SUPERPOWER COLD WAR AMBITIONS:

END OF W.W.II
60 MILLION DEAD / 35 MILLION INJURED / 3 MILLION MISSING.
CIVILIAN LOSSES -30 MILLION FROM STARVATION.
(BATTLES / EXTERMINATION).
EUROPEAN LOSSES - 35 MILLION. (1/2 SOVIETS).
1 MILLION+ GERMANS.
1 MILLION POLES.
23 MILLION CHINESE.
2 MILLION JAPANESE. (U.S. & GB ONLY LOST 600,000
COMBINED).
30 MILLION DISLOCATED EUROPEANS.
17 MILLION GERMANS. DRIVEN OUT OF E. EUROPE.
SOVIETS SEND 2 MILLION UNRELIABLE TO SERBIA.
ATLANTIC CHARTER (RUSSIA, U.S., ENGLAND, 8/1941) - NO COUNTRY WILL SEEK TERRITORY BY CONQUEST OR SANCTION BOUNDARY CHANGES AGAINST WISHES OF THOSE INVOLVED.
LATER BECAME PART OF UN CHARTER IN 1945.

U.S. DESIRES:
SPREAD VALUES OF LIBERTY, EQUALITY, DEMOCRACY.
INCREASE NUMBER OF REPRESENTATIVE GOVT.
STABILITY AROUND WORLD.
FILL VACUUM LEFT BY IMPERIALISM W/ WESTERN IDEALS.
MAINTAIN A WORLD FREE OF TRADE BARRIERS.
PROVIDE MARKETS FOR U.S. IMPORTS.

SOVIET DESIRES:
SPREAD IDEALS OF CLASS STRUGGLE.
INCREASE SOVIET CENTRAL GOVT.
SUPPORT REVOLUTIONS AROUND WORLD.
CONTROL TRADE IN SOVIET DOMINATED REGION.
EACH NATIONS THREATENED BY DESIRES OF OTHER.

AT END OF W.W.II.

U.S. STRONG, SECURE.
RUSSIA - FOCUSED ON SECURITY.
EARLY 1800S, NAPOLEON INVADED MOSCOW.
RUSSIA INVADED TWICE IN 1900S. (ALL BY LAND FROM WEST).
RUSSIA AFRAID GER. WOULD RECOVER.
DID NOT WANT UNITED GER. WORLD IN TURMOIL.
EMPIRES DISINTEGRATING.
CIVIL WARS / POWER VACUUMS.
12/1941 - STALIN / RUSSIA WANTED BALTIC STATES
(ESTONIA, LATVIA, LITHUANIA), PARTS OF FINLAND, POLAND, RUMANIA.
U.S. WANTED OPEN WORLD.
2ND FRONT IN EUROPE CONTROVERSY BECAME DIVISIVE.
DIFFERENCES OVERLOOKED DURING WAR.
BALTIC STATES PART OF RUSSIA UNTIL 1917.
FDR BELIEVED HE COULD MANIPULATE STALIN.
(UNREALISTIC).
ANY LEVERAGE ROOSEVELT MIGHT HAVE HAD, DIED W/ HIM IN 1945.
TRUMAN CONTINUED FDR'S FLEXIBLE APPROACH W/ STALIN UNTIL POTSDAM (7/1945).
JAPAN STILL HAD 5 MILLION MEN IN UNIFORM.
BOMB MIGHT PROVE LESS POWERFUL THAN EXPECTED.
MIGHT NEED RUSSIA IN FAR EAST.
2/1945 YALTA CONFERENCE.
4/12/1945 -ROOSEVELT DIED.
TRUMAN PRES. (VP ONLY 3 MOs).
7/1945 POTSDAM CONFERENCE. (ONLY STALIN FROM YALTA.
TRUMAN & CLEMENT ACTLEY (NEW MINISTER OF LABOR, GB,). REPLACE CHURCHILL & ROOSEVELT).
4/1945 SAN FRANCISCO UN CREATED. (SECURITY
COUNCIL - BRITAIN, RUSSIA, U.S., CHINA, & FRANCE).
EACH HAD VETO POWER.
UN BECAME ARENA TO PROJECT EACH COUNTRIES
POLITICS.
BOMB HURT RELATIONSHIP.
DROPPED TO SAVE LIVES.
