Domestic Policy
Truman and the Fair Deal• Fair Deal attempted to expand
New Deal – Medical Insurance for all
Americans– Revived and strengthened Fair
Employment Practices Commission (FEPC)
– Federal aid to education• Spirit of reform waned in
postwar years (Apathetic Public)– Dixiecrats split democratic party
over civil rights reform • Fair Deal failed but set the
agenda for future attempts to expand New Deal
Eisenhower's Modern Republicanism
• Eisenhower left New Deal intact– Raised minimum wage and
expanded Social Security– Created Department of Health,
Education, and Welfare• 1956: Highway Act created
interstate highway system – Stimulated the economy – Shaped metropolitan growth
patterns• Overall Eisenhower years were
politically moderate
Postwar Prosperity• 1945–1960: Rapid economic
growth – Some older industries will
suffer (steel, agriculture, etc…)
– Recession hits by end of 50’s– Increase in Defense Spending
• Stimuli to consumer goods industry– Baby boom – Population shift to suburbia– Increase in capital spending
• Opportunity – GI Bill 1944– Employment Act 1946
Cultural Change• Consumerism the dominant social theme of the 1950s• Suburbia inhabited by middle class
– Most significant social change– Dependence on the automobile– Family togetherness– Created anxiety and dissatisfaction – Women in the workplace stimulates new feminism
• Areas of Greatest Growth– Church membership booms– School attendance (federal aid to focus on math and science/Sputnik)– Television watching
• Critics of the Consumer Society– The “Beat” movement were artists and authors (ex: David Riesman)
criticizing the conformity of suburban corporate culture