Truman Complete Flashcards

1
Q

What did America emerge from WWII as?

A

The strongest world power

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2
Q

By 1945 America had 7% of the world’s population but what % of global income?

A

42%

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3
Q

Who died in 1945 that meant Truman took over as President?

A

FDR (Roosevelt)

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4
Q

What did those who thought Truman wouldn’t do a good job call him?

A

a ‘compromise candidate’

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5
Q

Who are the two main political parties in America?

A

Democrat and Republicans

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6
Q

What are the three branches of the American Government known as?

A

Legislative, Executive, Judicial

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7
Q

The systems that stop these branches becoming too powerful is known as…?

A

Checks and Balances

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8
Q

What does Congress have the power to do?

A

To propose new laws, controls the budget and can impeach the president

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9
Q

What does the President have the power to do?

A

Can veto laws put forward by Congress and appoint new Supreme Court justices

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10
Q

What does the Supreme Court have the power to do?

A

Can rule president actions as unconstitutional

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11
Q

What did WWII help America to fully recover from?

A

The Great Depression

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12
Q

How did America use WWII to its advantage?

A

They made money by selling arms/raw materials to European allies for rebuilding. Money America loaned to allies in the Lend Lease Programme were repaid post war

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12
Q

What percentage of the world’s manufactured goods did the US produce?

A

50% (80% of cars)

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12
Q

What happened to American Trade Unions during WWII?

A

They grew in strength

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13
Q

Why was it easy to believe in the American Dream in the 1940s?

A

Unemployment never rose above 4 per cent and the average American had a greater disposable income that led to a boom in consumer goods, such as cars, vacuum cleaners and refridgerators

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13
Q

What were the key regional differences?

A

North was the centre of politics/finance/education. The Northern states had the most developed industries especially Detroit anc Chicago. The Modwest was less populated but America relied on its agriculture. The South was more traditional and segregated and predominantly agricultural

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14
Q

How had the war decreased regionalism?

A
  • Over 10 per cent had left their homes for training camps
  • 13% had changed their county of residence
  • 8 million had permanently located to a different state
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15
Q

Many people moved between classes after WWII. What is this known as?

A

Social mobility

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15
Q

Which Americans did not experience social mobility?

A

African Americans and Asian immigrants

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16
Q

Many women filled jobs left by men during WWII. By ’44 what % of the workforce were women?

A

36%

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17
Q

What was Truman’s political relationship with FDR?

A

Vice President - President (?)

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18
Q

How many days was Truman vice president before becoming president?

A

82

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19
Q

Which of FDR’s main policies was Truman keen to continue?

A

New Deal successes

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20
Q

Who did Truman seek regular advice from?

A

Secretary of State Dean Acheson

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21
Q

Which conference was held between America, Britain, France, and the USSR in February ’45?

A

Yalta Conference

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22
Q

What was agreed at the Yalta conference?

A

Agreements were made to split Germany into 4, hold free elections in liberated Eastern Europe and USSR agreed to help the USA against Japan

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23
Q

What was the name of the conference that took place in August 1945?

A

Potsdam

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24
Q

What was agreed at Potsdam?

A

Free elections in Poland and German reparations were agreed.

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25
Q

What did Truman keep secret from Stalin over Potsdam?

A

The atomic bomb which was then dropped on Japan whilst conference was on

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26
Q

Why did tension between the USSR and USA develop after WWII?

A

Stalin expanded the USSR into Eastern Europe and Truman responded by announcing the Truman Doctrine

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27
Q

What was the Truman Doctrine

A

A commitment to support any country under the threat of Communist takeover

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28
Q

What was passed by Congress the year after the Truman Doctrine and what did this promise?

A

The European Recovery Plan (The Marshall Plan) which promised $17bn of aid to aid European recovery from the war?

29
Q

What did the US, GB and France do with their German zones?

A

They united them to form West Germany

30
Q

What currency was introduced into West Germany?

A

The Deutsch Mark

31
Q

What was Stalin’s response to the new currency in West Germany?

A

The Berlin Blockade, he blocked all transport links in and out of Berlin

32
Q

When was the Berlin Blockade?

A

March 1948 - May 1949

33
Q

What was the Western response to the Berlin Blockade?

A

They began the Berlin Airlift whereby 2.5 million people in West Berlin were supplied by air. 1.5 million tonnes of supplies were flown in by 2750,000 flights

34
Q

What was a consequence of the Berlin Blockade and who was it a victory for?

