Outline: Government of the USA

federal (national) government: makes + applies laws for all of USA eg. war, peace, foreign relations and trade, currency.

state government makes + applies laws within individual states eg. local taxation, education, and health.

to prevent corruption/abuse of power by politicians, the concept of ‘separation of powers is important

Supreme Court decides if there is a conflict between laws by state and federal government.

The federal government is divided into 3 parts to avoid abuse of power: legislative (laws, declaring war), executive (president + vice), judiciary (supreme court)

President inauguration on 20th January

president is head of state, party leader, chief executive (civil services), commander in chief (army Navy airforce), foreign policy leader, legislative leader (suggest new laws),

Roosevelt- democrat

Truman- democrat

Eisenhower- republican

JFK- democrat

Johnson- democrat

Nixon- republican

Ford- Republican

Carter- Democrat

Reagan- Republican

Containment- containment was Trumans policy of limiting the expansion of communism around the world. the US would use military, economic, and political tools to help achieve containment.

The Marshall plan- the Marshall aid programme was a plan for the economic recovery of Europe, with money from the US govt. The aims were to rebuild Europes economy after WWII (approx 15 billion made available), to promote free trade in Europe and between Europe and the US (benefitting US economy), to encourage European cooperation, so states would work together and resist soviet pressure, prevent the spread of communism to western Europe by reviving its economy. Stalin forced states in the east to refuse the Marshall plan, resulting in their economy taking much longer to recover. Marshall aid demonstrated the US commitment to Europe,

McCarthyism- was the political practice, led by Joseph McCarthy, that aimed to ensure no communist spies were in America, especially in government positions. McCarthy claimed to have a list of over 200 state dept officials who were communists, this provoked fear, and McCarthy accused anyone who challenged him of being communist.

Impact of McCarthyism- many people lost their jobs, politics became more conservative, communism demonised in media, civil liberties suffered (freedom of speech, etc.), peoples privacy violated by FBI, pushed US to be extreme in opposition to communism- making foreign policy more difficult, the US would support corrupt governmentsz as long as they werent communist.

Roles of US President: head of state, party leader, chief executive, commander in chief (of us army and navy seals), foreign policy director, legislative leader (can suggest new laws and approve or deny laws proposed by congress).

US vs. USSR- the US was a free-capitalist market, nearly all businesses were free to produce goods and services and sell to consumers, but the soviets had a communist-state command economy, where the government controlled all businesses, property, and jobs. the US could choose their leader, had freedom of expression, and free media, whereas the soviets had a single party dictatorship, the communist party was the only party allowed, and media was controlled by the media. both sides wanted to access raw materials, markets (for trade) and military allies (to establish military base).

franklin d. Roosevelt- provided leadership in time of crisis, new laws in first 100 days, Congress passed 14 major acts establishing government agencies to deal with different parts of the economy after the 1929 Wall Street crash, new laws part of Roosevelt's New Deal’.

He was criticised from left and right, right claimed he was trying to introduce socialism by putting banks under federal control and price controls, left claimed he was not doing enough. supreme court declared large parts of his recovery plan unconstitutional. resignation of conservative judges meant he could replace them with oneswho agreed with his policies.

FDR expanded power of presidency by taking responsibilities of social and economic concern (eg. social security, minimum wage). passed laws to direct parts of the economy during WWII, and in 1939 FDR set up executive office to coordinate agencies that reported directly to federal govt and president. december 7th, 1941 japan bombs pearl harbour, america enters WWII, FDR dies april 12th 1945 as longest serving president, harry s. truman his vice president takes over.

Harry S. Truman- appointed president because of death of Roosevelt just 3 months into the position, believed in strong honourable leadership, sign on his desk ‘the buck stops here’ meaning he accepted final responsibility for all decisions. had to deal with japan in WWII and how to deal with Stalin. Truman issued secret orders to use the atomic bomb if Japenese failed to surrender.

‘potsdam declaration’ demanded unconditional surrender, warned japan it faced ‘prompt and utter destruction’ if it did not surrender. when the japenese rejected this, truman ordered military to use atomic bomb- August 6th the b-29 enola gray dropped uranium bomb on hiroshima. killing 78,000 instantly and injuring 88,000, exposing 300,000 to radiation.-August 9th, US dropped plutonium bomb on nagasaki, 40.000 died instantly-august 10th- japan surrendered unconditionally.

Truman saw the bomb as a military weapon, and had no doubt it should be used

1945- Truman met Stalin at Potsdam (Germany) to discuss post-war Europe + ending war with japan. Stalin was an experienced ruler, and wanted to turn europe into satellite states of the USSR. Europe split between capitalist + democracy, and communist + totalitarianism. US began to view Stalin as new Hitler (dangerous, agressive dictator)

George Marshall (Trumans secretary of state) began policy of containment in 1947- strong resistance to USSR would stop spread of communism, US initiated containment in 3 phases: Truman plan, Marshall plan, NATO.

containment= long term containment of Russian expansionist policies, eventually forces USSR to live in peace with the west adopted by Truman. this had three pillars, the Truman doctrine, the Marshall plan, and NATO. The Truman doctrine offered US assistance to Greece, when the British could no longer afford to provide aid here, if no aid was provided, Greece would likely fall to communism. the Marshall plan (mentioned above). NATO was a mutual defence alliance, all members agreed to come to the defence of any member attacked, based on military co-operation.

Berlin blockade= 1948- USSR responded to containment by cutting off all traffic to Berlin in east Germany. Truman allowed food, fuel etc be airlifted to Berlin. lasted 11 months before Stalin lifted blockade.

by 1947, 3 news agencies created for military to better respond to threats to w.s security