1945-75

• Harry Truman presidency 1945-53
• Truman was vice president to FDR + took over as President when FDR passed away in 1945
• Legislation:

  • Truman began introducing reforms to extend policies previously introduced by Roosevelt to protect workers' rights + maintain full employment
  • Truman proposed making the Fair Employment Practices Commission permanent + planned to bring in a national health insurance scheme
  • However, Truman received serious backlash from Conservatives in Congress + his political problems worsened in 1946 when Republicans made big gains in the mid-term election
• Party Divisions:

  • 1948, Republican party was split as liberals planned to persuade Henry Wallace to run for the presidency + Democrats wanted Truman to step down so they could try + persuade General Dwight Eisenhower to be the party's candidate
• Campaign:

  • 1948 election, Truman's 'whistle-stop' campaign was successful + overtook Republican, Thomas Dewey
  • Truman travelled 22,000 miles to promote his campaign -> dedicated
  • His message was designed by Clark Clifford, his special advisor
  • Clifford got Truman to appeal to groups who might support Democrats (African-American, Jewish communities) who could tip the scales in the election
  • His civil rights stance + recognition of new state Israel -> this gained him support
• Problems with Congress:

  • Truman had a democratic Congress
  • Divided party - ‘New Deal liberals’ wanted Truman to continue work of FDR
  • Southern Democrats hated his position on civil rights + often voted Republicans in Congress over issues e.g union rights
  • Therefore, it was difficult for Truman to get legislation through e.g Truman’s 21 Point Programme on social reforms was rejected by Congress
• Problems with Congress Pt.2:

  • 1946 - Republicans got their first Majority since 1930 in the mid-term elections + Republicans picked up 51-54 seats in Senate
  • Economic problems caused by WW2 -> inflation + labour disputes which meant many people turned against the administration e.g Republican‘s slogan ‘Had enough?’
  • Republicans managed to pass 22nd Amendment which limited the President to 2 terms -> passing + ratification of this by the states illustrates the concerns about the increase of presidential power under FDR during 1930s/40s
• Problems with Congress Pt.3:

  • Relations between Truman + Congress were difficult + Congress was determined to reassert its power to pass/reject legislation.
  • In a 7 year period, Truman vetoed 250 bills passed by Congress, + Congress overrode 12 of these vetoes
• Demobilisation:

  • Truman decided on slow demobilisation because of the effect that 12 million men flooding the job market would have
  • Cold War developing -> important to keep armed force
  • This was unpopular with families who wanted their men to come home
  • Mid-term elections were coming -> families used their political influence to secure this
  • Campaign sending postcards to the White House with a slogan - successful |+ army was reduced 3 million within a year + halved again the next year
  • Recession did not return + unemployment did not rise above 4% during his time in office
• Housing + Jobs:

  • 12 million service men were coming home + they needed jobs + housing to prevent problems that followed WW1
  • Housing was to be provided by the Federal Housing Agency which provided government backed mortgages at reasonable interest rates -> Congress refused money for public housing
  • Construction companies preferred to build commercial properties
  • Congress passed the ‘G.I Bill’ as compensation for those who served in the war
  • Service men were allowed 52 weeks on unemployment relief in needed
  • 1945-55 -> 20 billion dollars was awarded to help 7.8 million veterans
• Business + the Public:

  • Government-made factories = privatised
  • 25% inflation in 1945-46 -> vast number of service men returning home + increase in demand for goods-> take time to industry to produce enough
  • Worsened by 26 billion dollar tax cut -> coNGRESS
  • ^^^ Some of the reasons Democrats lost support in 1946 mid-terms
  • Truman wanted to continue Office of Price Administration(OPA) to control inflation + stabilise prices during the war
• Business + the Public Pt.2:

  • Conservative coalition in Congress wanted to abolish OPA
  • 1946 - Truman introduced Price Control Bill to continue OPA
  • Congress made so many amendment that it would have had no power -> Truman vetoed these
  • Truman’s proposal for a Council of Economic Advisors (CEA) was accepted in 1946, this was to recommend government action if needed in the economy -> didn’t too as far as Truman wanted
  • He wanted a bill for ‘full’ employment -> but showed that the US accepted more government involvement in economy
• Dwight Eisenhower presidency 1953-1961
• Eisenhower reforms:

  • extended social security programme
  • increased minimum wage 75 cents to $1
  • 1953, creation of Department of Health, Education and Welfare
  • 1956 Highways Act - construction of 41,000 miles of road
• Taft-Hartley Act 1947 - Congress passed Act over Truman's veto.

