UNITED STATES
DOMESTIC POLICIES
(1945-2000)
Unit VIIB
AP U.S. History
Fundamental Question

Compare and contrast the administrations of
Democratic presidents and Republican
presidents regarding political and
economical policies.
Harry Truman (D) (1945-1953)

Postwar Economic Issues
 To avoid unemployment, eliminated price
controls leading to inflation and strikes
 Employment Act of 1946


Council of Economic Advisers
Mid-Term Election of 1946
 Led to Republican majorities in Congress
 “Do Nothing Congress”

Taft-Hartley Act (1947)



Prohibited closed shops, political
contributions, sympathy strikes
Presidential Succession Act of 1947
22nd Amendment (1951)
 Two-term limits for President

Civil Rights
 Committee on Civil Rights (1946)
 Executive Order 9981 (1948)

Desegregated the federal government and
military
Election of 1948

Democrats
 Harry Truman
 Progressive Party
 Henry Wallace
 States’ Rights
Party (Dixiecrats)
 Strom
Thurmond

Republicans
 Thomas Dewey
Truman’s Fair Deal


A continuation of New Dealstyle social welfare programs
Successful Policies:
 Expansion of Social Security
 Increased minimum wage 40
cents to 75 cents
 Housing Act of 1949


Urban projects and public
housing
Failures:
 Prevention by Republican and
Southern Democrat coalition
 National healthcare insurance
 Limited civil rights legislation
Election of 1952

Republicans
 Dwight D.
Eisenhower
I
Like Ike
 Richard Nixon
as VP
 Checkers
speech

Democrats
 Adlai
Stevenson

Dwight D. Eisenhower (R) (1953-1961)
Modern Republicanism
Philosophy of Dynamic Conservatism
 Balanced budgets
 Federal support for business
 Reduce federal powers and influence to
states/locals
 Progressive republicans
 Effects





Major Policies





Increased appropriations to Defense
Automation
Middle Class expansion
Per-capita increases, low inflation, rising
GDP
Soil-Bank Program (1956)
Interstate Highway System (1956)
National Defense Education Act (1958)
Department of Health, Education, and
Welfare (1953)
Civil Rights Events
 Brown v. Board of Education (1954)
 Rosa Parks and Montgomery Bus
Boycott (1955-1956)
 Little Rock Nine (1957)
Interstate Highway System
Election of 1956

Republicans
 Dwight D.
Eisenhower

Democrats
 Adlai Stevenson

Television
 Became the
dominant medium
 Housewife
commercials
Election of 1960


Republicans
 Richard Nixon
Democrats
 John F. Kennedy

Massachusetts
 Catholic
 Balanced ticket with
Lyndon Johnson (DTX)

Debates
 Radio - Nixon
 Television - Kennedy
John F. Kennedy (D) (1961-1963)

New Frontier




Fiscal conservatism
Expansion of social welfare
Clean Air Act (1963)
Attorney General Robert
Kennedy and Civil Rights
“Ask not what your country
can do for you--ask what you
can do for your country.”
 23rd Amendment (1961)

 Electoral votes for D.C.
Kennedy’s Assassination



Dallas, Texas on November 22, 1963
Warren Commission
 Investigations and hearings ruled Lee
Harvey Oswald as lone assassin
 Conspiracy theories led to doubt of
federal government
Lyndon B. Johnson assumes office
JFK moments before his
assassination in Dallas
Lee Harvey Oswald shot
by Jack Ruby
LBJ takes oath
of office on Air
Force One
Lyndon B. Johnson (D) (1963-1969)

Great Society
 Civil Rights Era
 24th Amendment (1964)
 Poll taxes unconstitutional

25th Amendment (1967)
 Presidential succession

Vietnam
Election of 1964

Democrats
 Lyndon B.
Johnson
 Daisy Ad

Republicans
 Barry Goldwater
 Criticized welfare
state policies
Lyndon B. Johnson (D) (1963-1969)
Great Society

War on Poverty





Office of Economic Opportunity
Food Stamps
Community Action
Job Corps
Civil Rights Legislation
 Civil Rights Act of 1964
 Voting Rights Act of 1965

Immigration

 National Traffic and Motor Vehicle
Safety Act



Housing
Education
 Elementary and Secondary
Education Act
 Head Start

Health Care
 Medicare

Health services for elderly
 Medicaid

Health services for low-income
families
Environmental Protection
Cultural Promotion
 National Historic Preservation
 National Endowment for the Arts
AND the Humanities
 Public broadcasting (PBS) and
public radio (NPR)
 Department of Housing and Urban
Development (HUD)

Safety belts, redesigns for
protection, drunk drivers
 Wilderness Act
 Endangered Species Act
 Immigration Act of 1965

Department of Transportation

Consumer Protection
 Fair Packaging and Labeling Act

Fiscal Policies
 $10 Billion Tax Cuts

Consumer spending rose 45%
The Warren Court (1953-1969)

Equality
 Brown v. Board of Education (1954)
 Baker v. Carr (1962)

Criminal Justice





First Amendment





Mapp v. Ohio (1961)
Gideon v. Wainwright (1963)
Escobedo v. Illinois (1964)
Miranda v. Arizona (1966)
Engel v. Vitale (1962)
Brandenburg v. Ohio (1969)
Tinker v. Des Moines (1969)
New York Times v. Sullivan (1964)
Privacy
 Griswold v. Connecticut (1965)
Election of 1968

Democrats
 Lyndon Johnson
rescinded nomination
due to Vietnam
 Robert Kennedy
assassination
 National Convention
Riots in Chicago
 Hubert Humphrey

Republicans
 Richard Nixon

Peace and Honor
 Law and Order

American
Independent
 George Wallace
Richard Nixon (R) (1969-1974)

Political Policy
 Silent Majority

WWII veterans, Midwest, South, blue collar, suburbia,
rural America
 Southern Strategy


Appeal to conservative Solid South
Busing and Desegregation
 New Federalism/Competitive Federalism

Revenue sharing and block grants
 Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)
 War on Drugs

Economy
 1973 Oil Crisis and Stagflation
 “I am now a Keynesian in economics.”




