Editing History of the United States (section)

===Economic boom and the beginning of the Cold War===
==== Truman administration ====
{{Main|Presidency of Harry S. Truman|Cold War (1947-1953)}}
In the decades after [[World War II]], the United States became a global influence in economic, political, military, cultural, and technological affairs. Following World War II, the United States emerged as one of the two dominant superpowers, the [[Soviet Union]] being the other. The U.S. Senate approved U.S. participation in the [[United Nations]] (UN), which marked a turn away from traditional [[American isolationism]] and toward increased international involvement.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Getchell |first=Michelle |date=October 26, 2017 |title=The United Nations and the United States |url=https://oxfordre.com/americanhistory/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780199329175.001.0001/acrefore-9780199329175-e-497 |access-date=September 24, 2022 |website=Oxford Research Encyclopedia of American History |language=en |doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780199329175.013.497 |isbn=978-0-19-932917-5}}</ref> The United States and other major Allied powers became the foundation of the [[UN Security Council]].{{Sfn|Gaddis, Origins of the Cold War}} The [[Central Intelligence Agency]] (CIA) was created in 1947.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-07-19 |title=Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) {{!}} History, Organization, Responsibilities, Activities, & Criticism {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Central-Intelligence-Agency |access-date=2024-07-21 |website=britannica.com |language=en}}</ref>

[[File:Marshall Plan poster.JPG|alt=Marshall Plan poster|thumb|One of a number of posters created by the [[Economic Cooperation Administration]], an agency of the [[Federal government of the United States|U.S. government]], to sell the [[Marshall Plan]] in Europe following the end of [[World War II]]]]

The U.S. wished to rescue Europe from the devastation of World War II, and to contain the expansion of [[communism]], represented by the Soviet Union. U.S. foreign policy during the Cold War was built around the support of Western Europe and Japan along with the policy of [[containment]] (containing the spread of communism).<ref name=":25">{{Cite book |last=Blakeley |first=Ruth |url=https://archive.org/details/stateterrorismne00blak |title=State Terrorism and Neoliberalism: The North in the South |year=2009 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=978-0415686174 |page=[https://archive.org/details/stateterrorismne00blak/page/n104 92] |url-access=limited}}</ref> The [[Truman Doctrine]] in 1947 was the U.S.' attempt to secure trading partners in Europe, by providing military and economic aid to Greece and Turkey to counteract the threat of communist expansion in the Balkans.<ref>{{Cite web |date=March 23, 2022 |title=What was the Cold War—and are we headed to another one? |url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/cold-war |access-date=2024-06-08 |website=Culture |language=en}}</ref>{{Sfn|Gaddis, Long Peace}} In 1948, the United States replaced piecemeal financial aid programs with a comprehensive [[Marshall Plan]], which pumped money into Western Europe, and removed trade barriers, while modernizing the managerial practices of businesses and governments.{{Sfn|Gaddis, Cold War}} Post-war American aid to Europe totaled $25 billion, out of the U.S. GDP of $258&nbsp;billion in 1948.{{Sfn|Gaddis, Cold War}}

In 1949, the United States, rejecting the long-standing policy of no military alliances in peacetime, formed the [[North Atlantic Treaty Organization]] (NATO) alliance. In response, the Soviets formed the [[Warsaw Pact]] of communist states, leading to the "[[Iron Curtain]]".{{Sfn|Gaddis, Cold War}} In 1949, the Soviets performed their [[RDS-1|first nuclear weapon test]].{{Sfn|Gaddis, Long Peace}} This escalated the risk of nuclear warfare; the threat of [[mutually assured destruction]], however, prevented both powers from nuclear war, and resulted the proxy wars in which the two sides did not directly confront each other.{{Sfn|Gaddis, Long Peace}}

The U.S. fought against communists in the [[Korean War]] and [[Vietnam War]], and [[United States involvement in regime change#1945–1991: Cold War|toppled left-wing governments in the third world]] to try to stop its spread, such as [[1953 Iranian coup d'état|Iran in 1953]] and [[1954 Guatemalan coup d'état|Guatemala in 1954]].<ref name=":25" /> [[McCarthyism]] was a widespread government program led by Senator [[Joseph McCarthy]] to expose communists in government and business. Hollywood was targeted by the [[House Un-American Activities Committee]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=McCarthyism - Definition, History, & Facts |url=https://www.britannica.com/event/McCarthyism |access-date=2024-06-08 |website=Britannica.com |language=en}}</ref> Gay people were targeted under the McCarthyist [[Lavender Scare]].<ref>{{Cite magazine |last1=Haynes |first1=Suyin |last2=Aneja |first2=Arpita |date=December 22, 2020 |title=The Anti-Gay 'Lavender Scare' Is Rarely Taught in Schools |url=https://time.com/5922679/lavender-scare-history/ |access-date=August 14, 2024 |magazine=TIME |language=en}}</ref>

