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CHANGING POLITICAL ENVIRONMENT 1917 - 80 (McCarthyism (ALGER HISS / KLAUS…
CHANGING POLITICAL ENVIRONMENT 1917 - 80
THE RISE AND DECLINE OF REPUBLICANISM
THE IMPACT OF WAR
During the first world war US industry had supplied Britain and France with materials - US farmers increased exports of food to Europe by 300%
US banks lent large sums of money to Britain and Italy - US banks did well due to interest
The USA had hardly been affected by the devastation of the war - the US was able to take over the export market from Britain
While Germany had been involved in war, the US took over leadership in the chemical industry
POLITICAL IMPACT OF WAR
COOLIDGE (republican 1923-29)
SUMMARY OF COOLIDGE
For African-Americans, it meant a return to discrimination and prejudice after fighting in the war and working in ammunitions - Coolidge did nothing for either group
1920 saw rising living standards and falling prices (for farmers however, it saw ruin)
Coolidge did nothing to control the stock-market boom or investigate the increasing number of fraudulent companies set up in the 1920's (laissez-faire approach to governing)
Coolidge succeeded Harding in 1923 (following his death)
1) laissez - faire
2) white middle class people liked him - he helped their standard of living
3) farmers and African Americans did not - he didn't help them at all
JFK (democrat 1961-1963)
He wanted to appeal to young people and revive the spirit of the 19th century
THE NEW FRONTIER
successes :
deliberately not balancing the budget to increase economic growth and reduce unemployment
a programme of public works that cost 9billion
a general tax cut and an increase in the minimum wage from $1.00 to $1.25
these were all ver successful although the real effects were only felt after his death
failures :
medicare - a system of state health insurance, improvements in education and housing
the area redevelopment act - which allowed the federal government to give loans and grants to states with long term unemployment
the manpower and training act that provided retraining for the unemployed
the housing act that provided cheap loans for the redevelopment of inner cities
Kennedy made enemies - he was a fast talking, intelligent, Catholic from New England - didn't go down well in the south
Kennedy was also very inexperienced and relied on argument to persuade his opponents
He failed completely to pass any civil rights legislation by the time of his death in Nov 1963
He was determined to reverse what he saw as the decline in the USA under Eisenhower and embarked on a series of social and economic reforms; the 'New Frontier'
Won the 1960 presidential election by the slimmest of margins - possibly because his father had connections with the Mafia
The traditional foreign policy of the USA was dictated by the Monroe Doctrine of 1823 - the US wouldn't interfere in Europe and visa versa
President Wilson wanted to continue ' interference' and proposed the League of Nations - congress rejected membership and never ratified (gave formal consent) the Treaty of Versailles - this was more a rejection of Wilson than of isolationism
Wilson had created opposition by staying in Europe 6 months and refusing to compromise over the membership of the League
This then set the election of an isolationist president in 1920 - Warren Harding's campaign slogan was 'America first'
1921 - 1933 : US was a laissez-faire society
Harding and Coolidge believed that it wasn't the function of governments to interfere in peoples lives by enacting laws unless vital American interests were threatened
Harding was elected in 1920, but died 3 years later
Harding's main aim was a 'return to normalcy' (back to the isolationist policies of pre war America)
He didn't propose to adopt the 'progressive' policies of pre war presidents
Harding's vice was Coolidge (later present) - both believed that the economy should be left to run itself
Rugged individualism - the idea that the US had been created by spirited adventures - people should therefore stand on their own two feet
Due to this belief, there were no trade unions and workers had to bargain for fair wages
It became impossible for workers to improve their condition without employment laws
Employers were suspicious of trade unions
1921 - 5.1 million Americans were members of trade unions / 1929 - dropped to 3.6 million
During these years, Republicans followed their belief in low taxations (1925 revenue act reduced and abolished a variety of taxes)
Fordney - McCumber Tariff (1922) and the Smoot - Hawley Act (1930) imposed high tarffs on imported goods to protect American industry from foreign competition
Limiting immigration was a strong feature of Republican policy - an immigration act in 1921 limited the number of immigrants allowed in each year from Europe, Australia, Japan, the Near East and Asia to 3% of the numbers resident in 1910
By 1929, the total number of immigrants allowed into the United States each year had been reduced to 150,000
