1940-1970 NOTES
World War II, Cold War, Civil Rights Movement, Space Race, Korea and Vietnam
1940
- FDR reelected for historic THIRD TERM over Wendell Willkie ( 449 ev to 82 ev)
- Led to FDR critics dubbing him “Franklin Dictator Roosevelt”
- Democrats decide to stay with “The Champ” in time of world crisis
1941
- Hitler invades USSR in June – sends in Einsatzgruppen units to exterminate Jews
- Over 1 million Jews murdered in forests of Russia – also tens of 1000s of Poles, Soviets, Gypsies (Roma), & partisans
- Beginning of the Holocaust
1941
- Pearl Harbor attacked – Sunday, Dec 7
- 7:55 AM local HI time
- 2335 sailors killed, 68 civilians, 150 aircraft , total of 19 ships either sunk or disabled (DEVASTATING yet boosts morale + resolve = “Remember Pearl H”
- FDR speech next day on Dec 8th (Quote)
- US declares war on Germany & Japan
1942
- FDR issues exec. Order 9066 (Japanese Internment)
- 110,000 Issei & Nisei sent to camps – mostly in Western US
- Legal challenge by Fred Korematsu lost in 1944 Supreme Ct. case (Korematsu v. U.S.)
- 17,000 Nisei serve in uniform – mostly in Italian campaign – “Fighting 442nd” Infantry
1942
- Wannsee Conference held in Berlin suburb
- Chaired by SS Chief Reinhard Heydrich + his deputy Adolf Eichmann
- Goal: to work out details of “the Final Solution of the Jewish Question”
- Hush-hush details provided by SS of new gas chambers installed in death camps in Poland
- Operation Reinhard – 3 New Death Camps
1944
- FDR creates the War Refugee Board to rescue Jews (but by this time 75% of total victims already killed) – saves 200,000 lives
- D-Day – June 6 – Operation Overlord - Allies invade Nazi Fortress Europe on beaches on Normandy, France
- Supreme Allied Commander Dwight D. (“Ike”) Eisenhower – picked place + time
- 3 Million Allied soldiers – 5000 Allied ships
- Beaches assigned to American GIs: Utah + Omaha
1944
- FDR wins FOURTH term over Thomas E. Dewey (R-NY) (432 ev to 99 ev)
- FDR’s health problems concealed: “Roosevelt is Robust” slogan
- Funny moment in campaign: Republicans attack FDR’s dog Fala (FDR counters in speech)
1945
- Feb – an ailing FDR attends Allied Conference at Yalta (Crimea, USSR) with Churchill and Stalin (“Big Three”)
- USSR promises to invade Japan 90 days after Victory in Europe Day occurs
- In exchange, FDR agrees to idea of Soviet buffer zone in Eastern Europe
- Later criticism of FDR
1945
- FDR dies on April 12 in Warm Springs GA at the “Little White House”
- New Vice President Harry S Truman becomes President – does not even know about Manhattan Project until President
- Liberation of Nazi Camps by Allies: April & May
- Hitler suicide in Berlin bunker – April 30
- V- E Day: May 7th / 8th (German surrender)
1945
- Truman decides to drop A-Bombs on Japan
- Aug. 6: 1st target: Hiroshima (70,000 deaths + 60,000 more from radiation sickness)
- Aug. 9: 2nd target = Nagasaki (80,000 deaths)
- V-J Day: Aug 14 Japan announces surrender / Sept 2 – Japan formally surrenders on USS Missouri
1946
- Baby Boom Generation begins – from 1946 to 1960 over 50 million babies born in USA
- Huge increase in profits for baby food + diaper manufacturers (later toy companies)
- Big strain on nation’s public schools
- 2007: Kathleen Casey-Kirschling (teacher) filed for early retirement 10/16/07 - first baby boomer to start collecting social security (She was born 1 second after midnight in Jan. 1946)
1946
- Nuremberg Trials begin – 22 “biggest” Nazis captured put on trial by Allies for “crimes against humanity” and war crimes
- Biggest fish = Herman Goering (Hitler’s former #2 man who started Gestapo plus 1st concentration camp = Dachau)
- 12 sentenced to death by hanging
- Hermann Goering commits suicide hours before appointment
1948
- First real salvo of the COLD WAR (US vs. USSR)
- Berlin Airlift – background: Germany had been divided in 1946, eventually into Soviet-dominated East Germany and democratic West Germany
- City of Berlin (wholly inside E.G.) also divided into West (free) and East (comm.) Berlin
