US History/US History (Bureau Development Inc.)(1991).ISO/dp/0025/00257.txt

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$Unique_ID{USH00257}
$Pretitle{19}
$Title{United States History 1600-1987
Chapter IX   After World War II - International Cooperation}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Immigration and Naturalization Service}
$Affiliation{US Department of Justice}
$Subject{war
president
vietnam
government
world
soviet
ii
rights
union
civil}
$Volume{M-288}
$Date{1987}
$Log{}
Book:        United States History 1600-1987
Author:      Immigration and Naturalization Service
Affiliation: US Department of Justice
Volume:      M-288
Date:        1987

Chapter IX   After World War II - International Cooperation

     The terrible experience of World War II helped convince most nations that
they should try again to form an international organization.  Even before the
end of the war, the Allied powers were meeting to set up the United Nations
(UN).  The UN today provides a place where countries can discuss and try to
resolve world problems and to preserve peace.  The UN also provides economic
and educational aid to many countries.  The Allied nations tried to cooperate
economically after World War II by making trade and tariff agreements.  They
hoped to avoid the Depression that had come after World War I by keeping
international trade free.

Cold War

     In spite of these efforts to cooperate, Europe soon was split into two
groups.  The Soviet Union was trying to influence Eastern Europe while the
United States was allied with Western Europe.  The Soviet Union and the U.S.
have very different political systems.  Each country believes its system works
better than the other system.  In 1949, the U.S. and Western Europe publicly
declared their alliance and friendship by beginning the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization (NATO).  Their policy was to contain the Soviet Union to the
areas it already influenced, not to let it expand, and to defend each other if
attacked.  The Soviet Union saw this as a threat to its safety.  In 1955, it
began the Warsaw Pact with Eastern Europe.  Their policy was to promote
peaceful coexistence of the two different systems and defend each other if
attacked.  The most important U.S. document in the postwar period was probably
the Truman Doctrine (named for President Truman) which said, "it must be the
policy of the United States to support free peoples" against direct or
indirect Soviet influence.  This policy has been followed to the present in
trying to help free countries maintain their freedom.

     The time period since World War II often has been called the Cold War,
because the two major powers, the U.S. and the Soviet Union, have not fought
each other in a war.  Much of the competition has been economic.  The vast
resources and high productivity of the U.S. have made its economy strong.
However, the U.S. also has been willing to play a leadership role.  The U.S.
funded the Marshall Plan which provided money to help Europe rebuild after
World War II.  The U.S. also helps to fund the International Monetary Fund and
the World Bank, which loan or grant money to developing countries to help them
improve their economies.  Other countries also participate in these
organizations, but the U.S. has taken the lead in establishing and maintaining
them.

Korean War, 1950-1953

     Europe was not the only area which was divided between the U.S. and the
Soviet Union after World War II.  Korea, which is near Japan and China, was
occupied by both Soviet and U.S. troops.  The Soviets were north of the 38th
parallel and the U.S. troops were south of it.  In North Korea, the Soviets
established a Communist government.  In South Korea, an independent
anti-Communist government was established.  The intent was to reunite the
country, but all attempts failed.  Suddenly, in June 1950, North Korean
Communist forces attacked South Korea without warning.  The UN voted to send
troops to help South Korea remove the invaders.  (The Soviet Union had not
been at the meeting.)  The UN army was mostly U.S. and South Korean troops.
It was led by General Douglas MacArthur, the famous U.S. general from World
War II.  The UN army was smaller and less well-trained than the North Korean
forces, who were supported by Chinese Communist forces.  The UN army was
pushed back at first.  Reinforcements helped the UN army fight back and
finally expel the North Koreans and Chinese.  Korea remained a divided country
but was no longer at war.

Civil Rights Movement

     The U.S. was having struggles at home as well as abroad after World War
II.  Though black people had been freed from slavery after the Civil War, many
still suffered from discrimination, especially in the South.  Often states
restricted black people's right to vote, the schools were segregated
(separated with different schools for black and white children), and there was
job discrimination (many jobs either were not open to blacks or would be given
to a white person first).

     After World War II, many people began to recognize that this was unfair
and efforts were made to make changes.  The first major federal effort
occurred during the war.  The Fair Employment Practices Committee was
established by President Roosevelt to prevent discrimination by the defense
industries against anyone because of "race, creed, color, or national origin."
The states and some private organizations began to start their own fair
employment policies.  Job training programs were begun, too.  After the war,
President Truman continued the struggle for equality when he appointed the
Committee on Civil Rights.  The committee's most important finding was that
discrimination based on race or religion prevents achievement of the American
ideal of democracy.  Though southern Senators blocked legislation which
promoted laws to end discrimination, black people now had some support in
their search for full equality.

