Cold War:

1950s in America & the

World
SSUSH20-25

What does this remind you of? List five

adjectives that describe this period of
time in your opinion?

Topics pg 876-1123
Use your notes to research your chosen topic.
Report on it and then illustrate it. You will be
presenting tomorrow. It is due in 40 minutes.

Fear of
Communism&
Weapons During
the Cold WarJordan
Space RaceKayla/Jadajah

Life During the

50s-Kison/Madie

Cuban Missile
Crisis-Iris
Berlin WallEmily/Andre

Kennedy
AssassinationWyatt
Civil Rights
Movement-

Fear of Communism in the

Early years of theU.S.
Cold War
many Americans believed that
there was a good reason to be
concerned about the security of
the U.S.

Soviet domination of Eastern

Europe

Communist takeover of China

Fueled fear that communism

would spread even further
around the world

McCarthy Launches His

Witch
Hunt
Senator Joseph
McCarthy
(Repub.
from Wisconsin)anti-Communist
activist

Led a witch hunt saying that

communists were in our govt
McCarthyism time in the
1950s when Sen. McCarthy
accused people in the U.S. govt
of being Communists

Accused people of disloyalty w/o

providing evidence

Weapons during the Cold

Nuclear arms raceWar
began during Trumans
presidency (1945-1952)

Soviet Union exploded its 1st atomic

bomb in 1949
Response: Truman had to decide should
we develop an even more horrific
weapon
Hydrogen Bomb (H-bomb):

Equal to the force of 1 million tons of TNT (67

xs the power of the atomic bomb dropped on
Hiroshima)

Dwight D. Eisenhower
Becomes
President!
U.S. President from
1953-1961

Former WWII hero

(leader of D-Day
invasion)

Warsaw Pact

Formed in 1955
Communist military
alliance
Formed in response to
NATO
Soviet Union & 7
Eastern European
countries

Nikita Khrushchev

Stalin dies in 1953

Khrushchev gained power of
the Soviet Union
Believed that communism
would take over the world
peacefully
Favored a policy of peaceful
coexistence & compete
economically & scientifically

Space Race

Oct. 4, 1957 Soviets

launched Sputnik I

Worlds 1st man-made satellite

Not an unexpected
developmentU.S.
intelligence had
photographed the launch site
using spy planes
Lead to several
developments

Dramatic increase in

American Life During

the 1950s

Baby Boom

The Great Depression & WWII

had caused many men &
women to delay marriage &
child-bearing
As WWII ended & soldiers
returned home to marry &
start families, the birth rate in
the U.S. began to sky-rocket!
1946-1964 (Baby Boom)
Generation of children born
during this period became

Impact of the Baby Boom

Rapid increase in marriages &

families profoundly affected
the economy
GI Bill of Rights (passed by
Congress to protect & reward
returning veterans)

provided low-interest loans for

homes & businesses

grants for veterans who wanted

to go back to school

Stimulus of money into

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6YuJuAMf_g

Automania

More cars = more roads!

Local & state govts began
constructing more roads linking
the major cities to schools,
workplaces, & residential
suburbs
Interstate Highway Act
passed in 1956

Created by Pres. Eisenhower

Originally it was meant to create a

Impact of Television

TV was first widely

available in 1948

1950 9% of homes

1954 55% of homes

1960 90% of homes

(45 million)
Helped to promote
popular TV shows of
the time

I Love Lucy

Election of 1960 Debates:

Kennedy vs. Nixon

By the late 1950s, TV had

replaced radio as the popular
means of communication &
entertainment

Many Americans watched the

same entertainment & news
programmingcreating a
common national culture (just
like radio had done in the
1920s)

Prior to 1960, Presidential campaigns

were limited by time & distance
Before, candidates traveled from
campaign stop to another by railroad or
airplane
Mass audiences were reached via radio
In the 1960 Presidential campaign
between Republican Richard M. Nixon &
Democrat John F. Kenned

Candidates agreed to hold 4 nationally

televised presidential debates

Kennedy young, clean-cut, & physically

After the first debate was televised on

Sept. 26, 1960 74 million viewers
watched the debatemost saying
Kennedy had won
However, those Americans that listened
to the debate by radio, clearly said Nixon
won
TV proved that the candidates
appearance was definitely important
https://
www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHGs4535W_
o

Other Technology
Aside Impacts
from TV, other
new
Americans
technological developments
impacted Americans

1.

2.

Development of new
vaccines meant the end of
childhood diseases (polio,
measles, & whooping cough)
Development of air
conditioning led businesses
& population to spread into
the deep South & Southwest