US history

• The United Nations (UN) was created on June 26, 1945, to promote peace, symbolizing hope for world peace at the end of WWII
• The United States and Soviet Union used the UN to spread political, economic, and social influence
• Many Americans doubted Truman's ability as President because he had not been included in top policy decisions during his time as Vice President and only became President after Franklin Roosevelt's death
• At the Potsdam Conference of 1945, the major conflict arose when Stalin broke promises for free elections in Poland, while Truman demanded free elections to spread democracy, highlighting the deep differences in U.S. and Soviet aims
• The Iron Curtain divided mostly democratic Western Europe from communist Eastern Europe, with Stalin installing communist governments in Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, and Poland, known as satellite nations
• In response to the Iron Curtain, the U.S. proposed a policy of containment to prevent the spread of communism to other countries
• The Marshall Plan was enacted by the U.S. to help rebuild war-torn Europe, providing over $13 billion in aid to 16 Western European countries, leading to economic stability and reduced communist influence
• The Truman Doctrine was promoted by the U.S. government to support free peoples resisting subjugation, with a financial cost of $400 million in aid to Turkey and Greece between 1947 and 1950
• The Berlin Airlift was initiated when the Soviets blockaded West Berlin, leading to planes bringing in supplies for 327 days until the Soviet Union lifted the blockade in May 1949
• NATO was created on April 4, 1949, by 10 Western European nations joining the U.S. and Canada in a defensive military alliance to counter Soviet aggression
• The Soviet Union and communist countries opposed NATO, leading to the formation of the Warsaw Pact in 1955 as a military alliance in response
• Chiang Kai-shek and the Chinese Nationalist Party were supported by the U.S. due to their opposition to Mao Zedong and the Communist Party, but were criticized for being ineffective and corrupt leaders
• Peasant farmers supported Mao Zedong over Chiang Kai-shek due to promises of wealth redistribution, land reform, literacy programs, and increased food supplies
• The Chinese Civil War resulted in the Communists defeating the Nationalists in 1949, leading to the establishment of the People's Republic of China and the U.S. refusing to recognize the new government
• The 38th Parallel became controversial for international affairs as it divided North and South Korea after WWII, leading to the establishment of the Republic of Korea in the South and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in the North in 1948
• The Korean War started when North Korean forces crossed the 38th Parallel in a surprise attack in 1950, leading to UN intervention with troops sent to aid South Korea, primarily by the U.S.
• General MacArthur's strategy pushed North Korean troops above the 38th Parallel, but the invasion was halted at the Yalu River to avoid conflict with China
• Communist China's entry into the Korean War pushed UN forces below the 38th Parallel, leading to the retreat of UN and South Korean troops from North Korea by January 1951
• General MacArthur's extreme request to extend the war into China with nuclear weapons led to his dismissal by President Truman in April 1951
• The Korean War was considered a stalemate because it ended with Korea still being two different nations, despite the armistice agreement in July 1953
• In the peace talks during the Korean War, the opposing sides agreed on the location of the cease-fire line and the establishment of a demilitarized zone between them
• President Truman passed the Federal Employee Loyalty Program (Executive Order 9835) in 1948 due to accusations of being soft on communism and the rising American membership of the Communist party
• The House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) influenced the Hollywood Film Industry by investigating Communist influence, leading to the blacklisting of 500 actors, writers, producers, and directors
• The McCarran Act of 1950 made it unlawful to plan any action that might lead to a totalitarian dictatorship in the U.S., as Congress believed Truman's Loyalty Review Board did not go far enough
• In the Alger Hiss Espionage case, Hiss was convicted of lying about passing government documents to the Soviet Union, and in the Rosenberg spy trials of 1950, Ethel and Julius Rosenberg were found guilty of spying and sentenced to death
• Senator Joseph McCarthy's tactics during his "Witch Hunts" involved making unsupported accusations of disloyalty, leading to widespread fear and purging of the American Communist Party
• McCarthyism created paranoia and ruined lives in the short term, while in the long term, it created distrust between officials and politics
• The fall of McCarthyism occurred in 1954 when McCarthy made accusations against the U.S. army, resulting in a nationally televised Senate investigation that isolated the audience and cost him public support
• The Soviets tested their first atomic bomb in 1949, leading the U.S. to create the first Thermonuclear (Hydrogen Bomb) in 1959, which was estimated to be 67 times more powerful than the bombs dropped on Hiroshima
• Brinkmanship, popularized by John Foster Dulles, expressed the willingness to go to all-out war using all means necessary to win the Cold War, including the use of nuclear weapons
• The Soviet Union reacted to West Germany joining NATO by building and strengthening the Warsaw Pact and fortifying East Germany, eventually leading to the construction of the Berlin Wall
• At the 1955 Geneva Summit, President Eisenhower proposed a policy of "Open Skies," which was turned down by Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev
• Hungary desired to leave the Warsaw Pact in 1956, leading to a Soviet invasion and the suppression of the Hungarian revolt, with the United States not intervening to help Hungary break free of Soviet control
• The Eisenhower Doctrine expressed the U.S. interest in defending the Middle East against any communist country, but did not extend to driving the Soviet Union out of its satellites
• The Soviet Union's Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) and Sputnik I caused fear in the United States, leading to frantic efforts to catch up in the space race, including the successful launch of the first American satellite in 1948
• The U-2 incident hurt peaceful negotiations between the Soviet Union and the United States as the U-2 plane was used for spying over Soviet territory, leading to increased tension between the superpowers
• Truman passed an Executive Order (9981) to desegregate the Armed Forces in 1948
• Truman had 2 major challenges: 1: Dealing with the widespread threat of Communism (Red Scare) 2: To keep the economy prosperous after WWII
• President Truman was willing to put his re-election on the line to promote Civil Rights by creating the President’s Commission on Civil Rights
• Despite facing death threats and extreme discrimination, Robinson's play spoke for itself and led to other players of color being brought into MLB