Notes on the Truman Era

Truman Era: Loyalty, Fear, and Fair Deal

Loyalty Investigations and the Red Scare

• 1947: Truman initiated investigations into the loyalty of 3 million government employees.

• 1950: The federal government began dismissing individuals deemed "security risks," including:

  • Communists

  • Alcoholics

  • Homosexuals

  • Debtors (considered susceptible to blackmail)

• Causes: Professional politicians were largely responsible for instigating the hysteria, but it was also fueled by:

  • Labor union officials

  • Religious leaders

  • Media moguls

• Impact:

  • Schoolteachers were fired for expressing dissenting opinions.

  • Hollywood actors were blacklisted.

• 1949: The Soviet Union successfully tested its first atomic bomb, intensifying the Cold War hysteria.

• Key Figures:

  • Richard Nixon gained prominence during the Alger Hiss Trial.

  • Joseph McCarthy (HUAC) claimed 205 communists were working in the State Department.

    • His influence waned after the Army-McCarthy hearings.

Truman's Context & Political Capital

• Truman was a Cold War President, wartime leader (WWII, Korea), and a New Dealer.

• Political Capital: Understanding its role is key to analyzing presidential effectiveness.

Domestic Agenda

Employment Act of 1946

• Truman aimed for an economic law to guarantee "full employment."

• Defeated by Northern Republicans and Southern Democrats who feared excessive government regulation and threats to free market competition.

• A Compromise Established: Council of Economic Advisors was created.

Post-War Inflation and Strikes

• Causes:

  • 12 million troops returning home.

  • War plants closing.

  • Decreased government regulation.

• Workers went on strike seeking prosperity.

• Railroad Strike: Truman threatened to draft workers into the Army and seize railroad companies, leading to an agreement.

80th Congress

• Conservative, labeled "the do nothing Congress."

• Taft-Hartley Act of 1947:

  • Passed over Truman's veto.

  • Outlawed "closed shops."

  • Permitted states to pass "right to work" laws.

  • Outlawed secondary strikes.

  • Empowered the President to invoke an 80-day "cooling off" period before strikes endangering national security.

Election of 1948 and the "Fair Deal"

• Election of 1948: Contrary to predictions, Truman defeated Dewey..

• Fresh from victory, Truman proposed “Fair Deal”.

• Fair Deal:

  • National health care insurance.

  • Federal aid to education.

  • Civil rights legislation.

  • Funds for public housing.

  • New farm program.

• Congress blocked most of the Fair Deal, except for:

  • Raise in the minimum wage.

  • Expansion of Social Security.

• Reasons for Congressional opposition:

  • Conservative Congress.

  • Cold War tensions.

Post-War America: Transition and Challenges

• Truman faced the challenge of shifting America from war to peace.

• Demobilization occurred rapidly, with over 12 million military personnel returning home in 1945.

• Impact on Veterans:

  • Some found civilian life difficult.

  • Others utilized GI Bill benefits for housing, business, and education.

• Labor Force:

  • Most veterans entered the labor force.

  • Over 2 million women workers lost their jobs.

• Economic Changes:

  • The government dismantled wartime agencies regulating industry, labor, and price controls.

  • Immediate inflation resulted.

Truman's "Fair Deal" and Labor Unrest

• Truman aimed to revive New Deal policies, calling it the "Fair Deal."

• Goals: Improve the social safety net and raise living standards.

• Proposals:

  • Increase the minimum wage.

  • Create a national health insurance system.

  • Increase public housing, Social Security, and educational aid.

• Labor Revolt of 1946: AFL and CIO launched Operation Dixie to unionize the South.

  • Hundreds of labor organizers sent to textile mills, steel factories, and fields.

  • Workers’ real income dropped due to the end of overtime and rising inflation.

  • 5 million workers went on strike demanding wage raises.

  • 750,000 steel workers conducted the largest single strike in US history up to that point.

• Truman's Response:

  • Alarmed by strike wave, he became hostile to unions.

  • He won an injunction to force striking coal miners back to work.

• 1946 Elections: Republicans won both houses of Congress due to middle-class voters scared by labor unrest and workers angry at Truman.

Civil Rights Initiatives

• Truman embraced civil rights for African-Americans, a departure from Roosevelt's administration.

• The war against Nazism increased black militancy and awareness.

• Progress:

  • Many states established fair employment practices commissions.

  • Cities passed laws to end discrimination in jobs and public accommodations.

  • A civil rights coalition of labor, religious, and black groups supported these efforts.

  • By 1952, the NAACP raised the number of black voters in the South to 20%.

  • In 1952, no lynchings took place due to increased law enforcement intervention.

• Sports Desegregation: Jackie Robinson joined the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947.

• Commission on Civil Rights: Issued a report, To Secure These Rights, calling for an end to segregation and equal treatment in housing, employment, education, and criminal justice.

  • Truman hoped to counter Cold War criticisms regarding American racial relations.

• Legislative Efforts:

  • Truman presented a comprehensive civil rights program to Congress, including:

    • A federal civil rights commission

    • Anti-lynching and anti-poll tax laws

    • Laws for equal access in jobs and education

  • Congress rejected the proposals.

• Executive Action: In the summer of 1948, Truman desegregated the military, making it the first large integrated institution in American history.

Election of 1948: Divisions and Victory

• 1948 Democratic Platform: Included a robust civil rights plank.

• Dixiecrat Revolt: Southern delegates walked out of the Democratic convention to form the States Rights’ Democratic Party, nominating Strom Thurmond.

  • Thurmond’s Platform: Called for "complete segregation of the races" and argued for states' rights.

• Progressive Party Challenge: Left-wing critics of Truman’s foreign policy nominated Henry A. Wallace.

  • Wallace's Platform: Expanding the welfare state, denounced segregation, international controls on nuclear weapons, and trade with the Soviet Union.

  • The Party's affiliation, opened the party to Communist influence, liberals abandoned his candidacy.

• Republican Candidate: Thomas A. Dewey was the uncharismatic Republican candidate.

• Truman’s Campaign: Critiqued the Congress and recycled New Deal critiques of Wall Street, warning that Republicans wanted to end Social Security.

• Election Significance: This was the last election before television transformed electoral politics by minimizing in-depth debate.

• Truman’s Victory: He won an overwhelming majority in the electoral college, influenced by black voters for the first time since 1868.

• Thurmond’s Impact: He carried four southern states, foreshadowing a shift of these Democratic states to the Republican Party.

• Wallace’s Limited Impact: His fewer votes made criticism of America’s Cold War foreign policy less acceptable.