Truman and Eisenhower (AQA A-Level History): Revision Notes
Truman and Eisenhower
Introduction: Political context
During the 1940s and 1950s, the USA experienced widespread anxiety about Communist subversion. This fear permeated all areas of public life and created the political environment in which both Harry S. Truman and Dwight D. Eisenhower governed. Between Franklin D. Roosevelt's death in April 1945 and the election of John F. Kennedy in the 1960s, these two presidents navigated domestic policy challenges whilst managing growing Cold War tensions.
The fear of Communism during this period was not merely political rhetoric—it fundamentally shaped domestic and foreign policy decisions, influenced electoral campaigns, and affected the daily lives of ordinary Americans. Understanding this climate of fear is essential to comprehending the challenges both presidents faced in implementing their domestic agendas.
Harry S. Truman
Background and path to the presidency
Born on 8 May 1884 in Missouri, Truman did not attend college. Instead, he worked at various occupations after high school, including as a clerk and bookkeeper at two separate banks in Kansas City. When the First World War began in 1917, Truman joined the army. He served in France and departed the military as a captain in May 1919. One month later, he married Elizabeth Wallace. After attempting to establish himself in the haberdashery business, Truman entered politics, successfully running for county judge in Jackson County, Missouri. In 1934, he won election to the US Senate.
During the Second World War, Senator Truman chaired the Truman Commission, which investigated fraud in defence contracts. This role proved both important and high-profile, saving the Government several million dollars. Truman remained in the Senate until President Franklin Roosevelt selected him as running mate for his fourth term in 1944. Truman became president in April 1945 following Roosevelt's death and served until March 1952, when he announced he would not seek re-election. He died in Kansas City, Missouri, on 26 December 1972.
Truman's vision and priorities
When Truman assumed the presidency, he took on responsibility for policies at home and abroad which would shape post-war reconstruction. He possessed little experience and was not regarded as Roosevelt's natural successor. Nevertheless, Truman held a firm conviction that the USA represented the world's best hope for peace and prosperity. He believed this hope could only be realised if the USA developed a political and social system that served as an example to other nations. Truman recognised that not all Americans lived in prosperity. Consequently, he aimed to expand the scope of the New Deal by proposing extensive reforms in housing and healthcare provision in 1945.
Full Employment Bill, 1945
Truman's immediate domestic concern centred on employment. In 1945, he introduced the Full Employment Bill to Congress. This legislation declared employment to be a right and required the government to ensure jobs were available for all who sought them. The Bill also increased the dole, included a higher minimum wage, provided farm price supports and established a public works programme.
Congress proved reluctant to support Truman's ambitious proposals and substantially reduced the scope of many of these measures. This pattern of Congressional resistance would become a recurring challenge throughout Truman's presidency, limiting his ability to implement comprehensive social reforms despite his electoral mandate.
Labour relations and industrial conflict
The Second World War had generated inflation, which in turn encouraged union leaders to demand strikes for wage increases. Truman convened a special labour-management conference in November 1945 in an attempt to prevent further strike action, but the conference concluded without agreement. In April 1945, the United Mine Workers initiated a strike for a pay increase. In May, the railroads were paralysed by strikes. Truman decided on firm action and announced that he would conscript railroad workers and have the army operate the railroads.
Conscript means someone compulsorily enrolled for service in the armed forces. Truman's threat to conscript railroad workers represented an unprecedented use of presidential power to resolve a labour dispute, demonstrating the severity with which he viewed the strike's impact on the national economy.
He also sought to introduce legislation that would restrict the right to strike against the government and would impose severe penalties on those who violated the law. This approach proved unnecessary, as the rail strike was called off. Nevertheless, Truman had demonstrated the continued hostility of the Federal Government towards labour and strike action.
The 1946 mid-term elections brought Truman substantial political opposition. His political opponents, the Republicans, won control of both Houses of Congress. This Republican dominance became evident in the following year when Congress proposed the Taft-Hartley Bill. This legislation made labour unions liable for violations of contracts and prevented them from insisting that all workers must join a trade union as a condition of employment. Truman, unwilling to lose the support of labour, vetoed the Bill. However, Congress passed it despite his objections. In 1948, Truman called Congress into special session and attempted, without success, to pass various New Deal-type measures.
