1. Chapter 19 Section 1 Postwar America The Baby Boom Years 1946-1964
Election of 1948
Harry Truman.
president
DEMOCRAT
Elections 1952 and 1956
Dwight Eisenhower,
Richard Nixon, vice-pres.
REPUBLICAN
Why they won: The country needed a change after two decades of Democrats.

2. Election of 1948 – a big upset!

3. Election of 1948
Truman insisted that the Democrats include a strong civil rights “plank” in their platform for the campaign
The Dixiecrats = Southern Democrat delegates to the Democrat National Convention who walked OUT because they were AGAINST Truman’s emphasis on civil rights

4. Election of 1948 – Truman’s Campaign
Truman criticized the Republican 80th Congress
Called them in to a “special session” where he proposed minimum wage laws, Social Security extension, etc.
The Republicans (who wanted to cut the budget) of course voted them down.

5. Election of 1948 Truman went on a speaking
tour by train (a “whistle stop”
tour)
He denounced the “Do-Nothing,
Good-for-Nothing 80th Congress”

6. The Fair Deal The Fair Deal = Harry Truman’s legislative program
-an extension of FDR’s New Deal
He proposed these items but Congress voted them down:
-nationwide compulsory health insurance
-crop-subsidy program to provide
a steady income for farmers

7. 1950-1959 Population: 151,684,000 Life expectancy: Women 71.1 Men 65.6
Car Sales: 6,665,800
Average Salary: $2,992
Labor Force male/female: 5/2
Cost of a loaf of bread: $0.14
Bomb shelter plans, like the government pamphlet You Can Survive, became widely available

8. GI Bill of Rights The Serviceman’s Readjustment Act
Why- To help ease veterans’ return to civilian life
Who- All military, men, women, minorities
When passed- 1944
What benefits-
1 yrs unemployment
Low-interest fed-guaranteed loans for homes, farms, business
Paid part tuition for school
Some results:
Housing boom fueled by no down payments, low interest
Poor could go to school (colleges) alongside wealthy
Opportunities for all races

9. Levitt Towns

10. William Levitt
A real-estate developer who saw the need for LOTS of affordable housing after the war.
“Father of the Suburb”
Built along idea of assembly line

11. Divorce Rate 1940 - 20% 1941 - 22% 1942 - 24% 1943 - 26% 1944 - 29%% % % % % % % % % % % % % % % % % % % % %

12. Redefining the Family
Why the divorce rate rose at end of WWII: -Women reluctant to give up their new-found independence worked and took over the decision-making role of the absentee husband/father

13. Economic Readjustment
Unemployment
– defense contracts cancelled right after Japan surrender –
factory workers lost their jobs
Returning veterans looked for jobs
2. Inflation
-OPA (Office of Price Administration) lifted price controls June
1946 on consumer goods Result: prices shot up by 25%
- Inflation lasted two years
3. Scarcity of some goods
-beef, sugar, coffee, men’s suits, nylon stockings unavailable

14. Economic Recovery
1. Consumers had pent-up needs and wants -People lived through the Great Depression -Workers SAVED their money they earned during the war 2. After brief two-year period of adjustment, the economy BOOMED -then people started to buy houses, cars, goods and services 3. Cold War -lots of defense spending to protect ourselves from Soviets. 4. Marshall Plan -spending money in Western Europe created strong foreign markets for American exports

15. President Harry Truman “The buck stops here.”

16. Truman and Labor Strikes
1946
750,000 steelworkers – 80 day strike
400,000 Coal miners – right after steel strike
Railroad workers –after coal miners strike
Truman was generally a
supporter of labor, but he
refused to allow these strikes
to cripple the nation.

17. Truman threatened
To DRAFT the striking workers
To order them (like soldiers) to stay on the job
To have the federal government take control of the railroads
Truman
Had the federal government SEIZE the coal mines

18. Truman appeared before Congress
Why – to ask for authority to draft the striking workers. Result – Before he finished his speech to Congress, the labor unions gave in

19. (“The Do-Nothing, Good-for-Nothing Congress”)
1946 Mid-Term Elections
The 80th Congress
(“The Do-Nothing, Good-for-Nothing Congress”)
Republicans gained control of BOTH houses of Congress
They will vote AGAINST Truman’s domestic proposals.

20. Taft-Hartley Act 1947 Anti-labor union
Truman vetoed it, but the Republicans had enough votes now in Congress to override his veto.

21. Truman and Civil Rights
Truman issued an executive order for the racial
integration of the armed forces 1948
“Equality of treatment and opportunity without regard to
race, color, religion, or national origin”
2. ALSO – an end to discrimination in the hiring of
government employees

22. Election of 1952
Truman’s approval rating sank to 23% in Korean war stalemate - McCarthyism (cast doubt that the US Government was infiltrated with Communist spies and sympathizers) Result: Democrats were unpopular

23. Dwight D. Eisenhower Richard M. Nixon
Eisenhower took the lead against the Democrat candidate during the campaign UNTIL…
Newspapers accused Richard Nixon from profiting from a secret fund set up by wealthy supporters.
Eisenhower was about to dump Nixon from the ticket.

24. Nixon’s “Checkers Speech”
Nixon replied to the accusations in
an emotional speech on television
(had not really been used before by
political candidates).
He denied any wrongdoing (except for when he accepted a little
cocker spaniel dog named “Checkers” for his little six year old girl).