Cold War at Home

Cold War at Home

• 1.
  Cold War At Home
• 2.
  Themes:  Americans hadto adapt to change  Fear of Communism was everywhere  This had a powerful effect on domestic policy
• 3.
  Influences on domestic policy Conversion to a peacetime economy  Calling for black civil rights  Legacy of the New Deal
• 4.
  Return to Depression? After WWII, the biggest fear was that the Cold War would return the economy to depression  Gov’t spending did drop  Consumer spending INCREASED  Workers had amasses large amounts of wartime savings
• 5.
  GI Bill  GIBill put money into economy by providing educational and economic assistance to returning veterans  War production shifted back to civilian production  Veterans entered the workforce, but unemployment did not increase
• 6.
  Economic Policy  Inflationwas a huge problem  Truman was fearful of lifting the wartime restrictions on prices and rationing  If done too quickly, it would have a negative impact on the economy  1946: he lifted all restrictions, and inflation increased to a rate of 18.2% annually  Food shortages and goods shortages angered consumers
• 7.
  Employment Act of1946  Federal fiscal planning became permanent  Goal was to achieve full employment  Promoted use of tax policy as a tool for managing the economy  Tax cuts used to spur economic growth, taxes to encourage inflation
• 8.
  Problems with this policy: Advocated, not mandated, these changes  Also did not make a clear connection to full employment and a balanced budget  The significance was that this act was a symbolic one in establishing federal responsibility for the performance of the economy
• 9.
  Post-war Strikes  Costof living went up quickly  Workers were demanding higher wages  Corporate profits doubled while real wages declined  Government kept wages where they were  This led to strikes in auto, steel, and coal industries  Businesses closed in several states
• 10.
  Truman’s response  Heput the railway system under federal control  Asked Congress to give him the power to put striking workers into the army by being drafted  Also controlled the coal mines  Americans in general supported Truman, but union/labor were angry at these actions
• 11.
  Taft-Hartley Act  1947:rollbacks of several provisions in the 1935 NLR Act (Wagner Act)  Allowed states to pass “right of work” laws that further limited union’s operations  Restricted unions’ political power by prohibiting their use of dues for political activity
• 12.
  Taft-Hartley Act  Presidentcould enact an 80-day “cooling off period” in strikes that had a national impact  Truman vetoed the bill; Congress overrode his veto  “Slave-Labor Bill”  Truman”dangerous intrusion on free speech.”