PRESIDENT BLOGS:
***President Harry Truman***
-Democrat
-33rd President - 1945-1953
-Was vice president for FRD for about 3 months, but became president when Roosevelt died
-Found out about the Manhatten Project when he became president
-Allowed the droppings of atomic bombs on Japan
-President when the Cold War began (Communist vs. Democracy)
-One of the most unpopular presidents of all time, but his rating has improved over the years since he left
-He had trouble adjusting from war time economy to peace time economy
-Fired General MacArthur during the Korean War because MacArthur wanted to go to war against China and use the atomic bomb on them
-Truman was conserned that if we go to war with China then the Soviet Union would get involved and it would create a World War III
-In the 1948 election he was a candidate against Thomas Dewey
-Everyone believed that Dewey would beat Truman
-Many of the people that voted for Truman didn't have phones, so the people who were called for the polls were more rich and supported Dewey. The Chicago Daily Tribune took these results and printed that Dewey won, which was wrong
-Military was segregated (black/white units). He worked to de-segregate them
-The Fair Deal was the New Deal only extending or adding to it (Try to help the poor people and the economy)
-A Puerto Rican nationalist tried to kill Truman because he wanted Puerto Rico to be independent. Truman let Puerto Rico decide, and they voted not to be independent, but the guy tried to shoot him anyway
-Potsdam Declaration: he told Japan the United States had a major weapon and they should surrender, but they didn't, so we used the atomic bombs on them
-Truman was pretty rough around the edges: the swore a lot and wasn't a great speaker
-He helped organized and later joined the United Nations
-Big part of his presidency was to stop Communism and were all about the Soviet Union-Policy of Containment (didn't want Communism to spread. Went to war in Korea and Vietnam to stop the spread of Communism. Gave money to Europe and Japan to rebuild so they wouldn't be influenced by Communists)
-Truman Doctrine (aimed at Turkey and Greece - saved them from becoming Communist) and Marshall Plan were passed to give rebuilding money and prevent Communism
-CIA was created (spies) and National Security Council (give the president information and keep the country secure from terrirost attacks)
-Most of the Fair Deal proposals did not get passed because Southern Democrats and Republicans didn't support it
-Aimed to help civil rights, housing, social security, minimum wage, health, labor, education, and agriculture. People said they wouldn't vote for anything if he helped civil rights
-Recognized Israel as a homeplace for Jewish people. Many government advisors didn't agree and thought it would cause problems, but Truman thought they deserved it
-United States got into the Vietnam war by giving aid to France (Truman sent money to the French)
-Foreign Policy: How we deal with other countries
-Domestic Policy: What you do back home to help
***President Dwight Eisenower***
-Republican
-34th president - 1953-1961
-Started NASA in response to the Soviet Union beating us to space
-Democrats wanted him to run as a Democrat but decided to run as a Republican after WWII
-Worked for a year after high school, then went into the military
-Famous World War II general
-Richard Nixon was his vice president
-Ended the Korean War like he promised
-Signed the Civil Rights Bill in 1957
-His policy was Laissez-Faire (government wasn't in control of it all, didn't want to spend money)
-Started the Interstate Highway System in the United States
-Had serious health issues while president, and told Nixon to be ready just in case he died
-Ran against Adlai Stevenson in both 1952 and 1956
-Cold War dominated foreign policy, and the Cold War Containment Policy was used to try and contain it
-CIA tried to take down Communist countries through assasination
-Defensive alliances were signed with South Korea and Taiwan (to stop Communism)
-SEATO (South East Asian Treaty Organization) was formed - defensive alliance to help stop Communism from spreading
-Increased US involvement in Vietnam
-Developed idea that nuclear weapons would be defensive weapons (deterrence)
-Eisenower Doctrine - told Middle Eastern countries that they could ask for military or financial support from the United States to help keep Communists out of their countries
-Deported around 1 million illegal immigrats (mostly Mexican)
-Sent federal troops to Little Rock to help in the desegregation of all public schools (1954 Brown case)
***President John F. Kennedy***
-Democrat
-35th president - 1961-1963
-Was the first Catholic president, and still is the only one that has been (people had problems with Catholics back there)
-Second-youngest president the US ever had (youngest elected)
-Served in WWII
-Was a US Representative and Senator from Massachusetts
-"Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country"
-The New Frontier was his version of a 'New Deal'-like program
-The first televised presidential debate was between him and Nixon in the 1960 election
-Many think that helped Kennedy win the election
-Wanted to get someone on the moon before the end of the decade, but wasn't alive to see it
-Continued with desegregation
-Illinois was a key state, and a deal was made with Kennedy's father and the mafia that anyone who worked for them would vote for Kennedy if no one went after the mafia
-Cold War continued to dominate foreign policy
-Berlin Wall was build in 1961
-Bay of Pigs Invastion (1961)
-Cuban Missile Crisis
-Alliance for Progress with Latin America (forming better friendships to insure they don't turn Communist)
-Increased the number of helicopters, military advisors and undeclared US Special Forces in Vietnam
-Nuclear Test Ban Treaty was signed in 1963 (first treaty passed that pointed out it was necessary to be more careful with nuclear weapons. Banned the testing of nuclear weapons above ground, so they did it underground)
-The New Frontier promised federal funding for: 1) education, 2) medical care for the elderly, 3) economic aid to rural regions, 4) government intervention to halt the recession, and 5) end racial discrimination
