Harry S. Truman

Served as president from 1945-1953
Era: The Cold War
American Identity and Culture
In the early years of President Truman’s presidency, there was a dramatic increase in the number of marriages and births.Between 1945 and 1960, people were marrying at a younger age and families were growing increasingly large resulting in the production of 50 million babiesjoining the American population coining this period of time the “baby boom.” With more children to care of, it affected American economic and social institutions by changing the role of women in society.Traditionally, women stayed in the house and took care of the children. However with the increase in the number of children per each family, women began working jobs outside of the house to make some extra money.
Economic Transformations and Globalization
During the mid-1940s, American marines, soldiers, and sailors were returning home to America with the end of World War II. Americans were afraid that they would be returning home to a stagnating economy; however because of the war the economy had gained much capital.During the 1950s, Americans were living at the highest standard of living. To help these Americans returning from the war, President Truman passed the GI Bill also known as the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944. This bill allowed for government paid education for the war veterans. The GI Bill also redistributed more than 16 million dollars in government loans to help war veterans buy houses or farms to start businesses. By doing so, the federal government invigorated the United States economy even more. In 1946, President Truman pressed for Congress to pass policies that will increase the minimum wage of worker and keep up employment rates. Congress soon passed the Employment Act of 1946 which called for the creation of Economic Advisers, a counsel that advised Congress and the President in advocating national economic welfare.
Environment
William Levitt created his Levittown which was a small suburban town of 17 thousand small, affordable homes. With the creation of towns with mass produced houses, it aided in providing housing to more Americans, especially when American war veterans began to return to America from war. William Levitt’s Levittown was located in Long Island, New York. The mass produced houses were made affordable by placing low interest mortgage rates that were backed by the government. The houses were also tax deductible which encouraged and aided families to move from cities to the suburban area causing much of the middle class Americans to move into suburban homes. Due to this mass movement of Americans, by the time of the 1960s cities ranging from Los Angeles to Boston grew extremely poor and less diverse.
Politics and Citizenship
In the beginning of President Truman’s second term of presidency, he started the Fair Deal, which was Truman’s reform program. The Fair Deal called for a national health care insurance, a civil rights legislation, money for public housing, a new farm program, and federal funding for education. Congress, mostly the Conservatives, hated this and for this reason they ignored most of the reforms Truman wanted. The only reform policies the conservatives like were policy to include various types of people to receive social security care and the increase of 35 cents in minimum wage. Congress ignored most of Truman’s reform policies because Congress was more worried about the foreign policies of the cold War and because of past problems between President Truman and Congress.
With the fear of communism spreading, Wisconsin senator Joseph McCarthy added onto the growing fear by giving a speech in 1950 stating that there were traitors (communists) infiltrating the U.S federal government. With McCarthy’s claim that there were over 200 communist employees working in the U.S government, the American public began to fear that communism would soon take over America’s democracy. McCarthy’s belief that there were communists in the U.S was called McCarthyism.
Slavery and its legacies in North America
As president, Truman was the very first contemporary president to use his presidential powers to try to stop racial prejudice and discrimination. In 1946, ignoring southern Democrats, President Truman established the Committee on Civil Rights. President Truman also helped empowered the civil rights division within the Justice Department. By doing so, this allowed for African American leaders to stop the separation of races in schools. In 1948, President Truman demanded for an end to racial discrimination within the departments of the federal government, which also included the three branches of the armed forces. With the end of segregation in military bases, many military bases (most located in the South) were reformed. Truman also helped African American’s civil rights by urging Congress to establish a Fair Employment Practices Commission that would serve to prevent company bosses from discriminating against African American workers.
War and Diplomacy

In 1947, Truman had three advisers (George Marshall, George F. Kennan, and Dean Acheson) who advised Truman to adopt the policy of containment to keep communism from spreading to other countries. The policy of containment was meant to send a message to the Soviet Union to stop their plans of spreading communism to other countries and instead just live in peace. Truman adopted the containment policy as a response to the revolt in Greece that the Soviets caused and because the Soviets demanded control/involvement with the Dardanelles of Turkey. In March 1947, President Truman imposed his Truman Doctrine which called for 400 million dollars in military and economic aid to help Greece and Turkey end their totalitarian governments.
In 1948, the Berlin airlift occurred marking it as one of the first major events of the Cold War. After the Soviets destroyed all roads to getting to the city of Germany, Truman was unable to recall troops from Berlin since it was impossible to reach the troops without roads. Since there were no roads, President Truman sent supplies by planes to the troops and people of West Berlin. Finally, in 1949 the Soviets ended their 11 month blockade and opened up the roads to Berlin.