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Alaine Huntington November 27, 2012 African American History Independent Study Fall 2012 Cold War Civil Rights: A Historical Timeline A peaceful worldwill be accomplished through ideal rather than armaments; through a sense of justice and mutual friendships rather than with guns and bombs and guided missiles. This quote by US Supreme Court Justice Warren in the 1950s showcased the awareness of the American political system, to racial issues. During the Cold War from 1945- 1991 the United States was under abundant scrutiny both at home and internationally for cultural practices of racism. Civil rights and treatment of African-Americans became a central issue dictating global diplomatic relations and foreign policy during the Cold War Era. The Soviet Union used American racial conflicts as a source for anti- American propaganda and sentiments. We will go on a journey using Cold War Civil Rights by Mary Dudziak as our guide. We will begin from the start of the Cold war in the 1940s to the start of the Vietnam War in the 1970s exploring racial tensions and the Civil Rights Movement, Anti-American propaganda, the American response, international pressures, and subsequent changes in United States legislation. Beginning in 1945, the Cold War was a designation given to the relationship between the United States and the United Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR/ Soviet Union) from the end of World War II until the fall of the Berlin wall in 1989. The term cold war denotes that neither side engaged in actual combat, however, their client states fought heavily against one

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another. Although the United States and the USSR were members of the Allied Forces against Nazi, Germany, their alliance was formed only to defeat a mutual adversary. Tensions developed further, after the United States developed an atomic weapon and bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August of 1945. Communist expansion spread further into China as well as gained influence in other European countries. Stalin offered weapons aid to Spains General Franco who overthrew democratically elected officials in the 1936 Spanish Civil War. Franco also received aid from Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, which created an unfavorable picture of the Soviets to any allied force. In addition, the United States saw Soviet expansion as a threat to the American way of life. Stalins expansive Red Army was also a cause for concern as well as the Great Purge which resulted in the murders of anti-communists, government officials, military leaders, and anyone who was perceived to be against Stalin. Distrust from both countries existed before the war and continued long afterwards. During the years of 1945- 1970 tensions between white Americans and African Americans were at their most visible, with violence now being thrust onto the global stage. Murders of African Americans were often excused, such as the 1946 lynching of Army war veteran, George Dorsey, and three companions. Dorseys body was shot 60 times by Georgia racists and was seen as an organized conspiracy to put Negro vets in their place.(19) In response, the National Association of Colored Women marched to the White House in protest to the lynching. As an additional act of solidarity the NAACP drafted a petition, An Appeal to the World, and intended to showcase the African American situation at the United Nations Commission for Human Rights in 1946. The delegate from the Soviet Union requested the petition be presented, whereas American delegate Eleanor Roosevelt threatened to leave the UN

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meeting. A Dutch official, in support of Roosevelt, suggested Americans counteract Soviet propaganda adding racial attitudes were the best ally of opponents to U.S. policy. (46) The Soviet Union proposed the NAACP charges be investigated, which was turned down. In response, the Soviet Union made use of racist American tendencies to fuel propaganda. Racial segregation in the United States inspired poor treatment of delegates from foreign countries visiting America. Such treatment included anyone who was perceived to be African American, with those who disclosed otherwise receiving a status of honorary white. President Truman responded to racial issues by saying he didnt know how bad it was. (24) President Truman used racist language in private, but his letters offered support to the Civil Rights Movement, as well as a disliking to the poor treatment of black veterans upon returning home. In addition to the election, Soviet propaganda forced Truman to appeal to supporters of the Civil Rights Movement. The president also recognized the importance of the black vote in the 1948 election, fearing that African-Americans would vote Republican. Truman addressed the issues and challenges of civil rights, becoming the first president to speak in Harlem. Losing his southern supporters, the black vote was absolutely crucial, thus, Truman vowed to address racial issues and create civil rights reform. Truman, keeping true to his word, desegregated the military (except for the National Guard) as well as creating legislation to ban segregation in civil service. Truman also established the Committee on Government Contract Compliance which attempted to monitor the hiring of minorities by companies requesting governmental defense contracts. The committee had no enforcement practices, which further exacerbated issues of African-American desegregation and exclusionary practices.