Attempts to limit immigration were supported by those WASP (white, anglo-saxon protestant) Americans who supported the republican party
THE RED SCARE AND THE PALMER RAIDS
Fears over immigration led to the red scare of 1919 -1920. The year after ww1 saw the birth of international communism following the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia in 1917
This created the red scare - the idea that there were communists and anarchists everywhere and that they were the main reason for America's problems
Attorney General, Mitchell Palmer ordered raids on magazine officers, private houses, union headquarters and public meetings that spoke about anything controversial
New Years Day 1920 - the justice department rounded up 6,000 aliens and imprisoned them
5 elected members of the New York State Assembly were forced to resign under Palmer
RETURN TO 'NORMALCY' IN FOREIGN POLICY
Refusal to join the league of nations and the failure to ratify the treaty of versailles returned the US to isolation policy
US didn't completely abstain from international affairs
Washington naval arms conference Oct 1921 - secretary of state Hughes proposed the destruction of ships to balance the ratio of craft among the world's naval powers
Feb 1924 - 5 nations (US, Japan, GB, France and Italy) signed a treaty pledging to reduce battleship tonnage and to observe a 10 year moratorium on battleship construction
US and Japan agreed to respect territorial holdings in the Pacific
1924 treaty didn't prevent war but represented an effort to do so
Apart from these treaty's, the US followed isolationist foreign policy in the 1920's - didn't join league of nations or world court
Symbolic gestures replaced engagement - 1928 US and France co-sponsored the Kellogg-Briand Pact renouncing aggression and called for the outlawing of war - but US did nothin to stop militarism growth
McCarthyism
Growing cold war tensions raised concerns about US security and particularly the loyalty of the 80,000 communist party members, some of whom held key government positions
1945 - raid on the offices of pro-communist magazine revealed that classified information had been given by 2 state department employees and a naval intelligence officer
After WW2, increasing numbers of democrats and republicans took up these anti-communist sentiments
10 months later, the Canadian government exposed a major network of spies who had passed US military information and atomic secrets to the soviets during the war
The senate house committee of un american activities was formed as early as 1938 - served initially to denounce the new deal as a communist plot
March 1947 - Truman issued the executive order 9835 establishing loyalty checks on all government workers - criticism of foreign policy, enjoyment of foreign films, members of organisations declared disloyal could all lose their jobs
US involvement in Cold War policies after 1945 encouraged the view bthat that difficulties faced abroad resulted from treason and subversion (undermining of power and authority) at home
1947 - 1951, loyalty boards forced nearly 3,000 British government employees to resign and a further 300 were sacked on charges of disloyalty
Uni's banned controversial speakers - by the end of 1953(end of Truman presidency), 39 states had loyalty programmes
1947 - the house of un-american activities committee began hearings to expose communist influence in American life - people who refused to answer HUAC questions would lose their livelihoods
HUAC extended investigations into the entertainment industry - screenwriters and film directors who refused to cooperate were sent to prison
During election campaign in 1948, Truman accused the democratic party of having ties with communist groups
Smith acts of 1940 (which allowed the justice department to prosecute 11 leaders of the communist party) was deemed constitutional in 1951, stating that the removal of freedom of speech was constitutional when the safety of the country was in question
ALGER HISS / KLAUS FUCHS / ETHEL AND JULIUS ROSENBERG
The case of Alger Hiss heightened fears of the red scare
Hiss was a Harvard Law School graduate, who symbolised the US liberal establishment
Hiss served as a presidential adviser on foreign affairs, including the Yalta conference
He denied any communist ties and was supported by the Liberal party
Jan 1950 - convicted and received 5 years imprisonment - encouraged conservatives to seek out liberal/communist ties
Feb 1950 - British arrested Klaus Fuchs, a German born scientist (involved in the Manhattan project) for passing atomic secrets to the soviets. This also led to the arrest of 2 Americans, Ethel and Julius Rosenberg as fellow conspirators - both claimed they were being targeted because of their liberal belief
Neither pleaded guilty and were executed on June 9th 1953
MCARTHY
He claimed to have a list of 205 names known to the secretary of state as being members of the communist party
McCarthy advised national prominence - the senate committee found his accusations to be fake - but he continued with his campaign
