American History : Key Personalities

American History : Key Personalities : Harry Truman, President (Democrat) 1945-1953 Was born in 1884 and fought in WW1 in France. He became Vice-President to Roosevelt in 1944 and became President when Roosevelt died in April 1945 just before the war ended.  His first problem was how to defeat Japan. He decided to drop an Atomic bomb on Hiroshima as he believed it would force a Japanese surrender and save many American lives that he feared would be lost if the Americans had to invade Japan. He had to drop a second bomb before Japan surrendered. ( Beginning of Atomic age and the arms race)  The relationship between the US and Soviet Russia worsened after WW2 when Russia refused to leave the countries in Eastern Europe that it had occupied at the end of the war. The two countries also argued over what should happen to Germany. Truman feared that Soviet Russia wanted to spread and expand communism all over the world and was getting ready to take-over the rest of Europe. To stop communist expansion around the world Truman came up with the policy of communist containment. He believed in the domino theory that if one country became communist then the countries around it would become communist as well.  To contain communism he came up with the Truman Doctrine – this promised American aid and help (guns and money) to any country that was in danger of a communist take-over. He also backed the Marshall Plan which gave millions of dollars to Europe to help it rebuild after WW2 and stop people turning to communism.  Truman had to deal with the Berlin Blockade when Stalin blockaded the city to try to force the America out of the city. Truman organised an airlift of food and supplies for 11 months until Stalin called off the blockade. ( see Berlin Blockade )  In 1949 he set up NATO with other countries. It was a group of countries who agreed to help each other to fight communism if they had to and to help each other if they were attacked. He sent US troops to fight in Korea in 1950. They helped South Korea to fight back after the communist North had invaded.  At home ( domestic policy) he passed the GI Bill of Rights that gave special help to soldiers who returned from WW2. Senator Mc Carthy.  Mc Carthy was born in Wisconsin in 1908, and as a young man he took part in World War 2. In 1946 he became a Senator for the Republican party. He was little heard of until he gave a speech in 1950 claiming that he had a list of 205 Communist Party members who worked in the State Department. ( In charge of American foreign policy)  At the time of the speech people in America were getting very worried about Communism spreading to America. Although Mc Carthy did not start the “red scare” (great fear of communism among ordinary people) he did take anti-communist hysteria to new levels.  He made very dramatic and powerful speeches that suggested that there were a lot of Americans who were secretly helping communists in America and that they secretly hoped that America would become communist.  Mc Carthy said that he had a list of 57 people working in the government who were communists. The Tyndings Committee was set up to investigate whether communists were employed or had been employed by the government.  They investigated 6 million people and 500 people were fired but no-one from Mc Carthy’s list.  Mc Carthy started accusing the President (Truman 45-53) who was a Democrat of being soft on communism. Congress then passed the Mc Carran Act which forced all communist organisations to register in the US. It allowed the government to ban anyone from the US who was or had been a member of the communist party.  At first many Americans believed Mc Carthy. People listened very carefully when Mc Carthy accused anyone of being a communist. Even President Eisenhower ( 53-61) was a little afraid of him. When Mc Carthy accused his friend George Marshall of being “soft” on communism Eisenhower dropped the part of a speech that defended his friend.  In 1953 Mc Carthy became chairman of The Committee on Government Operations Subcommittee on Investigations. He began to attack very respected people and institutions such as the army and the Supreme Court.  As his accusations got wilder less and less people listened to him.  10,000 Americans were imprisoned or lost their jobs as a result of his witch hunts.Lyndon Johnson : President 1963-68 ( Republican )  Was born in 1908.  He became Vice-President in 1961 and then became President when President Kennedy was assassinated in 1963. He wanted to create a better and fairer society for all and improve the lives of the poor in America. He called this his Great Society programme.  He got Congress to pass a series of laws that protected Civil Rights for Black Americans. He got the Civil rights act passed in 1964 – this made discrimination on the grounds of race, religion or sex illegal. He also got the Voting Rights Act passed in 1965 which banned the use of literacy tests that were used to stop black people from voting.  He set up schemes to provide cheap housing and rents and to clear slums. He also brought in Medicare and Medicaid to help old and poor people with their health problems.  The Vietnam war took his attention from the Great Society programme and the money he spent on fighting the war in Vietnam was money he would have preferred to spend fighting a war on poverty. He did not want to get sucked into a full scale war but believed in the domino theory and did not think America could allow South Vietnam to become communist.  After the Tonkin Incident in 1964 he was given great powers to fight the war ( Tonkin Resolution) and he increased US troop numbers to over 500,000 by 1968.  People in America, who at first were for the war, began to turn against it when they saw the casualty count, the cost and stopped believing the government when they said the war was going well. ( see anti-war movement )  After the Tet Offensive in 1968 people stopped believing that America could win the war and anti-war feeling grew stronger and louder.  Johnson reduced the bombing campaign ( Operation Rolling Thunder) and opened peace talks with the North Vietnamese. He started the process of reducing American involvement in Vietnam and started looking for a way for America to withdraw.  He did not seek re-election as President in 1968.Martin Luther King :  Was born in Atlanta, Georgia, the son of A Baptist minister.  He studied to become a Baptist minister at Boston University and was appointed pastor  to the Baptist Church in Montgomery Alabama in 1955. He was a member of the NAACP and became one of the leaders of the Montgomery Bus Boycott to end segregation of the buses in Montgomery.  