Unit 7: The Cold War
(1945-1980)
Post-War Struggle
After World War II, the United States responded to an uncertain and unstable postwar period by asserting and attempting to defend a position of global leadership, with far-reaching domestic and international consequences. After the war ended, the US sought to limit the growth of Communist military power and ideological influence, create a stable global economy, and build an international security system.
The US developed a foreign policy policy based on collective security and a multilateral economic framework that bolstered non-Communist nations. They sought to "contain" Soviet-dominated communism through a variety of measures, including military engagements in Korea and Vietnam, and as it progressed the Cold War fluctuated between periods of mutual coexistence (detente).
The US developed a foreign policy policy based on collective security and a multilateral economic framework that bolstered non-Communist nations. They sought to "contain" Soviet-dominated communism through a variety of measures, including military engagements in Korea and Vietnam, and as it progressed the Cold War fluctuated between periods of mutual coexistence (detente).
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Ideological, military, and economic concerns shaped US involvement in the Middle East, with several oil crises in the region eventually sparking attempts at creating a national energy policy.
Cold War policies led to continued public debates over the power of the federal government, acceptable means for pursuing international international and domestic goals, and the proper balance between liberty and order. Americans debated policies and methods designed to root out Communists within the US even as both parties tended to support the broader Cold War strategy of containing communism.
Although the Korean conflict produced some minor domestic opposition, the Vietnam War saw the rise of sizable, passionate, and sometimes violent antiwar protests that became more numerous as the war escalated. Americans debated the merits of a large nuclear arsenal, the "military-industrial complex", and the appropriate power of the executive branch in conducting foreign and military policy.
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Liberalism, based on anti-communism abroad and a firm belief in the efficacy of governmental and federal power to achieve social goals at home, reached its apex in the mid-1960s and generated a variety of political and cultural responses. Seeking to refill Reconstruction-era promises, civil rights activists and political leaders achieved some legal and political successes in ending segregation, although progress toward equality was slow and halting.
Following World War II, civil rights activists utilized a variety of strategies - legal challenges, direct action, and nonviolent protest tactics - to combat racial discrimination. Decision-makers in each of the three branches of the federal government used measures including desegregation, Brown v. Board of Education, and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to promote greater racial justice.
Following World War II, civil rights activists utilized a variety of strategies - legal challenges, direct action, and nonviolent protest tactics - to combat racial discrimination. Decision-makers in each of the three branches of the federal government used measures including desegregation, Brown v. Board of Education, and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to promote greater racial justice.
Stirred by a growing awareness of inequalities in American society and by the African American civil rights movement, activists also addressed issues of identity and social justice, such as gender, sexuality and ethnicity.
Despite the perception of overall affluence in postwar America, advocates raised awareness of the prevalence and persistence of poverty as a national problem, sparking efforts to address this issue.
As many liberal principles came to dominate postwar politics and court decisions, liberalism came under attack from the left as well as from resurgent conservative movements. Liberalism reached its peak with Lyndon Johnson's Great Society efforts to use federal power to eliminate poverty and address other social issues while still attacking communism abroad.
Liberal ideas were realized in Supreme Court decisions that expanded democracy and individual freedoms, Great Society social programs and policies, and the power of the federal government, yet these unintentionally helped energize a new conservative movement that mobilized to defend traditional visions of morality and the proper role of state authority.
As many liberal principles came to dominate postwar politics and court decisions, liberalism came under attack from the left as well as from resurgent conservative movements. Liberalism reached its peak with Lyndon Johnson's Great Society efforts to use federal power to eliminate poverty and address other social issues while still attacking communism abroad.
Liberal ideas were realized in Supreme Court decisions that expanded democracy and individual freedoms, Great Society social programs and policies, and the power of the federal government, yet these unintentionally helped energize a new conservative movement that mobilized to defend traditional visions of morality and the proper role of state authority.
Groups on the political left also attacked liberals, claiming they did too little to transform the racial and economic status quo at home and arguing that the US pursued immoral policies abroad.
"We declare our right on this earth to be a human being, to be respected as a human being, to be given the rights of a human being in this society, on this earth, in this day, which we intended to bring about by any means necessary." |
Postwar economic, demographic and technological changes had a far-reaching impact on American society, politics and the environment. Rapid economic and social changes in American society fostered a sense of optimism in the postwar years as well as underlying concerns about how these changes were affecting American values.
A burgeoning private sector, continued federal spending, the baby boom, and technological developments helped spur economic growth, middle class suburbanization, social mobility, a rapid expansion of higher education, and the rise of the "Sun Belt" as a political and economic force.
A burgeoning private sector, continued federal spending, the baby boom, and technological developments helped spur economic growth, middle class suburbanization, social mobility, a rapid expansion of higher education, and the rise of the "Sun Belt" as a political and economic force.
These economic and social changes, in addition to the anxiety engendered by the Cold War, led to an increasingly homogeneous mass culture as well as challenges to conformity by artists, intellectuals and rebellious youth. Conservatives, fearing juvenile delinquency, urban unrest, and challenges to the traditional family, increasingly promoted their own values and ideology.
As federal programs expanded and economic growth reshaped American society, many sought greater access to prosperity even as critics began to question the increased use of natural resources. Responding to the abuse of natural resources and the alarming environmental problems, activists and legislators began to call for conservation measures and a fight against pollution.
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Counterculture Movement
New demographic and social issues led to significant political and moral debates that sharply divided the nations. Although the image of the traditional nuclear family dominated popular perceptions in the postwar era, the family structure of Americans was undergoing profound changes as the number of working women increased and many social attitudes changed.
Young people who participated in the counterculture of the 1960s rejected many of the social, economic , and political values of their parents' generation, initiated a sexual revolution, and introduced greater informality into American culture. Conservatives and liberals clashed over many new social issues, the power of the presidency and the federal government, and movements for greater individual rights.