History - The Divided Union

1. 1950's and earlier
   1. Jim Crow Laws

      Annotations:

      • -These laws were introduced in the 1880's after slavery was abolised and were about segregation. -They banned black people from sharing/using the same facilities as white people. -They segregated schools, shops, eating areas, pools, toilets, cinemas, drinking fountains etc. - Black people could also not travel in the same train carriage as white people and had the sit at the back of buses. -They also made it so black people had to pass literacy tests, that white people didn't, in order to vote.
      • -These laws were about segregation.  They were introduced after slavery was abolished in the 1880's. -They prevented black and white people using/ sharing the same facilities. - for example there were segregated schools, shops, eating areas, trading thousands
   2. Plessy vs Ferguson

      Annotations:

      • This case ruled that black people could be "separate but equal" and therefore segregation was legal.
   3. Montgomery Bus Boycott

      Annotations:

      • -On buses in Montgomery, Alabama, if there were not enough seats for the white passengers then black people were expected to give up their seats. -In December 1955 Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat and was arrested and fined. -The NAACP called for a boycott of the bus service, this was organised by MLK. -Taxi firms owned by Black Americans and car pooling was organised to take black people to work. -This put the bus company under pressure as 3/4 of its customers were black. The company wanted to compromise but the all white town council refused to end the segregation. -After a year the boycott was called off when the Supreme Court ruled that segregation on transport was illegal.   
      • The boycott showed that MLK that victories could be achieved: -by involving ordinary people in the civil rights movement -by using non-violent tactics -by using direct action
   4. Brown vs Topeka

      Annotations:

      • -US education was segregated which was deemed constitutional by the Supreme Court as long as it was "separate but equal" -In 1954 Oliver Brown took on the City of Topeka so that his daughter (Linda) could go to the school closest to her (which was white only) -The Supreme Court agreed with him and so they ruled that segregation in education was unconstitutional. This meant all schools had to accept both black and white students.
   5. Little Rock

      Annotations:

      • -Many southern states ignored the Brown vs Topeka ruling which meant that the law was not being enforced in the South. -In 1957, 9 black students attempted to enrol in the Little Rock High School in Arkansas.  -President Eisenhower could enforce the law for the however he wanted to leave it to the states.  He hoped that the Governor of Arkansas would give the order to desegregate the school.  Instead he sent in the National Guard to maintain order and stop the black students from entering the school. - President  Eisenhower was forced to send in Federal Troops after embarrassing pictures were shown around the world of the 9 black teenagers being attacked by white mobs and were unable to enrol in the school.
2. 1960's onwards
   1. Sit-ins

      Annotations:

      • -Sit ins were the most famous example of direct action Civil rights volunteers would peacefully sit at segregated lunch counters and adopt a policy of non violence. They were usually violently attacked by white mobs and then arrested. -The most famous sit in was at a branch of Woolworths in Greensboro, North Carolina - The movement was very successful as it showed that black people were not violent. Also newspapers and news stations throughout the world made the violent white mobs look bad and highlighted the fact that nothing was being done to help the black people and so put pressure on the government. 
   2. Freedom Riders

      Annotations:

      • - In 1960 a series of sit ins began with black and whites protested against segregated businesses. These showed that direct action was good way to protest. - James Former (leader of CORE) wanted protest the ruling that segregation on inter-sate buses was illegal. -To do this black and white teenagers road together from the north to the south. In 1961, 9 of these freedom riders were attacked by a white mob in Alabama. The buses were often attacked or fire-bombed and in all the cases the police did nothing. -By refusing to fight violence with violence the freedom riders won the moral case and put more pressure on the government to take action.
   3. Birmingham Riots of 63

      Annotations:

      • -Birmingham, Alabama was one of the most racist and segregated cities in the USA.  It also had one of the biggest and most active KKK networks.-On the 3rd of April 1963 civil rights groups, led by MLK, began a full scale nonviolent protest march through the city centre in order to demonstrate against segregation. - The police chief ("Bull" Connor ordered the arrests of MLK and the other leaders. - Children were then trained in non violent tactics and  took the place of the arrested adults and they marched again on May 2nd. 956 children were arrested and put in jail-The next day more children marched and have the police turned fire hoses and dogs on the peaceful protesters.- President Kennedy was ashamed of the pictures that came from the protests and had to send in federal Troops to restore order. - The protests did result in the desegregation of lunch counters and shops and allowed black people to now apply for jobs that they had previously been excluded from.
   4. March on Washington

