The War to End War 1917-1918Chapter 31

Entering WWI in response to Germany’s unrestricted submarine warfare, Wilson turned to America’s participation in a fervent ideological crusade for democracy that successfully stirred the public to a great voluntary effort, but at some cost to traditional civil liberties.

After America’s limited but important contribution to the Allied victory, a triumphant Wilson attempted to construct a peace based on his idealistic Fourteen Points. But European and senatorial opposition, and especially his own political errors, doomed American ratification of the Versailles Treaty and participation in the League of Nations.

Germany’s declaration of unlimited submarine warfare, supplemented by the Zimmerman note proposing an alliance with Mexico, finally caused the United States to declare war. Wilson aroused the country to patriotic heights by making the war an idealistic crusade for democracy and permanent peace based on his Fourteen Points.

Wartime propaganda stirred voluntary commitment to the war effort, but at the cost of suppressing dissent. Voluntary efforts also worked wonders in organizing industry, producing food, and financing the war. Labor, including women, made substantial wartime gains. The beginning of black migration to northern cities led to racial tensions and riots.

America’s soldiers took nearly a year to arrive in Europe, and they fought in only two major battles at the end of the war. America’s main contribution to the Allied victory was to provide supplies, personnel, and improved morale. Wilson’s immense prestige created high expectations for an idealistic peace, but his own political blunders and stubborn opposition to European statement forced him to compromise his lofty aims.

As Lodge stalled the treaty, Wilson tried to rouse the country on behalf of his cherished League, but his own physical collapse and refusal to compromise killed the treaty and the League. Republican isolationists turned Harding’s victory in 1920 into a death sentence for the League.

George Creel Eugene V. DebsBernard Baruch Herbert HooverAlice Paul Henry Lodge CabotWarren G. Harding James M. Cox

Self- Determination collective securityConscription “normalcy”

Zimmerman Note Fourteen PointsLeague of Nations Committee on Public InformationEspionage and Sedition Acts Schenk v. United States

Industrial Workers of the World War Industries BoardNineteenth Amendment Eighteenth AmendmentBolsheviks doughboysBig Four irreconcilablesTreaty of Versailles

When and why did Wilson break diplomatic relations with Germany? What was the Zimmerman Note and why was it so damaging? What finally brought the U.S. to war? What idea was Wilson trying to “sell” to the American people about the war? What were the Fourteen Points? According to Wilson, how would those points

provide for a system of collective security? What was the role of George Creel and the Committee on Public Information? What

was their biggest problem? Roles of Creel, Hoover, Baruch, and Taft What was the “state” of the United States upon entering World War I? How did the war abroad affect the civil liberties at home? What were the “wartime” amendments (18th and 19th)? What advancements were women able to make during the war years? How was labor treated during the war years? How did the Industrial Workers of the World make life extremely hard on themselves

during World War I? What were the circumstances and results of the 1919 steel strike? What was the effect of the Great Migration to northern cities by southern blacks? What really made wartime mobilization possible? Where did the money come from to pay for the war? Why did the government take over the railway system during the war? What methods were used by the government at home to fight the war? Why was conscription so unpopular? During the war, where did American troops see action? How was the war one of “firsts” for women? What was the result of the Brest-Litovsk Treaty (Russia’s withdrawal from the war)? Where was the most significant American troop engagement of the war? Why was the Second Battle of the Marne important? What were Wilson’s conditions for ending the war? What was the main contribution to the war given by the U.S. as opposed to its allies? What fact eventually demoralized the Germans? What was the major difference between Wilson and the other parliamentary

statesmen at the Paris peace talks? What were Wilson’s goals at the Paris Peace Conference? Why was there opposition at home to the League of Nations proposal? What was so

controversial about the document (Article X)? What was the Republican strategy when dealing with the League?

What was Wilson’s image after the Treaty of Versailles was signed? What was Wilson’s “solemn referendum” of 1920?

Summarize the impact of American participation in World War I ona. the national economy.b. civil liberties.c. public attitudes.

Summarize President Wilson’s Fourteen Points. Which were substantially attained as a result of American participation in World War I? Which were not? Why?

Why did President Wilson have such difficulty getting his own allies at the Paris Peace Conference to accept the principles of the Fourteen Points? To what extent did the Treaty of Versailles embody the principles of the Fourteen Points?

Why did President Wilson finally decide that the United States needed to enter World War I? Do you agree that the United States should have entered the war? Why or why not? Do you think that Wilson took the nation to war for the right reasons? Explain.

Why did the United States fail to join the League of Nations? Consider the role ofa. Wilson himself.b. Henry Cabot Lodge.c. the provisions of the Treaty of Versailles.d. American political traditions.

Assess the significance of Wilson’s moralistic idealism on hisa. call for America’s entry into World War I in 1917.b. Fourteen Points.c. campaign for American participation in the League of Nations.

President Wilson observed that woman suffrage was “a vitally necessary war measure.” Why? Do you think that prohibition was also a vitally necessary war measure? Why or why not?

Assess America’s contribution to the Allied victory in World War I. Do you think that the United States’ involvement was crucial to victory? Why or why not?

The Faults of the World War I Peace Settlement

When World War I came to a close in mid-November of 1918, many ideas were circulating in Europe as to what the peace settlement should entail. In Britain, leaders were thinking about how to increase British colonial power. In France, many wanted to permanently punish the Germans, partly in revenge for Germany's aggression in World War I, but also, perhaps subliminally, for the Franco-Prussian war in 1871. In Germany,

citizens were worried about how radical changes after the war could affect their daily lives. Finally, in the United States, President Wilson was already concocting a system of permanently preserving European peace. All these biases, worries, plans, and ideas came together in Paris in 1919, with the Treaty of Versailles, establishing the post-war peace in Europe. Yet just twenty years later, war would once again break out in Europe. So why were the peace settlements of World War I unable to prevent the outbreak of war twenty years later in World War II? To understand this, one must first have a detailed understanding of the World War I peace settlement at Versailles.

The first and most significant treaty signed after World War I was the Treaty of Versailles. The treaty, signed on the 28th of June 1919, was mainly orchestrated by David Lloyd George, representing Britain and Georges Clemenceau, representing France. Woodrow Wilson was the official representative of the United States, though he was often unable to attend due to sickness or other problems. When Wilson was in absentia, Secretary of State Robert Lansing represented the U.S. Italy also sent their Foreign Minister Sonnino to the negotiations. The Treaty of Versailles had two main issues on which it focused: Germany's post war territory and also the amount of reparations Germany must pay. In the East, Germany was literally split into two parts. The Allies decided that the nation of Poland should be given access to the sea, so they formed the "Polish Corridor." Poland gained a lot of territory from Germany, including a port on the Baltic, Danzig (Gdansk in Polish.) This isolated the region of Germany known as Eastern Prussia, which includes the city of Königsberg.

In the Western part of Germany, more changes were made. France gained the much sought after region of Alsace-Lorraine. The northern part of Schleswig was given to Denmark, an area that had been contested since the time of Bismarck. Belgium also gained the provinces of Eupen and Malmedy. The Rhineland was to be occupied heavily by allied forces, giving them control of such major cities as Cologne, Bonn and, Frankfurt, and putting troops at the gates of Dortmund and Stuttgart. Most importantly, the Saarland was placed under international rule, and control of its valuable Ruhr coal fields were given to France. In Article 50, Point 34 of the treaty it was determined that after 15 years, the Saarland would be allowed to hold a plebiscite to select, "a) Maintenance of the regime established by the present Treaty... b) Union with France, or c) Union with Germany. (1) Germany's borders had been diminished and the country was now split in half by the Treaty of Versailles.

