Cold War’s impact on U.S Civil Rights Movement
Topic: Cold War Help Or Hinder U.S Civil Rights During 1945-1965?
The cold war was indeed a period of legislative and diplomatic conflict between both the United States and the Soviet Union, as well as their sympathizers. During the cold war, both nations actually did not go into war openly, although they did back opposing sides in important local battles such as in Korea, Afghanistan, and Vietnam. The U.S.A had been a capitalist nation that was rooted in the liberation and freedom of its citizens, whereas the Soviet Union was a country that was communist in its belief and engaged in governance through authoritative powers. Alongside, the civil rights movement was a social movement in the U.S.A In the years between the 1950s and the 1960s that aimed to eradicate racial discrimination and prejudice prevalent in the country to enable African Americans to have equal human rights . African Americans in the United States did not have the same rights as the other citizens of the country and its events act as a reminder of their struggle and their agony the central aim of this movement was to put a stop to the Legal basis for discrimination and segregation pertaining to race and the eventual fight to enable this ruling . Apart from this goal, it was also a social event that had spread wide and touched each and every aspect of American life for the people of all races in the country.
The meeting of the Cold War and America’s ambitions for world dominance, the civil rights era in the United States, and Africa’s emancipation was a watershed event. It resulted in a counterintuitive deviation among domestic and international guidelines for Thomas Bertelsmann; whereas the Johnson presidency was credited with a passing milestone civil rights & right to vote legislative action, its hedonistic strategy forward into restrictive white minority authorities in southern Africa laid the groundwork for significant US capital assets in those post-colonial civilizations. The failure of Vietnam weighs prominently in the judgment of LBJ’s s strategy, but the civil and human rights period has also seen the and most other American troops subvert African nationalist ambitions . Following the example of civil rights advocates like Robert F. Kennedy, Following in the footsteps of civil rights activists like Robert Moses, who connected this same consequence of black liberation in the United States with opponents to the Vietnam War, we must contribute not only to the compromises of those who risked prison, bashings, and fatality in civil and human rights difficulties at home, as well as the disastrous effects and consequences of African and Asian victims of aerial bombardment, low impact military interventions and clandestine ops of US foreign affairs. The Double V promotion demonstrated how the cause reacted to or was affected by international development throughout World War II. As increasingly sovereign countries arose under European colonial authority in Asia and Africa, African American civil liberties activists and groups metaphorically tied their struggle to the global impetus of colonialism. However, the wartime globe, and also the destinies of emerging Asian and African countries and thus the civil rights era, were more entangled in the Cold War battle between both the United States and the Soviet Union. This campaign’s discourse was influenced by the Cold War in more ways than one. The Cold War constrained the multitude of choices for community engagement by suffocating internal critique and opposition, limiting the campaign’s aims to official civic engagement equality. Despite the fact that the Protest called for employment as well as liberty, the campaign’s objectives remained solely focused on securing legislative measures prohibiting race segregation in policy & politics. Again, for the civil rights movement, this same Cold War had a dual meaning. The Supreme Court’s unequivocal verdict in Brown, which declared discrimination was unequal and illegal, established the Cold War concept that racism at home has been a major element of US international policy. However, white supremacists may have and would use anti-communism reactionary tactics throughout the Cold War to undermine the organization and its officials. Regarding increasing dependence upon that national govt as a partner in enacting the voting rights act. With Us international relations and the expanding US warfare in Vietnam, King as well as other leaders of major civil rights organizations kept a low profile. After achieving the difficult constitutional wins of the human liberties as well as voting power laws in 1967, King went forth to rebuild the country. The reality of the civil rights movement was being watched across the globe and by so many people in that period guaranteed that the U.s citizens who were usually hesitant U.s politicians had to respond to the increasing needs and demands of the black liberation struggle during the American civil rights movement, that encompassed the Administration of Truman. Eisenhower and also Kennedy . After World War II, the veterans returned to their homeland, while the whites received jobs, education, and homes to live in. The basic expectation of African Americans was butchered. The African Americans were found to be the victim of racial segregation and they were laid off from their job, providing the same to the white veterans that came back from the war. During World War II, any events that will ruin the image of America were seen as a threat to the existent world peace. Even the citizen of European or white men realized the incongruity in the equality being served to Africans in respect to the Americans who served in battalions and as war forces. One of the important events in history is the Cold War which is responsible for shaping foreign policy, politics, ideologies, economy affecting the lives of the American people. The cold war began after World War II, China embraced communism, USSR became influential all-over Eastern Europe, and a senator named Joseph McCarthy asserted that American Government had been infiltered by a communist agent. In late 1910, the Cold war took place when America encountered the Red Scare. By the