The USA 1947-2000

The fear of communism in the USA grew because of the devlopment of the cold war

In march 1947, Truman issued excustive order 9835 establishing loyality checks on all government workers

By the end Truman , 39 states had loyalty programmes, schools teachers, city employees were forced to sign an oath

In 1947 the house of un American acitivites comittee began hearings to expose communist infleunce in American life

The HUAC extended its investigation into the film industry

10 writers and directors were acused of spreading communist messages through films

They had to testify and refused to answer and were found guilty

The HUAC conducted a haring on Whitaker Chambers a senior editor and his assistant Alger Hiss

Hiss had worked for the supreme court but before a former soviet agent, later that year Nixon visited Chambers farm, he gave him microfilm containing secrets

2 Americans John and Ethel Rosenbergs were found guilty of passing on secrets to the soviet

They were on death row for 2 years and made several appeals which failed, they were excuted in 1953

In February 1950 McCarthy claimed to have a list of 205 names known to the secretary of state as being communist

McCarthy was made chairman of the government comitee on operations of the senate

HUAC still continued to seek out possible communists

Esienhower disliked McCarthy, and dealth with communism threats by setting up federal loyalty programme

McCarthys hearings were televised and Americans saw the bully who had no evidence

In the southern states in the USA blacks had their own cineams, cafes, transport etc.

Jim Crow laws prevented blacks from voting and enforced seperate and unequal laws

The NAACP was founded in 1909 and in 1942 CORE was set up

Race riots broke out in Detroit, 34 people were killed and £200,000 worth of damage

Harry Truman set up a presidents comitee on civil rights, including a bill to outlaw lynching and Jim Crow laws

In 1950 the supreme court decleared that black and white students should be equal

In 1954 Oliver Brown was told by the Topeka board of education in Kansas that his daughter could not attend closest scool

Brown used the supreme court ruling to take the city of Topeka in Kansas forcing his daughter to go to the school

The NAACP supported the case and Brown, who later became the first black member of the supreme court

In 1957 nine black students tried to enrol at little rock high school Arkansas, they were stopped by the state governer, Orval Fabus who surrounded the school with the national guard

President Eisenhower sent federal troops to escort to protect the students

In 1957, Esienhower introduced the first civil rights act, it was to persercute anyone who tried to deny american citizen rights

In 1955 Rosa Parks was arrested in Montgomery, Alabalma for refusing to give her seat to a white man and was arrested

The montgomery improvement situation was set up to orginise boycotts of buses led by a local church minister, Martin Luther King

All of the black americans in Montgomery and the surrounding area would rather walk than get the bus they eventually won and the buses were segregated

The first was at Woolworths in Greensboro where 85 students demanded to be served at a white counter only

By 1961, 810 towns and cities were desegregated, the civil rights movement gained publicity

In 1961 King and the congress of racial equality (core) wanted to test the supreme laws on the intergration of buses

The freedom riders began to make bus journeys to break Jim Crow laws, the first of the freedom riders was in many 1961 when 13 volunteers left Washington DC by bus to go to New Orleans

At Annistan Alabalma, a bus was attacked and burnt. There was no protect and the Freedom riders were attacked

Nevertheless they had gained tremendous publicity, they wanted pressure on Kennedy and later that year railway and bus stations were desegregated

In 1962 the city of Birmingham closed all public parks, buildings and swimming pools

Martin Luther King organised a campaign to force the city to back down, he wanted publicity

The police commisioner, Eugene bull Connor responed with water cannon, dogs and batton charges

In 1963 Kennedy forced the city to give away and Alabalma and allowed desegregated schools

Martin Luther King tried to put pressure on the president and planned a march through washington

Kennedy asked King to call it off, but refused there was 200,000 who marched about 80,000 white

King was the final speaker and made the I have a dream speech

Johnson was a southerner from Texas and forced congress to accept the act and the civil rights act made segregation in education and housing illegal

It started that all americans were entitled to equal employment oppurtunities

King encouraged more black americans to vote, he targetted a town of Selma Alabalma

For a non violent  campaign, he orgnaised a march from Selma to Birmingham, however the march was stopped on the Edmund Pettus bridge in Selma and the marches were attacked

