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TELESCOPING THE TIMES Revolution and the
Early Republic

CHAPTER OVERVIEW Colonists declare their independence and win a war to gain
the right to govern themselves. Leaders meet to write the Constitution. George
Washington guides the new nation, but conflict between the two major political
parties increases. The country also faces conflict with European nations.

Summary

Colonial Resistance
and Rebellion

MAIN IDEA Conflicts between Great Britain and the
American colonists escalated, until the colonists finally
declared their independence.

By the 1760s, King George was faced with pay-ing off the debt Britain had accumulated dur-
ing the French and Indian War. In 1763, King
George appointed George Grenville, a financial
expert, as his prime minister. Grenville believed
that the colonies were smuggling goods rather than
paying taxes on them.

In 176

, Grenville urged Parliament to pass the
Sugar Act and in 176

, the Stamp Act. The Stamp
Act required colonists to place stamps on certain
items. Some colonists opposed British taxation
because they were not represented in Parliament.
The colonists were furious and boycotted (refused
to buy) British goods in protest. The British
repealed the Stamp Act but enacted other laws that
raised taxes.

Tension increased in Boston. In 1770, some
British soldiers fired on a mob and killed several
colonists, prompting angry colonial leaders to call
the event the Boston Massacre. Passions cooled,
and the British removed all the taxes but one.

In 1773, the British granted a British company
the sole right to handle the tea trade. American
merchants resented their loss of business. A group
of colonists dumped tea into Boston harbor in
protest. To punish Massachusetts, Parliament
passed the Intolerable Acts in 1774.

In 1775, colonists and British soldiers fought at
Lexington and Concord, near Boston. Colonial
leaders convened in Philadelphia for the Second
Continental Congress. Though some leaders urged
independence, the majority were not ready for that
step. They did form the Continental Army, with
George Washington in command. The British king
rejected a peace offer and declared the colonists in
rebellion.

Attitudes in the colonies shifted, with more
people opposing British rule. Thomas Paine’s pam-

phlet Common Sense powerfully argued in favor of
independence. In July 1776, the Continental
Congress adopted the Declaration of
Independence, declaring the colonies independent.

The War for Independence
MAIN IDEA American victories reversed British
advances during the American Revolutionary War.

Colonists were divided almost evenly betweenthose who favored independence—Patriots—
and those who supported the British—Loyalists.
Many African Americans joined the Patriot cause.
Others fought on the British side because they
were offered freedom from slavery. Most Native
Americans supported the British.

In March 1776 the British army retreated from
Boston and seized New York City. Washington’s
troops defeated the British in a surprise attack late
in 1776 and in another battle shortly after. These
victories revived American hopes. In the fall of
1777, the Americans won an important victory at
Saratoga, New York. This win convinced the
French to support the Americans. Before any aid
could arrive, however, Washington’s army suffered
from bitter cold and hunger during a terrible win-
ter at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania.

In 1778, the Continental Army began to receive
supplies and more intense training from France,
and transformed itself into an effective force. The
British moved their war effort to the South. In the
battles that followed, both sides enjoyed several
victories. In 1781 the British decided to move the
war effort to Yorktown, Virginia. American and
French forces surrounded the British army there,
while a French fleet defeated British ships.
Surrounded and unable to receive help, the British
surrendered.

The following year, the two sides engaged in
peace talks. In the Treaty of Paris, signed in 1783,
the British recognized the United States as a nation
with borders from the Atlantic Ocean to the
Mississippi River.

REVIEW

CHAPTER

4 Unit 1, Chapter 2

Confederation and
the Constitution

MAIN IDEA American leaders created the Constitution
as a blueprint of government for the United States.

The first government of the United States, whichwas established by the Articles of Confed-
eration, was called a confederation. Voters elected
delegates to the Congress, which was the national
government. Congress organized the new lands
west of the Appalachian mountains. The North-
west Ordinance declared that the areas would be
treated as territories, and it set requirements for
the admission of new states formed from these
territories.

Although the Articles gave the Congress certain
powers, they did not create a department to
enforce the laws or a court system to decide the
meaning of laws. Also, because the states acted
independently of one another, the country lacked
national unity. As a result, the Confederation
encountered many problems.

Many leaders believed that the country needed
a stronger national government. In 1787, delegates
from 12 states met in Philadelphia to discuss
changes to the Articles. Instead, though, they
decided to write a new constitution to form a new
government.

The delegates agreed to a government with
three branches: legislative, executive, and judicial.
Congress would make laws. A president would
carry out laws. Courts would hear cases. They
agreed that the Congress should have two houses.
In the House of Representatives, states’ represen-
tation would be based on population. In the
Senate, each state would have two members. The
delegates agreed to give some powers to the
national government and some to the states.

Federalists favored this new Constitution.
Antifederalists feared that the federal government
would be too strong. Some demanded that the new
Constitution guarantee people’s rights. The
framers of the Constitution promised to add a Bill
of Rights. In 1789, the required number of states
ratified the Constitution. By 1791, the required
number of states approved the first ten amend-
ments, known as the Bill of Rights. The
Constitution is still in effect today.

Launching the New Nation
MAIN IDEA With George Washington as its first presi-
dent, the United States began creating a working gov-
ernment for its new nation.

George Washington, the first president, andCongress worked to establish the new govern-
ment. Congress created a national court system,
and it also set up three departments to serve under
the president. Washington named able leaders to
head the departments. These leaders made up the
first cabinet.

Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton
preferred a strong central government. He wanted
to support trade and industry. But Secretary
of State Thomas Jefferson favored strong state
governments. He wanted an economy based on
farming.

Hamilton wanted to create a national bank. He
also wanted to repay the money borrowed during
the Revolutionary War. Jefferson opposed the plan.
However, he agreed to it in return for the promise
that a new capital of the nation would be estab-
lished near Virginia. The differences between
Hamilton and Jefferson led to the formation of the
nation’s first two political parties.

Settlers streamed into the Northwest Territory,
upsetting Native Americans there. After the defeat
in the Battle of Fallen Timbers, several Native
American groups signed a treaty giving up a large
area of land in what is today Ohio.

Washington retired after serving two terms, and
John Adams was elected president. He lost the sup-
port of his own party when he refused to engage in
a war with France. He also angered Jefferson’s
backers when he signed laws creating harsh punish-
ments for people who criticized the government.
Kentucky and Virginia passed resolutions against
these laws. They claimed that states could void laws
that they considered unconstitutional.

Review
1. Describe the events in the year before the

Declaration of Independence that led the
colonists to declare their independence.

2. Why was the Battle at Saratoga significant?
3. Why did the government under the Articles of

Confederation encounter many problems?
4. Why was the Bill of Rights important?
5. Compare the positions of Hamilton and

Jefferson.

Name Revolution and the Early Republic continued

3 4

The Union in Peril

TELESCOPING THE TIMES The Union in Peril
CHAPTER OVERVIEW Slavery becomes an issue that divides the nation. North
and South enter a long and destructive civil war that ends slavery. African
Americans briefly enjoy full civil rights, but new laws discriminate against them.Summary

The Divisive Politics
of Slavery

MAIN IDEA Disagreements over slavery heightened
regional tensions and led to the break up of the Union.

North and South increasingly disagreed overslavery. The debate focused on slavery in terri-
tories that wanted to become states. When
California applied for statehood as a free state,
Southerners were angry because much of the state
was south of the Missouri Compromise line of 36º
30!. Henry Clay drew up the Compromise of 1850
in an attempt to satisfy both North and South.
After much debate, Congress approved the com-
promise, which allowed California to enter the
Union as a free state.

The compromise also included the Fugitive
Slave Act, which allowed harsh steps to be taken
against slaves who ran away. Many Northerners dis-
liked the law. Some helped slaves to escape on a
route called the Underground Railroad. Harriet
Beecher Stowe’s novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin showed
slavery’s evils. The book sold well, but Southerners
resented it.

Slavery in the territories became an issue again.
Senator Stephen Douglas proposed a bill that
would allow the people in Nebraska and Kansas
territories to decide whether they wanted slavery.
Congress eventually approved the bill and the
Kansas-Nebraska Act became law in 1854. As a
result, proslavery and antislavery forces began
fighting for possession of Kansas.

The Whig party broke up over the issue of slav-
ery. Antislavery factions formed the Republican
Party. In 1856, the first Republican candidate for
president, John C. Frémont, won many votes but
finished second.

A Supreme Court decision in 1857 worsened
the situation. In the Dred Scott case, the Court
defined slaves as property, protected by the
Constitution. Southerners celebrated the decision.

In 1858, Stephen Douglas, the Democratic
Senator from Illinois, ran for re-election against
Republican Abraham Lincoln. In a series of
debates, Lincoln drew national attention with his

attacks on slavery as a moral evil. Douglas won the
election, but by not defending slavery strongly, he
lost Southern support.

In the 1860 election, four candidates ran for pres-
ident. Republican Lincoln won with no support in
the South. Convinced they had lost their political
voice, seven Southern states seceded (left the Union)
and formed the Confederate States of America.

The Civil War Begins
MAIN IDEA Shortly after the nation’s Southern states
seceded from the Union, war began between the North
and South.

The Civil War began in April 1861, whenConfederate forces fired on Fort Sumter, a
Union fort in Charleston, South Carolina. Lincoln
issued a call for troops to fight to restore the
Union. Four more Southern states seceded.

The North had more people, more factories,
and more railroad tracks, and could grow more
food. The South’s advantages included the demand
for cotton, excellent generals, and soldiers eager to
defend their way of life.

The North planned to blockade the South. The
Union also hoped to capture the Mississippi River,
split the Confederacy in two, and capture their
capital at Richmond, Virginia. The Confederate strat-
egy was to defend themselves from Northern attack
and to attack the North if the opportunity arose.

A Confederate victory at Bull Run resulted in
stepped-up enlistments in the North. In 1862 the
Union won some early victories in the West. The
Union navy captured the port of New Orleans.
Both sides clashed in a bloody battle for the capi-
tals near a creek called Antietam in Maryland.

In response to the demands of abolitionists, in
1863 Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclama-
tion, which freed the slaves in Confederate states
and gave the war a high moral purpose.

As the war continued, casualties mounted. Both
sides began to draft civilians into the army. After
the Emancipation Proclamation, large numbers of
African Americans joined the Union army. They
fought bravely but suffered discrimination. As the

1
REVIEW
CHAPTER

Name The Union in Peril continued

8 Unit 1, Chapter 4

war continued, Northern troops pushed deeper
into the South.

The North Takes Charge
MAIN IDEA After four years of bloody fighting, the
Union wore down the Confederacy and won the war.

South and North fought decisive battles in 1863.General Robert E. Lee and the Confederates
lost a three-day battle at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
Lee was forced to retreat, and he never invaded
the North again. Meanwhile, General Ulysses S.
Grant captured Vicksburg, Mississippi. With this
victory, the North won control of the Mississippi
River. At a ceremony held to dedicate a cemetery
at Gettysburg, Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg
Address.

With the losses at Gettysburg and Vicksburg,
Southern morale dropped. Lincoln made Grant the
commander of all Union armies. Grant led many
attacks against Lee’s army. Meanwhile, Grant named
General William Tecumseh Sherman as commander
of the military division of the Mississippi. Sherman
and his troops invaded Georgia, destroying property
as they advanced. Sherman’s success helped Presi-
dent Lincoln win re-election in 1864.

In April 1865, Lee and the Confederacy surren-
dered at Appomattox. The war ended.

The Civil War changed the United States. The
federal government was larger and stronger. The
economic gap between North and South widened.
The Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery.

President Lincoln never got to implement his
plans for reunifying the nation. Just five days after
Lee had surrendered, Lincoln was shot and killed
by John Wilkes Booth.

Reconstruction and
Its Effects

MAIN IDEA After the Civil War, the nation embarked on a
period known as Reconstruction, during which attempts
were made to readmit the South to the Union.

During the war, Lincoln devised a plan for Re-construction—a period of rebuilding the nation
and readmitting Southern states to the nation. An-
drew Johnson, who succeeded Lincoln as president,
had a similar plan. Some Republicans thought it was
too easy on the South. As a result, many Republicans
worked together to shft control of Reconstruction
from the executive branch to the legislature.

Congress created the Freedmen’s Bureau to
help former slaves. It passed the Civil Rights Act of

1866, which guaranteed the civil rights of African
Americans. Congress also passed the Fourteenth
Amendment, which made African Americans citi-
zens. In 1867, Congress enacted new Reconstruc-
tion legislation. According to the legislation,
Congress would readmit a state after the state
approved the Fourteenth Amendment and gave
African-American men the right to vote.