      Annotations:

      • - Success in Birmingham had people feeling confident as they now had JFK on their side. -The march was organised by MLK and the NAACP and it was to be the biggest civil rights march ever, ( 250,000 to 500,000 people attended.1/3 of these were white). People of all the ages, genders and colours attended. -300 reporters spread the news worldwide and MLK made his famous " I have a dream" speech at the Lincoln Memorial. -JFK and the government were very impressed by the march. MLK's nonviolent made it easier for the Federal Government to support him and so they committed themselves to changing the law. -Kennedy created the Civil Rights Act however failed to pass it due to opposition from the south. After his death President Johnson was able to pass the act in 1964.
   5. Selma to Montogmery

      Annotations:

      • -After the murder of Jimmie Lee Jackson during the voter registration drive MLK, the SCLC and the SNCC organised a protest march from Selma to the state capitol building in Montgomery.-The 1st March on February 1st 1965 led to the arrest of 770 people.-A second march on March 7th was attacked by mounted police . The sight of state troopers using nightsticks and tear gas was filmed by television cameras and the event became known as Bloody Sunday.-MLK led another march of 1,500 people 2 days later. After crossing the Pettus Bridge the marchers were faced by a barricade of state troopers. MLK decided to turn back to avoid confrontation. -President Johnson decided to take action and sent state troops, marshals and FBI Agents to protect the protesters. -On 25th March, MLK led 25,000 people to the Alabama State Capitol and handed a petition to Governor George Wallace demanding voting rights for African Americans. That night KKK killed Viola Liuzzo while returning from the march. -On the 6th August President Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act. This removed the rights of states to impose restrictions on who could vote in elections.
   6. James Meredith

      Annotations:

      • - In 1961 he applied to be the first black student at the University of Mississippi but was turn down.-He appealed and the federal court agreed that he should be allowed to enrol. He tried to entre the University again but was stopped by authorities. JFK had to send in troops to escort Meredith into the University and keep order. -In 1966 he organised the March Against Fear from Memphis Tennessee to Jackson, Mississippi. -He aimed to encourage black people  to register to as voters. O the 2nd day he was shot but recovered and carried on. As a result of the Marches 4,000 black people registered to vote.
   7. TheCivil Rights Act

      Annotations:

      • -The Civil Rights Act was proposed by JFK but signed by Johnson in 1964. It banned discrimination in work, education and public places. -An Equal Opportunities Commission was set up to investigate discrimination. Discriminating state laws became illegal and voter registration tests had to be the same fro everybody.
   8. The Voting Rights Act

      Annotations:

      • -After Selma, Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act 1965. It set up national literacy tests for blacks and whites registering to vote. -It also set up a group of federal examiners to go into states to check black people weren't being discriminated against.  -Voter registration points had to be set up in halls due to the amount of blacks wanting to vote.
   9. Nation of Islam and Malcolm X

      Annotations:

      • -Malcolm X was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment in 1946 where he joined the Nation of Islam. When he was released he became a leading spokesperson. -He changed his name to Malcolm X to signify the loss of his family name due to slavery. -He believed in "separatism" that blacks and whites should live separately. He believed that black people should have their own organisations such as their own banks, shops, schools etc but they should be as good as whites had. -He didn't believe in MLK's non violence protests as he thought it only led to only superficial changes. He also thought he was using methods of action whites approved. -Malcolm X later moderated his views and spilt from the Nation of Islam. -He was later assassinated.
   10. Stokely Carmicheal and Black Power

       Annotations:

