170 likes | 306 Views
Chapter 27 Postwar America. Section 1 Truman & Eisenhower. Return to Peacetime Economy. Servicemen’s Readjustment Act (GI Bill) – helped the economy by providing loans to veterans to attend college, set up businesses, and buy homes. Inflation and Strikes.
E N D
Chapter 27Postwar America Section 1 Truman & Eisenhower
Return to Peacetime Economy • Servicemen’s Readjustment Act (GI Bill) – helped the economy by providing loans to veterans to attend college, set up businesses, and buy homes.
Inflation and Strikes • Increased spending led to higher prices for goods, which then led to rising inflation. • Workers went on strike for increased wages. • Pres. Truman, fearing an energy shortage, forced miners to return to work after a month-long strike.
Republican Victory • 1946 – Republicans wanted change and elected Republicans in both houses of Congress.
Republican Changes • Taft-Hartley Act – (passed in 1947) • cut the power of organized labor • Outlawed the closed shop, or practice of forcing business owners to hire only union members • States could pass right-to-work laws outlawing union shops, or shops where new workers were required to join the union • Prohibited featherbedding, the limiting of work output in order to create more jobs.
Truman’s Domestic Program • Some of Truman’s many proposals included: • Expansion of Social Security benefits • Raising minimum wage from 40 to 75 cents • Broad civil rights bill
Election of 1948 • As the election approached, it looked as if Truman would not be reelected. • Truman criticized, “Do-Nothing Congress” because it hadn’t enacted any of his proposals. • Truman won and Democrats regained both houses of Congress
The Fair Deal • Truman’s domestic agenda was known as the Fair Deal. • Congress did not support all Truman’s ideas. • Congress passed • Minimum wage increase • Social Security expansion • Congress refused to pass • National health insurance • Civil rights legislation
The Eisenhower Years • Truman decided not to run for reelection. • Eisenhower’s slogan – “It’s time for a change!” • Won by a landslide. • Vice President was Richard M. Nixon.
Ike as President • Political beliefs were midway b/w conservative and liberal. • “Dynamic Conservatism” – the balancing of economic conservation with some activism.
Conservative Ike • Ended gov’t price and rent controls. • Vetoed a school construction bill. • Cut aid for public housing • Supported tax reductions
Activist Ike • Pushed for passage of the Federal Highway Act, which provided $25 billion for a 10-year project to construct 40,000 miles of interstate highways. • Authorized the construction of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Seaway.
End of Section 1 Next: Section 2 The Affluent Society