Truman: domestic policy
Background:
The American people voted for:
- The president (the executive branch)
- Congress (the legislative branch)
Appointed by the president with the senate’s approval
- The Supreme Court (the judicial branch)
Checks and balances:
● The system whereby each branch (legislative, executive and judicial) has the power to limit the actions of other
branches
● Prevents one branch from gaining too much power and potentially becoming tyrannical
The powers of the president:
● Increased under Roosevelt due to the Great Depression and ww2
● 1933- 25% of workforce unemployed
● New Deal proposals- job schemes and farming subsidies. Needed Congress to grant him unprecedented powers
and money
● Social Security act 1935- guaranteed retirement pay for over 65s, federal assistance for unemployed, extra
support for disabilities
● Revolutionary in promoting large scale federal gov intervention
Limitations on presidential power:
● Supreme Court could rule his actions unconstitutional
● Congress could refuse to pass his legislation
Main political parties:
● Democrats
- ‘Solid south’- determined to maintain black inferiority. Republican Lincoln had ended black slavery.
- Southern democrats far more conservative
- Workers + unemployed
● Republicans
- Dominated by big businesses and rich
Legacies of ww2:
● US- wealthiest nation in the world
● Post war economy boomed
● Regional divisions decreased
● African americans became more assertive in seeking their civil rights
● Presidential power in fpol increased
Post War prosperity:
● US experienced an economic boom during ww2
● By the end of the 1940s, US had 7% of world population but 42% of its income
● Produced ½ the world’s manufactured goods
● 80% of the cars
● Unemployment remained under 4% throughout the decade
Regional divisions:
● Agricultural south, acute racial tensions
● Northeast and Midwest had great centres of manufacturing
● Conservatism remained particularly strong in the South
● 8 million had made a permanent move t a different state
● Mass migration from the South to the Industrial North and from the East to the West
● West Coast population grew by ⅓ during the war
● However, regional differences were decreasing
Ethnic divisions:
● Religious prejudice against Jewish people remained strong
● The social inferiority of black and Hispanic Americans was enshrined in law in the South and in practice
everywhere else
● Housing and schools were segregated
Social divisions:
● Massive disparities in wealth- billionaire dynasties like the Rockfellers vs native americans on their reservations
, ● The membership and owers of labour unions had increased under relatively sympathetic roosevelt administration
● Worker employee tensions peaked in widespread strikes in 1946
● However, growing prosperity during the war decreased social tensions
● GI Bill of rights 1944
● % of college educated Americans rose from 10% in 1939 to 15% in 1948
Rooselvelt death 1945 shocked many. Only president young americans had ever known
● ‘There have been few men in all history the equal of the man into whose shoes I am stepping’
● Considerable sympathy for Rooselvelt’s chosen successor
● When war ended in 145 Truman was he president of a victorious nation that was the wealthiest and most
powerful int he world
Truman:
● Grew up in racially segregated Missouri
● 1917- joined US armed forces & fought in WW1
● Truman approached Roosevelt in 1941 and recommended setting up a panel investigating spending. Roosevelt
approved. Truman’s committee saved US about $15 billion over 3 yeas
● 1944- respected Democrat
● Selected as Roosevelt’s VP in 1944
● 1945- end of WW2. Roosevelt died and Truman became president.
● 1945- Truman sworn in as president.
Truman’s domestic problems included the economy, labour unions, congress and the anti-communist hysteria
that culminated in McCarthyism.
The economy:
● With war industries laying off workers, there were fears of another depression
● 12 million veterans flooding the labour markets
● In 1945 Truman proposed legislation ensuring full employment but congress diluted hi employment act.
Veterans/ GI bill
● Gi bill roosevelt 1944. 52 weeks unemployment, loans for education/ housing/ businesses.
● 12 million soldiers returning. Flooded labour market. Need for housing and jobs.
● $20 billion to 7.8 million veterans 1944-45
● Created demand for consumer goods and manufacturing boomed but factories struggled to keep up with demand
for goods.
● Gov spent a lot of money.
Inflation
● Rose 25% 1944-45 due to end of wartime price controls and shortages of consumer goods
● Rising prices led to economic and political tensions with employers who wanted high prices/ low wages and
unions who wanted pay rises in line with inflation
● Government buying of materials for warfare came to an end
● Weekly pay for manufacturing workers dropped from $47.12 in April 1945 to $43.07 in July 1946.
● Led to strikes and unions
● Failure to deal with inflation meant Truman lost respect from the public.
● Failed to restore price controls, mishandled inflation. ‘To err is to Truman’. Lost popularity. Seen as a joke.
● 1946- Truman tried to restore price controls via OPA but failed due to issues with republican congress (they
wanted a free market which weakened the OPA)
Strikes
● Unions were strengthened during the war due to a demand for labour but employers still rejected pay rises. Led
to strikes.
● Employers rejected demands for increased pay- led to strikes in 1946. 800,000 steelworkers walked out (Jan)
400,000 miners (April). Railroad workers threatened a strike in May
● Railroad strikes- Truman threatened to conscript rail workers in the army and get the army to run the railroads.