       • -Stokely Carmichael defined Black Power as: "It is a call for black people in this country to unite, to recognise their heritage, to build a sense of community . It is a call for black people to define their own goals, to lead their own organisations." -He was a key spokesperson for the black power movement -He rejected "separatism" but thought that black people should run their own organisations to build up black pride. -He accepted non-violence only because he thought it was tactically correct. However he said he would advocate violence if it was a better way to achieve civil rights. -He was involved in the Freedom Rides and Voting Rights campaigns. He was the leader of the SNC (student nonviolence coordination committee) as also joined the Black Panthers.    
       • Reasons for Black Power:1) Many thought that MLK's non-violence tactics were wrong. Some thought that he cooperated too much with the whites and this made them look weak. They also didn't think he challenged authority enough. 2) Some thought the MLK concentrated on the issue of segregation in the south too much as life was also though for many blacks in the north. this meant they wanted to focus more on the social and economic injustices that were taking place.
   11. The Black Panthers

       Annotations:

       • -Founded in 1966 by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale in Oakland California. -The original programme was to protect black neighbourhoods from police brutality. They were also concerned about the economic and social conditions of black people. -They had a 10 point programme which included full employment, better housing and skills. -In 1969 they set up a free breakfast for schools programme, giving 10,000 free school meals to poor children each day. -By 1968 they had expanded into 25 major cities, however most of their publicity came from their policy of carrying guns.  
   12. The Watts Riots

       Annotations:

       • -The Watts Riots were race riots that took place in the Watts neighbourhood of LA from August 11-17th 1965. -They began August 11th after the arrest of Marquette Frye which caused clashes between police and onlookers. -These clashes touched off a large scale riot centred in the comical centre of Watts, a deeply impoverished African American neighbourhood in south central LA. -For several days, rioters overturned and burned cars as well as looted and damaged supermarkets, liquor stores, department stores and pawnshops.- Over the course of the 6-day riots, over 14,000 California National Guard troops were mobilized in South LA and a curfew zone encompassing 45 miles was established in an attempt to restore public order. -The riots claimed the lives of 35 people, resulted in more than 1000 reported injuries and almost 4000 arrests before order was restored. It also caused more than $40 million of property damage. -Investigations after the riot found the main cause to be the Watts communities long standing grievances and growing discontent with high unemployment rates, substandard housing and inadequate schools. However even after the riots very little was done about these issues.
   13. Freedom Summer

       Annotations:

       • -In 1964, CORE, SNCC, NAACP organised its Freedom Summer campaign. -Its main objective was to try to help African Americans overcome the barriers stopping them from voting. Its main focus was in Mississippi. -In 1962 only 6.7 per cent of African Americans in the state were registered to vote, the lowest percentage in the country. -The state of Mississippi stopped most African Americans from voting by setting literacy tests which were designed to not be in their favour. -CORE, SNCC and NAACP also established 30 Freedom Schools in towns throughout Mississippi. Volunteers taught in the schools and the curriculum now included black history and the philosophy of the civil rights movement. -During the summer of 1964 over 3,000 students attended these schools. -Freedom Schools were often targets of white mobs. James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner were murdered by the KKK on June 21st 1964 for taking part. However their attempt to stop people taking part failed and by late 1964 over 70,000 students had taken part in Freedom Summer.

1. Factors that sparked the Movement
   1. Eleanor Roosevelt

      Annotations:

      • In 1963 a commission headed by Eleanor Roosevelt published a report on the status of women. Its reported that women earned only about 50-60% of the wages of men. It also noted that some professions limited the number of women, eg only 2% of dentists could be women. The findings shocked many people as they were clearly unfair. This led to many people, including men, to call for changes.
   2. Betty Friedan

      Annotations:

      • In 1963 she published an influential book called The Feminine Mystique. In the book she surveyed the women she had gone to university with in 1942 ad asked them how happy with their lives they were. She found most of them to be unhappy and either in very low paid jobs or were housewives. This lead to many graduate women vowing not to let this happen to them and persuaded many women to become feminists and gave them the courage to take action.
   3. WW2

      Annotations:

      • WW2 impacted the lives of many women as it gave them more opportunities as they were able to work the jobs that were formerly only reserved for men. This allowed them more freedom as they has their own money and so were not totally reliant on men. However these improvements did not stay on throughout the 50's women were only allowed to do stereotyped jobs such as primary school teachers, however the traditional view still stayed that they should be housewives, mothers and wives.
   4. Increased University Education

      Annotations:

