In office April 12, 1945 – January 20, 1953
By: Grant Rosen and Antonio Venezio
Key Terms
 21 Points
 Fair Deal
 Vocational Education
 Pension rates
Background
 Harry Truman was born on May 6, 1884 in
Lamar, Missouri and died on December 26,
1972.
 Served in the Missouri Army National
Guard from 1905 to 1911.
 Took night classes at Kansas City Law
School from 1923 to 1925, but never got a
college degree. His highest level of certified
education was graduating high school.
 Senator of Missouri from January 3,
1935 to January 17, 1945.
 Vice President from January 20, 1945 to
April 12, 1945.
 President from April 12, 1945 to January
20, 1953. He took office after the death of
Franklin D. Roosevelt.
21 Points
 Truman proposed the 21 points to Congress in
September of 1945.
 The 21 points covered a variety of programs to help aid
the economy out of a time of war and into a time of peace.
These programs included improved unemployment
compensation, increased minimum wage, decreased cost
of living, more job opportunities that would allow for fulltime work, and improved federal aid to veterans.
 Initially many of these new programs were not at all
successful, with much of Congress being entirely against
the propositions. They were subsequently were put aside
so that other matters could be focused on. Truman’s
popularity rating ended up plummeting to 32 percent by
September 1946, and many citizens wondered if he was
an effective leader. It wasn’t until 1948 when Truman
introduced what became known as the Fair Deal that many
of these reforms began to really take effect.
Fair Deal
 After Truman was re-elected, he didn’t hesitate
to present the “Fair Deal” to Congress. The Fair
Deal was an agenda layout of various programs
that Truman wanted to put into effect throughout
1949.
 The Fair Deal, like his earlier 21 points, aimed
to create new programs that would help, provide
new jobs, expand the education system, construct
new houses, compensate war veterans, and more.
 Also like the 21 Points, the programs introduced
in the Fair Deal were not well supported by
Congress, aside from a few such as The Housing
Act of 1949, and the various Veteran’s programs.
Education
 In 1946, the National School Lunch
and Milk Act was put into effect which
established school lunch programs
across the nation that were intended to
provide healthy meals for the students.
 In 1946, The George-Barden Act
increased the federal support for
vocational education.
 In 1950, long term loans were made to
colleges to support construction of new
dormitories.
 In 1950, $96.5 million was used for
school construction.
Housing
 In 1947, the Federal Housing and Rent Act allowed for the construction of more rental
houses in cities.
 There was a significant increase in the money provided for farm houses.
 The Housing Act of 1949 turned out to be one of the few major successes of the Fair
Deal. The Act strived to accommodate all American families with a decent home by building
more than 800,000 new public houses.
Veterans
 Unlike much of the rest of the Fair
Deal, the Veteran’s programs that
aimed to support returning soldiers
from World War II were widely
accepted and successful.
 The Veteran’s Emergency Housing
Act of 1946 provided housing for the
returning soldiers.
 Veteran’s compensation and pension
rates were increased in 1952.
Bibliography
Beschloss, Michael, and Hugh Sidey. "Health Care Reform and You." The
White House.
White House Historical Association, 2009. Web. 19 Mar. 2012.
<http://www.whitehouse.gov>.
Kennedy, David M., Lizabeth Cohen, and Thomas Andrew Bailey.
"Chapter 38." The American Pageant: A History of the Republic.
11th ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2006. Print.
"Miller Center." Miller Center. Web. 20 Mar. 2012.
<http://millercenter.org/>.