Germany was also punished in regard to its colonial and imperial power. During the war, Germany had control of many small islands and archipelagos in the South Pacific. The Treaty of Versailles gave these islands to Britain and Japan. In Africa, France gained the Cameroon from Germany and Britain was given German East Africa and German West Africa. All German assets in other colonies were to be immediately dissolved into the current government of those colonies. Finally, Germany's military was to be greatly reduced in size. The Treaty mandated that Germany's standing army could be no larger than 100,000 men. In addition, their Navy was reduced, and according to Article 198, "The armed forces of Germany must not include any military or naval air forces." (2)

Germany's army was, in effect, useless, and without an air force, the Allies hoped that Germany would be unable ever to wage war.

The Treaty of Versailles also charged Germany with the task of paying heavy reparations. The treaty set up a reparations committee that would meet sometime in 1921 to determine reparations for Germany to pay. Until then, Germany would pay $5,000,000,000 due May 1, 1921. The Germans would have to wait to see what reparations they would really pay. Until then, though, they started on the $5,000,000,000, already a very daunting task for the nation.

The economic strain put on Germany was probably the single most important factor in increasing hostility of the Germans towards Britain and France. The Germans by 1921 had paid off almost half of the $5,000,000,000 charged by Versailles. Then the reparations committee finally met and determined that Germany should pay another $25,000,000,000, plus other costs, bringing the total up to $32,500,000,000 to be paid by 1963! (3) This demand, however, was ridiculous. Germany had hardly enough money to pay the entire original fee. In 1918, the German Reichsbank had only $577,089,500 dollars. (4) This demand would crush the German economy, and many experts predicted it could even cause the starvation of the German people. Leading economist of the time John Maynard Keynes said of this, "The policy of reducing Germany to servitude for a generation, of degrading the lives of millions of human beings, and of depriving a whole nation of happiness should be abhorrent and detestable . . . . Nations are not authorized, by religion or by natural morals, to visit on the children of their enemies the misdoings of parents or rulers." (5) Very ironically, Keynes made this observation in a book in 1920, a year before the reparations committee officially added on the new $25,000,000,000 fine!

Not only were Britain and France overly vindictive in assessing these reparations, but they were also short-sighted in thinking they would derive anything beneficial out of it. Basically, Britain and France demanded all of Germany's money, yet they also took away all territory from Germany that could produce this money. By taking away Germany's colonies, they, in effect, eliminated all of Germany's investments and assets in their Colonial power. Future income and industry generated from these colonies would not be there for Germany. More devastating was taking away Germany's coal-producing territories. Germany, according to 1913 figures, used 139,000,000 tons of coal to enable its railroads, utilities, house-fuel, agriculture, etc. The provinces of Alsace-Lorraine, the Saarland, and Upper Silesia accounted for 60,800,000 of those tons, all of which was taken away from Germany. (6) More than half of Germany's coal was to be taken away, with not enough left to power the heavily populated industrial country. With German industry completely destroyed, there was no practical way for them to pay Britain and France.

Although not allowed to participate in the oral negotiations, Germany had made several counter proposals dealing with the territorial adjustments and the reparations. Germany was willing to give up Alsace-Lorraine, the province of Posen, and Northern Schleswig. They also agreed to pay in full the reparations, but wanted to have their economy preserved by retaining their merchant fleet, and keeping their colonies. The Allies

immediately censored these proposals, probably so they could not rouse sympathy for the German side. The proposals were not released until June 17th of 1919, only eleven days before the treaty was signed. In retrospect, many from Britain and France regretted not having agreed with or at least considered this counter proposal. In 1928, a Paris newspaper showed a picture of the German head delegate Count Brockdorff-Rantzau, saying, "The man who offered us 100 milliard gold marks at Versailles, which we unluckily refused." (7) Germany realized that there was no way they could pay the reparations if their industrial territories, such as the Saar Basin, and their colonies were taken away. Unfortunately, the Allies did not see this. With the counter-proposals denied, Germany's only other option was to resort to printing more money. This would cause massive inflation, further devastating the German economy. In 1918, there were seven German Marks to the United States Dollar. In 1923, 4,210,500,000,000 Marks equaled the dollar! (8) Germany's last economic resort had been disastrous.

German aggression was greatly aroused by the ridiculous and often mistaken territorial adjustments made by Britain and France. One such incident was in the transfer of German territory to Poland. The allies had determined that the territory of Allenstein, in the eastern part of Germany should be given to Poland. The German delegation sent a counter-proposal stating that Allenstein had a large German population, and the Polish population was miniscule. Clemenceau answered this proposal by saying, "It is difficult to understand the objections raised by the German delegations . . . According to the best of our information there exists in the Government of Allenstein a considerable Polish majority." When a plebiscite was actually held there, 97.9% of the population voted to be part of Germany, with the remaining 2.1% wanting to join with Poland. (9)

Although Allenstein was eventually granted to Germany, the main problem is obvious. The Allies postponed other plebiscites in Upper Silesia, most likely to prevent a similar setback from occurring. Germany had a significantly greater population than Poland in almost every territory taken away from them, and the allies probably knew this. What greater way of creating animosity is there than taking masses of people from their country? The Allies were very ignorant in this case, ignoring the fact that they were brewing hatred all throughout Germany by taking territories that were almost 100% German away from Germany. This incident clearly showed that Clemenceau was out for revenge, not seeking true peace. For France, the settlement was in reaction to not only 1914, but also more importantly 1871.

Not all of the Allies were against Germany in this manner. Woodrow Wilson had a different idea of what the settlement should be, which he called the 14 points. These were more lenient than what Britain and France wanted, and Wilson believed they were more oriented to preserving the peace and status quo in Europe. Wilson thought that Germany should retain most of its pre-war territory, with the exception of Alsace-Lorraine going to France. Wilson also believed that Germany should pay little or no reparations, and thought Europe should form a "League of Nations," to preserve the peace. He even thought that Germany should eventually be allowed into the League. Yet these ideas were immediately mocked and Wilson was personally insulted by members of both the French and British governments. During one round of negotiations where Wilson was presenting

his 14 points, Clemenceau is said to have turned and whispered to Lloyd George saying, "You know that God Himself had only 10!" (10) Another British delegate General Henry Wilson referred to President Wilson as a, "vain, ignorant, weak ass." (11) The League of Nations was created, but perhaps because most of Wilson's other points were ignored, the United States did not join. Whether or not Woodrow Wilson's peace would have fared better than the Treaty of Versailles is really immaterial; no one will ever know. But the fact that Wilson was simply ignored, mocked, and insulted, reinforces the idea that Britain and France only cared about punishing Germany, not seeking peace.

Britain and France had now completed one of the most devastating peace treaties in history. Mistakes had been made that would increase German aggression, and would drive Germany to desperate options. The economic impacts and the territorial changes worked in tandem to do this. Germany had no capacity to pay the reparations, without having their territories and colonies. If Germany refused to pay the reparations, even more territory would be occupied. This gave Germany reason to rearm and aggressively retake their territories such as the Saar Basin and the Rhineland. In addition, the political situation in Germany easily allowed the rise of radical ideas. With the inflation, the Weimar Republic, which was governing Germany in the early 20s, collapsed and socialist revolts and strikes in cities like Kiel caused total political upheaval. In addition, the hatred of Britain and France for taking Germans away from their nation in places like Danzig and Alsace-Lorraine created even more instability.

