Harry S Truman

FDR died

12 April 1945

FDR approval rating never dipped below —

48%

— Americans died in WW2

400,000

By the end of the 1940’s America had —

42% world income

½ world manufactured goods

unemployment under 4%

WW2 mobility meant — Americans changed county of residence

1/8

AA made up — population

10%

Ethnic divisions meant US was described as a

Melting pot

Increased union membership

1940- 9 million

1945- 15 milllion

GI bill of rights ‘Servicemans readjustment act’

1944

caused college educated Americans to rise to 15%

only — AA successful in applying for college under GI bill

1/5

US investment into Europe

$3.1 bn Britain

$3.2bn France

— veterans took advantage of bill of rights

7.8 million

Demobilised 9 million soldiers, kept 3 million

1945

increased car sale — 1946- — 1955

2.9mil

7.9mil

The Fair Deal

1949 state of the union address

Income per capita rose by —

40%

large shopping malls built

1945- 8

1960- 3840

supplied — for public works

$26,000 million

built — km roads

64,000 km

By 1953 — employment

62 million

Polio Vaccine

1952

‘Do Nothing Congress’

1946 Midterms

From 1946 Truman vetoed — bills

250

Candidates for the 1948 presidential election

Democrat- Truman

Republican- Dewey

1948 Presidential election

won by 2 million

1945 Inflation —

25%

— strikes before 1947

5000

lost — working days due to strikes

116million

Nationwide railway strikes

May 1946

Truman appeared before congress asking to draft striking workers- when + quote

May 1946

‘It has become a strike against the United States itself’

Steel Mills threatened to strike

April 1952

Trumans reaction to steel mills strike

Truman seized control of the steel mills under executive power, SC intervened

Impact of the steel mills strike

cut industrial output by 1/3

Taft and Hadley Act- president could order a 80 day cooling off period

1947

Joseph McCarthy claimed to have a list of 205 communists in govt

February 1950

Executive order 9835- loyalty board review

March 1947

How many investigated under the loyalty board review

1947-1951- 3.2 million investigated, 212 dismissed and 2900 resigned

HUAC- investigated influence of communism on film industry

1947

Alger Hiss

1948

The McCarren Act- unlawful to plan any actions that might establish a totalitarian state

1950

Jackie Robertson awarded ‘most valuable player’ in baseball

1949

Adam Clayton Powell elected to HOR

1945

Second Great Migration

1945-1970

— AA could vote in the South 1945

3%

1910-1940 — left the South

1.5 mil

Western states growing black population

1950- 250,000 in LA, San Fran and Oakland

FEPC

1945

Presidents committee on civil rights established

1946

‘To secure these rights’

1947

Truman speech to congress asking to accept civil rights package

2nd February 1948

Executive order 9981- desegregated army

1948

Executive order 9980- fair employment into civil service

1948

Executive order 10308- established CGCC committee used federal purchasing to ensure equality

1951

post-WW2 NAACP membership rose

50,000- 450,000

Legal defence fund

1939

Morgan V Virginia- desegregated interstate transport

1946

Henderson V United States- abolished segregation of railroad dining cars

1950

Sweatt V Painter- separate but equal law school wasn’t equal to University of Texas law

1950

Thurgood Marshall won — cases

29

CORE formed

1942

Journey of Reconciliation

10 April 1947

Earl Warren

Governor of California- repeals all segregation laws

By 1952 only — states kept the poll tax

5

RCNL campaign

‘don’t buy gas where you can’t use the restroom’

20,000 bumper stickers

Strom Thurmond

Dixiecrats

Philadelphia Convention- 22 Mississippi walked out with members of the Alabama delegation

1948

KKK resurgence- Samuel Green

1945

Yalta Conference

4-11 February 1945

Potsdam Conference

17 July- 2 August 1945

Kennan’s Long Telegram

February 1945

Churchills ‘Sinews of Peace’- iron curtain

March 1946

Truman Doctrine- military commitment to defend countries threatened by communism

12 March 1947

Truman doctrine gave — to Greece and Turkey

$400 million

National Security Act- coordinate foreign and defence policy

July 1947

Marshall Aid (European Recovery Programme)

1948

Marshall aid gave — between 1948-1952

$17bn

Berlin Airlift

25th June 1948- 12th May 1949

Stalin blockaded Berlin

25th June 1948

Stalin ended Berlin blockade

12 May 1949

Truman ordered - flights carrying — supplies to Berline

275,000 flights, 1.5 million tons of supplies

COMECON- USSR version of Marshall aid plan

25 January 1949

NATO

April 1949

Mutual Defense Assistance bill

28th September 1949

NSC document 68- described polarised world

April 1950

Hiroshima

6 August 1945

Nagasaki

9 August 1945

Japan Surrendered

14 August 1945

Fall of China

October 1949

General MacArthur sent to negotiate an agreement in China + give $400 million China Aid Act

1946

China White paper

1949

Increased aid to France in Vietnam

1950

Soviet Union and China recognised the communist republic of Vietnam

1950

Defence Perimeter Speech- Dean Acheson- perimeter of countries US would defend in an attack missed Korea

January 1950

NK invaded

25th June 1950

UN involvement in Korea

28th June 1950

Pusan Pocket

4th August -18th September 1950

Battle of Inchon- invasion near Seol

September 15th 1950

Stalemate in Korea

15th January 1951

General McArthur fired

11th April 1951

Korean war cost —

$30 billion