Post War America

Post War America: the 1950s

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Open Ended

What do you miss most about pre-pandemic life? What are you most looking forward to post-pandemic?

Open Ended

What're you most looking forward to over Spring Break?

Multiple Choice

Which of the following best characterizes the Cold War?

• A war fought between Europe's great powers defined by trench warfare and stalemates.

• A war between the US and a colonial power in Cuba resulting in America's rise to world power.

• A war fought between two superpowers over ideological differences.

• A war fought in Europe and in the Pacific in response to aggressive expansionism.

The Cold War:

1945-1991

was an ideological war fought between the capitalist United States and the communist Soviet Union.

Multiple Choice

Which of the following was the first significant event of the Cold War?

• the Berlin blockade & airlift

• the invasion of the beaches of Normandy

• the bombing of Pearl Harbor

• the war in Korea between communist and nationalist groups

After WWII ended in Europe in 1945,

it became clear that the US and the Soviet Union had differing ideas on how to deal with Germany and other recovering nations.

Multiple Choice

America's official foreign policy response to Stalin's spreading of communism was -

• total war.

• containment.

• isolationism.

Thanks to the Truman Doctrine (tanks) & the Marshall Plan ($$), America contained the spread of communism in Europe.

Europe isn't the only region struggling to recover after WWII.

• Before WWII, Japan conquered & colonized ALL of Korea & parts of China

• as well as the countries we today call Vietnam, Thailand, & Myanmar

• when Japan surrendered, control of these countries was given to the Allies

Open Ended

What challenges are these former Japanese colonies - Korea, China, Vietnam - likely going to face after the war?

China: Communism or Capitalism?

• For 20 years, Chinese communists had struggled against the nationalist government of Chiang Kai-shek in China

• Part of containment, the US sent $3 billion in aid to the nationalists in the 4 years after WWI

• The Soviets supported the Communists

• The Nationalists were largely corrupt & ultimately, Mao Zedong & the communist party won

• The People's Republic of China remains a communist nation to this day

America Shifts Focus to Containment in Asia

• Like in Germany, the 2 superpowers (US & SU) agree to share control of Korea after Japan's surrender

• The Soviet Union controlled North Korea

• The Americans controlled South Korea

• Country was divided at the 38th Parallel - a clear division to prevent any confusion or conflict

• By 1948, South Korea declared its the Republic of Korea with the capital in Seoul & Americans cut its forces there to 500 soldiers

• The North formed the Democratic People's Republic of Korea

Backed by Soviet tanks, airplanes, and money, North Korea invaded South Korean in June of 1950.

Soviets assumed the US wouldn't get involved.

Multiple Choice

BUT, after WWII, a new international peacekeeping organization was created. South Korea called on ______ to help stop the invasion.

• the League of Nations

• the United Nations

• the North Atlantic Treaty Organization

• the Warsaw Pact

The United Nations (largely the US) responds

• 16 nations of the United Nations sent 520,000 troops to aid South Korea: 90% of which were American

• led by General Douglass MacArthur - former WWII hero in the Pacific

• Under the direction of MacArthur, South Korea droves North Koreans out of South Korean & past the 38th Parallel

• the new communist People's Republic of China started funding & fighting alongside the North Koreans

• MacArthur stops taking UN orders, he says the real problem is China - not Korea - he's not happy with settling for just retaking South Korea & leaving

• America can't fight another world war, so Truman fires MacArthur

Settling for Stalemate

• Weather + involvement of outside powers (China, US, Soviet Union) meant there was no clear winner

• The Soviet Union suggested a cease-fire in 1951 & the 2 sides negotiated a truce

• the 38th Parallel still separates communist North Korea from democratic South Korea today with a demilitarized zone between the two sides

• Korean War officially ended in July of 1953 after 2 years of negotiation

• as many as 1 million South Korean civilians died in this short war

Multiple Choice

The Korean War was the 1st example of ___ during the Cold War.

• the creation of satellite nations

• a proxy war

• the use of nuclear weapons

If you haven't completed this 4 minute EdPuzzle over the Korean War (#12), COMPLETE IT TODAY AFTER CLASS.

The Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944

commonly known as the GI Bill of Rights was created by FDR just before his death to help ease the 16 million American veterans back into civilian life.

Multiple Select

Which of the following services did the GI Bill provide for veterans following WWII?

• assistance finding jobs & 52 weeks of unemployment as they searched

• $500 a year for college tuition + $50 a month to cover living expenses while in school

• counseling services to cope with the trauma of WWII battle

• discounted home & business loans

Open Ended

What do you think people from other countries think of when they think of America? (South Korea: K pop, Samsung, beauty industry, competition)

America in the 1950s

• thanks to the GI Bill, the middle class is born

• families leave the cities & move to suburbs, particularly white families

• color television is introduced in 1953

• consumerism explodes along with "planned obsolescence" so that products break over time & Americans MUST buy more to replace what breaks

• auto-mania as Americans have access to cheap oil & new highways allow road trips

• franchises - like McDonalds - are established

• idea of being a "teenager" & the focus on high school years

A baby boom & a housing shortage lead to

the creation of the American suburb, the nuclear family, & a new role for women: "Susie Homemaker."

Multiple Choice

During the 1950s, America witnesses a new wave of internal migration as -

• Black Americans leave the Jim Crow south and move to Northern cities.

• Americans move into cities for industrial jobs in factories.

• Americans leave cities for the quiet and cheaper prices of suburbs.

If you haven't completed this 7 minute EdPuzzle over the 1950s (#13), COMPLETE IT TODAY AFTER CLASS.

Open Ended

Looking at these 2 images, how did the idea of "ideal" American woman change from the 1940s to the 1950s? In the 1940s, women were encouraged to ___, but in the 1950s they were told to ____.

Multiple Choice

The trends in this list all occurred as a result of --

• an increase in immigration after World War II

• the creation of the Department of Housing and Urban Development

• reductions in peacetime defense spending

• economic prosperity following World War II

After class,

get caught up on work!

We'll come back from break on Monday, March 22nd.