Time Period 8: Cold War, Civil Rights, & The New Right

Time Period 8: 1945-1980: Cold War, Civil Rights Movement, New Right

Period: Jan 1, 1945 to Dec 31, 1980

Victory in Europe (V-E) Day

May 8, 1945

Causes: With US involvement in WW2, Allied victory in regaining France on D-Day, Italy's defeat, & Allies invading Germany from all sides, Hitler committed suicide & Germany surrendered.
People: Pres Truman
Effects: WIth victory assured in Europe, the Allies - US, Britain, and Soviet Union - now only had to defeat Japan, who was already losing power over its Pacific Islands & was running out of supplies & soldiers. Truman wanted to end WW2 quickly, leading to the atomic bombing of Hiroshima.

US drops the Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima; End of WWII

Aug 7, 1945

Causes: After Germany surrendered following Hitler's suicide, the Allies only had to focus on defeating Japan, the last Axis Power. The US especially wanted revenge for Pearl Harbor & to show off their new nuclear power (Manhattan Project) to the powerful Soviet Union.
People: Pres Truman
Effects: 100,000+ Japanese in Hiroshima & later Nagasaki, almost all innocent civilians, were killed or wounded. As Wilson had wanted, Japan quickly surrendered but the nuclear armsrace/Cold War had just begun.

United Nations formed

Oct 24, 1945

Causes: After Japan's surrender, WW2 came to a close & the US had learned its lesson from WWI. Following Wilson's dream of joining the now defunct League of Nations, the US formed the UN.
People: Pres Truman
Effects: Unlike the League of Nations, the UN was led by the US & therefore had power to actually take action & unite various nations. During the Cold War, US vs. Soviet Union alliances prevented the UN from completely functioning but the UN is still around today.

The Philippines become independent

Jul 4, 1946

Causes: The US decided to actually support ideals of democracy by finally granting the Philippines, which it had gained against the Philippines' will in 1898, independence.
People: Manuel Roxas, Truman
Effects: The Philippines has gone on to become a well-functioning democracy & serves as one of the few examples of the United States supporting democracies during the Cold War, not dictators.

Marshall Plan

Apr 10, 1947

Causes: The US emerged the world's superpower after WWII & wanted to aid the destroyed Europe & Asia, both to form alliances & assert their new #1 status (imperialism).
People: Truman
Effects: The Marshall Plan hugely helped rebuild countries like Japan & Germany that were destroyed by WWII & assured the US' alliances & trade relations with each country it aided. This further shifted the US towards a multilateral economic framework (economic imperialism).

Truman Doctrine

Apr 10, 1947

Causes: The US provided economic & military aid to Greece & Turkey in order to stop communism (Soviet power) from spreading to each country.
People: Truman
Effects: The Truman Doctrine declared that the US would stop the spread of communism and also bolster democratic governments, which came to be known as containment. The US & the USSR fought for control over the world's resources until the Cold War came to an end in the 1980's/90's.

Executive Orders 9980 and 9981

Jul 26, 1948

Causes: After WWII, Truman wanted to honor African-American soldiers who had fought for democracy only to face segregation & inequality in the US' very own military.
People: Truman
Effects: Order 9980 officially integrated federal employees, while Order 9981 integrated the military. Both orders were the 1st successes of integration in the Jim Crow US & led to civil rights activists & Democrats fighting for an end to segregation during the Civil Rights Movement.

NATO formed

Apr 4, 1949

Causes: The US, Britain, France, Canada, other Western countries signed the North Atlantic Treaty & agreed that an attack against one country meant all countries in the alliance would get involved.
People: Truman
Effects: NATO was involved in many Cold War conflicts, such as the Korean War in the 1950s, the Cuban Missile Crisis, etc. The Warsaw Pact was created by the Soviet Union was the Soviet's version of NATO but with Eastern Europe & other communist countries.

