Promises to Keep The United States Since World War II

by Boyer, Paul S.

• ISBN13: 9780618433834
• ISBN10: 061843383X
• Edition: 3rd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-10-13
• Publisher: Cengage High School

Summary

Designed for the "U.S. Since 1945" course, this comprehensive survey presents the World War II experience as a backdrop for understanding recent developments and events in American history. The text features four principal, interwoven themes: the pervasive impact of the Cold War; the effects of social-protest movements among African Americans, women, and other groups; the sources and impact of economic, demographic, and cultural changes; and a thorough examination of politics. New! This edition includes coverage of the 2000 election, recent trends in immigration, the attacks of September 11, and the war on terrorism, including the U.S. role in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Table of Contents

Charts and Graphs	xi
Maps	xii
Preface	xiii
PART ONE The American Century	1	(128)
CHAPTER 1 Crucible of Change: World War II and the Forging of Modern America	4	(31)
The Grand Alliance, Globalist Dreams, Big Power Realities	4	(3)
High Resolve and National Unity	7	(3)
The American Economy Goes to War	10	(4)
Government and Politics in the War Years	14	(3)
A People in Wartime	17	(9)
IN PERSPECTIVE Women and War	24	(2)
Technology, Oil, and the Atomic Bomb	26	(3)
The Atomic-Bomb Decision: The Ongoing Debate	29	(8)
Conclusion	37
Selected Readings	32	(3)
CHAPTER 2 "Not Since Rome and Carthage": Into the Cold War	35	(30)
Roots of the Cold War	36	(4)
1946: Eastern Europe, Iran, Atomic Energy	40	(3)
1947: The Truman Doctrine, Containment, and the Marshall Plan	43	(8)
IN PERSPECTIVE Presidential Persuasion on Foreign-Policy Issues	44	(7)
1948-1949: The Prague Coup, the Berlin Airlift, and NATO	51	(4)
Deeper into the Cold War: China, the H-Bomb, Korea	55	(6)
Conclusion	61	(2)
Selected Readings	63	(2)
CHAPTER 3 Uneasiness at Dawn: Domestic Trends in the Early Postwar Years	65	(32)
Demobilization and the Limits of Liberalism at Home	66	(2)
Boom Times	68	(2)
Beyond "Rosie the Riveter": Women in Early Postwar America	70	(2)
African Americans and the Liberal Agenda	72	(3)
A Growing Mexican-American Community Faces Postwar Challenges	75	(1)
The Cold War at Home and the 1948 Election	76	(4)
The Fair Deal and the Red Scare	80	(7)
IN PERSPECTIVE The National-Security State	82	(5)
All Aboard the Freedom Train: Rallying Against Communism	87	(3)
Diversion and Doubt: Early Postwar Literature and Popular Culture	90	(3)
Conclusion	93	(2)
Selected Readings	95	(2)
CHAPTER 4 Modern Republicanism and Suburban Togetherness in the 1950's	97	(32)
The Politics of Moderation	98	(9)
IN PERSPECTIVE Highways and America's Car Culture	104	(3)
1953-1956: Nuclear Strategy and Global Containment	107	(5)
Deepening Entanglements in Asia	112	(3)
The Economic Boom Rolls On	115	(4)
Suburban Living and Family Togetherness	119	(5)
Middle-Class Women in 1950's America	124	(2)
Conclusion	126	(1)
Selected Readings	127	(2)
PART TWO Dissent, Terror, Reform	129	(112)
CHAPTER 5 The Other Side of the Picture Window: Outsiders, Dissidents, and Critics in the 1950's	132	(28)
Films of the Fifties: Undercurrents of Menace	133	(2)
Rebellious Youth	135	(4)
Cultural Resistance: The Arts and Social Criticism in Cold War America	139	(6)
IN PERSPECTIVE The Mass-Culture Debate	140	(5)
Fallout Fears and Test-Ban Activism	145	(3)
Brown and Beyond: The Civil-Rights Movement in Eisenhower's America	148	(7)
Beyond Suburbia: Hispanics and Native Americans in Eisenhower's America	155	(2)
Conclusion	157	(1)
Selected Readings	158	(2)
CHAPTER 6 The Cold War Heats Up: From Sputnik to Vietnam	160	(25)
Cold War Alarms in the Late Fifties	161	(3)
Campaign 1960: Variations on the Cold War Theme	164	(3)
The Cold War, Kennedy-Style	167	(2)
Disaster at Bahia de Cochinos	169	(1)
October 1962: To the Brink	170	(5)
IN PERSPECTIVE The Ironies of Civil Defense	172	(3)
Southeast Asia and Vietnam: Deeper into the Tunnel	175	(5)
The Kennedy Cold War: A Summary	180	(1)
Tragedy in Dallas	181	(1)
Conclusion	182	(1)
Selected Readings	183	(2)
CHAPTER 7 The Liberal Hour	185	(29)
Shaping a Liberal Agenda: The 1950's	186	(1)
Sketching a Liberal Agenda: The Kennedy Years	187	(3)
LBJ: The Making of a President	190	(2)
The Apex of a Liberal Agenda: The War on Poverty	192	(4)
Election 1964: Liberalism Triumphant	196	(3)
Liberalism at High Tide: Johnson's Great Society	199	(5)