Republican senator Joseph R.McCarthy of Wisconsin told an audience in West Virginia that communists in the state department had betrayed America
Many republicans encouraged McCarthy - he appealed to many conservative members of congress who were angry with the democratic support of welfare, restrictions and business and Europe-first emphasis of Truman's foreign policy
Blue collar workers (w/c) and Catholic ethnic groups too supported McCarthy
McCarthy offered deceptively simple answers to the cold war questions and gained increasing support from the Republican party
1950 - congress adopted the McCarran internal security act (against the wish of Truman) requiring organisations deemed communist by the attorney general to register with the department of justice and provide membership lists and financial statements
The act barred communists from employment in defence plants and authorised the government to deny them passports
The McCarran-Walter immigration act and the nationality act of 1952 - passed despite Truman's disproval - maintained the discriminatory quotas based on national origins
1952 - presidential election was fought out against a background of public apprehension about the loyalty of government officials and the stalemate in the Korean war - there was also resentment against Truman for his freeze on wages and prices as a result of the war
Democratic party hopes sank to their lowest levels since 1920 and Republicans won a major victory
Eisenhower disliked McCarthy intensely but was reluctant to confront him whereas Richard Nixon, the vice-presidential candidate continued to use his ideas to portray the Democrats as liberals and pro-Communist.
1954 - McCarthy accused the army of harbouring communist spies
The Army-McCarthy senate hearings began April 1954 and were televised - McCarthy's dark scowl, raspy voice and irrational outbursts left many disenchanted
1954- he was officially criticised by the committee chairmen for endless interruptions and showing contempt for its proceedings
The overall influence of McCarthy was that he helped create an environment where liberals, foreigners, intellectuals were seen as suspicious and a threat
HOOVER (republican 1929-1933)
Believed that great depression (1929) was a blip - when it turned out to be greater, he relied on voluntarism - i.e not federal help
By 1932 - he realised federal action was needed. Jan 1932 - congress gave 2billion to fund a new agency (the reconstruction finance corporation (RFC))
Also believed in 'rugged individualism' - was a self made millionaire - believed government shouldn't help poor families
RFC's purpose was to make loans to large economic organisations such as railroads and insurance companies
February - signed the glass-steagall act - allocated 750million of government gold reserves as loans to private businesses
July - signed legislation authorising the RFC to give 2billion to state and local governments for public works programmes
Couldn't turn presidency around and was defeated by Democrat Franklin Roosevelt
ROOSEVELT (democrat 1933-1945)
Immediately tackled unemployment through 'The New Deal'
'relief, recovery, reform' - 1933 aim was to provide work for 13million unemployed
Took office in march 1933 - 1953
THE ALPHABET AGENCIES
'first 100 days' many measures passed -
The emergency banking relief act - closed all banks for 4 days to quieten things down, they were investigated and reopened if they had enough funds
The CCC (civilian conservation corps) - gave work to 2million young Americans (however only 8,000 women) in the countryside, clearing forests, replanting trees and mending fences
The AAA (agricultural adjustment act) - tried to help farmers and encouraged them to switch to new crops and paid to stop overproducing others - farm income rose again - however was criticised as farmers killed animals, that could have been used for food
The TVA (Tennessee valley authority) -built a whole series of dams to control the floods at Tennessee river - meant that land could be used for farming and electricity
The NRA (national recovery administration) - had 2 parts:
The PWA (public works administration) - began major building schemes - providing jobs
The blue eagle - these were a series of agreements between employers and workers - set decent wages and good working conditions - goods produced under these rules displayed a 'blue eagle badge' - many businesses opposed Roosevelt for getting involved
Second new deal
Social security act 1935 - set up a basic system of welfare, including old age pensions, unemployment and sick pay
WPA (the workers progress administration) - biggest of all agencies - provided government money for many improvement schemes all over the US (bridges, hospitals, schools, airports and parks) - even artists were paid to write local guides and paint murals
Supreme Court also declared the AAA unconstitutional - so resettlement administration was set up to help farmers
Wagner act 1935 - gave all workers the right to join a trade union - passed because NRA was declared unconstitutional
HOW DID ROOSEVELT GAIN THE CONFIDENCE OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE?
