President Harry S. Truman
Libertyville HS
Election of 1944
• Dem nominee: FDR (of
course . . . )
• GOP nominee: Thomas
Dewey (NY governor)
• Campaign focused on New
Deal, FDR’s popularity
• Wartime successes during
campaign
– Liberation of Paris
– Battle of Leyte Gulf
Results
Roosevelt:
Dewey:
432 ECV / 25.6 million
99 ECV / 22 million
Death of FDR
• FDR, 62 years, was dying
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Paralysis (polio)
Lifetime chain smoker
High blood pressure
Emphysema
Atherosclerosis
Severe heart disease
• April 12, 1945: FDR died
while sitting for portrait
• His death shocked the
nation
Harry S. Truman (1884-1972)
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Missourian
No college degree (2 years)
Served in WWI (Artillery)
Elected to US Senate from
MO, in 1934
– “Truman Committee”
investigated fraud,
mismanagement in military
during WWII
• Selected VP in 1944 (didn’t
want it)
• VP 82 days before becoming
president
President Truman
• Asked all members of
FDR’s cabinet to stay
– Central principle of his
admin: they advise, he
decides, they support
– “The Buck Stops Here”
– “If you can’t stand the
heat…”
• Avid walker through DC
• Called “the common
man’s common man”
(down home, folksy)
Truman: Foreign policy challenges
• United Nations
– Truman strongly supported
institution
• Soviet Union
– Aggressively spreading
communism in Greece,
Eastern Europe, Turkey
– “Truman Doctrine”: policy of
containment of USSR
– US would support “free
peoples resisting subjugation”
• Recognition of Israel, May
14, 1948
Truman: Foreign policy challenges
• Rebuilding Europe: The Marshall
Plan
– Reconstruction of participating
European states
– “Softer” side of Truman Doctrine
– Great success in resisting
communism and helping Europe
rebuild ($12.2 billion over 4 years)
• Cold War
– Truman started policy of
confronting USSR, ideologically
– Re-organized military services
– Created CIA
– Created National Security Council
Marshall Plan recipients; red bar
Shows relative total aid per state
Truman: Domestic Transition
• Goals of administration for
postwar America
– Make transition from wartime
to a prosperous peace time
economy
– Resume and extend New Deal
social programs
• Fear: returning vets would
cause spike in unemployment,
like after WWI
Truman: Domestic Transition
• “G. I. Bill of Rights”
(1944) would aid GIs’
return to civilian life
– Education (free college
education – 51% of vets)
– Housing (100% loans for
homes)
– Business (loans to start)
– Farm (100% loans to buy
farms)
– 1 year unemployment
comp
Truman: Domestic Transition
• Employment Act of 1946
– Gov’t effort to control economy
of US
– Goals
• Promote maximum employment
• Promote maximum production
• Promote maximum purchasing
power
– Created Council of Economic
Advisors
• Advise, assist President in forming
economic policy
– Created Joint Economic
Committee: joint congressional
committee to study, plan policies
Resurgent GOP
• Post war problems in US
– Inflation increasing
– Labor unrest
– Wartime economic controls
still in place
– World tensions (USSR)
• “Voter fatigue”
– After 14 years of unified
Democratic control of gov’t,
people wanted change
– GOP Slogan: “Had enough?”
• 1946 Congressional midterm
elections
– +55 GOP in House, +12 in
Senate
– GOP in control (last in 1928)
Legislative Accomplishments of the
“Do Nothing” Congress
• Congressional approval of the
22nd Amendment (President
limited to 2 terms)
• Taft-Hartley Act
– Allowed states to adopt “right to
work” rules
– Drove communists out of labor
movement
– Adjusted balance of NLRA
between business, labor
– Unions HATED it!!!
• Ended wage, price controls
(but NOT rent controls)
• Passed major tax cut
Truman & Civil Rights
• Commission to study issue –
1947 report
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Create Civil Rights Commission
Punish lynching
Abolish poll tax
Create fair employment
commission
• Blasted by Southern
Democrats as DOA
• Truman 1948 Exec Orders
– Desegregated federal work
force
– Desegregated military
1948 Election
• Truman ran on promise of a
“Fair Deal”
– National health insurance
– Repeal of Taft-Hartley
– Aggressive civil rights laws
• GOP : Thomas Dewey
– Controlled Eastern GOP machine
• “Dixiecrats”: Strom Thurmond
– Continue racial segregation
• “Progressives”: Henry Wallace
– FDR’s VP, from 1941-45
– Called for closer relations with
USSR
– Universal health care
1948 Election
• Three way split in
Democratic party!
• GOP unified, in control of
Congress = very confident
Results
Truman:
Dewey:
Thurmond:
• Result?
303 ECV / 24.1 million
189 ECV / 22 million
39 ECV / 1.1 million
Dems regained control of Congress!!
Truman’s Second Term
• Dominated by foreign
affairs, due to containment
doctrine
• Berlin Airlift
• Formation of NATO, 1949
• Founding of People’s
Republic of China, 1949
• Soviet espionage and the
A-bomb
• Korean War
• Support for French in
Vietnam