This week’s material will cover the international and domestic history of the Cold War from the end of World War II through the escalation of the American war in Vietnam. We will survey the major issues that drove the United States and Soviet Union into competition with one another; the strategy adopted by the Truman administration and subsequent presidencies to “contain” the power of the USSR; the most important Cold War successes and failures; and the implications of the Cold War for political and economic life in the US. The Digital History sections on “Postwar America” are OK but aren’t especially good on economic growth during the 1950s. If you’re relying on Digital History, you are encouraged to find other readings as a supplement; all of the texts on reserve at the library have chapters that cover the social and cultural world of the 1950s.
Major question will include:
- How did the Cold War originate? What were the chief sources of conflict between the two superpowers?
- What was “containment,” and how did the Truman administration implement this new policy prior to the Korean War?
- Why did the US intervene in Korea, and what were the results of that war?
- How did the struggle with the Soviet Union prompt the United States to act in regions of the world outside Europe (i.e., Latin America, the Middle East, Asia)?
- What was the “Red Scare” during the late 1940s and early 1950s, and what were its effects on American political life?
- To what extent did Americans enjoy a “culture of abundance” after the second World War? What were the most important symbols of affluence during these years?