He gave fireside chats in simple terms to explain what he was trying to achieve - kept people informed
He ordered that any letters sent to him must be answered and action must be taken
Used films of himself in and around the white house to gain public support - changing the role of the presidency
The new deal was the largest programme of federal legislation that had ever been undertaken - federal government had become involved in the day to day lives of US citizens
TRUMAN (democrat) (1945 - 72)
Truman followed similar policies to Roosevelt + initiated the 'Fair deal' - however, he was more interventionist than Roosevelt
Roosevelt had never attempted to tackle civil rights - Truman intended to do so
Roosevelt died in April 1945 - re-elected 3 times/ vice president Harry Truman succeeded him
He presented to congress a plan that included the expansion of social security and full employment / also wanted a permanent fair employment practice and public housing and slum clearance
1949 - put forward universal health care, increase in minimum wage, more funding for education and a guarantee of equal rights under the law for all citizens
partly successful - 1948, racial discrimination was banned in federal government employment, the military was desegregated and the minimum wage had gone up
But, national health insurance was rejected, as was more money for education
Truman faced opposition in congress from republicans, but also from his own democratic party
Southern democrats (dixiecrats) opposed attempts to extend civil rights and Truman was only able to desegregate the armed forces by using a presidential decree as commander in chief
Truman could have stood for re-election in 1952, but chose not to - Republican Dwight Eisenhower succeeded him
LYNDON B JOHNSON (democrat 1963 - 1969)
Johnson's Great Society :
The Voting Rights Act 1965
The Medicare Act - provided medicare (for the old), medicaid (for the poor) and tried to ensure equal healthcare for all
The Civil Rights Act 164
The Appalachian Recovery Programme applied the idea of FDR and TVA to other run down areas
The Office of Economic Opportunity - set up schemes to help poor people in inner cities: education, loans, community projects - this was the basis of Johnson's programme for poverty
The Elementary and Secondary Education Act provided the first major federal support for state education ever
The Model Cities Act continued Kennedy's policy of urban renewal
How successful was the Great Society?
At the beginning of his presidency, Johnson took advantage of the sympathy for the government after Kennedy's death
Later the policies brought huge opposition from Republican and Democratic party members
Johnson also had to wind many of his projects down because of the cost of the Vietnam war
Johnson too become worn down by the war and decided not to run for re-election in 1968
Johnson was a Texan, who had seen the effects of discrimination in the South - he was Kennedy's polar opposite and used his great size to bully, rather than argued
NIXON (republican 1964-1974)
His presidency ended in disgrace after the watergate scandal - the watergate scandal was caused by an attempt to bug the offices of the democrat party in the watergate building in Washington
5 men were arrested in June 1972 - they were employed by CREEP (committee to re-elect the President)
Nixon also announced the policy of Vietnamisation - making sure that the ARVN (army of the republic of vietnam) could defend the country on its own
Nixon stated that the white house wasn't involved in any of these activities, but at the same time authorised the payment of $460,000 to the five men
1969 - began peace talks and started the withdrawal of US forces, but at the same time stepped up attacks on North Vietnam
The trial took place after Nixon was re-elected and one of the 5 men admitted that the white house had been involved
His main tasks were tackling the divisions and violence that had broken out across the USA in 1968 and achieving 'peace with honour' in Vietnam
A senate committee was set up and many of Nixon's close advisors were forced to resign - the president however, continued to maintain his innocence and even appointed Archibald Cox as a special investigator, in hope that he would produce a whitewash
Nixon largely won the 1968 presidential election as result of his promising to end the Vietnam war
It was then revealed that all conversations in the white house since 1971 had been recorded on tape - the senate demanded these tapes, but Nixon refused to hand them over
November 1973 - some tapes were handed over and the public was shocked by the attitudes and language of Nixon, but the tapes had been edited. Nixon finally handed over the unedited tapes, only after a ruling from the supreme court and an announcement by the house of representatives that it would begin impeachment proceedings
The tapes proved that Nixon had lied and had tried to prevent the investigation, but not that he had known about the original break in and bugging - resigned in August 1974
