Paper 2 Study Guide
Women's Rights & Containment
For what reasons, and with what success, did the United States adopt a policy of containment between 1947 and 1962?
- Containment Timeline
- Truman Doctrine
- Failures and Success
In what ways, and for what reasons, did the role and status of women change as a result twentief century total war?
- Women's Role in the military
- Pre WW2 vs. Post WW2
- Women's Rights Movement
Truman Doctrine
- In order to gain the support of the Republican majority, Harry S. Truman had to exaggerate differences with the Soviet Union and argue that there was a crucial ideological struggle between democracy and communism. Truman's administration also exaggerated the military threat posed by the Soviet Union; according to Dean Acheson, the message to the US public had to be clearer than the truth, The USSR, it was implied, was aggressively expansionist and therefore needed to be contained.
- Truman used the Red Scare in the run - up to the 1948 elections, and domestic politics saw the start of campaigns against communist subversion, which led to the "witch hunts" in the early 1950s spearheaded by Joseph McCarthy.
- The new policy - known as the Truman Doctrine - argued that all countries had to choose between the "freedom of the West or the subjugation of communism'.
- Both the USA and the USSR saw the Marshall Plan as an attempt to weaken Soviet control of Eastern Europe, and the Soviet Union saw it as an example of 'dollar imperialism', designed to establish US influence in Europe.
- Historians have put forward various reasons why the policy of containment was adopted so quickly by the US in the late 1940s.
- As the US emerged from World War 2 as a truly global power with worldwide interests, developments anywhere in the world might endanger the economic interests and thus the power of the US, and should therefore be resisted.
- Also, both US industries and the military had benefited from the war economy.
Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman was the 33rd President of the United States. As the final running mate of President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1944, Truman succeeded to the presidency on April 12, 1945, when Roosevelt died after months of declining health.
Dean Acheson
Dean Gooderham Acheson was an American statesman and lawyer. As United States Secretary of State in the administration of President Harry S. Truman from 1949 to 1953, he played a central role in defining American foreign policy during the Cold War.
Jospeh McCarthy
Joseph Raymond "Joe" McCarthy was an American politician who served as a Republican U.S. Senator from the state of Wisconsin from 1947 until his death in 1957
Success of Containment
- Berlin air lift 1947, soviets blockaded berlin so us air force cargo and british cargo planes supplied berlin for months day and night, it was mayor blunder for soviets
- the defense of south korea, 1950 - 53, north korea backed up by china and soviet union invaded south korea on july 1950 us military killed 950,000 chines and 374 million north koreans, bad was that american military wanted to destroy china nad north korea, and also they tried to impose on south, neither side could do so, us lost 50,000 men within 3 years ( vietnam had the same for almost a decade)
- support for israel, israel was in need of a friend, france did weapons embargo on israel and lost a good customer and influence on the region so us weapons came in and israel has done good job using those....
- support and help japanese get into their feet, japan before korea was not allowed to develop weapons, during and after korean war japanese was included into us alliance system and also military exercises....
- europe was good as was for military exercises and sharing intel info, but europe did not go ta mayor wars with full swing under the wing europeans wanted us to defend them with out helping us back because of money , it was very expensive for europe to go to war far away and they worried too much about red dragon across the wall of european berlin wall
Failures of Containment
- Not to take correct measures to prevent the blunder done by chang kai- shek, he was sole owner of china, but by mistakes he lost war to mao and had to seek shelter at republican china known as taiwan the owner of the castle became the tenant of the barn
- Vietnam war the military component of doctrine of containment was state versus state military doctrine not so against third world guerrillas , usa was self led to believe big red brother was worth fighting against not little unknown vietnam so us military, press, congress and popular opinion were shocked to see many dead nad wounded they simply lost morale and support, and it was so because the false believe that money and technology win wars mostly or alone, lost of moral fiber lasted a hell of a lot, so as miss trust towards white house and pentagon tooo...
- the loss of friendly iran before radical ayatollah took over iran was friendly to usa, change of regime means hostility to usa, so usa shifted alliances towards iraq saddam hussein, so when war came in between iran and iraq 1980-88 usa supplied iraq with weapons , intelligence and political support in exchange of oil, us intel agencies got weapons from east european warsaw military factories like kintex and syntex from bulgaria!
Women's Role in the Military
- 1917–1918 : During last two years of World War I, women are allowed to join the military. 33,000 women serve as nurses and support staff officially in the military and more than 400 nurses die in the line of duty.
- 1941–1945 : During World War II, more than 400,000 women serve at home and abroad as mechanics, ambulance drives, pilots, administrators, nurses, and in other non-combat roles. Eighty-eight women are captured and held as POWs (prisoners of war).
- 1948 : Congress passes the Women’s Armed Services Integration Act granting women permanent status in the military subject to military authority and regulations and entitled to veterans benefits.
- 1950–1953 : During the Korean War, over 50,000 women serve at home and abroad. 500 Army nurses serve in combat zones and many Navy nurses serve on hospital ships.
http://www.history.org/history/teaching/enewsletter/volume7/images/nov/women_military_timeline.pdf
Role and Status of Women Pre WW2
Before World War II, the prevailing view of a woman's role was that of wife and mother. Many occupations were reserved for men and some states barred married women from holding jobs. The need to mobilize the entire population behind the war effort was so compelling that political and social leaders agreed that both women and men would have to change their perceptions of gender roles—at least as long as there was a national emergency. Women were told they must contribute in a variety of ways.
Role and Status of Women after WW2
After the war, women were encouraged to turn their attention to the domestic sphere. A Persil advert shows wives competing over the whiteness of their washing. According to a woman who remembers those times, this reflected the concerns of many women during that period. Adverts do not show the 22% of married women that continued to work, although they were still expected to manage all the housework without any contribution from their partners.
http://www.striking-women.org/module/women-and-work/post-world-war-ii-1946-1970
Women's Rights Movement Synopsis
Women's rights movements are primarily concerned with making the political, social, and economic status of women equal to that of men and with establishing legislative safeguards against discrimination on the basis of gender. Women's rights movements have worked in support of these aims for more than two centuries. From 1920 to 1960, militancy on behalf of a single issue diffused into a number of women's political groups, such as the League of Women Voters (1920) and the National Council of Negro Women (1935). Such groups supported various types of liberal reforms related to the rights of both men and women. An equal rights amendment drafted in 1923 by the National Women's party (founded 1913) remained dormant for another 50 years.
http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/brief-history-womens-rights-movements