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Despite President Trumans alleged sympathies to the Civil Rights Movement, Truman allowed the spread of McCarthyism to pervade the government in the 1940s and spanned until the mid-1950. Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy gained notoriety in 1950 after accusing members of the State Department of being Communist. McCarthy also accused many writers and entertainers of sympathizing with Communists or being Communist themselves. None of his accusations were ever justified. Labeled as Communist by McCarthy supporters were W.E.B. Dubois, and Josephine Baker, among other African Americans who spoke of racial injustices and societal oppression in America. Dubois was the first African American to receive his doctoral degree and often spoke out against American policy. In 1951, Dubois was jailed for advocating the ban of nuclear weapons. He was charged with failure to register as an agent of foreign principal, and his passport was taken for eight years. Once his passport was renewed he travelled to Ghana in 1961. Two years later, in failing health Dubois wanted to return to the United States. The government denied his request for a passport renewal. Dubois became a citizen of Ghana and a member of the Communist party in 1963. Dubois died that same year, at the age of 93 Ella Baker, a Vaudeville performer and singer, spoke widely about discrimination of African Americans. Moving to France in the 1920s Baker did not expect to encounter racism upon her return to her home country. In 1952 Baker travelled to Uruguay and Argentina criticizing racial and religious segregation. United States embassies became interested in following her travels, labeling her as a Communist. Embassy officials instructed journalists not to publish her quotes and appearances. Baker was also prevented from entering Cuba, Peru, Columbia, and the United States.

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Such negative publicity about America from Soviets and African Americans alike required a counter attack from the United States government. The best course of action to improve international perception was to send African Americans of their choosing abroad. In 1952, the US state Department sponsored speakers to Lagos, Nigeria, who testified to the improvements in American civil rights policies and democracy which was the best opportunity to achieve equality. (57) In 1953, under the direction of President Eisenhower, the United States Information Agency (USIA) was established. In order to improve international perceptions of America, the USIA created short films, radio ads, and advertisements to disseminate truth as they dictated. These propaganda techniques created an untrue picture for African Americans in regards to educational segregation, racial equality, and housing. The USIA also argued that democracy, and not totalitarianism, are the road to redemption. Countries in South and Southeast Asia, American propaganda efforts were unsuccessful. Lacking sympathy for whites anti-colonialism and racial resentments have been far more important than anti-Communism. (56) Citizens in India also were not affected by American propaganda, thinking the United States as imperialistic, and actively sought to oppress the peoples of the world. Efforts against Communist propaganda and outreach were increasingly unsuccessful.

In 1954, the United States government got the international acclaim it had sought for. Brown vs. Board of Education case was heard by the Supreme Court which unanimously voted to reject public school segregation. The segregationist ideals of separate but equal are overruled. The Supreme Court decision is internationally praised and is seen as the greatest legislation since the Emancipation Proclamation. Criticism of the United States because of color

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discrimination practices has markedly declined in recent years, partly as a result of the Supreme Court decisions in the school segregation cases.(109)

Contrasting positive legislature was the murder of 14 year old Emmitt Till in Mississippi. On August 28, 1955, Till was kidnapped, beaten mercilessly, and pistol whipped for flirting with a white woman. He was found three days after his murder floating in the Tallahatchie River. Further negative publicity was promoted in 1955 after Autherine Lucys rejection of admittance to the University of Alabama. The African American college-graduate was denied admittance to the university based on her race. Her short stay resulted in demonstrations and protests against African-American student enrollment. She was later expelled for speaking unfavorably against the university.

Also occurring in 1955 was the publicity surrounding Rosa Parks. On December 1, 1955, Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat to a white passenger. She was arrested and fined fourteen dollars for violating a city ordinance. Parks led African American bus riders and to boycott Montgomery city buses. She was also instrumental in the establishment of the Montgomery Improvement Association which was led by (then unknown) Martin Luther King Jr.

Another instance of racist and segregationist tradition was the 1957 admittance of the Little Rock Nine, to Central High School. Two hundred gathered in protest to desegregation. Fearing widespread violence, Governor Orval Faubus ordered the Arkansas National Guard to surround the school and prevent the students from entering. The Soviet Union used unedited news footage and reports for its anti-American propaganda often simply republishing facts disseminating from U.S. news sources. (121) Faubus disregard for the Supreme Court ruling

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for desegregation caused him to labeled a Communist and was ordered to meet with President Eisenhower. He further defied Eisenhowers order to desegregate Central High. After presidential threats of contempt charges, Faubus withdrew the National Guard and left town. On September 23, 1957, known as Black Monday, eight African American students entered Central High, with a police escort. It wasnt until the launch of Sputnik in October of 1957, that the Soviet propaganda machine and global media attention of the Little Rock Nine died down. The first leg of race to space between the two nations was won. Eisenhowers savior came in the form of another piece of legislation Cooper v. Aaron. The February 1958 Supreme Court legislation mapped out a plan to desegregate all schools. The ruling was vehemently despised by Faubus and other segregationists who argued that the federal law should be nullified as it interfered with states rights.

