RAH Day 9 Agenda

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RAH Day 9 Agenda

• Goal to understand the political, economic and
  social situation in the US following the end of
  WWII and during the early Cold War
• Get Unit 2 packet
• Review post-WWII domestic problems and timeline
  of early Cold War
• Liberals v conservatives
• Questions from homework
• Complete packet p 1 how did Truman respond to
  various domestic problems?
• Complete packet p 2 How does this cartoon
  depict life in the fifties?
• Begin video about life in the fifties. Answer
  questions 1-9 pp 10

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Liberals vs. Conservatives

• Want generous government support of social
  programs
• Support government activism to solve social and
  economic problems but oppose government
  regulation of of peoples personal behaviors
• Are more tolerant of alternative lifestyles and
  would use coercive power of government to support
  equality

• Want smaller government budgets and fewer
  government programs
• Oppose government activism but support government
  control of moral values issues
• Want government coercive power to maintain social
  order law and order

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Ideologies A Two-Dimensional Framework
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RAH Day 10 Agenda
1. ProblemMillions of veterans thrown out of
work as the return to civilian life
Solution offered by Truman Administration and Congress FDRs GI Bill (Servicemens Readjustment Act of 1944) put into effect by HST free education, low interest loans for homes and businesses unemployment benefits Results many young families buy homes, millions of small businesses created, whole generation of men educated leading to higher skill levels and higher wages
2. Severe housing shortage
Solution offered by private construction businesses like William Levitt Mass produced houses, built in a week made single-family homes in suburbs affordable Results 85 of new homes were built in the suburbs and a mass migration of people from cities occurred
Solution offered by Truman Administration and Congress Federal Housing Authority, slum-clearing and govt money to help pay for low-income housing construction Results 800,000 new housing units built under HST
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RAH Day 10 Agenda
3. Problem runaway inflation in 1946-1947
Solution offered by Truman Administration and Congress Reinstituted price controls in 1946 that had been lifted by Congress in June 1945 Results inflation dropped by 1948 as supply caught up with demand
4. Problem labor strikes threaten to cripple the
nation
Solution offered by Truman Administration and Congress Tried to negotiate wage increases for striking workers. Threatened striking steel, coal and railroad workers with being drafted into Army and threatened businesses with being taken over by federal govt (nationalized) Results most strikes were settled and the country went back to work.
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5. Problem Discrimnation and racial violence
Solution offered during Trumans Administration Integrate the military 1948 by executive order Create Committee on Civil Rights Executive order ending discrimination in federal employment Proposed the following, which Congress failed to enact Civil rights act Anti-lynching law Equal employment commission End to poll tax A voting rights act
Solution offered by Eisenhower Administration and Congress 1957 Civil Rights Act Enforced the Supreme Court Brown desegregation decision by sending into Little Rock, AR 101st Ariborne Results beginning of federal enforcement of desegregation and the integration of blacks into white society