Monday March 26 2012 HARRY S TRUMAN Harry S Truman Post War America o G I Bill o Served as President for 7 years o Became President in 1945 and served until 1953 almost made 8 years o His years are important to American government because you have the first movement by the gov towards Civil Rights to minority Americans o During his Presidency the post WWII economy also takes off o You also start to see a turn in American politics they start to shift o Harry Truman was not what you would think of as Presidential Material He was born in 1844 from Missouri He wanted to be an officer at West point but he had vision problems He instead joined the National Guard He became an artillery officer in WWI in France After the war he became a lawyer judge and in the 30s became a US Senator Had not made a name for himself In 1944 Roosevelt chose Truman because he wanted someone to reach out to ordinary Americans o In April 1945 Roosevelt died of a brain hemorrhage and Truman took over First big issue Truman deals with You have 9 million men and women who leave the service after the war is over Nobody knows what is going to happen during the economy The job rate would probably spike The G I bill was passed in 1944 It was up to Truman to make sure that it was implemented Took 20 billion dollars to put aside for military women and men They were able to rake up 20 a month for unemployment benefits for 52 weeks Provided scholarships for people to go to college as well if the vets went to college for 4 years the job market would be stabilized and they could get a good job o Provided money for tuition housing and books Those already married were given low interest loans for houses o Houses had not been built during the Great Depression there were very few homes Vets lived on the streets Some G I s also chose not to go to college women were PUSHED OUT of the workplace Men reclaimed their jobs o Women in the Work Force Widely believed roles about women Common Sense of Baby and Child Care If women broke this social norm they were ostracized By Dr Benjamin Spock o Said women had to be the primary caregivers for their children o Women s success in life based on how successfully she raised her child o Read by 90 of Americans o Women became housewives Modern Women The Lost Sex By Maryina Farnham and Ferdinand Lundberg o Said if a woman did not have children she would become emotionally o Said that a woman seeking a career in the workforce was a masculine endeavor not a feminine endeavor o Said that the role of a woman was to provide love and care for returning disturbed veterans o Housewives At the same time the American economy was geared for this new housewife People had money soldiers had not been able to spend and now they could They needed household items and appliances o Suburbia Between 1946 and 1950 Americans bought 20 mil refrigerators The soldiers that had gone to war had come back and not been exposed to refrigeration Vets wanted these modern conveniences They bought dishwashers and electric stoves Also 21 million new cars were sold between 1946 and 1950 By 1950 every family had at LEAST one car Americans also began using payment plans they discovered credit Housing shortage at the end of WWII William Levitt began helping veterans Built barracks Worked as a construction supervisor in the Pacific When out of the war he returned to his family service in NY They used the assembly line technique for each house he put it to use building He bought was used to be a potato field in Long Island and began building the civilian homes in NY Suburbs in 1946 He envisioned his community to be a commuter community could still be able to get to job every morning on time while living in a semi country area By the time Levvitt was finished his crews had build 140 000 houses not only in NY but also Philly 3 different designs you could buy all 2 bedroom one bath homes 7000 He named it Levittown after himself In 1946 there was a mid term election In this election the Repub Gained control of the House of Rep since 1932 After 1946 it would be another years since they would have control again This is because people were tired of wartime taxes and controls by Dems Repubs promised to stop rations The one large piece of legislation was the Taft Hartley Act Created by the son Robert Taft of William Taft Labor unions went on strike and almost shut down American businesses so people were upset and wanted labor union rules Banned the closed shop that is the hiring of Union Members Only 80 th Congress o Taft Hartley Act 1947 Permitted employers to sue unions for broken contracts or damages inflicted during strikes Forced Unions to abide by a sixty day cooling off period before striking Required unions to make public their financial statements Forbade union leaders to swear they were not communists Labor Unions had to give a 60 day grace period to allow negotiations take place until before the strike actually happens It required Labor Unions to make statements public They also had to swear they were not communist Truman and Taft hated each other and the Repub Managed to pass this over Truman s veto He was not the first to forgive and forget The Civil Rights Movement o Picks up steam before 1942 o During WWII African Americans helped build ships bombs and tanks they wondered why they were fighting to help people be free when they weren t even free o They couldn t go in certain restaurants because of segregation o They began the VV Campaign during WWII V stood for victory over Japan and Germany The extra V was for discrimination at home o Civil Rights Movement really gets a boost in 1947 native from Cairo Georgia Had been raised in California In California he was a track star at UCLA After WWII he signed a contract with the Kansas City Monarchs At the age of 28 the Brooklyn Dodgers signed him He endured death threats and name calling whenever he went to bat IN 1947 he was named Rookie of the Year JACKIE ROBINSON they won the world series the year after First African American player to play Major League Baseball and painted the way for integration elsewhere 1948 Election o One of the leaders of the Democrats was Hubert Humphrey He was the leader of Minnesota and he said that the Democrats should push Civil Rights o All the Southern members of the convention got up and walked out when this was announced in the Democrat Convention o They then created the States Rights Party Dixie Party They nominated Strom Thurmond Their main issue
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