- Soviet leader Stalin cuts off all roads into West Berlin to starve it out of Ally control
Berlin Airlift
-President Harry S Truman orders round-the-clock air delivery of supplies by US Air Force
-US delivers over 2 million TONS of stuff over next 15 months
-Stalin finally gives up – reopens road in ’49
Presidential Election of 1948
-Truman wins surprise election over NY Republican Gov. Thomas E. Dewey and States Rights (“Dixiecrat”) candidate Strom Thurmond 303-189-39 ev
1948
-Truman’s Sec. of State George C. Marshall announced the “Marshall Plan” = $12.5 Billion to rebuild Western Europe over next 4 years
-State of Israel created as homeland for Jews / Holocaust survivors
1949
-North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) started by 12 free nations = USA, Canada, W. European democracies)
-Purpose: mutual defense against Soviet attack
-Part of Truman’s strategy of containment of the USSR and communism
1949
-“Fall of China” – Chinese Civil War ends with victory for the Communists “Reds” under Mao Zedong – established PRC
-Defeats Chinese Nationalists under Gen. Jiang Jieshi (Chang Kai-shek) – flee to Island of Formosa = Taiwan
-Also in ’49: Soviets get their A-Bomb (did they steal it???)
1950
-Korean War begins when Communist NK invades democratic SK
-United Nations (created in 1945) condemns NK’s actions – Gen. Douglas MacArthur made Commander of UN forces to force North Koreans back over 38th Parallel
-Stalin supplies NK with weapons
1950
-Sen. Joseph McCarthy (R-WI) begins communist hysteria era known as “Red Hunt” or [second] “Red Scare”
-Makes speech alleging 250 peeps in Truman’s administration are communists w/o shred of evidence (later narrows to 57, again w/o evidence)
-1950 – 1954 : televised McCarthy Hearings
- Heroism of CBS newsman Edward R. Murrow and his "See It Now" TV program in May 1954
1951
-Julius & Ethel Rosenberg – Jewish-American communists - convicted of treason against US & giving nuke secrets to Soviets
-Julius = electrical engineer who worked at Los Alamos (Manhattan Project)
-Julius’ bro-in-law Sgt. David Greenglass, a machinist, testified he passed secret drawings to Julius and Ethel typed notes
-Greenglass – immunity deal – testified against Rosenbergs – got 15 years sentence
-Julius and Ethel electrocuted on June 19, 1953
1952
-Eisenhower elected President over Adlai Stevenson (D-IL) – 442 ev to 89 ev
-“I LIKE IKE” – war hero, honest, sincere, grandfatherly
-Made promise as candidate to get Korean stalemate over with (quote: “I will go to Korea”) – war turned badly against US when China entered war in 1952
1953
-Korean War ends with Panmunjom Truce
-Basically, go back to where we started: Koreas split at the 38th Parallel, but now separated by a DMZ (demilitarized zone)
-About 54 thousand Americans lost their life in the “Forgotten War” (over 2 million Koreans killed)
1954
-Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka ended school segregation
-Background – began in 1952 in SC with Briggs v. Elliott case in Claredon County
-NAACP attorney Thurgood Marshall traveled to SC to study effects of racial segregation with Dr. Kenneth Clark’s “Black Doll Experiment”
Brown Decision
-Then Oliver Brown filed his case against the Topeka schools – daughter Linda not allowed to go superior white school nearby
-Decision of the “liberal” Earl Warren Supreme Court
-Social conservatives – including Ike – denounced decision as “judicial activism”
1955
-Brutal lynching of Emmett Till
-14-y-o who lived in Chicago with mother Mamie Till
-Went to visit relatives in Money, MS
-Emmett whistled at white woman (Carolyn Bryant) in general store – her husband Roy + brother J.W. Milam lynched Till
Effect of Till’s Death
-All white jury found Bryant + Milam not-guilty – later men sold confessional story to Look magazine
-Mamie Till decided to have open casket funeral for Emmett
-Gruesome photos shocked conscience of the nation – spurred C.R.M.