A

Huge propaganda victory for Truman after Stalin had to concede the blockade. Also led to the formation of NATO

35
Q

Who was given the power to create a democracy in Japan after their surrender in 1945?

A

General MacArthur

36
Q

Which group who resisted a Communist revolution did America support in China?

A

Nationalists led by Chiang Kai Shek

37
Q

In 1949 who led the successful Communist Revolution in China?

A

Mao Zedong

38
Q

Which nation, fighting against Communist troops in Vietnam, did America support?

A

France

39
Q

What was the Communist Army in Vietnam known as and who led them?

A

The Vietminh led by Ho Chi Minh

40
Q

Why did the UN, supported heavily by US troops, get involved in the Korean War?

A

Communist North Korea led by Kim il Sung invaded South Korea

41
Q

When did the Korean War begin?

A

June 1950

42
Q

What were the results of the Korean War?

A

the UN stopped South Korea becoming communist, showing Truman’s commitment to containment

43
Q

What was created at the end of WWII that aimed to stabilise the global economy?

A

IMF and World Bank

44
Q

What system was agreed between 44 allied nations where the value of their currency was tied to the value of the dollar?

A

the Bretton-woods System

45
Q

What did Truman do with the US military after WWII?

A

He slowly demobilised them

46
Q

What was the name given to Truman’s domestic policies introduced in 1949?

A

Fair Deal

47
Q

What two booms took place in America after WWII?

A

A consumer boom and a baby boom

48
Q

What did the Democrat’s lose in the 1946 mid-term elections?

A

control of Congress

48
Q

How did the government respond to increased demand for housing?

A

$20 million government investment in suburban development such as Levittowns

48
Q

What happened to US output between 1939 and 1948?

A

It doubled

49
Q

After workers’ strikes in the late 1940s, who did Truman have a bad relationship with?

A

Trade Unions

49
Q

In which year was Truman unexpectedly re-elected?

A

1948

49
Q

What did Truman struggle to convince Congress to do?

A

To pass his Fair Deal policies

49
Q

Which US senator became powerful as a result of growing anti-communist feelings?

A

Joseph McCarthy

49
Q

What was HUAC?

A

The House Un-American Actitivities Committee

50
Q

Name the Fair Deal legislation that was successfully passed.

A

Full Employment Act (1946)
Social Security extended to 1 million Americans (1950)
Minimum wage increased to $0.75 per hour
Housing Act (1949) promised 810,000 houses for the poor, 156,000 built by 1953

50
Q

What laws were most Southern African Americans living under by the start of WWII?

A

Jim Crow laws

50
Q

What feeling grew in American society during the late 1940s and early 1950s?

A

Anti-Communism

50
Q

What did he do in the 50s and what was this known as?

A

He worked to find Communists in society and claimed to havea list of 205 Communists in the State Dept. Known as McCarthyism

50
Q

What name is given to the way that facilities were split between races?

A

Separate but equal

50
Q

The membership for which civil rights group grew during world war two?

A

The NAACP

50
Q

What did HUAC do under Truman?

A

Investigated famous actors and scientists

50
Q

What kind of segregation did many African Americans experience in the North?

A

De Facto segregation

50
Q

What campaign was run by the Chicago Defender newspaper and what did it link?

A

The Double V Campaign, linking victory over the Nazis with defeating racism in America

50
Q

Which groups started to take actino in the North after WWII?

A

The Urban League and the Nation of Islam

50
Q

What does NAACP stand for?

A

The National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People

51
Q

Where did African American soldiers experience better treatment during WWII?

A

In Britain and across Liberated Europe

51
Q

What did Truman set up in response to increasing lynchings?

A

President’s Committee on Civil Rights

51
Q

Which groups started to take action in the South after WWII?

A

The NAACP and CORE

51
Q

Give an example of an NAACP legislative victory under Truman?

A

1950 Sweat v Painter declared separate law schools were not equal

51
Q

What report was published by Truman’s Committee that criticised segregation and discrimination in 1957?

A

To Secure These Rights

51
Q

Qhich landmark Supreme Court case challenging segregation in education began in Decmeber 1952?

A

Brown v Board of Education

51
Q

Who represented the NAACP in court?

A

Thurgood Marshall

51
Q

What did Truman try to introduce in 1948 that Congress did not back?

A

Anti-lynching laws and voting laws