USA- Truman (Domestic) Flashcards
How did Truman win the 1948 election victory?
-Character & Personality
-His campaigning
-Appealed to voters
-His background
-His views
-Dewey’s overconfidence
Character & Personality
-Loved addressing the people they turned out in hundreds of thousands to him
-He’d always ask the crowd if they would like to meet his family
-Results demonstrated the effectiveness of his personal campaign
Truman’s campaign
Did a 33 day tour of the nation
He campaigned in Republican counties and won them
Attacked the Republican do nothing Congress
Truman’s Background
As a farm boy Truman knew what concerned farmers and won their vote.
Voters and their views
Many votes benefited from the booming economy.
African-Americans voted for him because of his stand on civil rights.
Blue colours voted for him because he was better than a Republican
Voters approved on Truman resistance to communism.
Dewey’s overconfidence
Dewey ran an overconfident Republican campaign which lack Truman warmth
Results of 1948 election
Truman defeated Dewey by over 2 million votes.
Democrats regain control of Congress.
What was Roosevelt’s GI Bill of Rights 1944
Gave returning veterans 52 weeks unemployment pay
Distributed $20 billion to 7.5m veterans between 1945 to 1955
What was the promise of the Bretton Woods system
The IMF would step in to help countries and financial trouble.
How did the Employment Act work
Only empowered the federal government to use all means to foster maximum employment.
What happened to returning veterans
-Most returning servicemen quickly found employment.
-Manufacturing industries boomed.
-Consumer enthusiasm generated many jobs.
What happened to the Price control bill 1946?
It was watered down by Congress convinced the president was two week to push it through.
What was unemployment rate in Truman’s presidency?
Never saw higher than 5%
What was the aim of the Council of economic advisor?
To advise the government along with the employment act which committed the country to maximum employment
What did employment rise to?
Employment rose from 46million to 61million
What did the baby boom 1945 to 50 lead to?
It led to a huge new market for goods and service as well as stimulating housing in cars.
What led to inflation of 25%?
-Federal government budget deficit
-Withdrawal of wartime prices
-Shortages of consumer goods
Men returning home produced a consumer boom
What was the 1946 strikes?
-Steelworkers
-Miners
-Railroad workers
What is the Taft Hartley act 1947?
Reduced union power.
Unions liables for breaching contract and unions no longer compulsory
What was the economic boom of 1948?
Postwar baby-boom equalled manufacturing demand and more jobs
What was the cause of 1952 strikes?
Steel workers hadn’t had a pay rise for two years.
Truman seized control of mills this action was confirmed by the Supreme Court as an exceeding his authority humiliating Truman.
Strikes went ahead.
About African-Americans
-Made up 10% of the population
-Great migration moving from south to the north driven by injustice of Jim Crow laws
-African-American soldiers who served in segregated units returned home to find Jim Crow law still in place
-GI Bill didn’t apply to them equally
-1/5 of 100,000 black men who applied for educational fund succeeded in registering for college
About white people
Dominated the US with over 130 million people
About Hispanics
Third largest group with 2 million citizens
Native Americans made the smallest and most neglected of ethnic groups
About Asian Americans
Immigration and nationality act of 1952 made immigration easier from Asia
By 1980 there were 3.5 million Asian Americans
Which Chinese who came to work on the railways and stayed
Japanese Americans made small group and suffered from racism
Education rate
College educated Americans rose from 10% to 15% in 1948
What percentage of the workforce was female?
By 1944 36% of the workforce was female
What was the Housing act 1949?
-810,000 housing units should be built for low income Americans
-Only 156,000 units were built
Contributed to a construction boom which provided employment
What was Health insurance?
Truman proposed national health insurance scheme based on tax of 4%
Congress attacked it because it wasn’t federal government job to tell people how to arrange their own healthcare.