With the independence of seventeen African nations in 1960, increased international attention and criticism was applied to the issues surrounding African Americans. During the Truman and Eisenhower administrations foreign diplomatic relations were highly affected by racial pressures. Heightened racial tensions during the Kennedy administration would prove challenging to organizers and activists in the Civil Rights Movement as well as legislators.

The Civil Rights Movement entered a new period, engaging tactics of non-violent direct action. This non-confrontational form of civil disobedience ensured worldwide attention on the movement. On February 1, 1960 four college students sat at a segregated lunch counter in a Woolworths department store in Monroe, North Carolina. This action ignited a spark of youth led resistance to segregation.

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Labeling of the movement as Communist was still prevalent, but often behind the scenes. During Kennedys first year in office Soviets shot down an American U-2 reconnaissance plane. Eisenhower had given his word that the United States was not sending reconnaissance flights over the Soviet Union and he was caught in a lie. (154) Kennedy and Eisenhower were also involved in a failed attempt to overthrow Cubas Fidel Castro at the Bay of Pigs, when news of CIA involvement leaked to the press in 1961. As Kennedy began his presidency, Civil rights were not a primary concern, but wanting to focus on peace and the relationship with the Soviet Union. Civil rights leaders argued that reform was instrumental to economic growth and international relations.

By 1961, more than seventy-thousand people participated in sit-ins resulting in 3,000 arrests. Student organizations also grew in numbers which included the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). In May of 1961 the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) planned to use direct action to challenge the 1960 Supreme Court ruling legislating desegregation in the interstate bus system. The Freedom Riders departed from Washington D.C. on a journey through the southern states headed to New Orleans. While traveling through Alabama the riders were attacked by racist crowds. In Anniston, Alabama one bus was set aflame by a firebomb.

On May 20, more riders came to participate in a ride from Birmingham to Montgomery challenging segregation. A thousand pro-segregationists beat the riders, despite promises safety by Governor John Patterson. In response, Martin Luther King Jr. came to Montgomery, which incited further acts of violence. Kennedy was frustrated by the Freedom Riders persistence but sent six hundred federal marshals to assist in establishing order. Kennedy urged the riders to stop

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and felt the riders were embarrassing him and the county. (159) Organizers timed their actions with the meeting between President Kennedy and Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev. The USIA reported that the actions in Alabama were highly detrimental. As the riders continued to Jackson, Mississippi on May 24 they were victims of further attacks. They were arrested for disturbing the peace, and sentenced to sixty seven days in jail. The government did not interfere and the police did not protect the Freedom Riders from racist mobs. Because federal rights were at stake, because law and order demanded it, because it had an impact on his image as a national leaderharmed U.S. prestige abroad Kennedy would find himself increasingly involved in civil rights.(163)

Actions at the University of Mississippi at Oxford would create a greater impact abroad than the Freedom Riders struggle. Student James Meredith was denied admittance into the university on the basis of race. In June of 1962 the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans affirmed Merediths rejection was unconstitutional. Pro segregationists opposed the ruling and protesters gathered at the university. Federal marshals were sent in to ensure peace and on September 30, a melee between protesters and marshals ensued. Hundreds were wounded and two were killed, including a French reporter. The following morning Meredith registered for classes. Kennedys willingness to send in the federal marshals was seen abroad as proof of the governments commitment to civil rights enforcement. Although federal action at the University of Mississippi was widely praised, the overall impact of the crisis remained troubling.(165)

The Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962 added pressure to relations between the United States and the Soviet Union. The thirteen day standoff between the two countries was a result of Soviet missiles based in Cuba. Adding to tensions was American Civil Rights activist Robert F.

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Williams, exiled in Cuba. Williams received national attention using his radio program Radio Free Dixie. With the possibility of American invasion of Cuba, Williams called for an AfricanAmerican call to arms against the United States. Both Kennedy and Khrushchev feared mutually assured destruction and negotiations followed. Khrushchev arranged to remove Soviet missiles from Cuba and Kennedy agreed not to invade Cuba as well as remove American missiles from Turkey.

