Truman and Domestic PolicyMajor domestic conflicts ignored due to:
1. Appearance of "New Affluence" (new money)2. Re-emergence of political conservatism (Republican)3. "Laissez-faire" reappears (government keep hands off)
Truman and Domestic PolicyTruman's Characteristics - 1948 Election
1. Man of the people - ordinary guy2. Wary (suspicious) of large corporations3. Active executive: Jacksonian Democrat4. Foreign Arena - understands world leadership5. Domestic Arena - social reformer6. Close election - Truman 50% / Dewey 45% - Truman wins
Truman and Domestic PolicyAspects of the Fair Deal Program
Featured the "expansion" of the existing, not innovation - wants to make things better.1. Expansion of Social Security2. Increase in minimum wage3. Institution of the National Health Insurance Plan4. Assault on Slum Housing5. Federal Aid to Education6. Support for Scientific Research
Truman and Domestic PolicyFair Deal Program Fell Short Due to:
1. Lacked FDR's charisma2. Political coalition - Southern Democrats & Northern Republicans3. Program fell short because of poor timing
Truman and Domestic PolicyAtomic Energy Act
1. Created a 5-man civilian (non-military) Atomic Energy Commission (AEC)2. President to have sole power to use bomb in wartime
Social and Economic IssuesWomen and the Family
1. Increase in the number of marriages2. Increase in the number of children3. Emphasis on child-rearing4. "Back to the Home" movement5. Opening up of suburbia
Social and Economic IssuesBackground to Labor's Actions: Labor Issues
- Depression feared at War's end, due to returning Veterans- Union leaders wanted high wages to assure purchasing power1. John L. Lewis: Head of the United Mine Workers (UMW) - called for higher wages and fringe benefits2. War-time price controls lifted - led to sharp increase in prices, while corporate profits skyrocketed3. National and Republican reaction- Nation angry at unions for all the labor problems- Republicans believed that the Democratic New Deal had strengthened the unions too much
Social and Economic IssuesPassage of the Taft-Hartley Act (Unfair Labor Practices) - "Anti-union
1. Closed shop: required workers to be union members2. Coercion of non-union workers to join the union3. Boycotts and Strikes4. Employers could now sue for breach of contract5. Presidential 80-day "cooling-off" period if strike "imperiled" the nation6. Unions required to register with Secretary of Labor, provide financial reports
Social and Economic IssuesLabor Merger: AFL-CIO
Combining of skilled and unskilled labor subsumed more than 85% of all union members under the same administration.
The Red ScareBrings New Vitality for Faltering Republican Party
Billed as the "Anti-Communist" Party
The Red ScareThe First Phase: 1938-1950
1. Formation of House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) 19382. Infiltration of the Boy Scouts of America3. The Smith Act (a) Crime to urge the violent overthrow of any government (b) Crime to be a member of any such organization4. Truman's Loyalty Program 1947-1951 (a) All government employees were "reviewed" (investigated by FBI) (b) Trampling of civil rights5. The Alger Hiss Case - Former State Dept. official having served at Yalta with FDR, accused of being a Soviet spy.6. Russia explodes their own atomic bomb7. Los Alamos spy ring "uncovered" - Rosenberg case: they sold a-bomb secrets to Soviets, found guilty, and executed8. China falls to Communism
The Red ScareThe Second Phase: "McCarthyism" 1950-1954
1. The emergence of Joe McCarthy - came forward in 1950 with a "list" of communists supposedly working in the State Dept.2. Reasons for McCarthy's popularity (a) An Irish-Catholic, he challenged the WASP intellectuals (b) He had the support/backing of organized religion3. The McCarran Act (a) Required Communists to register with government (b) So they could be disallowed from defense jobs and travel outside the country4. McCarthy: Chair of Senate Subcommittee on government operations - Holds hearing (witch hunts). Accuses people of being communists and grills them. Not televised.5. The Army-McCarthy Hearings - accused someone in the army of being a communist and spreading communism. Televised! McCarthy looks like a bully and an idiot. Senate censors him and shuts down his witch hunts - "Conduct Unbecoming".
Eisenhower and Republicanism 1952-1959Eisenhower's Characteristics
1. Rejects ideas of isolationism2. Favors the reforms of a New Deal3. Classic Republican administration - Information flows to the top4. Emphasis on formality5. Favors men of business in his administration
Eisenhower and Republicanism 1952-1959The Revolutionary Warren Supreme Court
1. Became a leader of reform in a conservative era2. Appointment of Earl Warren sealed the tone of the court*3. Most sweeping reform of social and political life in nation's history4. Court stressed individual liberty and privacy
Eisenhower and Republicanism 1952-1959The Issue of Racial Segregation
1. Plessy vs. Ferguson, 1896: Separate but Equal ruling2. Brown vs. Board of Education, 1954: Maintained school segregation to be unconstitutional 3. Birth of Government Affirmative Action: Active actions to insure discrimination does not take place in public accommodations and/or the workplace