Vietnam war
It persuaded Richard Nixon (republican candidate in 1968) that the US forces must be withdrawn from Vietnam
The Tet offensive came at a time when the US seemed to be winning the war, which is what made the offensive so shocking. It showed not only the government, but the people at home that the war could not be won
The most important event in the war in changing US opinion is now believed to be the Tet Offensive in Jan 1968
By 1967, 160 soldiers were being killed each week and returned to the US in body bags
Drug taking became common amongst the troops in Vietnam - 'fragging', killing or wounding officers with fragmentation grenades began in 1969 - more than half a million US soldiers deserted out of the 10million drafted
Other effects of the war
There was increasing opposition in the US by civil right's leaders because war led to money being taken out of the 'great society' funding
From 1968, there was a wave of protests throughout the USA, particularly in universities and some students were shot by the national guard to end unrest
Draft dodging became common as students tried to avoid being sent to Vietnam and news filtered back to the USA of the fighting in Vietnam, each soldier served for a year and more than 3million Americans served
This was not only the first war to be shown live on tv, but the first to be shown in colour. 1965 - viewers saw a GI set fire to a peasant's hut
1968 - they watched a Vietcong prisoner be shot dead and also showed GI's being torn apart and shot to pieces. 58,000 US troops died
1969 - truth about My Lai massacre was revealed along with an army film women and children being stripped and killed
A DECLINE IN CONFIDENCE (1986-80)
1960's had been a period of liberalism in many respects; youth culture, hippies and the women's movement were examples
The Vietnam war and the divisions over civil rights in the 1960's were serious problems for all US presidents during this period
THE COLD WAR: THE US AS A SUPERPOWER
He met Stalin at Potsdam and adopted an anti-soviet stance because of the failure to implement to Yalta declaration - personal belief in his policy showed his inexperience
From Feb 1947 - US involvement in Europe increased - 400million was given to the Greek government to help win the civil war against the communists
Truman was flung into the midst of the cold war following the death of Roosevelt, making the decision to drop the atom bomb with no experience of foreign policy
March 1947 - the Truman Doctrine was announced, followed by the Marshall aid in July
Truman doctrine - would provide political, military and economic assistance to all democratic nations under threat of internal or authoritarian forces
The Marshall plan - US would give over 12billion in economic support to help rebuild Western European economies after the war
The US and British zones in Germany were united in Bizonia; the French zone joined to become Trizonia in 1948
1949 - NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) was formed to protect Western Europe from further Soviet invasion - US forces were permanently stationed in Western Europe
June 1948 - the Berlin airlift was launched to prevent West Berlin from falling to the Soviet Union
Berlin Airlift - brought food and other essentials in West Berlin, following Stalins blockade
EISENHOWER (republican 1953-1961)
He improved social security, increased the minimum wage and created the department of health, education and welfare
1956 - created the interstate highway system - largest public works in US history - constructing 41,000 miles of road across the country, labelling as his greatest achievement
He continued most of the new deal and fair deal policies of his predecessors
Eisenhower however, was reluctant to intervene in difficult areas and refrained from publicly criticising McCarthy -working behind the scenes to discredit him
Eisenhower was likeable, social and fond of golf
Eisenhower was most reluctant in the realm of African American civil rights
Had been supreme allied commander during WW2 and was elected to sort out the Korean war (starting 1950)
1954 - case of Brown V The Board of Education of Topeka - supreme court ruled that educational segregation was constitutional. Eisenhower believed that desegregation should proceed slowly and was reluctant to use his authority to back up the enforcement of the courts verdict - cowardly
He did however, send federal troops to Little Rock Arkansas in Sept 1957 to enforce the integration of the high school after 9 students were banned -only acting after the events were published in the media
Eisenhower preferred to leave matters as they were, under the assumption that the USA was 'doing alright'. JFK however said that the US was 'stagnating'
Eisenhower was aided by the financial prosperity at the time, as the US had emerged as the global dominant economic power following the war
Eisenhower did sign civil rights legislation in 1957 and 1960 providing federal protection for African Americans, but there were no agencies to enforce the law