      • Thousands more women were receiving degrees in 1960 than the case in 1950. In 1947 only 29% of the total students in university were women, this rose to 38% in 1968. This meant that over 20 million women went to university from 1947-68.This lead to many more women being able to be more independent and demand much more from their lives. More women wanted professional careers in jobs that were generally considered to be for men, for example medicine, dentistry, law etc, and they were also able to demand higher wages.
   5. The Pil

      Annotations:

      • The birth control pill became widely available during the 1960's, giving women better opportunities to plan their families. This meant that women had more control over their careers and could choose when to leave and start again.
   6. Civil Rights Movement

      Annotations:

      • Many women had been involved in the movement in the 1950's. From this they learned how to organise themselves, use the media, put pressure on politicians etc. The movement also showed people that they if they got organised they could make a difference.
2. Women's liberation Movement

   Annotations:

   • Some feminists became more radical than the NOW campaign and spilt off to form the Women's Liberation Movement. They campaigned for more marginal issues such as the abolition of marriage and the rights of lesbians. They received much attention from the media as they often engaged in attention grabbing stunts. For example: -They burned their bras and many other feminine products in public demonstrations because they were symbols o the chains in which women were expected to live. -In 1998 they demonstrated outside the Miss World beauty pageant in Atlantic City as they thought it treated women like animals on display.
3. NOW Campaign

   Annotations:

   • In 1964 the US passed the Civil Rights Bill which helped the women as it also banned discrimination on basis of gender. Betty Friedan decided to form a group called the National Organisation for Women (NOW) and she became the leader. NOW set out the to achieve: maternity cover for pregnant women, more childcare centres as well as equal employment and education opportunities. They said that child care was important to allow women back into work after having kids so they weren't forced to become housewives. To achieve these aims NOW set about a series of nation wide protests. They also however tried to work within the system by trying to get politicians onside. To do this they took part in letter writing campaigns as well as taking part in hundreds of meetings with key government officials.Another of their most famous  campaigns  highlighted the unfair working conditions of airline stewardesses who were forced to resign when they got married or when they reached the age of 32. Pilots (who were all men) were not affected by any of these restrictions.  
4. Opposition

   Annotations:

   • There as much opposition to the women's movement from both men and women. For example the reason that the Equal Right Amendment did not pass was because a group called STOP was set up to oppose it. It was led by Phyllis Schlafly who argued that women's rights damaged family values. She also said that the ERA would disadvantage women in certain ways if they were considered "equal" to men, eg they could be conscripted into the army.  
5. Achievments

   Annotations:

   • The Equal Pay Act was passes in 1963 which gave women the right to earn the same wage as men for doing the same job. Women made significant process in social areas. Abortion finally became a legal right in 1973. Feminism and women's rights managed to become an accepted part of political and cultural life. 5 women were elected to congress in the early 70's. The feminist magazine, Ms. , went on sale in 1972 and sold over  250,000 in 8 days. The movement also made women more aware of the discrimination against them and so were able to fight against it. HOWEVER; Despite the equal pay act there was very little actual increases in women's pay during the 70's As the movement divided it was much harder to make actual progress as much of the work NOW did was undone by the dramatics of the Women's Literation Movement. The discrimination against women didn't go away, it instead just became less obvious eg the glass ceiling in many professions. By 1985 there were still only 24 women in Congress out of 535 members.  

1. Reasons

   Annotations:

   • 1) After WW2 a youth culture began to emerge where teenagers and people in their early 20's developed their own culture focused around pop and rock music which older generations disapproved of. A booming economy also meant for the first time teenagers had money to spare. It also became "cool" to be rebellious and do things that older generations didn't approve of. This lead to a widening "Generation Gap". Many people wanted the older generations to understand that times had changed an they needed to let the youth of today decide things for themselves. The youth also realised they didn't want to grow up to be like their parents and so wanted things to change.
   • 2) The number of full-time students  increased and this meant that young people could delay having to earn a living. This also gave them more time to do other things and many became interested in politics. As they were now more educated they became increasingly dissatisfied with how the country was run. They also realised and were upset with the increasing hypocrisy of the American Government. As they were getting older and learning more about the current event they began to realise that the "American Dream" ideal they had been taught as children was no loner true.  
   • 3) Students began to focus on the problems in US society. Two events in particular inspired them: -The Civil Rights movement (they were influenced by the success of the movement and believed that they could widen the protests against the "establishment") -The election of JFK in 1960 (this gave many hope for the future as he suggested that people could change society for the better which inspired many young people to get involved in politics)
   •  4) After the US got involved in the Vietnam War there was much opposition by students which lead them to becoming increasingly active and radical. They were angry that the government was spending so much money on the war and neglecting the US's urban needs. Many students were also drafted into a war that they did not agree with which made them very angry.
2. The Vietnam War

