President Harry Truman(D)-33rd President (1945-1953)
Background
- Fought in WWI
- Was Missouri State Senator
- Became Vice President for FDR in January, 1945
- Took over for FDR when he died in April, 1945
- One of the most unpopular presidents of all time-22% approval rating at one point
- Rating has improved greatly over the last 60 years
- Last President to not have earned a college degree
Truman's Presidential Accomplishments
- President when WWII ended with Germany and Japan
- Potsdam Conference/Declaration-(German consequences/Japan's surrender or else face destruction)
- Decided to use the atomic bomb against Japan
- Had to deal with transition from wartime economy to peacetime economy
- Helped organize and later join the United Nations
- Took a hard-line stance against communism and the Soviet Union-Policy of Containment
- Desegregated the US military
- Truman Doctrine and Marshall Plan were passed
- Created the CIA and the National Security Council
- The Fair Deal
- Similar to FDR's New deal of the 1930's
- aimed to promote economic development and social welfare
- Faced a lot of opposition from the Southern Democrats and Republicans
- Most Fair Deal proposals did not get passed
- Dealt with:
- Civil Rights
- Housing
- Social Security
- Minimum Wage
- Health
- Labor
- Education
- Agriculture
- Recognized Israel as a home place for the Jewish people
- Got the US involved in Vietnam by giving aid to France
- Berlin Airlift
- NATO established
- Chinese Civil War ends
- McCarthyism
- The Korean Conflict and firing of General Douglass MacArthur
- Assassination attempt over Puerto Rican Independence
Elections
- 1948 Election
- Truman(D) vs. Thomas Dewey(R)
- Truman came from way behind to win
- Newspapers and polls all assumed Dewey would win easily
President Dwight Eisenhower(R)-34th President (1953-1961)
Background
- Famous WWII general
- Decided to join the Republican Party after WWII
- Richard Nixon was his Vice President
- Diagnosed with Crohn's Disease and had a minor stroke while president
Eisenhower's Presidential Accomplishments
- Dominated by the Cold War-Containment Policy
- Used CIA to do covert-ops to disrupt communist governments abroad(Iran/Guatemala)
- Opened relations with Spain
- Ended the Korean Conflict as promised in his 1952 campaign
- Defensive alliances were signed with South Korea and Taiwan
- SEATO was formed
- Increased US involvement in Southeast Asia(Vietnam)-US advisers sent
- Developed idea that nuclear weapons would be defensive weapons(deterrence)
- NASA created due to Soviet Sputnik launch
- US spy plane(U-2) was shot down over USSR
- Allowed McCarthy to do his thing but privately did not approve
- Eisenhower Doctrine
- Believed in laissez-faire
- Believed in a balanced budget
- Deported around 1 million illegal immigrants(mostly Mexicans)
- Sent federal troops to Little Rock, Arkansas to help in the desegregation of all public schools-1945, Brown vs. the Board of Education of Topeka, KS case
- Helped pass the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 which created the Unites States' Interstate Highways
Elections
- 1952 easy win against Adlai Stevenson
- 1956 another easy win Adlai Stevenson
John F. Kennedy
Background
- 35th president
- Born in Brookline, Mass. on May 29, 1917
- Not a healthy person
- had diphtheria, appendicitis, whooping cough, jaundice, asthma, and pneumonia
- constantly sick while in military, senate, and throughout his presidency
- came from a rich family
- graduated from Harvard in 1940
- Served in WWII
- Was in the Navy
- When his PT boat was rammed and sunk by a Japanese destroyer in 1943, he led the survivors to safety despite his injuries
- was a Democratic Congressman from Boston
- Advanced to Senate in 1953
- married Jacqueline Bouvier on September 12, 1953
- At age 43, he was the youngest to have been elected to the office
- The second youngest president (after Theodore Roosevelt)
- the first person born in the 20th century to serve as president
- to date, Kennedy has been the only Roman Catholic president and the only president to have won a Pulitzer Prize
Election
- The election of JFK and Richard Nixon was the 44th quadrennial president election
- it was held on Tuesday, November 8, 1960
- Richard Nixon was Republican
- JFK was Democratic
- JFK was elected with a lead of 112,827 votes
- election promises
- JFK promised would "get America moving again"
- Nixon promised he would continue "peace and prosperity"
- Had a popularity rating of 70.1%
- lots of people loved him as president
Accomplishments
- New Frontier
- domestic program promising federal funding for education, medical care for the elderly, economic aid to rural regions, and government intervention to halt the recession of the time.
