Cold War Civil Rights

Dudziak, Mary L.

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Author
Dudziak, Mary L.
Publish Date
06/17/2025
Book Type
Paperback
Publisher Name
PUPRESS
Subtitle
Race and the Image of American Democracy, 25th Anniversary Edition
Number of Pages
360
ISBN-10
0691274320
ISBN-13
9780691274324
SKU
9780691274324

Description

A Choice Outstanding Academic Title of the Year How the fight for civil rights in America became an important front in the Cold War In 1958, an African American handyman named Jimmy Wilson was sentenced to die in Alabama for stealing less than two dollars. Shocking as this sentence was, it was overturned only after intense international attention and the interference of Secretary of State John Foster Dulles. Soon after World War II, American racism became a major concern of US allies, a chief Soviet propaganda theme, and an obstacle to American Cold War goals throughout Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Racial segregation undermined the American image, harming foreign relations in every administration from Truman to Johnson. Mary Dudziak shows how the Cold War helped to facilitate desegregation and other key social reforms at home as the United States sought to polish its image abroad, yet how a focus on appearances over substance limited the nature and extent of progress. Cold War Civil Rights situates the Cold War in civil rights history while giving an international perspective to the fight for racial justice in America.