's largest national economy. The U.S. economy also maintains a very high level of output per capita. The U.S is the largest trading nation in the world. Its three largest trading partners as of 2010 are Canada, China and Mexico.Agriculture is a major industry in the United States and the country is a net exporter of food. With vast tracts of temperate arable land, technologically advanced agribusiness, and agricultural subsidies. Products include wheat, corn, other grains, fruits, vegetables, cotton; beef, pork, poultry, dairy products; forest products; fish. The United States today is a leading economic power, with a high standard of living and enormous productivity in industry and agriculture. Agriculture is a major industry in the United States and the country is a net exporter of food.Corn, turkeys, tomatoes, potatoes, peanuts, and sunflower seeds. 2.3American beliefs and values. FREEDOM. At the center of all that Americans value is freedom. Americans commonly regard their society as the freest and best in the world. They are proud to point out that even today America's immigration offices are flooded with hopeful applicants who expect the chance for a better life. Americans' understanding of freedom is shaped by the belief that all people are equal and that the role of government is to protect each person's basic rights. INDIVIDUALISM. Americans' notion of freedom focuses on the individual, and individualism has strong philosophical roots in America.Individualism, understood not only as self-reliance but also as economic self-sufficiency, has been a central theme in American history. In the early days, most Americans were farmers whose success depended not on cooper ation with others but on their ability to confront the hardships of land and climate on their own. Both success and virtue were measured by individual resourcefulness. Government regulation is often resisted in the spirit of individualism. "Right to work" laws, which discourage union activity, are defended on the grounds that they protect the independence of the individual worker. IDEALIZING WHAT IS PRACTICAL. This "can-do" spirit is something Americans are proud of today. They like to think they are natural-born do-it-yourselfers. There are do-it-yourself books on everything from how to build and repair your own engine to how to be your own best friend. These kinds of solutions appeal to Americans' preference for what ever is quick and practical. VOLUNTEERISM. The do-it-yourself spirit is known as volunteerism in American community and political life. Volunteerism means people helping people. Volunteers, usually unpaid, are highly motivated workers who organize themselves and others to solve a particular community problem or meet an immediate social need. MOBILITY. The pragmatism of Americans and their trust in an abundance of resources relates to the American habit of mobility. As a nation of immigrants, Americans have from the beginning shared the assumption that the practical solution to a problem is to move elsewhere and make a fresh start. Mobility in America is not a sign of aimlessness but optimism. Now, Americans move from place to place with the sense of optimism, hoping to secure a better job or enjoy a warmer climate. Moving about from place to place is such a common and accepted practice that most Americans take it for granted that they may live in four or five cities during their lifetime. AMERICAN DREAM. The term American Dream, used in widely different contexts from political speeches to Broadway musicals. The American Dream is popularized in countless rags-to-riches stories and in the portrayal of the good life in adver tising and on TV shows. Directory: study study -> And lasts until November 30 study -> Know the answers to the following statements for the completion portion of the test study -> Questions for the PowerPoint Europe and the Age of Imperialism study -> Politics in the 1920’s Conservatism, Dominance of the Republican Party Conservatism study -> Unit Test – Georgia after wwii and during the Civil Rights Movement study -> Study Activity 1 study -> Name Study Guide study -> Suhakam’s input for the office of the high commissioner for human rights (ohchr)’s study on children’s right to health – human rights council resolution 19/37 Download 120.54 Kb. Share with your friends:
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