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- So Truman started off again all confident and excited – he had a program called the Fair Deal, which hehoped (but largely failed) to implement. The programs he did manage to get passed are as follows: Welfare/Relief – He extended minimum wage, extended Social Security coverage tothousands of people, passed a Housing Act, and passed the Agricultural Act of 1949, whichgave farmers 90% of the market price as supports. Civil Rights – He desegregated the military, appointed more blacks than ever to high offices,and created a President’s Committee on Civil Rights, which wrote what was to become theagenda for the movement in the coming years – To Secure These Rights (1947). Displaced Persons Act – He passed an act to allow more refugees into the country.- However, his attempts to modify TH, pass a civil right bill, establish national health coverage, and get moremoney for education were blocked by the Republican Congress and special interests.- Truman’s most significant legacy, however, is that he strengthened the powers of the Presidency andmade many WWII agencies permanent – Atomic Energy Commission, Department of Defense, CIA.*The Eisenhower Presidency: Domestic Policies*- The Presidential Election of 1952 was a huge victory for war hero Dwight D. Eisenhower, who ranpromising to end the war in Korea and the whole virtuous-decent-friendly guy deal (“I Like Ike”). Besideswinning the presidency, the Republicans once again got both houses of Congress.- Overall, Eisenhower was a very popular President who relied a lot on the delegation of authority to cabinetmembers and didn’t have a clue what the heck was going on. This wasn’t such a big deal, b/c his years inoffice were about the status quo & conformity (“consensus mood”) where talk of reform became unpatriotic.- Both Democrats and Republicans alike avoided extremism (stuck with the center), and Eisenhower himselfcame up with “dynamic conservatism” – we can’t remove the New Deal, so we’ll live with it and try torepresent business and balance the budget anyway.- What did Eisenhower do during his first term? He built a canal (spur economic development in Midwest),amended the Social Security Act to add people, reformed taxes, and passed the Atomic Energy Act of1954, which gave private companies the right to use nuclear power.- Eisenhower also changed policies regarding Native Americans. His policy of termination (1953) forced NAsinto American culture by getting rid of reservations, ending tribal sovereignty and federal services, andmaking Indians subject to state laws. This was supposed to help states’ rights and lower costs, but it wasmainly motivated by land greed (as ever).- Although the Congressional elections of 1954 gave the Democrats control of both houses of Congress,Eisenhower was reelected in a landslide victory in the Presidential Election of 1956.*Eisenhower’s Second Term: Domestic Policies*- In his second term, Eisenhower faced rising costs (partially b/c of America’s involvement globally) butended up going with deficit spending due to the military budget and three short recessions.- In 1958 Eisenhower faced further problems when Sherman Adams (the President’s chief aide) resignedunder suspicion of a scandal, and the Republicans lost big time in the 1958 Congressional elections. Then in1960 there was a recession, and the whole U-2 plane incident (more on that later).- Although Eisenhower was popular, in retrospect, he did avoid dealing with the major issues of poverty,urban decay, and civil rights – and he authorized CIA covert operations. Nevertheless, just before leavingoffice, he was eerily prescient in his warnings against the “military-industrial complex.”*McCarthyism – The Red Scare Redux*- McCarthyism was a major problem in both the Truman and Eisenhower administrations, and can basicallybe summarized as mass hysteria and overreaction to the idea of the Communist threat. Anti-communismhad already surfaced in the Red Scare in the early 1920s, and e/t the Communist Party grew during theDepression, the Cold War brought the whole anti-communist deal back big time.- Anyhow, here’s how anti-communism began under Truman… Investigations of US Gov’t Employees: Truman helped begin the circus in 1947 by orderinginvestigations in the loyalty of employees of the US gov’t. This bred a whole atmosphere of fear and accusations ran rampant – in addition to theHollywood Ten in the movie industry, teachers, professors, and union leaders were alltargeted by the gov’t and by each other. This was especially harmful to the Unions. Alger Hiss Case (1949) State Department official Alger Hiss was accused by confirmed spyWhittaker Chambers of giving him classified documents. He was defended by Truman, andended up being convicted of perjury (not espionage).70