Chapter 29
Lecture Outline
The Fair Deal and
Containment
© 2013 W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.
Containment
Demobilization under Truman
• Truman’s Uneasy Start
– added to the Democratic ticket in 1944, when FDR ran for
his fourth term. He was a virtual unknown in the Senate
• Converting to Peace
– By 1947, the military had shrunk from 12 million to 1.5
million.
– many veterans in need of education, employment, and
housing.
– Baby Boomers
– Congress would offset the financial impact of demobilization
by providing unemployment insurance and money to attend
colleges and trade schools.
The Eldridge General Store, Fayette County, Illinois Postwar America quickly
demobilized, turning its attention to the pursuit of abundance.
Demobilization under Truman
• Controlling Inflation
– Now, with the war over, the government released control on the
economy and prices skyrocketed.
– When wages were not raised to compensate, several unions went
on strike.
• Partisan Cooperation and Conflict
– In 1946, Republicans would take control of Congress and pass
the Taft-Hartly Labor Act.
– It banned closed shops (nonunion workers could not be hired), but
allowed for union shops (new hires had to joined union) where
they were permitted by state law.
• 1947 Congress passes the National Security
Act which created the National Military
Establishment
– Sec of Defense in charge with subcabinet Dept of
the Army Navy and Air force and the National
Security Council
• Made permanent the Joint Chiefs of Staff
• Established the Central Intelligence Agency to
coordinate global intelligence gathering
activities against communism
The Cold War
• Building the United
Nations
– The Charter of the UN
was drawn up two
weeks before
Germany surrendered.
– It created two
agencies:
• the General Assembly,
made up of all member
nations, and
• the Security Council,
charged with
maintaining the peace
of the world.
The Cold War
• Differences with the Soviets
– As the Red Army swept westward toward Berlin, it retook
land from the Nazis & install puppet governments
– This violated a signed agreement, but Russians saw it as
self-defense.
– When Truman inherited the presidency, he was placed into a
crumbling alliance with the Russians.
– A diplomatic mistake was made when secretary of state
George Kennan tried to use the atomic bomb to pressure the
Russians to back off from their demands.
• Containment
– To prevent Russian expansion in Europe and Asia, Secretary
of State Kennan argued that the U.S. policy must be one of
containing the Russians were they already were.
The Cold War
• The Truman Doctrine
– aid to nations currently under
attack by Soviet forces either
in secret or in public was
freely given to combat their
attempts.
• The Marshall Plan
– In 1947, to combat the stillravished landscape of Europe
and the Europeans’ inability
to feed themselves, George
Marshall, new secretary of
state to Truman, introduced a
plan to provide aid to any
European nation that
requested it.
The Cold War
• Berlin Blockade
– In 1948, France, England
and the US united their
zones of occupation.
– The Russians resented this
action and began to restrict
road and rail access from
West Berlin.
– A blockade was then put on
the city, and for 11 months
the only way that its citizens
received food, coal, or
medicine was via a massive
American airlift of goods.
The Cold War
• Building Alliances
– 1949, the North Atlantic Treaty was signed, creating NATO, which
pledged that an attack against one member was an attack against
all, and would be responded to as such.
– In 1948, Palestine, was partitioned between Arab and Jewish
settlers, re-creating the Jewish state of Israel.
– The US was the 1st nation to recognize the new nation, and
immediately afterward, Arab states neighboring Israel attacked.
– Eventually a peace was declared & Israel joined the UN.
Civil Rights during the 1940s
• 1948, Truman would ban racial discrimination in the hiring of federal
employees. Then he integrated the armed forces.
• Jackie Robinson
– was able to illustrate that segregation was based on racism, not
African Americans’ supposed inferiority
42 movie trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqpZSOh0o5w
Civil Rights during the 1940s
• Shaping the Fair Deal
– Finished FDR’s 3 years
– Then ran for his own term in 1948, which was incorrectly
considered by most political analysts to be a lost cause.
– In his State of the Union Speech, he outlined what was to become
his “Fair Deal” program:
• securing the human rights of U.S. citizens,
• protecting human resources, and
• extending government programs for the unemployed and the
retired.
Civil Rights during the 1940s
• The Election of 1948
– Dems nominate
Truman
– Reps nominated
Thomas Dewey,
governor of NY
– In an act of defiance
against Truman’s
support of Civil Rights,
a third party, known as
the Dixiecrats due to its
makeup of former
Confederate states,
split from the
Democrats.
The Cold War Heats Up
• “Losing” China
– In China, the Nationalists, led by
Chiang Kai-Shek, had been
fighting the Communist forces of
Mao Tse-Tung since the 1920s.
During WWII, both fought together
against the Japanese.
– After WWII, America supported
the Nationalists, even though it
was believed they were too
corrupt
– Soon after, civil war erupted again
and the Nationalists were forced
to modern-day Taiwan.
– It would be 30 years before the
Communist was recognized.
The Cold War Heats Up
• “Losing” the Bomb
– In Vietnam, the United States would try to bolster their alliances
by supporting the French, who had colonies there opposing the
Communist forces of Ho Chi Minh.
– About the same time, it was revealed that the Soviets had
successfully detonated an atomic bomb of their own, leading
Truman to fund the construction of a more powerful weapon, the
hydrogen bomb.
The Cold War Heats Up
• War in Korea
– After World War II, Japan lost its claim to the Korean peninsula,
which it had occupied since 1910.
– The Allies would try to establish a new government there, but the
act was hindered by Soviet forces which had advanced into Korea
and defeated the Japanese forces in the northern part.
– Much like the Germany situation, the Allies would agree to divide
the nation at the 38th parallel.
– On each side of the border, separate governments were created,
resembling their supporting nations.
– On June 25, 1950, North Korean soldiers attacked South Korea.
– Truman would send in forces under the auspices of UN support.
– After almost three years, an armistice was signed that ended the
fighting and reestablished the border at the 38th parallel.
The Cold War Heats Up
• Another Red Scare
– The Korean War exacerbated the
anti-Communist fears in the
American public. To prevent
Communist invasion of key
government positions, Truman
would establish procedures to keep
them out of office.
– Julius and Ethel Rosenberg of the
• McCarthy’s Witch Hunt
– The most famous of the Red Scare’s
proponents was Joseph McCarthy
who would stir up anti-Communist
feelings and engage in a hunt for
Communist spies in the government.
The Great Dictator: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dX25PDBb708
The Cold War Heats Up
• Assessing the Cold War
– If it is the international conditions that set the stage
for the cold war, the actions of political leaders and
thinkers set the events in motion.
– Containment (40 year policy)
– Shadowy new bureaucracies
• National Security Council (NSC)
• National security Agency (NSA)
• Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
– Federal Governement continues to grow with
intensified lobbying by “military-industrial complex”