The fight with Johnson led Congress to find
grounds to impeach the president. Johnson avoided
conviction and removal from office by just one
vote. In 1868, Grant was elected president with the
help of the African-American vote. In 1870, the
Fifteenth Amendment was ratified. It banned states
from denying the right to vote to African Americans.

Republican-dominated state governments were
elected in the South. Severe economic problems in
the South made their task difficult. Conflicting
goals within the Republican Party also made
progress difficult. In the South, former slaves
worked hard to establish new lives. Many blacks
won election to political office.

Many whites, however, resisted the idea that
African Americans should be treated equally.
African Americans hoped to work their own land.
Instead, plantation owners created a system called
sharecropping that allowed them to control the
land and the labor of African Americans. As a
result, most African Americans lived in poverty.
Some whites formed the Ku Klux Klan. This secret
group terrorized and killed blacks across the South.
Congress passed laws to end Klan violence.
However, new laws allowed Southern Democrats to
regain political power.

Political corruption and scandals diverted atten-
tion in the North away from conditions in the
South. The Supreme Court also began to undo
some of the social and political changes brought
about during Reconstruction. After the inaugura-
tion of Rutherford B. Hayes as president in 1877,
federal troops were removed from the South.
White Democrats regained power there. Recon-
struction was over.

Review
1. What events from 1856 to 1860 led to the Civil

War?
2. How did the North plan to win the Civil War?
3. What impact did the Emancipation Proclama-

tion have on the Civil War?
4. What were the results of the Civil War?
5. What role did Congress play during

Reconstruction?

4
3

Changes on the Western Frontier

Cultures Clash
on the Prairie

MAIN IDEA The cattle industry boomed in the late
1800s, as the culture of the Plains Indians declined.

Native Americans of the Great Plains followed away of life centered on the horse and buffalo.
Buffalo provided food, clothing, shelter, and other
essentials. These Native Americans lived in family
groups or large clans. The leaders of a tribe ruled
by counsel rather than force.

After the Civil War, the Plains attracted tens of
thousands of white settlers who wanted to own
land. Many went to Colorado to mine gold. The
Homestead Act offered cheap land to farmers,
attracting more than 400,000 from 1862 to 1900.
Several thousand were African Americans. Others
were immigrants from Germany and Scandinavia.

Earlier the government had granted the entire
Plains to Native Americans. As more white settlers
wished to move there, the government made new
treaties restricting the land that Native Americans
could use. Conflict erupted. In 1864, a militia
attacked a camp of Cheyenne, killing 200, mostly
women and children. Meanwhile the Sioux chief
Red Cloud protested white settlers moving to the
Black Hills, an area sacred to his people. Some
Sioux signed a treaty that accepted living on a
reservation but others refused.

In 1874, Colonel George Armstrong Custer
reported that the Black Hills held gold. A new gold
rush began, and the government offered to buy the
land. The Sioux refused, and the army moved in.
Custer and his soldiers were all killed in the Battle
of the Little Bighorn in 1876. Within months,
though, the army defeated the Sioux.

The Dawes Act of 1887 tried to force the
assimilation of Native Americans into white cul-
ture. Reservations were broken up and some of the
land was given to each adult family head for farm-
ing. The policy failed because the Native
Americans were cheated of the best land.

However, possibly more devastating to the Plains
tribes was the killing of millions of buffalo on
which they had depended.

In the 1880s, many Sioux turned to a ritual
called the Ghost Dance, which promised to bring
the buffalo back and restore Sioux lands. In 1890, a
nervous army killed about 300 unarmed Sioux in
the Battle of Wounded Knee.

Vast herds of cattle replaced buffalo. The
Spanish had begun building ranches of longhorn
cattle. Eventually the ranches became established
in Texas. Native Americans, mainly Spanish prison-
ers, were the first cowboys. They developed many
features of cowboy culture. Corral and rodeo come
from Spanish words. In time, ranches in the West
held huge herds of cattle.

After the Civil War, demand for beef rose
sharply in the growing populations of Eastern
cities. Ranch owners began to move their cattle
north to be shipped by rail to Chicago. Soon tens of
thousands of cattle were driven on the Chisholm
Trail from Texas to Kansas. Abilene, Kansas,
became a major shipping point.

More than 50,000 cowboys worked the herds in
the next two decades. About a quarter were African
Americans and about 12 percent Mexican.
Cowboys worked long days—from 10 to

hours—in all kinds of weather. In the spring, the
cowboys rode the range to round up the cattle.
After branding the new calves with the ranch’s sym-
bol, cowboys led thousands of animals on the long
drive to Kansas, which took about three months.
When the herd reached a railroad town, they were
sold, and the cowboys celebrated.

Herds grew too large, and overgrazing and bad
weather struck the Plains in the late 1880s. In a
terrible three-day blizzard in 1887, ranchers lost
most of their herds. Ranchers began to use barbed
wire to fence in their land. They moved away from
longhorns to other breeds of cattle. The era of the
open range and cattle drives ended.

TELESCOPING THE TIMES Changes on the
Western Frontier

CHAPTER OVERVIEW In the late 1800s, growing numbers of white settlers move
to the West, and Native Americans lose their lands. Railroads cross the nation.
The open range gives way to fenced ranches. Populism rises and falls.

Summary
CHAPTER

10 Unit 2, Chapter 5

Settling on the Great Plains
MAIN IDEA Settlers on the Great Plains transformed the
land despite great hardships.

Building the transcontinental railroad—stretch-ing from East to West—helped promote settle-
ment on the Plains. From 1850 to 1871, the gov-
ernment granted huge tracts of land to companies
ready to lay railroad tracks. In 1867, the Central
Pacific began building east from Sacramento and
the Union Pacific west from Omaha. Irish and
Chinese immigrants plus African Americans and
Mexican Americans did much of the back-breaking
work. In 1869, the two routes met in Utah, com-
pleting the first transcontinental track.

The railroads sold some of their land at low
prices to farmers. The governor of Kansas invited
African Americans to settle, attracting many. The
federal government, too, offered cheap land. On
one day in 1889, 2 million acres were claimed in
Oklahoma. The government also wanted to pre-
serve some wilderness. In 1872, land was set aside
to create Yellowstone National Park. Millions of
acres more were set aside later.

The new settlers had to endure many hardships.
However, from 1850 to 1900, the number of people
living west of the Mississippi rose from 1 percent to
almost 30 percent of the nation’s population in 1850.

The Plains were largely treeless, so people built
homes as dugouts in the sides of hills or out of sod.
Homesteaders were isolated and had to produce
everything they needed. Women worked in the
fields alongside men as well as tending the chil-
dren, running the house, and doing the cooking
and laundry.

The farmers used a steel plow to break the
prairie’s tough soil and machines to harvest their
wheat. The federal government gave land to states
to create agricultural colleges. With new crop
strains and techniques developed there, the eastern
Plains became productive.

The farmers were plagued by weather and debt.
Machines cost money, which they had to borrow.
When grain prices fell, they could not repay their
loans. They also resented how much they had to
pay railroads to ship their crops.

Farmers and the
Populist Movement

MAIN IDEA Farmers united to address their economic
problems, giving rise to the Populist movement.

Farmers were also plagued by changing eco-nomic conditions. After the Civil War, the sup-
ply of money shrank, making each dollar in circula-
tion worth more. This hurt farmers who had to
repay their loans in more expensive dollars. They
urged policies that would promote “cheap money.”
They wanted more money printed or the amount of
silver coins to be increased.

The Grange, a farmers’ organization, pushed for
laws to regulate railroads. Other groups arose. The
Farmers Alliance sent lecturers to farm areas trying
to drum up support for cheap money and railroad
reform. The Southern Alliance and the Colored
Farmers’ National Alliance group pursued similar
campaigns.

The farmers’ movement resulted in the forma-
tion of the Populist, or People’s, Party in 1891. The
Populists urged policies to help farmers. They also
pushed for democratic reforms such as the direct
election of senators and adoption of the secret bal-
lot for voting. The party pulled 10 percent of the
vote in the 1892 presidential election and won
many local contests.

A business panic in 1893 started a depression.
As the economy continued to falter, Democrats ran
William Jennings Bryan for president in 1896. He
campaigned for cheap money by urging that the
nation’s currency be backed by plentiful silver as
well as gold. The Populists nominated Bryan as
well. Urban voters feared that cheap money would
mean rising prices. Republican William McKinley
won election over Bryan, and the Populist move-
ment died.

Review
1. Why did Native Americans and settlers come

into conflict?
2. What was a cowboy’s life like?
3. How did settlers change the Great Plains?
4. Describe the rise and fall of Populism.

Name Changes on the Western Frontier continued

Immigrants and Urbanization 13

TELESCOPING THE TIMES Immigrants and Urbanization
CHAPTER OVERVIEW The population rises as immigrants supply a willing work-
force for urban industrialization and a political base for many urban politicians.
Abuses in local and national government prompt calls for reform.Summary

The New Immigrants
MAIN IDEA Immigration from Europe, Asia, the
Caribbean, and Mexico reached a new high in the late
19th and early 20th centuries.

Between 1870 and 1920, about 20 millionEuropeans immigrated to the United States.
Many of them came from eastern and southern
Europe, which had not provided large numbers of
immigrants before. Some, like Jews, fled religious
persecution. Others escaped economic hardship.
Some were leaving Europe full of ideas for reform
and political freedom.

About 300,000 Chinese immigrants came from
1851 to 1883. Thousands of immigrants came from
Japan as well. From 1880 to 1920, about 260,000
immigrants came from the Caribbean. Many
Mexicans also came to the United States. About a
million immigrants came from 1910 to 1930 to
escape political turmoil in Mexico.

Most immigrants traveled by steamship, riding
in steerage—the cargo holds below the ship’s
waterline. Conditions were cramped, with little
light or air, and unclean. Many people suffered
from disease. Those who arrived in New York were
processed at Ellis Island. The process, which took
about five hours, determined whether they could
enter the country or had to return.

Asian immigrants arriving on the West coast
were processed at Angel Island near San Francisco.
Conditions were more unpleasant than at Ellis
Island, and the processing was stricter.

Once in the United States, immigrants felt con-
fused and worried by the new culture. Many settled
in communities with other immigrants from the
same country to feel more at home. They also
formed organizations to help each other.

While immigrants were arriving in great num-
bers, anti-immigration feelings spread among some
Americans. During the depression of the 1870s,
many workers feared they would lose their jobs to
Chinese immigrants, who accepted low wages. In
1882, Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act,

banning all but a few Chinese immigrants. The ban
was not lifted until 1943. The United States and
Japan reached a “Gentlemen’s Agreement” in 1907
and 1908 under which Japan restricted migration to
the United States.

The Challenges of
Urbanization

MAIN IDEA The rapid growth of cities forced people to
contend with problems of housing, transportation, water,
and sanitation.

Most of the new immigrants moved to thenation’s cities to get work in the growing
industrial economy. It was also cheaper and more
convenient for them to live in cities. By 1910,
immigrants made up more than half of the popula-
tions of 18 different cities. Many settled in neigh-
borhoods with others from the same country—
even from the same province.

As city populations rose, overcrowding some-
times resulted. Another movement helped swell
urban populations. As efficient machines increased
farm production, they also cost farm jobs. As a
result, many people moved from farms to cities.
About 200,000 of these new urban dwellers were
African Americans leaving the South for Northern
cities. They hoped to escape racial violence but
found prejudice and low wages in their new homes
as well.

The growing cities had many problems. There
were housing shortages, and many urban property
owners converted single family homes into multi-
family apartments. These solutions often placed
people in crowded conditions, full of filth and dis-
ease. Growing populations created transportation
problems as well. As the cities continued to grow,
the transit systems could not always keep up.

City officials also had difficulty obtaining
enough clean water. Cities began to clean and filter
the water and insist on indoor plumbing, but these
steps spread slowly. Removing waste and garbage
was another problem.

1
CHAPTER
7
2

14 Unit 2, Chapter 7

By 1900 most cities had full-time professional
fire departments. But the lack of water made fires
very dangerous—and reliance on wood as a build-
ing material gave fires fuel to burn. Both Chicago,
in 1871, and San Francisco, in 1906, suffered very
devastating fires. Another problem of the growing
cities was crime.

Some social reformers pushed to improve life in
the cities. The Social Gospel movement held that
Christians had a duty to try to reform conditions.
Some reformers created settlement houses. These
community centers aimed at helping the poor,
especially immigrants. Run mostly by women, they
offered schooling, nursing, and other assistance.

Politics in the Gilded Age
MAIN IDEA Local and national political corruption in the
19th century led to calls for reform.

The large populations of cities provided anopportunity for a new political force—the
political machine controlled by a boss. A machine
was a group that controlled a political party. By giv-
ing voters services they needed, the machine won
their votes and controlled city government.

