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Postwar Domestic Politics and a little cold war stuff thrown in at the end. 1946-1961. Truman’s “Fair Deal”. Expansion of Social Security Raising of min. wage Permanent Fair Employment Practices Act Ensure full employment through federal spending and investment Public Housing
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Postwar Domestic Politics and a little cold war stuff thrown in at the end 1946-1961
Truman’s “Fair Deal” • Expansion of Social Security • Raising of min. wage • Permanent Fair Employment Practices Act • Ensure full employment through federal spending and investment • Public Housing • Slum clearance • Long range environmental and public works projects • Govt promotion of scientific research • Nationalize atomic energy • National Health insurance
Republican Control of 80thCOngress • 1946 Midterm Elections • Reduce govt spending and chip away at New Deal • Senator Robert Taft responding to inflation of meat prices: “Eat less.” • Cut tax rates of wealthiest Americans; refused to increase Social Security, funding for education and power projects in West • Taft-Hartley Act (1947) • Closed shop illegal • Permitted states to pass “right-to-work” laws
Election of 1948 • Truman was defeated by Congress time and time again • Democratic Defections • Southern conservatives leave b/c of proposed civil rights bill, civil rights plank in Dem. Platform • States’ Rights Party (Dixiecrats) • Progressive Party • Left wing of party; Truman slow, too confrontational w/ USSR • After convention, desegregates army • Call special session of Congress • “Do-nothing, good-for-nothing Congress”
Fair Deal Redux • Raised min. wage • Expanded Social Security ( benefits: 75%, 10 million addt ppl • National Housing Act of 1949 (low income housing) • FOILED • 😰 National Health Insurance • 😰 Civil Rights Bill • 😰New Fair Employment Practices Commission
Korean War Online presentation • http://uccpbank.k12hsn.org/courses/APUSHistoryII/course%20files/multimedia/lesson67/lessonp_uccp_ap.html
Fueling the Anxiety • Government Intervention • House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) • Loyalty Review Board • Hollywood 10 • McCarran Internal Security Act • Spies • Alger Hiss • Rosenbergs • Arms Race
McCarthyism • Used growing anxiety over Communism to fuel his political power and popularity • Regularly accused the government (especially the State Department) of being full of Communist sympathizers • “I have in my hand…” • Accusations of Communists in the military (and his boorish and bullying portrayal on TV) led to his demise. • He was officially sanctioned by the Senate and later died of complications with alcoholism. • McCarthyism = witch hunt
Eisenhower (53-61) Republicanism • Dynamic Conservatism • Budget Cutting • Govt support for big business • Return of federal functions back to state and local govt • :In all those things which deal with people, be liberal, be human but when it comes to people’s money, or their economy, or their form of government be conservative.”
Issues/Events • Civil Rights • Plessy vs. Ferguson overturned • Public Schools Integrated • Rosa Parks • Montgomery Bus Strike • Rise of Martin Luther King • Little Rock Nine • Cold War • Ended the Korean War • Suez Canal • Hungary • Berlin • Sputnik • U-2 Spy Plane
Federal Highway Act of 1956 • Used Cold War Fear • Survival of Welfare State • Decline of McCarthyism
Dulles and “massive retaliation” • Containment is expensive • “Liberation” • Nukes as deterrent • Brinksmanship leads to concessions • “more bang for our buck”
The Hungarian Uprising: 1956 Imre Nagy, HungarianPrime Minister • Promised free elections. • This could lead to the end of communist rule in Hungary.
Sputnik I (1957) The Russians have beaten America in space—they have the technological edge!
U-2 Spy Incident (1960) Col. Francis Gary Powers’splane was shot down over Soviet airspace.