1. Truman Presidency

2. Political Background Born in Missouri in 1884 Farmer
World War I veteran
After WWI, returns to Missouri and opens a haberdashery
Elected to the US Senate in 1934
Becomes President on April 12, 1945 after FDR’s death in Warm Springs, Georgia

3. Start of the Cold War Kennan Telegram-February 1946 Long Telegram
Soviet Union wanted to expand its influence
"the main element of any United States policy toward the Soviet Union must be a long-term, patient but firm and vigilant containment of Russian expansive tendencies... Soviet pressure against the free institutions of the Western world is something that can be contained by the adroit and vigilant application of counterforce at a series of constantly shifting geographical and political points, corresponding to the shifts and maneuvers of Soviet policy, but which cannot be charmed or talked out of existence."[
Truman Doctrine
Containment

4. Winston Churchill’s “Iron Curtain” Speech-March 5, 1946-Westminster College-Fulton, Missouri
It is my duty, however, to place before you certain facts about the present position in Europe.
From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic an iron curtain has descended across the Continent. Behind that line lie all the capitals of the ancient states of Central and Eastern Europe. Warsaw, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Belgrade, Bucharest and Sofia; all these famous cities and the populations around them lie in what I must call the Soviet sphere, and all are subject, in one form or another, not only to Soviet influence but to a very high and in some cases increasing measure of control from Moscow.
The safety of the world, ladies and gentlemen, requires a unity in Europe, from which no nation should be permanently outcast. It is from the quarrels of the strong parent races in Europe that the world wars we have witnessed, or which occurred in former times, have sprung.
Map

5. Truman Doctrine (1947)
In response to communist threats in Greece and Turkey
US will provide economic aid to any country facing a communist threat or takeover
Marshall Plan (1947)
Economic aid to rebuild Europe
$12.5 million

6. Cold War Hot Spots
Berlin Blockade/Berlin Airflift (June 1948-May 1949)
Korean War ( )
Leads to the development of collective security organizations
NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization)-1949
Warsaw Pact-1956

7. Post World War II at Home
“Baby Boomers”
million births, million births
million births, million births
GI Bill-Mortgages, loans for small businesses, college education for returning veterans
Fair Deal (1948)- Truman’s domestic policy
Revival of New Deal ideas
Wanted Congress to increase minimum wage, have national health insurance, increase in funds for public housing, increase the number of people who could qualify for social security

8. Strikes 1946- largest wave of strikes in American history
Caused by a drop in income and a rise in inflation
Taft-Hartley Act (1947)
President could call for 80 day “Cooling off” period
Banned sympathy strikes
Outlawed closed shops
“Right to work” laws
Made union officials swear they were not communists

9. Post War Civil Rights To Secure These Rights (1946)
Between 1945 and 1951, fair employment practices and anti discrimination laws in the work place
Anti-Lynching laws
Executive Order-Desegregation of armed forces
Jackie Robinson breaks color barrier in baseball- April 15, 1947

10. Election of 1948
Harry Truman, Strom Thurmond (Dixiecrats) Southern Democrats, Henry Wallace (Progressive Party), Thomas A. Dewey (Republican)

11. Cold War at Home Anticommunist crusade
Truman-Loyalty Review Board (1947)
From ,700 government employees were discharged from their jobs
Alger Hiss
Former State Department official and president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Accused by Whittaker Chambers (Time Magazine editor) of being a communist at HUAC (House Un-American Activities Commission) hearing
Richard Nixon
Two trials later, Hiss received a 5 year jail term

12. Julius and Ethel Rosenberg
Julius-Son of Jewish immigrants was born in 1915
Married his wife in 1933
Julius-Young Communist Leader
1939-Starts working for the Army Corp of Engineers
Fired in 1945
1942-Recruited as a spy for the Soviet Union
1949-Soviet Union has an atomic bomb
1950-Klaus Fuchs had given key information to the Soviets

13. One person who assisted him was David Greenglass, Julius’ brother-in-law
Both Rosenbergs go on trial in March 1951
3 weeks later, they are found guilty and sentenced to death
Executed on June 19, 1953 at Sing Sing Correctional Facility
Their execution remains highly controversial

14. HUAC
Created in 1938-Goal was to investigate disloyal and subversive activities by individuals and those suspected of having Communist ties
Most famous cases involved Alger Hiss and the Rosenbergs
1947-Investigated Hollywood actors, directors, and producers
Hollywood blacklist

15. “McCarthyism”
February 1950-Joseph McCarthy-Wisconsin Senator gave a speech in Wheeling, West Virginia
Supposedly had a list of 205 people with communist ties
No list existed
Leads to Senate hearings similar to those conducted by HUAC
Hearings were nationally televised
Over 300 people were victims of McCarthy’s hearings
President Eisenhower’s Response
1952-Wisconsin Campaign Speech
1953-Darmouth Commencement Address- “Don’t join the book burners”

16. 1954-Invoked Executive Privilege when McCarthy wanted to investigate the Army for possible communists
CBS Reporter Edward R. Murrow’s show See It Now in March 1954 exposed McCarthy’s witch hunt