8. The Cold War and Beyond

With the advent of the Cold War, foreign policy took an anti-communist direction, against the backdrop of McCarthyism during the 1950s. The decade also brought major civil rights agitation particularly on the part of African Americans. In the 1960s, Kennedy and Johnson expanded government intervention but their domestic legislation was overshadowed by involvement in Vietnam. Watergate in turn overshadowed the cessation of hostilities with Vietnam, as well as the Nixon Presidency, and seriously undermined the faith of the American people in the way the country was governed. The years of Ford and Carter were followed by the emergence of the “New Right”, personified by Ronald Reagan. In 1992, in the aftermath of the LA riots⁷that left 55 dead, Bill Clinton was elected President. He was a “New Democrat”who claimed the era of “big government had ended”, but will be best remembered for being only the second President in U.S. history to be impeached. Like Andrew Johnson before him, he may have survived the trial but the whole affair left a sour taste in the mouths of voters. Atthe beginning of the twenty-first century the U.S. could still be described as an “unfinished nation”, to borrow the title of Alan Brinkley’s excellent book. The U.S. had emerged from the Cold War as the world’s only superpower but the richest 1 per cent of its population held 38 per cent of its wealth, and there were also signs that some of the lessons of the past had not been learned: a movement seeking reparations for the families of former black slaves strove to make its case; the number of black males in prison exceeded the number in higher education; and tens of thousands of neo-confederates continued to call for independence from the control of a federal government which had apparently ceased to represent Southern values; while the election of George W. Bush in 2000 and the repercussions of “9/11” appear to have ushered in a new era for the United States and the wider world.

The United States Emerges as a Global Powerhouse

After World War II, it became apparent that the United States had emerged as the world’s leading economic and military power. The latter position, of course, was challenged by the Soviet Union during the “cold war” period, which lasted from 1947 until the USSR politically disintegrated in 1991. During this period, the two countries challenged one another ideologically, politically, militarily, and in many other ways—including in the race to outer space. Ultimately, in 1991, the Soviet Union and its Communist government collapsed, leaving the United States as the world’s lone powerhouse.

By the end of the 20th century the Cold War had ended, and the United States was riding a wave of unparalleled economic prosperity. But Americans learned at the dawn of the 21st century that they were not immune to the dangers posed by a volatile and turbulent world.

On September 11, 2001, terrorists carried out a devastating attack on the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. It was the first enemy action on American soil since the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941.

The country also faced an economic recession beginning in 2001 in which more than a million jobs were lost. The recession reminded the country that economic good times were not guaranteed to last forever. While new realities spawned new fears, they also revealed reserves of resilience and strength in the national character. Faced with unexpected challenges, a resourceful and increasingly diverse country showed the world that it could not be easily demoralized.

Notes

1. Mongoloid蒙古利亚人种的，有时泛指黄色人种。黄种人大多分布于东亚、东南亚、西伯利亚，亦包括北美洲和南美洲的原住民。

2. Mayflower 五月花号，是1620年英国清教徒去往北美殖民地所乘的船名。

3. Boston Massacre波士顿大屠杀，是1770年3月5日发生在波士顿的英国军队杀死五位平民的事件，导致和激发了英国北美殖民地的叛乱，并最终导致了殖民地独立革命。

4. Boston Tea Party波士顿倾茶事件，是1773年12月16日发生的历史事件，是因北美殖民地革命者抗议英国在北美殖民地增加税收，在马萨诸塞州波士顿倾倒茶叶的事件。该事件也最终导致美国独立战争的爆发。

5. Hugh Brogan休·布罗根，英国历史学家和传记作家，原名Denis Hugh Vercingetorix

Brogan （1936-）。

6. The New Deal即”罗斯福新政”，是指1933年富兰克林·罗斯福就任美国总统后所实行的一系列经济政策，以增加政府对经济直接或间接干预的方式大大缓解了大萧条所带来的经济危机与社会矛盾，其核心是：救济（Relief）、改革（Reform）和复兴（Recovery）。

7. LA riots洛杉矶暴动，也被称作洛杉矶内乱，是指1992年在洛杉矶发生的一系列动乱，其缘由是1992年4月29日陪审团宣判四名使用过当武力殴打交通违规的黑人的警察无罪释放，导致上千名洛杉矶的非洲裔和拉丁裔民众上街抗议，从而引发暴动。

Exercises

I. Fill in the blanks according to the text.

1. For seven decades, archaeologists （scientists who study early peoples） believed that the Americas were settled by ___________ whose pursuit of big-game animals drew them to this vast unsettled land.

2. Inland, throughout the Great Lakes region and Mississippi Valley westward to the Rockies,______________ pursued valuable fur-bearing animals, particularly beavers. ________ lay claim to an area that extended from Florida westward to the Pacific Coast and included much of the interior West.

3. Efforts to raise expeditions that would colonize New England centered in the West Country port of ____________, England.

4. By the middle of the eighteenth century there existed ________________ on the Atlantic seaboard of the North American continent all nominally under British rule.

5. In 1763 ____________ had marched on Philadelphia to demand tax relief and financial support.

6. In April 1775 the first military skirmishes of the War of Independence took place at__________and ____________, persuading undecided colonists to join the radicals.

7. By the terms of ____________ in 1783, Britain granted the U.S. independence covering land from the southern border of Canada to the northern border of Florida, and as far west as the Mississippi.

8. ____________ was re-elected in November 1864 as the candidate of the so-called____________, a loose alliance of Republicans and “War Democrats”.

9. With the advent of ___________, foreign policy took an anti-communist direction, against the backdrop of ______________ during the 1950s.

10. After ___________, it became apparent that the United States had emerged as the world’s leading economic and military power.

II. Define the following terms.

1. New England

2. the Stamp Act of 1765

3. “Common Sense”

4. the Declaration of Independence

5. the “Gilded Age”

III. Questions for discussion.

1. What do the native people of the United States prefer to be called?

2. How did the European settlement exert impact on the native people in North America?

3. By the eighteenth century, why did the United States have the history’s greatest mass migration?

4. What were the certainly differences between North and South that morally implied the system of slavery?

5. What is the significance of American Civil War?