     In 1954 blacks won support from another branch of the government when the
Supreme Court ruled in their favor in the case of Brown vs. the Board of
Education of Topeka (Kansas).  The ruling stated that "separate educational
facilities are inherently unequal," meaning that segregated public schools are
unconstitutional.  The ruling was followed in 1955 with a court order to
desegregate public schools.  Many Americans in both the North and South
praised the decision.  It was seen as a necessary step to end discrimination
in the U.S.  Other people wanted to keep discriminatory practices.  They did
not like the federal government getting involved in their business.  The
court's decision was tested in 1957, when the governor of Arkansas tried to
use the Arkansas National Guard to prevent some black children from going to
an all-white school in Little Rock.  President Eisenhower (1953-1961) upheld
the Supreme Court by sending U.S. army units to make sure the children got to
school safely.  The fight for equal, desegregated education was just
beginning.

     Other areas of society were segregated, also.  Black people began to
organize to end discrimination through peaceful, non-violent methods.  The
first major successful attempt was made in Montgomery, Alabama.  The public
buses were segregated:  whites could sit in the front, and blacks had to sit
in the back.  The blacks organized a boycott of the bus system, and eventually
won desegregation.  Other boycotts and peaceful demonstrations by black people
in the early 1960's led to the desegregation of previously white only lunch
counters, buses, drinking fountains, and rest rooms.  Violence often was
caused by racist whites.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

     The most famous leader of the civil rights movement was the Reverend
Martin Luther King, Jr.  He was a deeply religious man who believed that
blacks could change society and its laws through non-violent means.  He led
the famous March on Washington in 1963, when both blacks and whites marched to
Washington, D.C., to try to get civil rights legislation passed.

     King's emphasis on non-violence and his ability to organize and inspire
hundreds of thousands of people helped give the civil rights movement the
strength it needed to be successful.  The federal government passed Civil
Rights Acts in 1957, 1960, 1964, and 1968 to guarantee equality for blacks.
It passed the Voting Rights Act in 1970 to try to stop discrimination against
black voters in southern states.

     Martin Luther King, Jr., was shot and killed in 1968.  Reverend King's
leadership had brought many changes for blacks in the U.S.  He was awarded the
Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts.  The U.S. celebrates a holiday in his honor
on the third Monday in January to remember his sacrifices.  Reverend King's
work was carried on by many people, and all the poor people in the U.S.
benefited.  President John F. Kennedy (1960-1963) supported legislation
similar to that supported by Martin Luther King, such as civil rights
measures, housing, funding for education, and measures to rid the country of
poverty.  These measures were called the New Frontier programs, from a line in
one of Kennedy's speeches, "We stand today on the edge of a new frontier."
One of Kennedy's programs, the Peace Corps, was intended to provide
developmental assistance for other countries.  Americans would volunteer their
time and knowledge by traveling to and living with the people needing
assistance.  This program proved successful both in helping people and
increasing cross-cultural understanding.

     President Lyndon Johnson, Kennedy's successor, continued the effort with
his "war on poverty" and increased the amount of money the federal government
spends on social programs to try to form the Great Society - a society with
equality and opportunity for everyone.  President Johnson's Great Society
established many of the domestic programs in place today, including the
Department of Housing and Urban Development (working to provide improved
low-income housing) and the Fair Labor Standards Act (regulating wages, hours
and working conditions).

Vietnam War Era

     The 1960's are remembered by many as a time of turmoil.  The civil rights
movement was strong.  It was forcing society to change in many ways.  But the
1960's also were a time of protest against the war the U.S. was fighting in
Vietnam.  Vietnam had been part of France's Indochinese colony.  It was
promised partial independence after World War II.  The problem was that
Vietnam wanted complete independence and was willing to fight for it.
Unfortunately, Vietnam also had two political parties which did not want to
compromise.  Ho Chi Minh led a party in the northern part of Vietnam which was
communistic and very nationalistic.  Ngo Dinh Diem led a party in the southern
part of Vietnam which was against communism and wanted to cooperate with
western countries.  South Vietnam invited the U.S., under President
Eisenhower, to provide it economic and military aid.  The aid was expanded
under President John F. Kennedy (1960-1963).  In 1964, North Vietnamese
torpedo boats were said to have attacked two American destroyers.  President
Johnson ordered bombings of North Vietnamese naval bases.  Congress passed the
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which gave President Johnson authority to do what
he thought was needed militarily.  The U.S. was at war with Vietnam.

