Chapter 36
Overview of Domestic Developments
GI Bill (1944)
The Servicemen’s Readjustment Act
benefits included:
• money for college or job training
• loans for homes, farms, or businesses
• unemployment pay of $20 a week for up
to a year
• assistance finding jobs
Taft-Hartley Act (1947)
• The Labor-Management Relations Act,
commonly known as the Taft-Hartley Act,
is a United States federal law that greatly
restricts the activities and power of labor
unions. The Act, still largely in effect, was
passed over U.S. President Harry S.
Truman, in 1947. Among other things, it
outlawed the closed shop (union-only work
place).
Migration to the Sunbelt
Levittown & Suburbanization
• Affordable, mass-produced housing
• How did rapid suburbanization affect the
US?
Baby Boom
Number of births in the United States, 1934 to present
The Second Red Scare
Causes
Federal Efforts to Eradicate
Communism at Home
• Federal Employees Loyalty Program
• House Committee on Un-American
Activities (HUAC)
• Senate investigation led by Joseph
McCarthy
Truman Desegregates the Military
• Executive Order No. 9981
on July 26 1948: "It is
hereby declared to be the
policy of the President
that there shall be
equality of treatment and
opportunity for all persons
in the armed services
without regard to race,
color, religion, or national
origin."
The Dixiecrats
• Mayor Hubert Humphrey of Minneapolis
urging the Democratic party to adopt an
anti-segregationist plank in its platform,
which it did.
• Southern delegates walked out and
formed the States’ Rights Dixiecrat Party
and supported Strom Thurmond for the
presidency instead of Truman.
Election of 1948
Don’t Believe What You Read in the Paper
The Fair Deal
• Announced in the 1949 State of the Union
address.
• It was an ambitious program to improve
housing, increase the minimum wage,
extend social security, and increase
support for farmers.
• Due to congressional opposition, little was
accomplished.