The Atom Bomb and American Culture in Early Postwar America

Initial Reactions

nAnxiety, Fear, and Elation

nSense of doom

nAtomic sales

nAtomic bomb ring

Initial Reactions

nWorld Government

nUnited World Federalists (1947)

nInternational Sharing

nAcheson-Lilienthal Report (1946)

Atomic Cars and Cancer Cures

nNew Hopes for Positive Benefit of the Atom

nAllowed Americans to avoid dealing with the realities of atomic warfare

nCars

nRadioactive isotopes

Cold War and the Bomb

nUS Gov’t and Positive Image of the Atom

nNeeded because of reality of Cold War

n“Sunny Side of the Atom”

Cold War and the Bomb

n

Civil Defense

Russians detonate first atomic bomb in 1949

n“How to Survive an Atomic Bomb”

nBomb shelters

nDuck and Cover

Origins of the Cold War

Differing World Visions

nUnited States

nSees stable and secure world by spreading American ideas and values

nShaped by depression

nMust be internationally active

nWorld Bank and IMF

nSoviets shaped by invasions

nWWII losses

nSeek secure border

nDemand buffer zone

 

WWII and Cold War

nPre-War Relations

 

nSecond Front

 

nYalta Conference (Feb 1945)

nUS needs Russian help in Japan

nEastern Europe’s fate left unclear

nTruman and the Bomb

nPotsdam Conf. (July 1945)

nUnconditional surrender

nTiming and message to Soviets

Cold War Heats Up

nFuture of Germany

 

nAtomic Diplomacy

 

nIron Curtain Speech

 

nKennan’s Telegram (1946)

nBirth of Containment Policy

Cold War Heats Up

nTruman Doctrine (1947)

nImplements containment policy

nMarshall Plan (1947)

nHelps US economy

nUndermines conditions for communism

nNSC-68

 

nKorean War (1950-53)

nFirst “Hot” war

 

 

Cold War Comes Home

The Great Fear and American Society

Cold War and Anti-Communism

nBackground

nDepression and CPUSA

nSmith Act & Dennis case

n1946 Elections and Republican Party

 

nFederal Employee Loyalty Program (1947)

nBackfired as it became proof of communist threat

n1948 Election

 

nLabor Union Purges

Hollywood, Universities, and the Great Fear

nHollywood and HUAC

n1947 hearings

nCommittee for the First Amendment

nHollywood 10

nNew Themes for Movies

nTelevision Hearings 1951

nRed Channels

nBlacklisting

nUniversity of California Loyalty Oaths
 

Politics of Anticommunism

nNixon

n1946 election and Voorhis

nAlger Hiss Case

nRosenberg Spy Case

 

nRise of Joseph McCarthy

nContext of post 1949

nWheeling Speech

nArmy Hearings (1954)

nMurrow on McCarthy

Meaning of the Great Fear

nUndermined power of organized labor

 

nHelp Republican party rise to power

 

nWeakened New Deal liberalism

 

nContributed to culture of conformity

 

nNarrowed Political Debate