Chapter 29 The Cold War at Home and Abroad, 1946-1952

Chapter 29
The Cold War at Home and Abroad,
1946-1952
Chapter Summary
Chapter 29 examines the post-World War II history of America. Topics covered in the chapter
include post-war domestic developments with an emphasis on the conversion to a peacetime
economy and the impact of the baby boom; early Cold War policy including the Marshall Plan
and the Truman Doctrine; Truman’s domestic policy focusing on the Fair Deal; and, the fruition
of Cold War politics with the Korean War and McCarthyism.
I. Launching the Great Boom
A. Reconversion Chaos
1. The return of American GIs
2. Economic shortages and inflation
3. Post-war labor strikes
B. Economic Policy
1. The Employment Act of 1946
2. The Taft-Hartley Act
C. The GI Bill
D. Assembly-Line Neighborhoods
1. The post-war housing shortage
2. The VA mortgage program
3. Levittown
4. Growth in American home ownership
5. The cost of suburbanization
E. Steps toward Civil Rights
1. Changes in federal civil rights policy
2. Racial desegregation in professional sports
F. Consumer Boom and Baby Boom
1. The increase in American marriage rates
2. The baby boom and increased consumer needs
3. The moderation of American politics
III. Truman, Republicans, and the Fair Deal
A. Truman’s Opposition
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1. Henry Wallace and the Progressive party
2. Strom Thurmond and the States’ Rights party (Dixiecrats)
3. Thomas Dewey and Republican passivity
B. Whistle-Stopping across America
1. Changes in twentieth-century political style
2. Truman’s whistle-stops
3. The results of the 1948 election
C. Truman’s Fair Deal
1. The Housing Act of 1949
2. The revitalization of Social Security
II. Confronting the Soviet Union
A. The End of the Grand Alliance
1. Struggles with the Soviet Union after the war
2. U.S. efforts to organize the post-war world
3. Increasing fear of Soviet aggression
B. The Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan
1. The Greek Civil War and the Truman Doctrine
2. U.S. control of post-war recovery
3. George Kennan and the policy of containment
C. Soviet Reactions
1. Soviet pressure in Czechoslavakia
2. The Berlin blockade
D. American Rearmament
1. Increased defense budget
2. The National Security Act of 1947
3. The Department of Defense
4. Post-war mutual defense pacts
IV. Cold War and Hot War
A. The Nuclear Shadow
B. The Cold War in Asia
1. The defeat of Jiang Jieshi
2. “Europe First” or “Asia First”
C. NSC-68 and Aggressive Containment
1. A world divided between “slavery” and “freedom”
2. The promotion of a military solution
3. The emergence of an American foreign policy of active intervention
D. War in Korea
1. Questions remaining after Mao Zedong’s Chinese takeover
2. The status of Korea after World War II
3. Korea as a priority in American defense strategy
4. The origins of the Korean War
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5. A United Nations police action
E. The Politics of War
1. The removal of General Douglas MacArthur
2. The impact of the Korean War
V. The Second Red Scare
A. The Communist Party and the Loyalty Program
1. The decline of American communism after World War II
2. Republican use of red-baiting against Democrats
3. The Truman response to fear of subversion
B. Naming Names to Congress
1. The House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC)
and the Hollywood Ten
2. The McCarren Committee
C. Subversion Trials
1. The 1949 trials of eleven leaders of the American Communist party
2. The Alger Hiss case
3. The case of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg
D. Senator McCarthy on Stage
E. Understanding McCarthyism
1. The lasting influence of the Red Scare
2. Factors defining the American fear of Communism
3. The goals of McCarthyism
VI. Conclusion
Learning Objectives
After a careful examination of Chapter 29, students should be able to:
1. Briefly describe the economic conditions that greeted American GIs on their return
home from war.
2. Explain how post-war labor strikes impacted American sentiment regarding the power
of organized labor.
3. Outline the provisions of the Employment Act of 1946 and the Taft-Hartley Act and
comment on their impacts on the post-war American economy.
