Liberty and Justice for All (1945-1963)

The ending of World War II ushered forth change in America. On the home front, while male soldiers were overseas, both women and Black Americans took over stereotypical white male jobs to support the war effort. With the soldiers now home, these jobs were largely returned to white men. The post-WW2 era was characterized by the baby boom, the sheer number of children born in the two decades after their fathers returned from overseas. With husbands and wives reunited, the emphasis was, once again, placed on family and domestic life. Considered “the Golden Age of American Capitalism, this period included the construction of interstate highways, T.V. dinners, and Levittown-style housing. Developer William Levitt bought land outside of cities to build cheap tract homes in which the land is divided into plots and close to identical homes are constructed simultaneously. Young families were the prime customers of such homes as they benefitted from the G.I. Bill, which subsidized inexpensive mortgages for veterans. In all, this was a financially prosperous time for the United States and in the fifteen years after the end of World War II, the gross national product more than doubled, growing from around $200 billion to over $500 billion.

Yet, America would not remain out of conflict for long. On June 25, 1950, North Korean tanks entered the 38^th parallel, crossing over into South Korean land, indirectly supported by the Soviet Union and China. The Republic of Korea (ROK) had no tanks or other such military weapons to defend themselves and, within five days, the South Korean capital Seoul fell to North Korea. Immediately following this, President Truman sent US forces to South Korea as aid. As with the ROK, American forces were no match for North Korea as they simply lacked the resources for engaging in another war. The United Nations, who had passed Resolution 83 on June 27^th of that year, sent additional military aid to South Korea, where the fighting continued, and on October 1, 1950, UN forces invaded North Korea. This caused the People’s Volunteer Army (PVA) of China to intervene, pushing forces out of the North on November 13, 1950. The Korean War remained at a stalemate at the 38^th parallel until after two years of negotiations, fighting ended on July 27^th, 1953. The United Nations, PVA, and the Korean People’s Army (North Korea’s military force) all signed the Korean Armistice Agreement which stopped hostilities. As it is an armistice, rather than a peace treaty, the Korean War has not technically ended and relations between involved countries remain tense.

In tandem with this, the Red Scare swept through the United States, a period characterized by the fear of Communism domestically due, in part, to the taut relationship with the Communist Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) were suspicions of Soviet and communist sympathizers on US soil who’d threaten national security. On March 21, 1947, President Truman signed the Loyalty Order, an executive order that required federal employees be evaluated to ensure they were loyal to the US government. Another initiative to combat fears of the Red Scare was the creation of the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) in the House of Representatives to search for communists working for the American government. Additionally, Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy utilized rumors and intimidation tactics to eradicate potential communists from the United States, earning its own term, McCarthyism. Under McCarthyism, the Senator led a series of hearings and investigations of suspected communists and Soviet sympathizers, which tarnished their reputations, caused them to lose their jobs, and even, in some cases, led to their deaths. The most famous of these hearings was the trial of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, American communists charged with conspiracy to commit espionage and put on trial on March 6, 1951. Over two weeks later, they were found guilty and, on April 5, sentenced to death. The case was appealed several times in the following years, including seven appeals to the US Supreme Court. People all over the world cried for mercy for the couple but to no avail. On June 19, 1953, the Rosenbergs were executed. Both the Korean War and the Red Scare did nothing to ease the already fraught relationship with the Soviet Union but would turn up the heat that would, in the decades to come, reach a dangerous boiling point.