The city boss controlled the whole machine—
and the city government. Bosses controlled jobs in
the police, fire, and sanitation departments. They
controlled the city agencies that granted licenses to
businesses. They controlled the money used to
fund large construction projects. Many bosses were
first- or second-generation immigrants, and they
understood immigrants’ concerns. By helping to
solve immigrants’ problems, they won loyalty.

Political machines could point to many accom-
plishments. As they gained power, though, some
individuals became corrupt. Some used illegal
methods to win elections. Others abused power to
become wealthy. Since the bosses controlled the
police, they were seldom pursued. The Tweed Ring
of New York was one of the most famous examples
of corruption among city officials. Boss Tweed and

many associates were finally convicted of various
crimes.

Corruption reached national politics. For many
decades, presidents had given jobs to loyal party
workers in what was called the spoils system. As a
result, some workers were not qualified for their
jobs. Others used their positions to get money.

Reformers wanted to end these abuses. They
proposed a civil service system in which govern-
ment jobs would go only to those who proved they
were qualified.

President Rutherford B. Hayes took some steps
to reform the federal government. This aroused the
anger of some members of his own party. These
Stalwarts, as they were called, opposed any
changes. The next president, James Garfield,
favored the reform movement, and he was shot and
killed by an unbalanced Stalwart. His successor,
Chester Arthur, pushed through the Pendleton Act
of 1883. It created the Civil Service Commission to
give government jobs based on merit, not politics.
The act helped reform the civil service. However,
some politicians now turned to wealthy business
leaders for campaign money. As a result, some cor-
ruption continued.

Another issue was how high to make the tariff,
or tax on imported goods. Business leaders and
Republicans wanted high tariffs so they could cut
foreign competition. Democrats favored low tariffs.
Under Republican presidents Benjamin Harrison
and William McKinley, the tariff was high. Under
Democrat Grover Cleveland, the tariff was lower
for a short period.

Review
1. Where did immigrants come from in the period

from 1870 to 1920?
2. What problems arose in the growing cities?
3. What role did political machines play in

cities?
4. What led to the call for civil service reform?

Name Immigrants and Urbanization continued

The Progressive Era 17

The Origins of Progressivism
MAIN IDEA Political, economic, and social change in
late 19th century America led to broad progressive
reforms.

As the 1900s opened, reformers pushed for arange of changes to society in a movement
called Progressivism, which had four major goals:

• Protecting social welfare by easing the ills of
urban society. The YMCA built libraries and
exercise facilities while the Salvation Army
offered the urban poor food and nursery care.

• Promoting moral improvement, especially
by working to ban alcoholic beverages.
Prohibitionists —many of whom were members
of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union
(WCTU)—often came into conflict with immi-
grant groups. The saloons the reformers
attacked served vital functions such as offering
cheap meals in immigrant communities.

• Reforming the economy. Some criticized the
vast wealth amassed by industrialists and the
treatment of workers. Journalists called “muck-
rakers” published stories about business cor-
ruption and unfair practices.

• Making businesses more efficient and prof-
itable. Scientific management and the adoption
of the assembly line for the manufacture of
goods enabled factories to increase production.

Progressives also reformed politics at the local
and state levels. Reform mayors routed corruption
out of Detroit and Cleveland, among other cities.
Wisconsin Governor Robert M. La Follette took
steps to regulate businesses in his state. Reformers
managed to pass laws in almost every state to ban
child labor and limited the number of hours
women could work. Reform-ers passed laws requir-
ing the use of secret ballots in elections and allow-
ing voters to remove elected officials from office.
The Seventeenth Amendment allowed for voters to
elect senators directly.

Women in Public Life
MAIN IDEA Women won new opportunities in labor and
education that are enjoyed today.

On the nation’s farms, women continued to playthe vital roles they had filled earlier. They
helped with the farm’s crops and animals as well as
cooking, cleaning, sewing, and child rearing. Many
urban women who lacked education joined the
workforce by becoming servants. African-American
and unmarried immigrant women often used this
route to employment. At the turn of the century,
one in five American women held jobs outside the
home; 25 percent worked in manufacturing. Half of
them toiled in the garment industry. With the
growth of business, more and more women worked
in offices as stenographers and typists. As a result,
more women sought high school educations to train
for these jobs.

Many middle- and upper-class women joined
groups aiming to promote culture. The number of
women’s colleges grew, and many who graduated
from these colleges joined the reform movements.
Major goals of these movements were making
workplace and home safer. The National Assoc-
iation of Colored Women helped African Amer-
icans by creating nurseries, reading rooms, and
kindergartens.

Many women joined in the effort to seek the
right to vote, or suffrage. Spearheading the effort
was the National American Woman Suffrage
Association. Wyoming, in 1869, became the first
state to grant this right to women. Some other
western states followed suit. Another effort failed
when the Supreme Court ruled that the
Constitution did not guarantee women the right to
vote. Women pushed for an amendment to the
Constitution granting suffrage, but for the first two
decades of the 1900s, it did not pass.

TELESCOPING THE TIMES The Progressive Era
CHAPTER OVERVIEW In the first two decades of the 1900s, Americans embrace
the Progressive movement and many of its reforms.

Summary
CHAPTER
9
2

18 Unit 3, Chapter 9

Teddy Roosevelt’s
Square Deal

MAIN IDEA As president, Theodore Roosevelt worked to
give citizens a Square Deal through progressive reforms.

When President William McKinley was killedin 1901, Theodore Roosevelt became presi-
dent. He showed great energy and bold decision
making and won publicity. He launched a program
of reforms called the “Square Deal.” With his vig-
orous leadership, he changed the presidency.

Roosevelt thought that a more complex American
society needed a powerful federal government. He
intervened in a bitter 1902 coal strike to lead both
sides to an agreement. He had the government sue
business trusts to improve competition. He pushed
through laws increasing the government’s power to
regulate railroads. His actions during a Pennsylvania
coal strike set a precedent of government interven-
tion when a strike threatened public welfare. After
reading a book, The Jungle, that exposed poor sani-
tary practices in the meatpacking industry, Roosevelt
gained passage of the Meat Inspection Act. The Pure
Food and Drug Act banned food processors from
adding dangerous chemicals to food or from making
false claims regarding medicines. Roosevelt also took
steps to preserve the nation’s wild natural areas.

Roosevelt, though, did not back civil rights for
African Americans. So black leaders, plus some
white reformers, formed the National Association
for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)
in 1909 to push for full racial equality.

Progressivism Under Taft
MAIN IDEA Taft’s ambivalent approach to progressive
reform led to a split in the Republican Party and the loss
of the presidency to the Democrats

William Howard Taft became president in1909. He pursued many Progressive policies
but more cautiously—and with less publicity—than
Roosevelt. And he divided his own party.

One issue was the tariff. Taft wished to lower
the tariffs. When conservatives in the Senate
passed a weakened version of the measure, Taft
signed it anyway and Progressives complained. He
also angered conservationists by appointing officials
who favored development of wild lands rather than
preservation of them.

With the Republican Party split between
reformers and conservatives, Democrats won con-
trol of the House for the first time in almost two
decades. In 1912, Roosevelt tried to regain the

Republican nomination for president. Failing that,
Roosevelt formed a third party—the Bull Moose
party—and ran on a platform of reform.

The Democrats nominated reformer Woodrow
Wilson, the governor of New Jersey. As Taft and
Roosevelt bitterly denounced each other, Wilson
won the election—and a Democratic majority in
Congress. About three-quarters of the vote went to
candidates in favor of economic reform.

Wilson’s New Freedom
MAIN IDEA Woodrow Wilson established a strong
reform agenda as a progressive leader.

Areligious and scholarly man, Wilson stayed inde-pendent of party bosses and pursued his policies
of reform called the “New Freedom.” With the
Clayton Anti-Trust Act of 1914, the government
strengthened laws against business trusts and work-
ers’ rights. The Federal Trade Act created the
Federal Trade Commission to investigate unfair busi-
ness practices. Another law lowered tariffs. With
decreased tariff revenues, the government began col-
lecting taxes on workers’ income. Wilson also secured
passage of a law creating the Federal Reserve System
to improve the nation’s banking practices.

Meanwhile, women continued in their drive to
win the right to vote. As of 1910, women’s suffrage
was approved in five states. Defeats in other states,
though, led some women to try more militant tac-
tics. Alice Paul organized a group that picketed the
White House and the Democratic Party. Finally,
the Nineteenth Amendment, ratified in 1920, gave
women the right to vote.

Wilson did not push social reform ideas. He did
little to support women’s suffrage, nor did he help
African Americans. In fact, he appointed southern-
ers who took steps to extend segregation. Blacks
who had voted for Wilson felt betrayed, and a
meeting between Wilson and African-American
leaders ended in anger.

Review
1. Describe the four areas of Progressive reform.
2. How did women’s lives change in the early twen-

tieth century?
3. What policies did Teddy Roosevelt pursue?
4. Why did the Republican Party split, and what

was the result?
5. What progressive reforms did Woodrow Wilson

advance, and which did he do little or nothing to
achieve?

Name The Progressive Era continued

4
5
3

America Claims an Empire

TELESCOPING THE TIMES America Claims an Empire
CHAPTER OVERVIEW To compete with other powers, America gains colonies
overseas, although some Americans object.

Summary

Imperialism and America
MAIN IDEA Beginning in 1867 and continuing through
the century, global competition caused the United States
to expand.

A t the end of the 1800s, the United Statesjoined the global trend to acquire lands over-
seas. Nations of Europe had taken control of
almost all of Africa. Japan was seizing colonies in
Asia. The United States competed with other
nations to gain a trade foothold in China. Three
factors pushed the United States to join the grab
for land:

• Economic competition for raw materials and
markets for its manufactured goods.

• Political and military competition, based in part
on the creation of a powerful new navy.

• A belief in the racial and cultural superiority of
the people of England and their descendants—
which led many Americans to believe that the
United States had a mission to spread civiliza-
tion and Christianity.

Many Americans opposed this imperialist trend.
They objected on moral or practical grounds. They
felt that the taking of colonies was not right or
would cost too much.

The first territory acquired was Alaska followed
by Hawaii, where a number of Americans had
established large and successful sugar plantations.
Through a change in Hawaii’s constitution, these
planters came to control the government. In 1893,
Hawaii’s queen tried to change the constitution,
and the planters seized control of the island.
President Grover Cleveland refused to annex
Hawaii, but his successor, William McKinley, did.
Hawaii became a territory of the United States in
1898.

The Spanish-American War
MAIN IDEA In 1898, the United States went to war to
help Cuba win its independence from Spain.

The United States had established close com-mercial ties to Cuba, still a Spanish colony. In
1895, José Martí launched a renewed drive for

Cuban independence. He hoped to force American
intervention, but opinion in the United States was
divided.

Spain sent an army to Cuba. Its commander put
300,000 Cubans in concentration camps while he
tried to defeat the army of independence. American
newspaper reports exaggerated stories of Spanish
atrocities against the Cuban people. As more peo-
ple began to clamor for giving aid to the Cubans,
President McKinley tried to find a peaceful solu-
tion. Spain moderated its policies and granted lim-
ited self-rule to Cuba. The issue seemed to be
dying down.

Then, two incidents fanned the fire. A newspa-
per published a Spanish diplomat’s criticism of
McKinley. Worse, a U.S. warship, the battleship
Maine, mysteriously blew up in Havana’s harbor.
No one knew why the explosion occurred, but
newspapers blamed Spain and the cry for war
became too strong to resist.

The first battle of the war took place in the
Philippines, another Spanish possession. Admiral
George Dewey destroyed the Spanish fleet there,
and U.S. army units joined Filipino rebels. The
Spanish in the Philippines surrendered.

In Cuba, an American army—despite being ill-
prepared—won a decisive battle. Press accounts
gave great fame to Theodore Roosevelt, who led a
volunteer cavalry troop known as the “Rough
Riders.” Within two days, a naval battle resulted in
destruction of the Spanish fleet and Spanish sur-
render in Cuba.

Spain quickly agreed to a peace that granted
Cuba its independence and gained the United
States the islands of Puerto Rico and Guam and the
Philippines. By the time the Treaty of Paris was
approved, the United States had an empire.

Acquiring New Lands
MAIN IDEA In the early 1900s, the United States
engaged in conflicts in Puerto Rico, Cuba, and the
Philippines.

Many Puerto Ricans wanted independence, butothers were willing to accept being an

1
CHAPTER

2 3

20 Unit 3, Chapter 10

American territory. Still others wanted to become a
state. The Supreme Court ruled that Puerto Ricans
were not American citizens. In 1917, Congress
granted that right to Puerto Ricans and allowed
them to choose their legislature. But it still denied
statehood to the island.

