In the immediate postwar years there were widespread fears of a return to depression. But fueled by cheap energy, increased worker productivity, and government programs like the GI Bill of Rights, the economy began a spectacular expansion that lasted from 1950 to 1970. This burst of affluence transformed American industry and society, and particularly drew more women into the workforce. Footloose Americans migrated to the Sunbelt's of the South and West, and to the growing suburbs, leaving the northeastern cities with poorer populations. Families grew rapidly, as the“baby boom” created a population bulge that would last for decades.
The Yalta agreement near the end of World War II left major issues undecided and created controversy over postwar relations with the Soviet Union. With feisty Truman in the White House, the two new superpowers soon found themselves at odds over Eastern Europe, Germany, and the Middle East.
The Truman Doctrine announced military aid and an ideological crusade against international communism. The Marshall Plan provided economic assistance to starving and communist-threatened Europe, which soon joined the United States in the NATO military alliance.
The Cold War and revelations of spying aroused deep fears of communist subversion at home that culminated in McCarthy’s witch-hunting. Fear of communist advances abroad and social change at home generated national and local assaults on many people perceived to be“different.” Issues of the Cold War and civil rights fractured the Democratic Party three ways in 1948, but a gutsy Truman campaign overcame the divisions to win a triumphant underdog victory.
The Communist Chinese won a civil war against the Nationalists. North Korea invaded South Korea, and the Americans and Chinese joined in fighting the seesaw war to a bloody stalemate. MacArthur’s insubordination and threats to expand the war to China led Truman to fire him