All these factors, ignored by those who created the treaty, easily allowed Adolf Hitler to come to power. Hitler was a very charismatic leader, and an excellent speaker, and was offering solutions to the economic and social hardships of Germany, combined with national pride. The German people immediately were willing to join his cause, no matter how radical it was. Soon, Hitler began to remilitarize Germany, planning to regain the territories lost with the Versailles Treaty, with great nationalist support from the German people. As for the League of Nations, it was unable to do anything. Britain and France were often to busy worrying about their own economic and social problems of the time to worry about foreign affairs, yet alone wage another war. Hitler had carefully analyzed the League's reactions toward other aggression at the time. When Japan invaded Manchuria, the League let it pass. Similarly, when Mussolini attacked Ethiopia in 1935, the Allies only imposed economic sanctions on Italy, which were actually ignored by most League members. If the League of Nations would have been stronger, perhaps with the assistance of the United States, aggression by Germany, Italy and Japan could have been prevented. But the U.S was still angry about being ignored at Versailles, and maintained a very isolationist policy. (Germany actually declared war on the United States before the U.S chose to enter the European front of World War II.) Finally, the League of Nations had to resort to the weak policy of Appeasement, championed by British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain. Hitler and Germany were able to take over the Rhineland, the Saarland, the Sudetenland, (which had been given to the nation of Czechoslovakia by the peace settlements) and unify with Austria with the League left only to watch. Finally, on the 1st of September 1939, just 20 years after the end of World War I, Hitler invaded Poland. The Treaty of Versailles had failed; Europe was once again at war.

The Treaty of Versailles had one true plan in preserving the peace, to completely eliminate Germany's territorial, imperial, military, and economic power so much, that the country could never wage war again. The means of doing this in the treaty, however, were faulted and contradictory. Under the threat of military action, Germany was forced to pay huge reparations to Britain and France. But all of Germany's income producing territories and colonies had been taken away; it was impossible for them to pay. With the economy devastated, Germany turned to demagoguery and radical ideas with Adolf Hitler, and would eventually wage war on Britain, France, and many others. Many at the time of the Treaty of Versailles knew that there would be problems with it; myopic revenge and punishment would not preserve the peace. Some even tried to publicly offer solutions like Woodrow Wilson and John Maynard Keynes. Unfortunately, the leaders of Britain and France ignored these problems and signed the Treaty of Versailles into existence. David Lloyd George of Britain would live to see the horrific fighting and casualties in World War II. Georges Clemenceau died in 1929 without a single regret for the Treaty of Versailles.

American Life in the “Roaring Twenties,” 1919-1929Chapter 32

A disillusioned America turned away from idealism and reform after World War I and toward social conservatism and the pleasures of prosperity.

New technologies, mass-marketing techniques, and new forms of entertainment fostered rapid cultural change along with a focus on consumer goods. But the accompanying change in moral values and uncertainty about the future produced cultural anxiety as well as sharp intellectual critiques of American life.

After the crusading idealism of World War I, America turned inward and became hostile to anything foreign or different. Radicals were targeted in the red scare and the Sacco-Vanzetti case, while the resurgent Ku Klux Klan joined other forces in bringing about pronounced restrictions on further immigration. Sharp cultural conflicts occurred over the prohibition experiment and evolution.

A new mass-consumption economy fueled the spectacular prosperity of the 1920s. The automobile industry, led by Henry Ford, transformed the economy and altered American lifestyles.

The pervasive media of radio and film altered popular culture and values. Birth control and Freudian psychology overturned traditional sexual standards, especially for women. Young literary rebels, many originally from the Midwest, scorned genteel New England and small-town culture and searched for new values as far away as Europe. The stock-market boom symbolized the free-wheeling spirit of the decade.

A. Mitchell Palmer Al CaponeJohn Dewey John T. ScopesWilliam Jennings Bryan Clarence DarrowAndrew Mellon Bruce Barton

Henry Ford Frederick W. TaylorCharles Lindbergh Margaret SangerSigmund Freud H.L. MenckenF. Scott Fitzgerald Ernest HemingwaySinclair Lewis William Faulkner

Nativist progressive educationBuying on the margin

Red scare Sacco and VanzettiKu Klux Klan Emergency Quota ActImmigration Quota Act Volstead ActFundamentalism Modernists“flappers” Florida land boom

Why did the United States, which had welcomed so many millions of immigrants for nearly a century, suddenly become so fearful of immigration in the 1920s that it virtually ended mass immigration for two decades?

To what extent was the Scopes Trial only about competing theories of human origins, and to what extent was it simply a focal point for deeper concerns regarding the role of religion and traditional moral authorities in American life and the new cultural power of science.

Was the new “mass culture” as reflected in Hollywood films and radio a source of moral and social change, or did it really reinforce the essentially conservative business and social values of the time? (Consider the role of commercial advertising in particular.)

Were the intellectual critics of the 1920s really disillusioned with the fundamental character of American life, or were they actually loyal to a vision of a better America, and only hiding their idealism behind a veneer of disillusionment and irony?

The 1920s was a time of “heroes.” Why? Explain why Charles Lindbergh and Henry Ford were so greatly admired in this decade.

Describe the dominant themes of American literature in the 1920s. Explain why themes prevailed.

Do you think that the “noble experiment” of prohibition did more harm than good or vice-versa? Explain your view by citing specific consequences of the prohibition amendment.

List at least five major economic and/or technological developments of the 1920s. Select the three most significant ones and explain your choices.

Explain how the automobile industry in the 1920s had an impact on the national economy similar tot hat of the railroad industry in the 1870s and 1880s.

The text authors agree that immigration legislation in the 1920s “caused America to sacrifice something of its tradition of freedom and opportunity, as well as much of its color and variety.” How do you react to this argument? Do you agree that immigration restrictions were necessary? Why or why not?

Do you see any hidden dangers in the social and economic life that Americans pursued in the 1920s for which they would one day have to pay? What were these dangers, and in what way were they potentially threatening?

1. Explain the terms of the Immigration Act of 1924. How a member of the Klan would have received such news? Why?

2. How was the Scopes trial a focal point of the deep conflicts over religion and culture in the 1920s?

3. Name three post-trial items that were found that contradicted the guilty verdict given to Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti. What really seemed to bring their doom? Under what circumstances might we see similar activities in America today?

4. When was the first time that the U.S. had been bombed from the air? How was the event a microcosm for race relations in the 1920s?

5. What aspects of the Harlem Renaissance were controversial to Langston Hughes?

6. In what year and by whom was the National Negro History Week established?

7. What was Marcus Garvey’s biggest problem with the NAACP? According the Garvey, who should be the “true” leaders of the Negro race?

The Politics of Boom and Bust, 1920-1932Ch. 33

The Republican administrations of the prosperous 1920s pursued conservative, pro-business policies at home and economic unilateralism abroad.

The great crash of 1929 led to a severe, prolonged depression that devastated the American economy and spirit, and resisted Hoover’s limited efforts to correct it.

The Republican governments of the 1920s carried out of active, pro-business policies while undermining much of the progressive legacy by neglect. The Washington Naval Conference indicated America’s desire to withdraw from international involvements. Sky-high tariffs protected America’s booming industry but caused severe economic troubles elsewhere in the world.

