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The Truman Presidency (1945 to 1953)

The Truman Presidency (1945 to 1953). 1946 to 1961:. Four Main Themes. COLD WAR CONSUMERISM A CONFIDENT NATION CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT. Was it a time of “happy days or anxiety, alienation and social unrest”?. Post War America-Demobilization. Serviceman’s Readjustment Act of 1944 Baby Boom

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The Truman Presidency (1945 to 1953)

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  1. The Truman Presidency(1945 to 1953)

  2. 1946 to 1961: Four Main Themes • COLD WAR • CONSUMERISM • A CONFIDENT NATION • CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT Was it a time of “happy days or anxiety, alienation and social unrest”?

  3. Post War America-Demobilization • Serviceman’s Readjustment Act of 1944 • Baby Boom • Suburban Growth • Rise of the Sunbelt

  4. GI BILL OF RIGHTS • On June 22, 1944, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the "Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944" • “GI Bill of Rights”

  5. GI BILL OF RIGHTS • Help veterans adjust to civilian life after separation from service • Gain higher education if you couldn’t afford one • Restore lost educational opportunities because of military service. • Enhance our nation through a more highly educated and productive work force • FDR signing the GI Bill of Rights into law. • This was a correction of our mistake after WWI.

  6. GI BILL OF RIGHTS • GI Bill provided 6 benefits • education and training • Loans for a home, farm, or business • unemployment pay of $20 a week for 52 weeks • job-finding assistance • Eligible for GI Bill Benefits • WWII veteran, served 90 days or more after September 16, 1940 and a honorable discharge. • Program ended July 25, 1956 • Of the 15,440,000 veterans, some 7.8 million were trained. • 2,230,000 in college • 3,480,000 in other schools • 1,400,000 in on-job training • 690,000 in farm training Total cost of the World War II education program was $14.5 billion.

  7. Baby Boomers • It seems to me that every other young housewife I see is pregnant. • British visitor to America, 1958.

  8. Baby Boomers • During Great Depression, birthrate and population decreased. • Post WWII, both increase

  9. Levittown, New York (Long Island) “The American Dream” Suburban Living 1949  William Levitt produced 150 houses per week. $7,990 or $60/month with no down payment.

  10. Suburban Living:The New “American Dream” 1 story high 12’x19’ living room 2 bedrooms tiled bathroom garage small backyard front lawn By 1960  1/3 of the U. S. population in the suburbs.

  11. Suburban Living • SHIFTS IN POPULATION DISTRIBUTION, 1940-1970 • 194019501960 1970 • Central Cities 31.6% 32.3% 32.6% 32.0% • Suburbs 19.5% 23.8% 30.7% 41.6% • Rural Areas/ 48.9% 43.9% 36.7% 26.4% • Small Towns • U. S. Bureau of the Census.

  12. Suburban LivingThe Typical TV Suburban Families Leave It to Beaver1957-1963 The Donna Reed Show1958-1966 Father Knows Best1954-1958 The Ozzie & Harriet Show1952-1966

  13. The Sun Belt Industries --aerospace, defense and oil companies took advantage of the low involvement of labor unions

  14. Post War Politics • Economic Program and Civil Rights • Employment Act of 1946 • maintaining a high employment level of labor and price stability • Inflation and Strikes • Civil Rights: Integrates the military • Republican Control of the 80th Congress • 22nd Amendment- Term Limits • Taft-Hartley Act (1947) • Election of 1948 • The Fair Deal

  15. Division in the Democratic Party • States’ Rights Democratic Party “Dixiecrat” “Strom Thurmond” • Progressive Party “Henry A. Wallace”

  16. Taft-Hartley Act (1947) • Weaken labor unions • Banned closed shops • Strikes- 8 day “cooling off” period • “right to work laws” Fred A. Hartley, Jr. Robert A. Taft

  17. TRUMAN RE-ELECTED

  18. TRUMAN AT HOME Truman’s “Fair Deal” program • called for improved housing • full employment • a higher minimum wage • better farm price supports • New Tennessee Valley Administrations • extension of Social Security. “Point Four Program” • financial support of poor, underdeveloped lands • keep underprivileged peoples from becoming communists.

  19. Fighting Communism on the Home front

  20. Nuclear Testing At Home

  21. Desert Research Institute • Between 1949 and 1963, the United States and Soviet Union conducted more than 100 above ground nuclear weapons tests. • Limited Test Ban Treaty in 1963 banned all above-ground testing sending nuclear tests underground. • On Oct. 26, 1963 at the Shoal underground nuclear test site 1,204 feet below the surface a nuclear detonation conducted in the Sand Springs Mountain Range about 30 miles southeast of Fallon, Nevada. • Produced a yield of 12.5 kilotons and analyzed seismic detection of underground nuclear tests in active earthquake areas. • The veiled purpose of the experiment may have been to discern the difference between Russian earthquakes and Russian nuclear testing.

  22. red scare3 H U A C • House Committee for Un-American Activities • 1938–75, Congress investigated Americans suspected as communists • HUAC committee warned of civil rights violations. • Witnesses who refused to answer were cited for contempt of Congress.

  23. red scare3 HOUSE COMMITTE FOR UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES • 1947 investigation led to prison sentences for contempt known as the Hollywood Ten. • Blacklisted:a list of persons who are under suspicion, disfavor, or censure, or who are not to be hired, served, or otherwise accepted.

  24. red scare3 HOUSE COMMITTE FOR UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES Alger Hiss Whitaker Chambers Richard Nixon • In 1948, Whittaker Chambers made accusations of Soviet espionage against former State Dept. official Alger Hiss • Hiss found guilty of spying & sentenced to 10 yrs in prison • Richard Nixon, Congressmen from California was part of the HUAC that investigated Alger Hiss.

  25. NATO 1949, THE YEAR OF SHOCK • Soviets detonate their first atomic bomb….. • The question is raised, where did they get the technology the bomb? • Ethel and Julius Rosenberg would be accused of giving away atomic bomb secrets. • Charged with espionage they would be found guilty and executed in 1953.

  26. red scare RED SCARE • Red Scare was Americans response to the fear of Communism • Senator Joseph McCarthy accused 205 US Govt. officials of being Communist. • McCarthyismto destroy or assassinate one’s character without proof and it ruined the careers of many Americans. Became a witch hunt that led to Americans pledging a “loyalty oath” to the United States…….

  27. CIVIL RIGHTS • African American WWII veterans returned to Jim Crow and discrimination. • During WWI, Europeans treated Black soldiers as equals. • 1948, President Truman signed into law the Civil Rights Act of 1948 • Integrated the military • Integrated the federal government. • Jackie Robinson broke the “colored barrier” and played major league baseball with the Brooklyn Dodgers……1947 to 1956 • 1950’s, begins the Civil Rights movement for equality in society.

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