Twenty-First Amendment

A constitutional amendment ratified in 1933 to repeal the Eighteenth Amendment, which had initiated Prohibition.

Wagner Act

A 1935 act of Congress that legalized labor unions’ right to organize and bargain collectively. Also known as the National Labor Relations Act, the passage of the act was a momentous day for American laborers and initiated a series of strikes throughout the country. The act also helped the Congress of Industrial Organizations to form in 1935.

Works Progress Administration (wpa)

A government administration created in 1935 to hire over 10 million American men to construct public works projects such as roads, bridges, and public buildings. The WPA, one of the most significant programs created during the Second New Deal, helped provide immediate relief for many Americans during the Great Depression.

Question 11. America and World War II (1941-1945) (слова на стр. 107-109), the Cold War (1945-1960) (слова на стр. 110-111)

AMERICA AND WORLD WAR II, 1941–1945

The United States mobilized its economy and armed forces to fight World War II. Even before the attack on Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt had begun mobilizing the economy. Economic incentives motivated factories to convert to wartime production, while government boards made sure that industrial production met military requirements. Automobile factories began turning out tanks, rifles, and even B-24 bombers, while shipyards churned out Liberty ships. To build up the nation’s armed forces, Congress passed the Selective Service and Training Act (1940). Thousands of draftees were hurried through training and rushed onto the battlefields. African Americans and women gained expanded roles in the armed forces.

Japan seized control of the Philippines in 1942 and set its sights on Midway - the last American base in the North Pacific west of Hawaii. Americans turned the tide in the Pacific, however, after they intercepted and decoded Japanese messages. With advance warning of planned attacks, American forces won two important victories and stopped the Japanese advance in the Pacific. In Europe, Soviet troops fought desperately to hold back the German advance in the East, while American and British troops attacked the Germans in North Africa. When Hitler launched an attack on the Soviets at Stalingrad, Soviet troops held their ground. The Battle of Stalingrad proved to be a turning point as the war slowly started turning in favor of the Allies. New technologies helped the Allies detect and sink German subs, and American and British forces finally forced the surrender of German forces in North Africa.

As millions left the civilian workforce to join the military, employers faced labor shortages. New faces began showing up in the workplace as employers hired women and minorities for jobs previously reserved for white males. The president stepped up to ensure these new workers would receive equal treatment in the defense industry and federal government. As workers migrated to fill vacant positions, African Americans living in the South resumed their migration to the already crowded cities of the North and West. Racial prejudice that targeted African Americans and Mexican youth sometimes erupted into violence. The federal government ordered the internment of all people of Japanese ancestry. Wartime stresses affected nearly every American as inflation, rationing, victory gardens, and war bonds became a part of the social fabric of the war years.

The Allies slowly pushed back the German and Japanese forces in 1943 and 1944. As the Allies stepped up the bombing of Germany, they pushed forward with an invasion of the island of Sicily. The capture of Sicily was the first step in an Italian campaign that lasted over two years and proved to be one of the bloodiest of the war. In the spring of 1944, Allied forces prepared for Operation Overlord - the invasion of German-held France. On D-Day, Allied ships, soldiers, paratroopers, and fighter-bombers launched the invasion at the beaches of Normandy. While Americans suffered heavy casualties at Omaha Beach, the invasion succeeded and troops moved inland. In the Pacific, the Americans used a two-prong attack to defeat Japan. The Pacific fleet island-hopped from one island to the next, making its way to Japan, while troops in the Southwest Pacific retook the Philippines.

In the summer of 1944, American and British forces broke out of Normandy, liberated Paris, and started toward Germany’s western border. Meanwhile, the Soviet army successfully drove Hitler’s forces out of Russia and began closing in from the east. Crumbling Nazi defenses forced the unconditional surrender of Germany on May 7, 1945. The Allied forces were now able to focus exclusively on the war in the Pacific. In two tortuous invasions, Americans captured the Japanese islands of Iwo Jima and Okinawa. After American firebombing of Japan’s industrial cities failed to convince the Japanese to surrender, the United States prepared to use a new weapon. Atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and then Nagasaki finally forced Japan’s surrender on August 15, 1945. While Nazi and Japanese military leaders went on trial for war crimes, world leaders hoped that a new international political organization would prevent another world war from ever happening again. (the United Nations – 1945 – 50 countries)

THE COLD WAR BEGINS, 1945–1960

The alliances between the United States, the Soviet Union, and Britain unraveled in the years after World War II. The Soviet Union and the United States emerged from World War II with very different goals. Soviet leaders wanted to secure their borders and spread communism, while the United States wanted to promote free trade and democracy. At the Yalta Conference, the Big Three agreed that Europeans should choose their own governments and that Germany should be divided into four zones. However, Soviet-American relations deteriorated when Stalin demanded heavy German reparations for war damages. At the Potsdam Conference, it became apparent that the United States and the Soviet Union had very different visions of post-war Germany. The Soviets refused to make further commitments to upholding the Declaration of Liberated Europe, and Stalin never fulfilled his promise to allow free elections in Soviet-occupied countries. As the countries of Eastern Europe fell under the influence of communism, an iron curtain separated Eastern Europe from the West.