-Case reopened in 2004
1955
-Rosa Parks – seamstress – arrested for sitting in white section of Montgomery bus
-Young Baptist minister Dr. MLK, Jr. launched Montgomery Bus Boycott Association
-Lasted 381 days – city buses caved in 1956
-Led Dr. King to formulate non-violence and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)
1957
-Little Rock Nine – nine Black students tried to enter all-white Central H.S. in Little Rock, AR
-AR Gov. Orval Faubus ordered National Guard to turn Black students away
-Pres. Eisenhower sent in the 101st Airborne Division to enforce the law & admit LR9
My Hero "Satchmo" Speaks Out
-Louis Armstrong became one of the few celebrities to openly criticize Faubus and Ike
-He canceled State Dept. Tour to USSR
1957
-USSR launches Sputnik I. – first artificial satellite to orbit Earth
-SCARED Americans – rumors of Soviet “ray gun” in space
-Spurred U.S. to get busy on space research
-Sputnik II. (Nov 1957) – dog Laika (Barker) = 1st animal in space
1960
-U-2 Pilot Francis Gary Powers shot down over USSR on spy mission – denied by USA until we realized he was captured – big PR for Khrushchev – bad for Ike
-Greensboro Woolworth’s Sit-In – Feb. 1 – four UNC-Greensboro students begin movement (spread to 54 cities in 9 states) – at lunch counter
-1st televised presidential debates (Nixon-JFK)
-John F. Kennedy (D-MA) elected president over Richard M. Nixon (R-CA) in closest election ever (diff. of 118,000 Pop. Votes)
JFK’s Style
-Youngest man ever elected (43)
-Charming, witty, sophisticated
-Appealed to Youth (“Torch has been passed…” quote) + Volunteerism (“Ask Not…” quote)
-Peace Corps
-Beautiful First Family
-“Camelot”
1961
-Bay of Pigs Fiasco – first foreign policy test of the new JFK Administration
-JFK approves plan to use 1500 Cuban exiles (trained by CIA) to invade Cuba to overthrow communist dictator Fidel Castro
-Fails due to bad planning + underestimating Castro – JFK accepts total blame in speech
1962
-Cuban Missile Crisis - Khrushchev installs intermediate range nuclear missiles in Cuba that could destroy all Eastern U.S.
-Oct 22 – JFK makes televised speech declaring that Cuba would be placed under “naval quarantine”
-13-Day Standoff – Khrushchev backs down in secret deal with U.S.
-Greenville SC Major Rudolph Anderson (USAF) = only casualty of Missile Crisis
1963
-March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom – August 28 – keynoted by Dr. MLK, Jr. – estimated 250,000 attend (50,000 whites) – organized by many Black groups
-March idea started by A. Philip Randolph, Brotherhood Sleeping Car Porters
-Famous “I Have a Dream” Speech on steps of Lincoln Memorial (echoes of 1939 Marian Anderson)
-Purpose – call for new civil rights legislation promise to be fulfilled
-Criticized by Malcolm X as “Farce on Washington”
1963
-Birmingham Church Bombing – Sept. 15
-Sixteenth Street Baptist Church bombed on Sunday morning by Klansman, killing 4 girls and injuring 23
-Klansman Robert Chambliss – tried 1st time in 1963 on dynamite possession (given $100 fine) – tried again in 1977 (given life)
-Year 2000 – 2 others convicted (Cherry + Blanton)
1963
-JFK assassination – Dallas – Fri, Nov. 22
-Lee Harvey Oswald arrested – later himself shot on TV by nightclub owner Jack Ruby
-Lone Gunman vs. Conspiracy Theory??? (Warren Commission goes with 1 Man)
-Lyndon B. Johnson sworn in on Air Force One – America/World mourns JFK
LBJ’s Style
-Texan Democrat
-Famous in Senate for pressuring people to cave & support a bill ("Johnson Treatment")
-Could be crude / vulgar
-Infamous for picking up dogs by ears
-Starts NEA, NEH, Head Start, Food Stamps, College Loans, War on Poverty, Medicare
-Civil Rights Champion
1964
-LBJ signs Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlawing discrimination in voting, employment, or in public services (legacy of JFK) – created EEOC
