Chapter 27Postwar America

Section 1

Truman & Eisenhower

Return to Peacetime Economy

• Servicemen’s Readjustment Act (GI Bill) – helped the economy by providing loans to veterans to attend college, set up businesses, and buy homes.

Inflation and Strikes

• Increased spending led to higher prices for goods, which then led to rising inflation.

• Workers went on strike for increased wages.

• Pres. Truman, fearing an energy shortage, forced miners to return to work after a month-long strike.

Republican Victory

• 1946 – Republicans wanted change and elected Republicans in both houses of Congress.

Republican Changes

• Taft-Hartley Act – (passed in 1947)– cut the power of organized labor– Outlawed the closed shop, or practice of

forcing business owners to hire only union members

– States could pass right-to-work laws outlawing union shops, or shops where new workers were required to join the union

– Prohibited featherbedding, the limiting of work output in order to create more jobs.

Truman’s Domestic Program

• Some of Truman’s many proposals included:– Expansion of Social Security benefits– Raising minimum wage from 40 to 75 cents– Broad civil rights bill

Election of 1948

• As the election approached, it looked as if Truman would not be reelected.

• Truman criticized, “Do-Nothing Congress” because it hadn’t enacted any of his proposals.

• Truman won and Democrats regained both houses of Congress

Election of 1948

The Fair Deal

• Truman’s domestic agenda was known as the Fair Deal.

• Congress did not support all Truman’s ideas.

• Congress passed– Minimum wage increase– Social Security expansion

• Congress refused to pass– National health insurance– Civil rights legislation

The Eisenhower Years

• Truman decided not to run for reelection.

• Eisenhower’s slogan – “It’s time for a change!”

• Won by a landslide.

• Vice President was Richard M. Nixon.

Ike as President

• Political beliefs were midway b/w conservative and liberal.

• “Dynamic Conservatism” – the balancing of economic conservation with some activism.

Conservative Ike

• Ended gov’t price and rent controls.

• Vetoed a school construction bill.

• Cut aid for public housing

• Supported tax reductions

Activist Ike

• Pushed for passage of the Federal Highway Act, which provided $25 billion for a 10-year project to construct 40,000 miles of interstate highways.

• Authorized the construction of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Seaway.

Election of 1956

End of Section 1

Next: Section 2

The Affluent Society