Transcript U.S. Domestic Policies

U.S. Domestic Policies
(1945-1980)
Unit VIIB
AP U.S. History
Fundamental Question

Compare and contrast the administrations of
Democratic presidents and Republican
presidents regarding political and
economical policies.
Truman’s Presidency

Republican Majority in Congress in 1946
 Postwar turmoil (strikes, inflation) and
rejuvenated conservatism led to
Republican victories
 Eliminated price controls leading to rapid
inflation and strikes

Truman ordered troops to settle strikes
 Taft-Hartley Act (1947) - unions

Prohibited closed shops, political
contributions, sympathy strikes
 Twenty-Second Amendment (1951)
 Term limits

Employment Act of 1946
 Council of Economic Advisers

Civil Rights
 Committee on Civil Rights (1946)
 Desegregated the federal government
and military (1948)
Election of 1948



Democrats Split
 Truman’s civil rights and
foreign policy upset
Democrats
 Liberal Democrats and Henry
Wallace
 States’ Rights Party
(Dixiecrats) and Strom
Thurmond
Republican Confidence
 Thomas Dewey ran a cautious
campaign while Truman
aggressively campaigned
Truman Victory
 Despite the press and experts
predicting a sound Republican
victory, Truman won the
election
Election of 1948
Truman’s Fair Deal

A continuation of New Deal-style social welfare
programs
 Policies:
 Expansion of Social Security
 Increased minimum wage 40 cents to 75 cents
 Housing Act of 1949
 Urban
projects and public housing
 Protections and relief programs in labor, agriculture,
health, education, infrastructure

Failures:
 National healthcare insurance
 Limited civil rights legislation
22nd Amendment




In response to FDR’s four consecutive terms
Republican Congress proposed to avoid a
repeat of FDR’s dominance
Presidential term limits to two
Ratified 1951
Election of 1952

“I like Ike!” - Dwight D. Eisenhower on the
Republican ticket
 Richard Nixon as VP
 Checkers


speech
Adlai Stevenson for Democrats
Eisenhower won by landslide
Election of 1952
Eisenhower’s Republicanism

Modern Republicanism/Dynamic Conservatism
 Cut federal spending and deficit spending
 Federal support for business
 Reduce federal powers and influence to states/locals

More Money Toward Defense and Cutbacks for Social
Programs
 Surpluses in some years
 Per-capita increases and low inflation



Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (1953)
Soil-bank program
Interstate Highway System
 Connected major cities
 Significantly developed transportation and urban sectors
Interstate Highway System
The American Dream – 1950s Prosperity

Defense Spending and Investment
 Why?
 Production
and innovation during WWII
 Fear and defense against Communism
 How?
 Department
of Defense (DOD) became the nation’s top
consumer
 More and more companies and contractors worked with DOD
 Recessions?
 Throw

more money toward DOD rather than social programs
Automation in Industries
 Innovation and Research and Development
 Threatened blue-collars and white-collars prospered

Middle-Class Expansion
 White-collar jobs increased given focus on education
and defense spending
Election of 1956
Despite Eisenhower’s popularity and success, the Democratic
Party won Congressional majorities in 1954 midterm elections.
They would sustain those majorities until the 1982 midterms.
23rd Amendment


District of Columbia receives right to vote
and electoral college votes
Ratified 1961
Election of 1960


Republicans nominate Nixon
Democrats nominated John F. Kennedy
 Massachusetts and a Catholic
 Lyndon B. Johnson from Texas as VP

Television and Debates
 Kennedy = born for the limelight
 Nixon = tense and uncomfortable

Close Call
 Kennedy won by just over 100,000 votes
Election of 1960

Nixon looked very
uncomfortable and
was visibly sweating.

Kennedy had a knack
for the camera.
Election of 1960
Kennedy’s Policies



“Ask not what your country can
do for you--ask what you can
for your country.”
Fiscal Conservative
New Frontier
 Expansion of social welfare
 Stimulus plans for slumping
economy
 Clean Air Act (1963)
 Strong support for civil
rights legislation with
Attorney General Robert
Kennedy
 “We choose to go to the
Moon…”
Kennedy’s Assassination



Dallas, Texas on November 22, 1963
Warren Commission
 Investigations and hearings
ruled Lee Harvey Oswald as
lone assassin
 Conspiracy theories led to doubt
of federal government
Lyndon B. Johnson assumes office
Lee Harvey Oswald shot
by Jack Ruby
JFK moments before
his assassination in
Dallas
LBJ takes oath
of office on Air
Force One
Johnson’s Great Society



War on Poverty
 Office of Economic Opportunity
 Food Stamps
 Community Action
Department of Housing and Urban
Development (HUD)
Significant increases in educational
funding in all levels
 Elementary and Secondary Education
Act


Health Care
 Medicare - health services for
elderly
 Medicaid - health services for
low-income families
Department of Transportation
 Urban mass transit acts
 National Traffic and Motor Vehicle
Safety Act
 Safety belts, redesigns for
protection, drunk drivers