DROPPED TO IMPRESS / KEEP SOVIETS OUT OF ASIA.
SOVIETS THOUGHT U.S. SHOULD NOT BROADCAST INTO USSR.
NO FREE SPEECH IN USSR / VIOLATION OF LAW / U.S. SHOULD RESPECT LAWS OF USSR.
USSR SHOULD BE ABLE TO BROADCAST INTO U.S. / U.S. HAS FREE SPEECH / NO LAW BROKEN.
USSR WANTS COUNTRIES TO RESPECT EACH OTHERS LAWS.
SOVIETS WANTED SPHERE LIKE U.S.
TRUMAN COMPARES STALIN TO HITLER.
EVERYONE TRIED TO TELL TRUMAN HOW TO DEAL W/ RUSSIA.
AVERELL HARIMAN (U.S. AMBASSADOR TO MOSCOW WANTED HARD LINE.
RUSSIA RAVAGED TWICE IN 25 YRS. BY GER.
WANTED WEAK, DIVIDED GER.
U.S. WANTED REUNIFIED GER.
BELIEVED IN DEMOCRACY.
WANTED TRADE PARTNER.
COLD WAR BEGINS MID-1946 / ENDS 1991.
U.S. - REACTION TO AGGRESSION OF GER. / ITALY / JAPAN HAD BEEN TOO SLOW.
ENCOURAGED FURTHER AGGRESSION.
NEVER MAKE THAT MISTAKE AGAIN.
MUST STAND UP TO RUSSIANS. SOVIET FOREIGN MINISTER VYACHESLAV MOLOTOV
PROTESTED "I HAVE NEVER BEEN TALKED TO LIKE THAT IN MY LIFE".
TRUMAN - "LIVE UP TO YOUR AGREEMENTS AND YOU WONT BE TALKED TO LIKE THAT".
STALIN KEEPS ESTONIA, LATVIA, LITHUANIA, PARTS OF RUMANIA, FINLAND, E.1/2 OF POLAND.
STALIN ANNEXES PART OF CZECHOSLOVAKIA / N. 1/2 OF E. PRUSSIA. (ALL SOVIET BORDERS MOVED
WESTWARD).
5/1945 TRUMAN CUT OFF LEND-LEASE SUPPLIES TO
ALLIES.
HURT SOVIETS MOST.
WAR IN PACIFIC STILL GOING ON.
SOVIETS TO HELP U.S.
SOVIETS FURIOUS.
TRUMAN REINSTATES LEND/LEASE.
U.S. DECIDES REUNIFIED W. GER. IMPORTANT TO STRONG EUROPE, INTERNATIONAL TRADE.
GER. DIVIDED INTO 4 OCCUPATION ZONES. (FRENCH / BRITISH / U.S. / RUSSIAN).
(ALL WOULD REMAIN UNTIL GER. NO LONGER
AGGRESSIVE).
OCCUPYING FORCES WOULD THEN WITHDRAW. (3 TO 5 YRS.).
DURING W.W.II - WESTERN ALLIES AGREED TO ALLOW SOVIETS TO CAPTURE BERLIN. (ALL BERLIN BEHIND SOVIET LINES).
US. INSISTED ON SHARING OCCUPATION OF BERLIN.
SOVIETS CONTROLLED ALL ENTRY / EXIT POINTS. (RAILROADS. / ROADS / AIR CORRIDORS).
JAPAN RESTRICTED TO 4 HOME ISLANDS. (US. - SOLE RULER).
SOVIETS RECEIVE 1/2 OF SAKHALIN ISLE. / KURILE ISLES. -
RAILROADS. & SEAPORTS IN MANCHURIA.
CHINA REGAINED TAIWAN (FORMOSA)
KOREA DIVIDED - OCCUPIED BY SOVIETS NORTH OF 38TH PARALLEL. US. SOUTH OF 38TH PARALLEL.
1946 - WINSTON CHURCHILL’S IRON CURTAIN SPEECH.
FULTON MO. - FROM THE STETTIN IN THE BALTIC TO TRIESTE IN THE ADRIATIC, AN IRON CURTAIN HAS DESCENDED ACROSS THE CONTINENT. (URGED CONTAINMENT OF COMMUNISM.
1ST WESTERN DECLARATION OF COLD WAR.
1946 - IRAN CRISIS - SOVIET SPONSORED UPRISING.
