History test 1 Flashcards
Major Changes in WWII Era
Big Labor/Big Business/Big Government
Economics
Franklin D. Roosevelt F
1933–1945
““Only thing we have to fear is fear itself”
3 major challenges:
Revive economy
Relieve human misery
Rescue farm sector
Hundred Days
Congress received &
enacted 15 major proposals
National Labor Relations Act National Labor Relations
to protect the rights of employees and employers, to encourage collective bargaining, and to curtail certain private sector labor and management practices, which can harm the general welfare of workers, businesses and the U.S. economy.
r Board War Labor Board (1942)
Set guidelines for wages, hours & collective Set guidelines for wages, hours & collective bargaining bargaining
Political Action Committee
a political committee organized for the purpose of raising and spending money to elect and defeat candidates.
Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO)
a federation of affiliated industrial labor unions, founded 1935 within the American Federation of Labor but independent of it 1938–55.
New Deal
the legislative and administrative program of President F. D. Roosevelt designed to promote economic recovery and social reform
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)
A federal agency that insures deposits in the savings accounts of qualifying banks.
Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA)
the first of his major relief operations, provided state assistance for the unemployed and their families.
Civilian Conservation corps
organized to utilize the nation’s unemployed youth by building roads, planting trees, improving parks, etc.
Works Progress Administration
the largest and most ambitious American New Deal agency, employing millions of unemployed people (mostly unskilled men) to carry out public works projects, including the construction of public buildings and roads.
social security
A law enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1935 to create a system of transfer payments in which younger, working people support older, retired people.
Revenue Acts
– modern income tax system
Anyone earning $600 or more to file tax return
Office of Price Administration
fix prices, ration goods
Selective Service Act
The act gives the U.S. president the power to draft soldiers. The act required all men in the U.S. between the ages of 21 and 30 to register for military service.
Servicemen Servicemen’s Readjustment Act (GI Bill)
provided returning World War II veterans with funds for medical care, unemployment insurance, higher education, and housing. Servicemen took full advantage of the G.I.
The Grand Alliance
Great Britain, U.S., Soviet Union
Defeat of Germany the first priority – Military aid to Russia and Britain – Allies focus on military objectives, ignore political differences – Agree on unconditional surrender
November 1943 – Conference at Tehran
Future course of the war, invasion of the
continent for 1944
– Agreement for the partition of postwar
Germany
February 1945 – Conference at Yalta
– “Declaration of Liberated Europe” – Soviet military assistance for the war against Japan – Creation of a United Nations – German unconditional surrender – Free elections in Eastern Europe
July 1945 – Conference at Potsdam
– Truman replaces Roosevelt
– Growing problems between the Allies
Install 1-
party Communist governments under
control of the Soviet Union, with 3 exceptions
Czechoslovakia
Had democratic traditions, so multi party
– 1948 – Communist party seized control
PM Klement Gottwald becomes president
Albania
– Liberated themselves during WWII
– Had a Stalinist regime, but became increasingly
independent
-Enver Hoxha (WWII to 1985)
Yugoslavia
Josip Broz, Tito, refused to submit to Stalin’s control
Josip Broz, Tito, refused to submit to Stalin’s control
the principle that the US should give support to countries or peoples threatened by Soviet forces or communist insurrection.
Marshall Plan
A program by which the United States gave large amounts of economic aid to European countries to help them rebuild after the devastation of World War II. It was proposed by the United States
Containment Policy
A United States foreign policy doctrine adopted by the Harry S. Truman administration in 1947, operating on the principle that communist governments will eventually fall apart as long as they are prevented from expanding their influence.
1947 National Security Act
a major restructuring of the United States government’s military and intelligence agencies following World War II.
North China – People’s Liberation Army
Communist Mao Zedong
Southern & Central China – supported by
Americans
– Nationalist Chiang Kai-shek
Vietnam War (1st)
– Began in 1946 as anti-colonial war against
French
– Vietminh Front
Ho Chi Minh, Indochina Communist Party
Assisted by China (protect border again)
– US support French, but convince to
transition to independent government
1954 Geneva Conference
Dem. Rep. of Vietnam (N. Vietnam)
– Saigon (Ind. Republic of Vietnam)
– Elections to unify in 2 years
– Policy of massive retaliation
Harry S. Truman
April 12, 1945 – 1953 • Truman Doctrine/Marshall Plan/Cold War • United Nations/NATO • Fights with Conress – Fall 1945 – sweeping social legislation, only passed Employment Act – Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) – 22nd Amendment – Taft-Hartley Act • Election of 1948 – Truman v. NY Gov Thomas Dewey – Split in Democratic Party, low ratings – Fair Deal, Liberal Reforms – Biggest upset in American political history:
National Housing Act of 1949
This far-reaching measure is of great significance to the welfare of the American people. It opens up the prospect of decent homes in wholesome surroundings for low-income families now living in the squalor of the slums.
December 1946 – Committee on Civil Rights
– “To Secure These Rights” Report recommended:
• Civil Rights Division at Justice Department
• Commissions on Civil Rights & Fair Employment
Practices
• Desegregation of federal agencies & armed forces
• Abolition of the poll tax
April 15, 1947 – Jackie Robinson –
1st African American to play for MLB team (1B)
House Un-American Activities
Committee (HUAC)
a committee (1938–75) of the U.S. House of Representatives, created to investigate disloyalty and subversive organizations.
“They look into some actors in hollywood
Smith Act
U.S. federal law passed in 1940 that made it a criminal offense to advocate violent overthrow of the government or to organize or be a member of any group or society devoted to such advocacy.
Subpoenaed ten writers, directors & actors
Refused to answer questions about political beliefs
and lectured committee members about civil liberties
• Jailed for contempt of Congress
• Blacklisted in Hollywood
• List of “Communists” in Hollywood grew
McCarran Internal Security Act
a United States federal law that required the registration of Communist organizations with the United States Attorney General and established the Subversive Activities Control Board to investigate persons suspected of engaging in subversive activities or otherwise promoting the establishment of a “totalitarian dictatorship,” fascist or communist.
McCarran-Walter Act
was meant to exclude certain immigrants from immigrating to America, post World War II and in the early Cold War. The McCarran-Walter Act moved away from excluding immigrants based simply upon country of origin.
