CHAPTER 27 Postwar America, Web

Reconversion Americans face two major questions at end of WWII: What will be relationship with Soviet Union? Will the economy thrive or flounder? Servicemen’s Readjustment Act (G.I. Bill) Provided new opportunities for veterans to purchase homes and attend college Economy surges forward as consumer spending begins in earnest Militancy of labor led to strikes

Affluence and Anxiety Baby booming Families place greater emphasis on children Listening to experts and agonizing over child rearing Woman displaced in workforce by returning vets Post-war women became nation’s primary consumers Many women still worked outside home, in “feminine” jobs Suburbia after the war Levittown Reinforced traditional family roles

The Soviet Threat Soviet containment Winston Churchill and the Iron Curtain George Kennan President unveils Truman Doctrine Civil war in Greece Implements help from Europe Marshall Plan 27 billion spent to help Europe recover National Security Act of 1947 Created National Security Council, Department of Defense, and the Central Intelligence Agency

Liberalism in Retreat House Un-American Activities Committee Searched for communists in America Alger Hiss and Whittaker Chambers Pumpkin Papers Taft-Hartley Act curbs power of unions and fosters racial discrimination Jackie Robinson breaks baseball’s color line Truman surprises experts with wins in 1948 Dixiecratics Strom Thurmond

Racial Segregation, 1949

Election of 1948 ©2004 Wadsworth, a division of Thomson Learning, Inc. Thomson Learning ™ is a trademark used herein under license.

Trouble in Asia Communism prevails in China in 1949 Chiang Kai-Shek Mao Tse-tung North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) North Korea invades South Korea in 1950 United States and United Nations send forces Douglas MacArthur Inchon Truman relieves MacArthur, April 1951

Korean War ©2004 Wadsworth, a division of Thomson Learning, Inc. Thomson Learning ™ is a trademark used herein under license.

McCarthyism and the Election of 1952 Red Scare brings fear and “McCarthyism” to U.S. Joseph McCarthy Dwight Eisenhower runs for presidency in 1952 Adlai Stevenson Richard Nixon is named running mate for Eisenhower Democratic attacks against Nixon backfired Checkers Ike elected president Republicans gain slim control of Congress

Presidential Election, 1952 Web

Discussion Questions Examine the rise of consumerism in the U.S. after the war. What role did the G.I. Bill play in post-war economy? What factors caused the U.S. and the Soviets go from allies to enemies? What were the causes of the Korean War? What was America’s reasons for becoming involved? What part did Alger Hiss and Joe McCarthy play in the “Red Scare” of the 1950s?