1/1946 - GEO. KINNAN - CHARGE D’AFFAIRS TO US.
EMBASSY IN SOVIET UNION.
RUSSIAN INSECURITY.
NEED TO CONTAIN COMMUNISM.
1947 - MR. X ARTICLE - EXPANDED CONTAINMENT.
CONTAINMENT - CORNERSTONE OF US. FOREIGN POLICY.
1947 - TRUMAN DOCTRINE - ECONOMIC AID FOR GREECE / TURKEY.
SOVIETS PRESSURE TURKEY FOR CONTROL OF
DARDANELLES. (PASSAGE BETWEEN BLACK SEA & MED.).
GREECE IN CIVIL WAR. SOVIET SPONSORED
REVOLUTIONARIES).
BRITISH CAN NOT AFFORD TO DEFEND TURKEY / GREECE.
BRITAIN GIVES LEADERSHIP OF FREE WORLD TO US.
US. TO PROVIDE MONEY / MIL. AID TO FREE PEOPLES RESISTING SUBJUGATION BY ARMED MINORITIES / OUTSIDE PRESSURES.
SOVIET REACTION TO TRUMAN DOCTRINE / MARSHALL PLAN - TIGHTEN GRIP ON E. EUROPE.
1947-1948 - COMMUNISTS TAKE OVER ALL HUNGARY / CZECHOSLOVAKIA.
1947 - TRUMAN’S FEDERAL GOVERNMENT. LOYALTY
PROGRAM - LIMIT SUBVERSION IN GOVT.
1947 - HUAC - HOUSE un-American ACTIVITIES COMMITTEE.
(INVESTIGATION OF MOVIE INDUSTRY).
EXPOSE COMMUNIST.
6/1947 - MARSHALL PLAN - ASKED ALL TROUBLED
EUROPEAN COUNTRIES TO PROVIDE LIST OF NEEDS TO REBUILD COUNTRIES. (CREATE US. MARKETS / SPREAD IDEALISM / STOP COMMUNISM.
1948-1949 - W. GERMANY SET UP NEW GOVT.
CREATED DEMOCRATIC CONSTITUTION.
CREATED NEW UNITED NATION.
(FED. REPUBLIC OF GERMANY - CAPITAL - BONN).
INCREASED HOSTILITIES FROM SOVIETS.
6/1948 - SOVIETS ANNOUNCED CLOSING OF RAILROADS. / ROADS FOR REPAIR.
WESTERN GOVERNMENTS BEGAN BERLIN AIRLIFT.
LASTED 300 DAYS / ENDED 5/1949.
SOVIETS CONCEDED DEFEAT.
REOPENED ROADS / RAILROADS.
1948 - ISRAEL CREATED BY UNITED NATIONS.
(SPONSORED BY GREAT BRITAIN).
1948 - TRUMAN REELECTED OVER DEWEY.
SURPRISE / TRUMAN WENT TO BED BELIEVING THAT HE LOST.
1949 - NATO CREATED.
MILITARY ALLIANCE AGAINST SOVIET ATTACK.
8/1949 - RUSSIA TEST ATOMIC BOMB.
AMER. NUCLEAR MONOPOLY FINISHED.
1949 - MAO ZEDONG (TSE TUNG) COMMUNIST VICTORY IN CHINA.
CHAING KAI-SHEK FLEES TO FORMOSA (TAIWAN).
US. SHOCKED AT RAPID SPREAD OF WORLD-WIDE
COMMUNISM.
1950 - ALGER HISS CONVICTED - PROVED COMMUNIST THREAT AT HOME.
2/1950 - JOSEPH MCCARTHY - ANTI-COMMUNIST
CAMPAIGN.
BEGINS IN WHEELING W. VIRGINIA - WOMEN’S CLUB.
ANNOUNCES 205 KNOWN COMMUNIST IN STATE
DEPARTMENT.
REDUCED TO 57.
NEVER PROVED ANYTHING.
1950 - NSC-68 - CALLED FOR VIGILANCE.
INCREASED SPENDING TO COUNTER COMMUNISM.
LOSS OF CHINA BLAMED ON TRUMAN.
US. IN SHOCK.
1950-1953 - KOREAN WAR -
6/25/1950 - N. KOREA INVADES S. KOREA.
KOREAN PENINSULA.
UNITED STATES / 19 OTHER NATIONS.