1948 presidential election
Truman was expected to lose the presidential election of 1948. His party, the Democrats, had split. Henry Wallace, a former vice-president of FDR, established the Progressive Party. Strom Thurmond, a southern conservative who opposed Truman's support for civil rights, also stood against Truman. Opinion polls suggested that the Republican candidate, Thomas E. Dewey, would win the election.
The Upset Victory of 1948
However, Truman promised New Deal-type measures and embarked on a 30,000-mile whistle-stop tour of the USA. He highlighted his achievements as president and criticised the Republican 'do-nothing' Congress. In one of the most substantial electoral surprises in US history, Truman won a majority of over 2 million votes and the Democrats regained control of Congress.
This victory demonstrated the power of direct campaigning and the disconnect between polling predictions and voter sentiment. Truman's success proved that written-off candidates could still triumph through energetic campaigning and clear messaging.
The Fair Deal
In 1949, Truman declared that 'Every segment of our population and every individual has a right to expect from our government a fair deal'. He attempted to introduce a comprehensive range of welfare measures, but Republican and Democratic conservatives blocked many of his reform proposals. He did, however, succeed in raising the minimum wage, extending the Social Security Act and passing legislation to assist slum clearance and to provide housing for the poor.
The Fair Deal represented Truman's vision for expanding federal responsibility for citizens' welfare beyond the New Deal. While Congress limited his ambitions, the Fair Deal established important principles about government's role in ensuring economic security and opportunity for all Americans, laying groundwork for future social programmes.
Eisenhower
Background and military career
Dwight D. Eisenhower, later nicknamed 'Ike', was born on 14 October 1890 in Denison, Texas. He won an appointment to the US Military Academy at West Point, New York, and graduated in the middle of his class in 1915. During the 1930s, he worked under General Douglas MacArthur, US army chief of staff. Eisenhower played a prominent military role during the Second World War. He headed Operation Torch, the successful Allied invasion of North Africa, and the ambitious invasion of Sicily and the Italian mainland in 1943. Made a full general in early 1943, Eisenhower was appointed supreme commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force in December of that year and led the successful D-Day landings of June 1944 and the subsequent advance on Germany.
In 1952, leading Republicans persuaded Eisenhower to run for president. He defeated Adlai Stevenson to become the 34th President of the United States. Four years later, Eisenhower beat Stevenson again in a landslide to win re-election. After leaving office in January 1961, he retired to his farm in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. He worked largely on his memoirs and published several books over the following years. He died on 28 March 1969 after a long illness.
Historiographical debates and reassessment
Eisenhower's presidency divided opinion both during his time in office and in subsequent years. Critics at the time accused him of being excessively conservative, a 'do-nothing' president who spent his time playing golf. He has also been accused of representing big business, especially as his cabinet was composed mainly of millionaire businessmen, three of whom had worked in the car industry. He also appeared to show little sympathy for civil rights.
Changing Historical Perspectives on Eisenhower
More recently historians such as Stephen Ambrose have adopted a more sympathetic view of his presidency. They see him as a safe pair of hands who made things look deceptively easy. They argue that he chose his team well, delegated effectively and had a good record as a mediator. Eisenhower insisted that leadership only works through 'persuasion and conciliation and education and patience'.
Historians refer to Ike's 'hidden-handed' presidency. He knew where he wanted to go and steered the country in that direction. He worked well with Congress, which, for most of his presidency, was controlled by the Democrats and was popular with most Americans. This reassessment demonstrates how historical judgments can shift as more evidence becomes available and as historians gain perspective on a president's long-term impact.
Domestic achievements and 'dynamic conservatism'
As a moderate Republican, Eisenhower was able to achieve numerous legislative successes despite a Democratic majority in Congress during six of his eight years in office. He called his programme 'dynamic conservatism', which meant, he said, being 'conservative when it comes to money and liberal when it comes to human beings'. He was determined to, and succeeded in, decreasing the role of federal government. For example, he ended wage and price controls and reduced farm subsidies.
Even so, he accepted that federal government should have some responsibility for the welfare of its citizens and that it should promote economic growth. In addition to continuing most of the New Deal and Fair Deal programmes of his predecessors (Franklin Roosevelt and Truman, respectively), he strengthened the Social Security programme, increased the minimum wage and created the Department of Health, Education and Welfare.
Major Achievement: The Interstate Highway System
In 1956, Eisenhower created the Interstate Highway System, the single largest public works programme in US history, which would construct 41,000 miles of roads across the country. In addition, substantial sums of money were spent completing the St Lawrence Seaway, linking the Great Lakes with the Atlantic.