For the first four years after the end of the war,
the U.S. army remained in Cuba. It imprisoned
Cubans who protested American presence, but it
also fed the hungry and helped wipe out yellow
fever, a fatal disease. The United States insisted
that the new Cuban constitution grant the United
States privileges. Many American businesses had
invested heavily in the island, and they wanted
their property protected. These provisions were
agreed to—reluctantly —and Cuba became inde-
pendent but partly under U.S. control.

Filipinos—who had been fighting for indepen-
dence for years—were outraged that the United
States had annexed their islands. Rebel leader
Emilio Aguinaldo led an armed revolt against the
Americans. In a war that lasted three years, the
American army used some of the same tactics that
the Spanish had used in Cuba. The revolt was final-
ly suppressed in 1902. The islands finally gained
independence in 1946.

Imperialists hoped to use the Philippines as a
way of gaining a foothold in Asia. The main goal
was to build business ties with China. European
nations and Japan had forced the Chinese to give
them valuable trade benefits. Secretary of State
John Hay announced the Open Door policy that
opened China to the trade of any nation. This poli-
cy increased American presence in Asia. A brief,
bloody Chinese uprising against western influ-
ence—the Boxer Rebellion—was put down by
western forces. The United States then issued
stronger safeguards of equal trade with China.

President McKinley—who supported this impe-
rialist expansion—won re-election in 1900. Many,
but not all, Americans favored the expansion of
American power.

America as a World Power
MAIN IDEA The Russo-Japanese War, the Panama
Canal, and the Mexican Revolution added to America’s
military and economic power.

A s part of the increased American role in worldaffairs, President Theodore Roosevelt acted as

peacemaker to end a war between Japan and
Russia. He also sent a fleet of navy ships to sail
around the world, showing American power.

Roosevelt’s major action was to ensure the
building of the Panama Canal. The canal was want-
ed to link the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, cutting
travel time for merchant ships—and for U.S. navy
ships. Panama then was a province of Colombia,
but won its independence in a U.S.-supported
revolt. The new nation gave the United States land
to build a canal.

It took ten years to build the 50-mile-long
canal, and it was a success from the start. But
Roosevelt’s actions caused ill will toward the United
States throughout Latin America.

The president warned European nations to
keep their hands off Latin America. He also
announced his intention to intervene whenever
political turbulence in Latin America threatened
U.S. business. President Taft took such a step in
1911, sending troops to Nicaragua.

In 1913, President Woodrow Wilson took a
moral tone in Latin American policy. He said that
the United States would refuse to recognize any
Latin American government that was oppressive,
undemocratic, or opposed U.S. interests. A revolu-
tion in Mexico quickly tested this policy.
Conservatives favored by U.S. businesses that
invested in Mexico seized the Mexican govern-
ment. Wilson used a minor incident to send troops
to Veracruz. When a new leader took power in
Mexico, Wilson withdrew the troops.

Trouble did not end. A revolt against the new
Mexican government by Francisco “Pancho” Villa
involved the United States. Wilson sent General
John J. Pershing to pursue Villa and punish him for
the death of some Americans. The American sol-
diers clashed with units of the Mexican army,
straining relations. Finally, they were withdrawn.
The incident revealed Americans’ willingness to
assert their power in the western hemisphere.

Review
1. What factors shaped American imperialism?
2. How did the United States gain control of for-

mer Spanish colonies?
3. How did the United States administer its new-

found territories?
4. How did Roosevelt assert American power?

Name America Claims an Empire continued

The First World War

TELESCOPING THE TIMES The First World War
CHAPTER OVERVIEW After the United States enters World War I and helps to
defeat Germany, President Wilson tries to fashion a lasting peace.

Summary

World War I Begins
MAIN IDEA As World War I intensified, the United
States was forced to abandon its neutrality.

Four factors contributed to the outbreak ofWorld War I in Europe:
• Nationalism: tensions grew as nations pursued

only their own interests.
• Imperialism: rivalries increased as nations jock-

eyed for power around the world.
• Militarism: the nations developed strong armed

forces to back up their growing empires.
• Alliances: a series of treaties grouped the

nations of Europe into two armed camps.
The war broke out in 1914 when a Serb killed

the heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary. The
alliance system resulted in Russia defending Serbia
against Austria-Hungary. Germany supported
Austria-Hungary and then declared war on Russia’s
ally, France. So Great Britain, France’s ally,
declared war on Germany. Armies soon opposed
each other across a system of trenches. Although
neither side gained territory, hundreds of thou-
sands of soldiers died.

The United States refused to join either side.
Over time, though, stories of German atrocities and
close economic ties to Great Britain and France
moved Americans toward the Allied camp. A block-
ade prevented food and fertilizer from reaching
Germany. As thousands of people starved,
Germany struck back with submarine attacks on
ships going to Great Britain.

U.S. public opinion turned against Germany
when some Americans died in these attacks. Still,
President Wilson resisted entering the war, win-
ning re-election with the slogan “He kept us out
of war.” In January 1917, he suggested that the
warring powers agree to a peace. Germany
responded that submarine attacks would resume—
and sink American ships. Finally, Wilson asked
Congress to declare war on Germany. It did on
April 6, 1917.

American Power
Tips the Balance

MAIN IDEA The United States mobilized a large army
and navy to help the Allies achieve victory.

The United States was not prepared for war, butit launched a draft and quickly put about 3
million men in uniform. Women were not drafted,
but the navy accepted women volunteers as nurses
and secretaries. African Americans served in sepa-
rate units; some were trained as officers.

The government took steps to increase the
amount of shipping available so it could transport
the soldiers and their supplies to Europe. Along
with Great Britain, the United States began send-
ing merchant ships in large convoys guarded by
naval vessels. This change helped cut the number
of ships lost to submarine attacks.

At first, American soldiers were scattered
among other armies, replacing men killed or
wounded. General John J. Pershing insisted that
the American army fight as a whole. These
troops—far fresher than the other Allied soldiers—
helped throw back some major German attacks. By
October 1918, the Germans were weakened.

New weapons made the fighting in World War I
very destructive. Machine guns, tanks, and gas war-
fare could kill soldiers in large numbers. Fighting
took to the air, as both sides used war planes.
Soldiers suffered from disease and hardship as well.
While 48,000 American soldiers died in combat,
another 62,000 died of disease.

In November of 1918, German sailors, soldiers,
and civilians mutinied, refusing to continue the
war. The German kaiser abdicated his throne, and
the new government surrendered.

The War at Home
MAIN IDEA World War I spurred social, political, and
economic change in the United States.

To fight the war adequately, the United Stateshad to mobilize industry and labor, as well as
soldiers. Wilson named Bernard M. Baruch to head

1
CHAPTER

2
3

22 Unit 3, Chapter 11

the War Industries Board (WIB), the main agency
responsible for overseeing industrial production. It
helped boost industrial output by 20 percent. But
prices rose as well.

While some industries—metal work, shipbuild-
ing, and meat packing—boomed, workers lost buy-
ing power due to higher prices. Union membership
grew dramatically. The Food Administration
encouraged people to change their eating habits to
save food for soldiers.

The government paid for the war by raising
taxes and by selling bonds, which celebrities helped
sell. To support the war effort, the Committee of
Public Information encouraged people to aid the
cause.

The war brought an anti-German backlash that
discredited things German or people of German
background. Congress passed the Espionage and
Sedition Acts to punish anyone who interfered with
the draft or the sale of war bonds or who said any-
thing that could be defined as disloyal. About 1,500
people were convicted under these laws. Some
chief targets were socialists and union leaders.

African-American leaders were divided over the
war. Some said that helping the war effort would
enhance the fight for equality. Others said that
without equality, blacks should not help. The main
effect of the war on African Americans was to spur
the Great Migration—the movement of thousands
of blacks from the South to the cities of the North.
They tried to escape harsh treatment in the South
and hoped to find jobs and equality in the North.

Women played new roles, taking jobs that had
been held only by men in the past. Their contribu-
tion helped increase support for woman suffrage
and ensured ratification, in 1920, of the Nineteenth
Amendment giving women the right to vote. About
500,000 Americans died in a worldwide flu epidem-
ic of 1919.

Wilson Fights for Peace
MAIN IDEA European leaders opposed most of Wilson’s
peace plan, and the U.S. Senate failed to ratify the peace
treaty.

President Wilson traveled to Europe to push fora peace plan—called the Fourteen Points—
that he hoped would prevent future wars. He
hoped to remove the causes of war by eliminating
secret treaties and reducing imperialism. Other

points aimed at specific adjustments to boundaries.
Underlying these points was Wilson’s goal of allow-
ing ethnic groups to determine their own fate.
Finally, Wilson proposed creating an international
organization called the League of Nations to give
nations a chance to discuss and settle their disputes
without resorting to war.

Wilson lost almost all of his points: Great
Britain, France, and Italy—the victors—were
determined to punish Germany for the war. The
Treaty of Versailles, which established the peace,
created nine new nations in Europe. It carved out
parts of the Ottoman Empire—which had allied
with Germany—to create temporary colonies for
Great Britain and France in the Middle East. It
took away Germany’s army and navy and forced
Germany to pay war damages, or reparations, to
the victors. In one provision, Germany had to
admit to guilt for causing the war.

The treaty had three weaknesses. One was the
harsh treatment of Germany, which weakened that
nation’s economy and aroused resentment there.
Second, the treaty ignored the new Communist
government in Russia. Third, it did nothing to rec-
ognize nationalist desires in the colonies of
European powers.

Many Americans opposed the treaty, which they
believed was unjust and imperfect. The main
debate was over the League of Nations—the only
of Wilson’s Fourteen Points contained in the treaty.
Many people believed that joining the League
would involve the United States in foreign conflicts.
Wilson refused to compromise on the League or
accept amendments to the treaty proposed by
Republican leaders. The Senate failed to ratify the
treaty, and the United States never entered the
League of Nations.

In Europe, the war created political instability
and violence that lasted for decades. The unre-
solved issues or World War I, along with many
Germans’ desire for vengeance, would plunge the
world into an even greater conflict.

Review
1. What factors led to war in Europe?
2. What led the United States into World War I?
3. How did the war change American society?
4. What was contained in the Treaty of Versailles

and why did Americans object?

Name The First World War continued

Politics of the Roaring Twenties 23

Americans Struggle with
Postwar Issues

MAIN IDEA A desire for normality after the war and
a fear of communism and “foreigners” led to postwar
isolationism.

Events in faraway Russia had an effect on theUnited States after World War I. Massive
protests led the Russian ruler to step down from
the throne in March 1917. In November of that
year, radicals seized the government and estab-
lished the world’s first Communist state. Soon, this
new government issued a call for worldwide revolu-
tion. Its leaders wanted to overthrow the capitalist
system and abolish private property.

About 70,000 people, called “Reds,” joined the
new Communist party in the United States. Though
their numbers were small, their radicalism and
threats aroused fear among many people. As a
“Red Scare” swept the nation, Attorney General
A. Mitchell Palmer decided to remove the threat.

Palmer formed a new agency in the Justice
Department to find and punish radicals. His agents
arrested Communists, Socialists, and anarchists,
who opposed any government at all. The agents
often disregarded the rights of the people they
arrested. Hundreds of radicals were sent out of the
country without a trial. But Palmer never found
evidence of a conspiracy to overthrow the govern-
ment, and the fear passed.

The U.S. was actually becoming isolationist
again—pulling away from world affairs. Dislike
of foreigners resulted in a new immigration law.
With the Emergency Quota Act of 1921, Congress
limited the number of people admitted into the
country each year. A revised version passed in 1924
cut the flow of immigrants from Eastern and
Southern Europe. It put a stop to Japanese immi-
gration altogether. In 1929, Congress voted to fur-
ther limit the number of immigrants admitted each
year.

Many suffered in the hysteria. A celebrated case
involved two Italian immigrants, Nicola Sacco and

Bartolomeo Vanzetti. The pair—both admitted rad-
icals—were arrested for a double murder during a
robbery in Massachusetts. Although the case was
not strong, they were convicted and executed.
Protests poured in from around the world.

The “Red Scare” revealed a general sense of
unease in society, as did the revival of the Ku Klux
Klan. The Klan began to flourish in the early
1920s. Klan leaders opposed African Americans,
Jews, immigrants, and Catholics. By 1924, KKK
membership numbered about 4.5 million, and
the Klan helped elect officeholders in many states.
Its popularity declined with increased criminal
activity.

The postwar period also saw a revival of labor
troubles. A strike of Boston police officers was
forcefully put down by Massachusetts Governor
Calvin Coolidge. Violence erupted over a massive
1919 steel strike, with workers demanding the right
to unionize. Steel makers labeled the workers as
Communists, and the strike was broken in 1920.
Later, a church group revealed the harsh conditions
in steel mills. Embarrassed steel makers shortened
the workday to eight hours. However, the steel
workers still had no union.

