Domestic Policy Under President Truman

 

Oversaw the de-Mobilization of armed forces:

     Servicemen's Readjustment Act (G.I. Bill)

     was used to further the transition

           Servicemen received:

                 unemployment pay

                medical care

                low interest loans

                $$ for education

 

Southern democrats split the party in 1948 and formed the Dixiecrats and ran Strom Thurmond for the presidency

 

Left-wing democrats formed a revitalized Progressive Party and ran Henry A. Wallace

 

Truman campaigned hard and won the election in an upset over Dewey (Republican)

 

The Fair Deal:

     attempt to expand, continue and improve

     the New Deal

Congressional Opposition:

     The "Conservative coalition (Republicans

           and conservative democrats)

           defeated many of Truman's Fair Deal

           proposals

                Civil Rights Legislation

                Compulsory Health Insurance

                Federal Aid to education

 

Accomplishments under the Fair Deal:

     expanded Social Security programs

     raised the minimum wage       

     maintain farm supports

     provided funds to clear slums and build

           low-income housing

 

     established the Atomic Energy

           Commission

     appointed "Committee on Civil Rights"

          which issued a report "To Secure

           These Rights" which focused national

           attention on ending discrimination

     Desegregated the armed forces

 

 

Employment Act: affirmed the responsibility

     of the federal govt to "promote maximum

     employment", and established the

     Council of Economic Advisors

 

National Security Act: which unified the

     armed forces by  creating the Department

     of Defense

 

Laws passed over Truman's veto:

 

Taft-Hartley Act: restricted labor unions

     reaffirmed the right to organize and

           bargain collectively

     allowed states to pass "right to work" laws

           (to bar a closed shop)

     prohibited unfair union practices

     unions had to file financial reports

           annually with the government

     created regulations for strikes (cooling off

           period of 60 days)

 

McCarran-Walter Immigration Act: to maintain the National Origins system