Post-War Era Quiz

These were both containment strategies which focused on preventing Soviet communism from spreading throughout Western Europe and the rest of the world.

The Truman Doctrine was the name given to President Truman's policy of providing political, military and economic assistance to nations threatened by threatened by communism.

The Marshall Plan was a program in which the US gave over $13 billion to help rebuild Western European economies after World War II. The purpose of this foreign aid was not only to help these countries, but also to reduce the influence of the communist parties within them.

The Cold War would continue for 45 years until the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. Over that time period, both nations engaged in a massive arms race, stockpiling large numbers of nuclear weapons and tools of war. While there were numerous threats, close calls, and small “proxy wars,” there would be no formal declaration of war or full-scale military clashes between the United States and the Soviet Union.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization was put in place in April of 1949 as a defensive measure to protect the pact members from Soviet attack. An attack on one of the NATO nations was to be considered an attack on all.

Mao Zedong was able to win a hard-fought civil war in China, and made the nation a communist state. The People’s Republic of China found a quick ally in their neighboring communist state, the Soviet Union. The alliance was concerning to the NATO alliance which was already worried about the world-wide spread of communism.

The Fair Deal was a series of proposals that President Truman presented to Congress in January of 1949. It was an ambitious domestic reform program that was designed to expand New Deal liberalism. The conservative coalition in Congress blocked it since they were opposed to the growth of the federal bureaucracy and since it would increase the deficit. They also opposed giving labor unions more power and expanding welfare programs.

The National Security Act of 1947 restructured the US military and intelligence agencies as part of the Truman administration's Cold War strategy.

It merged the Department of the Army and the Department of the Navy and it created the Department of the Air Force.

It created the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the nation's first peacetime non-military intelligence agency.

It established the National Security Council (NSC) as a part of the executive branch that coordinates national security efforts between the military and the CIA.

It established the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), a group of military leaders who provide military advice to the President, the Secretary of Defense, and the National Security Council.

The Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944 is more commonly known as the G.I. Bill. It provided benefits to returning veterans, including financial incentives to attend college, low-cost mortgages, and low-interest business loans. The Bill played an important role in reintegrating soldiers into civilian life and in helping the American economy achieve long-term economic growth.

Two days after the invasion the UN authorized the deployment of troops to defend South Korea. The UN troops were led by U.S. General Douglas MacArthur. Twenty-one countries contributed to the UN force, with the US providing 88% of the troops.

Despite catastrophic losses of life on all sides, the Korean War resulted in very little change in control over the Korean Peninsula. North Korea and South Korea both retreated to their own territories and a strip of land was carved out at the border surrounding the 38th parallel where no military action would be permitted.

The Red Scare led to a nation-wide hunt for suspected communists. The House Un-American Activities Committee was formed to stage investigations and public hearings into suspected communists. Senator Joseph McCarthy raised the stakes further the with televised hearings in which he accused various government officials and military leaders of having communist ties.

Following two terms, Truman did not garner enough support to make it through the primary. Adlai Stevenson was the Democratic nominee, and he was defeated in a landslide by Dwight D. Eisenhower, who was well known from his success in World War II. Eisenhower's vice-presidential running mate was Richard Nixon, who was able to use his tough stance against communism to help the ticket.

President Eisenhower was a moderate who described himself with terms like "dynamic conservative" and "progressive conservative." He continued the New Deal programs that were still in existence and expanded Social Security. He also signed a bill authorizing the Interstate Highway System. The end result was a successful moderate approach that won favor with a majority of Americans, regardless of their political affiliations.

The Cold War led to a dramatic increase in American defense spending. New nuclear weapons and missiles were developed to deliver nuclear payloads from farther distances. Ironically, Eisenhower had initially hoped nuclear technology would allow him to cut military spending.

Americans were fearful that the Soviets were becoming more technologically advanced than the United States (and possibly seeking to weaponize space). Sputnik would mark the beginning of a decades-long space race between the Cold War rivals.

One of the major goals of the Cold War was to prevent the further spread of Communism throughout the world. There were numerous cases throughout the 1950s where it appeared the containment policy was in jeopardy. Eisenhower was certain that if the communists were able to take control over one Asian nation, others would surely follow. The United States helped lead efforts to create the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization in an effort to help keep such a series of events from starting.

The U-2 incident could not have come at a worse time. Eisenhower and new Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev had been working towards a policy of peaceful coexistence between their two nations when the American spy plane was shot down and its pilot was captured by the Soviets. The discovery of the American aerial spying efforts quickly restored hostilities.

The post-war era marked one of the largest increases ever in American prosperity. Workers were earning higher wages, technological developments lowered production costs, and programs like the G.I. Bill helped Americans gain access to education, job opportunities, and purchasing power at record rates.

The growth of the American suburbs was directly linked to the increase in transportation options and home-buying power in the post-war era. However, many groups were kept out of the suburbs due to a combination of racist housing policies and poverty.

The “white flight” of white Americans to the suburbs led to many jobs leaving the cities as well. Minority groups seeking employment continued to move to urban centers in large numbers, but found little more than a steadily shrinking job market and rising levels of poverty.

Television wholly changed American culture. Besides being a powerful way to distribute and receive information, it created cultural common ground as families across the country tuned in to watch broadcasts.