With the end of World War II, the United States, along with the USSR, became one of the two world superpowers. The states helped raise Europe from ruins, experienced an economic and population boom. The country began the process of abandoning segregation and racial discrimination. At the same time, an anti-communist propaganda campaign by supporters of Senator McCarthy unfolded in American society. Nevertheless, despite all the internal and external tests, the country managed to maintain and consolidate its status as the main democracy in the Western world.
New superpower
When a bloody war began in Europe in 1939, the US authorities tried to stay away from the large-scale conflict. However, the longer the confrontation lasted, the fewer opportunities remained for pursuing an isolationist policy. Finally, in 1941, there was an attack on Pearl Harbor. The perfidious Japanese attack forced Washington to reconsider its plans. Thus, the role of the United States after the Second World War was predetermined. American society rallied in the "crusade" of the 20th century, the purpose of which was to defeatthe Nazis and their allies.
The Third Reich was defeated, leaving Europe in ruins. The paramount economic and political importance of the Old World (primarily Great Britain and France) was shaken. The USA after the Second World War occupied a vacant niche. By all indications, the country, relatively weakly affected by the horrors of recent years, deservedly began to be considered a superpower.
Marshall Plan
In 1948, US Secretary of State George Marshall launched the "Program for Rebuilding Europe", also called the "Marshall Plan". Its goal was economic assistance to the countries of destroyed Europe. Through this program, the United States after World War II not only provided support to its allies, but also consolidated its dominant status in the Western world.
Money for the reconstruction of industry and other important infrastructure was allocated to 17 countries. The Americans offered their assistance to the socialist states of Eastern Europe, but under pressure from the Soviet Union, they refused to participate in the program. In a special manner, money was provided to West Germany. American funds entered this country along with the collection of indemnity for the former crimes of the Nazi regime.
Growing contradictions with the USSR
In the USSR, the "Marshall Plan" was treated negatively, believing that with the help of it, the United States put pressure on the Soviet Union after the Second World War. This point of view was also widespread in the West. It was followed, among other things, by former US Vice President Henry Wallace, who criticized the aid program for Europe.
Every year the growing confrontation between the USSR and the USA became more and more acute. The powers that stood on the same side of the barricades in the struggle against the Nazi threat now began to openly feud themselves. There were contradictions between communist and democratic ideologies. Western Europe and the United States created the NATO military alliance after World War II, while Eastern Europe and the USSR formed the Warsaw Pact.
Internal problems
The internal development of the United States after the Second World War was accompanied by contradictions. The fight against Nazi evil rallied society for several years and made it forget about its own problems. However, almost immediately after the victory, these difficulties reappeared. First of all, they were in relation to ethnic minorities.
US social policy after the Second World War has changed the old way of life of the Indians. In 1949, the authorities abandoned the former Self-Determination Act. Reservations are in the past. Accelerated assimilation with the society of the native inhabitants of America. Often the Indians moved to the cities under pressure. Many of them did not want to give up the way of life of their ancestors, but they had to give up their principles due to a radically changed country.
Fight against segregation
The problem of white relations remained acutemajority and black minority. segregation persisted. In 1948 it was abolished by the Air Force. During World War II, many African Americans served in the air force and became famous for their amazing feats. Now they could repay their debt to the Motherland in the same conditions as the whites.
1954 brought another major public victory to the United States. Thanks to a long overdue decision by the Supreme Court, the history of the United States after World War II was marked by the abolition of segregated education in schools along racial lines. Then Congress officially confirmed the status of citizens for blacks. Gradually, the United States embarked on a path leading to the complete rejection of segregation and discrimination. This process ended in the 1960s
Economy
The accelerated economic development of the United States after World War II led to an unprecedented economic boom, sometimes called the "golden age of capitalism." It was caused by several reasons, such as the crisis in Europe. Period 1945-1952 also considered the era of Keynes (John Keynes - the author of the famous economic theory, according to the precepts of which the United States lived in those years).
The Bretton Woods system was created through the efforts of the States. Its institutions facilitated international trade and made it possible to implement the Marshall Plan (the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, etc. appeared). The economic boom in the United States led to a baby boom - a population explosion, as a result of which the population of the entire country began to grow rapidly.
Beginning of the Cold War
In 1946, while on a private visit to the United States, already former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill made a famous speech in which he called the USSR and communism threats to the Western world. Today, historians consider this event the beginning of the Cold War. In the United States at that time, Harry Truman became president. He, like Churchill, believed that it was necessary to adhere to a hard line of behavior with the USSR. During his presidency (1946-1953), the division of the world between two opposing political systems was finally consolidated.
Truman became the author of the "Truman Doctrine", according to which the Cold War was a confrontation between the democratic American and the totalitarian Soviet systems. The first real bone of contention for the two superpowers was Germany. By decision of the United States, West Berlin was included in the Marshall Plan. The USSR in response to this staged a blockade of the city. The crisis continued until 1949. As a result, the GDR was created in eastern Germany.
At the same time, a new round of the arms race began. After the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, there were no more attempts to use nuclear warheads in wars - they stopped after the first one. World War II was enough for the United States to realize the lethality of new missiles. However, the arms race has already begun. In 1949, the USSR tested a nuclear bomb, and a little later, a hydrogen bomb. The Americans lost their arms monopoly.
McCarthyism
With the deterioration of relations in both the USSR and the United States, propagandacampaigns to create the image of a new enemy. The Red Scare has become the order of the day for millions of Americans. The most ardent anti-communist was Senator Joseph McCarthy. He accused many high-ranking politicians and public figures of being sympathetic to the Soviet Union. McCarthy's paranoid rhetoric was quickly picked up by the media.
USA after the Second World War, in short, experienced anti-communist hysteria, the victims of which were people who were far from the left. McCarthyists blamed traitors for all the troubles of American society. Trade unions and supporters of negotiations with the socialist bloc were subjected to their attacks. Although Truman was a critic of the USSR, he differed from McCarthy in more liberal views. Republican Dwight Eisenhower, who won the next presidential election in 1952, became close to the scandalous senator.
Many figures of science and culture became victims of the McCarthyists: composer Leonard Bernstein, physicist David Bohm, actress Lee Grant, etc. The communist spouses Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were executed for espionage. The propaganda campaign to search for internal enemies, however, soon bogged down. At the end of 1954, McCarthy was sent into disgraceful retirement.
Caribbean Crisis
France, Great Britain, the USA after the Second World War, together with other Western countries, created the NATO military bloc. Soon these countries came out in support of South Korea in its fight against the communists. The latter, in turn, were assisted by the USSR and China. The Korean War continued in1950-1953 It was the first armed peak of confrontation between the two world political systems.
In 1959, there was a revolution in neighboring Cuba with the United States. The communists led by Fidel Castro came to power on the island. Cuba enjoyed the economic support of the USSR. Moreover, Soviet nuclear weapons were stationed on the island. Its appearance near the United States led to the Cuban Missile Crisis, the climax of the Cold War, when the world was on the verge of new nuclear bombings. Then, in 1962, American President John F. Kennedy and Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev managed to reach an agreement and not aggravate the situation. The fork has been passed. A policy of gradual détente has begun.