  • outlawed union practices
  • made union leaders swear they were non-communist
  • 80-day 'cooling-off' period before strikes could take place
  • made unions to make annual financial statements available for scrutiny
• Truman's 'Fair Deal' - increased minimum wage, social security benefits and more public sector housing.
• John F Kennedy presidency 1961-1963
• Kennedy domestic policies:

  • increased minimum wage to $1.25
  • measures were passed to help long-term unemployment -> Manpower and Training Act to help them retrain
  • social security benefits were extended
• Lyndon B Johnson presidency 1963-1969
• Johnson domestic policies:

  • introduction of 'Great Society' programme
  • to give poorer people the wherewithal to improve their own lives
  • to provide them with direct help where necessary
• Johnson legislation:

  • Economic Opportunity Act 1964 - programmes such as Job Corps to work on community projects, funded by fed gov
  • Medicare - Medical Care Act provided care for elderly + Medciad provided healthcare cover for the poor
  • Elementary + Secondary Education Act 1965 - federal authorities became involved in funding public education + ensure provision was equal
• Richard Nixon presidency 1969-1974
• Nixon's response to inflation:

  • introduced the New Economic Policy
  • aimed to reduce borrowing by forcing up interest rates
  • this failed in 1971, he introduced a 90-day prices and wages freeze + created a Pay Board and Price Commission to oversee these

  -> inflation did slow down + 7.9% devaluation of the dollar made US goods more competitive abroad
• Watergate scandal:

  • during the 1972 election campaign, burglars were discovered in the Democrat Party headquarters in the Watergate building.
  • the burglars had been sent by Nixon's campaign managers to bug the offices -> Nixon and other government officials denied all knowledge of this
  • the investigation progressed to presidential level + Nixon was forced to resign in August 1974 - only US president to do this
• Economic boom:

  • 1945 - US possessed 7% of the world' population + 42% of its' wealth
  • per capita income = $1450, twice as high as Britain
  • GNP rose 35% since 1945
  • economic expansion = greater employment opportunities for more of the population + growth in consumerism
• G.I Bill:

  • also known as the Selective Servicemen's Readjustment Act passed in 1944
  • the bill offered grants to ex-servicemen for education or business enterprise
  • 8 milllion took up the offer
  • veterans were award $20/ week while looking for work
  • also offered home loans to facilitate home ownership -> offered mortgages up to 90% of the cost + interest rates as low as 4%
  • almost 2.4m veterans took advantage of this offer
• Home ownership:

  • house construction expanded in the post-war years
  • 1944 - 114,000 family homes were built + by 1950, this rose to 15m
  • home ownership increased from 50% to 60% between 1950-1960
• Growth of suburbs:

  • new homes were built in the suburbs
  • numbers living there grew from 17% in 1920 to 33% by 1960
• Consumerism:

  • growth of shopping centres - 8 in 1946 to over 4000 by late 1950s
  • 1960 - there were 50m TV sets
  • 1951 - 90% of US families has fridges + 75% washing machines + telephones
  • debt increased from $5.7 billion in 1945 to $56.1 billion by 1960
• McCarthyism:

  • Joseph McCarthy was a Wisconsin Senator who in 1950 accused the State Department of being infested with 200 communist spies - with no evidence to support his claims
  • this initiated a witch-hunt against public officials
  • McCarthy also had access to FBI files
• McCarthyism supporters:

  • conservatives suspicious of new ideas
  • church groups associated communism with the work of the devil
  • less well-educated + affluent members of society, many susceptible to conspiracy theories
• McCarthyism loss of support:

  • he lost credibility when his hearings were televised + viewers saw his drunken, bullying tactics
  • many thought he had gone too far when he began to investigate the army for communist infiltration -> the army had been in the Korean War fighting against communist forces
  • he deferred military conscription for members of his own staff
• Civil Right movement:

  • 1954 Brown v. Board of Education - desegregation of schools
  • 1957 Eisenhower sent National Guard to protect African-American students as they attended a newly desegregated Little Rock High School
  • 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott - African-Americans boycotted public transport to stop segregation of seating
• Civil Rights Act 1964 - banned discrimination in public places
• Voting Rights Act 1965 - ensure voting procedures were carried out fairly + no one entitled to vote could be refused
• Freedom Rides:

  • early 1960s - Congress of Racial Equality organised 'freedom rides' in which volunteers tested the resolve of segregation in the South by sitting in white-only areas on public transport + rest stops
  • they were met by arrest + even murder

  -> in September, Interstates Commerce Commission insisted bus terminals everywhere be desegregated
• Berlin Airlift 1948-1949 - post-war Germany + Berlin had been divided between the Allies. Russians tried to take over Berlin by a blockade in 1948 -> an airlift was organised to fly supplies.
• Korean War 1950-1953

  • Korea had been divide between the communist North + capitalist South
  • when North Korea invaded the South, the UN sent a force, dominated by US military, to defeat their action
  • war escalated with the involvement of communist China but peace was agreed before the USSR became directly involved
• NATO - formed in 1949 after the Berlin crisis. It was an alliance of western European nations, including USA, against Soviet aggression
• Cuban Missile Crisis 1962, - USSR built nuclear sites on Cuba + Kennedy imposed blockade -> nuclear confrontation seemed likely but a settlement was reached last minute