Chapter 19: The Postwar

Boom

Section 1: Post War America

California Academic Standards: 11.8.3, 11.10.1, & 11.10.2

• 11.8 Students analyze the economic boom and social transformation of post-World War II America.

.3 Examine Truman's labor policy and congressional reaction to it.

• 11.10 Students analyze the development of federal civil rights and voting rights.

.1 Explain how demands of African Americans helped produce a stimulus for civil rights, including President Roosevelt's ban on racial discrimination in defense industries in 1941, and how African Americans' service in World War II produced a stimulus for President Truman's decision to end segregation in the armed forces in 1948.

.2 Examine and analyze the key events, policies, and court cases in the evolution of civil rights, including Dred Scott v. Sandford, Plessy v. Ferguson, Brown v. Board of Education, Regents of the University of California v. Bakke, and California Proposition 209.

•Objectives:Following lecture and reading of this

section, students will be able to:1.Identify economic and social problems

Americans faced after the war2.Explain how the desire for economic

stability led to political conservatism3.Describe causes and effects of social

unrest in the postwar period4.Contrast domestic policy under Truman

and Eisenhower

•Coming back inside of our own borders, what was going on here in America, especially socially during the years after the war was over?

•Last chapter we talked about the red scare, Hollywood Ten, Blacklisting, H-Bombs and other world wide issues

•What is happening to the average American citizen?

•Readjustment and Recovery–1944 GI Bill of Rights enables veterans to:•Attend college, by paying part of their tuition

•Establish businesses and buy homes by financing low interest, federal loans.

–1945 Americans faced housing shortages•Families lived in cramped apartments or converted homes from street cars or even silos

•Suburbs, track homes in small residential communities began to spring up all over America

•William Levitt and Henry Kaiser were the first to come up with the idea of mass produced housing that people could afford $7,000 per house

–Redefining The Family•Rising divorce rate•More women worked, and wanted to keep working.

–Economic Readjustment•Veterans returned, unemployment rose, women were sent home, defense spending ceased

•The government cancelled war contracts totaling $35 billion

•> 1 million defense workers were laid off

•At peak 3 million people were unemployed

•Rising prices a big problem for economy

•During the war the OPA set price limits to control inflation, when they ended prices skyrocketed about 25%•Some items weren’t available anymore (Beef, Suits, nylon stockings)

•Congress reestablished price controls to halt inflation & help the nation convert to a peacetime economy

–Remarkable Recovery•Increased demand for consumer goods created economic prosperity.

•For 15 years people had to watch every penny with the Depression and then WWII.•$$$ from savings, war bond purchases, service pay, and defense work was being spent.

•Meeting Economic Challenges

•Truman became president in 1945 when FDR died.•It was believed that he was in over his head.

•Truman faced 2 challenges:–(1) Dealing with Communism and–(2) Restoring American economy

–Truman Faces Strikes•Truman intervenes to end strikes by miners and railroad workers by threatening to draft those workers into the army and assign them to their jobs, so the unions gave in

•Economic problems and strikes cause voters to elect a conservative Republican Congress in 1946

–“Had enough?”•Republican slogan that won them victory in Congress in 1946

•Difficult for much progress to be made with a Democratic President (Truman) and a Republican Congress

•Social Unrest Persists•A wave of racial violence erupted in the South after WW II.

•African Americans, especially those who served in the WW II demanded their rights as citizens.

–Truman Supports Civil Rights•African Americans wanted and Truman asked Congress for:–(1) A federal anti-lynching law.

–(2) Abolition of the poll tax as a voting requirement.

–(3) Establishment of a permanent body to prevent racial discrimination in hiring.

•Congress refused any of these measures though

–1948 Election•Democratic Party splits over civil rights issues into Democrats and Dixiecrats

•Truman travels the country on a “whistle stop” campaign in which he speaks from the back of a train

–Truman Fair Deal•Extension of FDR’s New Deal, provides some social and economic reforms

•Strong opposition in Congress, minimum wage raised from 40 cents to 75 cents.

•Republicans Take the Middle Road–Truman loses public support and decides not to run for reelection in 1952

–Ike takes middle of the road politics and wins 1952 election with campaign slogan “I Like Ike.”

•Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka–Supreme Court ruled public schools should be racially integrated

•1955 Rosa Parks defied rules by not giving up her seat led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott

•Alaska and Hawaii were added as the 49th and 50th states under his presidency

•Eisenhower brings a conservative style of leadership to the presidency

•Americans endorse Republican leadership by reelecting Eisenhower in 1956.