American History - Chapter 27
Pages 842-863
The Cold War
and the
American Dream
Unit Packet & Study Guide
Name:
Period:
Social Studies Teacher:
Learning Goal and Scale
Essential Question
Learning Goal: Students understand how the Cold War and domestic changes in the
postwar years affected the nation.
Focus on:

Postwar economy

Fear of communism

Korean War

International competition

Life at home
4
Students understand how the Cold War and domestic changes in the postwar
years affected the nation in all five specified areas listed in the Learning Goal, and
can teach others by writing an essay detailing the relationship between the Soviet
Union and the United States during the Cold War, and comparing it to the
relationship between Russia and the United States today.
3
Students understand how the Cold War and domestic changes in the postwar
years affected the nation in four of the five specified areas listed in the Learning
Goal.
2
Students understand how the Cold War and domestic changes in the postwar
years affected the nation in three of the five specified areas listed in the Learning
Goal.
1
Students understand how the Cold War and domestic changes in the postwar
years affected the nation in two of the five specified areas listed in the Learning
Goal.
0
Students do not understand how the Cold War and domestic changes in the
postwar years affected the nation in any of the five specified areas listed in the
Learning Goal.
Unit Essential Question: How did the Cold War and domestic changes in the postwar
years affect the nation?
2
Vocabulary List
Write the definition for each of the following. You may use a separate sheet of paper,
but it must be stapled to the back of this packet.
Section 1 – pgs. 844-849
1. Harry S. Truman
2. Fair Deal
3. Cold War
4. Truman Doctrine
5. NATO
6. Containment
Section 2 – pgs. 850-855
7. Joseph McCarthy
8. 38th parallel
9. Korean War
10. Arms race
11. H-bomb
12. Space race
13. Brinkmanship
Section 3 – pgs. 858-863
14. Rock ‘n’ roll
15. Baby boom
16. Suburbs
17. Sunbelt
18. Conform
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Section 1 – pages 844-849
Peacetime Adjustments and the Cold War
Map Activity
The Cold War and the American Dream
A. Use the map in the Chapter Opener (page 843) and the map “The Division of Berlin
1945” in section 1 (page 847) to locate the following countries, city, and bodies of
water. Then label them on the outline map on the next page.
Countries
Portugal
Great Britain
Norway
Ireland
Denmark
Luxembourg
East Germany
West Germany
Greece
Bulgaria
Sweden
Belgium
Italy
Yugoslavia
Soviet Union
Netherlands
Austria
Hungary
City
Switzerland
Spain
France
Romania
Turkey
Finland
Poland
Czechoslovakia
Berlin
Bodies of Water
Black Sea
North Sea
Adriatic Sea
Mediterranean Sea
Atlantic Ocean
Baltic Sea
B. After labeling your map, use it to answer the following questions.
1. What countries border the Soviet Union to the west?
_________________________________________________________________________________
2. Which European countries lie completely south of 45˚N latitude?
_________________________________________________________________________________
3. The western border between the Soviet Union and Poland lies along
approximately what line of longitude?
_________________________________________________________________________________
4. What body of water separates Norway and Sweden from the Soviet Union?
_________________________________________________________________________________
5. What country was split into two parts after World War II? Why?
_________________________________________________________________________________
6. What countries border East Germany to the south and east?
_________________________________________________________________________________
7. In which part of Germany was Berlin located?
4
Section 1 – pages 844-849
Peacetime Adjustments and the Cold War
Map Activity
5
Section 1 – pages 844-849
Peacetime Adjustments and the Cold War
Guided Notes
Peacetime Economics and Politics

Peacetime Adjustments
o After the war, defense industries reduced their workforce and began to
lay off workers. In addition,
Women began to return to more traditional jobs such as
and
The Postwar Economy
o The postwar economy
o Increased demand for goods led to
Labor, Unrest, and Reaction
o More than 4 million union workers
o In response, Harry S. Truman
o



o The strike ended before Truman could carry out his threat
Reelection and Fair Deal
o During his reelection campaign, Truman blamed the
o
 Worked – he won reelection
Truman introduced the
 Extension of FDR’s
 Called for

Congress fought against him, few measures passed
America Fights a Cold War

Origins of the Cold War
o Most important issue:
o When WWII ended, Stalin installed
o
Tensions grew between

o

Each side suspected the other of
Result- Cold War:
The Berlin Airlift
o Germany was divided into four zones after WWII
o The Western countries
o
Stalin feared
6
Section 1 – pages 844-849
Peacetime Adjustments and the Cold War

The capital of Germany,
Soviet Union
Western countries

When the blockade finally ended,


Guided Notes
, was blockaded by the
The Politics of Containment
o Truman had a policy of

o
The Marshall Plan
Alarm over communist control led to the creation of NATO
 Included

In response, the Soviet Union and Eastern European countries
created
The Cold War at Home