BY-PRODUCTS OF COLD WAR.
UN POLICE ACTION AGAINST COMMUNIST AGGRESSION.
NO DECLARATION OF WAR.
NORTH KOREAN ARMY - EQUIPPED BY SOVIET UNION.
INVADED SOUTH KOREA.
NORTH KOREA AIDED BY CHINA / SOVIET UNION.
6/27/1950 - UN SECURITY COUNCIL - SOVIET DELEGATE ABSENT.
MILITARY SANCTIONS AGAINST NORTH KOREA.
MEMBER STATES TO AID REPUBLIC OF KOREA.
TRUMAN ORDERED AMERICAN MILITARY INTO ACTION.
COMMANDER IN CHIEF IN THE FAR EAST - GENERAL DOUGLAS MACARTHUR.
6/28/1950 - SEOUL - (CAPITAL) FELL TO COMMUNISTS. (3 DAYS AFTER WAR BEGAN).
UN ARMY MADE AMPHIBIOUS LANDING AT INCH'ÒN.
10/19/1950 - UN FORCES CROSSED 38TH PARALLEL.
CAPTURED N. KOREAN CAPITAL (P'YÒNGYANG).
ADVANCED TO YALU RIVER.
CHINESE CROSSED YALU / ENGAGED UN ARMY.
11/24/1950 - MACARTHUR ORDERED SO-CALLED
END-THE-WAR OFFENSIVE.
MASSIVE CHINESE COUNTEROFFENSIVE.
UN TROOPS - OVEREXTENDED / OUTNUMBERED /
ILL-EQUIPPED.
ENEMY FRESH / BITTER NORTH KOREAN WINTER.
12/5/1950 - COMMUNISTS REOCCUPIED P'YÒNGYANG.
COMMUNISTS ATTACKED INTO SOUTH KOREA.
1/4/1951 - COMMUNISTS RECAPTURED SEOUL.
3/14/1951 - SEOUL FELL TO UN AGAIN.
APRIL 22 - UN FORCES OCCUPIED NORTH OF 38TH
PARALLEL . (STATIONARY FOR REST OF WAR).
AIR POWER - KEY ROLE IN WAR.
FIRST SUPERSONIC JET AIRCRAFT.
UN. AIRCRAFT - SUPPORTED GROUND FORCES /
DESTROYED CHINESE SUPPLY LINES / CRIPPLED NORTH KOREAN AIRFIELDS.
BOMBED AIR BASE IN SOVIET UNION.
AT START OF WAR - U.S. FIFTH AIR FORCE STILL EQUIPPED W/F-51 MUSTANG / B-26 INVADER.
11/9/1950 - 1ST JET-AGAINST-JET ENGAGEMENT. (F-80 DESTROYED A COMMUNIST JET FIGHTER).
SOVIET MIG-15 USED BY CHINESE AIR FORCE. (SUPERIOR IN SPEED / ALTITUDE TO AMERICAN JETS).
U.S. RESPONDED WITH F-86 SABRE.
MIG-SABRE CONFRONTATIONS INCREASED FROM 1951.
LARGE-SCALE AIR BATTLES - OVER MIG ALLEY IN
NORTHWEST KOREA.
RESULTS - 58 SABRES LOST / 800 MIG'S. (BY END OF WAR).
UN PLANES DESTROYED 75% OF ENEMY TANKS / 39,000
ENEMY DEAD.
WAR - NEW DIMENSION / UN BOMBERS - CHALLENGED BY SOVIET-BUILT JETS FROM MANCHURIA.
MACARTHUR CONCLUDED - MUST HIT COMMUNIST
BASES IN MANCHURIA / BLOCKADE CHINESE PORTS / REINFORCE NATIONALIST CHINESE FROM TAIWAN.
MACARTHUR'S STRATEGY - RISKED WAR W/CHINA / SOVIET UNION. (CONFLICTED W/TRUMAN’S / JOINT
CHIEFS POLICIES).
4/11/1951 - TRUMAN RELIEVED MACARTHUR OF
COMMAND / SUCCEEDED BY LIEUTENANT GENERAL MATTHEW RIDGWAY.
MAXIMUM LOSS OF ENEMY ON FIXED BATTLE FRONT.
COULD NOT DRIVE CHINESE / N. KOREANS BACK.
