Truman domestic policy

Question 1

Fair Deal

Answer 1

The Fair Deal was a set of proposals (21 point programme) put forward by U.S. President Harry S. Truman to Congress in 1945 and in his January 1949 State of the Union address. The most important proposals were aid to education, national health insurance and the Fair Employment Practices Commission. It also included the abolition of the poll tax, seen as a racial issue.

Question 2

FDR died on what date

Answer 2

12th April 1945

Question 3

GI Bill

Answer 3

The gov. invested $20 billion through the GI bill. Provided low cost mortgages, low interest loans and funded uni tuition for returning soldiers. Racism meant that these benefits were largely only received by white veterans. In the New York and northern New Jersey suburbs 67,000 mortgages were insured by the G.I. Bill, but fewer than 100 were taken out by non-whites.

Question 4

Jim Crow Laws

Answer 4

Jim Crow laws were state and local laws introduced in the Southern United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries that enforced racial segregation.

Question 5

Unemployment under Truman

Answer 5

Never went above 5%, perhaps helped by the gradual reintroduction of the army into the civilian workforce. (9 million were demobilised in 1945 but he kept 3 million in the army due to the dangerous global situation. Then in 1946 was the army further reduced to 1.5 million.)

Question 6

Converting a wartime economy into a consumer economy.

Answer 6

At first struggled to convert back to a consumer economy, with the influx of demand following the war pushing inflation up to 25% in 1945-46.

Question 7

The midterm elections of 1946.

Answer 7

The Democrats suffered a handy loss, meaning there were Republican majorities in Congress (both House and Senate) following the midterm. This was in part due to the struggling post-war economy.

Question 8

Proposed price control bill of 1946

Answer 8

Truman tried to push for price controls to reduce inflation but struggled to get the bill to pass with a “do-nothing” Congress.

Question 9

Council of Economic Advisors and the Employment Act (of 1946)

Answer 9

The CEA was created by Truman to advise the government under the Employment Act which committed the federal government to achieving full employment.

Question 10

The baby boom

Answer 10

1945-50, population rise, in part led to the rise of demand for suburban housing such as Levittown in New York.

Question 11

Car sales

Answer 11

Rose from 2.1 million in 1946 to 8 million by 1955.

Question 12

Economic growth by 1948.

Answer 12

Total output had increased by almost 90% from 1939 levels. Per capita income of Americans had risen by 40%.

Question 13

Strikes

Answer 13

Throughout 1946, strikes hit the steel, coal, auto and railroad industries. Truman was harsh on the strikers, even threatening to draft striking railroad workers, causing unions to back down. This did however damage some of his popularity with his voter base.

Question 14

Taft-Hartley Act

Answer 14

Was a law passed in 1947 to restrict the activities and power of labor unions. It passed over the veto of President Harry S. Truman. This did show that despite Truman taking a hard line against strikes, he wasn’t against trade union power.

Question 15

Minimum Wage

Answer 15

40 to 75 cents during the Presidency

Question 16

Approval rating

Answer 16

As low as 22% in Feb 1952. Largely due to the prolonged Korean War which led to inflation. Inflation reached as high as 21% following the Korean War.

Question 17

McCarthyism

Answer 17

In Feb. 1950 he claimed to have a list of 205 Communists working in the US State dept. This fueled a widespread fear of Communist spies. Much of this fear was likely unwarranted as the Communist Party of the US had as few as 80,000 members.

Question 18

HUAC

Answer 18

The House Un-American Activities Committee was established in 1938, but particularly after 1947, HUAC assumed new heights of prominence and notoriety, and the committee conducted a series of high-profile hearings alleging that Communists disloyal to the U.S. had infiltrated government, schools, the entertainment industry and many other areas of American life. Those who refused to cooperate were often blacklisted by their employers.

Question 19

Hiss and the Rosenbergs.

Answer 19

Alger Hiss was a high-ranking State dept. official accused of passing secrets to the USSR. Ethel and Julius Rosenberg were executed in 1953 for passing nuclear secrets to the Soviets.