Premium Essay

How Did The Cold War Cause Changes In American Society

Submitted By
Words 2113
Pages 9
From 1877 to 1981, black people’s position in American society had progressed drastically from newly freed slaves to, in the eyes of the law, equal citizens of America and politically and legally integrated within the country. War had a monumental impact on the progression in this period, as it provided African-Americans with an opportunity to prove their worthiness of American citizenship, experience life and racial tolerance outside of the America and resulted in gaining mass international exposure. The international opinion that arose from this publicity, the change in white attitudes towards Civil Rights and legality during 1877-1981 all also respectively impacted the advancement, and in some cases, the hindrance, of Civil Rights.
America’s declaration of war on Germany in 1917 to ensure political liberty and the …show more content…
Concerns of damaging America’s reputation fundamentally convinced government officials to favour Civil Rights reforms more than they previously had done as racial segregation “became an embarrassment to Washington” in its unwanted media attention. This continued to be the case during the Vietnam War when Muhammad Ali refused to be drafted into the U.S army whilst black people continued to be “treated like dogs” in America. His refusal to be drafted into the American army “gave other [African-Americans] courage” , providing the movement with new momentum and determination. As a result, the Cold War was undoubtedly a turning point in the progression of Civil Rights as it coincided with, and was partly responsible for, America’s global success consistently being undermined by its racial inequality. Consequently, war was invaluable as it provided the movement with motivation and the exposure it required to be

Similar Documents

Free Essay

Nothing

...crusade and discuss the extent to which it accomplished its objectives. Why did it succeed or fail? Jonathan Riley-Smith, The Crusades: A Short History; Carole Hillenbrand, The Crusades: Islamic Perspectives; Christopher Tyerman, God’s War: A New History of the Crusades 2. How did anti-Semitism manifest itself in medieval Europe? Kenneth R. Stow, Alienated Minority: The Jews of Medieval Latin Europe; Mark R. Cohen, Under Crescent and Cross: The Jews in the Middle Ages; Solomon Grayzel, The Church and the Jews in the Thirteenth Century 3. What was the position of prostitutes in medieval society? Ruth Mazo Karras, Common Women; Leah Otis, Prostitution in Medieval Society; Margaret Wade Labarge, A Small Sound of the Trumpet: Women in Medieval Life 4. Why did the French choose to follow Joan of Arc during the the Hundred Years War? Kelly DeVries, Joan of Arc: A Military Leader; Bonnie Wheeler, ed., Fresh Verdicts on Joan of Arc; Margaret Wade Labarge, A Small Sound of the Trumpet: Women in Medieval Life 5. Discuss the significance of siege warfare during the crusades. You may narrow this question down to a single crusade if you wish. Jim Bradbury, The Medieval Siege; Randall Rogers, Latin Siege Warfare in the Twelfth Century; John France, Victory in the East: A Military History of the First Crusade 6. Why did the persecution of heretics increase during the high and later Middle Ages...

Words: 5531 - Pages: 23

Premium Essay

Bvmnm

...Analyze the impact of the Atlantic trade routes established in the mid 1600s on economic development in the British North American colonies. Consider the period l650-1750 Analyze the cultural and economic responses of two of the following groups to the Indians of North America before l750/ British, French, Spanish Compare the ways in which religion shaped the development of colonial society in 2 of the following regions prior to l740/ New England, Chesapeake, Middle Atlantic How did economic, geographic and social factors encourage the growth of slavery as an important part of the economy of southern colonies between l607 and l775? Compare the ways in which 2 of the following reflected tensions in colonial society/ bacon’s rebellion, pueblo revolt, salem witchcraft trials, stono rebellion To what extent had the colonists developed a sense of their identity and unity as Americans by the eve of the Revolution? Dbq Analyze the impact of the American Revolution on both slavery and the status of women in the period from l775-l800 Evaluate the extent to which the Articles of Confederation were effective in solving the problems that confronted the new nations Analyze the contributions of 2 of the following in helping establish a stable government after the adoption of the constitution/ John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington Although the power of the national government increased during the early republic, this development often faced serious opposition...

Words: 1140 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

History

...The Big Question How did Americans challenge the rigid social expectations that characterized the early Cold War period? What was the relationship between domestic changes of the 1960s and the US's changing foreign policy? Section 1: Short Answer (30 points) Write multi-sentence responses for the prompts below. Be specific and give examples from the history we have learned. A. Read the statement below and then analyze what it is saying about being a young person in the United States in the 1960’s. Use these questions to help you write a commentary of 3-5 sentences: (10 points) * What events and changes in American society does the writer refer to? * How is this document an example of the ‘youth culture’ at the time? "When we were kids the United States was the wealthiest and strongest country in the world; the only one with the atom bomb. . . . As we grew, however, our comfort was penetrated [filled] by events too troubling to dismiss [forget about]. . . . The Southern struggle against racial bigotry [racism], compelled [took] most of us from silence to activism. Second . . . the Cold War, symbolized by the presence of the Bomb, brought awareness that we ourselves, and our friends, and millions of abstract "others" . . . might die at any time."  —Port Huron Statement, Students for a Democratic Society The writer is referring to how America changed as he grew up. He grew up during a time when America was the wealthiest nation, but there was racism in the south...

