19.1 Post War America Notes

1. How did the GI Bill help returning soldiers?

• Paid tuition
• 1 yr unemployment benefits
• low interest loans for  homes, businesses, farms
• staggers return of 10 million vets into jobs

2.  How did we address the housing shortage?

• mass production
• 1 house built every 16 minutes
• new communities: suburbs
• new home costs under $7k
• 1st planned community: Levittown, Long Island, NY

3. How did life for women change?

• 8 million enter workforce; 75% married
• by 1950, many left jobs
• many divorced

4.  Why was there increased unemployment after the war?

• $35 Billion in war contracts were canceled
• 1 million laid off in 10 days
• in 6 months: 3 million unemployed

5. What happened to the price controls of the war time?

• OPA price freezes ended
• 25% inflation in first 2 weeks
• price controls reinstated!

6. What really prevented the return of the depression?

• pent up savings, demand
• demind drives production
• consumers buy everything: cars, homes, etc
• US: The Affluent Society

7. What happened to wages and how did workers respond?

• prices went up
• wages dropped due to labor surplus
• 1946: 4.5 million workers went on strike
• strikes threatened to stop recovery
• Truman threatened to draft workers on strike and order them to work as soldiers
• Gov seized mines
• nearly seized railroads
• unions gave in

8.  What happened in midterm elections?

• Republican slogan: Had enough?
• won both houses
• 80th congress
• ignored Truman's domestic bills
• passed Taft Hartley Act- outlawed closed shops/ union shops
• & required cooling off period before strikes in some industries

9.  What was Truman's record on Civil Rights?

• Created commission on Civil Rights
• asked congress to pass an anti-lynch law
• asked for ban on Poll Tax
• Congress refused
• Issued executive order to desegregate all branches of armed forces & federal hiring immediately

10. Why was Truman "The man without a chance?"

• blamed for inflation, labor unrest and civil rights

11. How did these thibngs affect the election of 1948?

• democratic party split-
• southern dems form Dixiecrats, nominate SC Strom Thurmond
• Republicans nominate Thomas E Dewey, reform gov NY
• liberal democrats nominated Henry Wallace, former VP

12. How did Truman campaign?

• Whistle stop tour
• asked congress to pass his fair deal
• knew they wouldn't
• gave speeches against the 80th do nothing congress

13. What was the Fair Deal?

• aid to education
• farm subsidies
• higher minimum wage
• compulsory health insurance plan
• federal housing for the poor
• anti lynch law
• extension of social security to more people
• rejected by 80th congress

14. What were the big issues of the 1952 election?

• McCarthyism
• Korean War Stalemate
• Loss of China

15. What was Eisenhower's promise in the campaign of 1952?

• to end the war in Korea
• to end social security & other New Deal programs

16. What was the controversy in the 1952 election for the Republicans?

• Nixon accused of spending a slush fund illegally
• gave speech accounting for all his expenses (Checkers Speech)
• glaimed to use only one campaign contribution personally: gift of dog

17. What did Eisenhower want the government to do when he got elected in 1952?

• be conservative on money and liberal on human beings