2) President Truman: Domestic Policies 1945-53

Question 1

What are the positives of the American politics system?

Answer 1

The system stops a group or individual getting too powerful as it is a system with checks + balances

Question 2

What are the negatives of the American politics system?

Answer 2

. There could be corruption as the president chooses judges
. Congress are more powerful than president
. Could create political stalemate/gridlock (nothing moves)

Question 3

What was Roosevlet’s New Deal 1933-38?

Answer 3

a series of domestic programs introduced to kick start the economy + provide jobs for the poor + unemployed after the Great Depression

Question 4

How did the US experience Post War prosperity?

Answer 4

. the US experienced economic boom during WW2 when the combination of factories working at full speed to produce war material and millions of citizens serving in the military resulted in full, well paid employment
. this meant the US economy was the most dynamic and successful in 1945 + made vital contribution to post war prosperity

Question 5

What problems was Truman facing with the economy?

Answer 5

. transition from wartime to peacetime economy
. inflation at 25%
. democratic defeat in the midterm election 1946
. trade union demands for higher wages
. opposition of conservative republicans towards state interventions to solve these problems

Question 6

What were Trumans solutions to the problems facing the economy?

Answer 6

. Fair Deal
. kept army 3 million
. Price Control Bill 1946 (conservative opposition)
. Council of Economic Advisors
. investment through the GI Bill
. suburban housing
. encouraged industrial production
. Office of Price Administration (conservative opposition)0

Question 7

What fears caused the rise of McCarthyism?

Answer 7

. Economic fear (com + rich)
. Military fear (soviet + Chinese armies)
. Fall of china
. Soviet atomic bomb success
. Psychological need for US to have an enemy
. Politicians exaggerating threat
. Rise of organised labour/ unions

Question 8

What does HUAC stand for?

Answer 8

House Un-american Activities Committee

Question 9

Why did Truman over exaggerate the Red Scare?

Answer 9

to get support for the Truman Doctrine

Question 10

How many investigations were there to hunt out communists?

Answer 10

3 million

Question 11

What was the ‘lavender scare’?

Answer 11

suspicion of homosexuality as they may be targeted by communists

Question 12

What was the group of writers and directors part of the communist party who HUAC investigated?

Answer 12

The Hollywood 10

Question 13

How many people lost their jobs due to McCarthy hysteria?

Answer 13

. 500 state and local gov employees
. 600 school teachers
. 150 college professors

Question 14

Who were the American citizens executed for espionage in the Cold War?

Answer 14

Julius and Ethel Rosenburg

Question 15

How did Republican Party ambitions increase Red Scare hysteria?

Answer 15

McCarthy convinced many Americans that the Truman administration contained Communists in order to gain support for the Republican Party

Question 16

What was the Red Scare?

Answer 16

fears of subversion by communists in the US after the Russian revolution which lead to the deportation of several hundred immigrants

Question 17

Why was McCarthy catapulted to the forefront of American politics?

Answer 17

because he claimed to have a list of 205 Communist Party members working for the US department (this was never proven)

Question 18

How did McCarthy get away with it?

Answer 18

. fear of communism expansion
. hysteria of anti-communism
. spy scares
. republican ambitions
. accusations against democrats (com sympathisers)
. good relationship with press
. mindless conformity of Cold War Americans

Question 19

What did the senate establish to investigate McCarthys claims and what did they find?

Answer 19

. Millard Tyding’s committee who reported McCarthy’s claims ‘a fraud and a hoax’

Question 20

Why did conservative Democrat Millard Tydings loose support during the Red Scare?

Answer 20

because a fake photograph was circulating of him and the US Communist Party leader Earl Browder

Question 21

What is De Jure Segregation?

Answer 21

legal segregation of races which was the situation in the south, often referred to as the ‘Jim Crow Laws’

Question 22

What is De Facto Segregation?

Answer 22

segregation of races in fact rather than in law, was the reality faced by black Americans in the north

Question 23

What is the colour and symbol of the Democratic Party?

Answer 23

. blue
. donkey

Question 24

What is the colour and symbol of the Republican Party?

Answer 24

. red
. elephant

Question 25

How many Congress Bills had Truman vetoed?

Answer 25

250

Question 26

What was the Republican slogan during the 1946 election?

Answer 26

'Had Enough?'

Question 27

What was the 'Great Migration'?

Answer 27

hen over 6 million black Americans migrated from the rural south to the cities in the North, Midwest + West between 1910-1970

Question 28

Where did black Americans live in cities?

Answer 28

the ghetto

Question 29

What happened when a New Orleans bus driver ordered a black serviceman to the back of the bus?

Answer 29

. the man refused . all 24 black passengers supported him . they all ended up in prison . this demonstrated that attitudes were changing

Question 30

How did black veterans benefit from the Bill of Rights?

Answer 30

many attended college which improved their employment opportunities + more articulate to demanding equality

Question 31

What is the NAACP?

Answer 31

. National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People . established to campaign for racial equality

Question 32

What did the NAACP membership rise to after the Second World War?

Answer 32

50,000 to 450,000

Question 33

What did Thurgood Marshall do as a black activist?

Answer 33

successfully challenged separate but equal ruling from Plessy vs Ferguson won many rulings against the 'separate but equal' rulings

Question 34

What did A. Phillip Randolph do as a black activist?

Answer 34

. threatened a mass march on Washington DC to protest against discrimination in defence industry, leading to FEPC . created Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters Union . used Cold War situation to persuade Truman to desegregate the military . Civil Rights march on Washington 1963 which helped pass the 1964 Civil Rights Act

Question 35

What did Adam Clayton Powell do as a black activist?

Answer 35

. lead a successful boycott against New York bus companies that only employed whites . founded newspaper 'People Voice' which campaigned against discriminatory employers . won a seat on the NYC council . elected to Congress . aligned with the black power movement

Question 36

What was CORE and what did they do?

Answer 36

. Congress Of Racial Equality . organised wartime sit-ins in segregated Chicago restaurants + 'Journey of Reconciliation' where 8 white + 8 black activists rode buses across the south to test the Morgan vs Virginia ruling

Question 37

What was 'To Secure These Rights'?

Answer 37

It was a report released by The Presidents Committee on Civil Rights which attacked all areas of discrimination including in housing, education + public facilities

Question 38

What did Trumans 'To Secure These Rights' report call for?

Answer 38

. anti-lynching legislation . abolition of the poll tax . voting rights laws . a permanent FEPC . end to discrimination in travel . end to discrimination in armed forces . support for civil rights in federal courts

Question 39

What is the FEPC?

Answer 39

Fair Employment Practices Commission

Question 40

What were 5 cases that the NAACP won in the Supreme Court?

Answer 40

Smith v Allwright - voting rights Morgan v Virginia - illegal segregation on buses Shelley v Kramer - equally sell houses McLauren v Oklahoma - George McLauren was allowed to enter U of O Sweatt v Painter - separate but equal not equal in schools