Words: 745 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Hist

...Achebe's novel Things Fall Apart is a good portrayal of an African society in a pre-New Colonialism era. Focus your study on Okonkwo's relationship with his society, which formed his values and traditions. Compare those norms with the arrival of Christian missionaries and the introduction of the European laws and values. (In an essay explain with concrete examples the political, social, economic, judicial, and religious structures of the village of Umofia from Achebe’s book Things Fall Apart. Also, state why Europeans were so determined to bring changes to this society and what kind of action Okonkwo took to defend his village.) 4. Examine the decline of the Ottoman Empire. What factors explain this process? What attempts at reform did the Ottomans undertake? (Bentley & Ziegler, chap.31) 5. Learn how and why Japan became industrialized (make sure you review your notes on the movie; Meiji Transformation). Learn also about hollow modernization of the Latin American countries. (Also Bentley & Ziegler pp. 724-728, 634-636 & chapter 30) 6. Definition, causes, and geopolitical scope and the result of the New Imperialism. (Class notes and read also, Bentley & Ziegler, Chapter 32) 7. African and Asian responses to Western Imperialism: Armed resistance and modernizing efforts. (Class notes) 8. Learn about the causes of World War I. How was it a global and modern war? Major consequences of the war for both Europe and the wider world. (Class notes and also, Bentley...

Words: 565 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

American History Ii

...James Bennett Professor George J. Prokopiak HIS-114-OL010 Written Assignment 5 16 February 2015 Vietnam War and a New World Order with the End of Cold War Written Assignment 5 Question #1: As far as Vietnam is concerned, how did President Johnson "Americanize" the war? What was Nixon's policy of Vietnamization? Was anything achieved at the peace talks? What are the legacies of the Vietnam defeat? President Johnson “Americanized” the Vietnam War by many different avenues of approach taking a more aggressive posture. The president first started by supplying the South Vietnamese army with American military and economic assistance (Roark, 976-981). He significantly increased the American troop presence from 16,000 in 1964 to over 553,000 by 1969 displaying a much larger American presence (Roark, 976-981). America had stepped up bombing throughout Vietnam and neighboring countries (Roark, 976-981). In hopes of getting the backing of the American people and government, he strategically thought out who and where the bombs would be dropped (Roark, p. 980-981). He did not bomb near the northern border of Vietnam (Roark, p. 980-981). President Johnson did not want to provoke China or the Soviet Union into the war (Roark, p. 980-981). He did not want to make the same mistakes as Korea with the Chinese. He also thought about collateral damage. He tried to focus the bombings to low populated areas to minimize civilian casualties (Roark, p. 980-981). The bombing campaign was known...

Words: 2319 - Pages: 10

Premium Essay

What Effect Did Mccarthyism Have on the Us/

...How far do you agree with the view that McCarthyism had little impact on US society in the years 1950-54? It is argued that McCarthyism had a vital impact on US society in the years 1950-54. This can be seen through the knock on effects it had on the people in America, as the fear of communism was rising as McCarthyism triggered a panic all across America during this period. The USA was already feeling very vulnerable after War as they feared communism would spread just the way It did in China, thus McCarthyism was significant as many Americans were scared that their society would come under the influence of communism. However, many historians argue that the impact John McCarthy was only short term as soon; the Red Scare was falling apart as everyone was being accused of being a communist. McCarthy influenced many Americans through radio and press and caused many Americans to panic from Communism. He raised the awareness of the impact that communism could have on American society and how it could change the American way of life, and during this period many Americans did not want any significant change as the economy was booming and prosperity was flourishing all over America, which was a major change. Therefore, people had a reason to fear Communism as Americans were living a better and more affluent life and they did not want their privileges to be taken away from them. McCarthy took advantage of this and manipulated the press, and released as many accusations as possible...