As the Harding scandals broke, the puritanical Calvin Coolidge replaced his morally easygoing predecessor. Feuding Democrats and La Follette progressives fell easy victims to Republican prosperity.

American demands for strict repayment of war debts created international economic difficulties. The Dawes plan provided temporary relief, but the Hawley-Smoot Tariff proved devastating to international trade.

The stock-market crash of 1929 brought a sudden end to prosperity and plunged America into a horrible depression. Herbert Hoover’s reputation collapsed as he failed to relieve national suffering, although he did make unprecedented but limited efforts to revive the economy through federal assistance.

Warren G. Harding Charles Evans HughesAndrew Mellon Herbert HooverAlbert B. Fall Harry M. DaughertyCharles R. Forbes Calvin CoolidgeJohn W. Davis Robert La FolletteAlfred E. Smith“Ohio Gang” trade associationsAmerican Legion Washington ConferenceKellogg-Briand Pact Fordney-McCumber TariffTeapot Dome scandal farm blockMcNary-Haugen Bill Dawes PlanAgricultural Marketing Act Hawley-Smoot TariffBlack Friday Muscle Shoals BillReconstruction Finance Corporation Bonus ArmyStimson doctrine

1. In what ways were the 1920s a reaction against the progressive era?

2. Was the American isolationism of the 1920s linked to the rise of movements like the Ku Klux Klan? In what ways did movements like fundamentalism reflect similar “anti-modern” outlooks, and in what ways did they reflect more basic religious disagreements?

3. To what extent did the policies of the booming 1920s contribute to the depression?

4. How did the depression challenge the traditional belief of Hoover and other Americans in “rugged individualism”?

Dawes Plan presented in 1924 by the committee headed (1923–24) by Charles G. Dawes to the Reparations Commission of the Allied nations. It was accepted the same year by Germany and the Allies. The Dawes committee consisted of ten representatives, two each from Belgium, France, Great Britain, Italy, and the United States; it was entrusted with finding a solution for the collection of the German reparations debt, set at almost 20 billion marks. Germany had been lagging in payment of this obligation, and the Dawes Plan provided that the Ruhr area be evacuated by Allied occupation troops, that reparation payment should begin at 1 billion marks for the first year and should rise over a period of four years to 2.5 billion marks per year, that the German Reichsbank be reorganized under Allied supervision, and that the sources for the reparation money should include transportation, excise, and custom taxes. The plan went into effect in Sept., 1924. Although German business picked up and reparations payments were made promptly, it became obvious that Germany could not long continue those huge annual payments. As a result, the Young Plan was substituted in 1929.

Young Plan program for settlement of German reparations debts after World War I. It was presented by the committee headed (1929–30) by Owen D. Young. After the Dawes Plan was put into operation (1924), it became apparent that Germany could not meet the huge annual payments, especially over an indefinite period of time. The Young Plan—which set the total reparations at $26,350,000,000 to be paid over a period of 581/2 years—was thus adopted by the Allied Powers in 1930 to supersede the Dawes Plan. Designed to substitute a definite settlement under which Germany would know the exact extent of German obligations and to reduce the payments appreciably, the Young Plan divided the annual payment, set at about $473 million, into two elements—an unconditional part (one third of the sum) and a postponable part (the remainder). The annuities were to be raised through a transportation tax and from the budget. No sooner had the plan gone into effect than Germany felt the full impact of economic depression, and a moratorium was called for the fiscal year 1931–32. When Adolf Hitler took over Germany, he defaulted on the unpaid reparations debt. After Germany’s defeat in World War II, an international conference decided (1953) that Germany would pay the remaining debt only after the country was reunified. Nonetheless, West Germany paid off the principal by 1980; then in 1995, after reunification, the new German government announced it would resume payments of the interest.

Kellogg-Briand Pact , agreement, signed Aug. 27, 1928, condemning “recourse to war for the solution of international controversies.” It is more properly known as the Pact of Paris. In June, 1927, Aristide Briand, foreign minister of France, proposed to the U.S. government a treaty outlawing war between the two countries. Frank B. Kellogg, the U.S. Secretary of State, returned a proposal for a general pact against war, and after prolonged negotiations the Pact of Paris was signed by 15 nations—Australia, Belgium, Canada,

Czechoslovakia, France, Germany, Great Britain, India, the Irish Free State, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Poland, South Africa, and the United States. The contracting parties agreed that settlement of all conflicts, no matter of what origin or nature, that might arise among them should be sought only by pacific means and that war was to be renounced as an instrument of national policy. Although 62 nations ultimately ratified the pact, its effectiveness was vitiated by its failure to provide measures of enforcement. The Kellogg-Briand Pact was given an unenthusiastic reception by many countries. The U.S. Senate, ratifying the treaty with only one dissenting vote, still insisted that there must be no curtailment of America's right of self-defense and that the United States was not compelled to take action against countries that broke the treaty. The pact never made a meaningful contribution to international order, although it was invoked in 1929 with some success, when China and the USSR reached a tense moment over possession of the Chinese Eastern RR in Manchuria. Ultimately, however, the pact proved to be meaningless, especially with the practice of waging undeclared wars in the 1930s (e.g., the Japanese invasion of Manchuria in 1931, the Italian invasion of Ethiopia in 1935, and the German occupation of Austria in 1938).

McNary-Haugen Farm LegislationThe most prominent attempts to legislate farm assistance in the 1920s were the McNary-Haugen bills, named after Republican Senator Charles McNary of Oregon, chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, and Representative Gilbert N. Haugen of Iowa. Together they sponsored legislation intended to help farmers get higher prices for their goods. The bills they drafted proposed that the federal government boost agricultural prices by buying up surpluses at a fair price level, disposing of them on foreign markets at a loss, and recovering that loss through a fee assessed against agricultural producers.

The first McNary-Haugen-sponsored Agricultural Surplus Control Bill began to make its way through Congress in 1924 but did not reach a vote until 1927. It passed Congress on February 17, 1927, but President Coolidge vetoed it on February 25, 1927. Coolidge also vetoed a second bill on May 23, 1928. The president feared that supporting farmers in this way would perpetuate rather than solve the central problem of agricultural overproduction. Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover also opposed the McNary-Haugen remedy. Once Hoover became president, however, he faced the congressional farm bloc's ongoing demands and in 1929 signed into law a compromise measure, the Agricultural Credits and Marketing Act. This legislation was intended to stabilize farm prices. It provided federal assistance to for agricultural marketing associations and emergency price-support operations. A photograph taken on June 15, 1929, shows Senator McNary and Representative Haugen celebrating after President Hoover had signed the compromise bill.

Characteristics of Harding’s PresidencyChapter 33

Domestic Policy “Tweaking” laissez-faire economics

Use of Tariffs: Fordney-McCumber Tariff vs. Euro reaction* purpose:

* Who’s for, who’s against, and why?

Foreign Policy Isolationist except for…

* Middle East: What brought on the situation? Future ramifications?

* Washington Disarmament Conference: Conditions? Who wins? Who loses? What is the purpose?

* Five Power Naval Treaty: Who and why?

* Four Power Treaty: Who and why?

* Nine Power Treaty: Who and why?

* Kellogg-Briand Pact: Purpose and flaws?

Personal Appointed Cabinet Positions

o Fallo Forbeso Daugherty

* Scandals* Teapot Dome* Veteran’s Administration* Liquor sale and pardons

* Supreme Court: Why do they keep siding with business? How was Taft a little different?