- abolished the federal death penalty
- signed executive orders prohibiting racial discrimination and laid the groundwork for the Civil Rights Act of 1964
- Initiated Project Apollo as the first manned expedition to the moon
- asked Congress to create the Peace Corps, in which Americans would volunteer to help underdeveloped nations in areas such as education, farming, health care, and construction
- Signed the Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty in order to limit nuclear tests by the nuclear powers
- Initiated the creation of Security ties with Israel
- Sought to contain the perceived threat of communism in Latin America by establishing the Alliance for Progress, which went aid to some countries and sought great human rights standards in the region
- Began American involvement in Vietnam as a means of staunching communist expansion in the Southeast
Assassination
- Kennedy was shot at 12:29 p.m. by Lee Harvey Oswald
- Shot on Elm St.
- Brought to Parkman Memorial Hospital
- Governor Connally hit by same bullet
- Oswald shot officer Tippit
- While being escorted to court Jack Ruby shot Oswald
- An AP poll that was taken in 2013 showed that more than 59% of people thought that there was more than one person involved in the president's murder
- Another poll showed 61% of people believed in a conspiracy and 30% thought Oswald did it alone
Lyndon B. Johnson-36th President
Background
- Born August 27, 1908 in Stonewall, TX
- Married Claudia Alta Taylor
- was a teacher
- Became Texas director of the NYA
- WWII became congressional inspector of the war progress in the Pacific
- Vice President under Kennedy
Accomplishments
- signed the Elementary and Secondary Education Act and Higher Education Act to improve funding to schools, especially those in poor districts
- signed Civil Rights Acts outlawing racial segregation
- Appointed Thurgood Marshall as 1st African American justice on Supreme Court
- Established the National Endowment for for the Humanities and the National Endowment for the Arts to support humanists and artists
- Created programs for poverty like food stamps, work study and medicare
- Presided over the first manned flight to the Moon with the Apollo 8 program
- Served on a tour of the South Pacific and flew one combat mission
- had to come back because of mechanical difficulty but received a Silver Star
- Signed the Immigration Act of 1965, which substantially liberalized US immigration policy towards non-Europeans
- Drastically escalated American involvement in Vietnam following the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
- put together the Warren Commission to investigate the JFK assassination
- Passed Civil Rights Act of 1964, which outlawed most forms of racial segregation
- Passed Voting Rights Act(1965) which outlawed discrimination in voting thus allowing millions of southern blacks to vote for the first time
The Great Society
- Johnson's plan to:
- aid education
- attack disease
- Medicare and Medicaid
- urban renewal
- beautification, conservation, development of depressed regions
- war on poverty
- control and prevention of crime
- removal of obstacles to the right to vote
- Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965--For the first time, large amounts of federal money went to public schools and the focus was poor schools
- Higher Education Act of 1965, which focused on funding lower income students, including grants, work-study money, and government loans
- set up the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Endowment for the Arts
- Economic Opportunity Act helped start Head Start, food stamps, Work Study, Medicare and Medicaid
- Gun Control Act of 1968 regulated the firearms industry and firearms owners
- passed in response to the assassinations of JFK, RFK, and MLK
Election
- 61.1% popular vote
- 44 out of 50 states and District of Columbia
- Alaska for Democrats for the first and only time
- had 486 electoral votes
Approval Rating
- Approval high-74.2%
Legacy
- Extended the New Deal
- Vietnam war made people question if he was right for US
- Vietnamese lost homes and lives
- US lives were altered and 58,000 American military personnel lost their live
President Nixon-
Gerald R. Ford-(R) 38th President
Background
- Nixon's Vice President
- Took over when Nixon resigned
- Only Vice President and President to never be elected
- Had two assassination attempts within three weeks
Accomplishments
- Pardoned Nixon
- Offered conditional amnesty program for Vietnam War draft dodgers who had fled to countries such as Canada
- "Whip Inflation Now" called for Americans to reduce their spending and consumption in a n attempt to stop inflation
- Education for All Handicapped Children Act(1975) established special education in school throughout the US
- continued detente with the USSR
Elections
- 1976 election
- Ran against Jimmy Carter and lost
Jimmy Carter(D) 39th President
Background
- Born on October 1st in Plains, Georgia
- Peanut farmer, HS star basketball player, FFA
- served i the Navy, Submariner serving in both Atlantic and pacific fleets
- married Rosalynn Smith
- 2 terms as Georgia state senator 1962-1966
- 1 term as governor 1971-1975
- When he told his mother he was going to run for president she asked "president of what?"