4. Identify the provisions of the GI Bill of Rights and discuss its impact on American higher
education.
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5. Comment on how the war’s end impacted the roles of women in the workplace and in
higher education.
6. Explain how men such as William Levitt addressed the housing shortage facing
Americans after World War II.
7. Comment on the connection between racism and suburbanization in post-war America.
8. Briefly outline the steps taken by the Truman administration to address civil rights issues
during the late 1940s.
9. Identify Jackie Robinson and explain the significance of his role in desegregating
professional sports in the United States.
10. Comment on the increase in marriage and birth rates in post-war America and how the
increases impacted national consumerism.
11. Discuss how the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan reflected the early stages of
American Cold War policy.
12. List the federal agencies and international mutual defense pacts organized by the United
States during the late 1940s as a means of increasing national security.
13. Identify the major candidates, issues and outcome of the presidential election of 1948.
14. List the major components of Truman’s Fair Deal. Indicate the Truman proposals for
domestic reform that were rejected by Congress.
15. Briefly discuss the proliferation of nuclear weapons in the world during the 1950s.
Describe the impact of the federal government and the media in intensifying public fear of
nuclear war.
16. Briefly describe some of the environmental and health problems associated with nuclear
testing during the 1950s.
17. Discuss the meaning of the “Europe First” or “Asia First” dilemma facing the west
during the Cold War.
18. Outline the provisions of NSC-68 and explain its impact on the development of
American foreign policy during the 1950s.
19. Identify General Douglas MacArthur and describe his role in Japanese post-war
recovery and in the Korean War.
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20. Discuss the significance of the Korean War in terms of American military effectiveness,
its prediction of future U.S. involvement in Asia and, its impact on American commitment to
fighting the Cold War.
21. Define the term subversives and explain its significance to domestic political policy in
the United States during the 1950s.
22. Define the term red-baiting and explain its use by the Republican party during the
1950s.
23. Outline the provisions of Executive Order 9835 and describe its impact on the
emergence of the Red Scare.
24. Identify the House Committee on Un-American Activities and discuss its role in the Red
Scare. Explain what is meant by the “Hollywood Ten.”
25. Identify the three major trials of the 1950s which targeted Americans accused of being
Soviet spies.
26. Discuss Senator Joseph McCarthy’s role in the Red Scare.
27. Identify four factors which explain American fear of subversion during the 1950s.
Identify the goals of the propagators of the Red Scare.
Topics for Classroom Lecture
1. Present a lecture examining Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman’s contributions to the
emergence of the Cold War. Compare and contrast the social, political, and intellectual
backgrounds of the two men. Discuss with students Roosevelt’s role at the Yalta Conference,
especially regarding the endorsement of the Declaration of a Liberated Europe. Did the
endorsement of this agreement by the Allies set the stage for Cold War? Could the Allies have
avoided granting Stalin leverage in eastern Europe? Discuss the extent to which Truman was
prepared by Roosevelt to take over the presidency. Finally, have students comment on the
early Soviet policy of the Truman administration.
2. Discuss the emergence of the States’ Rights party and the presidential campaign of J.
Strom Thurmond in 1948. Focus on the party’s appearance as an indication of increased racial
tension in the South after World War II and as an indication of the potential for the future Civil
Rights movement. Address the significance of Thurmond’s political career which will involve an
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early switch to the Republican party, an indication of southern political developments to come
during the last half of the twentieth century.
3. Discuss the Cold War policy’s connection to World War II. What parallels did the
former Allies see between prewar Germany and post-war Soviet Union? What mistakes made
prior to World War II did the former Allies fear making again? Use this opportunity to have
students consider the issue of “learning from history.” Can we learn from history? Is it wise or
useful to allow mistakes from the past to determine policy for the future?
