Pages 816-820 Truman’s domestic policies after the war—Truman was tasked with reconversion to a peacetime economy and introducing his domestic agenda

APUSH

Domestic Policy and Postwar Cultural Changes 1945 – 1960

1. 
   Explain the Serviceman’s Readjustment Act, more commonly known as the he GI Bill.
   

2. 
   As Congress dismantled wartime controls, high inflation and a soaring cost of living caused many labor strikes (4.5 million striking workers in 1946 alone), including a mine workers and railroad strike in which Truman had to threaten to intervene with the army.
   

1. 
   Congress passed the Taft-Hartley Act in 1947 over Truman’s veto. What did this law establish?
   

2. 
   In 1947, Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in baseball and the expectations for racial equality were on the rise. What did Truman do to support civil rights? How did his actions affect the Democratic Party?
   

3. 
   The 1948 election pitted an increasingly unpopular president against the well-liked New York Governor Thomas Dewey. The Progressive Party ran Henry Wallace as a third party candidate. What were the results of the 1948 presidential and Congressional elections?
   

4. 
   Which of Truman’s Fair Deal proposals were approved by Congress?
   

5. 
   However, Congress rejected Truman’s attempts to create national health care insurance, a federal anti-lynching law, and abolish poll taxes. While defeated, these parts of the Fair Deal were nevertheless important as they helped to further define the agenda of the modern Democratic Party.
   

6. 
   Fear of communism and nuclear weapons was becoming ingrained in the public due to films, television, air raid drills, emergency testing on the radio, the building of fallout shelters, etc. These fears also played a role in dooming Truman’s liberal agenda.
   

1. 
   The Federal Employee Loyalty Program/Loyalty Review Boards:
   

2. 
   The House Un-American Activities Committee:
   

B. Alger Hiss:

3. 
   The Rosenbergs:
   

4. 
   Senator Joseph McCarthy/McCarthyism (the eventual downfall of McCarthy is explained on page 848):
   

5. 
   McCarran Internal Security Act of 1950:
   

1. 
   What was Eisenhower’s position on the role of federal government? Provide several examples.
   

2. 
   Despite pressures from within his own party, Eisenhower did NOT dismantle the welfare policies that had been created under the New Deal. In fact, he extended Social Security benefits and raised the minimum wage.
   

3. 
   What was the most significant accomplishment of the Eisenhower administration (see pages 846-847)?
   

4. 
   What was the ruling of the Court in the case of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954)? How did Eisenhower respond to the decision in the short run as well as to the Southern resistance that mounted in 1957?
   

Benson

Unit 10
American Society at Midcentury

1. 
   Government spending, particularly Cold War military expenditures, supported economic growth as did the $100 billion interstate highway program
   
2. 
   The baby boom meant increased consumer spending
   
3. 
   The rapid growth of the suburbs supported construction growth and automobile sales
   
4. 
   The West grew dramatically due largely to New Deal programs and WWII defense industries
   
5. 
   The Federal Reserve carefully monitored interest rates and the government regulated tax rates to further stimulate the economy and cure recessions
   
6. 
   Wide-scale corporate and agricultural growth took place. Corporations made concessions to large labor unions known as the “post-war contract.” This air of cooperation also led to the unification of the AFL-CIO in 1955.
   
7. 
   Unions made some strides, but membership remained stagnant due to the Taft-Hartley Act and state right-to-work laws.
   

1. 
   Medical breakthroughs: antibiotics such as penicillin; antiseptics to prevent infection; vaccines for smallpox and typhoid; Dr. Salk’s polio vaccine in 1954
   
2. 
   Pesticides: DDT used by the military, long-term toxic effects were unknown
   
3. 
   Consumer electronics: TV introduced in the 1940s; color TV introduced in the 1950s
   
4. 
   Computer technology: UNIVAC and IBM data processors
   
5. 
   Bombs, rockets, & missiles: 1952= The hydrogen bomb; early intercontinental ballistic missiles introduced (ICBMs)
   
6. 
   The space program
   

1. 
   What factors helped fuel the consumer culture of the 1950s?
   

2. 
   The new interstate highway system and the proliferation of automobiles changed the American landscape and culture. Identify several specific examples.
   

3. 
   What was a “Levittown” and how did it symbolize an unprecedented demographic shift?
   

4. 
   Explain the prevailing gender role for women in the 1950s. How did Dr. Spock’s Baby and Child Care reinforce these expectations?
   

5. 
   What were the social consequences of television in the 1950s?
   

6. 
   Who was the Beat Generation (a.k.a. the beatniks) and what did they criticize? Identify two prominent beat authors and their works.
   

7. 
   What are the roots of rock-n-roll music? What audience did it appeal to? Identify two prominent rock-n-roll musicians of the 1950s.