At home in the United States, another issue for Kennedy presented itself. The continued discrimination against foreign diplomats continued to plague the nation. With United Nations headquarters residing within international territory in New York City, segregated hairstylists, diners, and hotels did not help in creating positive views of American civil rights progression. Racial tensions were especially prominent on Marylands Highway 40 which was the principle roadway from Washington D.C. to New York. In order to combat racism the Maryland public accommodations bill was passedon January 1963. (169)

Further blows came to the American image in May 1963 in Birmingham Alabama. The Birmingham Campaign was a strategic series of direct actions organized by the SCLC. On May 3 more than a thousand children and teens marched for their civil rights. Police Chief Eugene Bull Connor ordered the use of fire hoses and police dogs to deter protesters. The water pressure from the fire hoses tore clothing off of activists and was said to remove tree bark from a tree. In retaliation, some protesters threw rocks and bricks at police. With jails overflowing and cameras rolling, the Birmingham Campaign got center stage in the international news media.

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President Kennedy began to push for increased civil rights legislation calling civil rights a moral issuethe heart of the question [was] whether we are going to treat our fellow Americans as we want to be treated this nation will not fully be free until all its citizens are free.(179) Kennedy proposed the Civil Rights Act of 1963 which allowed the Department of Justice to file school segregation lawsuits, the establishment of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, voting protection, and prohibition of discrimination in public accommodations. The constant struggle to combat racism with legislation provided an opportunity for the United States to prove its commitment to freedom and democracy.

On August 28, 1963 SNCC, SCLC, NAACP and CORE among other organizations, led a march of over 250,000 people on Washington, the largest rally in United States history. The march was formed to address issues of jobs and freedom withheld from the African American community. Speakers included Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks. King spoke his famous I Have a Dream speech as well as conveying to the world the negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. (192)

The March on Washington stirred solidarity actions in Kingston Jamaica, Burundi, Ghana, Tel Aviv, Munich, Berlin, Cairo, Amsterdam, Paris, and other cities worldwide. Many African countries reported that the march was the greatest of its kind in history. Europe, according to the USIA declared the march to be an affirmation of the democratic process (197) The USIA prepared videos of the march to present to audiences worldwide in order to establish the progress of American policies.

International audiences were stunned at racial violence yet again after the bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church on September 15, 1963. Four African American girls were killed

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in the blast, shattering positive viewpoints of race relations. As conflict spread into the Birmingham streets, the moral aspect of the Civil Rights Movement was even more apparent. Following the bombing, Kennedy viewed civil rights reform as central to change.

President Kennedy did not live to see the change he inspired with his civil rights legislative proposal. On November 22, in Dallas Texas, Kennedy was shot and killed. The assassination of Kennedy as well as other racial based killings showcased the cultural prevalence of racism, not a testament to Unites States legislation. Kennedys successor, Lyndon Johnson put Kennedys vision into action. Johnson was motivated to enact a harsher civil rights bill than Kennedy. On June 19, 1964 the Civil Rights Bill was passed into law.

In order to further civil rights organizers with the Council of Federated Organizations (COFO) which included CORE, SCLC, and the NAACP organized Freedom Summer, in 1964. Freedom Summer included Freedom Schools to educate the populace, and a Freedom Ballot, to encourage local political campaigns. Volunteers from all over the country participated, as well as many white college students. The campaign focused primarily on voter suppression and intimidation in Mississippi. Voting drives and outreach increased the registration of thousands of African American voters.

Following voting drives and campaigns, the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP) was founded and gained an audience at the 1964 Democratic National Convention. MFDP delegate Fannie Lou Hamer spoke to fellow delegates about her abuses on a sharecropping plantation, as well as violence against her by police while in a Ruleville jail. Johnson, fearing a loss of support from fifteen Southern states, offered two delegation seats. MFDP delegates did not accept Johnsons proposal.

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Freedom Summer had no shortage of violence, with severe white opposition and resistance. There were also nearly a thousand arrests, and most horrifyingly, the murders of Civil Rights activists, James Cheney, Andrew Goodman, and Matthew Schwerner. On the evening of June 21, the three men set off to investigate a church bombing in Philadelphia Mississippi. Police arrested them, and their bodies surfaced near a dam three days later. Ten men were charged with their murder, including the deputy sheriff.