   Annotations:

   • At first students were divided over the Vietnam War. Originally many supported what President Johnson was doing. However as they US began to send more troops many began to oppose the war. The students began to protest because: 1) They began to learn more about the situation in Vietnam and saw it as a civil war within Vietnam and the US had to right to interfere 2) Most of the soldiers were a similar age to the students 3)TV reports showed the suffering of the Vietnamese people at the hand of the US troops 4) Students had been exempt from the draft however this ended in 1968.  
   • Student protests reached its height in 1968 in what was know and the "Summer of Love". The anti-war and pacifists demonstrations were known as "flower power" and encapsulated the slogan "make love, not war". They also taunted the president with the chant "Hey! Hey! LBJ! How many kids have you killed today?" The most famous anti-war event was the three day Woodstock Festival in New York State. The music of the day, especially artists like Bob Dylan and Joan Baez, often reflected the anger and pacifism of the students.
   • However, not all were prepared to use non-violence, for example an organisation called the Weathermen were prepared to cause damage to property  and even bomb government buildings. Some student leaders were even forced to go into hiding to escape he FBI. The main student protest of 1968 was in Chicago at the national convention of the Democrats. The police fought in the streets with the SDS and the Youth International Party (Yippies) Student opposition to the war helped to divide the US society. Many people turned their anger on the government and became more suspicious of their political leaders.
3. The SDS

   Annotations:

   • The SDS (Students for a Democratic Society) was an important activist group set up in 1960 by Tom Hayden. It organised sit ins, marches and other protests over issues ranging from student involvement in university decisions to the Vietnam War.
4. University Protests
   1. Berkeley

      Annotations:

      • The Berkley Free Speech movement developed because university authorities had banned any political activities by students. In 1964 the students ignored the ruling and several weeks of demonstrations began. Students refused to go to lectures and began a series of "sit-ins" occupying official buildings. Eventually the authorities relented and in January 1965 made concessions to the students.
   2. Columbia

      Annotations:

      • On April 23, 1968, Columbia University students began a nonviolent occupation of campus buildings that lasted nearly a week. Students and community supporters called for the university to cut its ties to research for the war in Vietnam and to end construction of a gym in Morningside Park. After negotiations failed, the administration sent in the police, injuring many and arresting over 700, triggering a campus-wide strike that shut down the university
   3. Kent State

      Annotations:

      • On April 30, 1970, President Richard M. Nixon appeared on national television to announce the invasion of Cambodia by the United States and the need to draft 150,000 more soldiers for an expansion of the Vietnam War effort. This provoked massive protests on campuses throughout the country. At Kent State University in Ohio, protesters launched a demonstration that included setting fire to the ROTC building, prompting the governor of Ohio to dispatch 900 National Guardsmen to the campusDuring an altercation on May 4, twenty-eight guardsmen opened fire on a crowd, killing four students and wounding nine. Following the killings, the unrest across the country escalated even further. Almost five hundred colleges were shut down or disrupted by protests. Despite the public outcry, the Justice Department initially declined to conduct a grand jury investigation. A report by the President’s Commission on Campus Unrest did acknowledge, however, that the action of the guardsmen had been “unnecessary, unwarranted, and inexcusable.” Eventually, a grand jury indicted eight of the guardsmen, but the charges were dismissed for lack of evidence 
5. Hippies and Communes

   Annotations:

   • As the 1950-70's was such a time of social and political unrest that many teenagers turned to radical politics and decided they wanted to drop out of society. "Hippies" wore hippy clothes, practised free love and many took drugs. Some lived in communes where they lived a away from society in self-sustaining camps.

