§  WHILE WW1 WAS BEING FOUGHT, THE LABOR DEPARTMENT ESTIMATED THAT, AFTER THE WAR, 15 MILLION WOMEN AND MEN WHO HAD SERVED IN THE ARMED FORCES WOULD UNEMPLOYED

§  TO OFFSET THIS POST WAR DEPRESSION, THE NATIONAL RESOURCES PLANNING BOARD, A WHITE HOUSE ANGENCY, STUDIED POST WAR MANPOWER NEEDS AS EARLY 1942 AND IN JUNE 1943 RECOMMENDED A SERIES OF PROGRAMSFOR EDUCATION AND TRAINING

§  THE AMERICAN LEGION DESIGNED THE MAIN FEATURES OF WHAT BECAME THE SERVICEMAN’S READJUSTMENT ACT AND PUSHED IT THROUGH CONGRESS

§  THE BILL UNANIMOUSLY PASSED THROUGH BOTH CHAMBERS OF CONGRESS IN THE SPRING OF 1944

§  PRESIDENT FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT SIGNED IT INTO LAW JUNE 22,1944, JUST DAYS AFTER THE D-DAY INVASION

§  AMERICAN LEGION PUBLICIST JACK CEJNAR COINED THE WORD “THE GI BILL OF RIGHTS”

§ Made at the end of ww2

§ Created from the fear that there was going to be another great depression because of a lack of jobs available for the veterans

§  The act was the product of numerous revisions to what originally introduced as the “full employment bill of 1945”

§  the 1946 version created the Council of Economic advisers(CEA),a 3 member board that advises the president on economic policy

§ Required the president to submit a report Congress within ten days of the submission of the federal budget that forecasts the future state of the economy and presents the administration’s domestic and international economic priorities

§ Established the Joint Economic Committee-composed of members of both political parties from both the House and Senate; which is charged of reviewing the president’s report and making recommendations to the Senate and house on economic policy

§  After the passage of the 1946 act, the American economy generally performed quite well but there was high inflation

§  Act was sponsored by Senator Robert A. Taft and Representative Fred A. Hartley

§ Designed to amend much of the National Labor Relations Act of 1935(Wagner Act) and discontinue some parts of the Federal Anti-Injunction act of 1932

§  There was much resistance from labor leaders and a veto from president Truman

§ But it still passed on June 23,1947

§  Stayed in effect until 1959 when the Landrum-Griffin Act amended some of its features

§  Also known as the Labor-Management Relation Act

§  This was established to correct unfair labor practices

§  Allowed the president to appoint a board of inquiry to investigate union disputes when he believes a would endanger national security; obtain an 80-day injunction to stop the continuations of a strike

§ Declares all closed shops illegal

§  Allows union shops only after a majority of the employees vote for them

§ Outlawed jurisdictional strikes and secondary boycotts( this was an attempt to influence the actions of a business by exerting pressure on another business)

§ Ended the check-off system (when the employer collects union dues)

§ Outlawed unions from contributing to political campaigns

§ Required union leaders to take an oath stating they were not communist

§  In the begging, Truman was popular: concluded the war with Germany, brought the U.S. into the United Nations and engineered the surrender of Japan through the deployment of the atomic weapon

§  As his term progressed popularity diminished so did the democratic party

§  The republicans had won the congressional elections of 1946- thought of themselves as the New Deal

§  The electoral victory seemed to indicate that the American people were tired of democrats and got tired from the reforms

§  democrat believed that Truman had no chance and tried to ask other candidates but they would not run

§ Dewey was already predicted to win the election easily

§  Truman still refused to lose- he mashed away at Republican support –Taft-Hartley Act

§  Truman slogan “do-nothing, good-for-nothing Republican Congress

§ Dewey waged a less aggressive campaign; it was designed to avoid offending any segment of the electorate

§  TRUMAN HAD A NARROW LEAD BUT POLITICAL COMENTATORS BELIVED THAT DEWEY WOULD WIN

§ BY MID-MORNING DEWEY HAD SENT A TELEGRAM TO TRUMAN CONCEDING THE ELECTION OF

§ WHEN THE FINAL VOTES TRUMAN WON WITH 49.4% TO DEWEY ONLY 45%

§ BECAUSE HIS SUPPORTERS WHERE HEAVILY INVOLVE IN THE SOUTHERN STATES THAT HELP CAPTURE THE WIN

§  It was the greatest American election upset in history

§  this a picture after the election of 1948 showing the triumphed Truman

§ He is holding the a news paper down by The New York Times an d

§  The showed how wrong the political commentators where and to show the surprise by the people

§  The value is to show that even though Truman was not very popular, the people still wanted him to be president and how the political landscape had changed

§  This does not fully show the what the American people views or the views of his opponent. It provides little insight what the democrats where feeling, only what Truman was feeling.

§ www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/gi-bill

§ www.ourdocuments .gov/doc.php?flash&doc=76.com

§ www.federalreservehistory.org/Events/DetailView/15.com

§ www.u-history.com/pages/h1667.html

§ www.britannica.com/event/United-states-presidential-election-of-1948