Korean War (1950-1953)

Jun 25, 1950

Causes: Originally ruled by Japan, Korea was split up post-WWII w/ the USSR up north & the US down south. North Korean forces invaded South Korea, setting off the war.
People: Truman, Stalin
Effects: The Korean War was the first proxy war between the US (supporting South Korea) & USSR (supporting North Korea). The US eventually withdrew from South Korea & the borders b/w the North & South remain the same today. During the Cold War, the US & USSR would continue to engage in proxy wars (Vietnam).

2nd Red Scare: McCarthyism (1952-1956)

Apr 10, 1952

Causes: After WWII, the US emerged as a superpower but with the USSR as its rival for power. Like the 1st Red Scare, fear of communism invading the US spread as communism spread to Eastern Europe & Asia.
People: McCarthy, Nixon, HUAC
Effects: McCarthy & Republicans accused hundreds of Democrats, labor union members, immigrants, & prominent Hollywood actors of being communists & punished them & their associates via HUAC, repressing civil liberties heavily.

US overthrows Iranian Prime Minister Mosaddiq

Aug 19, 1953

Causes: Mosaddeq was democratically elected by Iranians, but when he nationalized Iran's oil, the US (& Britain) overthrew him in order to keep making profit with their oil companies.
People: Eisenhower, Mosaddiq, Shah of Iran
Effects: The US replaced Mosaddeq with the dictator Shah of Iran. The Iranian Revolution (1979) overthrew the Shah & replaced him w/ Khohmeini. One of many examples of the US supporting dictators over democracies during the Cold War in order to profit & beat the USSR.

Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka

May 17, 1954

Causes: Inspired by integration on the federal level (Truman's Executive Orders 9980/9981), the NAACP under Thurgood Marshall aimed to desegregate schools & other public facilities.
People: Thurgood Marshall, Chief Justice Earl Warren
Effects: Supreme Court ruled that segregation in public schools was illegal & overturned Plessy v Ferguson which allowed for separate but equal segregation. Brown v Board paved the way for the Civil Rights Movement & was used in many cases to destroy Jim Crow.

Montgomery Bus Boycott

Apr 10, 1955

Causes: NAACP member Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to move to the colored section of the bus. The NAACP & SCLC, led by MLK, organized a boycott of Montgomery buses to desegregate public transportation.
People: MLK, Rosa Parks
Effects: For over a year, thousands of blacks stopped taking Montgomery buses until Browder v Gayle brought an end to segregated buses in Alabama. This was the 1st win for the Civil Rights Movement, which continued to fight for full integration of the races.

Space Race (US vs USSR) Sputnik -> Gargarin -> Apollo 11

Apr 10, 1957

Causes: The Space Race began when the Soviet Union launced the 1st satellite, Sputnik, into space in 1957, & then sent the 1st man (Gargarin) to orbit in space in 1961. This shocked the US who thought they were ahead of the rival superpower.
People: Eisenhower, Kennedy, LBJ; Krushchev, Brezhnev
Effects: The US launched NASA in 1958 to beat the USSR to the moon, which they accomplished with Apollo 11 in 1969.

Cuban Revolution ends; Cuba goes Communist

Apr 10, 1959

Causes: US-backed dictator Batista had been ruling Cuba when Castro and Guevara, along with other Cuban rebels, successfully overthrew Batista & turned Cuba communist.
People: Castro, Che Guevara
Effects: The US tried to overthrow Castro in 1961 with the Bay of Pigs Invasion but failed. Castro turned to the USSR & almost received Soviet nuclear weapons to keep in Cuba during the Cuban Missile Crisis. The US resolved the crisis & avoided nuclear war but then imposed a trade embargo on Cuba.