1. The Cold War

   Annotations:

   •  In the years 1945-50 there was a growing feeling that the USA's wartime ally the Soviet Union, was becoming its greatest enemy. This is when the Cold War began. There was increasing tension between the two nations particularly when in 1949 the USSR exploded its first Atomic bomb, a mere 4 years after the US and much sooner than anticipated.  This lead to many years of tension between the nations as they both began to build up their nuclear weapons. However nuclear weapons were never actually used against another nation again due to the threat of MAD (mutually assured destruction) Also during this period the two nations never actually fought each other but instead worked through other countries by taking sides in other wars.
2. HUAC

   Annotations:

   • HUAC stood for the House Committee of Un-American Activity. It was set up to investigate any suspected "Un-American" activity, namely it investigated suspected communist activity.
3. The Hollywood Ten

   Annotations:

   • The Hollywood 10 were 1o members of the entertainment industry who refused to give evidence at a trial held by HUAC about their suspected affiliations with communism and so were arrested. The Hollywood Blacklist was list of US entertainment professionals who were denied employment in their field because of their political beliefs or suspected associations with communism. The government were worried that communists were using Hollywood to spread propaganda or send secret messages to Russia. If people were put on the blacklist then they were banned from working in their field. This was significant as it showed just how scared and paranoid the US was about communism.
4. Alger Hiss

   Annotations:

   • Alger Hiss was an American lawyer, government official, author and lecturer. He was involved in the establishment of the UN as both a US State Department and UN Official. Hiss was accused of being a Soviet spy in 1948 and convicted of perjury in connection with the case. On August 3rd 1948, Whittaker Chambers , a  former Communist Party member, testified before HUAC that Alger Hiss had secretly been a Communist, though not a spy, while in federal service. Called before HUAC Hiss categorically denied the charge however Chambers repeated his claims of national radio. During the pre-trial discovery process, Chambers produced new evidence indicating that he and Hiss had been involved in espionage, which both men had previously denied under oath to HUAC. A federal Grand Jury indicted Hiss on two counts of perjury, Chambers admitted to the same offence but as he co-operated with the government he was never charged. Although Hiss' indictment stemmed from the alleged espionage, he could not be tried for that crime as the statute of limitations had expired.In January 1950 Hiss was found guilty on both counts of perjury and received two concurrent five year sentences, of which he served three and a half years. He maintained his innocence until his death.
5. The Rosenbergs

   Annotations:

   • When the Soviet Union exploded its Atomic Bomb in 1949 it was a huge surprise for USA as they did not think that the USSR would be able to create the technology so quickly.The US government were convinced that the USSR must  have spies in the US government who passed on the information which lead to the development of the bomb. In 1950 two nuclear scientists, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, were arrested as part of an investigation into who passed the secrets and intelligence about the atomic bomb to the Soviets..The evidence against the Rosenberg's however was not clear and depended  largely on the evidence given by other people arrested, eg Ethel's brother who it is assumed was more likely to have passed the secrets. However the couple were still found guilty of espionage and sentenced to death.
6. McCarthyism

   Annotations:

   • McCarthyism was a movement in the US against Communism in the 1950's led by Senator Joseph McCarthy.  The result of McCarthy's actions resulted in a period of mass hysteria and paranoia among the general public.   
   1. Development

      Annotations:

      • Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy was the leading American anti-communist figure in the 1940-50's. He first emerged as an ambitious Republican Senator who discovered a talent for rousing audiences when making anti-communist speeches.He first began his witch hunt for communists in February 1950 in Wheeling, West Virginia. This is when at one of his speeches he waved a piece of paper and claimed that it had the names of 205 Communist Party members who held high positions in the State Department. McCarthy, spurred on by his new found fame, started to attack politicians, scientists, left-wing journalists, actors, writers, directors and anyone else who had an influence in public life. He responded to any attacks on himself by attacking the accusers of being "un-American". He also often mixed up his "facts", often changing them so know one knew what to believe. For example he often changed the number of "spies" in the State Department. Any one who challenged his "facts" were smeared as communists and so it was difficult for people to stand up to him.
   2. Influcence

      Annotations:

