1945 and Beyond Foreign and Domestic 1945-and Beyond-1.

1945 and BeyondForeign and

Domestic1945-and Beyond-1

Post WWII

Harry Truman Took office in April 1945 on death of

FDR First President in 50 years: no

college education WWI Vet Rose through the Pendergast system

in Missouri Not well informed as VP Dropped the bomb on Hiroshima &

Nagasaki No second thoughts

Truman and the Fair Deal

Fired the New Dealers in the Cabinet

Truman thought them TOO CONSERVATIVE

The Fair Deal: wanted extended social welfare and CIVIL RIGHTS

Dixiecrats: Southern Democrats who opposed the Civil rights part of the Fair Deal

The Economy

After almost every American war: inflation and unemployment

First time in history the U.S. did NOT suffer a depression after war

No Post-war Depression Due to:

Farm income remained high…exports

Savings during war = buying power now

Big demand for peacetime consumer goods = stimulated the economy and the black market

Military expenditures remained high (Korea)

1942 Committee for Economic Development: economists and businessmen implemented practices to avoid economic slump

1946 Fair Employment Act

NOTE: Passed in the spirit of the New Deal

To promote maximum employment, production, purchasing

Gave the President a council of economic advisors who made recommendations

The GI Bill 1944

Gave veterans educational benefits Loans to GIs for establishing new

businesses

Inflation

Federal Revenue went from $5 Billion during the war to $46 Billion after (due to higher taxes on bigger incomes

BUT Federal Spending up too. National debt went from $50 Billion

to $270 Billion during the war

Inflation

4 times as much money in circulation in 1945 as in 1938

People tired of rationing. Pressure on Congress from labor

and business to end OPA’s price and wage controls

Truman wanted controls to continue through OPA

Economy

Congress ended OPA anyway Was vetoed and overridden OPA closed down June 1946 Prices up 25% in 3 weeks 1946 5,000 strikes (1/4 of all union

workers in U.S.)

Railroad Strikes

Truman threatened to draft them into the army so he could order them back to work (as Commander-in-Chief)

They went back to work

Coal Miners’ Strike

Truman took over mines and ran them through the Department of the Interior

The Norris-LaGuardia Act

Supreme Court ruled that the Norris-LaGuardia Anti-injunction Act DID NOT prevent the use of injunction in a strike in order to prevent a catastrophe

Amendment 22

Prevented a third term A posthumous slap in the face to

FDR Prevented a President from serving

more than 10 year total: Two full terms of his own + no more than 2 years of another President’s term

Did not apply to sitting President Truman believed the amendment

made all presidential 2nd terms lame duck terms

1946 Republicans took a majority in both houses

Major issue during congressional elections = labor disputes

Republican belief: Unions now too powerful

1947 Taft-Hartley Act: to restrain the power of labor unions

Congress lowered taxes Deadlocked with Truman on

everything else

Civil Rights

Truman fought the KKK

Truman continued the Fair Employment Practices Committee

Truman established a Fact-Finding Committee on Civil Rights

Civil Rights Commission Recommendations:

Relocated Japanese-Americans should be compensated

Immigration Quotas should be abolished

More equality for Blacks

Congress would not act on civil rights

So Truman used his commander-in-chief powers to integrate the armed forces

Alienated Southern Democrats. Will become Dixircrats in next election

Truman called for a 10-point Civil Rights Program to end religious and racial discrimination Again no action by Congress

Election of 1948

Polls all wrong. No democrat had ever won without

support of Southern Dems. Truman campaigned calling

Congress the Do-Nothing Congress Republicans Dewey 189 Democrats Truman 304 Dixiecrats Strom Thurmond 38 Progressives Harry Wallace 0

Election of 1948

Chicago Tribune put the paper to bed before all results were in…

What Happened?

Dewey thought that since Democrats split, he had the election nailed

Dewey began campaigning late and finished up early

Most Americans did not make up their minds until pretty close to the election

Proof a democrat could win without the support of the Solid South

Democrats gained control of Congress

But Dixiecrats still refused to move on Civil Rights

NOTE: Dixiecrats were conservative, states rights, Southern Democrats

Congress DID extend Social Welfare: $ for farm subsidies, slum clearance, minimum wage up

Truman’s Fair Deal

Was the basis for JFK’s New Frontiers Program

And LBJ’s Great Society Program (with his war on poverty and Civil Rights agenda)

Truman Scandals

Bribe taking by: Members of the RFC

Department of Justice IRS

Truman not involved BUT food for thought for Republicans in 1952

The Red Scare

Sell-out at Yalta: Stalin did not keep promises regarding free elections in Eastern Europe

Korean War 1950-53 China fell to communists 1949 (U.S.

had supported Chiang Kai-shek who was ousted by communist leader Mao Zedong. Nationalist China pushed off of the mainland to Taiwan)

1949 Russia had the bomb (could not have happened had they not stolen our secrets)

The Red Scare

Republicans used all above to discredit the Democrats

Republicans claimed that Dems were soft on communism

1947 Loyalty Review Board established to fire “bad Security Risks”

The Red Scare

J. Edgar Hoover (FBI) began to gather intelligence on “subversive” organizations

Supreme Court ruled that: Communists not protected by first amendment rights if their purpose was to overthrow the government

HUAC formed in House to investigate communist subversion

House Un-American Activities Committee

(HUAC) Whittaker Chambers claimed he was

a former communist agent Claimed he had passed sensitive info

to the commies in the 30’s Claimed that Alger Hiss (a former

high-ranking official in the State Department) had given him the secrets

His Proof? The Pumpkin Papers

The Pumpkin Papers

Microfilm of sensitive government documents were kept inside of a hallowed-out pumpkin on Chambers’ front porch

Was proof that he had them but no proof that Hiss was involved

Then Hiss sued Chambers for slander

Richard Nixon

A junior congressman from California was able to nail Hiss for perjury

Nixon will swear forever that Hiss WAS a spy for the communists

Hiss will always maintain his innocence…even from jail

The Red Scare

The McCarren Internal Security Act: required all communist organizations to register with the Federal Government

Vetoed by Truman Congress overrode his veto

The Rosenberg Case

HUAC interviewed a British scientist Klaus Fuchs who testified that he delivered secrets of the bomb to the Soviets and that the info he passed came from David Greenglass who had worked on the Manhattan Project

Greenglass said the mastermind behind the secret-passing was his brother-in-law, Rosenberg

Rosenberg and his wife maintained their innocence. Convicted 1951 & electrocuted 1953

Joe McCarthy

The Big Lie: Claimed to have proof that there were 205 card-carrying communists in the State Department

Had no proof…ever…even during congressional witch trials

BUT was popular (at first) with the American people…seemed to be our champion against commies

McCarthy and the Witch Trials

Remember…secrets HAD been stolen by commies, China fell, Russia had the bomb

Most congressmen knew McCarthy was low-life BUT because he was popular, they curried his favor

Trials…black listing, no proof, had to turn over others’ names to prove your innocence

McCarthy

Was finally discredited when his “trial” of the U.S. army was televised

Americans witnessed his bullying ways and were disenchanted

He was censored by congress and died by 1954

(Nixon was NOT a close associate of McCarthy’s though he did make a name for himself as a commie fighter)

Terms so Far 1945-Present

Dixiecrats Richard Nixon Fair Deal Loyalty Review

Board Fair Employment Act ChambersOPA HissTaft-Hartley Act Pumpkin PapersDo-Nothing Congress Joe McCarthy

Rosenbergs Witch TrialsHUAC Election 1948McCarren Internal Security Act