Americans on Trial
o Alger Hiss was accused of
o

 He was jailed for
Ethel and Julius Rosenberg were convicted of
 They were both
Uncovering “Un-American Activities”
o Truman ordered government workers to undergo
o
The House Un-American Activities Committee

Many were
Additional Notes:
7
Section 2 – pages 851-855
The Korean War and McCarthyism
Reading Notes
Directions: Use section two of chapter 27 to answer the following questions. Questions must be
answered in complete sentences. If you use a separate sheet of paper, that paper must be
stapled to the back of this packet.
The Cold War Heats up in Korea
1. How was Korea divided up after WWII? Which side was communist? Which was
democratic?
2. What event in June 1950 started what is known as the Korean War?
3. What prompted China to enter the war?
4. Why did President Truman refuse to blockade China? What happened to MacArthur?
5. Explain the outcome of the Korean War.
McCarthy and Communism
6. Why does the term McCarthyism refer to reckless charges against innocent citizens?
7. How did Senator McCarthy lose his political power?
The Cold War Around the World
8. How was Eisenhower’s foreign policy different than Truman’s when it came to
communism?
9. What was the arms race? How did it lead to the United States and the Soviet Union
both stockpiling weapons?
10. How did the Soviet Union push the United States to research outer space?
11. How did the U-2 incident end peace talks between the Soviet Union and the United
States?
8
Section 2
McCarthy vs. Murrow
DBQ Assignment
Speech at Wheeling, West Virginia
Setting the Stage: In February 1950, Joseph McCarthy made headlines across the country
when he claimed that Communists were shaping policy in the U.S. government.
“Today we are engaged in a final, all-out battle between communistic atheism1
and Christianity. The modern champions of communism have selected this time
as the time, and ladies and gentlemen of the chips are down – they are truly
down. . . In my opinion the State Department, which is one of the most
important government departments, is thoroughly infested with communists. . .
I have in my hand 57 cases2 of individuals who would appear to be either card
carrying members or certainly loyal to the Communist Party, but who
nevertheless are still helping to shape our foreign policy. . . One of the
important reasons for the graft, the correction, the dishonesty, the disloyalty,
the treason in high government positions – one of the most important reasons
why this continues – is a lack of moral uprising on the part of the 140 million
American people. In the light of history, however, it is not hard to explain. It is
the result of an emotional hangover and a temporary moral lapse which follows
every war. . . However, the morals of our people have not been destroyed. They
still exist. This cloak of numbness and apathy has only needed a spark to
rekindle them. Happily, this spark has finally been supplied. As you know, very
recently the Secretary of State proclaimed his loyalty to a man guilty of what
has always been considered the most abominable of all crimes – of being a
traitor to the people who gave him a position of great trust. The Secretary of
State, in attempting to justify his continued devotion to the man who sold out
the Christian world to the atheistic world, referred to Christ’s Sermon on the
Mount3 as a justification and reason therefore. . . When this pompous diplomat
in striped pants, with a phony British accent, proclaimed to the people that
Christ on the Mount endorsed communism, high treason, and betrayal of a
sacred trust, the blasphemy was so great that it awakened the dormant
indignation 4of the American people. He has lighted the spark which is
resulting in a moral uprising and will end only when the whole sorry mess of
twisted warped thinkers are swept from the national scene so that we may have
a new birth of national honesty and decency in government.”
1
Atheism: rejection of a belief in god or gods
2
57 Cases: According to news reports of this speech, McCarthy claimed to have a list of 205 Communists or Communist loyalists in government.
In the text of the speech that was released to the Congressional Record two weeks later, that number reduced to 57. McCarthy’s list was never
shown or proven to exist. Why do you think the number changed?
3
Sermon on the Mount: McCarthy refers to Secretary of State Dean Acheson’s public statement that he would not “turn [his] back on Alger
Hiss” after Hiss was charged with providing information to the Soviets and found guilty of lying under oath. According to McCarthy, how has
Acheson affected the American people?
4
Indignation: anger
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Section 2
McCarthy vs. Murrow
DBQ Assignment
See it Now
Setting the Stage: In March 1954, newscaster Edward Murrow devoted the entire half hour of
his See it Now program to an attack on Senator McCarthy.
“It is necessary to investigate before legislating, but the line between investigating and
persecuting is a very fine one and the junior Senator from Wisconsin has stepped over it
repeatedly. His primary achievement has been in confusing the public5 mind, as
between internal and the external threats of Communism. We must not confuse
dissent6 with disloyalty. We must remember always that accusation is not proof and
that conviction depends upon evidence and due process of law. We will not walk in fear,
one of another. We will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason, if we dig deep in
our history and our doctrine, and remember that we are not descended from fearful
men – not from men who feared to write, to speak, to associate and to defend the
causes that were, for the moment, unpopular. . .