Words: 998 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Three Paradigms of Cold War

...            BERNATH LECTURE The New International History of the Cold War: Three (Possible) Paradigms* The Cold War is not what it once was. Not only has the conflict itself been written about in the past tense for more than a decade, but historians’ certainties about the character of the conflict have also begun to blur. The concerns brought on by trends of the past decade – such trifles as globalization, weapons proliferation, and ethnic warfare – have made even old strategy buffs question the degree to which the Cold War ought to be put at the center of the history of the late twentieth century. In this article I will try to show how some people within our field are attempting to meet such queries by reconceptualizing the Cold War as part of contemporary international history. My emphasis will be on issues connecting the Cold War – defined as a political conflict between two power blocs – and some areas of investigation that in my opinion hold much promise for reformulating our views of that conflict, blithely summed up as ideology, technology, and the Third World. I have called this lecture “Three (Possible) Paradigms” not just to avoid making too presumptuous an impression on the audience but also to indicate that my use of the term “paradigm” is slightly different from the one most people have taken over from Thomas Kuhn’s work on scientific revolutions. In the history of science, a paradigm has come to mean a comprehensive explanation, a kind of scientific “level”...

Words: 8015 - Pages: 33

Premium Essay

The Coldwar

...Conflict > The Cold War 1945-1991 > Overview of US-Soviet relations and the Cold War The Cold War 1945-1991 Overview of US-Soviet relations and the Cold War David Mclean Charles Sturt University Principal Focus: Students investigate key features and issues in the history of the Cold War 1945 - 1991 Outcomes Students: H1.1 describe the role of key features, issues, individuals, groups and events of select twentieth-century studies (Extract from Modern History Stage 6 Syllabus Board of Studies NSW 2004.) Key features and issues: • origins and development of the Cold War • influence of ideologies on the Cold War • impact of crises on changing superpower relations • the arms race • reasons for the end of the Cold War This is the transcript of a talk given at a seminar co-sponsored by the History Teachers’ Association of New South Wales and the US Information Service in Sydney on 2 September 1995. From this tutorial you will learn about: • influence of ideologies that led resulted in the division of the world into two opposed camps from 1945 • emerging differences between the superpowers Contents 1. US – Soviet relations were not synonymous with the Cold War 2. Chronology of the Cold War 3. Influence of ideologies of communism and capitalism on the Cold War 4. Soviet Objectives 5. American objectives 6. The Arms Race 7. The Third World was important for the Cold War 8. Why did the Cold War not end earlier? 9. Did the United States...

Words: 4442 - Pages: 18

Premium Essay

Hiroshima

... |ORAL PRESENTATION DESCRIPTION | |Nuclear has been the biggest fear in the world when it is used as |Nuclear Threat Nuclear weapon and its physical damage | |weapon and it has insurmountable negative effects on societies in |Nuclear weapon deterioration of health – what kinds of radiation are | |terms of its physical destruction and deterioration on human health. |emitted in a nuclear explosion and what effect do they have on human | |Not a thesis statement but a statement of fact. |beings? | |Try: Why is it best for nuclear attack victims to be right at Ground |http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/science/ocr_gateway_pre_2011| |Zero? |/living_future/4_nuclear_radiation1.shtml | |Working Thesis Statement: Countries may use the nuclear weapons in |Oral Presentation Thesis Statement (must be based on PART of the | |future because of the possibility of religious war and the other |research project): The time between 1946 and 2012, no atomic bomb had| |reasons. |been used even as an overt thread threat in any warpolitical crisis, | |I will argue that there is a strong possibility that nuclear weapons |the reasons...

Words: 4481 - Pages: 18

Premium Essay

American History Post Civil War

...AMERICAN HISTORY POST CIVIL WAR American History Post Civil War Test 2 Growth Of Education In The United States In Nineteen Century Education in the United States has faced great changes toward development in the past hundreds of years. A society that was coming to depend increasingly on specialized skills and scientific knowledge was, of course a society with a high demand for education. The late nineteenth century, therefore, was a time of rapid expansion and reform of American school and universities. One example was the spread of free public primary and secondary education. In 1860, there were only 100 public high schools in the entire United States. By 1900, the number had reached 6,000, and by 1914 over 12,000. By 1900, compulsory school attendance laws were in effect in thirty-one states and territories. But education was still far from universal. Rural areas lagged far behind urban-industrial ones in funding public education. Also, in the south, many blacks had access to no schools at all. The post-Civil War era saw, too, an important expansion of educational opportunities for women. In the years after the war, many of the land-grant colleges and universities in the Midwest and such private universities as Cornell and Wesleyan began to admit women along with men. The female college was part of an important phenomenon in the history of modern American women; likewise, the anthropologists, sought to provide educational opportunities for the Indian tribes...

