Researching Context: ‘Twelve Angry Men’

Consensus and Change - The US dominated in the global affairs after the WW, their land was undamaged from the war.

- For the next 20 years the Americans were confident for the next conflict they had to overcome

- After a while American citizens started to question the amount of power that America had.

- In the 1960’s protestors came out trying to create peace to the world

- At a similar time the young culture were fighting for American values

- By the time of the 70’s the Americans protested to establish a new system in the US.

Cold War Aims - The cold war was the most important political issue of the early post-war period.

- In 1918 American troops participated in the Allied intervention in Russia on behalf of anti-Bolshevik forces.

- American diplomatic recognition of the Bolshevik regime did not come until 1933. Even then, suspicions persisted. During World War II, however, the two countries found

themselves allied and thus ignored their differences to counter the Nazi threat.

- At the war's end, antagonisms surfaced again. The United States hoped to share with other countries its conception of liberty, equality and democracy

- With the rest of the world in turmoil, struggling with civil wars and disintegrating empires, the nation hoped to provide the stability to make peaceful reconstruction possible.

- Unable to forget the specter of the Great Depression (1929-1940), America now fostered its familiar position of free trade, and sought to eliminate trade barriers both to create

markets for American agricultural and industrial products, and to ensure the ability of West European nations to export as a means to generate economic growth and rebuild their

economies.

- Devastated by the struggle in which 20 million Soviet citizens had died

Harry Truman’s Leadership - Harry Truman succeeded Franklin D. Roosevelt as president before the end of the war

- An unpretentious man who had previously served as Democratic senator from Missouri, then as vice president, Truman initially felt ill-prepared to govern the United States.

- His judgments about how to respond to the Soviet Union had an important impact on the early Cold War.

Origins of the Cold War - The Cold War developed as differences about the shape of the postwar world created suspicion and distrust between the United States and the Soviet Union

- The first such conflict occurred over Poland.

- During the closing months of World War II, Soviet military forces occupied all of Central and Eastern Europe

- Moscow used its military power to support the efforts of the communist parties in Eastern Europe and crush the democratic parties. Communist parties beholden to Moscow

quickly expanded their power and influence in all countries of the region, culminating in the coup d'etat in Czechoslovakia in 1948.
 - In 1946 Stalin declared that international peace was impossible "under the present capitalist development of the world economy."

Containment - Containment of the Soviet Union became American policy in the postwar years.

- The first significant application of the containment doctrine came in the eastern Mediterranean.

- Great Britain had been supporting Greece, where communist forces threatened the ruling monarchy in a civil war, and Turkey, where the Soviet Union pressed for territorial

concessions and the right to build naval bases on the Bosporus. In 1947 Britain told the United States that it could no longer afford such aid.

Eisenhower and the Cold War - While seeking to prevent communist ideology from gaining further adherents in Europe, the United States also responded to challenges elsewhere

- In June 1950 North Korean troops crossed the 38th parallel and attacked southward, overrunning Seoul. Truman, perceiving the North Koreans as Soviet pawns in the global

struggle, readied American forces and ordered General Douglas MacArthur to Korea.

The Cold War at Home - Dwight D. Eisenhower, who assumed the presidency in 1953, was different from his predecessor. A war hero, he had a natural, homey manner that made him widely popular.

- He believed that Moscow, under leaders such as Stalin, was trying to orchestrate worldwide revolution.

- In office, Eisenhower and his secretary of state, John Foster Dulles, argued that containment did not go far enough to stop Soviet expansion

- Eisenhower's basic commitment to contain communism remained, and to that end he increased American reliance on a nuclear shield

- Now Eisenhower, in an effort to keep budget expenditures under control, proposed a policy of "massive retaliation." The United States, under this doctrine, was prepared to use

atomic weapons if the nation or its vital interests were attacked.

The Post-war Economy: 1945 – 60 - As the Cold War unfolded in the decade and a half after World War II, the United States experienced phenomenal economic growth. The war brought the return of prosperity, and

in the postwar period the United States consolidated its position as the world's richest country.

- After 1945 the major corporations in America grew even larger. There had been earlier waves of mergers in the 1890s and in the 1920s; in the 1950s another wave occurred.

The Fair Deal - The Fair Deal was the name given to Harry Truman's domestic program.

- Building on Roosevelt's New Deal, Truman believed that the federal government should guarantee economic opportunity and social stability, and he struggled to achieve those

ends in the face of fierce political opposition from conservative legislators determined to reduce the role of government.

- While dealing with immediately pressing issues, Truman also provided a broader agenda for action.

- Truman fought with the Congress as it cut spending and reduced taxes. In 1948 he sought reelection, despite polls indicating that he had no chance.

Eisenhower’s Approach - Dwight Eisenhower accepted the basic framework of government responsibility established by the New Deal, but sought to limit the presidential role.

- Eisenhower's first priority was to balance the budget after years of deficits. He wanted to cut spending, cut taxes and maintain the value of the dollar.

- In other areas, the administration transferred control of offshore oil lands from the federal government to the states.
 - Eisenhower's inclination to play a modest role in public often led to legislative stalemate.

The Culture of the 1950s - Eisenhower's inclination to play a modest role in public often led to legislative stalemate.

- He called this new society "other-directed," and maintained that such societies lead to stability as well as conformity.

- A number of writers, members of the so-called "beat generation," rebelled against conventional values.

- Their literary work displayed their sense of freedom. Jack Kerouac typed his best-selling novel On the Road on a 75-meter roll of paper. Lacking accepted punctuation and

paragraph structure, the book glorified the possibilities of the free life

- Musicians and artists rebelled as well. Tennessee singer Elvis Presley popularized black music in the form of rock and roll, and shocked more staid Americans with his ducktail

haircut and undulating hips.

Origins of Civil Rights Movement - African Americans became increasingly restive in the postwar years. During the war they had challenged discrimination in the military services and in the work force, and they

had made limited gains.

- government officials, and many other Americans, discovered the connection between racial problems and Cold War politics.

Desegregation - Blacks took matters into their own hands. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was determined to overturn the judicial doctrine,

established in the court case Plessy v.

- Blacks achieved their goal of overturning Plessy in 1954 when the Supreme Court -- presided over by an Eisenhower appointee, Chief Justice Earl Warren -- handed down

its Brown v.

America in the Modern World - To the American public of 1914, the outbreak of the war came as a rude shock.

- In February 1915, German military leaders announced that they would destroy all merchantmen in the waters around the British Isles. President Wilson warned that the United

States would not forsake its traditional right of trade on the high seas and declared that the nation would hold Germany to "strict accountability"

- Under the stress of wartime emotion, President Wilson was unable to follow a consistent policy.

- Wilson was able to win his campaign for reelection that year, in good part on the strength of his party's slogan,