As a nation we have come into our full inheritance at a tender age. We proclaim
ourselves, as indeed we are, the defenders of freedom, wherever it continues to exist in
the world, but we cannot defend freedom abroad by deserting it at home.
The actions of the junior Senator from Wisconsin have caused alarm and dismay
amongst our allies abroad, and given considerable comfort to our enemies. And whose
fault is that? Not really his. He didn’t create this situation of fear; he merely exploited it
– and rather successfully.”
Document-Based Questions:
1. How does McCarthy explain the “corruption” and “dishonesty” in government?
2. Whom does Murrow blame for the results of McCarthy’s actions?
3. Explain the different points of view about how Americans should react to the
threats of communism.
5
Confusing the public: McCarthy made charges against respected military officials and politicians, famous writers and artists, and average
Americans such as an Army dentist and a cleaning woman at the Pentagon. Why was it hard for people to defend themselves against
McCarthy’s accusations?
6
Dissent: different of opinion
10
Section 3 – pages 859-863
American Life in the Fifties
Reading Notes
Directions: As you read, use the diagram below to record important changes that took
place in the 1950s. Keep in mind, you need to be able to explain and describe each
change thoroughly on your test.
1950s American Life
Suburban growth: caused
in part by the baby boom
and the booming
economy. Led to
increased car sales and
movement of the
population to the sunbelt.
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Section 3 – pages 859-863
American Life in the Fifties
Accompanying Worksheets
A. Completion: Write the key term or name that best completes each sentence.
1) Alarm over Communist control of Eastern Europe led to the formation of
in 1949
2) The huge population growth in the 1950s was mostly an effect of the
.
3) Although U.S. and Soviet forces never actually met on the battlefield, the
caused tensions between the nations
for decades.
4) Korea is divided into two countries at the
.
5) Bill Haley, Chuck Berry, and Little Richard played
,
a type of music that became popular in the 1950s.
B. Riddles: Write the term or name best described in each riddle.
1) I declared that I had a list of 205 State Department officials who
belonged to the Communist Party. Who am I?
2) It was a competition between the United States and the Soviet Union, in
which both sides built up stockpiles of nuclear weapons. What is it?
3) During the 1950s, families left crowded cities for a different lifestyle in
these communities. What are they?
4) I proposed the Fair Deal to help people get jobs and housing. Who am I?
5) It promised aid to countries fighting to maintain democracies. What is it?
C. Summarizing: Read the passage about Ethel and Julius Rosenberg, two spies
who gave the Soviet Union vital American atomic secrets during the Cold War.
Then, write a one-paragraph summary on a separate sheet of paper which will
be attached to the back of this packet when complete.
Perhaps no criminal case in American history has aroused greater
controversy than that of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg, the only
Americans executed for espionage during peacetime. Though many
still proclaim the Rosenbergs’ innocence, recent evidence leaves
little doubt that Julius, at least, was indeed the center of a spy ring
that smuggled information out of the Manhattan Project at Los
Alamos, New Mexico, to the Soviet Union.
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Section 3 – pages 859-863
American Life in the Fifties
Accompanying Worksheets
The Source of the information was a technician at Los Alamos
named David Greenglass – Ethel’s brother. Like his sister and her
husband, Greenglass was a devoted Communist; working for
ideological reason, he smuggled drawing and other bits of
information to Santa Fe and on to New York through a courier
named Harry Gold; there Julius (and perhaps Ethel) directed the
material to a Soviet controller. The operation began in the early
1940s and continued for several years. The defection of a clerk
from the Soviet embassy in Canada, however, led the FBI to Gold,
Greenglass, and the Rosenbergs.
The federal agents, however, were even more concerned about
an industrial espionage ring the Julius was still working with; the
FBI tried to use the charges in the atomic-secrets case – especially
the charges against Ethel, who might indeed have been largely
innocent – to get him to talk. Julius refused to give up his fellow
agents. At the Rosenbergs’ trial, Greenglass testified against his
sister and brother-in-law, earning them both convictions. In a
sentencing procedure that involved several irregularities, . . . the
Rosenbergs were both condemned to death. Despite a flurry of
appeals by left-wing sympathizers convinced of the Rosenbergs’
innocence, the couple were sent to the electric chair in New York
on June 19, 1953.
13
Chapter 27: Study Guide
Answer the following questions on a separate sheet of paper.
Section 1
1. How did the U.S. economy and political climate change after WWII?
2. Why were the tensions between the Soviet Union and the United States called a
“Cold War”?
3. How did the fear of communism affect people in the United States?
Section 2
4. What events led up to the Korean War and what was the outcome?
5. How did Senator McCarthy gain and lose political power?
6. How did the United States and the Soviet Union compete with each other?
Section 3
7. How did American life change during the 1950s?
8. What groups were left out of the prosperity of the 1950s? Why?
9. What cultural aspects influenced Americans in the 1950s?
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