Revision notes - the USA 1945 to 1980

Authors Avatar

Divided Union  1945 to 1980

After the First World War the USA had returned to a policy of isolationism, but when war broke out in 1939, President Roosevelt wanted to help Britain and prepare the USA for war against Germany. He asked congress for $1,300,000,000 to build up the army. He signed a deal to send destroyers to Britain. He signed the lend lease act which allowed the USA to “lend” military equipment to Britain, to be returned or paid for at the end of the war.

What was the effect of the Second World War on the USA ?

1. The economy. The USA had suffered before the war in the great depression, and there had been much unemployment. The war changed this. Employment fell rapidly. In early 1941 there were 8 million people out of work. By the end of 1944 it was only 1.4%.  16,000,000 Us citizens joined the armed forces. Many had never travelled abroad before. Many students left education early to fill jobs as there was so much work. Federal spending rose 1000% during the war.

Wartime production of goods carried on into peace time. Europe was devastated by the war and the US had very little competition in the world for her manufactured goods. This means the US economy did very well out of the war. Big firms like General Motors, Chrysler, General Electric and Ford, exported their goods around the world. The USA became the richest country in the world, and was the leading nation in developing “consumer goods” such as fridges, televisions, cars and washing machines, which it exported around the world. Americans had a higher standard of living, and there was little unemployment. Richer Americans began to move out of the cities into suburbs and by 1959 25% of Americans were suburban. By 1960 nearly all Americans had a TV and a car.

 2. Women workers. Women were needed in the factories to help with war production. The number of working mothers also increased rapidly. The percentage of women working rose from 27 to 37% by the end of the war.  This had long term effects on the status of women in society.  300,000 women joined the army, 7 million were needed in the workforce. Rosie the riveter was a famous poster to attract women into the factories. After the war most went back to their civilian lives, but many women carried on working, and attitudes to women working had changed forever.

3. Blacks. Like women many black Americans were needed to work during the war. The government needed 16 million extra workers during the war and many of these were black Americans. In 1941 Philip Randolph organised a march of 100,000 in Washington demanding the right to “work and fight for our country”. In 1942 CORE the congress of Racial Equality was set up, which later became active in the civil rights campaign.

There was still a lot of discrimination, but Roosevelt tried to help by awarding government contracts to firms that ended discrimination in the workplace. This was the “Fair Employment Practices Committee”. Black Americans also joined the army and fought in the war. There were 1 million blacks in the army, however the often fought in black only units with white officers. Eisenhower supported integrated units in the army and by the end of the war many black and white soldiers were fighting together. Possibly the biggest influence upon them was that they were fighting a racist dictator in Germany. When these soldiers returned home they found they were treated as second class citizens and could not vote. This was a big influence on the civil rights movement. By 1946 the NAACP had 460,000 members.

4. Japanese Americans. They were interned during the war and many lost their homes and property as a result. 120,000 were rounded up into camps in California alone. Although later many Japanese Americans served in the armed forces, and some argued that internment was against the US constitution.

5. Anti Communism. The US was fighting alongside Russia during the war, but immediately after the war tension between the USA and USSR increased as the Cold War began. Before the war many people had been afraid of communism, and these feelings returned in the late 40’s as the conflict between the capitalist west and the communist east increased. This set the stage for the “red Scare” in the 50’s and McCarthy’s witch hunts. In 1947 Truman declared that America would oppose communism across the world, and developed the Marshall plan to help build strong democratic, pro American states in Europe.

The Red Scare. 1945 to 1950

Immediately after the war the USA and USSR embarked in a long “Cold War” which divided the world into the Capitalist West and the Communist East. They stockpiled weapons against each other and came into conflict over Berlin in 1948 and Korea in 1950. In 1949 China went communist, the USSR exploded its first atomic bomb, and the USA began to fear that they were under threat.

1. The FBI under its anti- communist director J Edgar Hoover, had fought suspected communists in the 1930’s. In 1947 Truman, who was fighting communism abroad, allowed Hoover to set up the “Federal Employee Loyalty Programme” The FBI could investigate any government worker if they suspected they were a communist. In 3 years to 1950 they investigated 4 million people.

2. The House Un-American Activities Committee, was a government body which had the right o investigate anyone suspected of being a communist. Hoover told the committee that he knew many prominent people in American life were communists. He picked on Hollywood actors and producers, and the HUAC called them to give evidence. If anyone refused to answer their questions they were jailed for contempt of court. This made the HUAC very important, as now everyone had heard of it and many well known people were suspected of communist leanings. People could lose their jobs and go on the “Black List” a secret list held by Hoover, of all the people he felt could be communists.

3. In 1948 Alger Hiss, a senior member of the government, was prosecuted for spying for the Russians (by a young Richard Nixon.). Hiss spent 5 years in jail, and as a result people began to fear that even well respected members of the government could be secret communists.

4. Atomic Spies. In 1950 there was another spy scandal, this time involving scientists who were working on the US atomic bomb, and passing secrets to the Russians to enable them to make their own. The most famous were Klaus Fuchs, a German born British Physicist, and the Rosenbergs, a US couple who were tried and executed in 1953.

5. Finally the McCarran act said that no communist could have a US passport or work in the defence industries.

McCarthyism

From 1945 to 1950, people had been lead to believe that there were secret communists in all walks of life who were working towards the overthrow of the US government. This was the atmosphere that Senator Joseph McCarthy used in 1950 to advance his political career.

In 1950 McCarthy claimed he had a list of 205 communists in the state department. He also said he had a list of 57 communists in the government. This claim was not true, most had been people the FBI had investigated but found innocent. When a Senate committee chairman said that McCarthy’s claim was false, McCarthy simply accused him of being a communist.

McCarthy’s tactics were simple.

1. He made a claim or an accusation against an individual or organisation that they were communists.

2. If people criticised him for this he simply made an accusation against them. He said they were Un-American, or that they were themselves secret communists.

These tactics frightened people into silence, as no one wanted to make an enemy of McCarthy and find themselves on one of his lists. This is what is known as a “Witch Hunt”

McCarthy had a lot of success.

  1. Eisenhower appointed him head of a committee to investigate the government.
  2. In 1952 and 53 he extended his investigations into all walks of life.
  3. He attacked senior figures in the army and education. 100 lecturers were fired. 324 Hollywood actors writers and producers were sacked and blacklisted.
Join now!

Many Americans believed he was defending the country and saw him as a crusader against communism. They believed that communism was a real threat to the USA. In 1951 the war was going badly in Korea and McCarthy forced general Marshall to resign for “deliberately allowing communist victories”. He was accusing Marshall of being a communist himself.

However no more that 50% of the public supported him and many people spoke out against him despite the threats.  In 1954 he overreached himself and his campaign began to falter. McCarthy was never able to produce any actual facts to support ...

This is a preview of the whole essay