Environmental Protection
 Wilderness Act, Endangered
Species Act
Cultural Promotion
 National Historic Preservation
 National Endowment for the Arts
AND the Humanities
 Public broadcasting (PBS) and
public radio (NPR)

Civil Rights Legislation - ALSO SEE
CIVIL RIGHTS ERA SECTION
 Elimination of immigration quota
laws

$10 Billion Tax Cuts
 Consumer spending rose 45%
 Federal government earning
revenue

Consumer Protection
 Fair Packaging and Labeling
Act
24th Amendment



In response to Jim Crow laws and massive
civil rights movement.
Prohibited all governments from enacting
poll taxes.
Ratified in 1964.
Election of 1964

Republicans and Barry Goldwater
 Strong conservative Republican
 Attacked Johnson’s welfare state programs

Johnson’s Campaign
 “Daisy”
Election of 1964
25th Amendment



In response to cases such as William Henry
Harrison, Abraham Lincoln, and recently
JFK
Presidential succession:
Ratified in 1967.
Election of 1968

Vietnam and Robert Kennedy
 Johnson stepped away due to Vietnam escalation
 Kennedy was frontrunner until assassination

Republicans and Nixon
 Peace and Honor; Law and Order

Democrats and Hubert Humphrey
 Suffered from anti-war backlash
 Riots at Democratic National Convention in Chicago

Henry Wallace and American Independent Party
 Ran against expanded government and civil rights
legislation
Election of 1968
26th Amendment



In response to student-led protests to the
Vietnam Conflict
Right to vote extended to 18 years old.
Ratified in 1971.
Nixon’s Early Presidency

New Federalism
 Revenue sharing and block
grants

Stagflation and Economy
 Production decreased while
prices increased
 Spending cuts to deficit spending
 90-day price and wage freeze
 Devalued dollar off gold standard

Silent Majority
 Developed coalition of Southern
whites and conservatives
responding to counterculture and
liberal youths
Election of 1972
Watergate





Committee to Re-Elect the President (CREEP)
Democratic National Headquarters Break-in (June
1972)
Enemies List and Wiretaps
Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox fired - Saturday
Night Massacre
Nixon Tapes
 United States v. Nixon ruled against executive privilege

Drafting Impeachment
 Obstruction of justice, abuse of power, contempt of
Congress

Resignation on August 9, 1974
The Watergate Hotel Complex
Nixon held fast to his innocence…
Nixon is
captain of a
sinking ship.
… then he resigned.
Gerald Ford (1974-1977)




Assumed office after Nixon’s resignation
 Pardons Nixon to end “national nightmare”
Oil Crisis of 1973
 Oil reductions led to economic slowdowns and
increasing inflation
WIN (Whip Inflation Now)
 Inflation soared despite call for voluntarism by
businesses and consumers
 Necessitated stimulus plan from Congressional
Democrats
Election of 1976
 Ford barely won Republican nomination from
Reagan
 Democrats nominate Jimmy Carter
 Southern outsider
 Democrats used Watergate and economy
to win
Election of 1976
Jimmy Carter (1977-1981)



1979 Energy Crisis
 Inflation skyrocketed while economy
slowed further
 “Malaise Speech”
 Dependency on oil and nonrenewable fuels will affect the future
Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker
 Raised interest rates to highest levels
 Resulted in higher inflation and lower
GDP in the short-run
 In the long-run, the economy recovered
but after Carter’s administration
Election of 1980
 Carter and Democrats suffered from
stagflation and Iran hostage crisis
 Popular Ronald Reagan secured
Republican nomination and eventual
presidency
Conservative Comeback

As a result of liberalism and counterculture,
conservatives began a grassroots reemergence
 William F. Buckley

Fiscal and political conservatives coupled with
social conservatives
 Barry Goldwater, Milton Friedman, Ronald Reagan

Demographics of Conservatives
 Blue-collar workers, rural, suburbs/commuter towns, yuppies,
fundamentalists, upper-class/corporates

Regional Bases
 Southern Democrats shifted Republican
 Midwest more solidly Republican

Christian Conservatism
 Moral Majority - Jerry Falwell

Voting bloc/interest group of fundamentalists
Election of 1980
Ronald Reagan (1981-1989)
Reagan Revolution



Reaganomics - Supply-Side Economics
 Tax cuts will reduce government spending,
increase business investment and production
 Corporate tax, capital gains tax, gift tax CUT
 Spending cuts on domestic and social
welfare programs
 Drastic spending on defense
Deregulation
 Limited regulation of businesses
 Opened up federal conservation lands for
resources and development
Labor Unions Decrease Membership
 Reagan and Flight Controllers
 Replacement workers/scabs
Election of 1984
Reagan’s Impact

Defense spending and
tax cuts =
 Tripled national debt
 $900
billion to $2.7 trillion
 Trade deficits and debtor
status

Business and Society of
Deregulation
 Corporations and UpperClass thrived in wealth
 Socioeconomic gap
widened
 Welfare programs cut
 Virtual
end of New
Deal/Great Society visions
and goals