United Mine Workers president John L. Lewis
was able to win wage increases for coal miners. A.
Philip Randolph also successfully organized an
African-American union of railroad porters. Unions
were not generally successful in the 1920s, howev-
er, as union membership dropped from about 5
million to about 3.5 million workers.

The Harding Presidency
MAIN IDEA The Harding administration appealed to
America’s desire for calm and peace after the war, but
resulted in scandal.

In the presidential election of 1920, Republicansnominated Warren G. Harding, a pleasant man
of little ability. Harding and Calvin Coolidge swept
into office in a landslide victory.

TELESCOPING THE TIMES Politics of the Roaring
Twenties

CHAPTER OVERVIEW Americans lash out at those who are different while they
enjoy prosperity and new conveniences produced by American businesses.

Summary
CHAPTER

24 Unit 4, Chapter 12

In the 1920s, the United States promoted word
peace. A 1921 conference in Washington produced
a historic agreement among five major naval pow-
ers to dismantle some of their naval ships. For the
first time, nations had agreed to reduce their
weapons. In 1928, virtually all the world powers
signed the Kellogg-Briand Pact. In doing so, each
nation renounced war.

However, new conflicts arose. The U.S. wanted
Britain and France to pay their war debts. This was
difficult, since Congress had enacted a high tariff
that made it impossible for them to sell their goods
to the United States. The two countries pressured
Germany to meet its payments for reparations, but
Germany’s economy was destroyed. A series of U.S.
loans to Germany left Britain and France angry.

On the home front, President Harding’s cabinet
choices were just as burdensome. While some of
his Cabinet appointments were distinguished, a
number were soon found to be engaged in bribery
and corruption. The biggest scandals involved
tracts of public land called Teapot Dome and Elk
Hills. The lands held oil, and Secretary of the
Interior Albert Fall secretly leased the land to two
oil companies. He received money and property in
return.

Amidst rumors of corruption in his administra-
tion, Harding died. Calvin Coolidge became
president.

The Business of America
MAIN IDEA Consumer goods fueled the business boom
of the 1920s as America’s standard of living soared.

American business was transforming Americansociety, and the automobile led the way.
America became a car culture. By the late 1920s,
about 80 percent of all motor vehicles in the world
were in the United States. States and cities built an
elaborate network of new roads and highways. As
cars made it possible for workers to live farther
from their homes, cities grew larger. Cities in Ohio
and especially Michigan grew as major centers of
automobile manufacturing.

The airplane industry grew as well. Planes car-
ried the nation’s mail, and passenger service was
introduced.

Another major change was the spread of elec-
tricity. Whereas electricity had been found only in
central cities before, it now stretched to the sub-
urbs although farms still lacked electric power.
Electrical appliances—radios, washing machines,
and vacuum cleaners among them—began appear-
ing in homes across America.

To convince people to buy these new appli-
ances, businesses adopted new methods of advertis-
ing. No longer content only to give information
about products, they now used ads to sell an image.
Widespread advertising meant that certain brand
names became nationally known. A new form of
mass entertainment—radio—provided advertisers
a way of reaching huge audiences.

The prosperity that business was generating
seemed unstoppable. National income rose from
$64 billion in 1921 to $87 billion in 1929. This
prosperity masked problems, however.

First, the business scene was not completely
healthy. As workers produced more in the same
number of hours, businesses grew, sometimes
producing more goods than they could sell.
Chain stores spread across the nation. With
this growth, however, the difference in income
between business managers and workers grew.
Also, mining companies, railroads, and farms
were suffering.

Second, consumer debt rose to alarming levels.
Businesses helped promote consumer spending by
allowing customers to buy on credit. By making the
payments low and spreading them over a long peri-
od of time, businesses made it easy for consumers
to decide to purchase all the goods that the busi-
nesses were producing.

Review
1. How did people reveal distrust of others in the

1920s?
2. What happened to the labor movement in the

1920s?
3. What progress was made toward world peace in

the 1920s?
4. What problems arose in Harding’s cabinet?
5. What problems did the business boom hide?

Name Politics of the Roaring Twenties continued

The Great Depression Begins 27

TELESCOPING THE TIMES The Great Depression Begins
CHAPTER OVERVIEW The economic boom of the 1920s collapses in 1929 as the
United States enters a deep economic depression. Millions of Americans lose
their jobs, and President Hoover is unable to end the downslide.Summary

The Nation’s Sick Economy
MAIN IDEA As the prosperity of the 1920s ended,
severe economic problems gripped the nation.

Although the economy of the 1920s boomed,trouble lurked beneath the surface. The textile,
steel, and railroad industries were barely profitable.
Mining and lumbering were in decline. In the late
1920s, the auto, construction, and consumer goods
industries faltered. The biggest problem, though,
was in agriculture. Wartime demand for food
dropped, and farmers suffered. Unable to make
mortgage payments, many lost their land. Congress
tried to help farmers by passing laws that would
boost food prices, but President Calvin Coolidge
vetoed them.

Farmers, short on money, bought fewer goods.
That trend, combined with the consumer debt
load, cut consumer spending. Consumer spending
was also hurt by low incomes.

These problems were not completely evident in
the 1928 presidential election. Republican Herbert
Hoover, pointing to years of prosperity under presi-
dents Harding and Coolidge, won the election over
Democrat Alfred Smith.

Meanwhile, the stock market continued its
amazing rise. People bought stocks, hoping to
become rich. Many bought on margin, borrowing
against future profits to pay for stocks today. If
prices did not rise, though, there would be trouble.
Stock prices began a decline in September of 1929.
On October 29, known as Black Tuesday, they
plunged sharply. More than 16 million shares of
stock were sold that day until no more willing buy-
ers could be found. By mid-November investors
had lost more than $30 billion.

The Depression spread around the world. The
drop in consumer demand in the United States cut
European exports, hurting their economies. Also,
Congress passed a high tariff to reduce imports.
They hoped to protect American industry, but
instead cut the demand for American exports.

President Hoover tried to reassure Americans
that the economy would right itself. Many people,

panicking, pulled their money from banks. With so
many withdrawals happening so suddenly, many
banks were forced to close. When the banks failed,
other depositors lost their deposits. Businesses
began to close as well, and millions of Americans
lost their jobs. Unemployment had been 3 percent
in 1929; by 1933, it was 25 percent. Those who
kept their jobs suffered pay cuts or reduced hours.

The great stock market crash signaled the
beginning of the Great Depression. It didn’t cause
the Depression, but it hurried—and worsened—
the economic collapse. The main causes of the
Depression were a decrease in demand for
American goods overseas, farmers’ problems, the
problem of easy credit, and the fact that too few
people held too great a share of the nation’s wealth.

Hardship and Suffering
During the Depression

MAIN IDEA During the Great Depression, Americans
did what they could to survive.

The Depression devastated many Americans.With no jobs, millions of people went hungry
or homeless. Cities across the country were full of
people who had been thrown out of their apart-
ments or homes because they couldn’t meet hous-
ing payments. They slept under newspaper or built
shantytowns. People stood in line to get food from
soup kitchens set up by charities.

African Americans and Hispanic Americans liv-
ing in the cities suffered greatly. Some suffered vio-
lence at the hands of angry whites who had lost
their jobs. These groups had higher jobless rates;
they also were given lower-paying jobs.

The Depression hurt people in rural areas, too,
although farmers could at least grow food. Still, as
food prices continued to fall, more and more farm-
ers lost their farms from failure to meet mortgage
payments. From 1929 to 1932, about 400,000 farm-
ers lost their land. To worsen matters, a long
drought struck the Great Plains. Parched land
could hold no crops. When powerful winds swept

1
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28 Unit 4, Chapter 14

the plains, they blew the soil away in vast dust
storms. An area known as the Dust Bowl was hard-
est hit. Many farmers packed up their belongings
and moved to California to find work as migrant
farm workers.

The Depression placed heavy pressures on the
family. Many men felt ashamed because they had
lost their jobs. Some abandoned their families.
Women found work if they could, but they general-
ly were paid less than men. Some people, too,
argued that employers should hire men rather than
women since they were seen as the primary sup-
port for a family.

Children suffered from poor diets and lack of
health care. The number of children suffering ill-
nesses due to lack of vitamins increased. Lacking
money to continue, many school boards shut down
schools or shortened the school year. Many children
went to work to try to help their families survive.
Others rode the railways in search of better lives.

Hoover Struggles with
the Depression

MAIN IDEA President Hoover’s conservative response
to the Great Depression drew criticism from many
Americans.

Economic slowdowns happen with some fre-quency. President Hoover at first believed that
the Depression was simply another slowdown that
would end. Officials in his administration thought it
best to do nothing and let the economy heal itself.
Hoover believed government should take action,
but be careful not to take too much power.

Hoover thought that the government’s role
should be to help different groups work together to
improve the economy. He also believed that the
government should encourage private groups to
provide benefits—food and shelter—to the needy
and jobless. He did not think that the government
should provide direct aid to people, however.

Hoover met with bankers, business leaders,
and labor leaders. He urged them to work togeth-
er to revive the economy. Despite these efforts,

the economic situation simply got worse. People
expressed their frustration at the situation. Far-
mers destroyed some food or refused to work.
People without homes began to call their shanty-
towns “Hoovervilles.”

Hoover did not change his principles and offer
direct aid to the jobless and hungry. He did take
steps to have a more active government role in the
economy, however. He began a program of major
public works, including building roads, bridges, and
dams, to provide jobs. He launched a program to
try to raise food prices and urged bankers to join a
credit organization that would shore up ailing
smaller banks.

By 1932, the economy had still not improved.
Congress passed a law to lower the rates for home
mortgages, hoping to spur the construction indus-
try. Hoover created the Reconstruction Finance
Corporation, aimed at funding projects that would
create jobs. The RFC was a major change in policy,
but it came too late to help.

Hoover’s popularity plummeted even further in
1932 when World War I veterans came to Wash-
ington. They demanded early payment of the
bonuses they had been promised. This Bonus Army
began to live in tents near the Capitol building.
Hoover helped them, but after Congress voted
down the bill they had requested, he told the veter-
ans to leave. About 2,000 stayed, and Hoover
ordered the army to remove them. The sight of
U.S. army troops gassing American citizens—
including children—outraged many people. Hoover
faced the 1932 presidential campaign more unpop-
ular than ever.

Review
1. What caused the Great Depression?
2. What affect did the Depression have on different

groups of people in society?
3. How did the Depression affect the family?
4. How did President Hoover’s response to the

Depression change over time?

Name The Great Depression Begins continued

The New Deal 29

TELESCOPING THE TIMES The New Deal
CHAPTER OVERVIEW President Roosevelt launches a program aiming to end the
Depression. The Depression and his New Deal have profound effects.

Summary

A New Deal Fights
the Depression

MAIN IDEA After becoming president, Franklin Delano
Roosevelt used government programs to combat the
Depression.

In the 1932 election, Franklin DelanoRoosevelt—or FDR—won a landslide victory,
and Democrats took control of the House and
Senate. His policies were called the New Deal. The
first step was to reform banking: many were clos-
ing, causing panic. The new president tried to end
the crisis by temporarily closing banks and passing
a number of new laws. He reassured the nation in a
radio “fireside chat” that explained his policies.

Roosevelt acted to help farmers and other
workers. The Agricultural Adjustment Act raised
food prices. Other agencies hired jobless workers
for conservation or building projects. An agency
was created to help the needy. The National
Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) promoted industri-
al growth. The Tennessee Valley Authority brought
flood control and electricity to a poor region.

The president’s actions were attacked by liberals
as not enough and by conservatives as too radical.
When the Supreme Court overturned the NIRA
and another New Deal law, Roosevelt proposed a
plan to add his own justices to the Court. It failed.
Eventually the Court backed the New Deal, but
the court scheme cost him support.

Three critics of Roosevelt rose to prominence.
Father Charles Coughlin blasted the president on
his popular radio show. Dr. Francis Townsend pro-
posed a national pension for the elderly. Huey
Long, a politician from Louisiana, proclaimed a
plan called “Share Our Wealth.”

The Second New
Deal Takes Hold

MAIN IDEA The Second New Deal included new pro-
grams to extend federal aid and stimulate the nation’s
economy.

The economy improved, but not enough.Buoyed by Democratic gains in Congress,

Roosevelt launched the Second New Deal to pro-
vide additional relief to farmers and workers.
Helping him maintain popularity was his wife,
Eleanor. The president easily won re-election in
1936.

The Supreme Court had struck down the first
New Deal act to help farmers. In the Second New
Deal, Roosevelt won passage of new laws aimed at
conserving soil, providing loans, and offering mort-
gage relief. A new agency, the Works Progress
Administration (WPA), was started to fund projects
that would create jobs. Between 1935 and 1943, it
gave jobs to more than 8 million people. They built
public buildings, made clothes and constructed or
repaired 651,000 miles of roads and streets.

