World War II Through the 1970s

Assignment 3: World War II through the 1970s

In 1939 World War II began, and through the 1970s many major historical turning points occurred. The United Nations was established on October 24, 1945. It was the second multipurpose international organization created in the 20th century (Encyclopedia Britannica). The United States, United Kingdom and the Soviet Union took direction in designing, structure and decision making of the new organization. With a worldwide membership and scope, the purpose of the United Nations was to maintain security and peace among countries, as well as working on developing friendly relations. According to the United Nations Charter, it aims:

“to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war,…to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights,…to establish conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law can be maintained, and to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom.”

NATO, short for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, was established by military alliance on April 4, 1949. Its quest was to develop a counterweight to Soviet armies. Original NATO members were Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the United Kingdom and the United States . The core of NATO is expressed in Article 5 of North Atlantic Treaty, which its members agree that, “an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all; and consequently they agree that, if such an armed attack occurs, each of them, in exercise of the right of individual or collective self-defense recognized by Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations, will assist the Party or Parties so attacked by taking forthwith, individually and in concert with the other Parties, such action as it deems necessary, including the use of armed force, to restore and maintain the security of the North Atlantic area.” (The History Channel)

President John F. Kennedy proposed the Civil Rights Act in 1963, which was a highly contentious issue at the time. One of the longest debates in the history of the Senate occurred in which a stronger version was eventually passed by President Lyndon Johnson on July 2, 1964. The act was intended to end discrimination which was based on race, color, religion, or national origin. It is often referred to as the most important United States law on civil rights since the reconstruction era (1865-77). Title I of the act guarantees equal voting rights by removing registration requirements and actions biased against minorities and the under privileged. White groups opposed the Civil Rights Act and it was instantly challenged and upheld by the Supreme Court in the case of Heart of Atlanta Motel v. U.S. (Encyclopedia Britannica).

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