Why does Adkins v. Children’s Hospital overturn Muller v. Oregon? Which ruling do you agree the most with?

1. What were considered weaknesses of Warren G. Harding as president?2. Who held what positions in Harding’s cabinet? Which of those individuals was

considered one of the “worst minds” of the cabinet? Why?3. What did Harding’s economic policy look like? How was it different than the typical

laissez-faire policy?4. What stance did the Supreme Court typically take in the 1920s (which way did they

usually slant)?5. Who (what) was adversely affected by the U.S.’s demobilization policies after WWI?6. What did Muller and Adkins have in common?7. What non-business group saw the most significant and lasting gains from WWI?

Why?8. Even though Harding has been called an isolationist, why might that have not held

true?9. Why was Harding willing to take the initiative on the issue of international

disarmament?10. What were the main points and the purpose of the Kellogg-Briand Pact?11. What did Fordney-McCumber and Hawley-Smoot have in common? What was the

result of such activity? Do you agree with the purpose of such measures?12. What was Teapot Dome?13. Which of Harding’s cabinet members actually went to jail? Why was the public so

willing to look past those activities?14. How was Coolidge different from Harding and refreshing for the Republican Party?15. Whose interests set the tone for the government policies under Coolidge?16. What major problems were facing the farmers of the 1920s?17. What legislation did Coolidge continue to refuse to sign? Why?18. Who were the intended beneficiaries of the McNary-Haugen Bill and the Norris-

LaGuardia Act?19. Which “split” hurt the Democratic party in 1924?20. What was the platform of LaFollette’s Progressive Party? Why did they not do well

in the 1924 election?21. What American action disputed the fact that we had a general indifference to the

outside world?22. What arguments were put forth by European allies concerning why they should not

have to repay U.S. loans from World War I?23. What was the result of America’s insistent that war debts be repaid from World War

I?24. What major foreign-policy problem was addressed by the Dawes Plan?25. Who was considered to be the most colorful candidate for president in the 1920s?26. What were Alfred E. Smith’s political liabilities?27. What was one of Hoover’s chief strengths as a presidential candidate? What was his

background upon entering the White House?28. What was Hoover’s plan for ending the Depression?

29. What was the purpose of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation?30. What happened with the Bonus Marchers? Was the situation helpful or harmful to

Hoover?31. What was Japan’s reaction to the League of Nations’ investigation into their invasion

and occupation of Manchuria?32. What was the 1932 Stimson Doctrine?

33. Compare the personal characteristics of Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover. What did they have in common? How do their personal qualities help to explain their political success in the 1920s?

34. What evidence indicated throughout the 1920s that the economy was not as healthy as most believed? Why weren’t these weaknesses addressed?

35. In what ways did the Washington Conference, Kellogg-Briand Pact, and Stimson Doctrine fall short of ensuring American national security?

36. Why was the Harding administration so scandal-ridden? Consider both Harding’s personal qualities and the postwar climate. What long-term impact did these scandals have on Harding’s reputation, the Republican party, and American national interests?

37. Outline and explain the causes of the great crash of 1929. Why did it come so unexpectedly?

38. Describe the relationship between American tariff policy, war debts and reparations, and the Great Depression. Explain why the federal government adopted the tariff and debt-repayment policies it did. Assess the wisdom of those policies.

39. Historians have not looked too kindly on the presidents of the 1920s, usually judging them as mediocre. Do you agree with this evaluation of their performance? Explain.

The Great Depression and the New Deal, 1933-1938Chapter34

Roosevelt’s New Deal tackled the Great Depression with massive federal programs designed to bring about relief, recovery and reform

Confident, aristocratic Roosevelt swept into office with an urgent mandate to cope with the depression emergency. His bank holiday and frantic Hundred Days lifted spirits and created a host of new agencies to provide relief to the unemployed, economic recovery, and permanent reform of the system.

Roosevelt’s programs put millions of the unemployed back on the job through federal action. As popular demagogues like Huey Long and Father Charles Coughlin increased their appeal to the suffering population, Roosevelt developed sweeping programs to reorganize and reform American history, labor, and agriculture. The TVA,

Social Security, and the Wagner Act brought far-reaching changes that especially benefited the economically disadvantaged.

Conservatives furiously denounced the New Deal, but Roosevelt formed a powerful coalition of urbanites, labor, “new immigrants,” blacks, and the South that swept him to victory in 1936.

Roosevelt’s Court-packing plan failed, but the Court finally began to approve New Deal legislation. The later New Deal encountered mounting conservative opposition and the stubborn persistence of unemployment. Although the New Deal was highly controversial, it saved America from extreme right-wing or left-wing dictatorship.

Franklin D. Roosevelt Eleanor RooseveltHarry Hopkins Frances PerkinsFather Coughlin Huey LongFrancis Townsend Harold IckesGeorge W. Norris John L. LewisAlfred M. LandonBoondoggling parityNew Deal Brain TrustHundred Days the “three Rs”Glass-Steagall Act Civilian Conservation CorpsWorks Progress Administration National Recovery ActSchechter case Public Works AdministrationAgricultural Adjustment Act Dust BowlSecurities and Exchange Commission Tennessee Valley AuthorityFederal Housing Authority Social Security ActWagener Act National Labor Relations BoardCongress of Industrial Organizations Liberty LeagueRoosevelt coalition 20th and 21st AmendmentsCourt-packing scheme

Which of Roosevelt’s measures were most effecting in fighting the depression?

Why?

How did Roosevelt alter the role of the federal government in American life?

How did ordinary workers and farmers effect social change in the 1930s?

What were the positive and negative effects of the New Deal’s use of the federal government as an agency of social reform?

1. What contributed to Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s (FDR) compassion and strength of will?

2. Who was the “champion of the dispossessed?”

3. What was the 1932 Democratic party platform? How were they in a good position compared to the Republican party?

4. What campaign promise was made by FDR to attack the Great Depression?5. What were the “Hundred Days?”6. What role did African Americans play in the 1932 election?7. Why did Hoover try to get FDR to cooperate on long-term solutions to the

Depression?8. What was FDR’s relationship with Congress upon his election?9. Define “relief, recovery, reform.” List the New Deal items that would fall under each

category.10. What was the Glass-Steagall Act?11. What was the most pressing problem facing FDR when he became president?12. What was FDR’s “managed currency?”13. Which New Deal programs were probably the most popular, most complex, and most

radical?14. Who was FDR’s chief “administrator of relief”?15. Coughlin, Long, Townsend, Hoover – what did they all have in common?16. Why was Long so popular on the national level?17. Wagner, Hopkins, Ickes, Perkins – what did they have in common?18. Why did the National Recovery Act (NRA) begin to fail?19. How did the Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) proposed to solve the “farm

problem”?20. How did the Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) raise money to pay to farmers not to

grow crops?21. What were the 20th and 21st Amendments?22. What contributed to the Dust Bowl?23. What was the purpose of the 1935 Resettlement Administration?24. What did the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 attempt to do?25. Where did most Dust Bowl migrants go and how did they escape the deprivation and

uncertainty of seasonal farm labor?26. What was the goal of the Federal Securities Act?27. Why did the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) draw criticism?28. What was provided in the Social Security Act of 1935?29. What was the Wagner Act of 1935?30. Who was most benefited by the National Labor Relations Act?31. What was the primary interest of the Congress of Industrial Organizations?32. What was “court-packing” and why did it fail?33. What was the 1937 “Roosevelt recession” and what came from it?

