8.2

• post-WWII: growing tension between US + USSR
  • everyone wanted normalcy, got Cold War instead
• Cold War: battle of ideologies
• causes of Cold War:
  • prev tensions back to Russian Rev (1917) - US disliked communism
  • USSR wanted to spread communism, US wanted to limit spread + make world dem capitalist utopia
    • both ideologies = expansionist by nature → central question: which would world be remade into?
  • distrust during WWII
    • Allies agreed central + E Euro countries would hold free elections, but Stalin kept control of them to have buffer zone → communist satellite states → US saw as fragrant violation of agreement during Yalta Conference
    • post-war agreement for city of Berlin: Germany divided into four occupation zones, Berlin divided too - intended to be temp peacetime necessity, but USSR section became soviet state
      • USSR wanted Ger weak + extract reparations; W wanted Ger to be strong again b/c saw as key to stable central Europe
    • Churchill: iron curtain
• US response to Cold War:
  • containment policy - resources poured into containing spread of communism
    • Truman Doctrine: advocated containment by lending support to any country threatened by communism
      • result of USSR pressure on Turkey + Greece
      • Marshall Plan: allocated ~$13bil in financial aid to help Europe rebuild - struggling to rebuild as communists had plan to support them; rationale = healthy economy → opt for democracy > communism
        • worked a lot
    • meddling in Berlin - deep inside USSR territory → Berlin Blockade: block canals, RRs, roadways of W supply to Berlin
      • blockade goal = absorb Berlin into USSR
      • US response = Berlin Airlift - flew supplies into W Berlin, prevented USSR from taking over city
    • N Atlantic Treaty Org (NATO): military alliance to resist aggressive action of USSR
      • USSR response = Warsaw Pact
  • nuclear proliferation - arms race
    • US = first iteration of atomic bomb, USSR infiltration of US intelligence → 1949: got their atomic bomb → US developed hydrogen bomb → USSR tested their first H-bomb a year later
      • could never use them b/c mutual assured destruction
• proxy wars:
  • Vietnam War
  • Korean War: Japanese colony before end of WWII → after war, divided along 38th parallel: USSR = N, US = S
    • June 1950: N invaded S using Soviet munitions + supplies
      • UN sent troops to help S, pushed back N Koreans almost to S border of China → China sent troops to get them away from border → fighting ended w/ split, border in same spot
    • illustrates two things:
      • proxy war between US + USSR
      • direct result of Truman’s containment policy

8.3

• 2nd Red Scare (after WWII)
  • massive push to contain worldwide, root out at home
  • targeting labor unions, fed gov, required people to pledge loyalty + swear they weren’t communists
  • Taft-Hartley Act (1947): response to wave of labor union strikes → more difficult to strikes, leaders made to pledge they weren’t part of Communist Party
  • Fed Employee Loyalty + Security Program (1947): exec order from Truman, fed employees had to swear they weren’t communist or fascist, provisions for fed investigations into political affiliations of fed workers
  • Un American Activities Committee: searching for communism everywhere, esp Hollywood
    • 1947: ten Hollywood directors singled out as communists, refused to testify → prison sentences, blacklisted
  • Joseph McCarthy - 1950: claimed to have names of known communists who had infiltrated state dept (205) → everyone thought society was crawling w/ secret communists
    • later claimed was 57
    • so exacerbated Red Scare that was called McCarthyism
    • unable to prove it was more than a conspiracy theory → censored
  • Rosenberg case: USSR tested first atomic bomb → US convinced they stole info → couple (Julius + Ethel) accused of being part of stealing plans → executed by electric chair (1953)
• tensions increased

8.4

• economy = in great shape - increased productivity (holdover from war spike), massive fed spending on infrastructure (esp interstate highway)
• Servicemen’s Readjustment Act (GI Bill): vets given opportunity to go to college on gov’s dime, take out low-interest loans to buy houses + start businesses
• baby boom
  • → housing construction - suburbs
    • more automobiles → more roadways → white middle class left cities for suburbs, left minorities + impoverished behind in cities
    • Levittown: large tracts of land outside big cities, built identical, cheap houses
    • called monotonous, homogenizing, but was low-cost solution to housing demand
    • made easier b/c of Interstate Highway Act (1956) - quicker travel from suburbs to urban areas
• mass migration to Sun Belt states in S + W
  • maybe b/c of weather, mostly b/c of highway
  • many GIs + families seeking opportunities in defense industry
    • tax dollars devoted to defense spending shifted to Sun Belt states → shift of political power to S + W

8.5

• mass culture: widespread, homogenous set of ideas + patterns of behavior
• pressure to conform b/c of fear of communism, McCarthyism → wanted to be predictable, not labeled non-conformists
• end of 1950s: ~90% households had TV → provided platform for consumption of mass culture
  • programming dominated by few producers of sports programming, sitcoms, soap operas, variety shows
    • suburban sitcoms - ideal American family → common language, shared value of Americans
• rise of advertising industry - more disposable income → more aggressive, appealed to emotional needs (belonging + status, products = answer)
  • problem = too much production → credit cards - could buy more than could afford
• rock n’ roll among young people: spread mass culture to younger gens
  • roots within Black community but took on white face (Elvis)