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WHAT PROBLEMS DID TRUMAN FACE 1945-49 - Coggle Diagram
WHAT PROBLEMS DID TRUMAN FACE 1945-49
1945
The stains of fighting the Great Depression and WWII took their toll and Roosevelt died leaving Truman the Vice President America's next leader.
This meant he had little experience in the Oval Office. He also, had to follow one of the greatest president of the 20th century.
Many people knew him from congress and respected him however, he was from the state of Missouri which was known for corruption resulting in many people being concerned that they will get another Harding.
Truman was from a poor background meaning, he was keen to take social reforms into new areas, particularly healthcare.
After the depression and the war the people of America wanted stability at least in domestic politics. However, there was much conflict between congress and the White House; in industry and over communism.
PROBLEMS WITH CONGRESS
Although Truman had a Republican Congress before 1948 much of his time in office the Democrats held the Congress. However, there was much divide in the party:
New Deal Liberal - wanted Truman to continue Roosevelt's work.
Southern Democrats or 'Dixiecrats' - Did not like Truman's stand on civil rights. These Dixiecrats often voted with Republicans. This made his job harder for getting legislation through.
ie: Truman tried to put forward a 21-point programme to pass social reforms but was rejected.
MID TERM ELECTION. 1946
This made the election worse as the Republicans had the Congress and the House of Representatives in the Senate.
The economic problems caused by the War caused many people to turn against the administration. The Republican slogan of 'Had enough?' captured the mood of may disillusioned voters.
HOW SERIOUS WERE THE ECONOMIC PROBLEMS
Truman was worried that America would slip back into another depression are WWII. His policies were aimed at preventing this
He was successful as unemployment only dropped by 5% in the whole of his leadership.
He wanted a slow de-mobilization of the military as the 12 million veterans would flood the job market but, there was pressure from voters who threatened the outcome of the mid-term elections by saying 'NO BOAT, NO VOTE'.
However, there was a lot of short-term unemployment.
Factories moved from wartime production to peacetime production and privatization of the factories began. There was a high demand for goods from the soldiers and lots of pent up consumer enthusiasm. This led to a 25% inflation.
DEALING WITH ECONOMIC ISSUES.
Truman wanted to continue with OPA which controlled the prices during the war. However, this was blocked by the conservative coalition in Congress and they ignored his veto BUT, by the end of 1946 the economy began to stablilise.
Congress did accept Truman's proposal CEA. The council would have watched the economy and recommended government action.
They also passed the Employment Act but only the federal government was empowered to do so.
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HOUSING
With all the soldiers coming home there would be a need for extra housing.
Truman hoped the Federal Housing Agency provided government-backed mortgages as good rates of interest.
However, he was unable to get money from Congress for public housing but there was still a construction boom with helped to supply millions of jobs.
GI BILL
Many veterans benefited from the boom in industry and Roosevelt’s GI Bill of Right in 1994 ensured - 52 weeks pay of unemployment, loans for education, houses, farms and businesses.
Between 1945-55 twenty billion dollars was given out to seven point eight million veterans
RESUTLS
By the late 40's half of the world's manufacturing output was from the USA and by the mid 50's America was experiencing massive growth.
The GI Bill and wages from the war meant lots of soldiers had lots of money to pump into the economy.
There was also a baby boom which created a massive market for domestic products