     The Vietnam War was a long, hard, bitter fight, lasting from 1964-1973.
Fighting in Vietnam was difficult for U.S. troops.  In addition, opinion in
the U.S. was divided over whether the U.S. should be involved in this war.
Some people believed the U.S. needed to fight the war to keep communism out of
South Vietnam and that the U.S. should send over as many men and weapons as
needed to win the war.  Other people believed that war was immoral.  They
believed that the U.S. had no interests in Vietnam and that the war was too
costly.  These people marched and demonstrated to protest U.S. involvement in
Vietnam, and tried to get the U.S. to withdraw.  While the protesters were not
the majority of the people in the U.S., they did make others think about why
the U.S. was involved in Vietnam.

     In 1968, Richard Nixon ran as the Republican candidate for President.
One of his campaign promises was to withdraw from Vietnam honorably.  He was
able to continue peace talks which had been going on almost since the
beginning of the war, but with no results.  In 1973, the issue was settled
with the Paris Peace Agreement for Vietnam.  Everyone compromised, and Vietnam
was divided into two separate countries, as Korea had been.

     The peace lasted until 1975, when North Vietnam again invaded South
Vietnam and forcibly reunited the country.  This time the U.S. stayed out of
the conflict, except for trying to help some of the people leave Vietnam who
otherwise would have suffered.

Nixon as President

     Richard Nixon was the President when the U.S. withdrew from Vietnam.  He
was elected partly on his promise to help end the war.  Also, he wanted to
re-establish the strong Presidency.  In his first term he continued peace
talks in Vietnam, tried to control the high rates of inflation which were
hurting the U.S. economy, and re-established relations with China.  This last
action was very important.  China had been under Communist rule since 1949.
However, until President Nixon opened relations in 1972, the U.S. did not
recognize the Communist government.  Nixon believed that to get Communist
countries to change and be friendly to the U.S., it was better to talk and
trade with them than to fight.

     President Nixon was reelected easily for a second term, during which the
Vietnam War ended.  The remainder of Nixon's Presidency was filled with
problems, however.  The Arab countries decided they were not going to sell oil
to the U.S. anymore, which led to energy shortages in the U.S.  There were
long lines at the gasoline stations, and increased prices for almost all types
of energy.  After this experience, the U.S. tried to develop its own
additional energy resources to become as self-sufficient as possible.

Space Exploration

     Competition for space, similar to economic and military competition, was
most intense between the Soviet Union and the United States.  The Soviet Union
launched the first satellite in 1957 and the United States was worried.  The
race to develop space had begun.  In 1961, the Soviets again scored a victory,
being the first to send men into space and bring them back safely.  The United
States increased its efforts in the space program.  Experiments with long
flights, activities outside the spacecraft and orbiting the moon were all
preparatory to the planned landing of men on the moon.  The event finally took
place in 1969, during Nixon's Presidency, when Apollo 11 took off for the
moon.  The three men aboard carried a message of peace, hoping to convince
both the U.S. and Soviet Union to stop competing for space and to develop it
for the benefit of all people.  Americans were wildly excited about landing on
the moon and continue to enthusiastically support space programs, such as the
space shuttle and Skylab.

Arms Control

     President Nixon, though by no means the first President to recognize the
desirability of reducing the number or growth of nuclear weapons, negotiated
the first major treaty with the Soviet Union to limit deployment and building
of nuclear weapons.  The treaty was the result of the Strategic Arms
Limitation Talks (SALT), and was agreed on in 1972.  Since then, arms control
has been an important issue.  Leaders in both countries understand that the
arms race can end only with great effort on everyone's part.

Watergate

     The main issue of Nixon's Presidency was Watergate.  During the 1972
Presidential campaign, there was an illegal break-in at the headquarters of
the Democratic Party in the Watergate apartments in Washington, D.C.  The
President claimed he did not know anything about it.  Tape recordings taken in
his office were found that revealed that the President did know about the
break-in, and that he tried to stop the investigation into the matter.  The
Congress and the American people were very upset and angry that a President
would lie to them.  Impeachment proceedings were begun to try to remove
President Nixon from office.  Also, many of his top advisers resigned or were
removed from office.  President Nixon resigned before the impeachment
proceedings could be completed.  Newly appointed Vice President Gerald Ford
became President Ford.

     Watergate has had both good and bad effects on this country.  The most
important one is that it showed that our system of government works.  The
Constitution and our system of government was upheld.  It was the 1st
amendment guarantee of freedom of the press which enabled the American people
to find out about Watergate.  And the American system of government proved
strong enough for even the President to be held accountable for his actions.
The encouraging result of Watergate was a confirmation that the American
democratic form of government worked even under such negative conditions.

