USH 16:1 Return to a Peacetime Economy

• Servicemen's Readjustment Act (“G.I. Bill”)– Provide funds to veterans:• Establish businesses• Buy homes• Attend college

16:1 Truman’s Legislative Agenda

• Expand social security benefits• Raise minimum wage• National health insurance act

16:1 Election of 1948

• Truman v Republican Thomas Dewey• Truman given little chance of winning • Truman wins by narrow margin – Support from farmers, African-Americans, and laborers – Democrat Party also takes control of Congress

16:1 The Fair Deal

• Raised minimum wage to 75 cents/hour• Increased social security benefits by 75%– Extended them to 10 million more people

• National Housing Act of 1949– Construction of low-income housing

16:1 The Eisenhower Years

• “dynamic conservatism”– Economic conservatism with activism – Believed business growth was key– Cut many federal programs – Federal Highway Act (1956)• Largest government works program in history • $25 billion to construct a 40,000 mile highway system