- attended Plains HS
- went to Georgia southwestern College
- attended Georgia Institute of Technology
- Received a bachelors degree of Science form the US Naval Academy
Elections
- won 1976 election
- beat Gerald Ford(R)
- lost in 1980 to Ronald Reagan by a large margin
Accomplishments
- Carter Center
- Department of Energy
- Camp David
- Department of Education
- Love Canal Superfund
- U.S. boycott to Moscow Olympics
- Involved in Israel and Middle East problems
- Emergency Natural Gas Act
- Graduation Speech at Annapolis
- Pardon Draft Dodgers
- Taft-Hartley Act
Popularity Rating
- during his presidency
- Many people were becoming jobless
- Gas prices were skyrocketing
- People were forming lines for gas
- Iran hostage crisis
- won the Nobel Peace Prize after presidency
- wasn't viewed as a successful president because of the economy
Legacy
- His legacy was promoting world peace
- he emphasized nothing more than his want for humanity to get along
Ronald W. Reagan(R) 1981-1989
George H. W. Bush (D) 1989-1993
Background
- born June 12, 1924
- in Milton, Massachusetts
- born into a rich family
- raised in an episcopal church
- went to Phillips Academy in Andover, MA
- ended up retaking Senior year
- enlisted in the navy at age 18
- graduated from Yale in 1948
- became involved in the Oil Business
- became a millionaire at age 40
- married Barbara pierce in January 1945
- had six children
- was Ambassador to the UN
- was in House of Reps
- Director of CIA
- Nomination Republican, 1980
- was VP for Reagan
- was nominated to conquer the war on drugs
- prohibition of drugs, Military aid, Military Intervention
Accomplishments/Mistakes
- Increased taxes
- Decreased debt
- Ordered Military operations in panama
- Increased Welfare
- Additional benefits for unemployed workers
- Improved International Space Station
- Signed Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990
- Increased Federal spending on Childcare, Education and Advanced Technology Research
- clean Air Act-required cleaner burning fuels
- Signed Immigration Act of 1990
Persian Gulf War
- In August of 1990 Iraq invaded Kuwait
- Iraq thought Kuwait was stealing some of their oil, and they thought Kuwait should be apart of their country
- US helped Housain get into power
- Operation Desert Shield
- sent troops to Saudi Arabia
- weren’t sure what Housain was planning
- thought he might invade for their oil
- hoped that the threat of war would keep Housain away
- however Housain still invaded
- Operation Desert Storm
- our invasion of Kuwait
- wanted to free Kuwait
- quick-month or so
- completed our goal of freeing Kuwait
- we didn’t invade Iraq and take down Housain
- Results
- Coalition Force victory
- Iraq withdrawal from Kuwait
- destruction of Iraqi/Kuwaiti infrastructure
- No-Fly Zone for Iraq
- Coalition-482 dead, Iraq-20,000-35,000
- 1991-2003
- No-Fly zone, weapons inspectors, WMD’s
Approval Rating
- Highest 89%
- Lowest 29%
- approval rating went down because he promised "No new taxes" and then raised taxes
Ronald Reagan (R)
Background
- Born February 6th 1911 in Tampico, Illinois
- Raised in Dixon, Illinois
- Went to Eureka College
- After Graduation he moved to Iowa and worked as a radio broadcaster
- Went to Los Angeles to be an actor
- was first on films then went onto television
- went to be the spokesman of General Electric
- Was the governor of California
- Was the president of the US for 2 terms
- Won in 1980 and 1984
Accomplishments
- Reaganomics
- Air-Traffic controllers strike
- Surviving an assassination attempt
- Escalation of the Cold War
- big on anti-communism
- War on Drugs
- Immigration Reform and Control Act
- Challenger disaster-shuttle blew up
- End of the Cold War-Gorbachev willingness to change
Approval Rating
- highest approval rating was 73%
Barack Obama (D)
Background
- Born in Honolulu, Hawaii on August 4, 1961
- Attended Harvard Law and Columbia University
- Taught law in Chicago
- Served 3 terms in Illinois Senate
- Civil Right Attorney
Election
- 2008 beat John McCain by a large margin
- 2012 beat Mitt Romney fairly close election
Accomplishments
- created 4.1 million new jobs
- Announced historic new fuel efficiency standards that will nearly double vehicles' fuel economy by 2015
- Landmark health reform, young adults can stay on their parents insurance until they are 26
- Made college education easier and more affordable for many parents/students
- Ended the war in Iraq and is striving to end the war in Afghanistan
- people in public service(teaching, nursing, and the armed forces) were forgiven of their student loan debts after 10 years of consistent payments
- Repealed "Don't ask, Don't Tell"
- Recapitalized Banks
- Eliminated Osama Bin Laden
- Credit CARD Act, which protects young people from credit card company abuse
- Michelle Obama's "Let's move Campaign"
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