HIST 202 - Hesen

The Truman and Eisenhower Years: The

U.S. in the 1950s

Conference at YaltaFebruary 1945

Roosevelt, Churchill, Stalin

Germany would be broken into zones

Free electionsUnited Nations

would be formed

End of the WarFDR Dies! – April 12,

1945Harry Truman takes

the helmPotsdam (July 1945)

End the war with Japan

Nuremburg Trials

Postwar Boom“Normalcy”

15 million soldiers return home

Hard to find jobsPeople saved A LOT

of moneyGreat Depression is

a memoryEnjoyed high

standard of living

Benefits to Soldiers Servicemen’s

Readjustment Act (1944)GI BillOffered $ for college Low interest loans Segregated at first

Baby Boom!!!1950s Family Life

People happy to be home!!!

Increase in marriages and births

Sex was looked at differently

50 million births between 1945-1960

Switched focus for women

Suburban LifeSuburbs

Outside citiesCheaper – better

transportationCities life wasn’t

appealing

William J. LevittLevittowns…

The Dark Side of Levittown

EconomicsEmployment Act of 1946

Truman wanted to give people benefits

Universal healthcare Increase minimum wageCongress did not

approvedOnly approved

minimum wageOffice of Price

Administration (OPA)Kept prices and wages

fixed

Inflation and StrikesPrice and wage

fixing caused inflation

Inflation rose to nearly 25%

Workers were unhappy

United Mine Workers strike (1946)Truman sent in

ArmyQuelled strike

Problems with the 80th Congress

Passed 22nd Amendment (1951)President may only

serve two terms

Truman’s Fair DealWanted to mirror

Progressive programs

Much like FDR’s New Deal

Congress shot him down

Origins of the Cold WarU.S. Soviet relations

strained:WWIBolshevik

RevolutionRed ScareStalin as dictator

Truman was ALWAYS suspicious of Stalin

Non-aggression pact w/Hitler

Origins of the Cold War Occupation zones set up in EuropeU.S.SovietOther Allied powers

Winston Churchill’s “Iron Curtain” Speech

ContainmentKeep the Commies where they are – don’t let them spread

Truman’s PlansTruman Doctrine (1947)

$400 million in economic aid to Greece and Turkey

Marshall Plan (1948) Infused the European

economy with billionsCommunism won’t have a

chance to take overBerlin Airlift (June 1948)

Berlin cut off by SovietsU.S. aids by dropping

food and rations

The Forgotten War, 1950-53North Korea invades

South KoreaDivides country along

38th parallelU.S. gets involved –

containmentEnds in stalemateGeneral Mac Arthur

criticized Truman publically – “too soft on Communism”

Second Red ScareHouse Un-American

Activities Committee (HUAC)

Hiss CaseWhittaker Chambers“Pumpkin Papers”Alger Hiss

The RosenbergsPresumably spied for the

RussiansExceuted in 1953

Joseph McCarthySenator from WisconsinWent after “radicals”McCarthyism

Arms Race Under EisenhowerMutually Assured

Destruction (MAD)Militarism returns

Between U.S. and Soviets

Search for the best A-Bomb

Developed the H-Bomb

“Duck and Cover”

SputnikSpace Race

Soviets launched Sputnik in 1957

Made Americans look inferior

U.S. placed emphasis on math and science

1959 – U-2 IncidentSoviets shot down

spy planeFrancis Gary Powers

Popular Culture in 1950sEscapism

TVAdvertisingPaperbacksCorporate America

The Organizational ManCritics – “beatniks”

WomenReturn to duties at homeThe Common Sense Book

on Baby and Child Care (1946) – Dr. Benjamin Spock

Date Night With the Family