PROGRESSIVE OR NOT

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CHAPTER 9
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PROGRESSIVE OR NOT

• President Harry Truman
• President Dwight Eisenhower
• President John F. Kennedy

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PRESIDENT HARRY TRUMAN

• Wanted to be a reformer
• Proposed a Fair Deal Program
• Fair Employment Practices Commission
• Stop discrimination against blacks
• Increase unemployment benefits
• Wage and price controls to stop inflation
• Raise minimum wage
• Health Care
• Wanted national healthcare insurance to cover
  every U.S. citizen

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WHAT WENT WRONG?

• Republicans and Southern Democrats
• They were furious
• Formed a national coalition to block Trumans
  programs
• Republicans had control of both houses after the
  1946 election, they stifled Trumans programs
• Trumans New Plan
• He decided he had to act unilaterally whenever he
  could

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• NO NEED FOR SOCIAL REFORM
• People had war bonds to cash in and were
  desperate to buy consumer goods
• Big spending meant no recession
• Americans were oblivious to the needs of
  impoverished persons
• Racial tension after so many Africans migrated
  north to find jobs
• People did not want to spend money on minorities,
  and the Africans has lack of political
  organization
• McCarthy made public suspicious of radical
  reformers

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• NO MONEY
• Truman was strongly against deficit spending
• Conservatives wanted to cut taxes
• Foreign Affairs were soaking up U.S. dollars
• Marshall Plan American economic assistance to
  Western Europe to stop Russian influence. That
  took a lot of money.
• North Korea attacked South Korea Truman
  increased military spending

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ALL IN A NUTSHELL

• Harry Truman wanted to continue the era of
  Roosevelts reform. He was able to get some of
  his programs through but for the most part, his
  two terms did not enact a lot f social reform.

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DWIGHT EISENHOWER

• Conservative Decade
• Wanted taxes at a minimum
• Sought to cut military spending but technology
  advanced
• Conservatives hoped he would dismantle New Deal
  Programs
• Made a deal with Congress in return for support
  of foreign policy initiatives, he wouldnt make
  an assault on New Deal Programs

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• Some Reform Prevailed
• Developed new Social Security benefits
• Wives, disabled, widows, dependent children, and
  survivors
• National Defense Education Act
• Federal funds went to science and math programs
  after Russia launched Sputnik 1957 (the age of
  duck and cover)

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ALL IN A NUTSHELL

• Conservatives hoped Eisenhower would dismantle
  New Deal Programs. They were disappointed when
  Eisenhower actually made some social reform. He
  may have tried to enact more, but he was
  extremely preoccupied with foreign affairs.

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JOHN F. KENNEDY

• CAMAIN PROMISES
• Help elderly with medical bills, help poverty
  stricken persons in Appalachia, help inner city
  persons, and to get the country moving again

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MARKS AGAINST HIM

• Too young
• He was only 41
• Too Catholic
• Many voters thought Catholics would be loyal to
  the Pope rather than the Constitution
• Too Conservative
• Kennedys opposition to many of Trumans policies
  made Democrats nervous

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PROBLEMS AT THAT TIME

• African Plight
• Densely segregated urban ghettos, no opportunity
  to live in white neighborhoods, unskilled jobs,
  denied union membership, inferior schools,
  disenfranchised and victims of police brutality.

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• Elderly
• Could not afford medical bills, many suffered
  from mal nutrition.
• Mentally ill/ Disabled
• No programs other than inpatient for mentally
  ill.
• Homosexuals were treated as mentally ill
• Disabled children were shunned from public
  schools
• No help for disabled parents other than Social
  Security

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CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT

• Bus boycott and other protests challenged the
  segregation of interstate transportation, lunch
  counters, train stations, public swimming pools,
  public schools, and colleges.
• Student Nonviolent Coordinating Commission
• Group brought white students down south to help
  black citizens register to vote---became violent

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KENNEDYS RESPONCE

• Initially refused executive orders to outlaw
  discrimination or develop civil rights
  legislation
• He hoped southern states would enact legislation
  as more Africans become enfranchised
• 1963 public opinion pushed Kennedy to propose
  civil rights legislation
• Was in response to increasing violence

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WHAT DID HE DO?

• 1961 Area Redevelopment Agency
• Provided loans and subsidies to local businesses
  and improved transportation in depressed rural
  areas
• 1962 Manpower Development Training Act
• 600,000 workers got technical training. High drop
  out rate, skills taught not needed in local job
  market, limited relocation assistance.

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• Legislation 163
• prohibited job discrimination on the basis of
  race, gender or religion also prohibited
  discrimination when registering to vote.
• Community Mental Health Centers Act 1963
• Federal funds went to mental health centers for
  outpatient and preventative services.

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ALL IN A NUTSHELL

• Kennedy was the nations youngest and most
  popular President. The Democrats were initially
  concerned that Kennedy would be too conservative.
  In the beginning of his term he tried to stay out
  of civil rights issues, but with escalating
  violence he could not ignore the problem any
  longer. He enacted several policies that help
  Africans, the elderly, and the mentally ill.
  Many believe Kennedy was just getting started
  when his life was cut short by an assassination
  in November of 1963.