STALEMATE - COMMUNISTS UNABLE TO FORCE UN. FROM KOREA.
UN UNWILLING TO DRIVE ENEMY INTO MANCHURIA.
UN. AIR FORCE - COMMAND OF SKIES.
DEVASTATED N. KOREAN SUPPLY BASES / RAILROADS / BRIDGES / HYDROELECTRIC PLANTS / INDUSTRIAL CENTERS.
COMMUNISTS - ATROCITIES OF CAPTURED UN.
PERSONNEL.
6/1951 - SOVIETS PROPOSED CEASE-FIRE TALKS.
7/10/1951 - UN / COMMUNIST BEGAN TRUCE
NEGOTIATIONS AT KAESÒNG / NORTH KOREA.
NEGOTIATIONS LASTED 2+ YEARS.
ATMOSPHERE - SUSPICION / RECRIMINATION.
CHIEF OBSTACLE - POWS SHOULD NOT BE RETURNED AGAINST THEIR WILL.
10/1952 - NEGOTIATIONS BROKE DOWN.
4/1953 - NEGOTIATIONS RESUMED.
7/1953 - TRUCE AGREEMENT SIGNED AT P'ANMUNJÒM.
WAR TERMINATED AFTER 3+ YEARS.
US. - 157,530 CASUALTIES.
DEATHS - ALL CAUSES - 33,629. (23,300 OCCURRED IN COMBAT).
S. KOREA - 1,312,836 MILITARY CASUALTIES.
415,004 DEAD.
COMMUNIST CASUALTIES - 2 MILLION.
IKE THREATENED TO USE ATOMIC BOMB.
FINAL DISPUTE - RETURN OF N. KOREAN POWs. (THEY DID NOT WANT TO RETURN TO N. KOREA).
PROBLEM SOLVED W/SUDDEN ESCAPE / N. KOREANS FURIOUS.
1950 - TRUMAN AUTHORIZED DEVELOPMENT OF
HYDROGEN BOMB.
1952 - MCCARTHY HEADS SENATE PERMANENT
INVESTIGATION SUBCOMMITTEE.
3/1953 - STALIN DIES - NIKITA KHRUSHCHEV TAKES OVER. (CRUDE / RUDE).
1953 - SOVIETS CRUSH E. GERMAN ANTI-SOVIET
DEMONSTRATION. (US. DOES NOTHING).
1953 - US. TEST 1ST NUCLEAR WEAPON.
USE THREATENED ON N. KOREA.
1953 - CIA RETURNS SHAH OF IRAN TO POWER IN
MILITARY COUP.
1953 - KOREAN ARMISTICE - LITTLE CHANGE AFTER
YEARS OF BITTER FIGHTING.
1954 - VIETNAMESE COMMUNIST VICTORY OVER FRENCH AT DIEN BIEN PHU.
FORE-TOLD FUTURE OF US. EFFORTS TO STOP
COMMUNISM IN E. ASIA.
1954 - ARMY-MCCARTHY HEARINGS - END MCCARTHY CAREER. (DIED FEW MONTHS LATER).
1954 - GENEVA CONVENTION - FRENCH THROW IN THE TOWEL.
1954 - CIA HELPS OVERTURN GUATEMALAN
GOVERNMENT.
1956 - SUEZ INCIDENT.
1956 - SOVIETS CRUSH HUNGARIAN FREEDOM FIGHTERS. (US. DOES NOTHING).
1956 - IKE REELECTED.
1957 - SOVIETS LAUNCH SPUTNIK SATELLITE.
1958 - US. TROOPS SENT TO PROP UP LEBANESE GOVT.
1959 - CASTRO THROWS OUT BATISTA GOVT. IN CUBA.
1960 - U2 INCIDENT.
8/1961 - BERLIN WALL GOES UP.
62 MILES LONG / 12 FT. HIGH. LASTED 28 YRS.
9/1989 - WALL STARTED COMING DOWN.