      • McCarthyism impacted the lives of many ordinary people. Areas such as public libraries were affected. Librarians who failed to remove "un-American" titles from their shelves could be accused of having communist sympathies and lose heir jobs. People researching Russian history or literature were unable to access the books to do this a s it was assumed that any book about the Soviet Union must be written by a communist. In NYC 300 teacher were fired for suspected communist sympathies. In 1953 the Director of Education for the State of Indiana announced that only a communist would teach the book "Robin Hood" as he robbed from the rich and gave to the poor.   
      • McCarthyism also increased the amount of actors, directors and writers in Hollywood. Many writer could only work under assumed names. Even some famous actors were attacked for views they had expressed in the past. The most famous incident of this being Charlie Chaplin who hade made favourable speeches about the USSR during WW2. Eventually  he could take it no more and left the US for Switzerland.
      • McCarthyism also put pressure on other politicians the change laws and "crack down" on communism.   Senator Millard Tydings attacked McCarthy and said that his accusations lacked foundation. In return McCarthy called Tydings "un-American". These attacks on Tydings resulted in him losing his place in the Senate, making it clear that politicians who did not support strong anti-communist policies would not be re-elected. In 1950 the McCarren International Security made all communists register with the government. In 1952 it was strengthened so that communists could be denied passports. In 1953 President Eisenhower was forced to agree into an investigation into the civil service and nearly 7,000 people lot their jobs . In 1954 the communist party was banned altogether.  
   3. Downfall and Opposition

      Annotations:

      • McCarthy eventually lost his influence a mere 4 years later in 1954. This was inevitable as he never actually produced any evidence to support his claims. He never showed anybody the paper with the "205 names" on it.McCarthy knew that he would have to keep the pressure on if he wanted to keep his influence. He would only remain important as long as anti-communism was a big thing. This meant that McCarthy took it too far. He claimed that communists had infiltrated the army when President Eisenhower had been commander-in-chief and he had done nothing about it. This implied that the President was "soft" on communism. HUAC investigated these claims by McCarthy and the hearings were shown on tv in 1953. This gave million of people the chance to see McCarthy in action. However he was revealed to be a bully and the lawyer for the army managed to steadily humiliate him, bringing up things like his alcoholism.The McCarthyism period became an embarrassment to many Americans who wanted to put an end to it by getting rid of the man who symbolised it. By attacking Eisenhower many of McCarthy's supporters began to turn against him. This meant that more politicians felt confident attacking him. In 1954 his behaviour was condemned by a vote of 67-22 in the Senate and he was forced out of public life. However his influenced still lived on through the 1950's in some way as politicians were still reluctant to express views that might seem to radical. This may help to explain why much change during the civil rights period had to come from ordinary people.
7. The spread of Communism

   Annotations:

   • The USSR made huge territorial gains at the end of WW2, moving its frontier hundreds of kilometres westwards into Europe. This meant that all the countries of eastern Europe (Poland, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania ad Bulgaria) became communist. This division across the continent became know as the "Iron Curtain".
   • The USA tried to halt the spread of communism, in 1947 President Truman proclaimed the Truman Doctrine promising to help any country trying to resist the Soviet advance. The US also offered Marshall Aid, billions of dollars to help revive the war damaged economies of Western Europe so that they could resist communism.
   • In 1948 the USSR , in its effort to advance forward, cut off all supply routes into Western Berlin. Only a 15 month airlift of supplies  prevented the city from being starved out. In 1949 NATO (the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) was formed, a military alliance against the perceived Soviet threat.
   • In 1949 China turned communist and it was spreading in Malaya, Indonesia, Burma and the Philippines. In 1950 communist North Korea invades South Korea. The USA got UN support for a successful counter-attack, until China sent support for North Korea. Soon the US was drawn into the Korean War which lasted until 1953.

Annotations:

• Overview Richard Nixon was elected President in 1968 and again in 1972. His second term was dominated by the Watergate Scandal, which destroyed his authority and damaged the power and prestige of the presidency itself. It began with a burglary at the Democratic Party headquarters, after which Nixon was accused of obstructing investigations into the affair. He also lied about his own involvement. By August 1974 he realise he would be impeached so he became the first President to ever resign whilst in office.