Cuban Missile Crisis

Apr 10, 1962

Causes: After the US failed to invade Cuba & overthrow Castro in 1961 with the Bay of Pigs Invasion, Cuba turned to the USSR. The USSR countered the US' nuclear weapons in Turkey & Greece by deciding to send their own nuclear weapons to Cuba.
People: JFK, Castro, Khrushchev
Effects: JFK was able to just barely avoid a nuclear war between the US & the USSR. The USSR agreed to not hold nuclear weapons in Cuba as long as the US never invaded Cuba again. The crisis was seen as a win for the US.

Birmingham Campaign

Apr 10, 1963

Causes: The SCLC, led by MLK, sought to end segregation in Birmingham with boycotts for equal employement & integration in public facilities.
People: MLK, SCLC
Effects: The protests in Birmingham gained huge domestic & international attention with pictures of nonviolent protestors getting beaten by white police. Thousands (even children) were arrested & pressure was put on JFK to support the Civil Rights Movement.

March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom

Aug 27, 1963

Causes: The success of the Birmingham Campaign in desegregating Birmingham & winning over the support of JFK & Robert Kennedy.
People: MLK, Bayard Rustin
Effects: One of the largest marches on Washington, the Civil Rights Movement gained greater media coverage & approval after MLK's legendary "I Have A Dream" speech. The march helped boost support for civil rights leglislation to be passed under LBJ.

24th Amendment

Jan 23, 1964

Causes: Southern states had been using poll taxes in order to repress voting rights for African-Americans since the end of Reconstruction in 1877.
People: LBJ
Effects: The 24th Amendment prohibited the use of poll taxes, but unfortunately several states still used poll taxes. The Civil Rights Act, Selma March, & Voting Rights Act would help African-Americans finally gain enfranchisement.

Vietnam War Opposition Movement (1964-1968)

Apr 10, 1964

Causes: US joined war in 1955 to help France recolonize democratic Vietnam, but stayed to prevent communism from spreading in Asia.
People: LBJ
Effects: While initially supportive, the public (counterculture youth) turned against the Vietnam War after the Tet Offensive (1968) revealed that the US was losing. LBJ's Great Society lost funding to the war & LBJ did not re-run, leading to Nixon's conservative popularity & election. The protests led to the 26th amend (voting age changed to 18).

Economic Opportunity Act of 1964

Apr 10, 1964

Causes: LBJ passed the Economic Opportunity Act as part of his War on Poverty and the beginning of his Great Society programs. He hoped to fight poverty in America by providing greater access to jobs & educational opportunities to the poor.
People: LBJ
Effects: EOC created several programs: Job Corps & Work Study, which provide work training & employment; VISTA, which trains volunteers to fight poverty; Adult Basic Education; Head Start, which provided pre-school to young children.

Civil Rights Act of 1964

Jul 2, 1964

Causes: The success of the Birmingham Campaign and March of Washington in turning public & politician support for the Civil Rights Movement.
People: LBJ
Effects: The Civil Rights Act outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, gender, & national origin. This act put an end to legal segregation under Jim Crow as well as finally protecting the rights African-Americans were supposed to have under the 14th amendment. It is still used today to fight discrimination lawsuits.

United Farm Workers founded; Start of Chicano Movement

Apr 10, 1965

Causes: Chavez & Huerta founded the UFW in order to gain higher wages, improved conditions, & more opportunities for poor Latino farm workers.
People: Cesar Chavez, Dolores Huerta
Effects: Chavez & Huerta organized very successful boycotts such as the Delano grape boycott of 1965 & earned the right of collective bargaining for unionized farm workers. During the Chicano movement, many Chicanos fought for an end to segregation & equal schooling such as in the 1968 East LA walkouts.

Elementary + Secondary Education Act of 1965

Apr 10, 1965

Causes: LBJ passed ESEA as part of his Great Society reforms because he saw that many poorer schools were unable to provide better education materials to their lower class students.
People: LBJ
Effects: The ESEA provided grants to school districts from poor areas, as well as federal funding for books, libraries, & scholarships. For the 1st time, the US federal government became heavily involved in providing equal education for all students, no matter their economic level.