34. Account for Franklin Roosevelt’s election victory in 1932 and his landslide triumph in 1936.

35. Compare and contrast the first two years of the New Deal with the later New Deal after 1934. Account for the differences.

36. How “revolutionary” was the New Deal? Evaluate the significant changes that it wrought and determine how different the nation became because of it.

37. Select the three most important programs of the New Deal, explain what they did, and tell why you chose these three.

38. Had you lived at the time, do you think you would have been pro- or anti-Roosevelt? Why? Cite specific actions of President Roosevelt and the New Dealers to illustrate your position.

39. The text authors conclude that Franklin Roosevelt “was in fact Hamiltonian in his espousal of big government, but Jeffersonian in his concern for the ‘forgotten man.’” With this as a thesis sentence, write an essay that uses specific parts of the New Deal program to support both halves of your thesis.

40. Cite evidence to demonstrate that “the most damning indictment of the New Deal was that it failed to cure the Depression.” Then cite achievements of value that the New Deal did in fact accomplish.

Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Shadow of War, 1933-1941Ch. 35

In the early and mid-1930s, the United States attempted to isolate itself from foreign involvements and wars. But by the end of the decade, the spread of totalitarianism and war in Europe forced Roosevelt to provide more and more assistance to desperate Britain, despite strong isolationist opposition.

Roosevelt’s early foreign policies, such as wrecking the London economic conference and establishing the Good Neighbor policy in Latin America, were governed by concern for domestic recovery and reflected America’s desire for a less active role in the world. America virtually withdrew from all European affairs, and promised independence to the Philippines as an attempt to avoid Asian commitments.

Depression-spawned chaos in Europe and Asia strengthened the isolationist impulse, as Congress passed a series of Neutrality Acts designed to prevent America from being drawn into foreign wars. The United States adhered to the policy for a time, despite the aggression of Italy, Germany, and Japan. But after the outbreak of World War II in Europe, Roosevelt began to provide some aid to the Allies.

After the fall of France, Roosevelt gave greater assistance to desperate Britain in the destroyers-for-bases deal and in lend-lease. Still-powerful isolationists protested these measures, but Wendall Wilkie refrained from attacking Roosevelt’s foreign policy in the 1940 campaign.

Roosevelt and Winston Churchill issued the Atlantic Charter, and by the summer of 1941, the United States was fighting an undeclared naval war with Germany in the North Atlantic. After negotiations with Japan failed, the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor plunged the United States into World War II.

Cordell Hull Joseph StalinBenito Mussolini Adolf HitlerFrancisco Franco Winston ChurchillCharles Lindbergh Wendall Willkie

Reciprocity totalitarianismIsolationism

London Economic Conference Good Neighbor PolicyReciprocal Trade Agreement Act Nazi partyRome-Berlin axis “merchants of death”Nye committee Neutrality ActsSpanish Civil War China incident“Quarantine” speech Hitler-Stalin nonaggression pact“cash and carry” “phony war”Committee to Defend America by Aiding the AlliesAmerica First CommitteeLend-lease Atlantic Charter

1. Why did the neutrality laws fail to prevent America’s growing involvement with the military conflicts in Europe and Asia?

2. How did the process of American entry into World War II compare with the entry into World War I?

3. Would it have been more straightforward of Roosevelt to have openly called for a declaration of war against Hitler rather than increasing involvement gradually while claiming that he did not want war?

4. Would the United States have entered World War II even if the Japanese had not attacked Pearl Harbor?

1. What action taken by FDR during his first term would suggest that he was an “internationalist?”

2. What was the reasoning behind Roosevelt’s recognition of the Soviet Union?3. Explain FDR’s reasons for embarking on the Good Neighbor policy.4. Throughout the 1930s, what reaction was given by the American people as they heard

of the aggressive actions of Germany, Italy, and Japan?5. Where were the fascist aggression of Hitler, Mussolini, and Franco centered?6. How did the Neutrality Acts of 1935, 1936, and 1937 handle a president’s

proclamation of the existence of a foreign war?7. Embargo, lend-lease, and cash-and-carry: What was the transition of America’s arms

sales from 1925-1940?8. What did America’s neutrality mean to the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939)?

9. What major meeting took place in September 1938 in Munich, Germany? What was established from that meeting?

10. What action of Hitler’s started World War II?11. What factors contributed to the weakness and lateness of America’s efforts to aid

Europe’s threatened Jews?12. Why did the U.S. military refuse to bomb Nazi gas chambers?13. What was Congress’s first response to the unexpected fall of France in 1940?14. Explain the deal struck between the U.S. and the British dealing with old American

destroyers.15. The election of 1940: Who ran for what party? On what platform? Who won?

Why?16. What motivated Roosevelt to run for a third term?17. What was America’s response to the German invasion of the Soviet Union?18. Atlantic Charter – what, when, where, who, why?19. Greer, Kearny, and Rueben – importance of these three?20. Why did Japan believe that it was forced into war with the United States?21. Why was the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor such a surprise?22. What position did most Americans take concerning the possibility of war prior to

Pearl Harbor? After?23. What was the biggest challenge for America once committed to war?24. Japanese Internment: what, when, where, who, why?25. War Production Board, Office of Price Administration, War Labor Board, and Fair

Employment Practices Commission – responsibilities of each?26. Which union broke the typical trend of workers by striking during World War II?27. What was the effect of having more than 6 million women in American industry

during World War II?28. Role of African Americans during World War II (“Double V”, segregated units,

CORE, migration, A. Philip Randolph)29. How did the U.S. finance most of the war?30. Where was the first naval battle in history in which all the fighting was done by

carrier-based aircraft?31. Where had the tide of Japanese conquest in the Pacific turned?32. What crucial mistake was made in 1942 by the Japanese concerning their attempt to

control much of the Pacific?33. What was the main American strategy when fighting Japan?34. What was the importance of Guam in the Japanese theater of World War II?35. At what point did Hitler’s advance in the European theater stall and crest in late

1942?36. Why did some criticize the Allied demand for unconditional surrender of the Allied

powers?37. Potsdam, Casablanca, and Teheran: what, when, why, who?38. What was announced by FDR and Churchill at the wartime conference at

Casablanca?39. What was the major consequence of the Allied conquest of Sicily in August 1943?40. Operation Overlord: who, what, where, when, why?41. Election of 1944: Who ran for what party? On what platform? Who won? Why?

42. Importance of the Battle of Leyte Gulf?43. What was the belief behind spending enormous sums of money on the original bomb

project?44. Explain in what way (a) the fall of France, (b) Hitler’s invasion of the Soviet Union, and (c)

the attack on Pearl Harbor mark the most important turning points in American foreign policy between 1935 and 1942.

45. Explain how in the 1930s “the American people were overwhelmingly anti-Nazi and anti-Hitler, …but they were desperately determined to stay out [of war].”

46. Compare and contrast the views of the Committee to Defend America by Aiding the Allies with those of the America First Committee. Had you been there at the time, which would you have supported? Why?

47. At what point do you think American entry into the war in Europe became inevitable? Explain.

48. Do you think the argument that “one should not change horses in the middle of a stream” is sufficient to justify Franklin Roosevelt’s breaking the two-term tradition in 1940? Do you think anyone should be allowed to serve more than two terms in the presidency? Why or why not?

49. Present arguments for and against using the A-bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. Had it been your decision, what would you have done? Why?