1. CREEP

   Annotations:

   • This the name by which "The Committee to Re-Elect The President" was known by. This group was set up by Republicans who wanted Nixon to win a second term in office in order to raise money to pay for his election campaign. However some one/some members of the group were secretly siphoning off some of this money to fund illegal activities, namely to spy on and sabotage the Presidents opposition. Some of Nixon's aids broke into buildings used by the Democrat Party and bugged them an also stole information that could have been used to smear the President or could be used to smear the Democrats.
2. The Break-in

   Annotations:

   • On the night of June 7th 1972, 5 burglars were caught breaking into the Watergate Office building, the headquarters of the Democrat Party. It was later discovered that the burglars were members of CREEP and so it was assumed they had been trying to find "dirt" that could be used against their opposition. Nixon and his Chief-of-Staff tried to get the FBI to drop the charges. The White House also refused to comment on the burglary. Nixon thought that they could cover up his own and the other senior officials involvement. Nixon was still able to win a landslide victory in 1972 and continued to claim he knew nothing about the break-in. However by 1973 more questions were being asked about the break in. At first most assumed that it had been the work of people acting alone, without the knowledge of anyone in the government, to perhaps gain favour with the President. However soon people began to suspect that the President had been lying and the burglars were acting on the orders of Nixon or someone close to him. 3 sources began to look into this.
3. The Investigation and Trial

   Annotations:

   • 1) Reporters on the Washington Post began to look into the break-in. Reporters Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, with the help of White House informant "Deep Throat", uncovered the illegal "slush fund" of hundreds of thousand of dollars. This had been used by CREEP during the 1972 election campaign. This allowed them to make several links between the burglars and the White House
   • 2) The Senate Investigating Committee also looked into the break-in.They had powers that were unavailable to journalists, for example the had the power to force people to testify before it. People knew that by cooperating with the committee they would be immune from prosecution.They discovered that since 1971 (before the break-in), Nixon had been secretly taping all conversation and phone calls in his office. This was not an uncommon practice for Presidents to do. However this was not known to many people, especially the American public.  
   • 3) The Supreme Court ruled in 1974 that Nixon had to hand over the tapes of 54 conversations made during 1972. These were published publically in written form and linked Nixon to the cover-up of the break-in. The tapes also brought to light some other unsavoury thing about Nixon's character. On the tapes he makes racist comments about other politicians and swears constantly.
4. Nixon's Downfall

   Annotations:

   • Nixon was not accused of ordering the Watergate break-in but of covering up his knowledge of it to protect himself and those around him. By August 1974 it was clear that Nixon had done this, but he was also guilty of abusing the office of the President. In particular he used agencies such as the CIA and FBI to spy on his political opponents. These agencies were set up to protect the US, not one particular man. There was no doubt that Congress was going to impeach Nixon. This meant that they would put him on trial and the evidence suggests that he would be found guilty. He resigned on 9 August 1974 to avoid this humiliation. On September 8th President Ford gave a full pardon to Nixon for "any and all crimes committed during his presidency. Without such a pardon, Nixon would have likely faced trial and likely imprisonment.    
5. The Impacts

   Annotations:

   • 1) One result of the scandal was that it meant that Congress put greater controls on the presidency and its agencies. The scandal weakened faith in the presidency. Congress took the opportunity to reduce the powers of the powers of the president and to make government more "open" in an effort to restore people's respect for the system.-1973 War Powers Act: This meant that the President could no longer declare war on a foreign country unless Congress agreed.-1974 Election Campaign Act: Individual campaign contributions were limited to $5000 o prevent organisations like CREEP from getting out of control. -1974 Budget Act: This controlled the Presidents use of government money. This meant the President could not withhold  money from programs that they did not like for example. 1974 Privacy Act: This gave citizens the right to view any files kept on hem by government agencies.  
   • 2) Nixon's actions in the cover up, the tussle over the tapes and the "expletives deleted", the threat of impeachment and his perceived guilt and his misuse of the CIA all helped to give Americans a feeling that Politicians could not be trusted. The Republican Party in particular lost a lot of support. The Democrats took advantage of this by choosing Jimmy Carter as their presidential candidate in 1976. He was a largely unknown Politian from Georgia and had the advantage of not being previously involved in any governments. Without the scandal it is unlikely he would have ever been President.