President Ford

     President Ford, upon taking office, asked that the American people work
together to try to overcome Watergate and concentrate on the needs of the
nation.  He used his executive power to pardon Nixon and turned to some of the
important issues facing the U.S.

     The most important issue to the majority of the people was inflation.
Inflation means that prices keep rising and money buys less than it did
before.  Ford tried to solve this problem by decreasing federal spending,
encouraging industrial and agricultural spending and helping unemployed
persons.  These efforts were not too successful and the economy fell under a
recession:  production and wages were down, and unemployment was up.

President Carter

     The next Presidential election, in 1976, showed that people were ready
for a change.  Many people still thought of the Republican Party as the one
which had brought Watergate.  Also, they did not like the economic situation.
President Carter, former governor of Georgia, had a reputation for honesty.
He was elected President in 1976 over Ford, by promising to help the economy
and to restore and promote human rights in the U.S. and abroad.  He
successfully negotiated SALT II - an arms limitation agreement.
Unfortunately, President Carter's lack of experience with national politics
made it difficult for him.  By 1980, the economy had not improved much and
there were problems with foreign policy.  The American people again were ready
for a change.

President Reagan

     President Reagan, elected in 1980 and again in 1984, had an exciting
message for Americans.  He promised to improve the economy by decreasing taxes
and spending by the federal government.  He also promised to improve the U.S.
position in the world by increasing military spending.  This would allow the
U.S. to negotiate from a position of strength.  In spite of this commitment,
he negotiated with the Soviet Union for arms limitation.  He believed that
reduced government interference would encourage private enterprise which would
improve the economy.  An improved economy would benefit everyone.

     Under President Reagan, inflation, interest rates and unemployment rates
did drop and many people benefited.  Some people, however, said that
conditions for the poorest people in the country did not improve and that
there were more poor people during his Presidency than before it.

     Two of the most important laws passed during the Reagan administration
were new tax laws and the immigration act.  Income tax reforms were designed
to simplify the structure so that it would be fairer and less confusing than
the old system.  Several Presidents had recognized the need to change the tax
system to make it more understandable and fair, but had not been able to do
so.  The Immigration Reform and Control Act was similar to laws that many
members of Congress had been trying to pass for several years.  It places
severe penalties on people who employ illegal aliens, but allows many of the
illegal aliens to change to legal status.

Moving Into the Future

     Americans will continue to use the principles the Founding Fathers wrote
into the Constitution to solve problems and make decisions about the direction
the United States should take.  These important principles are:

     * supremacy of the law, or no person is more important than the law;

     * republican form of government, or the people have a voice in choosing
their representatives in the government;

     * peaceful solutions to problems, when possible, by changing or adapting
laws; and,

     * checks and balances, so that each branch of government can limit the
power of the others.

     Following these principles has enabled the United States to adapt to the
rapid and dramatic changes which have occurred since it was founded in 1776.
These principles will help it adjust to any future changes, keeping what is
still useful and changing that which is outdated.  As Americans continue to
learn about and believe in the principles of the Constitution, they will
ensure that the United States will remain strong and move confidently into the
future.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Who He Was

     Believed in equality and freedom for all people.

     Believed no one could be free until everyone was free, so worked for
equal rights for black people.

     Used non-violent ways because it was the only way to change people's
hearts and minds as well as the law.

     Had strong religious beliefs.

     --Was an ordained minister.

     --Provided inspiration to many people.

What He Did

     Worked to establish civil rights.

     Attracted national attention with bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama,
which ended segregation on city buses.

     Led non-violent protests all over the country to protest segregation:
sit-ins, lie-ins, pray-ins.

     Spoke at March on Washington.

     --Marched to try to get new civil rights legislation.

     --Gave famous speech, "I have a dream" of equality, brotherhood, freedom
and justice.

     Led Freedom March in Alabama to show support of Voting Rights Act of
1965.

     Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964 for his use of non-violence to try
to achieve equality.

     Assassinated during a protest march in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1968.

     --His followers affirmed his commitment to working for equality with
peaceful methods.

After World War II - Review Questions

     1. What organization was set up after World War II to try to prevent such
wars in the future?

     2. What term is often used to describe the post-World War II relationship
between the U.S. and the Soviet Union?

     3. What movement, especially strong in the late 1950's and 1960's, worked
for equality for minorities, primarily blacks?

     4. Name one characteristic or accomplishment for which Martin Luther
King, Jr., is known.

     5. Name one positive result of the Watergate affair during Nixon's
Presidency.