Topics for Class Discussion and Essays
1. In their book, The Fifties: The Way We Really Were (1975), Douglas T. Miller and
Marion Nowak assert that the 1950s was a decade of conservatism, consensus, and
conformity. Have students review Chapter 29 and point out examples of these trends during the
late forties and early fifties. How did World War II moderate the liberal politics of the
depression era? Why were Americans eager to move to the middle and why did they find
security in conservatism, consensus, and conformity?
2. Have students compare and contrast the postwar decades of the 1920s and the 1950s.
Guide discussion to address some of the following issues:
a. World War I has been characterized as the war that ended “American
innocence.” How so? Did the American experience in World War II have the same impact?
Were we less naive and more experienced and mature as a nation because of the role we
played in World War II?
b. Compare and contrast American foreign policy developed during the decades
following the two world wars. Specifically focus on the issues of isolationism and active
intervention as they apply to American foreign policy of the twenties and the fifties.
c. Examine the social and cultural aspects of postwar American society in the
twenties and the fifties. How do the social and cultural values of Americans reflect their reaction
to world war?
d. Explore developments in domestic politics. Which party will dominate national
politics after World War I? After World War II? What will be the American response to
radicalism after World War I? After World War II?
3. Consider American Cold War foreign policy within the historical context of modern
American foreign policy. Students have already considered the similarities and differences
between the turn of the century diplomacy of Theodore Roosevelt and the moral diplomacy of
Woodrow Wilson. How does Cold War policy compare to each of these phases of American
foreign policy development? Consider specifically the content of NSC-68. Are the guidelines
proposed in this document reflective of the “big stick” diplomacy of Theodore Roosevelt or are
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they more reflective of the morally based approach of Woodrow Wilson? Or is post-World
War II foreign policy completely different from both?
Topics for Class Projects and Term Papers
1. Research the American experience in fighting war in Asia during the last half of the
twentieth century. This project could focus on the Pacific War during World War II, the
Korean War, and the Vietnam War. Among the topics that students might examine, consider:
a. The cultural differences between the East and the West. What barriers existed
that would complicate Asian and American understanding of each other’s cultures? How would
these misunderstandings complicate diplomacy?
b. The political and military goals of Asians and Americans in war. Especially in
Korea and Vietnam, how did American global concerns compliment or fail to compliment the
regional concerns of Koreans and the Vietnamese? How did regional civil wars turn into
military manifestations of Cold War?
c. Racism and the American experience in Asia. Have students consider
American stereotypes regarding Asians. How were these stereotypes manifested during the
Pacific War? During the Korean War? During the Vietnam War? Were Americans socially
and culturally prepared to fight for the well being of the Asian world?
2. Research the emergence of the Progressive party in 1948. Was Henry Wallace’s
liberal agenda in 1948 dated and archaic by the end of the World War II or did it predict and
foresee the domestic reform agenda of the late 1950s and 1960s? Examine the role of the party
as a link between the progressive agenda of the depression era and the progressive agenda of
the 1960s.
Resources for Lectures and Research Projects
Gal Alperovitz, Atomic Diplomacy, (1994).
Frances Fitzgerald, Fire on the Lake (1972).
John L. Gaddis, The United States and the Origins of the Cold War, 1941-1947, (1972).
Joseph C. Goulden, The Best Years, 1945-1950 (1976).
Alonzo Hamby, Beyond the New Deal: Harry S. Truman and American Liberalism (1973).
Akira Iriye, The Cold War in Asia (1974).
Elaine Tyler May, Homeward Bound: American Families in the Cold War Era (1988).
Miller and Nowak, The Fifties: The Way We Really Were (1977).
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John Toland, The Rising Sun, 1970).
Stephen J. Whitfield, The Culture of Cold War, (1990).
Audio-Visual Resources
The Twentieth Century with Mike Wallace: McCarthy Reconsidered, The History
Channel, 50 minutes.
Mike Wallace takes a fresh look at the man behind the Second Red Scare.
Truman: The American Experience, David Grubin, 1997, 270 minutes.
This video is a 4-part series examining the life and presidency of Harry Truman.
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