AUTUMN 1949 China Falls to Communists
The Onset of Cold War
AUTUMN 1949 Billy Graham Embarks on Ministry as Church Membership Surges
aid Greece and Turkey, and called on Americans to support all peoples who are “resisting attempted subjugation.” This was a more open-ended commitment than George F. Kennan ever imagined.
1946 Beginning of Twenty Year “Baby Boom”
JANUARY 20, 1949 Harry Truman at Inaugural Proclaims Fair Deal
Following World War II, Americans came to place new emphasis on the family and having children. Marriages in this era were remarkably stable (the country’s divorce rate did not rise until the mid-1960s) and the birth rate shot up as well. More babies were born between 1948 and 1953 than were born in the previous thirty years. This was the start of a twenty-year “baby boom” that peaked in 1957.
JULY 26, 1948 Racial Integration of U.S. Military
APRIL 1947 Mendez v. Westminster Ruling Affirmed by Courts
Separate schools for children of Mexican ancestry (even those who were U.S. citizens) was once common practice in a number of southern California cities. In March 1945, several Mexican American families applied for a federal injunction against segregating Spanish-speaking children in certain Orange County schools. In a landmark desegregation case, Mendez v. Westminster (February 1946), the court agreed that segregating Spanish-speaking students from English-speaking students was an unconstitutional denial of their right to learn English and thus of their rights to equal protection under the law. In 1947, this ruling was upheld by the Ninth Federal District Court of Appeals, although it skirted the issue of race by focusing on children with Mexican origins, not other racial groups. The Mendez ruling established a precedent for the better known Brown v. Board of Education ruling by the United States Supreme Court seven years later.
JUNE 1948–MAY 1949 Berlin Blockade Generates Allied Air Lift
NOVEMBER 5, 1946 Republicans Regain Control of Congress
OCTOBER– NOVEMBER 1947 “Witch-Hunt” for Communists in Hollywood
In the period immediately following the end of World War II the United States experienced substantial difficulties in returning to a peace- time economy. Inflation proved an even more serious problem than unemployment and labor unrest as the consumer price index (CPI) rose by 18% in 1946. Economic uncertainty enabled the Republican Party to capture Congress in the 1946 midterm elections for the first time in 14 years. In the minds of American voters, the Truman administration clearly deserved the blame for rising prices. MARCH 1947 Cold War, Containment, and the Truman Doctrine The victors of World War II fell into immediate disagreement over the structure of peace, particularly in Eastern Europe. Within months what came to be called the “Cold War” took the place of the earlier conflict. As tensions mounted between the U.S. and USSR, an American diplomat — George F. Kennan — argued convincingly that the United States should pursue a policy of “firm containment at every point the Soviets show signs of encroaching upon the interests of a peaceful and stable world.” Containment was institutionalized in 1947 during a crisis in Greece in which communist guerillas fought the Greek government and British occupation forces. The President proclaimed the “Truman Doctrine,” requested $400 million to
JUNE 5, 1947 The Marshall Plan; Economic Aid for Europe
APRIL 1947 Mendez v. Westminster Ruling Affirmed by Courts
MARCH 1947 Cold War, Containment, and the Truman Doctrine
JUNE 5, 1947 The Marshall Plan; Economic Aid for Europe
Recognizing that the severe postwar dislocation of Europe’s economy might encourage the spread of communism, the Truman administration instituted a program of large-scale economic and military aid for that continent known as the Marshall Plan. The plan was designed to complement United States containment policy and the Truman Doctrine and was unveiled by Secretary of State George C. Marshall in a commencement address at Harvard in June 1947. Over the next four years the United States contributed more than $12 billion to a highly successful western European recovery. SEE FIGURE 43 ON FOLLOWING PAGE
NOVEMBER 5, 1946 Republicans Regain Control of Congress
1946 Beginning of Twenty Year “Baby Boom”
THE ONSET OF COLD WAR
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