==== Eisenhower administration ====
{{Main|Presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower|Cold War (1953–1962)}}
[[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] was [[1952 United States presidential election|elected president]] in 1952 in a landslide.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hitchcock |first=William I. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MImCDwAAQBAJ&pg=PP16 |title=The Age of Eisenhower: America and the World in the 1950s |year=2018 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn=9781451698428 |pages=xvi–xix}}</ref> He ended the Korean War, and avoided any other major conflict. He cut military spending by relying on advanced technology, such as nuclear weapons carried by [[long-range bomber]]s and [[intercontinental missile]]s.<ref name=":14">{{Cite book |last=Hitchcock |first=William I. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MImCDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA109 |title=The Age of Eisenhower |year=2018 |isbn=9781451698428 |page=109 |publisher=Simon & Schuster}}</ref> After [[Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin|Stalin died in 1953]], Eisenhower worked to obtain friendlier relationships with the Soviet Union. At home, he ended McCarthyism, expanded the Social Security program, and presided over a decade of bipartisan cooperation.<ref name=":14" />

Domestically, after 1948, America entered an [[Post–World War II economic expansion|economic boom]]: 60% of the American population had attained a "middle-class" standard of living by the mid-1950s, compared with only 31% in the 1928 and 1929. Between 1947 and 1960, the average real income for American workers increased by as much as it had in the previous half-century.<ref name="ReferenceC">The Unfinished Journey: America Since World War II by William H. Chafe</ref> The economy allowed for an affordable lifestyle with large families; this created the [[baby boom]], in which millions of children were born at increased rates from 1945 to 1964.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-05-27 |title=Baby boomer - Definition, Age Range, & Societal and Economic Impact |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/baby-boomers |access-date=2024-06-08 |website=Britannica.com |language=en}}</ref> Many Americans [[Suburbanization|moved into suburban neighborhoods]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Peters |first=Frederick |date=August 14, 2019 |title=The Rise And Fall Of The Suburbs |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/fredpeters/2019/08/14/the-rise-and-fall-of-the-suburbs/ |access-date=June 7, 2024 |website=Forbes}}</ref>

[[File:Operation Arkansas, Little Rock Nine.jpg|thumb|The [[101st Airborne Division]] escorting the [[Little Rock Nine]] into [[Little Rock Central High School]] in September 1957]]
In 1954, the Supreme Court ruled on ''[[Brown v. Board of Education]]'', finding public school segregation unconstitutional.<ref name=":26">{{Cite web |title=American civil rights movement - Montgomery Bus Boycott, Nonviolent Resistance, Voting Rights Act |url=https://www.britannica.com/event/American-civil-rights-movement/Montgomery-bus-boycott-to-the-Voting-Rights-Act |access-date=2024-06-08 |website=Britannica.com |language=en}}</ref> When [[Little Rock Nine|nine Black students]] were threatened over their admission into all-white [[Little Rock Central High School]], Eisenhower sent in a thousand National Guard troops to ensure peace.<ref name=":14" /> Starting in the late 1950s, institutionalized [[Racism in the United States|racism across the United States]], but especially in the [[Southern United States|South]], was increasingly challenged by the growing [[civil rights movement]]. The activism of [[Rosa Parks]] and [[Martin Luther King Jr.]] led to the [[Montgomery bus boycott|boycott of segregated public buses]] in [[Montgomery, Alabama|Montgomery]], Alabama in 1955, organized by King and the [[Montgomery Improvement Association]]. They faced multiple acts of violence, but continued the boycott for a year, until the Supreme Court ordered the city to desegregate the buses.<ref name=":26" />

The Soviets unexpectedly surpassed American technology in 1957 with [[Sputnik]], the first Earth satellite. The [[R-7 Semyorka|R-7 missile]] which launched Sputnik into space could have hypothetically dropped a nuclear bomb into U.S. air space [[High-altitude nuclear explosion|from above]]; new American fears regarding Soviet power began the [[Space Race]], a competition between the two countries to prove their technological superiority through space exploration. In 1958, Eisenhower created the [[National Aeronautics and Space Administration]] (NASA) for this purpose. Angst about the weaknesses of American education led to large-scale federal support for [[Science education#United States|science education]] and research.{{Sfn|Patterson, Grand Expectations}}