Western Europe and North America Chapter 12 Section 3

Western Europe: Recovery and New Unity ► Western Europe recovered rapidly due to the Marshal Plan ► In France, Charles de Gualle became president ► Under Gaulle, the French economy grew rapidly ► France became a large exporter of automobiles and weapons ► France successfully tested their first nuclear bomb in 1960 ► High cost of living and labor strikes ► Gaulle resigned from the presidency in April 1969

► In West Germany, Konrad Adenauer was the leader, helped the economy recover ► Unemployment dropped and remained low ► Britain was economically destroyed after the war ► Britain turned into a modern welfare state ► -this is a system in which the gov’t takes responsibility for providing citizens with services and a minimal standard of living ► The cost of their welfare program made Britain give up all of its colonies ► Britain was no longer a world power

► In 1957, France, West Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and Italy formed an economic alliance ► called the European Economic Community ► EEC countries would not tax each other’s goods, but rather tax goods from countries outside of EEC ► By the 1960’s, the EEC had become an important trading bloc- a group of nations with a common purpose

G. American Dominance ► Because of New Deal the U.S. recovered rapidly from WWII ► The Cold War led to the fear that communism was everywhere ► American soldiers were sent to fight communist North Korea ► This climate of fear produced a dangerous political agitator Senator Joseph McCarthy ► He charged that of communists were in high positions in the US gov’t ► This created the Red Scare, the fear in America that communism was going to take over ► McCarthy ruined hundreds of people their lives ► He was finally discredited when he accused the U.S. military of having communists

H. The 1960s and President Johnson ► JFK’s Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson took over after he was assassinated ► Johnson was passionate about the civil rights movement ► -this was the movement for equal rights for African Americans ► Brown v. Board of Education ruled that segregation in Schools was illegal ► In 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. led the civil rights movement ► He used peaceful protests just like Gandhi had used

► M.L.K.’s fight for civil rights resulted in the passage of the Civil Rights Act ► -this ended segregation in all public places ► Also led to the Voting Rights Act which made it easier for blacks to vote ► High employment rates among blacks led to race riots in the Watts district of L.A. ► In 1968, M.L.K. was assassinated, causing more race riots ► Antiwar demonstrations also caused rioting

I. Changing Values in Western Society ► After World War II, a new society emerged ► New inventions such as the computer, televisions, and jet planes altered the pace of society ► An increase in workers wages made it possible for people to buy more goods than ever ► The west became a consumer society -one that is preoccupied with buying goods rather than selling them ► Buying on credit also became more and more popular ► The automobile was also a symbol of the new society, with almost every family owning one