Despite strong opposition from a Republican congress, Truman attempted to extend Roosevelts New Deal policies by strengthening social security, conservation, implementing rent controls, and providing housing to low-income families. At times, however, Truman was inconsistent with his own partys beliefs and the ideal of the New Deal in order to suit the immediate situation and retain public support. Furthermore, Truman supported civil rights actions and for the first time, increased the political status of African American citizens. Trumans various other reforms were much like the proposals of Roosevelt, but the mood of the nation due to its affluence and that of Congress opposed his efforts and the changing times proved that Trumans Fair Deal was not as necessary as FDRs New Deal. Trumans organized policy to elaborate on the New Deal was termed the Fair Deal and aimed to improve social conditions like Roosevelts plan had done previously. His immediate goals were full employment and an improved economy, as well as to provide for the common good. The Fair Labor Standards Act increased the minimum wage from 40 cents to 75 cents and the Social Security Act increased benefits to the elderly by 77.5%. Also, to the advantage of those who lived in rented homes and apartments, Truman lengthened rent controls to March 1951, and in addition, the Housing Act vowed to eliminate slums and established 810,000 low-income houses, thus providing a good amount of citizens with affordable housing.
The Essay on USA Patriot Act Is Fair
The United States Congress introduced the USA Patriot Act after the September 11th terrorist attacks. It was instated for the purpose of combating terrorist acts in the United States and all over the globe. This act gives the government the right to view your personal records in order to create a safer environment for our community. The patriot act is a benefit for the United States in that we can ...
The president also implemented the Employment Act in 1946 to help stabilize the postwar economy. The act created a three member council of economic advisors and a joint committee to study and propose stabilization measures. Moreover, Truman attempted to establish a Missouri Valley Authority while extending the power of the Tennessee Valley authority, but was unsuccessful. However, the president did obtain increases in hydroelectric, water control, and irrigation projects in the west. Like Roosevelt, Truman was concerned about the welfare of farmers and encouraged the Brennan Plan to maintain farm income standards through price supports, loans, and storage of nonperishable commodities. Although the plan failed , the Agriculture Act of October, 1949 continued price supports at 90% parity through 1950 and then at 75-90% afterwards. This act was consistent with New Deal farm policy. Truman made other New Dealish attempts, like National Health Insurance and federal aid to education, but both were defeated with the help of protests by interest groups, namely the American Medical Association and the Roman Catholic Church. Truman also provided for the survivors of Nazi death camps by creating the Displaced Persons Act, which allowed 205,000 of them entry into the United States. Also along the lines of democratic New and Fair Deals, the government provided for war veterans with the GI Bill of Rights, which granted $500 a year for tuition and $50 a month for living costs.
In these actions, Truman attempted to provide for the common good and appease the greatest number of people in the postwar era. During the Truman presidency, race relations were deteriorating. Blacks that served in the war were demanding their right to vote without intimidation and death threats from white supremacists. The percentage of black voters did rise from 2% to 12%, but this only angered southerners since it was see as an act of increased black aggression. White supremacists governors like Eugene Talmadge of Georgia and Theodore Bilbo of Mississippi urged anti-black violence and black war veterans were killed and tortured for expressing their constitutional right to vote. In September of 1946, President Truman met with the NAACP, National Emergency Committee on Violence and other civil rights organizations and heard of the atrocities occurring against black citizens.
Truman was appalled and vowed to act. He created the first Presidents Committee on Civil Rights, an issue Roosevelt had failed to act upon. Truman urged for action upon the proposals for equality as explained in the publication To Secure These Rights but southern leaders called the act a stab in the back for the south. Dissenting southern Democrats created the States Rights Democratic Party for this reason but had little success in coming to power. Nevertheless, Truman issued executive orders in July 1948 barring discrimination in federal employment and creating a committee to ensure the equality of treatment and oppurtunity for all persons in the armed services without regard to race, color, religion, or national origin. The integration of the army was a major accomplishment and step forward in the fight for civil rights. The trend was seen in some Supreme Court decisions, like Morgan v.