The house approved the action but the senate voted against allowing the president to conscript in the future
● Successful in preventing strike but lost popularity- didn’t listen to what people wanted → people did not respect
his authority
● Accused of being unconstitutional by congress/ compared to Hitler
● Production suffered which further damaged the economy and put more pressure on Truman
Background:
The American people voted for:
- The president (the executive branch)
- Congress (the legislative branch)
Appointed by the president with the senate’s approval
- The Supreme Court (the judicial branch)
Checks and balances:
● The system whereby each branch (legislative, executive and judicial) has the power to limit the actions of other
branches
● Prevents one branch from gaining too much power and potentially becoming tyrannical
The powers of the president:
● Increased under Roosevelt due to the Great Depression and ww2
● 1933- 25% of workforce unemployed
● New Deal proposals- job schemes and farming subsidies. Needed Congress to grant him unprecedented powers
and money
● Social Security act 1935- guaranteed retirement pay for over 65s, federal assistance for unemployed, extra
support for disabilities
● Revolutionary in promoting large scale federal gov intervention
Limitations on presidential power:
● Supreme Court could rule his actions unconstitutional
● Congress could refuse to pass his legislation
Main political parties:
● Democrats
- ‘Solid south’- determined to maintain black inferiority. Republican Lincoln had ended black slavery.
- Southern democrats far more conservative
- Workers + unemployed
● Republicans
- Dominated by big businesses and rich
Legacies of ww2:
● US- wealthiest nation in the world
● Post war economy boomed
● Regional divisions decreased
● African americans became more assertive in seeking their civil rights
● Presidential power in fpol increased
Post War prosperity:
● US experienced an economic boom during ww2
● By the end of the 1940s, US had 7% of world population but 42% of its income
● Produced ½ the world’s manufactured goods
● 80% of the cars
● Unemployment remained under 4% throughout the decade
Regional divisions:
● Agricultural south, acute racial tensions
● Northeast and Midwest had great centres of manufacturing
● Conservatism remained particularly strong in the South
● 8 million had made a permanent move t a different state
● Mass migration from the South to the Industrial North and from the East to the West
● West Coast population grew by ⅓ during the war
● However, regional differences were decreasing
Ethnic divisions:
● Religious prejudice against Jewish people remained strong
● The social inferiority of black and Hispanic Americans was enshrined in law in the South and in practice
everywhere else
● Housing and schools were segregated
Social divisions:
● Massive disparities in wealth- billionaire dynasties like the Rockfellers vs native americans on their reservations
, ● The membership and owers of labour unions had increased under relatively sympathetic roosevelt administration
● Worker employee tensions peaked in widespread strikes in 1946
● However, growing prosperity during the war decreased social tensions
● GI Bill of rights 1944
● % of college educated Americans rose from 10% in 1939 to 15% in 1948
Rooselvelt death 1945 shocked many. Only president young americans had ever known
● ‘There have been few men in all history the equal of the man into whose shoes I am stepping’
● Considerable sympathy for Rooselvelt’s chosen successor
● When war ended in 145 Truman was he president of a victorious nation that was the wealthiest and most
powerful int he world
Truman:
● Grew up in racially segregated Missouri
● 1917- joined US armed forces & fought in WW1
● Truman approached Roosevelt in 1941 and recommended setting up a panel investigating spending. Roosevelt
approved. Truman’s committee saved US about $15 billion over 3 yeas
● 1944- respected Democrat
● Selected as Roosevelt’s VP in 1944
● 1945- end of WW2. Roosevelt died and Truman became president.
● 1945- Truman sworn in as president.
Truman’s domestic problems included the economy, labour unions, congress and the anti-communist hysteria
that culminated in McCarthyism.
The economy:
● With war industries laying off workers, there were fears of another depression
● 12 million veterans flooding the labour markets
● In 1945 Truman proposed legislation ensuring full employment but congress diluted hi employment act.
Veterans/ GI bill
● Gi bill roosevelt 1944. 52 weeks unemployment, loans for education/ housing/ businesses.
● 12 million soldiers returning. Flooded labour market. Need for housing and jobs.
● $20 billion to 7.8 million veterans 1944-45
● Created demand for consumer goods and manufacturing boomed but factories struggled to keep up with demand
for goods.
● Gov spent a lot of money.
Inflation
● Rose 25% 1944-45 due to end of wartime price controls and shortages of consumer goods
● Rising prices led to economic and political tensions with employers who wanted high prices/ low wages and
unions who wanted pay rises in line with inflation
● Government buying of materials for warfare came to an end
● Weekly pay for manufacturing workers dropped from $47.12 in April 1945 to $43.07 in July 1946.
● Led to strikes and unions
● Failure to deal with inflation meant Truman lost respect from the public.
● Failed to restore price controls, mishandled inflation. ‘To err is to Truman’. Lost popularity. Seen as a joke.
● 1946- Truman tried to restore price controls via OPA but failed due to issues with republican congress (they
wanted a free market which weakened the OPA)
Strikes
● Unions were strengthened during the war due to a demand for labour but employers still rejected pay rises. Led
to strikes.
● Employers rejected demands for increased pay- led to strikes in 1946. 800,000 steelworkers walked out (Jan)
400,000 miners (April). Railroad workers threatened a strike in May
● Railroad strikes- Truman threatened to conscript rail workers in the army and get the army to run the railroads.
The house approved the action but the senate voted against allowing the president to conscript in the future
● Successful in preventing strike but lost popularity- didn’t listen to what people wanted → people did not respect
his authority
● Accused of being unconstitutional by congress/ compared to Hitler
● Production suffered which further damaged the economy and put more pressure on Truman
