Page 22 - 1983 Wardlaw Hartridge

18
The Fifties
Although a decade full of devastat­ ing war had just ended, the next years only introduced another. When the Communist Russians took control of southeast Asia, the Allies were alarmed at this unexpected spread of Communism. The Americans sought a way to quell Communism in Asia as well as in Europe. The "Cold War" was the time during which the United Stat­ es boycotted trade with Communist
nations in an attempt to dry up Com­ munism. When the Russians helped the North Koreans to begin a shooting war, the United States entered on the op­ posing South Korean side. Fighting which lasted for about three years helped the United States to realize its true importance as a world power.
A t home, Senator Joe mcCarthy slandered hundreds of people by ac­ cusing them of being "Reds.” The scandals caused by supposed Commu­ nist connections made the American people distrustful and suspicious of each other. When McCarthy himself was put on trial and convicted, the bewildered Americans found their val­ ues overturned and their world in con­ fusion.
It was President "Ike” Eisenhower, veteran of the second World War, who helped the people to overcome their uncertainty and fear of Communism. He sought to support blacks by forcing desegregation in schools. Then, with the aid of television broadcasts, the issue came alive for the general public. It was now that the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. launched his Civil Rights movement. By preaching non­ violent resistance, the blacks tried to get Congress to pass reforms.
' IN MEMORY OF
'EDWIN B.HAVENS.Jr.
JAMES N. RAMSES J r.
WHO CAVE THEIR LIVES SERVING Ol/R. COUNTRY I!N THE KOREAN CONFLICT
Desegregation in Washington, D.C. In the fall of 1954, fol­ lowing the Supreme Court decision against school segrega­ tion, McKinley Technical High School quietly opened on a basis of equality for all students regardless of color. Before this date, public schools in the nation’s capital were segre­ gated.
Korean
stricken American soldier whose buddy has been killed is being comforted, while a medi­ cal corpsman fills out casualty tags. U.S. Army Photograph.
PLAYBOY
The Army-McCarthy Hearings
During the 1954 televised hear­ ings on alleged Communist in­ fluence in the A rm y , Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin uses a map to show the sup­ posed distribution of Commu­ nists throughout the country, while the chief counsel for the Army, Joseph Welch, and (at the extreme left) the assistant counsel, James St. Clair, listen. Twenty years later St. Clair was to defend President Rich­ ard M. Nixon against an im­ peachment move arising from the Watergate affair.
W ar
Scene. Grief-