The Second New Deal tried to help workers by
setting a national minimum wage, limiting the work
week, and requiring employers to pay overtime.
The Wagner Act recognized workers’ right to orga-
nize unions.

The Second New Deal also set up the social
security system. It made payments to retirees, dis-
abled workers, the unemployed, and families with
dependent children.

Finally, the Second New Deal included the
Rural Electrification Administration. It provided
more electrical power in rural areas.

The New Deal Affects
Many Groups

MAIN IDEA The New Deal policies and actions affected
various social and ethnic groups.

Women benefited from the New Deal.Agencies did not discriminate in hiring, giv-
ing many women new opportunities. Roosevelt
named the first female cabinet secretary—Frances
Perkins—and appointed many women judges.
Women still struggled against discrimination, how-
ever. Agencies and businesses did not hire women
in proportion to their numbers in the population,
and women continued to be paid less than men.

1
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30 Unit 4, Chapter 15

Mary McLeod Bethune, an African-American
woman, became head of the Division of Negro
Affairs of the National Youth Association. She
helped blacks gain access to the agency’s programs
and organized an unofficial “Black Cabinet” to
advise the president. Roosevelt, however, never
pressed for full civil rights for African Americans; he
feared losing the support of white Southerners.
Despite this lack of vigorous support for civil rights,
most African Americans backed him and the New
Deal. Mexican Americans did, too. Roosevelt’s
Commissioner of Indian Affairs helped pass the
Indian Reorganization Act, strengthening Native
American land claims.

Roosevelt and the Democratic party forged a
new political coalition of Southern whites, urban
voters, African Americans, and unionized workers.
Labor was a key part of this coalition. New Deal
laws made it easier for workers to organize. During
the 1930s, union membership soared from less than
3 to more than 10 million. The United Mine
Workers and United Auto Workers, with some other
unions, split from the American Federation of
Labor (AFL) to form a new group, the Congress of
Industrial Organizations (CIO). To win gains, labor
often had to strike. Sometimes the strikes turned
violent.

Culture of the 1930s
MAIN IDEA Motion pictures, radio, art, and literature
blossomed during the New Deal.

During the Depression, the radio and filmindustries flourished. About 90 percent of all
households owned radios, and 65 percent of the
population went to a movie once a week. The
movies offered drama, comedies, and entertaining
musicals. Hollywood became identified with glam-
our and sophistication. Families typically gathered
by their radio each evening to hear their favorite
shows. President Roosevelt addressed the nation in
his “fireside chats” on several occasions.

The art and literature of the 1930s was more
sober, offering serious critiques of American society
or uplifting messages about the strength of charac-
ter and values of the people. One branch of the
WPA, the Federal Arts Project, paid artists to cre-
ate posters, murals, and other public works of art.

The Federal Theater Project brought drama to
communities across the country. Some writers had
work funded by the Federal Writers’ Project. A
famous author of the period was John Steinbeck.
His novel The Grapes of Wrath showed the suffer-
ing caused by the Dust Bowl.

The Impact of the New Deal
MAIN IDEA The New Deal affected American society not
only in the 1930s but also in the decades that followed.

By 1937, the economy had recovered enough toconvince many Americans that the Depression
was over. Unemployment, still high, was much less
than earlier in the decade. Many politicians pushed
Roosevelt to cut back on New Deal programs. He
did, and the economy fell back again. However,
Roosevelt did not restore the New Deal.

Opinion on the New Deal still differs. Conser-
vatives say that under Roosevelt the federal govern-
ment grew too large and extended into everyday
life. Liberals say that the New Deal didn’t go far
enough in restructuring the economy and wealth.
Supporters say that Roosevelt managed a balance
between preserving the existing economic system
and reforming it.

The New Deal did result in expanded power for
the federal government. It also relieved the suffer-
ing of many people, struggling in the midst of the
Depression’s harshest years. It boosted the rights of
workers to unionize and aided farmers by creating
a program of price supports that remained in effect
for decades. Many banking and finance reforms
begun under the New Deal are still in action, and
Americans are still benefiting from Roosevelt’s
environmental protection efforts. Perhaps the
longest-lasting New Deal programs are social secu-
rity and the creation of the Tennessee Valley
Authority.

Review
1. Describe actions taken in the first New Deal.
2. Describe policies of the Second New Deal.
3. How did the New Deal affect various groups?
4. What trends shaped American culture during the

Depression?
5. Evaluate the impact of the New Deal.

Name The New Deal continued

4
5

Cold War Conflicts 35

TELESCOPING THE TIMES Cold War Conflicts
CHAPTER OVERVIEW After World War II, tensions between the United States and
the Soviet Union lead to a war without direct military confrontation—a Cold War.

Summary

Origins of the Cold War
MAIN IDEA The United States and the Soviet Union
emerged from World War II as two “superpowers” with
vastly different political and economic systems.

The Cold War was the state of hostility withoutdirect military confrontation between the
United States and the Soviet Union. The formation
of the United Nations (UN) in 1945, which was
intended to keep peace, did not succeed in stop-
ping the conflicts between these two superpowers.

One reason for the start of the Cold War was
the conflicting political and economic systems of
the United States and Soviet Union. In the U.S.
system of democracy and capitalism, citizens elect
their political leaders and are free to buy and sell
products in an open market. However, in the Soviet
Communist system, the leaders of the Communist
party chose the nation’s leaders, and government
officials decide what products are available to buy.

Another reason for the outbreak of the Cold
War was the disagreement over the future of
Europe after World War II. The Truman adminis-
tration wanted strong, stable democracies in
Europe to prevent totalitarianism and to provide a
market to sell U.S. products. Soviet leader Joseph
Stalin, on the other hand, wanted control of
Eastern Europe to protect against another invasion
from the west and to rebuild the Soviet Union’s
own war-damaged economy.

To achieve his goals, Stalin set up Communist
governments in Eastern Europe. Because these
new Communist countries were dominated by the
Soviet Union, they were called satellite nations. In
1946 Winston Churchill announced that Europe
had been divided by an “iron curtain” into East and
West, communism and capitalism.

To stop further Soviet influence in Europe, the
Truman administration adopted a policy of contain-
ment. Under the Truman Doctrine, the United
States could send military and economic aid to any
country trying to prevent a Communist takeover.
To rebuild Europe after the war and encourage
capitalism, the Marshall Plan provided billions of
dollars to those nations that cooperated with U.S.

economic goals. Germany was split in two—West
Germany and the Soviet-dominated East Germany.

The United States also formed a defensive mili-
tary alliance with its European allies called the
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The
members of NATO pledged that an attack on one
country was an attack on all.

The Cold War Heats Up
MAIN IDEA After World War II, China became a
Communist nation and Korea was split into a Communist
North and a democratic South.

After defeating the Japanese in World War II,the U.S. supported Chinese Nationalist Army
lead by Chiang Kai-shek fought Mao Zedong’s
Communist forces. Mao won this civil war in 1948
and made China a Communist country. Chiang and
his followers fled to Taiwan, an island off China’s
southeast coast.

At the end of World War II, Korea was divided
along the 38th parallel into two separate countries:
the Communist North and the capitalist South.
When the North Korean army invaded South
Korea in 1950 to unify the country, the United
States called on the members of the United
Nations to help.

Under the command of U.S. General Douglas
MacArthur, troops from 21 UN countries—about
90 percent of them American—fought with the
South Korean army. MacArthur was able to push
the North Koreans toward the Chinese border, but
then, Communist Chinese troops attacked, driving
MacArthur and his troops back into South Korea.
Although the fighting remained fierce, neither side
gained much ground.

MacArthur wanted to use nuclear weapons to
invade China, but Truman opposed this expansion
of the war. When MacArthur continued to argue
for his plan in the press, Truman fired him as com-
mander. Finally, after three years, the war ended in
a stalemate with North and South Korea honoring
the 38th parallel as the border dividing them.

CHAPTER

1
2

36 Unit 5, Chapter 18

The Cold War at Home
MAIN IDEA During the late 1940s and early 1950s, fear
of Communism led to reckless charges against innocent
citizens.

Many Americans felt threatened by the rise ofCommunist governments in Europe and Asia.
Some even felt that Communists could threaten
the U.S. government from within.

Pressured by his Republican critics to do some-
thing, President Truman set up a Loyalty Review
Board to investigate government employees. This
board questioned more than 3 million people and
removed about 200 from their jobs.

In 1947, a Congressional committee called the
House Committee on Un-American Activities
(HUAC) began an investigation of Communist
influence in the movie industry. Although most
people brought before the committee cooperated,
ten men refused. These men, known as the
Hollywood Ten, felt that the committee’s questions
were unconstitutional, and they went to prison for
refusing to answer. Their careers were ruined.

In 1950, over Truman’s veto, Congress passed
the McCarran Act that outlawed the planning of
any action that might lead to the subversion, or
overthrow, of the U.S. government.

Two spy cases in the late 1940s increased fears
of communism. The first involved a State
Department official named Alger Hiss, who was
accused of spying for the Soviet Union. In the sec-
ond case, Ethel and Julius Rosenberg, members of
the American Communist Party, were convicted of
helping to give the Soviets information about the
atomic bomb. The Rosenbergs were executed for
their crime.

In the early 1950s, Republican Senator Joseph
McCarthy claimed that hundreds of Communists
had infiltrated the State Department. McCarthy
never actually produced any evidence to prove his
accusations, but his Republican colleagues in the
Senate encouraged his bullying tactics, known as
McCarthyism.

McCarthy’s unsupported charges violated the
constitutional rights of the people he accused and
often ruined their careers. Then in 1954, during
televised hearings into the U.S. Army, McCarthy’s
vicious behavior was revealed to American viewers.
As a result, he lost public support, and the Senate
voted to condemn him for improper conduct.

Two Nations Live
on the Edge

MAIN IDEA During the late 1950s, the United States and
the Soviet Union came to the brink of nuclear war.

By 1953, the United States and the Soviet Unionhad developed both the atomic bomb and the
hydrogen bomb, or H-bomb. The administration of
President Dwight D. Eisenhower announced that,
if necessary, it was prepared to use all of its nuclear
weapons against the Soviet Union. The Soviets
responded by building more nuclear bombs, thus
starting an arms race with the United States. This
willingness of the U.S. to go to an all-out war was
known as brinkmanship.

Other developments also increased hostilities.
In the early 1950s, the United States used the
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to interfere with
some foreign governments through covert opera-
tions, or secret activities. Meanwhile, in response to
the growth of NATO, the Soviets formed a military
alliance with their Eastern European satellites
called the Warsaw Pact.

In 1956, the new head of the Soviet Communist
Party, Nikita Khrushchev, crushed a growing
reform movement in Hungary by sending in Soviet
tanks. That same year, the Soviets threatened to
launch a missile attack against British, French, and
Israeli troops who had seized control of the Suez
Canal, an international waterway located in Egypt.

The United States and the Soviet Union fought
the Cold War in the skies. The Soviets shocked the
world in 1957 by launching Sputnik I, the first
unmanned artificial satellite. In 1960 the Soviets
shot down a CIA spy plane, the U-2, over its terri-
tory and captured the pilot. Although the pilot was
eventually returned to the United States, the U-2
incident further damaged U.S.-Soviet relations.

Review
1. What was the Cold War and how did it start?
2. Why did the United States get involved in the

Korean War?
3. Why did fear of communism sweep the nation in

the late 1940s and 1950s? What were some
direct effects of this fear?

4. List some events of the 1950s that increased hos-
tilities between the United States and the Soviet
Union.

Name Cold War Conflicts continued

3 4

The Postwar Boom 37

TELESCOPING THE TIMES The Postwar Boom
CHAPTER OVERVIEW Postwar America sees a huge economic boom fueled by
consumer spending that is spurred by the mass media, especially television. But
many find themselves mired in poverty and stifled by discrimination.Summary

Postwar America
MAIN IDEA The Truman and Eisenhower administra-
tions led the nation to make social, economic, and politi-
cal adjustments following World War II.

Millions of returning soldiers used the GI Billof Rights to get an education and buy a
home. To meet a housing shortage, developers such
as William Levitt built thousands of homes. The
houses looked exactly alike, but were affordable.
Many families moved to the growing suburbs.

The U.S. economy adjusted to peacetime.
When the war ended, many defense workers were
laid off. When price controls ended, prices shot up.
But responding to years of pent-up demand—and
using millions of dollars saved during the war—
people began to buy cars, appliances, and housing.
Soon the economy boomed.

