History Chapter 26

15. Which political leader instigated the June 1950 invasion of 90,000 North Koreans into South Korea?

After 90,000 North Koreans swept into South Korea in June 1950, Truman and his advisors assumed that either Mao Zedong or Joseph Stalin had instigated the attack. Later, it was revealed the North Korea's Kim Il-sung himself initiated the attack, and had won only reluctant agreement from China and Russia for his plan.

17. With the help of the Chinese, the North Koreans drove the UN forces back into South Korea and recaptured

After UN troops under the command of General MacArthur came within forty miles of the Korean-Chinese border, in violation of President Truman's orders, China sent in 300,000 soldiers to assist the North Koreans. By December 1950, the North Koreans had driven the UN forces back below the thirty-eighth parallel and recaptured Seoul. The UN forces took three months to take back Seoul and reassert the division of Korea at the thirty-eighth parallel. MacArthur's actions near China caused unnecessary and prolonged fighting, and Truman decided to try for a negotiated settlement.

7. How did President Truman respond when Jews in Palestine declared the independent state of Israel in May 1948?

Against the wishes of his advisers, who felt the Arab states had more to offer the United States in the postwar world than did Israel, President Truman quickly recognized the new Israeli state and made the defense of Israel the cornerstone of American policy in the Middle East. Truman's decision was influenced by his commitment to Holocaust survivors, appeals from Jewish organizations, and his desire to win Jewish votes in the upcoming election.

20. The experience of the Korean War induced the Truman administration to

Although General Matthew Ridgway, MacArthur's successor as commander of the UN forces in Korea, argued that the United States should never again fight a land war in Asia, the Korean War experience induced Truman to expand America's role in Asia by increasing U.S. aid to the French, who were fighting to keep their colonial empire in Indochina.

12. Why did the GI Bill fail to benefit African American and white veterans equally?

As it was written, the GI Bill applied to every World War II veteran without regard to race, gender, ethnicity, or religion. But GI programs were administered at the state and local levels where discrimination against African Americans was common, especially in the South. Furthermore, Southern universities remained segregated, and historically black colleges could not accommodate all the GIs who hoped to attend. Thousands of black veterans did benefit from the GI Bill, but it did not help all former soldiers equally.

4. What issue formed the crux of American and Soviet policymakers' 1946 disputes over Germany's future?

Both American and Soviet policymakers believed that Germany should be demilitarized after World War II, but the two powers disagreed over the question of Germany's economic future. The Soviets demanded heavy reparations from Germany to help rebuild their devastated economy, and they wanted to limit industrial development in Germany in order keep the German economy weak to prevent further German aggression. The United States, on the other hand, believed that rapid industrial revival in Germany would foster both European economic recovery and long-term prosperity in America. Unable to settle their differences, the Allies divided Germany into eastern and western occupation zones.

19. By the end of the Korean War in 1953, U.S. defense spending had risen to $50 billion, representing what percent of the total federal budget?

By 1953, 70 percent of the federal budget went to defense projects and military aid. With $50 billion spent on defense that year and never less than $40 billion spent in subsequent years, Cold War military objectives took precedence over domestic programs. The military buildup advocated in NSC 68 and put into action during the Korean War vastly expanded U.S. capacity to act as a global power.

10. The federal government made a landmark commitment to address the housing needs of the poor with congressional approval of what policy?

Congress passed only one major Fair Deal reform during Truman's second term as president: the Housing Act of 1949. The legislation authorized the construction of 810,000 housing units over the next six years. Only 61,000 units had been built by the time Truman left office, however, falling far short of actual housing need. Still, the legislation's commitment to building housing for poor people was a landmark in federal government.

5. George F. Kennan was the diplomat responsible for which post-WWII foreign policy strategy?

In February 1946 the career diplomat and Russian expert George F. Kennan wrote a comprehensive rationale for a hard-line foreign policy approach that would become known as containment. Kennan believed that Communist ideology was not particularly important in Soviet policy, but that Soviet insecurity and Stalin's need to maintain authority motivated the Soviet government to establish power wherever it could. In response, Kennan argued, the United States should respond with "unalterable counterforce," which would either break up or mellow Soviet power. Kennan's analysis marked a critical turning point in the development of the Cold War, providing a compelling argument for wielding U.S. power throughout the world.

8. Which of the following sums up Harry S. Truman's approach to domestic policy at the end of World War II?

In addition to crises abroad, Harry Truman faced shortages, strikes, inflation, and other problems as the United States shifted to peacetime. Truman's domestic agenda—the Fair Deal—aimed to expand New Deal-type reforms with initiatives in economic regulation, civil rights, education, and health care. Many elements of Truman's Fair Deal faced strong opposition from Congress, but he did achieve some of his goals.

