Chapter 31 - Truman and Eisenhower in Post-War America

Harry S. Truman

• Served as FDR’s Vice President
• Won in the Election of 1948
• ^^Served as the 33rd president of the United States from 1945 to 1953^^
• Authorized the atomic bomb drops on Japan
• Opposed the Taft-Hartley Act
• Created the Fair Deal, which was an expansion of FDR’s New Deal

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Cold War

• Fought between the US and the Communist USSR
  • “Free World” vs. “Communist Bloc”
• No large-scale fighting directly between the two superpowers, but they each supported major regional conflicts known as proxy wars
• The struggle for dominance was expressed via indirect means such as psychological warfare, propaganda campaigns, espionage, far-reaching embargoes, rivalry at sports events and technological competitions such as the Space Race
• Marked the end of isolationism in the US

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Containment

• 1946
• Symbolized containing the expansion and spread of communism
• ^^The US would provide political, military, and economic aid to democratic countries under the threat of communist influences in order to prevent the expansion of communism^^
• The United States could use economic containment in the form of embargoes on the Soviet bloc and China to prevent its rivals from acquiring machinery and equipment that would strengthen their military power

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National Security Act

• 1947
• A law enacting major restructuring of the United States government's military and intelligence agencies following World War II
• Put the Secretary of Defense in charge of managing the Army, Navy, and Air Force
• Created the National Security Council and the CIA

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Central Intelligence Agency

• 1947
• ^^Used to gather intelligence and coordinate with other government branches, the Secret Service, and the FBI^^
• Officially tasked with gathering, processing, and analyzing national security information from around the world, primarily through the use of human intelligence (HUMINT) and performing covert actions
• Its budget and its activities were a secret

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Truman Doctrine

• 1947
• Established by Harry Truman
• Declared that the United States would provide political, military and economic assistance to all democratic nations under threat from external or internal authoritarian forces.
• Originated with the primary goal of containing Soviet geopolitical expansion during the Cold War

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Marshall Plan

• 1948
• Established by George C. Marshall
• ^^The goal was for the US to give money to democratic countries fighting communism, helping them establish strong economies and political stability, making communism less appealing^^
• Was a successful plan for containment
• Transferred over $13 billion in economic recovery programs to Western European economies after the end of World War II

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Berlin Airlift

• 1948-1949
• ^^The Soviet Union blocked the Western Allies' railway, road, and canal access to the sectors of Berlin under Western control^^
• The USSR cut off access to Berlin by ground, so flight was the only way to access it
• The US sent food, coal, and medical supplies by air

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GI Bill

• 1944
• Provided a range of benefits for some of the returning World War II veterans
• By giving money to WWII veterans, they were able to buy homes, receive an education, etc. when they returned home

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Fair Deal

• 1948
• The nickname for Truman’s domestic agenda
• Expanded the New Deal
• ^^Offered new proposals to continue New Deal liberalism, but with a conservative coalition controlling Congress, only a few of its major initiatives became law and then only if they had considerable GOP support^^
• The most important proposals were aid to education, national health insurance, the Fair Employment Practices Commission, and repeal of the Taft–Hartley Act

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Taft-Hartley Act

• 1947
• Prohibited certain union practices and requires disclosure of certain financial and political activities by unions
• Restricted the activities and power of labor unions
• Weakened the existing US labor movement
• Opposed by Truman

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McCarthyism

• 1950
• Led by Joseph McCarthy
• A vociferous campaign against alleged communists in the US government and other institutions
• Many of the accused were blacklisted or lost their jobs, although most did not in fact belong to the Communist Party
• ^^Spread fear of alleged communist and socialist influence on American institutions and of espionage by Soviet agents^^

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NATO

• 1949
• Set down a pact of mutual security, meaning that an attack on one nation was an attack on all
• During the Cold War, NATO operated as a check on the perceived threat posed by the Soviet Union
• Commanded by Eisenhower

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Warsaw Pact

• 1955
• ^^A collective defense treaty signed in Warsaw, Poland, between the Soviet Union and seven other Eastern Bloc socialist republics of Central and Eastern Europe in May 1955^^
• Established as a balance of power or counterweight to NATO
• Led to the expansion of military forces and their integration into the respective blocs

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Korean War

• 1950-1953
• Began with North Korea invading South Korea
• North Korea was supported by China and the Soviet Union while South Korea was supported by the United Nations, principally the United States
• After Douglas MacArthur landed at Inchon, the US pushed North Korean forces back, while China pushed US forces back
• Fighting ended with an armistice on 27 July 1953

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Dwight D. Eisenhower

• Engineered the D-Day attacks and the broad-front strategy
• In WWII, he oversaw the invasions of North Africa and Sicily before supervising the invasions of France and Germany
• Won the Election of 1952
• ^^Served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961^^
• Focused on enacting Cold War policies and solving domestic issues

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Elvis Presley

• Dubbed the king of rock and roll
• Had a very famous music and movie career
• Symbolized the freer youth culture that arose in the US during the wartime

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Levittowns

• Created by William Levitt
• Several large suburban housing developments created in the United States
• ^^Came on the eve of the baby boom and just before the 1948 Housing Bill liberalized lending, allowing anyone to buy a home with 5 percent down and extending mortgage terms to 30 years^^
• Mass production of houses led to conformity \n

Baby Boom

• 1946-1964
• Hardships and uncertainties of the Great Depression and World War II had led many couples to delay marriage and many married couples to delay having children
• The number of births drastically increased after soldiers returned home
• Led a period focused on suburbia and consumerism
• After people born in the Baby Boom began retiring, there was high pressure on Social Security to provide benefits for all of them

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Federal Highway Act

• 1956
• Implemented by Eisenhower
• ^^Provided for a 65,000-km national system of interstate and defense highways to be built over 13 years^^
• The biggest public works project in the nation's history
• Created a transportation revolution

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Dr. Benjamin Spock

• 1945 - Wrote The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care
• An American pediatrician and left-wing political activist
• The first pediatrician to study psychoanalysis to try to understand children's needs and family dynamics

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National Defense Education Act

• Created after the USSR launched Sputnik
• 1958
• ^^Using federal money, education in math and science was boosted^^
• Provided funding to United States education institutions at all levels

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U-2 Incident

• The US flew aircraft in order to secretly monitor the development of USSR missile technology
• After a U-2 aircraft was shot down by the USSR, the pilot confessed to being US CIA
• When Eisenhower tried to cover up these secret flights, it harmed his reputation

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Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles

• ^^After they were launched, their warheads fell on enemy cities^^
• Were large and very powerful

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BIG PICTURE

• Truman + Eisenhower - Cold War presidents
• New agencies + programs → Contain communism
• Military $ → Highway system + economic growth → Prosperity + consumerism
• Wars + nuclear weapons
• “Good life” - Suburbia + entertainment

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