Words: 2231 - Pages: 9

Premium Essay

Imperialism

...compulsion to export capital abroad for higher profits. Unlike capitalism in the earlier stages, in the imperialist stage, capitalism has no more progress to bring the world…the cause of contemporary militarism” – Lenin “The policy, practice, or advocacy of seeking, or acquiescing in, the extension of the control, dominion, or empire of a nation, as by the acquirement of new, esp. distant, territory or dependencies, or by the closer union of parts more or less independent of each other for operations of war, copyright, internal commerce, etc.” – Oxford dictionary The word imperialism derives from “empire.” As such, it is useful to spend a bit of time to define the word. In working towards a minimal definition, Stanford Professor of Archaeology J. Manning in his first lecture on Ancient Empires starts with: “An empire is a territorially extensive hierarchically political organization.” Unfortunately this definition is too vague. All states encountered in human history are by definition hierarchical, and many nations today are vast compared to the empires of the ancient world. Thus, Manning rephrases his definition of empire to be: “A territorially extensive hierarchical political organization involving the rule of one or more groups over other groups of foreigners.” But what causes empire? There are two models worth explaining. One is originated by the Greek historian Thucydides, famous for the quote “The strong do what they can and the...

Words: 10655 - Pages: 43

Premium Essay

History

...traditional "putting-out" system to the rise of the factory system (make sure you learn all about the spinning and weaving machines.) What would be the economic and social implications of this change? (Class notes and Bentley & Ziegler, chapter 29) 2. Discuss the population explosion, urbanization, and other demographic factors of the industrial Revolution. Also, discuss the growth of huge industrial cities during the 19th Century. (Bentley & Ziegler, chap.29) 3. Chinua Achebe's novel Things Fall Apart is a good portrayal of an African society in a pre-New Colonialism era. Focus your study on Okonkwo's relationship with his society, which formed his values and traditions. Compare those norms with the arrival of Christian missionaries and the introduction of the European laws and values. (In an essay explain with concrete examples the political, social, economic, judicial, and religious structures of the village of Umofia from Achebe’s book Things Fall Apart. Also, state why Europeans were so determined to bring changes to this society and what kind of action Okonkwo took to defend his village.) 4. Examine the decline of the Ottoman Empire. What factors explain this process? What attempts at reform did the Ottomans undertake? (Bentley & Ziegler, chap.31) 5. Learn how and why Japan became industrialized (make sure you review your notes on the movie; Meiji Transformation). Learn also about hollow...

Words: 1082 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

History

...(1) In 1945, just after World War II, the alliance between the United States, Britain and the Soviet Union ended. An intense rivalry between communist and non-communist nations led to the Cold War. It's called the Cold War because it never led to armed or "hot" conflict. At the end of World War II, at the Yalta Conference, Germany was divided into four occupied zones controlled by Great Britain, France, the Soviet Union, and the United States. Berlin was also divided into four sections. Lack of a mutual agreement on German re-unification was a important background of the Cold War. And on March 5, 1946, Winston Churchill, gave his "iron curtain" speech while at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri, which marked the start of the Cold War. The cold war did not end until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. During this period, the United States and the USSR confronted each other in politics, economy, ideology, and so on. And they nearly divided this world into two camps, socialist camp and capitalist camp, what made the conflict on ideology especially sharp. Every incident in the world could not happened without reasons, and the original cause may happened quite long ago. So there are long term causes and short causes of the Cold War. One of the short term causes is that the US President had a personal dislike of the Soviet leader Josef Stalin. At the Potsdam Conference starting in late July 1945, serious differences emerged over the future development of Germany and...

Words: 6578 - Pages: 27

Premium Essay

Origins of the Cold War

...How far do you agree that the origins of the Cold War in 1945 and 1946 owed much to the ideological differences and little to personalities and conflicting national interests? The origins of the Cold War cannot be denied as being most obviously and most forefront due to the great ideological differences between the USSR’s communism and the USA’s capitalism, such as their complete opposing beliefs over nationalisation and system of government. However National interests, such as the fight over Poland and leaders personalities, such as Truman’s lack of experience in foreign policy cannot be overlooked as important reasons for growing hostilities between superpowers. The vast difference in ideologies is clearly the underlying factor which caused tensions for the superpowers of the world during the Cold War and the years 1945 to 46; however it cannot be denied that personalities of the leaders running these countries, were a contributing reason for the ever growing hostilities between them. Joseph Stalin, leader of the USSR and communist regime, was a figure known for being shrewd, manipulative and ruthless, instantly suggesting that relations with other countries, so different from his, were to be quite strained. Though he was known for these negative traits, he was also commended for his sense of practicality and his skills as an administrator, this suggesting that perhaps his ability to put aside differences, may be better than necessarily believed. It was common knowledge...

Words: 2497 - Pages: 10

Premium Essay

Yuppies Research Paper

...were concerned with making money or how they looked. This clearly represents a society change because it was popular culture and reflected societal values. I ranked this as #11 because the hedonistic lifestyle was a major cause for much other societal changes. For example, the wealth provided through yuppies allowed for the purchase of personal computers, the growth of MTV, and drug use. AIDS 12 AIDS first received official recognition in 1981, when the Center for Disease...

Words: 982 - Pages: 4