Griswold v. Connecticut

Apr 10, 1965

Causes: Griswold of Planned Parenthood fought against a Connecticut law banning birth control.
People: Warren Court (Chief Justice Warren)
Effects: The Warren Court ruled that the Bill of Rights provides all citizens the right to privacy & birth control is included in that right for women. The right to privacy was also used in Roe v. Wade in 1973.

Immigration + Nationality Act of 1965

Jun 30, 1965

Causes: As part of his Great Society, LBJ passed the Immigration + Nationality Act in order to reform the US' immigration policy.
People: LBJ
Effects: This act got rid of the racist quota system that began with the Emergency Quota Act of 1921 & benefitted white European immigrants over Asian/African immigrants. As a result, many Asians, Africans, Middle Easterners, and Latin-Americans were able to enter the US for the first time.

Medicare/Medicaid

Jul 10, 1965

Causes: LBJ created Medicare & Medicaid as part of his Great Society & in an effort to fight poverty. Retired Americans often faced poverty despite Social Security because they had to pay for medical coverage.
People: LBJ
Effect: Medicare provided health insurance to people over 65 while Medicaid provided health insurance to people on welfare. Like the New Deal's Social Security Act, Medicare/Medicaid further backed that the role of the US government is to help Americans.

Voting Rights Act of 1965

Aug 6, 1965

Causes: Despite the new Civil Rights Act protecting the equality of African-Americans under the law, many Southern states still denied voting rights to blacks. The Selma March in 1965 increased support for the VRA.
People: LBJ
Effects: The VRA prohibited racial discrimination in voting by banning literacy tests, poll taxes, & other voter suppression laws used against POC. African-Americans had finally gained the right they were supposed to earn with the 15th Amendment.

Miranda v. Arizona

Mar 11, 1966

Causes: Miranda had confessed to a rape crime before being told of his right to counsel (6th amendment) & his protection from self-incrimination (5th amendment).
People: Chief Justice Earl Warren; Warren Court
Effects: The Warren Court ruled that before an arrest can be made, the suspect must be told their "Miranda rights" (5th & 6th amendments). This decision protected individual freedom & the rights of the accused by making sure that all people accused of crimes are able to have a fair trial.

Black Panther Party formed

Apr 10, 1966

Causes: Despite the end of Jim Crow (legal segregation), many African-Americans were still stuck in poor ghettos with high unemployment, poverty, & police brutality. Black Panthers took to more violent, separatist approaches in order to gain Black Power.
People: Malcolm X (inspired), Huey Newton
Effects: Black Panthers fought police brutality & used force in self defense. Their socialist views led to them being branded as a communist/terrorist organization by the FBI & ruthlessly destroyed.

Dr. King Assassinated; End of Civil Rights Movement

Apr 4, 1968

Causes: MLK was assassinated by James Earl Ray on the way to support a black public workers union.
People: MLK
Effects: The death of the Civil Rights Movement's most promiment leader as well as supporter & presidential candidate Robert Kennedy marked the end of the Civil Rights Movement. Race riots broke out across major cities & the nation entered the beginning of an era of conservatism with the election of Nixon the same year.

Betty Friedan publishes "The Feminine Mystique"; Start of Women's Liberation Movement

Apr 10, 1969

Causes: Friedan wrote "The Feminist Mystique" in order to reject the pressures placed on women to be housewives & to be inferior to men.
People: Betty Friedan, Gloria Steinem
Effects: Friedan's book set off the Women's Liberation Movement, where women like Friedan & Gloria Steinem fought for reproductive rights (Roe v Wade), equal pay (failed ERA), & greater overall freedom from men.

