President Harry Truman- 33rd president
- From Missouri
- Fought in WWl
- Became vice president for FDR in January, 1945
- Took over for FDR when he died in April, 1945.
- Last president to not have earned a college degree.
Accomplishments as President-
- President when WWll ended with Germany and Japan
- Decided to use the atomic bomb against Japan
- Conference/ Declaration (German consequences/ Japans surrender or else face destruction)
- 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.
- 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.
- Most fair deals did not get passed.
- Faced a lot of opposition from Southern Democrats and Republicans
- Civil Rights
- Housing
- Social Security
- Minimum wage
- Labor
- Schooling
Election
- Truman(D) vs Thomas Dewey (R)
- Truman came from way behind to win
- Newspapers and polls all assumed Dewey was going to win easily.
President Dwight Eisenhower (R)- 34th President 1953- 1961
- Famous WWll General
- Decided to join the Republican Party after WWll
- Richard Nixon as his Vice President
- Diagnosed with Crohn's disease and had a minor stroke as president
Accomplishments-
- Dominated by the Cold war- Containment of Policy
- Used CIA to do cover tops to disrupt the communist governments.
- Opened relations with Spain
- Ended the Korean Conflict as promised in 1952 election campaign
- Eisenhower Doctrine- give money to middle Eastern countries to fight off communism
Domestic Accomplishments
- Believed in laissez faire- government should stay out of things
- Believed in a balance budget
- Deported 1 million illegal immigrants(mostly Mexicans)
- Sent federal troops to Little Rock, Arkansas to help in the desegregation of all public schools-1954-Brown vs Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas case
- Helped pass the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 which created the United States' Interstate Highways
President John F. Kennedy- 35th 1961-1963
- Born in Brookline, Massachusetts, on May 29, 1917
- Was a sick child
- He wrote a book called why England Slept
- He was from a rich family
- Graduated from Harvard
- Served in WWll
- At 43 he was the youngest to be elected to the office.
Election-
- Republican- Richard Nixon
- Democratic- John F Kennedy
- JFK had 23 states and Nixon had 26
- JFK promised to get America moving again.
- Nixon promised peace and prosperity.
- JFK had a rating of 70% many people liked him a lot
Accomplishments-
- New Frontier- domestic program federal funding for education, elderly, medical care, economic aid to rural regions.
- Abolished the federal death penalty
- Project Apollo as the first manned expedition to the moon
- Asked Congress to create the Peace Corps.
Assassination-
- Kennedy was shot by Lee Harvey Oswald
- Shot on Elm Street
- Governor Connally hit by the same bullet.
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