Labor strife arose just after the war. A steel-
worker strike was followed by coal miners and rail-
road workers. President Truman threatened to
draft the workers into the army and order them
back to work. The unions agreed to return to work.

Voters showed a growing conservative outlook.
In the fall of 1946 they put conservative
Republicans in control of both the Senate and the
House. The Republicans opposed Truman’s domes-
tic program, including the civil rights bills he pro-
posed for African Americans. Truman used an
executive order to desegregate the armed forces,
but his commitment to civil rights helped split the
Democratic party. Winning the party nomination
for president in 1948, he insisted on strong support
for civil rights. Many Southern Democrats called
“Dixiecrats” left the party to form their own party.
Polls predicted that Truman would lose the election
to Tom Dewey, the Republican candidate. Truman
campaigned vigorously against the “do-nothing”
Republican Congress and won victory. Truman
could not get all of his domestic “Fair Deal” pro-
grams approved by Congress, however, and by
1952, he had lost popularity.

The Republicans nominated war hero Dwight
D. Eisenhower, who won due to his popularity and

voter disenchantment with Democrats. He fol-
lowed conservative policies. While he did not
believe that the government should be involved in
desegregation, he did use federal troops to back a
federal court ruling to desegregate schools. He sup-
ported increased funding for housing and the cre-
ation of an interstate highway system. Very popular,
he won reelection in 1956.

The American Dream
in the Fifties

MAIN IDEA During the 1950s, the economy boomed,
and many Americans enjoyed material comfort.

The postwar economy was changing, withgreater emphasis on service industries such as
sales and communications. More and more workers
held white-collar jobs in these industries. Critics of
the new world of business emphasizing loyalty said
that it promoted a sameness of behavior and a loss
of individuality as conglomerates formed and fran-
chises developed.

Many Americans enjoyed the benefits of this
new economy, though. Postwar America saw a great
burst of population called the baby boom, prompt-
ed by the reuniting of families, growing prosperity,
and medical advances such as the vaccine to pre-
vent polio. Popular culture glorified a woman’s role
as mother, but many women were dissatisfied with
suburban life. By 1960, about 40 percent of women
with children worked outside the home.

Leisure time—on the increase—was spent on
active and spectator sports and reading. Many
activities reflected the growing number of children.

A major part of the postwar economic boom
was the auto industry, made possible by easy credit
and cheap gasoline. Car ownership—which
increased from 40 to 60 million vehicles—was nec-
essary in the suburbs. Travel over distances was
made easier by the new interstate highway system,
which people used for vacation travel. Increased
driving led to more pollution.

By the mid-1950s, nearly 60 percent of all
Americans were in the middle class. Success

1
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38 Unit 5, Chapter 19

became equated with buying goods such as clothing
made from new synthetic fibers and appliances.
They were encouraged by companies that intro-
duced new models, offered easy credit, and flooded
the media with tempting ads.

Popular Culture
MAIN IDEA Mainstream Americans as well as the
nation’s subcultures, embraced new forms of entertain-
ment during the 1950s.

The main vehicle of popular culture in the1950s was television. TV ownership jumped
from 9 percent of all homes in 1950 to 90 percent
in 1960. Stations spread across the country, and
many shows became widely popular.

Critics said that the new medium focused on
white, suburban America, rarely showing women,
African Americans, or Hispanics—and often por-
traying them only in stereotyped roles. They com-
plained that there was too much violence.

As dramas and sitcoms moved to television,
radio programming changed to focus on news,
music, and local interest. The industry thrived, as
the number of stations rose by 50 percent. The
movie industry suffered from TV’s competition,
however. To survive, Hollywood produced spectac-
ular movies that shined on a big screen.

While popular culture showed the suburban
way of life, other movements presented other
visions. The movement was led by nonconformist
artists, poets, and writers. Followers of this move-
ment were called beats, or beatniks. Writers Allen
Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac captured the rebel-
liousness of the era, criticizing the materialism of
mainstream culture. A new music—an electrified
rhythm and blues called rock ’n’ roll—spread
across the country, attracting young people. The
biggest star was Elvis Presley, with 45 songs that
sold more than one million copies. African-
American entertainers got increasing exposure in
the media. At the same time, many radio stations
played music primarily intended for African-
American audiences—indicating ongoing racial ten-
sions in the nation.

The Other America
MAIN IDEA Amidst the prosperity of the 1950s, millions
of Americans lived in poverty.

While prosperity reached many, it was not uni-versal—one in four Americans in 1962 was
poor. Contributing to the problem was “white flight”
from the cities and increasing migration of African
Americans from the rural South to cities. As more
whites left the cities, so did businesses. With fewer
jobs available, more citydwellers fell into poverty.
Another urban problem was the lack of housing: mil-
lions of new homes had been built in the suburbs,
but few in the cities. An urban renewal movement
began, but sometimes old, decayed housing was torn
down for highways, and shopping centers—not new
housing. This and other problems spurred a wave of
activism among minorities.

During World War II, hundreds of thousands of
Mexicans came to the United States to work as
migrant farm workers. Afterwards, many decided to
stay illegally. Many other Mexicans came to the
United States to join them. At the same time,
Mexican Americans fought for equal rights. In the
late-1940s the Unity League of California was
founded to register Mexican Americans for the
vote.

Native Americans, too, struggled for equal
rights. Their position was made more difficult by
the government’s new policy of termination, meant
to end federal responsibility for Native American
affairs. The Bureau of Indian Affairs moved thou-
sands of Native Americans to cities and helped
them find places to live and jobs. But the policy
failed to address discrimination and took away the
Native Americans’ medical care. The termination
policy was abandoned in 1963.

Review
1. What social, economic, and political changes

occurred after World War II?
2. What were the benefits and costs of prosperity in

the 1950s?
3. Describe the values of 1950s popular culture and

the subcultures that arose in opposition.
4. What groups were not touched by the prosperity

of the 1950s?

Name The Postwar Boom continued

4
3

The New Frontier and the Great Society 39

Kennedy and the Cold War
MAIN IDEA The Kennedy administration faced some of
the most dangerous Soviet confrontations in American
society.

As Eisenhower’s second term drew to a close,Americans were restless. Soviet advances
seemed to show that the United States was losing
the Cold War. Democratic candidate John F.
Kennedy defeated Republican Richard Nixon, the
Vice President, in an extremely close election.

Kennedy won in 1960 because he had a well-
organized campaign. He also benefited from the
first televised presidential election debates in the
nation’s history, in which he appeared forceful and
Nixon ill at ease. Finally, Kennedy was helped to
victory by thousands of African Americans, who
voted for him because he had taken steps to sup-
port Martin Luther King, Jr.

President Kennedy and his wife brought charm
and an interest in the arts to the White House.
Critics said that his administration was all style and
no substance. Kennedy appointed many intellectu-
als and business people to high administration
offices. His chief adviser was his brother Robert,
named attorney general.

Kennedy emphasized foreign affairs. He urged
a tough stand against the Soviet Union and adopted
a new military strategy called flexible response,
meant to give the president many options other
than nuclear weapons. He increased defense
spending and created the army’s Special Forces.

Kennedy’s policies were challenged in 1961 by
Cuba, where Fidel Castro had seized power in
1959 and declared himself a Communist. A plan
had been devised under Eisenhower to have Cuban
exiles land in Cuba and overthrow Castro. Kennedy
gave approval, but the surprise “Bay of Pigs” attack
failed and the U.S. was embarrassed.

A year later, spy planes flying over Cuba took
photographs showing that the Soviets were building

bases to house nuclear missiles that could be aimed
at the United States. In a tense confrontation,
Kennedy insisted that the missiles be removed. He
sent U.S. Navy ships to surround the island and
force Soviet vessels to turn away. Finally Soviet
leader Nikita Khrushchev agreed to remove the
missiles, ending the threat of war.

Another crisis arose in Berlin. The city was still
divided, half in Communist hands and half under
the control of Great Britain, France, and the
United States. Khrushchev threatened to block
travel to the western-controlled portions of the city,
but Kennedy refused to yield. Khrushchev
responded by building a concrete and barbed wire
wall dividing the city—and preventing East
Berliners from fleeing to West Berlin.

After these crises, Kennedy and Khrushchev
reached some agreements. They installed a tele-
phone “hot line” connecting president and premier
so they could talk directly when a crisis arose. They
also began discussing an end to the testing of
nuclear weapons.

The New Frontier
MAIN IDEA While Kennedy had trouble getting his ideas
for a New Frontier passed several were achieved.

Kennedy called his domestic program the New Frontier, but his proposals lacked
Congressional support. Conservative Republicans
and southern Democrats blocked bills providing
medical care for the aged, rebuilding cities, and
aiding education.

He did succeed with some proposals. With
increased spending on defense, he hoped to boost
the economy out of a recession. He also persuaded
Congress to raise the minimum wage. To decrease
poverty abroad and increase goodwill toward the
United States, Kennedy instituted the Peace Corps.
In the program, volunteers worked in undeveloped
foreign countries. Another program, the Alliance

TELESCOPING THE TIMES The New Frontier and
the Great Society

CHAPTER OVERVIEW President Kennedy survives major confrontations with the Soviet
Union but cannot get his domestic policies past Congress. President Johnson succeeds
him and launches an era of liberal activity with a wide-ranging program of new laws.

Summary
CHAPTER

40 Unit 6, Chapter 20

for Progress, gave aid to Latin American nations to
prevent the spread of Communist revolution from
Cuba.

When the Soviets launched a person into orbit
around the earth, Kennedy pledged to commit the
nation to putting a man on the moon and bringing
him back to earth within the decade. The goal was
reached on July 21, 1969, when Neil Armstrong
stepped onto the moon. The race for the moon had
lasting effects on society. Schools expanded their
teaching in science. Research spending resulted in
improved technologies such as computers and
helped promote economic growth.

In 1963, Kennedy called for a national effort to
combat poverty. Before he could fully develop this
program, however, he was assassinated on Nov-
ember 22. Millions were glued to their televisions
over the next few days, watching live, in horror, as
the president’s accused killer, Lee Harvey Oswald,
was himself killed. A Warren Commission investi-
gation determined that Oswald acted alone.
However, many people continue to believe that
Oswald acted as part of a conspiracy.

The Great Society
MAIN IDEA The demand for reform helped create a new
awareness of social problems, especially on matters of
civil rights and the effects of poverty.

The new president, Lyndon Johnson, was a com-mitted New Deal Democrat and skillful legis-
lator. He got Congress to pass two bills submitted
by Kennedy—a tax cut meant to stimulate the
economy and a sweeping measure aimed at secur-
ing equal rights for African Americans. Johnson
then launched his own campaign—a “war on
poverty” that began with the Economic
Opportunity Act of 1964.

Johnson won election in 1964, defeating
Republican Barry Goldwater. Johnson’s liberal poli-
cies were in favor, and Goldwater’s comments that
he might use nuclear weapons on Cuba and North
Vietnam frightened many people.

Johnson then pushed for a broad range of new
laws aimed at creating what he called the “Great
Society.” Among other things, these laws

• created Medicare and Medicaid, to ensure
health care for the aged and poor,

• funded the building of public housing units,
• lifted quotas on immigration,
• required efforts to ensure clean water,
• offered increased protection to consumers.
At the same time, the Supreme Court under

Chief Justice Earl Warren took an active role in
promoting more liberal policies. The Court ruled
that states had to make congressional districts
roughly equal in population served, following the
principle of “one person, one vote.” The new dis-
trict lines resulted in a shift of power from rural to
urban areas. The Court also required that criminal
courts provide an attorney to accused people who
cannot afford one. It also ruled that police had to
read people accused of a crime their rights —
“Miranda rights”—before asking them any ques-
tions. Conservatives felt these policies benefited
criminals too much.

The Great Society and the Warren Court
changed American society. People disagree on
whether those changes were beneficial. They great-
ly expanded the reach and power of the federal
government. The tax cut of 1964 spurred economic
growth. But, Great Society programs contributed to
a rising deficit in the federal budget because the
government spent more than it took in in revenues.
That problem continues today.

Review
1. How did the United States and Soviet Union

confront each other during Kennedy’s term and
how did the situations end?

2. What policies did Kennedy push, and how well
did he succeed in having them passed?

3. Describe Johnson’s Great Society.
4. What decisions were made by the Supreme

Court under Earl Warren?

Name The New Frontier and the Great Society continued

Civil Rights 41

TELESCOPING THE TIMES Civil Rights
CHAPTER OVERVIEW After decades of discrimination, African Americans begin a
struggle for equality. They make gains against unfair laws in the South, but as
the movement reaches Northern cities, gains are fewer.Summary

Taking on Segregation
MAIN IDEA Activism and a series of Supreme Court
decisions advanced equal rights for African Americans
in the 1960s.