In July of 1964 a white police officer in Harlem, New York shot an unarmed 15 year old African American. The rally and march quickly turned violent and escalated into a full scale riot. Rioters battled police officers for five days. A Cairo newspaper reported America is threatened with Civil War. (215)

War efforts were also escalating in Vietnam after the August 1964, with the bombing of the USS Maddox in the Gulf of Tonkin. The ship was fired upon by machine guns by North Vietnamese troops and supposedly attacked a second time. The second, more severe attack was used by the United States government in order to justify invading South Vietnam. Declassified National Security Administration documents later proved this second attack never took place. The United States used the alleged attack to create anti- Communist South Vietnam propaganda. In response, Soviet propaganda suggested that the greatest threat to Americans involvement in Vietnam, would be from the within the United States.

By 1964, civil rights organizers utilized international solidarity campaigns in an attempt to create a global unified Civil Rights Movement. American activists sought to create alliances with people in other countries who shared anti-colonialist views. Appeals were made by Malcolm X to diplomats throughout Africa, meeting with the Organization for African Unity

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(OAU) as well as Egypt, and Mecca, Saudi Arabia. The Muslim Ministers aim was to bring the African American racial dilemma to the floor of the United Nations. Malcolm X was a vocal opponent against white America, and called the Civil Rights Act an American propaganda stunt. Members of the OAU were not receptive to his pleas and he developed the belief as long as you take money from America, youll only have the external appearance of sovereignty.(222)

The USIA felt threatened by Malcolm X speaking engagements and quickly pursued a speaker to repair the damage caused by his visits to the Organization for African Unity. The United States government sponsored CORE founder, James Farmer, who would tell a story more palatable to American interests. Farmer often disagreed with Malcolm X, and it was assumed that Farmer would try to discredit him; however American officials were disappointed when Farmers aim was not to harm the reputation of Malcolm X.

Throughout his activist career Malcolm X promoted violent tactics and opposed Martin Luther Kings non-violent approaches. Malcolm X said they had differences in method, not goals, However, after his trip to Mecca he became more hopeful about whites and their attitudes to civil rights. Malcolm X was assassinated on February 21, 1965, by members of the Nation of Islam, who opposed his separation from their leader, Elijah Mohammed. Malcolm X and Martin Luther King were not close, but Malcolm X spoke to Kings wife Coretta while her husband was imprisoned on February 2, 1965 for voters rights in Selma Alabama. On February 5, Malcolm X expressed that he had an interest in working more closely with the nonviolent movement, but he was not yet able to renounce violence and overcome the bitterness which life invested in him. (Autobiography of Martin Luther King Jr. Ch. 25)

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The campaigns in Selma focused on discriminatory voting practices in the region, which inspired state mandates on procedures the voting board would be required to follow. Following legislation changes in Selma, rallies followed in Marion, which turned bloody. Police shot demonstrator Jimmy Lee Jackson in the stomach, who died seven days later. In response to Jacksons death, members of the SCLC and SNCC organized a march from Selma, to the Alabama capitol, Montgomery. The second march on March 7 from Selma to Montgomery was termed Bloody Sunday. Alabama state toppers prevented the activists from leaving the city limits. Police used horses, tear gas, and clubs to turn the campaigners around. The evening of the march, three members of the group were attacked by white supremacists, with one person dying from his injuries. The murderer was later acquitted by an all-white jury. Following the acquittal King led an 8,000 person march from Selma to Montgomery. As they approached Montgomery, the crowd grew to 25,000.

Although the Selma campaigns did not receive international attention, the successful completion of the march brought to the political forefront issues regarding voters rights. According to the USIA, the campaign was overshadowed by more immediate concerns, such as Vietnam. (235) The Soviet Union seemed to be far less critical of the racial issues within the United States, focusing on American military actions against the Communists in South Vietnam. China was much more critical than the Soviets, proclaiming that the Civil Rights Act was a method paralyzing the Civil Rights Movement.

Nine days after the march to Montgomery President Johnson sent the Voting Rights Act to congress. The act was signed into law on August 8, 1965 which included legislation opposing

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discriminatory practices including literacy tests and allowed the right to vote to non- English speakers. In addition, the federal government would be able to monitor voting registration in locations that required evaluations for voting suitability. Two hundred thousand African Americans registered to vote in the first year.

Within five days of passing the Voting Rights Act, riots in Los Angeles occurred after the arrest of an African American motorist by a white police officer. Thousands fought with police during the seven day riot, which included looting and burning of property. The National Guard was called in to quell the uprising, with a death toll of thirty four and 40 million dollars in property damage.

