POSTWAR AMERICA
TRUMAN AND
EISENHOWER
23.1
RETURNING TO A PEACETIME
ECONOMY
• After the war, many Americans feared returning to
a peacetime economy
• However, it continued to grow
• Rushed out to buy consumer goods they had long desired
• Why were Americans worried?
• Think about how WWII changed the work force
GI BILL
GI BILL
• Provided funds to veterans to help them establish
businesses, buy homes, and attend college
• Helped create American middle class
• Hurt minorities
TAFT-HARTLEY ACT AND
CLOSED SHOPS
TAFT-HARTLEY ACT
• Outlawed the closed shop
(practice of forcing business
owners to hire only union
members)
• Held irresponsible unions in
check
TRUMAN’S LEGISLATIVE
AGENDA
• Expansion of social security benefits
• Raising minimum wage
• Public housing
• Asked Congress to pass a broad civil rights bill that
would protect African Americans’ right to vote and
make lynching a federal crime
• Little success- faced with conservative Southern
Democrats and Republicans
ELECTION OF 1948
1948 ELECTION AND TRUMAN'S FAIR
DEAL
Truman (support
from laborers,
African Americans,
and farmers)
vs.
NY Governor
Thomas Dewey
(predicted winner)
TRUMAN WINS ELECTION OF 1948
“DO –NOTHING”
CONGRESS
TRUMAN’S FAIR DEAL
TRUMAN’S FAIR DEAL
Expansion of social security benefits
Increase in the minimum wage
A program to ensure full employment
A program of public housing and slum clearance
A long range plan for environmental and public
works
• A system of national health insurance
• A broad program of civil rights legislation
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EISENHOWER’S DYNAMIC
CONSERVATISM
EISENHOWER TAKES OFFICE IN 1952
• “Dynamic conservatism”
• Balancing economic conservatism with activism in areas
that would benefit the country
FEDERAL HIGHWAY ACT
FEDERAL HIGHWAY ACT
• Largest public works program in American history
• $25 billion for a 10 year effort to construct more
than 40,000 miles of interstate highways
• What would be the benefits? Think of society today