The United States struggled to oppose Communist in Europe and Asia at the start of the Cold War. Fearing Soviet expansion, President Truman initiated a policy to contain communism. The Truman Doctrine pledged the United States to fight against communism, while the Marshall Plan used economic aid to help Western Europe’s recovery. Truman’s policies would be tested in Iran, Greece, and Turkey. A Soviet blockade of West Berlin convinced Americans that the Soviets were bent on conquest. The United States, Canada, and 10 European nations formed a mutual defense alliance - NATO. The Soviets countered with their own military alliance in Eastern Europe - the Warsaw Pact. Fears about the spread of communism heightened as China fell to Mao Zedong’s Communist forces and a Soviet-Chinese alliance emerged. When Communist North Koreans invaded pro-Western South Korea, Truman decided to contain communism with a show of might.

When China fell to communism and reports of Cold War espionage flooded the media, Americans began to fear that Communists were plotting to overthrow the United States government. President Truman’s plan to screen all federal employees for loyalty fanned the flames of fear, while federal hearings attempted to expose Communists. The Red Scare spread as spy trials grabbed national attention, Congress passed anti-Communist legislation, and the search for spies widened. Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy promoted national hysteria by turning his very public anti-Communist campaign into a witch hunt. News of the Soviet H-bomb heightened Americans’ fears of nuclear attack and prompted many to designate bomb shelters, practice bomb drills, and prepare fallout shelters. It seemed Americans couldn’t escape their fears as movies, television, and novels dramatized the fears of nuclear war and Communist infiltration.

In the 1952 presidential election, Americans elected military hero Dwight D. Eisenhower to lead the nation in its Cold War struggle against communism. In order to fulfill his goals of promoting free enterprise and protecting the United States from subversion, Eisenhower gave the American defense policy a “New Look”. His strategy of massive retaliation threatened the use of nuclear weapons if a Communist nation tried to seize a territory by force. Eisenhower used brinkmanship in negotiations over Korea, Taiwan, and the Suez Canal. When brinkmanship would not work, he sometimes used covert operations to prevent Communist uprisings in developing countries. A new Soviet leader accused the United States and other capitalist countries of starting an “arms race”. Indeed, after the Soviets launched the first artificial satellite to orbit the earth, Congress raced to create a federal program to research rocket science and space exploration.

POSTWAR AMERICA, 1945–1960

During the late 1940s, a Republican-dominated Congress was determined to rein in labor and to defeat many of President Truman’s New Deal proposals. Even though critics denounced his domestic, foreign, and civil rights policies, Truman squeaked out a win in the 1948 presidential election. His Fair Deal brought a raise in the minimum wage, an extension of Social Security, and low-income housing and rent subsidies. War hero Dwight D. Eisenhower won the 1952 presidential election. Eisenhower, a Republican, described his political beliefs as “middle of the road”. While he cut federal spending and worked to limit the federal government’s role in the nation’s economy, he also extended the Social Security system and unemployment compensation and raised the minimum wage. Under his direction, the government began construction on two large projects - the interstate highway system and the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Seaway.

An “economy of abundance” turned the 1950s into a decade of incredible prosperity. The average income of American families roughly tripled, and GI Benefits and tax deductions made home ownership affordable for many Americans. Suburbs grew as families and their baby boom children moved to capture their own piece of the American dream. White-collar jobs, multinational corporations, and franchises characterized American business. Consumerism, along with advertising, created a national spending spree. Popular culture emphasized the virtues of homemaking, but increasing numbers of women chose to work outside the home. Medical breakthroughs helped families lead healthier lives, while transistors revolutionized the electronics industry and computers made their business debut. In the air, commercial planes gained speed and the United States launched its own satellite.

Millions of television viewers tuned in each week to watch such programs as “I Love Lucy”, “Gunsmoke”, and “The Ed Sullivan Show”. As Americans embraced television, other forms of entertainment were forced to innovate. Moviemakers tried to attract customers with 3-D effects and Cinemascope, while radio stations adopted music and news formats. All forms of mass media presented a narrow view of American culture that reinforced middle-class suburban values. Some youth rejected the conformist ideals that adult society promoted and developed a culture all their own. African American-inspired rock’n’roll expressed youthful restlessness, and the beats used art to criticize modern society. While African American entertainers were accepted in rock’n’roll, they found few opportunities in television and films.

Most Americans were unaware of the millions of “invisible” poor who suffered in a cycle of poverty. From the crowded inner cities to the mountains of Appalachia to the farmlands of the West, the poor struggled to survive amid inadequate healthcare, substandard housing, and few opportunities to break out of poverty. African Americans living in the inner cities faced the additional challenge of racial discrimination. Long hours, little pay and unbearable living conditions defined Hispanic farm laborers’ lives. Native Americans, the poorest group in the nation, found their conditions worsened after the federal government employed a termination policy that was designed to integrate Native Americans into mainstream society. Middle-class white Americans were not immune to social problems as the 1950s saw an increase in juvenile delinquency.