"Is there anything we can do for you? You are the one in trouble now."

Eleanor Roosevelt

GI Bill

• Veterans attending college had their tuition paid and recieved a small income.
  
• It also provided federal guarantees of loans to veterans for buying homes + establishing businesses.
  

National Security Act

Reorganized the military

Passed by Congress in 1947

Harry S. Truman

Was unprepared for presidency, never went to college, not tall nor handsome.

Winston Churchill

"You, more than any other man, have saved Western civilization." to Truman

Returning Civilian Life

• By 1946, about 10 million people had been released from the armed forces.
• To ease their return, whose schooling/ careers got interrupted, Congress passed the GI bill in 1944.

Central Intelligence Agency

Set up to gather information from abroad

Later gained the power to carry out covert actions, or secret political warfare in support of American foreign policy

Boom Times

They had $ in savings from defense work, service pay etc..., people could and would pay for consumer goods.

Americans began to buy.

2 years late, the supply of goods caught up with the demand

Taft-Hartley Act

It abolished the checkoff system by which employers collected union dues

It prohibited the closed shop, an arrangement requiring that a person be a union member in order to be hired.

Union officals swore they weren't Com.

Employment Act of 1946

Truman Fights for Civil Rights

1st- federal antilynching law

2nd- abolish poll tax as a voting requirment

3rd- establishment of a permanent commission to replace the wartime Fair Employment Practice Committee that was due to expire in 1946

"To Secure These Rights"

In 1946 Truman appointed a biracial Committee on Civil Rights to investigate

The title of the report was "To Secure These Rights"

Eliminate discrimination

1948 Election = Upset

People blamed Truman for inflation & labor unrest, but he was nominated by Democrats in 1948.

Dixiecrats

Southern delegates

Formed the States' Rights Democratic party - J.Strom Thurmond

Henry A. Wallace

Progressive party leader

He dissaproved Truman's "Get tough with Russia" policy

Thomas E. Dewey

Republican canidate from New York

He was determined to win

He asked congress to pass laws supporting such planks in the Republican party platform as more housing, aid to education, a higher minimum wage

A Fair Deal Replaces the New Deal

Teddy offered a square deal

FDR gave the New Deal

Truman began pushing for what he called a Fair Deal- Extenstion of the New Deal

Truman's Proposals

1. increase in minimum wage from 40-75

2. extension social security coverage to about 10 million more people.

3. Flood prevention and irrigation project

4. Financial help to cities for slum clearance and to build 180,000 houses

A Former Ally Becomes an Enemy

US ambassador rushed home to warn the President about Stalin.

Truman considered Stalin a slippery character and believed he must take a blunt, hard line to handle the Soviets

Soviet Union Dominates Eastern Europe

FDR wanted to continue the Big 3

U.S.S.R had suffered over 25 million casualties during WWII

Soviets felt they needed friendly neighbors. - They wanted communist neighbors

"An Iron Curtain has descended across the continent"

In March of 1946, Winston Churchill gave a speech at Fulton, Missouri that described the situation in Europe.

A Cold War Develops in Europe

Refers to hostility between nations

They formed military alliances, carried on an arms race, and supported opposing sides in several civil wars.

The Truman Doctrine

Stalin wanted the Dardanelles, the Turkish straits that lead to Black Sea

US and UK did not allow it.

Soviets persisted in pressuring the Turks

Truman sent naval forces into the Eastern Mediterranean

Truman Doctrine Continued

Britain  could no longer afford to give economic aid to Turkey.

They could no longer help the Greek monarchy, which was trying to put down a revolt by communist-led guerrillas.

Truman Doctrine Continued

On January 12, 1947 Truman asked Congress for $400 million in economic and military aid for Greece and Turkey.

He gave a speech that said that the US should prevent communist governments from being set up anywhere in the world

Effects of Truman Doctrine

1. Some people didn't want to  interferein the affairs of other nations.

2. Others said America's power would be spread too thin

3. Some opposed aiding dictatorial gov'ts

4. Some favored USA-USSR relations

The Marshall Plan

June 1947 General Marshall, offered US aid to all European nations that needed it.

The move was not against any country, but against hunger, poverty, desperation, and chaos.

Marshall Plan Continued

The Soviets refused the plan

They denounced the plan as an "imperialist plot" by the US to dominate Europe.

Plan cost ~ $12.5 billion

Marshall Plan Continued

In February 1948, USSR took Czechoslovakia.

Many democrats disappeared or died, including Foreign Minister Jan Masaryk, son of nation's founder

Marshall Plan Continued

Plan was approved by Congress in response to the disappearances of these leaders

The plan was a success, by 1952 Western Europe was flourishing, and Communist parties were weakened

The Question of Germany

USSR wanted Germany to remain divided and weak. UK, USA, and France wanted Germany to stablize their industry.

In 1948 they decided to combine the 3 western zones within Germany.

Berlin Blockade

USSR cut off all surface traffic into West Berlin.

For 327 days, planes took off and landed every few minutes around the clock.

277,000 flights brough everything from food to medicine. Lifted in  May 1949

NATO

The Soviet advance into Czechoslovakia led to Marshall plan and the formation of a defensive military alliance called North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

NATO

Included Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, UK, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal and USA

In 1952, Greece and Turkey joined and in 1955 West Germany.

Warsaw Pact

Formed by USSR for defensive military alliances

Counterpart of NATO.

Included Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, and Romania.

1949

USSR got the bomb

China went red

Subversion

Alger Hiss

Spy

McCarthyism

Red Scare

The growing menace of communism throughout the world.