Domestic Events  

Domestic Politics and Policies

            Truman’s Fair Deal:

            21 point plan

1.      promote full employment

2.      higher minimum wage

3.      unemployment compensation

4.      housing assistance for all Americans

Truman was considered a loose cannon and no effective because of the Republican Congress that rejected most of his ideas and proposals

During the election of 1948

            Truman campaigned against the Republican congress instead of his opponent Dewey

    He campaigned against the do nothing congress with comments such as

“..if you send another Republican to Washington, you’re a bigger bunch of suckers than I thought”  crowds would yell encouragement with “..Give ‘Em Hell, Harry…”

The election of 1948 was so close, the newspapers had headlines,    Dewey Defeats Truman.

The next four years was Truman fighting with the Republican congress

The Election of 1952, Stevenson versus Eisenhower

            Eisenhower was a talented diplomat and he had Richard Nixon as a running mate

            The election and campaign had slogans like “…I like Ike…” and the Republicans had a formula for success in the election,   K 1 C 2 focus on Korea and communism and corruption.

Richard Nixon was being the target of the media, claiming that he was living above his means with a secret campaign fund.   Nixon faced the nation with a speech known as the “Checkers Speech”  “…he said that the only thing he ever received was a cocker spaniel that his daughter named checkers and he would not return the dog

As President, Eisenhower was calm and dignified. His philosophy of leadership was as follows

..leadership is not desk pounding,  but persuasion and conciliation and education and patience

Eisenhower coined the phrase Modern Republicanism

            Conservative with money, and liberal when it came to dealing with human beings

His attempts to balance the budget back fired. Growth in business fell from 4.3% 2.5%

Tax revenues dropped and deficit grew  

Although this was happening, the minimum wage rose from $.75 / hour to $1.00 / hour

The launch of the Sputnik caused fear to spread in America, the Russians could now bomb us from the orbit in outer space

Because of the fear the nation passed the NATIONAL DEFENSE EDUCATION ACT of 1958

            It improved math and science instruction in the high schools

Millions of dollars provided for low cost loans to college students if became teachers the loan repayment would be reduced, state colleges built science and language buildings

DEMANDS FOR CIVIL RIGHTS

            Truman supported the idea of civil rights He appointed a Biracial Committee on Race Relations

This committee focused on federal anti-lynching laws, abolishing the poll tax as a voting requirement, and establish, a standing board which would prevent discriminatory practices in hiring

Congress would not do anything about the suggestions

            Truman banned discrimination in hiring of federal employees and he ordered the end of discrimination and segregation in the military

The Korean War helped with this action.

Other areas of civil right concerns

            Education: Brown vs. Board of Education

            Linda brown walked by an all white school on her way to a bus stop to be bussed to an all African American school

Went all the way to the supreme court and their attorney won  Thurgood Marshal who would become a supreme court justice

This was the start of changes in the United States

The court found that the separate but equal state of affairs established in Plessy vs Ferguson did not exist, therefore changes needed to be made The supreme court ruled that Topeka, Ks should begin to desegregate immediately

ROSA PARKS began the problems in the deep south, when she refused to give up her seat on the bus to a white man she was arrested

Montgomery Alabama was the site of the incident

            To protest the arrest and the segregation of the buses, the local minorities boycotted the bus line

50,000 African Americans walked to work and did not use the bus line

            even losing money did not make the bus line change their policy toward segregation until the supreme court stated that like the schools,  the bus line must not segregate its occupants

MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR led the Montgomery Bus Boycott

            The first day he said  …there comes a time when people get tired…tired of being segregated and humiliated, tired of being kicked about by the brutal feet of oppression. We have no alternative but to protest..

In 1957,  the white population of Little Rock was afraid of the rising threat of black integration

            Central High School had National Guard troops at the doors turning away 9 African American students. Although Eisenhower disagree with the supreme court ruling of Brown vs. the Board of Education, he stated that as President he would enforce the ruling.

            When the students were turned away, Eisenhower acted as the President, he placed the National Guard under control of the federal government and sent other troops to Little Rock, Arkansas to insure the safety of the 9 African American students and the slow process of integration.

14 years later as reenacted in the movie, “REMEMBER THE TITANS”

            the movie is an excellent depiction of the trials and prejudices and bigotry which needed to be addressed in a positive way.

Other minorities faced similar problems, the Mexican Americans protest the non military burial of a Mexican American war hero  peaceful protests led to the burial in Arlington National Cemetery

Native Americans were upset with the policy of reducing and closing the reservations and the assimilation of Native Americans into the culture of white America.