A second march took place, King however turned the marches back because he agreed on a voting rights bill

The voting rights act 1965 made it clear and illegal to try and prevent blacks from registering for the vote

Malcom X did want to be intergrated into white society, he wanted a seperatre black society

He gad support from the nation of Islam, a millant black muslim organisation, which had been founded in 1930's

However by the 1960's Malcom X was beginning to moderate his stance after a pilgrimage to Mecca

This led to a split with the Nation of Islam, Malcom X was assassinated in 1965, probably by a black muslim who regared him as a traitor

After X's muder leadership of the black power movement passed to Stokely Carmicheal. He had became leader of the SNCC

In the Watts area of Los Angeles 34 people were killed and 1000 buildings were damaged for a seperate black society

A second civil rights act was passe, this banned discrimination in housing and made it a federal offence to injur civil rights workers

In 1969 the supreme court ruled that desegregation of schools should began at once

In education black americans still suffered from discrimination because facilities were pooer than those for white children

There was also increasing evidence of positive discrimination ina appointment to federal posts

Teenagers discovered reasons to rebel against, an alternative culture, rock n roll, the young was very influenced by pop music

Bob Dylan led the way, his lyrics covered the themes of changing times, nuclear war and racism

The songs were about free love and drugs, artists such as Hendrix and Joplin sang about sex, drugs and the opposition of the war

US involvent and the war with Vietnam united the student movement, half a million Americans were fighting the war

The media also influenced student opposition, the war is nam was the first to be televised in detail

Other student protests over the wolrd was influencing, the student protests in Paris almost overthrew the government

For many young americans, white and black their first expierence of protets was in civil rights

The students democratic society was set up in 1959 by Tom Hayden to give students a greater say

It eventually formed groups in 150 colleges and universities and had 100,000 members by the 1960's

The SDS organised a varity of activities against Vietnam including draft card burning and harrasing campus recruities

In ohio 1970 students were holding a peaceful protest against presidents Nixons decision to bomb Cambodia

National guardsmen were called to disperse the students, uf of tear gas was used, shots were fired, 4 people were killed and 11 were injured

The press in the USA and abroad were horrified and 400 colleges were closed and 2 million went on strike

The movement did influence the government policy in Vietnam aswell of Nixons policy of withdrawal of vietnamisation

Students supported the discrimination of races and they did not support segregation many were comftable middle class

It had a long lasting effect on the culture of the young and fashion, teenages became more aware of their individuality and demaned a greater say

In the late 1960's the student movement became more extreme and called themseleves 'weathermen'

They took this line from a Bob Dylan song, they bombed army recruitment centers and government buildings

Others decided to drop out of society and became hippies and handed out flowers to the police, San Fransico became the hippie capital, thewy refused to work and experimented marajuana and LSD

Women had very traditional roles in the US society in the 1950's, however in the late 1950's growing members if women, espically middle class backgrounds began more challenges

Women were now much better educated so they could have a professional career, in the 1960's there was over 2 million women students

Betty Friedan had a great impact on the emergence of the womens movement with her book 'the feminine mystique written in 1963, in 1966 she set up NOW(national organisation for women)

Members of NOW believed that progress was too slow and that the equal oppotunities commision did not take issues to seriosuly

The equal pay act 1963 requried women to be payed the same as men for the same jobs and the civil rights act made it illegal discriminate on the grounds of gender and outlawed sex discrimination in education

This name was given to the women which were much more extreme aims than NOW, they believed not wearing make up was an act of protest against male supremecy

In 1968 atlantic city crowned a sheep miss America and showed how it degraded the position of women

The most important case of abortion was Roe vs. Wade which lasted from 1970 to 1973

Feminist lawyer Sarah Weddington defended the client Norma Mcorvey, named Jane Roe to prevent anomity, she won the ight to have an abortion, the victory led to abortions becoming legal

Phylassis Schafly was the most important, she was an author and a active polition

She was agaisnt ERA(equal rights act) which was set up by NOW because ERA would require women to serve in combat and it would have a bad influence on family values