Monday, April 4, 2011

Korean War and 1950s Class Notes

  • June 25, 1950 - North Koreans crossed the 38th parallel into South Korea
  • Each section believed The Koreas should be one Union under lead of each of their leaders
  • Truman assumes this is a "Soviet-backed" attack
  • Security Council (elite body within UN) decides to assist South Korea
The War
  • American soldiers take heavy casualties, pushed down Korean peninsula
  • Lead advance into North Korea (capturing Pyongyang)
  • China goes into war on side of North Korea (pushed American troops back across 38th parallel)
  • MacArthur called for land attack on China (alludes to Nuclear attacks on Korea)
  • MacArthur is fired in April, 1951
  • Armistice talks begin in 1951 (still cannot agree and fighting/dying continues for 2 years)
Fear of Communism in America
  • Fear taking over America (fallout shelters made and duck and cover drills)
  • House of Un-American Activities Committee leads charge against "communist threats from within"
  • HUAC starts investigating Hollywood (communist suspicion by Government)
  • Alger Hiss Case - lying to the court about sending papers to a Communist spy
  • Robert Nixon urged for Hiss to be indicted for espionage
  • "red-baiting become common" - using attack and spreading fear of other political parties
  • 1954 the Communist Control Act was passed (made membership to the Communist Party Illegal?)
Senator Joseph McCarthy
  • Becomes head of "witch-hunt"
  • Claimed the state is crawling with communists
  • Claimed to have also had a list of 205 communists in the department
  • His main targets were democrats associated with the New Deal (Truman and Dean Acheson are "dangerous liberals")
  • President Eisenhower feared McCarthy would split the Republican Party
  • Starts to look like a bully and the public starts to doubt him and they get a chance to see abuse of witnesses
  • 1954 Senate finally condemns McCarthy in a 67-22 vote
  • Dies soon after in 1957 probably from alcohol and exhaustion

Ike's Political Philosophy
  • "Dynamic Conservation"
  • Believer in delegation
  • Criticized for this because he often seemed uninformed and he was always at the gold course
  • Era of conformity and consensus
  • Took different anti-communist actions



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