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Chapter 25 Review Joe Puccio
Key Terms
Army-McCarthy hearings- the televised investigations in 1954 of alleged Communist influence in the army
Censure- an expression of disapproval; in Congress, official condemnation of a member’s behavior
Hydrogen bomb- the nuclear bomb developed in the 1950s whose power came from atomic fusion
Sputnik- the world’s first spacesatellite, launchedby the Soviet Union in 1957
Rollback- the Republican Party’s call during the 1950s for the liberation of nations under Communist rule
Massive retaliation- the Eisenhower administration’s threat of swift, all-out military action against a nation committing aggression
Third World- underdeveloped or developing countries not aligned with the Communist or non-Communist blocs
Nationalize- to convert from private to government control
Gross national product- the total value of all goods and services produced by a nation in a year
Military-industrial complex- the close ties between the armed forces and the corporations that build and sell weapons
People To Identify
Adlai Stevenson
Joseph McCarthy
Gamal Abdel Nasser
John Foster Dulles
Richard M. Nixon
Marlon Brando
Places To Locate
D
C
B
A
Reviewing the Facts
In the 1952 election, the candidates were Dwight D. Eisenhower for the Republican Party and Adlai Stevenson for the Democratic Party. Eisenhower was already popular from his achievements in World War II and was urged to run for President in 1948, but instead he served as President of Columbia University and then as the commander of NATO forces in Europe. His deep patriotism, passionate anticommunism, and faith in American business expressed the mood of America in the 1950s. Stevenson was governor of Illinois before he ran for President. He appealed to the voters who were looking for a leader with many of the same political outlooks as Truman because of his intelligence and dry sense of humor.
President Eisenhower went to Korea after the elections and his beliefs that a stalemate was the best the United States could expect were confirmed. The President of South Korea, Syngman Rhee, thought that another invasion of North Korea by UN forces would succeed, but Eisenhower thought that it was more practical to negotiate. Eisenhower increased the bombing raids on North Korea to break the stalemate by a show of force and he also sent a secret message to China, warning that the United States might use nuclear weapons if an agreement were not reached. On July 27, 1953, an armistice was signed in the Korean village of Panmunjom and a ceasefire line was set above the pre-1950 boundary.
Senator Joseph McCarthy became famous in 1950 by charging that the US State Department employed scores of Communists. McCarthy began launching Army-McCarthy hearings on live television when the army refused to promote one of his former assistants. The TV broadcast allowed millions of Americans to get their first look at McCarthy in action, but his plan backfired. The American people saw him as a schoolyard bully instead of a hero. This lead to his downfall.
Eisenhower expanded Truman’s internal security program. Truman fired employees that were considered disloyal, whereas Eisenhower fired people who were thought to be security risks like heavy drinkers, homosexuals, and other people thought to have “character defects”. In the case of Yates v. United States in 1957, the Supreme Court ruled that believing and teaching an idea – even the idea of revolution – was not a crime, but that urging others to break the law could be.
Secretary of State John Foster Dulles tried to contain Soviet growth through the establishment of regional alliances and through threats of nuclear retaliation. Truman’s foreign policy was containment. It was the post war policy that sought to check the expansion of the Soviet Union through diplomatic, economic, and military means.
Third World countries were all the countries that were not included in the First World (Western democracies) or Second World (Communist nations of Eastern Europe). The Soviet Union regarded the Third World as fertile ground for the widespread of communism while the Western democracies tried to maintain influence in the Third World, thus turning the Third World into a battleground in the cold war. In the Middle East, both the Western democracies and the Soviet Union were tempted by the region’s strategic location (links to the continents of Africa, Europe, and Asia) and by its vast oil reserve. In Egypt, British troops remained to protect the Suez Canal, even after Egypt gained independence. Egypt demanded that the British troops leave and Eisenhower took its side, so the British troops left the country. The Egyptian leader, Gamal Abdel Nasser, tried to play the Soviets and Americans off against each other to improve relations on both sides. Dulles withdrew his loan for a dam on the Nile River when he learned that Nasser was making deals with the Soviets.
Eisenhower didn’t tamper much with social programs because he was a practical leader. He proposed almost no new social welfare laws, however, he did agree to extend social security benefits. This willingness to accept some federal responsibility for the well-being of the people became known as modern Republicanism.
During the 1950s, the economy performed well, with high growth and low inflation. Lifestyles changed as the result of increased prosperity, the shift to service occupations, automation, the growth of suburbs, and the spread of television and automobile ownership.
Automation, the use of machines instead of human labor, wasn’t resisted by many union leaders. The accepted it in return for higher wages for the workers who were not fired. However, many workers lost their jobs. They had to move to other parts of the country to look for work or seek training in different fields. Automation posed a problem for those who kept their jobs as well. They had to speed up their work in order to keep pace with the new machines.
A number of events and trends in the late 1950s undermined the Americans’ confidence in the future. Some people worried that youths were too conformist while others believed that they were rebels. The Soviet successes in space seemed to threaten American security. Scandals and corruption in television game shows and in the Union also shook Americans’ confidence. None of these events by itself threatened the United States, but together they pointed to lingering problems in American society.
Critical Thinking
The main purpose of massive retaliation was to act as if a big stick were being carried. It was somewhat a bluff, and it’s dubious that nuclear action would have ever been taken against Soviet aggression.
Anti-American feelings in Latin America and the Middle east were due to those whom the U.S. was supporting. It was common for the United states to support governments or companies that did not appeal to the people of the country. This was done simply to meet its foreign policy goals.
Wilson and Eisenhower agreed that the existence of a strong economy allowed for the existence of a strong nation; the two were parts of the same puzzle. While he didn’t necessarily mean General Motors, he was referring to any company that played an important role in the economy.