-3 college students slain in the “Freedom Summer” Black voter drive campaign in Philadelphia, MS – by racist sheriff deputies
-1967 trial – 3 rec’d light sentences
-2005 trial – 80-y-o preacher Edgar Ray Killen convicted and given life
1964
-Gulf of Tonkin Resolution passed by Congress allowing LBJ to expand Vietnam War
-Attack (???) by NV patrol boats on USS Maddox
-Vietnam background – French lost control after 8-year Indochina War in 1954; partitioned into NV & SV at 17th Parallel; Ike & JFK sent military “advisors” to back democratic SV
1964
-LBJ (D-TX) elected over Barry Goldwater (R-AZ) – landslide: 486 ev to 52 ev
-Mostly in JFK’s memory
1965
-Caesar Chavez begins 5-year strike against Delano Grapes Corp. for better pay for pickers
-Chavez founds the United Farm Workers and uses non-violent strikes + boycotts as weapon
-Voting Rights Act of 1965 signed by LBJ –outlawed literacy tests + permitted federal oversight of voter registration in states (made 1 million new Black voters)
Chavez
-Founded first successful farm workers’ union in US History (UFW)
-Labor organizer and leader for 35 years
-Won Presidential Medal of Freedom
-Admired by RFK
-Died 1993
1965
-Malcolm X assassination – Feb 21 - El-Shabazz killed by member of Nation of Islam group in Manhattan’s Audubon Ballroom
-Malcolm had transitioned from the leading voice for Black Separation (“white devils”) to conciliation/peace since making a Hajj
-Watts – Black neighborhood in LA – erupted into 6 days of riots killing 34 – due to Patrolman beating of Black motorist – led to formation of the Black Panther Party in -Oakland in 1966 vs. “pigs”
1967
-“Summer of Love” for the “Hippies”
-Marked by a “Love Pageant Rally”
-Epicenter of Counterculture = San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury district
-1950s precursors: Beatniks (Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg)
-1st called Hippies in 1965 SF Examiner article on the Blue Unicorn coffeehouse
Counterculture
-Things Hippies Hated: materialism, conformity, competition, "The Establishment," war, sexism
-Things Hippies Loved: communalism, individuality, sexual freedom, experimentation, Drug Culture (esp. LSD – Tim. Leary), Peace Mvmt.
1968
-Orangeburg Massacre in SC – Feb. 8 protest by 200 SC State students to integrate the All-Star Bowling Alley – kills 3 Black students and wounds 27 - 9 white Highway Patrolmen acquitted
-LBJ shocker – March – announced in TV speech that he will not run again for president (popularity plummets due to Vietnam Quagmire– “Hey Hey”…chant)
1968 Assassinations
-MLK shot and killed in Memphis at Lorraine Motel on April 4 by James Earl Ray
-King was supporting sanitation workers strike – had spoken against Vietnam War as unjust
-Robert F. Kennedy – Democrat running for president – shot and killed in LA June 5th in Ambassador Hotel by Sirhan Sirhan – after winning big CA Primary
1968 Election
-Nixon (R-CA) elected over Hubert Humphrey (D-MN) – 301 ev to 191 ev
-Nixon appeal to “law and order” Americans
1969
-Apollo 11 Eagle lands on the moon – July 20
-Neil Armstrong quote (“That’s one small step...”)
-Fellow astronauts Buzz Aldrin & commander Michael Collins
-American Flag on the moon controversy
-Woodstock Festival – Aug. 15-18, Bethel NY – on Max Yasgur’s dairy farm – 500,000 attend (3 die)_- many rock stars including The Who and Jimi Hendrix (anthem)
1970
-Nixon orders secret invasion of Cambodia (neutral) in order to wipe out Ho Chi Minh Trail (Operation Fishhook)
-Lied on TV about operation – later leaked to press – public outrage, especially youth
-Led to wave of campus disturbances
-Kent State Massacre – May 4 - Ohio National Guard shoot into student protesters, killing 4 & wounding 10