50. What are the arguments for and against the Japanese-American relocation camps used in World War II? Do you agree with the text authors that these camps were unnecessary and unfair”? Why or why not?

51. In terms of defending America’s national interests, which do you think was the most critical front in World War II, the European theater or the Pacific? Why?

52. Why, with major wars in Europe and the Pacific, did American troops see their first active combat in World War II in North Africa? What were the strategic objectives of that campaign?

America in World War II, 1941-1945Ch. 36

Unified by Pearl Harbor, America effectively carried out a war mobilization effort that produced vast social and economic changes within American society.

Following its “get Hitler first” strategy, the United States and its Allies invaded and liberated conquered Europe from Fascist rule. The slower strategy of “island-hopping” against Japan also proceeded successfully until the atomic bomb brought a sudden end to World War II.

American was wounded but roused to national unity by Pearl Harbor, Roosevelt settled on a fundamental strategy of dealing with Hitler first, while doing just enough in the Pacific to block the Japanese advance.

With the ugly exception of the Japanese-American concentration camps, World War II proceeded in the United States without the fanaticism and violations of civil liberties that occurred in World War I. The economy was effectively mobilized, using new sources of labor such as women and Mexican braceros. Numerous African-Americans and Indians also left their traditional rural homelands and migrated to war-industry jobs in the cities of the North and West. The war brought full employment and together in the military and in new communities across the country. Unlike European and Asian nations, however, the United States experienced relatively little economic and social devastation from the war.

The tide of Japanese conquest was stemmed at the Battles of Midway and the Coral Sea, and American forces began a slow strategy of “island hopping” toward Tokyo. Allied troops first invaded North Africa and Italy in 1942-1943, providing a small, compromise “second front” that attempted to appease the badly weakened Soviet Union as well as the anxious British. The real second front came in June 1944 with the D-Day invasion of France. The Allies moved rapidly across France, but faced a setback in the Battle of the Bulge in the Low Countries.

Meanwhile, American capture of the Marianas Islands established for extensive bombing of the Japanese home islands. Roosevelt won a fourth term as Allied troops entered Germany and finally met the Russians, bringing an end to Hitler’s rule in May 1945. After a last round of brutal warfare on Okinawa and Iwo Jima, the dropping of two atomic bombs ended the war against Japan in August 1945.

Henry J. Kaiser A. Philip RandolphDouglas MacArthur Chester W. NimitzDwight D. Eisenhower Joseph StalinGeorge S. Patton Thomas E. DeweyHarry S. Truman Albert Einstein

War Production Board Office of Price AdministrationWar Labor Board Smith-Connally ActBraceros Fair employment Practices CommissionCasablanca Conference second frontTeheran Conference D DayV-E Day Potsdam ConferenceV-J Day

How did America’s domestic response to World War II differ from its reaction to World War I?

What was the wisest strategic decision in World War II, and what was the most questionable?

How were the European and Pacific wars similar, and how were they different?

What was the significance of the dropping of the atomic bomb, then and now?

The Cold War Begins 1945-1952Chapter 37

America emerged from World War II as the world’s strongest economic power, and commenced a postwar economic boom that lasted for two decades. A bulging population migrated to the suburbs and Sunbelt, leaving the cities increasingly to minorities and the poor.

The end of World War II left the United States and the Soviet Union as the two dominant world powers, and they soon became locked in a Cold War confrontation. The Cold War spread from Europe to become a global ideological conflict between democracy and communism. Among its effects were a nasty hot war in Korea and a domestic crusade against “disloyalty.”

In the immediate postwar years there were widespread fears of a return to depression. But fueled by cheap energy, increased worker productivity, and government programs like the GI Bill of Tights, the economy began a spectacular expansion that lasted from 1950 to 1970. This burst of affluence transformed American industry and society, and particularly drew more women into the workforce.

Footloose Americans migrated to the Sunbelts of the South and West, and to the growing suburbs, leaving the northeastern cities with poorer populations. Families grew rapidly, as the “baby boom” created a population bulge that would last for decades.

The Yalta agreement near the end of World War II left major issues undecided and created controversy over postwar relations with the Soviet Union. With feisty Truman in the White House, the two new superpowers soon found themselves at odds over Eastern Europe, Germany, and the Middle East.

The Truman Doctrine announced military aid and an ideological crusade against international communism. The Marshall Plan provided economic assistance to starving and communist-threatened Europe, which soon joined the United States in the NATO military alliance.

The Cold War and revelations of spying aroused deep fears of communist subversion at home that culminated in McCarthy’s witch-hunting. Fear of communist advances abroad and social change at home generated national and local assaults on many people perceived to be “different.” Issues of the Cold War and civil rights fractured the Democratic Party three ways in 1948, but a gutsy Truman campaign overcame the divisions to win a triumphant underdog victory.

The Communist Chinese won a civil war against the Nationalists. North Korea invaded South Korea, and the Americans and the Chinese joined in fighting the seesaw war to a bloody stalemate. MacArthur’s insubordination and threats to expand the war to China led Truman to fire him.

Harry S. Truman George F. KennanDouglas MacArthur Dean AchesonJoseph McCarthy Julius and Ethel RosenbergBenjamin Spock J. Strom Thurmond

Henry Wallace Thomas DeweyAdlai Stevenson Dwight EisenhowerRichard M. Nixon

Yalta Conference Cold WarUnited Nations Nuremberg TrialsIron Curtain Berlin airliftContainment Truman DoctrineMarshall Plan National Security ActWhite flight North Atlantic Treaty OrganizationTaft-Hartley ActHouse Committee on Un-American Activities McCarran ActPoint Four program Fair DealThirty-eight parallel NSC-68Inchon Landing Sunbelt

Which development caused the greatest change in American society in the immediate postwar years: increased affluence, the migration to the suburbs, the entry of women into the workforce, or the “baby boom”?

Was the primary threat from the Soviet Union military or ideological – that is, was the danger that the Soviet army would invade Western Europe or that more and more people in Europe and elsewhere would be attracted to communist Russia?

Were there any legitimate concerns behind the “red-hunting” anticommunism of the late 1940s and early 1950s? How were McArthy and others able to turn the search for spies and subversives into an assault on freethinkers, adulterers, homosexuals, and others deemed “different” in some way?

Was Truman right to fire MacArthur when and how he did? What would have happened if MacArthur had gotten his way and expanded the conflict with the Chinese?

The Eisenhower Era 1952 – 1960Chapter 38

The Eisenhower years were characterized by prosperity and moderate conservatism at home and the tensions of the Cold War abroad.

While Dwight Eisenhower and the majority of Americans held to a cautious, family-oriented perspective on domestic social questions, an emerging civil tights movement and the influence of television and popular music presented challenges to the spirit of national “consensus.”

Using the new medium of television to enhance his great popularity, grandfatherly “Ike” was ideally suited to soothe an America badly shaken by the Cold War and Korea.

Eisenhower was slow to go after Joseph McCarthy, but the demagogue’s bubble finally burst. Eisenhower also reacted cautiously to the beginnings of the civil rights movement but sent troops to Little Rock to enforce court orders. While his domestic policies were moderately conservative, they left most of the New Deal in place.

Despite John Dulles’s tough talk, Eisenhower’s foreign policies were also generally cautious. He avoided military involvement in Vietnam, although aiding Diem, and pressured Britain, France, and Israel to resolve the Suez crisis.