The Cold War, 1945-1952
University of Washington, Seattle: Students and Faculty Face the Cold War. In May 1948, a philosophy professor at the University of Washington in Seattle answered a knock on his office door. Two state legislators, members of the state's Committee on Un-American Activities, entered. "Our information," they charged, "puts you in the center of a communist conspiracy." The accused professor, Melvin Rader, had never been a communist. A self -described liberal, Rader drew fire because he had joined several organizations supported by communists. During the 1930s, in response to the rise of Nazism and fascism, Rader had become a prominent political activist in his community. At one point he served as president of the University of Washington Teacher's Union, which had formed during the upsurge of labor organizing during the New Deal. When invited to join the Communist Party, Rader totally refused. "The experience of teaching social philosophy had clarified my concepts of freedom and democracy," he later explained, "I was an American in search of a way--but it was not the communist way." Despite this disavowal, Rader was caught up in a Red Scare that curtailed free speech and political activity on campuses throughout the United States. At some universities, such as Yale, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) set up camp with the consent of the college administration, spying on students and faculty, screening credentials of job or scholarship applicants, and seeking to entice students to report on their friends or roommates. The University of Washington administration turned down the recommendation of the Physics Department to hire J. Robert Oppenheimer because the famed atomic scientist had become a vocal opponent of the arms race and the proliferation of nuclear weapons.
Although one state legislator claimed that "not less than 150 members" of the University of Washington faculty were subversives, the state's Committee on UN -American Activities turned up just six members of the Communist Party. These six were brought up before the university's
Faculty Committee on Tenure and Academic Freedom, charged with violations ranging from neglect of duty to failing to inform the university administration of their party membership. Three were ultimately dismissed, while the other three were placed on probation. What had
provoked this paranoia? Instead of peace, a pattern of cold war--icy relations between the two superpowers--prevailed. Uneasy allies during World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union now viewed each other as archenemies, and nearly all other nations lined up on one side or the other. Within the United States, the cold war demanded pledges of absolute loyalty from citizens in every institution, from the university to
trade unions and from the mass media to government itself. If not for the outbreak of the cold war, this era would have marked one of the most fruitful in the history of higher education. The Servicemen's Readjustment
Act, popularly known as the GI Bill of Rights, passed by Congress in 1944, offered stipends covering tuition and living expenses to veterans attending vocational schools or college. By the 1947-48 academic year, the federal government was subsidizing nearly half of all male college students. Between 1945 and 1950, 2.3 million students benefited from the GI Bill, at a cost of more than $10 billion. At the University of Washington the student population in 1946 had grown by 50 percent over its prewar peak of 10,000, and veterans represented fully two -thirds of the student body. A quickly expanded faculty taught into the evening to use classroom space efficiently. Meanwhile, the state legislature pumped in funds for the construction of new buildings, including dormitories and prefabricated units for married students.
According to many observers, a feeling of community flourished among these war -weary undergraduates. Often the first in their families to attend college, they joined fellow students in campaigns to improve the
campus. Married, often fathers of young children, they expected university administrators to treat them as adults. They wanted less supervision of undergraduate social life, more affordable housing, and better cultural opportunities. On some campuses, film societies and
student-run cooperatives vied with fraternities and sororities as centers of undergraduate social activity. The cold war put a damper on these community-building efforts. FBI director J. Edgar Hoover testified that the college campuses were centers of "red propaganda," full of teachers "tearing down respect for agencies of government, belittling tradition and moral custom and . . . creating doubts in the validity of the American way of life." Due to communistic teachers and "communist-line
textbooks," a senator lamented, thousands of parents sent "their sons and daughters to college as good Americans," only to see them return home "four years later as wild-eyed radicals." These wild charges were never substantiated, but conservatives who had long regarded the campus as a center of homosexuality and atheism leaped at the opportunity presented by the cold war to take revenge on their enemies. Several states, including Washington, enacted or revived "loyalty acts," obligating all state employees to swear in writing their loyalty to the
United States and to disclaim membership in any subversive
organization. Nationwide, approximately 200 faculty members were dismissed outright and many others were denied tenure. Thousands of students simply left school, dropped out of organizations, or changed friends after "visits" from FBI agents or interviews with administrators.
The main effect on campus was the restraint of free speech generally and fear of criticizing U.S. racial, military, or diplomatic policies in particular. This gloomy mood reversed the wave of optimism that swept Americans
only a few years earlier. V-J Day, marking Victory over Japan, had erupted into a two-day national holiday of wild celebrations, complete with ticker-tape parades, spontaneous dancing, and kisses for returned GIs. Americans, living in the richest and most powerful nation in the world, finally seemed to have gained the peace they had fought and sacrificed to win. But peace proved fragile and elusive.