IN PERSPECTIVE The Problem of Poverty in the Land of Opportunity	200	(4)
The New Environmentalism	204	(4)
The War on Poverty and the Great Society: A Retrospective View	208	(3)
Conclusion	211	(61)
Selected Readings	272
CHAPTER 8 The Civil-Rights Movement at Flood Tide	214	(27)
1960-1962: Tactical Innovation, Political Hesitation	217	(7)
IN PERSPECTIVE Black Ministers and the Black Church	222	(2)
1963: Victory in Birmingham, Action in Washington	224	(6)
1964: Breaking the Legislative Logjam	230	(3)
1965: Selma and the Voting Rights Act	233	(2)
The Civil-Rights Movement Reaches Hispanic Americans	235	(1)
Reflections on the Civil-Rights Struggle, 1960-1965	236	(2)
Conclusion	238	(1)
Selected Readings	239	(2)
PART THREE The Loss of Innocence	241	(108)
CHAPTER 9 Radicalization: Black Power, the New Left, and the Counterculture	244	(19)
Inner-City Upheavals and Black Power	245	(7)
The Personal Is Political: The New Left and the Counterculture	252	(9)
IN PERSPECTIVE The Politics of Music	258	(3)
Conclusion	261	(1)
Selected Readings	262	(1)
CHAPTER 10 Out of Control: War in Vietnam, Protest at Home	263	(28)
Vietnam 1963-1967: The Years of Escalation	264	(13)
Gnawing Doubts at High Levels	277	(3)
"The Wound That Bleedeth Inward..."	280	(4)
IN PERSPECTIVE The Imperial Presidency	282	(2)
Responses to Vietnam: The Faces of Opposition and Support	284	(4)
Conclusion	288	(1)
Selected Readings	289	(2)
CHAPTER 11 1968 and the Nixon Years	291	(31)
1968: "The Center Cannot Hold"	292	(7)
Nixon's War: Vietnam, 1969-1975	299	(8)
Realpolitik and Détente	307	(7)
IN PERSPECTIVE The Nuclear Threat	308	(6)
Domestic Policy: New Departures, Conservative Affirmations	314	(5)
Conclusion	319	(1)
Selected Readings	320	(2)
CHAPTER 12 Reform in the Nation, Crisis in Washington	322	(27)
Escapism and the Collapse of the Counterculture	323	(3)
New Activist Energies	326	(5)
A Revived Women's Movement	331	(4)
The 1972 Election and Watergate: The Nation in Crisis	335	(7)
IN PERSPECTIVE Presidential Scandals and Trust in Government	336	(6)
The Final Stage of the Crisis	342	(4)
Conclusion	346	(1)
Selected Readings	347	(2)
PART FOUR Setbacks, Achievements, New Dangers	349	(162)
CHAPTER 13 Picking Up the Pieces: Post-Watergate America	353	(31)
A Ford, Not a Lincoln	353	(4)
A Sea of Troubles: The Carter Years	357	(6)
A Changing Economy	363	(4)
Backlash: Culture and Politics in the Later Seventies	367	(10)
IN PERSPECTIVE That Old-Time Religion	374	(3)
Carter Diplomacy and the Middle East Hostage Crisis	377	(3)
Conclusion	380	(2)
Selected Readings	382	(2)
CHAPTER 14 Prime-Time Politics: The Reagan-Bush Years	384	(41)
The New Right Takes Charge: 1980-1984	385	(6)
New Anticommunist Militance: Reagan and Foreign Policy	391	(5)
Iran-Contra Scandal and a Waning Cold War: Reagan's Second Term	396	(4)
The Cold War Thaws	400	(4)
IN PERSPECTIVE Politicians, the Media, and Campaign-Finance Reform	402	(2)
Individualism Rampant: American Life in the 1980's	404	(3)
Mass Culture in the 1980's	407	(5)
Campaign '88	412	(1)
Bush and the World: End of the Cold War, Desert Storm, NAFTA	413	(7)
Marking Time: Bush's Domestic Record	420	(2)
Conclusion	422	(1)
Selected Readings	422	(3)
CHAPTER 15 America at the Turn of the Century: Prosperity, Scandal, a Changing Society	425	(54)
Campaign '92	426	(2)
Liberalism Lite: Clinton at the Helm	428	(6)
Clinton's Second Term: Chastened Liberalism	434	(3)
America and a Changing World: The 1990's	437	(6)
A Booming Economy, Soaring Stocks, and Growing Economic Disparities	443	(5)
Scandal and Impeachment: The Final Years of Clinton's Presidency	448	(2)
A Diverse People: Contemporary Social Trends	450	(11)
IN PERSPECTIVE The Multiculturalism Debate	452	(9)
The Environmental Movement in the 1990's and Beyond	461	(2)
Health Care and AIDS, a Wired Nation, Mass-Culture Trends	463	(8)
An Apprehensive Mood as a New Millennium Dawns	471	(4)
Conclusion	475	(1)
Selected Readings	476	(3)
CHAPTER 16 A Sea of Troubles, Glimmers of Promise, as a New Century Dawns	479	(32)
Five Judges Choose a President: The Disputed Election of 2000	479	(3)
September 11, 2001: A Day That Changed America	482	(2)
A New Kind of War: Mobilizing Against Terrorism	484	(6)
IN PERSPECTIVE Balancing Freedom and Security	488	(2)
War in Iraq	490	(4)
Reconstruction and Resistance in Iraq, Uneasiness at Home	494	(5)
Battling Terrorism Worldwide	499	(1)
Recession and Corporate Scandals	500	(3)
The Bush Presidency: Serving God and Big Business	503	(4)
Conclusion	507	(1)
Selected Readings	508	(3)
Index	511	(33)
Credits	544