2. Which of the following strategies did Americans believe Britain and France should have pursued to prevent the outbreak of World War II?

Many Americans believed that Britain and France might have prevented the war if they had resisted Hitler's initial aggression instead of trying to appease him. That belief informed the reasoning of Navy Secretary James V. Forrestal and other government officials who argued that the United States should be firm with the Soviet Union when the two countries' plans for the postwar world came into conflict.

9. With regard to postwar economic problems, most Americans placed the blame for rising prices and shortages of consumer goods on

Most Americans approved of unions in principle but blamed them for rising prices and the lack of consumer goods. Strikes affected almost every major industry in 1946, which served to tarnish the public image of organized labor. Many people began to call for more government restrictions on unions. President Truman also was growing increasingly tired of labor strikes, though he expressed equal frustration with corporate management and with Congress.

1. At the end of World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union each had a vision of the postwar world that

Once the United States and the USSR had successfully defeated a common enemy, the distrust and antagonism that had shaped their prewar relations with one another reemerged. The Soviets, who had experienced tremendous losses during the war, were suspicious about the reasons behind the Americans' long delay in opening a second European front, and they did not assume that the United States had any intention of protecting its interests in the postwar period. Similarly, American leaders believed that their institutions and intentions were superior to those of the Soviet Union; their distrust of Joseph Stalin and other Communists shaped their approach to shaping the world in the post-war period.

18. What was the significance of Truman's decision to dispatch troops to Korea without an official declaration of war from Congress?

President Truman's decision to dispatch troops to Korea without an official declaration by Congress violated the spirit, if not the letter, of the U.S. Constitution. It also set a precedent for the expansion of executive power that became characteristic of the Cold War. Congress did appropriate the funds necessary to fight the Korean War.

13. How did Republicans during the postwar period try to undermine New Deal programs and Democrats in general?

Republicans fanned the flames of anti-Communist hysteria after World War II to create support for their efforts to dismantle the New Deal. Their claims that Democrats were fostering internal subversion seemed more credible due to revelations of actual Soviet espionage that came to light in the late 1940s. Backed into a corner, the Democrats in Truman's administration sought to prove their anti-Communist credentials, which led to growing harassment and repression throughout the country.

3. After World War II, Joseph Stalin felt that U.S. officials' insistence that he permit democratic elections in Eastern Europe was

Stalin argued that the United States supported dictatorships in Latin America that were friendly to U.S. economic interests; thus, it was hypocritical of the United States to try to keep the Soviet Union from developing a similar sphere of influence.

11. The Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944 provided what to the 16 million returning World War II veterans?

The Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, also known as the GI Bill, was the only large welfare measure passed after the New Deal. It offered World War II veterans job training and education; unemployment compensation while they sought jobs; and low-interest government loans to purchase homes, farms, and small businesses. Millions of veterans took advantage of the opportunities offered by the GI Bill and, in doing so, boosted every sector of the U.S. economy.

14. What did the Supreme Court rule in Dennis v. United States (1951), a case involving a Communist Party leader who had been found guilty of violating the Smith Act?

The Truman administration had successfully prosecuted a number of Communist Party leaders under the 1940 Smith Act, which made it a crime to "advocate the overthrow and destruction of the Government of the United States by force and violence." Civil libertarians argued that the guilty verdicts in those cases violated First Amendment rights to freedom of speech, press, and association, but the Supreme Court decision in Dennis v. United States held that the Communist threat overrode constitutional guarantees.

6. The European Recovery Program approved by Congress in March 1948 did which one of the following things?

Truman's diplomats promoted the European Recovery Program, which became known as the Marshall Plan, as a means of restoring the economies of Western European nations. Because European nations spent most of their aid on American products, the program also bolstered American businesses. The program also promoted democratic governments in the countries it aided, thereby advancing the goals of containment. The plan did not reach the Eastern European nations, however—the United States invited all European nations and the Soviet Union to participate in the program, but as U.S. officials expected, the Soviets rejected the offer and ordered their Eastern European satellites to do the same.

16. How did the United States take advantage of the Soviet Union's absence from the UN Security Council in June 1950?

While the Soviet Union was boycotting the UN Security Council because of its refusal to seat a delegate from Communist China, the United States gained authority from the United Nations to counterattack the North Koreans, who had attacked South Korea in June 1950. The United States also gained the authority to name the commander of the UN forces and appointed General Douglas MacArthur to the position.