completion of World War II, a more comprehensive and organized movement for civil rights came into existence. The civil rights movement grew rapidly in support and size in the shadow of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which considered discrimination an illegal practice. Many instances prove that the cold war helps U.S Civil Rights during the period 1945-to 1965. On the verge of the cold war, African Americans were struggling to receive equal treatment in the United States as white men. During World War II, Americans and African Americans in unison protested against the prevalent racism and discrimination in the U.S 11. During the period of 1950s and early 1960s, Martin Luther King. Jr came out as a chief figure of the Civil Rights movement. The King managed to arrange boycotts, protest rallies, marches, and sit-ins. The Civil rights movement in 1964 and 1965 was successful with the implementation of the federal government laws on the Act of Civil rights and Voting Rights 12. Throughout the twenties and thirties, the suspicion of the Soviet Union remained constant increasing the brutal regime of Josef Stalin. World War II triggered the social change. American lives were transformed due to services and work in the wartime industry and armed forces along with the concept of democracy and civil rights. The migration of the Black to the North, where the availability of the right to vote encouraged both the parties, Democratic and republican to seek African American supporters. Since the reconstruction era, at the federal level, the changes made in public policy initiated the termination of racial segregation and the emergence of a new issue, civil rights. The soldiers and sailors in the military units came from different nations, across the globe; however, minorities were still constricted to racially discriminated occupations or commands. Women received post-war employment as for the very first time millions of mothers and women were advised to go outside their homes and work. 65,000 Indians provided services in the armed forces leaving their opportunity to work in wartime industries. In 1941, the African Americans cried for ending segregation based on racial differences and getting an equal chance at jobs from the Government. Then-President Roosevelt banned discrimination against African Americans in defense industries. Roosevelt also formed an association named Federal Employment Practices Committee (FEPC); for assuring compliance with practices of racial discrimination and migrants in the north received work. FEPC has registered the first legal case focused on issues of civil rights relevant to employment opportunities for Hispanics as they were considered “aliens” and restricted from gaining employment in war industries 16. Even though the discrimination was removed in the war industries, African Americans still faced discrimination in their homeland. Almost 110,000 descendants of Japan from Oregon, California, and Washington were sent to intermittent camps based on the executive order which mentioned the removal of civilians from the area of the military but this was specifically applied only to Japanese Americans. In 1943, during the Zoot Suit Riot, a Hispanic teenager was attacked by white servicemen in Los Angeles. China also raised its voice against America’s deep-rooted racism against the Chinese, all the events together abolished the racial ideology of Americans in immigration policies. American Indians also suffered from discrimination based on the unrealistic perception of Americans about Indian Americans being illiterate, non-taxation, the status of wardship, and residency. During the era of World War II, the social pressure to put an end to discrimination and segregation also increased. In 1947, Supreme Court initiated ways for the development of the Second Reconstruction, by 1948, Truman executed an order, making equality and equal opportunity a mandate for the ones who are serving the defense of the nation irrespective of race, culture, religion, national origin. The events that occurred during the postwar period are from 1945-to 1948, the United States has founded the United Nations with an objective to follow peace, freedom, and rebuilding the war-torn European nation by funding to keep soviet communism away. In 1954, the Supreme court ordered and put an end to segregated education. Representative Powell appeared as a foreign innovator and had an influential effect on foreign policy debate held in congress, initiating the removal of the public perceptions of racism. A “Second Society” came into existence in the Soviet Union to deal with the social and political cause inclusive of the protection of human rights. With the end of the cold war, there has been an increase in the hope to protect human rights and existing issues in the community to be resolved with prior urgency and importance. The optimism from World War II has ushered in opportunities for the expansion of benefits in terms of human rights in the nation. Many high-level historians and politicians got engaged in bringing human rights to the nation and Cold War marked the beginning to bring positive change in US society.
Conclusion
The term that keeps cropping up is a modification of “ashamed” with an implication that the US was “ashamed” by its racial policies throughout World War II and the Cold War. For more than 3 decades, sociological, political theorists, and academics have blamed humiliation for the global influence on American civil rights, especially those that use materialistic or systemic theories. As they felt ashamed politicians and the elite citizens tried to solve the issue of racial justice. While that might be valid on an interpersonal basis, that is not the entire picture. The relationship between both the civil rights movements and the cold war in several American recent studies is relatively a new area of study and several historians are researching this topic, yet there are several instances that show the influence the cold war had upon the civil rights movement in developing and strengthening the movement while the United States fought for racing ahead of the Soviet Union and being superior.
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