WW2 & McCarthyism Doc Workshop, Mon 3/31
by Dr. H - March 30th, 2014
Assignment for Today: Each group will address one of these questions below, using the documents in our textbook. By the end of class each group should leave a comment here, responding to your assigned question.
Question 1: Using the evidence in Documents 23.1 – 23.5, which of these is the more correct statement and why?
World War II transformed racial and gender relations in the US.
World War II reinforced traditional racial and gender relations in the US.
Question 2: How should the end of the war be remembered? Whose point of view needs to be acknowledged, respected and included? Try writing a brief account of the end of the war that follows your own advice. Use Documents 23.6 – 11
Question 3 (laptop based): What physical resources, and what moral reasoning, did official American messages employ to build support for the conflict? How did war promotional materials construct World War II as a just, or even a “good†war? What kinds of commitments were being asked of the American people? Use any of these media documents:
WW2 Radio and Film Propaganda Examples (requires Windows Media Player)
Internet Archive: Films Made by the Office of War Information
Internet Archive: Audio recordings w/ keyword “World War II: Homefront”
“It’s Everybody’s War” (20th Century Fox)
Produce for Victory: Posters on the American Home Front
Question 4: After 1945, the new postwar historical context included both the reality of atomic weapons, and a deep ideological standoff between “the West†and the USSR. How did this context affect understanding of foreign affairs and the US’s role in them? Use Documents 24.1 – 5
Question 5: In the 1940s and early 1950s, many Americans feared internal threats as well as those in international relations. Using Documents 24.6 – 10, answer these questions: In what different ways would HUAC and the witnesses appearing before it have defined “un-American� What gave HUAC and the broader cultural movement now termed “McCarthyism†so much power at the time?
Although the treatment of the Japanese and Japanese Americans may have transformed into something much more harsh, the mindset of the American people did not alter and was reinforced by World War II. African Americans were still treated unfairly compared to their white soldier counterparts, once again reinforcing previous ideals about blacks. Women’s roles in the work force transformed the way in which the country viewed and valued women. World War II transformed the traditional woman into a member of the work force, changing the role of women in America forever. Traditional racial relations and stereotypes were reinforced because of and during the war.
Physical resources used to build support for the conflict were movies, billboards, and posters. The moral reasoning used to build support was that the soldiers were doing everything they can to help the people at home so at home they should send goods and give money to the soldiers because the soldiers were doing everything they can for them. Them helping and giving everything they could to the soldiers at home made the soldiers lives a lot easier. Giving resources to the soldiers allowed them to protect themselves at war. It was promoted as a good war because American war messages portrayed other countries as enemies to the United States. The war helped to protect the freedom of America. The American people were asked to drive less to save gas, use less electricity, donate car tires and foods, purchase war bonds, work more to send resources to soldiers, use less at home so the soldiers could have more, all resources streamlines to soldiers, and to donate clothing to soldiers so they could be kept warm.
Over all the United States used their military and economic power to take a hold of foreign countries in order to have control in foreign affairs. On the home front there was not a consensus on whether or not the US should take control over foreign affairs.
Document 24.1 “The Iron Curtain”: For every thing the Soviets did the United States had to also do. For every action there had to be an equal reaction.
Document 24.2 “The Way to Peace”: Henry Wallace and others thought peace was more important than control, and that we as a whole have to work in order to achieve peace.
Document 24.3 “Soviet Objection to Marshal Plan”: The US granted economic assistance to Western Europe in order to maintain influence over them.
Document 24.4 “Letter from Korea”: Helen Stevenson said “we treat these people as if we were occupying them, as if we were or had been at war with them.” This document shows that the United States took a strong hold on foreign affairs in order to control things and Stevenson did not like how this was happening in South Korea.
Document 24.5 “To Secure These Rights”: The United States had to figure out our domestic affairs before we could work on foreign affairs.
Question 5
According to Mr. Lawson in the Testimony before HUAC of 1947 “un-American†is anything that absolutely invades an individual’s rights. The trials brought on by the HUAC were seen as disruptors to the Bill of Rights. Lawson stated he was fighting for his individual rights stated within this Bill and not against the country. Lillian Hellman in a letter to HUAC before her hearing explained how she was told that by waiving her fifth amendment of speaking about her political views, activities, and beliefs she also gives up her right to resign from sharing information on others. Lillian Hellman was “raised in an old-fashioned American traditionâ€. She was raised to be honest, not bear false witness, and to not hurt her neighbors. If she was refused her request to answer questions only concerning herself, she would plead the fifth amendment.
Fear was breed throughout the country in a response to the idea of a growing presence of Communism in the United States following World War II. Arthur Miller, author of The Crucible believed that the hysteria created by the waves of anti-communism gave the HUAC power to pick individuals for extensive trial. He connected his book about the Salem witch trials in 1692 to the communism trials of the 1950s. The Salem witch trials of The Crucible were fake trials in which there were misleading information, views, and influence that lead to the persecution of multiple individuals.
World War 2 will always be remembered for the atomic bombs dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima at the summation of the war. The dropping of the atomic bombs should be revered as a lesson and a precursor to the utter atrocities that a World War and atomic bombs could potentially bring upon the world.
The point of views and perspectives of the scientists that took part in the Trinity test petitioned against the use of atomic bombs. In Documents 23.6 and 23.7 seventy of these scientists contributed to this petition and even Oppenheimer, head of the Manhattan project, himself said “I am become death, destroyer of worlds.” Such a proclamation serves as a testament to the sheer power of the atomic bombs even before the order to use them against Japan.
Despite what the Trinity test forewarned of the hostile nature of the bombs, Harry S Truman went ahead and ordered the atomic bombings of Nagasaki and Hiroshima. In addition, to the scientists who were closest to the project the opinions of differing politicians, civilians should have been considered and the US should have warned the entire World of the atomic bomb.