In the 1950s, social changes begun by World WarII set the stage for overturning the laws that
forced separate, or segregated, facilities for African
Americans and whites in the South. Many African
Americans had enjoyed expanded job opportunities
in defense industries in the 1940s. Many more had
fought in the war. They returned home determined
to fight for their own freedom.

Lawyers for the National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) won
cases that weakened segregation. The biggest victo-
ry came in the 1954 school desegregation case
Brown v. Board of Education. The Supreme Court
ruled that separate educational facilities were
“inherently unequal.” The segregated schools were
declared unconstitutional.

Within a year after Brown, more than 500
school districts had desegregated. But in some
areas, leaders vowed resistance. The issue reached
a crisis in Arkansas. The governor ordered the
National Guard to prevent nine African-American
students from enrolling at Little Rock’s Central
High School. A federal judge ordered the governor
to admit the students. When he refused, President
Eisenhower sent federal troops to allow the stu-
dents to enter the school. Meanwhile, Congress
passed the Civil Rights Act of 1957. It gave the
attorney general greater power to push desegrega-
tion in schools.

Another drive had arisen over segregation of city
buses. An African-American woman named Rosa
Parks had refused to yield her seat to a white man,
as the laws of Montgomery, Alabama, required.
After her arrest, African Americans in that city orga-
nized a yearlong boycott of the city’s bus system.
The crisis ended when a Supreme Court ruling
ruled segregated buses illegal.

Helping lead the Montgomery bus boycott was
Martin Luther King, Jr., who rose to prominence in

the civil rights movement. He joined with other
ministers to form the Southern Christian Leader-
ship Council (SCLC), which taught the techniques
of nonviolent resistance to unjust laws. By 1960,
there was another influential civil rights group—
the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee
(SNCC). It was formed mostly of college students
who felt that the pace of change was too slow. They
staged sit-ins, in which African Americans sat in
protest at segregated lunch counters, forcing
restaurants and stores to desegregate.

The Triumphs of a Crusade
MAIN IDEA Civil Rights activists broke down racial bar-
riers through social protest. Their activism prompted
landmark legislation.

In the Freedom Rides, African Americans testedthe Supreme Court ruling that banned segrega-
tion in interstate bus transportation by riding on
buses into the South. Many were met by angry
mobs that attacked and beat them. As more inci-
dents occurred, the Kennedy administration
stepped in. U.S. marshals were sent to protect the
last group of Freedom Riders and the Interstate
Commerce Commission, which regulated bus com-
panies, issued orders banning segregation.

In 1962, a federal court ruled that an African
American could enter the all-white University of
Mississippi. The state’s governor refused to admit
him, however. The Kennedy administration sent
U.S. marshals to force the governor to yield.

Another confrontation occurred in 1963 in
Birmingham, Alabama, where King and other civil
rights leaders led an effort to desegregate the city.
The city police attacked marchers—including chil-
dren—with dogs and water hoses. Many people
across the country were outraged by these attacks.
President Kennedy became convinced that the
nation needed a new civil rights law. His bill guar-
anteed African Americans equal rights in all public
facilities. It also gave the government power to
push for school desegregation.

1
CHAPTER
21
2

42 Unit 6, Chapter 21

Civil rights leaders staged a massive march in
Washington in August of 1963. More than 250,000
people showed up, urging passage of the civil rights
bill. After Kennedy was assassinated, President
Johnson pushed Congress to act. The Civil Rights
Act was passed in 1964.

Civil rights workers next began a campaign to
register African-American voters in the South.
They called it Freedom Summer. They met opposi-
tion and some violence. At the Democratic conven-
tion that summer, only two African American dele-
gates were seated, leading some of the delegates to
feel betrayed.

In 1965, a harsh police response to a civil
rights march in Alabama led thousands from all
over the country to join the march. President
Johnson spurred Congress to pass the Voting
Rights Act. The law stripped away state laws that
had prevented African Americans from voting.

Challenges and Changes
in the Movement

MAIN IDEA Disagreements among civil rights groups
and the rise of black nationalism created a violent
period in the fight for civil rights.

The civil rights movement met difficulties as itmoved North. In the South the problem had
been unfair laws, called de jure segregation. In the
North, the problem was de facto segregation, which
arises from racist attitudes. It is harder to change
attitudes than to overturn unjust laws.

The Great Migration had brought tens of thou-
sands of African Americans to Northern cities, but
“white flight” had left the cities poor and with few
jobs. African Americans were angered by these
conditions and by harsh treatment from largely
white police forces. This anger boiled over in sever-
al riots that brought many deaths and much dam-
age to many cities from 1964 to 1968. President
Johnson had declared “war on poverty” to combat
some of the social ills that African Americans were
protesting. But the growing involvement in the
Vietnam War robbed the war on poverty of needed
resources.

New African-American leaders arose, many of
them boosting black nationalism. Malcolm X began
by telling his audiences to use armed self-defense
when unlawfully attacked. He later urged pursuit of
peaceful means—especially voting—to win equali-
ty. He split with other leaders of his church. Then,
in 1965, he was assassinated.

Another split occurred between King and the
SCLC and other, younger, members of the move-
ment. SNCC leaders began to use the slogan
“Black Power” to symbolize their call for African-
American pride and stronger resistance to racism.
The Black Panthers adopted military-style dress
and harsh words, raising fears among moderate
African Americans and many whites.

King objected to the fiery language of the Black
Power movement. He believed that it would have
evil consequences. It was he who suffered, howev-
er. In April 1968, King was shot and killed. Many
cities erupted in riots caused by African-Americans’
anger and frustration.

A commission reported to President Johnson
that the urban riots were caused by white racism
and the lack of opportunities for African
Americans. But the administration did not act, fear-
ing the lack of white support for the sweeping
changes required. The civil rights movement had
achieved many triumphs, including the banning of
segregation in education, transportation, employ-
ment, and housing and the winning of voting rights.
Many problems remained, however, and de facto
segregation has continued throughout America
even up to today.

Review
1. How did the civil rights movement begin?
2. What events led Congress to pass the Civil

Rights and Voting Rights acts?
3. How did the civil rights movement change?
4. Why could the results of the movement be called

mixed?

Name Civil Rights continued

The Vietnam War Years 43

TELESCOPING THE TIMES The Vietnam War Years
CHAPTER OVERVIEW The United States enters a war in Vietnam, which results in
the deaths of tens of thousands of American soldiers, the division of society into
bitterly opposed camps, and a lasting impact on U.S. foreign policy.Summary

Moving Toward Conflict
MAIN IDEA To stop the spread of Communism in
Southeast Asia, the United States used its military to
support South Vietnam.

After World War II, Vietnamese Communists ledby Ho Chi Minh and other nationalist groups
fought the French who tried to reestablish colonial
rule. The United States helped the French with
military supplies. The nationalists won in 1954. A
peace agreement temporarily split the country and
called for an election and unity in 1956.

South Vietnam’s prime minister Ngo Dinh
Diem canceled the elections and declared himself
head of a new government. President Eisenhower
supported Diem, fearing that Ho would win a
national election. Opponents to Diem in the
South—the Vietcong—began guerrilla attacks.
President John Kennedy continued Eisenhower’s
policy and sent some American troops to train his
army. Diem, meanwhile, acted harshly and lost sup-
port in the South. In late 1963, military leaders in
the South, with U.S. support, overthrew Diem.

The United States did not want South Vietnam
to fall to the Communist North. When U.S. destroy-
ers in the Gulf of Tonkin were attacked in 1964 by
North Vietnamese torpedo boats, President Johnson
retaliated with a bombing attack. Then, in February
of 1965, Johnson launched a major bombing attack
on North Vietnam’s cities. The next month the first
U.S. combat troops arrived.

U.S. Involvement
and Escalation

MAIN IDEA The United States sent troops to fight in
Vietnam but the war quickly turned into a stalemate.

President Johnson’s decision to send Americantroops to Vietnam was widely popular, although
some advisors did warn that the policy was danger-
ous. The American commander there asked for
growing numbers of troops. By 1967, about 500,000
American soldiers were fighting in Vietnam. Johnson

and his advisors hoped for quick victory, but it did
not happen.

These troops found the war frustrating. The
Vietcong struck quickly in small groups and then
disappeared in the jungle or in an elaborate system
of tunnels. Americans’ superior weaponry was of
little use.

The policy of winning support among the peo-
ple of South Vietnam did not work either. The frus-
trating course of war lowered the morale of Ameri-
can soldiers. So did the weakness and corruption of
the South Vietnamese government.

Rising costs of the war forced President
Johnson to cut spending on his Great Society pro-
grams. TV news film of the war contradicted the
administration’s glowing reports of progress.
Disapproval of the president’s policy spread.

A Nation Divided
MAIN IDEA An antiwar movement in the U.S. pitted sup-
porters of the government’s war policy against those
who opposed it.

Many young men avoided the military draft bygetting medical releases or by entering the
reserves. Many—especially white middle-class
young men—obtained draft deferments because
they were college students. As a result, U.S. troops
in Vietnam were mostly working-class whites and
members of minority groups, prompting protests
from civil rights leaders.

Unrest was growing on college campuses in the
early 1960s as the New Left urged sweeping
changes in American society. In 1965, this move-
ment began to criticize U.S. policy in Vietnam.
Thousands marched on Washington to protest the
war. Eventually, some draft-resisters were impris-
oned, and many deserted to Canada.

By 1967, Americans were divided into hawks—
who supported administration policy—and doves—
who wanted the war to end. Many felt that doves
were showing disloyalty by protesting while Ameri-
cans were fighting.

1
CHAPTER

2
3

44 Unit 6, Chapter 22

1968: A Tumultuous Year
MAIN IDEA A shocking attack in Vietnam, two assassi-
nations, and a chaotic political convention made 1968 an
explosive year.

As 1968 opened, all across South Vietnam theVietcong launched surprise attacks—the Tet
Offensive. After weeks of fighting, the U.S. com-
mander said the Vietcong had been defeated, but
American confidence in the war was deeply shaken.
Some presidential advisors questioned the war.

Johnson’s popularity fell sharply, and Senator
Eugene McCarthy almost defeated Johnson in a
presidential primary. Johnson responded by
announcing that he would not seek re-election as
president and that he was willing to seek a negoti-
ated peace in Vietnam.

Soon the nation was stunned by the murders of
civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., and
Senator Robert Kennedy, campaigning for the
Democratic nomination for president. Meanwhile,
protests rocked college campuses. The political tur-
moil plunged the Democratic convention in Chica-
go into chaos. While the convention nominated
Hubert Humphrey for president, bitter antiwar
protesters staged rallies and protests that were met
by police attacks. The violent attacks showed deep
divisions in the country.

The Republicans nominated former Vice Pres-
ident Richard Nixon. Campaigning for law and
order and promising that he had a plan to end the
war, Nixon won the election. An independent candi-
date—former Alabama governor George Wallace—
won significant support.

The End of the War
and Its Legacy

MAIN IDEA President Nixon instituted his
Vietnamization policy, and America’s longest war finally
ended.

On reaching the White House, Nixon began towithdraw American troops from Vietnam as
part of his strategy of giving the major role in the
war to South Vietnam. He also ordered massive

bombing of the North to persuade leaders there to
agree to a peace leaving South Vietnam intact.

When Nixon announced that he had sent U.S.
troops to attack Vietcong supply lines in Cambodia,
protests erupted on college campuses. At Kent
State nervous National Guard troops killed four
students. Support for the war eroded in Congress,
cut further when newspapers published documents
showing that the Johnson administration had lied
about the war.

A new North Vietnamese offensive in March
1972 brought increased bombing. As the 1972 elec-
tion neared, Nixon announced progress in the
peace talks, but a snag then arose. Nixon ordered
more bombing of the North. In January 1973, all
parties agreed to a peace. U.S. troops came
home—but North Vietnamese troops were allowed
to remain in the South. In March 1975, they
defeated the government of South Vietnam.

Vietnamese deaths topped 2 million. The victo-
rious Communists punished many in the South; a
million and a half people fled the country. Com-
munist rebels, called the Khmer Rouge, took
Cambodia and killed at least 2 million people.

The United States suffered 58,000 dead and
303,000 wounded. Surviving American soldiers
found it difficult to come home, as they met with
hostility or neglect. The divisions over the war lin-
gered, with former hawks and doves angry at each
other. Congress passed a law preventing the presi-
dent from committing troops in a foreign conflict
without its approval. The war changed American
foreign policy and caused a feeling of mistrust
toward the government that remains.

Review
1. Why did the U.S. enter the war in Vietnam?
2. Why could the U.S. not win a quick victory over

the Vietcong, and what was the effect?
3. How did public opinion split over the war?
4. Why is 1968 considered a year of upheaval?
5. What were the effects of the war?

Name The Vietnam War Years continued