What Is The American Involvement In The 1950's

Stalin’s unwillingness to withdraw his forces from most parts of Eastern Europe increased hostilities between the USSR and the United States. Unlike Roosevelt, Truman had a deep distrust of Stalin and was pessimistic about the success of any negotiations with the Soviet Union at the Potsdam Conference. Therefore when Stalin refused to withdraw his forces Truman knew he could do very little to prevent Soviet troops from occupying most of the land, such as Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Bulgaria, much of Germany including Berlin, and parts of Austria including Vienna. This increased the tension between both countries, resulting in the USSR to be blamed for the start of

Both sides believed that their chosen political ideology was superior. The USA believed solely in the ways of democracy and the rights of every individual, whereas contrastingly the USSR believes in communism, where the state as a whole is more important than the individual. Due to communism, many Soviets believed that the tension between them and the USA was unavoidable. This idea lead to a theory known as the ‘two camps theory’, where the world was divided into two sides, communist or capitalist. The Soviet Union was convinced that all capitalist countries were attempting to sabotage their country and their political ideology. All conflicts that took part during the Cold War were inevitably caused by the clash of ideologies between two of the world's superpowers. The extent of the USA and USSR’s alliance collapse is indefinite as being a cause of the origins and developments of the Cold War. Events such as the arms race and the space race highlight the competitivity between the countries, as they both fought to be the superpower of the world. The development of nuclear weapons also magnified the significance of their rivalry. In Harry Truman’s address speaking about his Doctrine he says: “We shall not realize our objectives, however, unless we are willing to help free peoples to maintain their free institutions and their national integrity against aggressive movements that seek to impose upon them totalitarian regimes” . This source highlights the fear and competition between the USA and the

People stood up for their rights, and they weren’t going to back down until they got the rights they deserved. Peaceful protests, boycotts, and sit-ins were very common during this time period. Anti-racism groups were formed to fight for the cause, and people were starting to take notice. In the south it was another story. People fought for segregation and racism. White people refused to accept them as human equals. There were different facilities, water fountains, bathrooms, and even public transportation set apart for people that were “colored”. There was one instance, in 1957, where federal troops were sent to a Central High School in Little Rock,

During the “Baby Boomer” era, following WWII, America underwent one of the largest demographic shifts and population growths in history. Huge amounts of home construction on the outskirts of America’s largest cities, known as “levittowns” became the new staple of the American dream, with the houses sporting two car garages, and white picket fences. These low density, predominantly middle class residential districts, were America’s first true suburbs. These suburbs were constructed mainly in response to the new postwar consumerism that enveloped the parents of the baby boomers. With the new economy, affordable housing, and most families becoming single income dependent, families grew bigger and bigger. The 1947 passing of the bill that lead to the interstate highway system, only added fuel to the fire of suburbanization. With the new interstate highway system, more affordable and fuel efficient automobiles, and the government aiding in the financing of new suburban homes, the choice seemed elementary. All of these factors pushing to the suburban movement, only spurred the baby boomers on, and between 1940-50, there was an 835% percent increase in living births with nearly 4 million children being born every year. In 1940, 19.5% of the United States population lived in what would be considered to be suburban areas outside of large metropolitan areas, however, by 1960; the number was pushing nearly 40%. The postwar suburbanization of America during the baby boomer

Truman believed that if Russia got Greece and Turkey it would then get Italy and France and the “iron curtain” would extend to western Ireland and to the United States. Arnold posits that Truman’s views were excessive. Stalin never challenged the Truman Doctrine or western dominance in Turkey, which was under U.S. military guidance, and Greece. Arnold states, “ [Stalin] provided almost no aid to the Greek rebels and told Yugoslavia’s leaders in early 1948 to halt their aid because the United States would never allow the Greek Communist to win and break Anglo-American control in the Mediterranean” (221). Arnold believed that President Truman more often than not narrowed rather than broadened his options. Truman’s insecurity also reinforced his liking to view conflict in black-and-white terms, to categorize all nations as either free or totalitarian, to demonize his opponents, and to ignore the complexities of historic national conflicts. In sum, despite Truman’s claim to have “knocked the socks off the communists,” he left the White House with his presidency in tatters, military spending at a record high, McCarthyism rampant, and the United States on Cold War footing at home and abroad.

Harry S. Truman was President of the United States from 1945-1953. President Truman presidency was marked throughout by important foreign policy initiatives. Central to almost everything Truman undertook in his foreign policy was the desire to prevent the expansion of influence of the Soviet Union. At the end of World War II it was immediately apparent that Russia was trying to draw as many countries as it could into its influence, if not total control. The United States became extremely alarmed as country after country did indeed fall under Russia’s

In Birmingham, Ala., in the spring of 1963, King's campaign to end segregation at lunch counters and segregated hiring practices drew nationwide attention when police turned attacks dogs and fire hoses on peaceful demonstrators. King was jailed along with

The United States hotly protested Stalin’s action in Poland, East Germany and the rest of Eastern Europe as a violation of the “one world” principle of the Atlantic Charter and a departure from the agreement reached at Yalta and Potsdam. Why did the Sovient Union act this way?

