19.1 – Postwar America

Readjustments• 9/45 – 8/46 – 10m+ released from military

• GI Bill – helps return to civilian life– Education, unemployment,

access to loans (homes & farms)

• Big # of returning veterans = housing crisis– Leads to mass-produced

houses – cookie cutters– Move to the suburbs

Readjustments (c.)• Family– Tensions caused by war

= rising divorce rate– Women reluctant to

leave jobs & return home

• Economy– Transitions back to

peacetime levels– Millions laid off &

unemployment increases

– Prices skyrocket: supply < demand

– Incomes fall as production falls

Recovery• Economists predict a

postwar depression = doesn’t happen– Consumer’s needs

• War & rationing led to savings = money to spend

• Economy booms: Home & Car sales explode

• Demand > Supply = new jobs

• Cold War & Marshall Plan keep defense spending high = even more jobs

Challenges• War brought turmoil =

conservative swing• Harry Truman takes over

for FDR• Challenges

– 1) Communism– 2) Returning economy to

strong peacetime role• Many workers face higher

prices & lower wages = strikes– Truman threatens to draft

workers = unions give in• 1946: Republicans gain

control of both houses

Civil Rights• Truman supported civil

rights– Creates a civil rights

commission• Congress refuses to pass

commission’s measures• 7/1948: Truman orders

the integration of the armed forces

• Also ends the discrimination in the hiring process of government positions

• African Americans could not be banned from neighborhoods

1948 Election • Many blamed Truman for inflation & strikes

• Dixiecrats form in protest of Truman– Nominate Strom

Thurmond• Democratic party in

disarray• Republican: Thomas E.

Dewey• Truman works hard to get

re-elected (“whistlestop campaign”)

• Truman upsets Dewey & Democrats control Congress

The Fair Deal• Extension of the New Deal– Proposed a compulsory

health insurance & crop-subsidy for farmers

• Measures defeated by Congress

• Successes:– Minimum wage is raised,

social security is extended, low-income housing projects approved

The Middle Road• Truman’s popularity fell

due to the Korean War & threat of communism

• Republicans nominate Dwight D. Eisenhower for 1952 (wins)

• “Modern Republicanism”– Money = Conservative;

Humans = Liberal– Avoids controversy

• Ike struggles w/ civil rights = new era– Brown v. Board of

Education– Rosa Parks incident