Postwar Era
In its approach to domestic issues, the Truman administration reflected a New Deal philosophy. The "Fair Deal," as the Truman program was called, included proposals for compulsory health insurance and federal aid to schools. Strong conservative opposition, however, blocked much of Truman's program. In 1946 Republicans gained control of both houses of Congress. A major result was passage in 1947, over Truman's veto, of the Taft-Hartley Act for regulating labor unions.
Truman was the Democratic candidate for President in 1948. His party was badly split. States' Rights Democrats of the South ran their own Presidential candidate, J. Strom Thurmond, in protest against Truman's support of civil rights legislation for blacks. Henry A. Wallace, Vice President in Roosevelt's third term, was the candidate of a new Progressive party that favored a more conciliatory policy toward the Soviet Union. Governor Dewey, again the Republican candidate, seemed assured of victory. But Truman won the election and the Democrats regained control of the Congress.
The 22nd Amendment, limiting a President to two terms, was adopted in 1951.Foreign Affairs. Before World War II ended, the United Nations was established to replace the League of Nations. The United States and the Soviet Union were charter members. The Soviet Union attempted to extend its influence by establishing, or helping to establish, additional Communist regimes. The policy of the United States was to oppose, or "contain," Communist expansion. Relations between the two powers became so strained that the situation was called a cold (non-shooting) war, in which the weapons were political and economic.
In 1947, President Truman obtained from Congress authorization to provide financial aid to Greece to help crush an effort of Communists there to seize power. Similar aid was extended to help Turkey build a stronger military force for resisting Soviet demands. These two steps were based upon what was called the "Truman Doctrine" of supporting "free peoples who are resisting subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures." A vast, continuing program of United States financial and military aid to foreign nations developed.
In 1948 the European Recovery Program, or Marshall Plan, was put into operation. Under this plan, billions of dollars were provided by the United States to promote the economic recovery of Europe. Similar programs for other parts of the world were adopted later.
One of the main issues of the Cold War—the future status of Berlin—reached a crisis in 1948 when the Soviets cut off all land routes to the American, British, and French sectors of the city. The United States and its allies responded by supplying the city entirely by air. The Berlin Airlift lasted 11 months before the blockade was lifted, but the Berlin issue remained unsettled.
In 1949 the United States entered into a defense alliance with various European countries and Canada under the North Atlantic Treaty, which created the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The treaty provided that an attack on one nation would be considered an attack upon all. The European military forces of NATO were put under the supreme command of General Dwight D. Eisenhower of the United States.
The United States was the only nation that possessed atomic bombs until 1949, when the Soviet Union also began to produce them. In 1952 the United States developed the hydrogen bomb, many times more powerful than the original atomic bomb. Three years later the Soviets began making hydrogen bombs and the United States lost its strategic advantage in the Cold War.
The policy of "containing" Communism received a serious setback in Asia in 1949 when the Chinese Communists gained control of the mainland of China. The government under Chiang Kai-shek was overthrown and fled to Taiwan. The United States, however, continued to recognize Chiang's government as the Republic of China.
In June, 1950, Communist North Korea attacked the Republic of Korea. The United Nations declared North Korea an aggressor and President Truman ordered United States forces under General Douglas MacArthur into action. Truman did not wait for a declaration of war by Congress; he called his move a "police action." In the long and costly war, Chinese Communist forces helped North Korea.
Truman's policy was to limit the war to the Korean peninsula. MacArthur disagreed, advocating such measures as attacking Communist bases in Manchuria. MacArthur was so outspoken in his opposition to Truman's policies that Truman felt compelled to assert his authority as com- mander in chief, and in April, 1951, he relieved MacArthur of his command.