APUSH Unit 8

• The US will play a key role in post-World War II affairs, unlike in the post-World War I period
• The US joins the United Nations in 1945
• The Atlantic Charter


  Contains similar ideas to Wilson's 14 points
• Cold War


  An ideological, political, and military struggle between the US and Soviet Union from 1946 to 1991
• Containment


  The US policy of containing the spread of communism, articulated by George Kennan
• Liberal principles came to dominate post-war politics and Court decisions
• Methods of containment


  • Providing military and financial assistance to countries resisting communist aggression
  • The Truman Doctrine
  • The Marshall Plan
• The image of prosperity of the 1950s was called into question with publication of the other America by Michael Harrington which brought to the attention of the nation poverty in America
• The US gives money to the Nationalist forces in the Chinese Civil War, but the Communists still win and establish the People's Republic of China in 1949
• The continued lack of civil rights remained a problem
• The US joins the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), its first permanent peacetime military alliance
• Johnson's Great Society


  Dramatically increased the scope and size of the federal government
• Indirect military conflict by the US


  Using the CIA to try to overthrow regimes in Guatemala and Iran
• Programs of the Great Society


  • Head Start (affordable preschool)
  • Job Corp (vocational education)
  • Medicare (health care for those over 65)
  • Medicaid (health care for the poor and disabled)
  • Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 (ended quotas)
• Nixon Doctrine


  The US will provide money and military equipment, but not US soldiers, to countries fighting communism
• Supreme Court decisions of the Warren Court greatly expanded individual freedoms and democracy
• Military buildup during the Cold War


  1. Truman builds up the military based on NSC 68

  2. Eisenhower's "new look" policy stresses nuclear weapons

  3. Kennedy's "flexible response" policy has a variety of military options
• Criticisms of liberalism from the left


  • Not enough done for civil rights and poverty
  • Rise of black radicalism and Black Panthers
  • Opposition to Vietnam War
• The Space Race begins after Sputnik in 1957, with the US increasing funding for NASA and education
• Criticisms of liberalism from the right


  • Dislike of large federal government
  • Criticism of high deficits and costs of Great Society programs
  • Dislike of Warren Court decisions
  • Perceived undermining of traditional morality
• Direct military conflict by the US

  1. The Korean War

  2. The Vietnam War
• Watergate scandal eroded trust in the federal government
• There are periods of détente or relaxation of tensions during the Cold War
• Reagan's election in 1980 marked the triumph of conservatism
• Periods of détente


  • Eisenhower and Khrushchev's "Spirit of Geneva"
  • Nixon's opening to China and SALT I negotiations
• Cold War policies led to debates over the power of the federal government, acceptable ways of pursuing international and domestic goals, and the proper balance between liberty and order
• Ways government advanced civil rights


  • Executive branch (Truman desegregating military)
  • Judicial branch (Brown v. Board of Education)
  • Legislative branch (Civil Rights Act of 1964, Voting Rights Act of 1965)
• Debates over Cold War policies


  • Debate over the growing nuclear arsenal and the military-industrial complex
  • Dispute between Truman and MacArthur over the Korean War
  • Debate over the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution and the Vietnam War
• Civil rights advocates sought to fulfill Reconstruction Era promises and slowly achieved legal and political success
• The Cold War led to a widespread fear of communist influence and infiltration in American life, leading to McCarthyism and the second Red Scare
• Tactics used by civil rights movement


  • Legal challenges
  • Direct action
  • Nonviolence
• The collapse of colonial empires after WWII led to the US and Soviet Union competing for influence in Asia, Latin America, Africa, and the Middle East
• There was intense resistance and violence that slowed the pace of desegregation
• US involvement in the Middle East


  • Operation Ajax to overthrow the Iranian government
  • The Suez Crisis and Eisenhower Doctrine
  • Support for Israel during the Yom Kippur War
• Philosophical differences within civil rights movement


  • Questioning of nonviolent tactics
  • Rise of black nationalism and separatism (Black Panthers, Malcolm X)
• US involvement in Latin America


  • Overthrow of the Arbenz government in Guatemala
  • The Cuban Revolution and Bay of Pigs invasion
• The women's rights movement challenged traditional gender roles, leading to victories like Title IX
• The LGBT movement began with the Stonewall riots in 1968
• The post-WWII period saw rapid economic and social changes, leading to a sense of optimism but also increased tensions
• Aspects of post-WWII society


  • Rise of American middle class
  • Suburban migration
  • Post-war baby boom
  • Growth of defense industry
  • Standardization of culture through television
  • Challenges to 1950s conformity (Beat movement, rock and roll, counterculture)