Activists for social change and reform began to focus on anti-poverty and Vietnam War opposition as well as civil rights. In 1966, the USIA reported that the international viewpoints towards American race relations were shifting it seems probable that we have crossed some sort of watershed in foreign judgments and perspectives on the racial issues in the U.S.(239)

By 1967, all domestic support for the conflict in Vietnam dissipated. Officials in Vietnam welcomed the Detroit riots in July of 1967 claiming the African American struggle is a second frontto weaken U.S. imperialism.(243) The riots were a response to a police raid on a party for two Vietnam veterans returning home. Police arrested all 82 attendees and a crowd gathered around the venue in support of the partygoers. Two homeless residents, who were required to leave the bar, went across the street and broke local shop windows. The anger and violence spread and escalated quickly. The riots resulted in forty three deaths and the destruction of 1300 buildings.

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On April 3, 1968 Martin Luther King Jr gave his final speech while in Memphis, Tennessee, supporting a sanitation workers strike. "We've got some difficult days ahead. But it really doesn't matter with me now, because I've been to the mountaintop...And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over, and I've seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land. The next morning, King was assassinated while on the balcony of his hotel room. African Americans took to the streets in numerous cities, with National Guard troops deployed in Memphis and Washington D.C. Following Kings assassination European propaganda questioned United States democracy as a form of government. Soviet propaganda alluded that America is dominated by fear.

As a result of such troubling challenges of civil rights reform and the Vietnam conflict Johnson declined another presidential term. During President Nixons campaign in 1968 he developed a platform of law and order. The perception of law and order seemed to attract American voters in a time of assassinations and war. This rhetoric applied to policies both domestically and internationally, and became the accepted response to racial issues. During the Nixon administration the Civil Rights Movement was no longer a key factor in American international relations, focusing heavily on American influence in Vietnam. On July 20, 1969 Americans won the race with the Soviet Union to land a man on the moon. Neil Armstrong became the first human to set foot on the surface of Moon, landing the Apollo 11 space shuttle six hours prior. Unbeknownst to Americans, the Soviet space program was underfunded and undermanned. Under such circumstances, Soviets were unable to launch their N-1 rocket, abandoning the project completely in 1975.

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After the end of World War II, the Soviet Union developed anti- American propaganda in order to gain international supporters. Advertisements focused primarily on the abuses of African Americans, appealing to anti-imperialist sentiment. Many U.S. images, videos, and interviews were reprinted and used by the Soviet government to discredit the ideals of American democracy and equality. Lynchings, bombings, assassinations, and racially inspired riots assisted the Soviet propagandists, thus creating an unfavorable image of the United States. In contrast, the Soviet government was the focus of many American propaganda campaigns both domestically and abroad. The Communist governmental model was a threat to American freedom and liberty, and extensive campaigns were launched to promote and protect Americas image internationally. Following African American international solidarity campaigns and consequent foreign relations pressures, changes in civil rights legislation occurred in the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s, drastically changing segregation and discrimination for all Americans.

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Sources in addition to Cold War Civil Rights Space Race Information

www.und.nodak.edu/instruct/jfkconference/JFKChapter141.doc Autobiography of Martin Luther King Jr.:

http://mlk-kpp01.stanford.edu/kingweb/publications/autobiography/chp_25.htm Radio Free Dixie: Robert F. Williams and the Roots of Black Power- Timothy Tyson Let the People Decide: Black Freedom and White Resistance Movements in Sunflower County Mississippi Local People: The Struggle for Civil Rights in Mississippi John Dittmer Civil Rights Timeline

http://civilrights.findlaw.com/civil-rights-overview/civil-rights-timeline-of-events.html Interesting Links: Including speeches and propaganda o Soviet Propaganda: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jETJt_zbnKk&NR=1&feature=endscreen o Trumans Fear of Communism: Voice of America http://www.manythings.org/voa/history/202.html o World War II leaders: http://www.2worldwar2.com/leaders.htm o Little Rock Nine: http://www.history.com/videos/little-rock-nine#little-rock-nine o Are You a Commie or a Citizen? US PROPAGANDA:

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w86QhV7whjs

o US Propaganda about Cold War http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrGDVuMlGe8 o USIA sponsored film - James Blue : The March http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jidABYf_nLU o President Nixon on Civil Rights 1960: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=dAlZHfaksQM#