The Essay on Black Power Movement 2
The movement for Black Power in the U.S. emerged from the civil rights movement in the early 1960s. Beginning in 1959, Robert F. Willams, president of the Monroe, North Carolina chapter of the NAACP, openly questioned the ideology of nonviolence and its domination of the movement’s strategy. Williams was supported by prominent leaders such as Ella Baker and James Forman, and opposed by ...
Virginia, which integrated interstate bus transport and Shelly v. Kraemer, which outlawed restrictive and discriminatory housing covenants and allowed blacks to buy and rent property. Truman personally traveled to Harlem to seek the black vote, becoming the first president to do so. As a result, he won more black votes than Roosevelt had in his four terms. Politically and socially, Truman went beyond New Deal policies and helped the black struggle in America. Militarily, Truman accomplished the unification of the armed forces and also to ascertain sole power over the atomic bomb and greatly increasing the role of the president. The National Security Act created one defense department , a Central Intelligence Agency, a National Security council and a National Security Resources Board which brought the leaders of different armed forces together to make major military decisions.
As a democrat, Truman was suspicious of the military and therefore curbed its power to gain presidential power. The debate over who should control nuclear energy ended in a Truman victory. The Atomic Energy Commission proclaimed that the responsibility would be of the civilians rather than the military but Senator Vandenburg of Michigan proposed a military veto over civilian authority. However the Atomic Energy Act gave the government a monopoly on all fissionable materials, research and production and most importantly, gave Truman alone to order the use of the atomic bomb. Like Roosevelts attempts at extending executive power, Truman displayed the same tendency in this act. His use of presidential power was illustrated in the dismissal of General MacArthur and former vice-president Henry Wallace when he opposed the strong counteraction towards Russia. Trumans growing power further increased Republican discontent and restlessness to once again control Washington.
The Essay on Price Elasticity of Demand of Newspapers
The price elasticity of demand measures the responsiveness of quantity demanded to a change in price. In other words, it measures by how much the quantity demanded will vary if there is a change in price. If a small decrease in the price of the product causes a huge increase in the quantity demanded, then the product is said to be price elastic. When the demand is price elastic, a fall in price ...
Although Trumans domestic policy seem consistent with FDRs New Deal on the outset, Truman did display some inconsistency in rhetoric, but only to accommodate the specific situation. For example, when organized labor demanded higher wages and a extensive 3% of the work force was on strike, Truman responded by threatening to seize mines, and likewise when the railroad shut down after failed attempts to end a strike, Truman threatened to draft those on strike to work in other vital industries. The immediate goal was mobilization and increased production; any interference was not to be tolerated by Truman and the methods proved effective in ending the strikes. In addition, under pressure from retailers and producers, Truman vetoed the proposed extension of a weakened Office of Price Administration, resulting in price increases of 16%. Later Congress passed another bill for price control and Truman did sign it, but farmers and meat producers threatened to withhold their products from the market. Decreeing that meatless voters are opposition voters, Truman then lifted the price controls which made the CPI, or consumer price index jump to 25%.
Less than a third of Americans approved of Truman at this point because of shrinking paychecks and rising prices. Although Truman did oppose the earlier strikes of the railroad and mine workers, he initially vetoed the Taft-Hartley Act and when it passed in Congress he endlessly fought to repeal the act that outlawed the closed shop practices of strikers and denied the president permission to call an 80-day cooling off period to delay strikes. Trumans efforts failed, but the undertaking was faithful to Fair Deal and New Deal politics. Although Truman worked for the common good and tried to extend the policies of FDR, the nation and government was against him. America was enjoying an era of economic affluence which made the democratic appeals of the New Deal seem unnecessary. An apathetic nation and Republican Congress stood as barriers to Trumans reforms and yet he still accomplished a great deal in the postwar period by increasing public works, creating housing, addressing civil rights, employment, and relief for veterans.
The Term Paper on Roosevelt’s New Deal Works Progress Administration
On July 2, 1932, at the Democratic National Convention, the crowd listened intently to the phrase," I pledge you, I pledge myself to a new deal for the American people." The New Deal name was soon applied to the program of reform and recovery instituted by Franklin Delano Roosevelt. During the early part of the Great Depression, the economy had ground to a halt as a result of the stock market ...
Truman was more than an old New Dealer, however. At times he took politics into his own hands, disregarding the ideals of reform and bringing a new, independent touch to the presidency..
