CHAPTER 29
The Fair Deal and Containment
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I. Demobilization under Truman
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A. Harry Truman
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1. Background and character
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2. Domestic proposals of 1945
B. Demobilization
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a. By 1950, armed forces down to 600,000
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b. The baby boom generation
2. Demobilization does not bring depression
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a. Unemployment pay and other Social Security benefits
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b. Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944
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c. Pent-up demand for consumer goods
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d. Rise in the gross national product
C. The problem of inflation
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1. Demands for wage increases
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2. Strikes
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1. Rapid reduction of armed forces
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a. United Steelworkers
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b. United Mine Workers
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c. Railroads
3. Truman’s response to strikes
II. Truman’s early domestic policies
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A. Employment Act of 1946
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1. Dropped the Democratic party commitment to full employment
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2. Created the Council of Economic Advisers
B. Congressional elections of 1946
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1. Discontent with Democrats
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2. Republicans win majorities in both houses of Congress
C. Record of the Republican Congress
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1. Taft-Hartley Act
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a. Restrictions on labor
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b. Passed over Truman’s veto
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c. Effect of act
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2. Truman vetoes tax cut
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3. National Security Act of 1947
III. The cold war
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A. The United Nations
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1. Outline of the United Nations
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2. Ratification of the United Nations Charter
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B. Results of war-crimes trials
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C. Conflicting cold war interpretations
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D. Differences with the Soviets
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a. Russian violations of the Yalta agreements
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b. Communist takeovers
2. Postwar settlement treaties confirm Soviet control of Eastern Europe
E. Containment
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1. Formulated by George F. Kennan
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2. The Truman Doctrine
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1. Problems in Eastern Europe
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a. Communist influence in Greece and Turkey
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b. Financial aid “to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation“
3. The Marshall Plan
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a. War damage and dislocation in Europe invited Communist influence
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b. Economic aid to all European countries offered in the European recovery program
4. Dividing Germany
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a. Merger of Allied zones
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b. Berlin blockade and airlift
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c. Creation of East and West Germany
5. North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
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a. Members
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b. Pledged signers to treat an attack against one as an attack against all
6. Establishment of Israel
IV. Domestic politics
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A. Civil rights during the 1940s
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1. Influences of World War II and cold war on race relations
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2. Truman’s change of heart on civil rights
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3. Truman desegregates the military
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4. Jackie Robinson
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B. Division of the Democratic party
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1. Southern conservatives upset over Truman’s civil rights stand
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2. Democratic left upset at Truman’s firing of Henry Wallace
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3. Efforts to shore up the New Deal coalition
C. The 1948 election
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1. Republicans nominate Thomas Dewey
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2. Democrats nominate Truman and include a strong civil rights plank
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a. Southern conservatives form the Dixiecrats and nominate J. Strom Thurmond
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b. The Progressive party nominates Henry Wallace
3. Election results
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a. Truman wins in major upset
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b. Split in Democratic party helps Truman
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c. Democratic majorities in Congress
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d. A vindication for the New Deal
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4. Fair Deal proposals
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5. Conservative coalition blocks most legislation
V. The cold war heats up
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A. Truman’s foreign policy
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B. China
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1. Nationalists versus Communists
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2. Nationalists forced to Formosa (Taiwan)
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3. United States seeks to shore up friendly Asian regimes
C. Problems of the atomic age
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1. Russia detonates its first atomic bomb
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2. Truman orders construction of the hydrogen bomb
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3. Call for buildup of conventional forces
VI. The Korean War
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A. America’s entry
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1. Korea from World War II to 1950
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2. North Korean forces invade South Korea
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3. United Nations sanctions aid to South Korea
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4. Truman orders American military forces to Korea under UN auspices
B. America in the Korean War
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1. General Douglas MacArthur commands UN forces
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2. Congress never voted a declaration of war
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1. Inch’ŏn and decision to invade the North
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2. Chinese Communists enter the war
D. Dismissal of MacArthur
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1. Different views of the Korean War
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2. MacArthur openly criticizes Truman
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3. MacArthur dismissed
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4. Public disfavor
E. End of the war
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1. Snags in negotiations
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2. Truce signed
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3. Cost of the war
VII. Another Red Scare
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A. Truman’s loyalty program
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B. The Hiss case
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1. Whittaker Chambers, former Soviet agent, accuses Hiss of passing secret documents
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2. Hiss convicted of perjury
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C. The Rosenbergs and atomic espionage
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D. Joseph McCarthy’s witch hunt
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C. Military developments
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1. Rise of McCarthy
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2. Assessment of McCarthy
E. McCarran Internal Security Act
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1. Passed over Truman’s veto
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2. Actual Communist espionage
VIII. Assessment of the cold war