-Peace Corps was established in 1961 where Americans volunteer to help underdeveloped nations in areas such as education, farming, health care, and construction
-Equal Pay Act of 1963 - federal law aimed at abolishing wage disparity based on sex
-Assassinated on November 22, 1963 in Dallas, Texas by Lee Harvey Oswald
-Oswald shot from the Texas School Book Depository, 6th floor
-Oswald also shot and killed police officer JD Tippet
-He was arrested in the Texas Theater, first for killing Tippet then later Kennedy
-He never admitted to shooting the President and said it wasn't him
-Jack Ruby shot and killed Lee Harvey Oswald on his way to jail
-Ruby said he shot Oswald so Mrs. Kennedy didn't have to come back to Dallas and face trial and see Oswald
-Warren Commission looked into the assasination of JFK
-Warren Report said that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone and there was no evidence of conspiricy
-In the 1970s they thought they found evidence of conspiricy through a recording and thought maybe the Warren Report was wrong (but in the 80s found that disproved)
-Some thought maybe Nixon was involved in the assasination
-The JFK Act was passed in 1992 mandating the gathering and opening of all records concerned with the death of President Kennedy
***President Lyndon Johnson***
-Democrat
-36th president from 1963-1969 after Kennedy was assasinated
-He was Kennedy's vice president
-African Americans started to vote Democrat because the Democrats were starting to help them more
-Put together the Warren Comission
-Passed Civil Rights Act of 1964 with outlawed most forms of racial segregation
-Passed Voting Rights Act of 1965 which outlawed discrimination in voting and allowing millions of southern blacks to vote for the first time
-Pushed affirmative action laws (required acceptance and hiring of African Americans and other minorities in businesses and colleges)
-Passed Immigration Act of 1965 which allowed more non-European people to immigrate to the United States. More than doubled between 1965-1970
-The Great Society was 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 - large amounts of federal money went to public schools and focused on poor schools
-Higher Education Act of 1965 - funded lower income students with grants, work-study money, and government loans
-National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Endowment for the Arts were set up
-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 responce to te assassinations of John Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, and Martin Luther King Jr.
-Vietnam dominated most of Johnson's presidency
-Believed in Domino Theory - if one country falls others will fall also if you don't stop it
-Gulf of Tonkin Resolution (1964) - Congress gave Johnson power to wage war in Vietnam
***President Richard Nixon***
-Republican
-37th president from 1969-1974
-He was the vice president of Eisenhower
-Only person to be elected twice to both the presidency and vice presidency
-Only president to resign from office
-He had a lot of haters during his presidency and they wanted to bring him down
-Vietnam dominated much of his presidency and it became very unpopular
-Nixon promised to end the Vietnam Conflict - "Peace with honor"
-The Nixon Doctrine - "Vietnamization" of the war - pull our troops out and let the Vietnamese fight for themselves
-Expanded the war to Cambodia and Laos and bombed Ho Chi Minh Trail
-Started pulling troops out of Vietnam
-Paris Peace Accords was signed in 1973 to stop the fighting and got the United States out of the war
-"Green President"
-National Environmental Policy Act, Clean Air Act of 1970, Federal Water Pollution Control Act
-Establisted many governmental agencies: Environmental Protection Agency, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Council on Environmental Quality
-He was the first president to declare War on Drugs in 1971
-Supplemental Security Income - provides money to low-income people who are old, blind, or disabled
-Supported affirmative action
-Signed Title 9 (1972) - prohibited gender discrimination in all federal funded schools
-Equal Employment Opportunity Act enforced laws against workplace discrimination based on individual race, religion, sex, age, perceived intelligence and disability
-Roe v Wade legalized abortion in 1973
-US astronauts landed on the moon in 1969 and the development of NASA's Space Shuttle program was approved
-Eased relations between the US and China and China (without Taiwan) was recongized as the official China
-SALT (Stragetic Arms Limitation Treaty) I was signed, limiting nuclear weapons
-Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty banned the development of systems designed to intercept incoming missiles
-Created peace between the US and Soviet Union
-The 1972 election was rigged by the Nixon administration to make sure they would win
-The plumers were set up to stop press leaks, and the dirty tricks campaign played tricks (like calling in delevery people and sending them to the wrong places, saying the candidate is a closeted homosexual and they have illegimate children) on Democratic candidates
-The main candidate dropped out, so the next Democrat in line to run was someonew who would hardly get any votes (and didn't)
-Supported Israel by sending weapons/money/supplies
-Lowered the speed limit to help save on gas since OPEC countries didn't trade oil with us to protest our support of Israel
-The summer before the November election, June 17, 1972, five men were caught breaking into Watergate Hotel in Washington DC (Democratic party headquarters)
-They were looking for dirt on the Democrats
-The men were linked to Nixon after two Washington Post reporters investigated the story
-People didn't think too much of it until it came out that Nixon was involved, many months after
-The money the men had with them were traced to the Committee to Re-Elect the President (Nixon)
-Nixon downplayed the scandal and said he didn't have anything to do with it at first. He said the media was trying to bring him down because they hate him
-Nixon, and many other government officials, eventually resigned
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