truman 1945-1953 Flashcards
USA post war
By start of 1945 USA was in strongest position of any country.
With a mere 7% of the global population, the USA had 42% of the world’s income,
62% of its discovered oil,
50% of its manufacturing output, 80% of its cars
33 million households owned a radio.
truman had a difficult act to follow with E Roosevelt saying ‘for you are the one in trouble now’ as not only was Roosevelt so popular Truman was also seen as a compromise candidate and not up to the job.
party was split between ‘new deal liberals’ and Dixiecrats
country also benefitted from the repayment of loans and reparations from post war settlements eg patents of German inventions like Fanta.
Benefitted from major trade union organisations like the American federation of labour (AFL) and the congress of industrial organisations (CIO) had defended workers’ rights and campaigned for pay rises
- 12 million men returned from war expecting jobs, so women faced exclusion. African American’s returned to the jim crow laws, and the GI bill was not equally applied to them.
civil rights and ethnic divisions
in 1945 white people dominated the population with over 130 million people.
African American was the largest ethnic group after white, amounting to 14 million people, about 10% of the population.
concentrated in the south owing to the legacy of slavery and plantation but had been moving north in the ‘great migration’
– black newspapers like the Chicago defender became more popular and were active in their campaigns notably the ‘double V’ campaign.
rise in membership of the (NAACP) founded in 1909. By time Eisenhower came to power membership reached over a million. CORE was then also founded in 1942.
Education was segregated and they were kept from voting using many illegal methods. Many black preachers got more respect so led many not to challenge segregation.
Prejudice existed in the North but wasn’t enforced by Jim crow laws but had combination of economic segregation, social pressure and ghettoization.
Was a ‘great migration’ to the north with 1.4 mill in the 1940s and further 1.1 mill in the 1950s
Even tho many were in work they were prevented from moving out to the growing suburbs by the ‘restricted covenants’ and de facto segregation operated by estate agents
– as white people left, black political power grew, enabling black members to be elected into the HOR such as Adam Clayton Powell in Harlem. The proximity of the black population also made it easier to organise groups like the NAACP (Baltimore) CORE (Chicago).
Black Artists and Sportsman gained recognition – Jackie Robinson became first black baseball player in the major league in 1947 and was awarded MVP by 1949
Relations with white still tense – police would often resort to violence. Justice system harsher on them eg Malcom x getting 8-10 years for burglary.
NAACP – was involved in many court cases to undermine Plessy vs Ferguson. They hired black lawyers like Robert Carter and Thurgood Marshall. – Henderson v US – segregation in railway dining cars illegal. Smith v Allwright – allowed African Americans in Texas to vote in primaries.
Foreign policy
Potsdam conference July -Aug 1945 Truman was determined to stand up to Stalin and to establish his rep on the world stage but the tension meant little was agreed. German disarmament and reparations decided. Truman failed to alert Stalin of the US atomic bombs. Trumans presidency therefore begun with rapid alienation of Stalin.
Truman doctrine – asked for 400 million in military and economic assistance for Greece and turkey
feb 1948 the Marshall plan was approved and offered to all European countries inc communist ones. The plan gave 17 billion in support. The four years after saw the fastest period of growth in European history with industrial production rising 35%. Established USA as the Protector of Europe whilst further alienating Stalin.
berlin airlift - political brinkmanship by supplying the needs of 2.5 million people by air. Ordered 1.5 million tons of supplies in 275,000 flights to be flown into berlin over the next 324 days
vietnam - Truman gave support to the French covering 78% of the costs of French involvement. With the loss of China Truman saw Vietnam as part of the cold war.
War in Korea – split along an arbitrary line known as the 38th parallel. 100,000 North Korea troops invaded 25 June 1950 where Truman felt he had to act to contain communism and offset criticism that he was losing Asia. Macarthur was calling for use of atomic bomb. Was futile war costing 14% of US GDP and 138,000 US dead and injured. Trumans approval rating was only 22% atp
domestic policy
substantial war loans being paid back - 31 billion for Britain, 3.2 billion for France and 1.6 billion for China.
The introduction of the Bretton-woods system and with it the World Bank headquartered in New York, promised that the new economic order would be based around American conception of capitalism and trade.
‘fair deal’ and was designed to address the problems of poverty
12 million former soldiers were about to rejoin the job market - T took decision to demobilise 9 million of them in 1945 but keep army of 3 mil. In 1946 was further reduced to 1.5 million. Triggered some slight unemployment
influx of men led to a consumer boom. The post war economy was also helped by the demand for housing and Roosevelts 1944 GI Bill which provided government help in getting a 90% mortgage, along with 52 weeks of unemployment benefit and loans for college
subsequent decade government invested 20 billion through the GI Bill
the ‘baby boom’ of 1945 to 1950 created a huge new market for goods
Led to development of suburban housing sites like Levittown in long island which then also facilitated the booming car sales which rose from 2.1 million in 1946 to 7.9 million by 1955
Economy also helped by the maturing of the 185 Billions of war bonds
the total output had increased by almost 90% on the 1939 levels,
industrial output had doubled,
business investment had risen from annual rate of 14 billion to almost 38 billion.
Employment had also risen from 46 mill to 61 mill.
Most impressively the per capita income of American’s had risen about 40%.
late 1945 wave of strikes hit the steel, coal, auto and railroad industries which hindered key sectors of the US economy
population deserved a fair deal so presented revised measures which included federal aid to education, tax cuts for low income earners, abolition of poll taxes, anti-lynching laws, increase in minimum wage from 40 cents to 70, national health insurance and expanded social security coverage.
economic progress took place by 1953 62 million American’s were employed – increase of 11 million under T.
no bank had failed in nearly 9 years.
Millions new homes financed, and start had been made in clearing inner city slums (but this made things worse for African American’s as cleared slums were not replaced with affordable housing quick enough causing rents to sky rocket.
Poverty fell to 28% by 1953 from 33%.