This infrastructure programme transformed American society, facilitating commerce, enabling suburban expansion, and fundamentally reshaping how Americans lived and worked. It represented a massive federal investment that contradicted the image of Eisenhower as a 'do-nothing' president.
Key figure: Harry S. Truman (1884–1972)
Harry S. Truman rose from modest beginnings to become the 33rd President of the United States. Born in Missouri, he worked various jobs including as a bank clerk and bookkeeper before serving in France during the First World War. He entered politics in the 1920s, serving as county judge before winning election to the US Senate in 1934. His work chairing the Truman Commission during the Second World War, which investigated fraud in defence contracts and saved the government millions, brought him national prominence. Selected as Franklin Roosevelt's running mate in 1944, Truman unexpectedly became president in April 1945 following FDR's death. He served until March 1952, choosing not to run for re-election. Truman died in Kansas City on 26 December 1972, aged 88.
Key figure: Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890–1969)
Dwight D. Eisenhower, nicknamed 'Ike', was born in Texas in 1890 and graduated from the US Military Academy at West Point in 1915. He rose to prominence during the Second World War, commanding Operation Torch in North Africa, the invasions of Sicily and Italy in 1943, and serving as Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force for the D-Day landings in June 1944 and the subsequent advance into Germany. After the war, leading Republicans persuaded him to run for president. He defeated Democrat Adlai Stevenson in 1952 and won re-election by a landslide in 1956. After leaving office in January 1961, he retired to his farm in Pennsylvania, where he wrote his memoirs. He died on 28 March 1969 after a prolonged illness.
McCarthyism and the Red Scare
The development of the 'Red Scare'
In the years following the Second World War, there developed a growing rivalry between the USA and the Soviet Union, due partly to American fear of the spread of Communism. The USA felt vulnerable to Communist influence at home as well. The US Communist Party had never attracted more than 100,000 supporters and possessed far fewer actual members. Nevertheless, there existed a fear that if such supporters were in influential positions they could cause substantial damage within the USA. Various developments shocked Americans in the years following the Second World War and led to the development of the 'Red Scare'.
External developments
Developments outside the USA increased the fear of Communism. The fall of China to the Communists in 1949 was unexpected and some believed the State Department could have done more to prevent it. This led to the creation of a powerful 'China lobby', which campaigned for action against the new Communist regime and also demanded a detailed investigation to discover how the USA had allowed China to fall to Communism. Pat McCarran, a Democratic Senator from Nevada, was an important figure in the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee that attempted to persuade people that China had fallen to Communism as a result of the work of secret Communist infiltrators within the State Department.
In addition, the development of the Cold War in Europe in the years after 1945 and increasing US involvement in Asia, particularly the Korean War, intensified the fear of the spread of Communism to the USA.
Developments within the USA
A series of spy scandals in Britain, Canada and the USA scared the Americans. A British physicist, Klaus Fuchs, was convicted of giving nuclear secrets to the USSR. One of his associates, Harry Gold, was arrested on similar charges in the USA.
The Impact of Spy Scandals
These revelations of actual espionage activities provided concrete evidence that seemed to validate fears of Communist infiltration. The fact that Klaus Fuchs had successfully passed nuclear secrets to the Soviet Union was particularly alarming, as it concerned America's most sensitive military technology. These cases transformed abstract fears into tangible threats, fueling the paranoia that characterized the Red Scare and provided ammunition for figures like Senator McCarthy who claimed widespread Communist infiltration of American institutions.
Remember!
Key Points to Remember:
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Truman became president unexpectedly in April 1945 after FDR's death and focused on expanding New Deal-style reforms through his Fair Deal programme, though Congress limited many of his proposals.
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The 1948 presidential election resulted in one of the biggest upsets in US history when Truman defeated Republican Thomas E. Dewey despite expectations and a split in the Democratic Party.
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Eisenhower pursued 'dynamic conservatism' - being conservative with money but liberal with human beings - achieving legislative successes including the Interstate Highway System (1956), the largest public works programme in US history.
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Historical assessments of Eisenhower have evolved from criticism of him as a 'do-nothing' president to recognition of his 'hidden-handed' leadership style and ability to work effectively with a Democratic Congress.
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The Red Scare developed from both external factors (fall of China to Communism in 1949, Cold War tensions, Korean War) and internal factors (spy scandals involving Klaus Fuchs and Harry Gold), creating widespread fear of Communist infiltration in American society.