USH 16:1 Return to a Peacetime Economy
• Servicemen's Readjustment Act (“G.I. Bill”)
– Provide funds to veterans:
• Establish businesses
• Buy homes
• Attend college
16:1 Truman’s Legislative Agenda
• Expand social security benefits
• Raise minimum wage
• National health insurance act
16:1 Election of 1948
• Truman v Republican Thomas Dewey
• Truman given little chance of winning
• Truman wins by narrow margin
– Support from farmers, African-Americans, and laborers
– Democrat Party also takes control of Congress
16:1 The Fair Deal
• Raised minimum wage to 75 cents/hour
• Increased social security benefits by 75%
– Extended them to 10 million more people
• National Housing Act of 1949
– Construction of low-income housing
16:1 The Eisenhower Years
• “dynamic conservatism”
– Economic conservatism with activism
– Believed business growth was key
– Cut many federal programs
– Federal Highway Act (1956)
• Largest government works program in history
• $25 billion to construct a 40,000 mile highway system