Stonewall Riots

Jun 28, 1969

Causes: Before the 1970s/80s, homosexuality was mostly illegal & the LGBT community faced police brutality & heavy prejudice. In New York, police raided the gay bar Stonewall Inn & riots broke out.
People: Sylvia Rivera
Effects: Stonewall is seen as the beginning of the Gay Liberation Movement & also marks the celebration of Gay Pride. The LGBT community succeeded in legalizing homosexuality throughout the 70s/80s & are currently advacating against conversion therapy & for same-sex marriage.

Environmental Protection Agency

Dec 2, 1970

Causes: Ever since Jamestown's roots in tobacco, Americans had been manipulating the land for profit & not caring for the environmental consequences of their actions. During the 1960s, liberals embraced environmentalism especially after the Cayahoga River fires.
People: Nixon
Effects: EPA regulates businesses to make sure their practices are environmentally friendly & help enforce laws like the Clean Water Acts & Clean Air Acts. The EPA launched the Modern Environmental Movement.

26th Amendment

Jul 5, 1971

Causes: The protests led by young people (hippies) against the Vietnam War, which showed the hypocrisy of sending men under the age of 21 to go die in war but not allowing them to vote.
People: Nixon
Effects: The 26th Amendment changed the voting age from 21 to 18, providing younger people the ability the vote. However, not many young people vote anyway as shown today.

Watergate Scandal (1972-1974)

Jun 17, 1972

Causes: Nixon was caught sending spies to the Democratic National Committee & extensively spying on prominent American civil rights leaders & political opponents with the FBI & CIA.
People: Nixon
Effects: When faced with the possibility of impeachment, Nixon chose to resign. Americans grew distrustful of the federal government because under Nixon, it had used its power to spy on Americans & then lie about it. Government surveillance continues to be a major issue of public distrust (NSA/Snowden)

Roe v. Wade

Jan 22, 1973

Causes: Based on the 14th Amendment, Chief Justice Burger declared that the right to privacy allows women to be able to legally have abortions, which they had been unable to do before since abortion was largely illegal.
People: Chief Justice Burger
Effects: Roe v. Wade legalized abortion, which satisfied feminists and liberals but enfuriatied the New (Religious) Right. The Religious Right disliked the Sexual Revolution spurred on by Roe v. Wade and ended up gaining power with Reagan's election.

Wounded Knee conflict 1973

Feb 27, 1973

Causes: Eisenhower's Termination Policy (1953) saught to reistate the Dawes Act by trying to assimilate & take land away from American Indians, many of whom lived in poverty (red ghettos).
People: Dennis Banks & American Indian Movement
Effects: AIM occupied Wounded Knee, site of the 1890 American Indian massacre, & fought US gov officials. American Indians became more united to fight for better & equal treatment after centuries of dishonor.

1973 Oil Crisis

Apr 10, 1973

Causes: After the US supported Israel in the 6 Day War of 1967, the rest of the Middle East disliked the US because the Jewish state had stolen land from Arabs/Muslims.
People: OPEC, Nixon
Effects: OPEC placed an oil embargo on the US & other Western countries, hugely raising oil prices in the US & harming the economy. The US' economy stopped propsering/growing as it had been since the end of WWII.

Bakke v. University of California

Jun 28, 1978

Causes: Bakke argued that UC Davis had not been admitted b/c of the quota system requiring non-white students to be admitted. Affirmative Action had been established to provide historically oppressed minorities better shots at jobs & education.
People: Justice Powell
Effects: The Supreme Court ruled that specific quotas for minorities are unconstitutional, which hugely hurt Affirmative Action. Today, colleges are still unfortunately lacking in black and Latino students as a result.

Ronald Reagan is elected President

Nov 4, 1980

Causes: Starting with Nixon in 1968, conservatives (middle class whites in suburbs) lashed back against the liberalism of the 1960s b/c their traditional family values were being rejected by youths & they disliked Great Society programs that helped the poor/non-white.
People: Ronald Reagan
Effects: Reagan cut taxes, increased military power, & strengthened the War on Drugs that increased mass incaceration rates. Reagan's presidency marked the rise of conservatism in the US that continues today.