He was inspired by the example of Ghandi’s peaceful non-violent protests in India and out those ideas into practice in Montgomery. This example would become the model for other protests and marches in the Civil Rights movement which avoided the use of violence.  The Bus Boycott was successful when after 381 days the Supreme Court ruled that buses could not be segregated.  In 1957 he founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and became the main leader of the Civil Rights Movement throughout the US. He was a powerful and moving speaker and believed in the moral force of peaceful protest. Even though his house was bombed and marches were attacked he said that black people should not fight back but  He was involved in a number of marches and demonstrations in the 60s.1. April 1963 – Birmingham, Alabama – marches attacked by Bull O Connor.2. August 1963 – Washington Demonstration – “I have a dream” speech. – 200,000 people – a vision of a future where blacks and whites would be equal and united.3. 1965 – Selma to Montgomery – a march to win full voting rights for Blacks.  His campaigns were successful and led to 1. 1964 – Civil Rights Act – by Johnson – made discrimination in Public places illegal.2. 1964 – The employment opportunities Commission – end discrimination in the workplace. 3. 1965 – The Voting Rights Act – Johnson – made literacy tests and other ways of stopping Blacks from voting illegal.  He won the Nobel peace prize in 1965.  Younger Black leaders began to question his non-violent ways and white friendly ways. They argued that Blacks would never get a fair deal in a white dominated America and wanted to set up a separate state where Blacks could live and govern themselves. They also argued that Blacks should be willing to use violence to achieve this aim.  King began to work to improve things for the poor.  He said the government was wasting money in Vietnam that would be better spent building a better and fairer society for all.  In 1968 he was planning a poor people’s march in Memphis, Tennesse when he was assassinated by a hired assassin James Earl Ray. His death led to riots in many US cities. Muhammad Ali :  Was born Casius Clay in Louisville, Kentucky in 1942.  He took up boxing at 12 and became Olympic Champion in 1960 at age 18. Louisville was part of the segregated south and even though he was an Olympic champion he was unable to get a job in a local Restaurant because he was Black.  He threw his medal into the river out of disgust. He became a Professional Boxer and because of his habit of speaking a lot inside and outside the ring became known as the “Louisville lip.” In 1964 he beat Sonny Liston to become World Heavyweight Champion.  He met the Black Muslim Leader Malcolm X and joined the Nation of Islam. He changed his name to Cassius X because the last name of black Americans who had been slaves was the surname of their owners. He then changed his name to Muhammad Ali.  In 1967 he was drafted to fight in Vietnam. He refused to go for two reasons1. He was a Muslim and it was against his religious beliefs.2. He was against the war – he was a “conscientious objector” –he said “I aint got no quarrel with the Vietcong.”  The government wanted to show that no-one could avoid fighting if they were drafted.  They took away his boxing licence, he lost his heavyweight title and he was sent to jail. This caused lots of arguments in the US.  As the anti-war movement grew stronger after 1968 ( see anti-war movement and Vietnam) Ali was allowed to box again. He made his comeback in 1970. In 1971 he lost to Joe Frazer but beat him later that year to become heavyweight Champion again in a fight called the Thrilla in Manilla.  He retired in 1979 at the age of 38. In 1982 he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. In 1996 he was given the honour of lighting the Olympic flame to start the Atlanta Olympics. Betty Friedan :  Was born in 1921 and got a degree in Psychology.  She believed in social change and making the lives of women better.  She wrote a book in 1963 called “The Feminine Mystique.” She said that women in America were unhappy with the lives that they could lead. She said that when they married they were expected to look after their husbands and children and look pretty. She said they were expected to stay in the kitchen and the nursery and were not given any chances to develop their talents. She said they were frustrated and unhappy and felt trapped in a life that was only about looking after their families.  She said that women should also have chances to find happiness outside the home.  She was part of the feminist movement where women looked at the roles they were asked to lead in the world and began to question those roles because they were too limiting. Marilyn Monroe :  Was born Norma Jean Mortenson in 1926 to a single mother.  She spent her early years in orphanages and foster homes.  She had a failed teenage marriage.  She was spotted by a photographer in a factory during World War 2 and took his advice and joined a modelling agency.  She was on the cover of 33 national magazines in 1947.  A film studio hired her as an actress and she changed her name to Marilyn Monroe.  Her career took off in the 50s – she stared in films like – The seven year itch, Gentlemen prefer Blondes and Some Like it Hot.  She had an unhappy private life. Her marriages to the baseball player Joe DiMaggio and the playwright Arthur Miller ended in failure.  She began taking tranquillisers.  There were reports of affairs with President Kennedy and his brother Robert.  In 1962 she died from an overdose of sleeping pills. People still argue about whether it was an accident, suicide or if she was killed by the government to cover up affairs with President Kennedy. Billy Graham :  Was born in 1918 and became a Baptist minister in 1939.  In 1950 he set up the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association to spread the message of the Baptist Church.  He used advertising and the mass media ( programmes on TV) to get the attention of people. He turned religion into popular entertainment. Time Magazine called him “The Protestant Pope.”  He wrote 25 books and all American Presidents knew he had great power with the Public and felt that they had to be seen to speak with him and listen to his views. He represented the strong religious feeling and tradition in America.

American History : Key Personalities

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