Spending cuts to deficit spending
90-day price and wage controls
Devalued dollar off gold standard
Conservation
 Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
 Clean Air Act of 1970

26th Amendment (1971)
 Right to vote at 18 years old
Election of 1972

Republicans
 Richard Nixon

Democrats
 George
McGovern
Watergate

Committee to Re-Elect the
President (CREEP)
 G. Gordon Liddy
 Break-In at Democratic National
Headquarters at Watergate Hotel
(June 1972)

Bob Woodward and Carl
Bernstein - Washington Post
 Deepthroat - Mark Felt

Saturday Night Massacre
(October 20, 1973)
 Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox
 “I’m not a crook.”

Nixon Tapes
 United States v. Nixon (1974)

Resignation (August 9, 1974)
 In lieu of impeachment articles
Gerald Ford (R) (1974-1977)

Assumed office after Nixon’s
resignation
 Pardons Nixon to end
“national nightmare”

Economy
 Stagflation
 WIN (Whip Inflation
Now)
 Inflation
soared despite call
for voluntarism by
businesses and consumers
 Necessitated stimulus plan
from Congressional
Democrats
Election of 1976

Republicans
 Gerald Ford
 Ronald
Reagan had
threatened
nomination

Democrats
 Jimmy Carter
 Washington
outsider
 Georgia
governor
Jimmy Carter (D) (1977-1981)


Amnesty to Vietnam draft dodgers
Economy
 1979 Energy Crisis

Iranian Revolution
 Three Mile Island (1979)
 Stagflation continued
 “Malaise Speech”

Crisis of Confidence
 Dependency on oil and nonrenewable fuels will affect the future
 Federal Reserve Chairman Paul
Volcker

Raised interest rates to highest
levels
 Resulted in higher inflation and
lower GDP in the short-run
 In the long-run, the economy
recovered but after Carter’s
administration
Conservative Resurgence


Reaction to counterculture and
liberalism of 1960s and 1970s
Personalities





Demographics







William F. Buckley
Barry Goldwater
Milton Friedman
Ronald Reagan
Blue-collar workers
Yuppies and Corporates
Fundamentalists
Rural, suburbs/commuter towns
Southern Democrats shifted Republican
Midwest more solidly Republican
Moral Majority and Televangelists
 Jerry Falwell
 Pat Robertson
Election of 1980

Democrats
 Jimmy Carter

Republicans
 Ronald Reagan

Campaign
 Debate
 “There
you go
again.”
 “Are you better
now than you
were four years
ago?”
Ronald Reagan (R) (1981-1989)
Reagan Revolution

“Reaganomics” - Supply-Side Economics
 Tax Cuts

Economic Recovery Tax Act (1981)
 Tax Reform Act of 1986
 Spending cuts on domestic and social welfare
programs
 Massive military expenditures
 Deregulation - New Federalism

Limited regulation of businesses
 Opened up federal conservation lands for
resources and development


PATCO Strike (1981)
Immigration Reform and Control Act (1986)
Election of 1984

Republicans
 Ronald Reagan

Democrats
 Walter Mondale
 Nominated
Geraldine
Ferraro as VP

Rainbow
Coalition
 Campaign
 Morning in
America
Reagan’s Impact

The Economy Under Reaganomics
 Tripled national debt

$900 billion to $2.7 trillion
 Trade deficits and debtor status
 Inflation

12.5%(1980) to 4.4% (1988)
 Unemployment

7.5% (1980) to 5.4% (1988)
 Socioeconomic gap widened
 Welfare programs cut

Black Monday (Oct. 19, 1987)
 Stock prices fell 508 points - largest in history


Savings and Loan Crisis
Conservative Supreme Court Nominations
 Sandra Day O’Connor - first female Justice
 Antonin Scalia
 Anthony Kennedy

War on Drugs
 Just Say No - Nancy Reagan
The Burger Court (1969-1986)









Lemon v. Kurtzman (1971)
New York Times v. United
States (1971)
Roe v. Wade (1973)
Miller v. California (1973)
United States v. Nixon
(1974)
Buckley v. Valeo (1976)
Gregg v. Georgia (1976)
Regents of UC v. Bakke
(1978)
Bowers v. Hardwick (1986)
Election of 1988

Democrats
 Michael Dukakis

Republicans
 George H.W.
Bush

Campaign
 “Read my lips. No
new taxes.”
 Dukakis in the
Tank
 Willie Horton ad
George H.W. Bush (R) (1989-1993)

American with
Disabilities Act (1990)
 Recession (1990-1991)
 Savings and Loan Crisis

27th Amendment (1992)
 Persian Gulf War (1991)
 Highest popularity due to
swift victory
Election of 1992

Democrats
 Bill Clinton

Republicans
 George H.W. Bush

Reform Party
 H. Ross Perot
Bill Clinton (D) (1993-2001)

North Atlantic Free Trade
Agreement (NAFTA)
(1994)
 Republican Revolution
(1994)
 Contract with America
 Newt Gingrich

Welfare Reform Act (1996)
 Lewinski Scandal
 Impeachment
Election of 1996

Democrats
 Bill Clinton

Republicans
 Bob Dole

Reform Party
 H. Ross Perot
Election of 2000

Democrats
 Al Gore

Republicans
 George W.
Bush

Green Party
 Ralph Nader

Bush v. Gore
(2000)