27-1: Postwar America

Millions of veterans thrown out of work as they return to civilian life Solutions Offered by the Truman administration and Congress: GI Bill of Rights provides free education, unemployment benefits and low- interest loans to returning veterans.

Severe Housing Shortage Solutions Offered by developers such as William Levitt: Mass produced, standardized homes built using assembly line methods  William Levitt produced 150 houses per week. $7,990 or $60/month with no down payment.

Severe Housing Shortage Solutions Offered by Congress under the Truman and Eisenhower administrations Financial support to clear out slums and build low-income housing units Increased funding for public housing

Runaway Inflation Solutions Offered by Congress under the Truman administration Reestablishment of wartime controls on prices, wages, and rents

Labor strikes that threaten to cripple the nation Solutions Offered by Congress under the Truman administration President Truman threatens to draft strikers =Jb-1IqaQSq8 A political-economic crisis occurred in May of 1946, when a railroad brotherhood strike threatened to tie up national transportation. Union leaders agreed to a settlement just as Truman asked Congress for a law to draft into the armed services anyone refusing to work in industries taken over by the government.

Discrimination and Racial Violence Solutions Offered during the Truman administration Federal anti-lynching law Abolishing the poll tax Establishing a permanent body to prevent racial discrimination in hiring Establishing permanent civil rights commission Passage of federal legislation to eliminate discrimination in voting Integration of the armed forces

Discrimination and Racial Violence Solutions Offered during the Eisenhower administration Enforced court decisions in civil rights cases Upheld the law Eisenhower sends troops to Central High school to enforce integration and protect the Little Rock Nine

Terms Suburb: residential town or community near a city Dixiecrats: Southern democrats who left the Democratic party and formed the States’ Rights Party because they were against civil rights and wanted to preserve the Southern way of life Fair Deal: President Truman’s Economic and Social program