He also refused to intervene in the Hungarian revolt and sought negotiations to thaw the frigid Cold War. Dealing with Nikita Khrushchev proved difficult, as Sputnik, the Berlin Crisis, the U-2 incident, and Fidel Castro’s Cuban revolution all kept Cold War tensions high. In a tight election, Senator John Kennedy defeated Eisenhower’s vice-president, Richard Nixon, by calling for the country to “get moving again” by more vigorously countering the Soviets.

American society grew ever more prosperous in the Eisenhower era, as science, technology, and the Cold War fueled burgeoning new industries like electronics and aviation. Women joined the movement into the increasingly white-collar workforce, and chafed at widespread restrictions they faced.

A new consumer culture, centered around television, fostered a new ethic of leisure and enjoyment, including more open expressions of sexuality in popular entertainment. Intellectuals and artists criticized the focus on private affluence rather than the public good. Jewish, African-American, and southern writers had a striking new impact on American culture.

Dwight D. Eisenhower Joseph McCarthyEarl Warren Rosa ParksMartin Luther King Jr. Ho Chi MinhNgo Dinh Diem Gamal Abdel NasserNikita Khrushchev Fidel CastroJohn F. Kennedy Betty Friedan

McCarthyism “creeping socialism”Desegregation “massive retaliation”Military-industrial complex feminism

Brown v. Board of Education Plessy v. FergusonWhite Citizens’ Councils Civil Rights Act of 1957Geneva Conference South East Asia Treaty OrganizationHungarian revolt Suez crisisEisenhower Doctrine Landrum-Griffith ActU-2 incident Sputnik“missile gap” National Defense Education ActThe Feminine Mystique

How does Eisenhower’s political leadership compare with that of other general-presidents: Washington, Jackson, Taylor, and Grant?

Was Eisenhower’s seeming caution and inactivity a lack of vigorous leadership or a wise prudence in the exercise of power?

Was the 1950s a time of American triumph abroad and affluence at home, or was it a period that actually suppressed many problems of race, women’s roles, and cultural conformity?

Which writers and artists best expressed the concerns of American culture in the 1950s? Was there a connection between the rise of pop-culture figures like Elvis Presley and Marilyn Monroe and the changes on art and writing ) like the beats and the new southern writers)?

The Stormy Sixties, 1960-1968Chapter 39

The Kennedy administration’s “flexible response” doctrine to combat Third World communism bore ill fruit in Cuba and especially in Vietnam. Johnson’s massive escalation of the war failed to defeat the Communist Vietnamese forces, while growing domestic opposition finally forced him from power.

The Kennedy administration’s domestic stalemate ended in the mid-1960s, as Johnson’s Great Society and the black civil rights movement brought a tide of liberal social reform. But the diversion of resources and the social upheavals caused by the Vietnam War wrecked the Great Society.

Kennedy’s New Frontier initiatives bogged down in congressional stalemate. Cold War confrontations over Berlin and Russian missiles in Cuba created threats of war. Third World communism through flexible response led the administration into dangerous involvement in Vietnam and elsewhere.

Johnson succeeded Kennedy and overwhelmingly defeated Goldwater. The black movement for integration and voting rights won great victories. Johnson used his huge congressional majorities to push through a mass of liberal Great Society legislation. Northern black ghettos erupted in violence amid calls for black power.

Johnson escalated military involvement in the Dominion Republic and Vietnam. As the number of troops and casualties grew without producing military success, dovish protests against the war gained strength. Political opposition forced Johnson not to seek reelection, and the deep Democratic divisions over the war allowed Nixon to win the White House.

John F. Kennedy Robert F. KennedyRobert S. McNamara Charles de GaulleMartin Luther King. Jr. Lee Harvey OswaldLyndon B. Johnson Barry Goldwater

Malcolm X Stokely CarmichaelJ. William Fulbright Eugene McCarthyHubert H. Humphrey Richard M. NixonGeorge Wallace

Flexible response peaceful coexistenceCredibility gap

New Frontier Peace CorpsVienna summit Trade Expansion ActViet Cong Alliance for ProgressBay of Pigs War on PovertyGreat Society Tonkin Gulf ResolutionCivil Rights Act of 1964 Cuban Missile CrisisNuclear test-ban treaty March on Washington24th Amendment Voting Rights ActOperation Rolling Thunder Pueblo IncidentTet offensive counterculture

1. Did Kennedy fulfill his promise to “get America moving again”? Why or why not?

2. Was the nonviolent civil rights movement of the 1960s a success? Why or why not?

3. What were the causes of the Vietnam War?

4. Were the cultural upheaval of the 1960s a result of the political crisis, or were the developments like the sexual revolution and the students revolts inevitable results of affluence and the “baby boom”?

The Stalemate Seventies, 1968-1980AP History

As the war in Vietnam finally came to a disastrous conclusion, the United States struggled to create a more stable international climate. Détente with the two communist powers temporarily reduced Cold War tensions, but trouble in the Middle East threatened America’s energy supplies and economic stability.

Weakened by political difficulties of their own and others’ making, the administrations of the 1970s had trouble coping with America’s growing economic problems. The public also had trouble facing up to a sharp sense of limits and a general disillusionment with society. With the notable exception of the highly successful feminist movement, the social reform efforts of the 1960s fractured and stalled, as the country settled into a frustrating and politically divisive stalemate.

Nixon’s “Vietnamization” policy reduced American ground participation in the war, but his Cambodia invasion sparked massive protest. Nixon’s journeys to Communist Moscow and Beijing (Peking) established a new rapprochement with these powers. In domestic policy, Nixon and the Supreme Court promoted affirmative action and environmental protection.

The 1972 election victory and the cease-fire in Vietnam were negated when Nixon became bogged down in the Watergate scandal and congressional protest over the secret bombing of Cambodia, which led to the War Powers Act. The Middle East War of 1973 and the Arab oil embargo created energy and economic difficulties that lasted through the decade. Americans gradually awoke to their costly and dangerous dependence on Middle Eastern oil, and began to take tentative steps toward conservation and alternative energy sources.

Non-elected Gerald Ford took over after Watergate forced Nixon to resign. The Communist Vietnamese finally overran the South Vietnamese government in 1975. The defeat in Vietnam added to a general sense of disillusionment with society and a new sense of limits on American power. The civil rights movement fractured, and divisive issues of busing and affirmative action enhanced racial tensions. The most successful social movement was feminism, which achieved widespread social breakthroughs though failing to pass the Equal Rights Amendment.

Campaigning against Washington and Watergate, outside Jimmy Carter proved unable to master Congress or the economy once he took office. The Camp David agreement brought peace between Egypt and Israel, but the Iranian Revolution led to new energy troubles. The invasion of Afghanistan and the holding of American hostages in Iran added to Carter’s woes.

Richard Nixon Spiro AgnewDaniel Ellsberg Henry KissingerWarren Burger George McGovernSam Ervin John DeanRachel Carson Gerald FordJimmy Carter Shah of IranAyatollah Khomeini Leonid Brezhnez

Détente impoundmentRevenue sharing executive privilege

Vietnamization Nixon DoctrineMy Lai massacre Cambodian incursionKent State killings 26th AmendmentPhiladelphia Plan Environmental Protection AgencyPentagon Papers ABM treatySALT MIRVsSouthern strategy Watergate scandalCREEP enemies listSaturday Night Massacre War Powers ActTitle IX Equal Rights Amendment (ERA)

Bakke case Wounded KneeSALT II energy crisisHelsinki accords OPECIranian hostage crisis