The development of the suburbs has been appointed to be the result of the “white flight” from the inner cities. In the 1950’s black Americans moved northward to cities to find industrial jobs that were within walking distance. Discrimination in cities worsened, crime rates increased and educational facilities’ credentials weakened or gained bad reputations. The upper-class families left the cities and mass migrated to the suburbs to escape the increasing crime rates and worsening conditions. This movement was later termed the “white flight”. Every American wanted to begin building the “ideal family”: two parents, two children and maybe a pet or two. This newly invented middle-class prospered as

In Birmingham, Ala., in the spring of 1963, King's campaign to end segregation at lunch counters and segregated hiring practices drew nationwide attention when police turned attacks dogs and fire hoses on peaceful demonstrators.

The 50s are not totally “ happy” days. In American history the 1950s, was an era of war. T.V. shows were made, showing early childhood experiences in 1950s. These shows leave viewers with historical facts from the past. Not everyone was happy, a group of civilians and nonconformists pointed out the flaws in a suburb they believed had no moral, a government that was viciously with power. A lifestyle they believed was fundamentally repressed. America was still segregated. Regardless, the approach of the 1950s, these were unhappy days. Consistently measured against the Great Depression of the 1930s, the world war of the 1940s, the warfare of the 1960s, and the despair of the 1970s, the 1950s was a well known era.

In the 1940's California was supporting a population of seven million people and contained 2.8 million registered vehicles. Within the next twenty years the population more than doubled to reach 16 million while the number of registered vehicles all but tripled increasing to eight million. This has been a common trend in California's documented history from the early twentieth century to today. There have been many historical and environmental factors that have assisted in contributing to increases such as these in California. One such factor was World War II, from the late 1930's to 1945, which triggered a boom in the population of California and the beginning of the urban sprawl. Increases in

The 1950s were characterized as a prosperous and conformist decade for many reasons. The first and most widespread of these reasons was the development of the suburbs. As masses of Southern blacks migrated northward to the big cities, more rich and middle-class families left to live in the suburbs to escape the crime, redlining, and blockbusting of the cities. This mass migration later became known as the “white flight” (Document A). The white families that moved into the suburbs were the perfect picture of conformity—living in row upon row of identical “Levittown” houses, with little individuality or distinction. Furthermore, American families of the time often took the form of the “nuclear family” with two parents, two children, and often a pet like a dog or cat. This new “middle class” earned between $3,000 and $10,000 a year and included 60 percent of the American people by the mid-1950s. Fortune magazine described Americans as “a great mass…buy[ing] the same things—the same staples, the same appliances, the same cars, the same furniture, and much the

Martin Luther King Jr. fought for African American equality in America during the civil rights movement. His first act of civil disobedience took place in Montgomery, Alabama during the year 1955, where he and a group of activists were boycotting a transportation company that forced African Americans to give up their seats for white people and move to the back of the bus. Following this first protest, Luther began to organize and participate in mass demonstrations and nonviolent protests to demand the equality and civil rights of African Americans. In 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. decided to lead nonviolent mass demonstrations in Birmingham, Alabama. He and his fellow protesters were met by police with fire hoses and police dogs, which ended up creating a controversy that spread in newspapers throughout the country. On April 12, Martin Luther King Jr. was arrested in Birmingham for

During the freedom rides, African Americans would refuse to ride in black designated seats on public transportation. The creation of the Freedom Rides was one of the main movements of the CORE civil rights groups. One of the leaders, James Farmer, developed the type protest. The bus would travel down from Washington D.C. to New Orleans, Louisiana in an almost transcontinental nonviolent-protest. Farmers plan was imitated the Journey for Reconciliation. In May of 1961, an interracial collection of people boarded two buses from Washington to travel southward in protest of segregation. Known as the Greyhound and Trailways, the buses traveled peacefully throughout the country until they entered South Carolina. White racists outside of Rock Hill attacked the voyageurs. The ride became increasingly insecure the further south they traveled. A mob firebombed and attacked the members of the Greyhound bus in Anniston and another assaulted the Trailways’ riders in Birmingham. Although CORE discontinued the rides, many other riders assembled due to outrage over the violence displayed. A new wave of activists directed by the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), including John Lewis, flooded Alabama where once again they were attacked in Montgomery. The significance of this the second wave of riders was that it forced the executive branch to act in response to the violence. Kennedy directed the Nation Guard to escort the riders their next destination of Mississippi. Kennedy’s brother Robert has the voyagers arrested for violating legislation set by pro-segregation officials in Mississippi and to prevent any further violence. James Farmer continued to encourage this type of protest and by the end of the season over 300 advocates had chose jail over fines to “dramatize” the issue. JFK’s forced recognition of the issues