G. I. Bill

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Chapter 22 23
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G. I. Bill
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Taft-Hartley Act

• The Taft Hartley Act was passed to try to limit
  the power of labor unions.
• This act instituted the idea of the Open Shop
  which meant that a worker did not have to join
  the union to work at a company.
• States with heavy union activity used a Closed
  Shop, which meant that the worker had to join the
  union to work at an establishment.

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Truman and the Steel Strike

• The 1952 steel strike was by the United
  Steelworkers of America against U.S. Steel
• The strike was scheduled to begin on April 9,
  1952, but President Truman nationalized the steel
  industry hours before the workers walked out.
• The steel companies sued to regain control of
  their facilities.
• the Supreme Court ruled in Youngstown Sheet
  Tube Co. v. Sawyer, that the president lacked the
  authority to seize the steel mills.

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The Fair Deal

• The Fair Deal was the name of Trumans
  legislative agenda.
• Included in the program was a raise of the
  minimum wage, a national housing, an expansion of
  Social Security and a Civil Rights Bill
• Congress passed all of the agenda except the
  Civil Rights bill.

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The Election of 1948

• Sometimes referred to as the Miracle of 1948
• It was taken for granted that Truman would be
  defeated in the wake of desegregating the Army.
• He was opposed by Thomas Dewey representing the
  Republicans and by Strom Thurmond representing
  the Dixiecrats.
• The Dixiecrats were a pro-segregation, states
  rights party that formed in opposition to
  integration.
• Truman won the election in one of the greatest
  upsets in electoral history.

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The Checkers Speech

• The Checkers Speech is one of the most famous
  political stunts ever pulled.
• Nixon was the vice presidential candidate in 1952
  and it was found that he was using unreported
  payments from businessmen to maintain his
  lifestyle.
• Nixon went on national television and convinced
  the American people to support him in one of the
  most maudlin speeches ever written.

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Election of 1952

• The election of 1952 was a referendum on the Cold
  War.
• People were tired of reform by the Democrats and
  wanted a return to a more conservative president.
• They chose Dwight D. Eisenhower.
• His politics were a mystery, he was courted by
  both the Republicans and Democrats
• He described his politics as dynamic
  conservatism
• What this meant was that he would follow a more
  conservative agenda, but would not simply do
  nothing like the last Republican president,
  Hoover, had done.

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Interstate Highway Act of 1956
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Multinational Corporations
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The Organization Man

• The Organization Man was a bestselling book by
  William H. Whyte
• It is considered one of the most influential
  books on management ever written.
• A central idea of the book is that average
  Americans believed in a collectivist ethic rather
  than to rugged individualism.
• He observed that this system led to risk-averse
  executives who faced no consequences and could
  expect jobs for life as long as they made no
  egregious missteps.

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The Beats
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The Beat Generation

• The Beat Generation was a group of American
  post-World War II writers who came to prominence
  in the 1950s.
• Central elements of "Beat" culture included
  experimentation with drugs, alternative forms of
  sexuality, an interest in Eastern religion, a
  rejection of materialism, and the idealizing of
  exuberant means of expression
• Allen Ginsberg's Howl
• William S. Burroughs's Naked Lunch
• Jack Kerouac's On the Road
• Both Howl and Naked Lunch were the focus of
  obscenity trials that ultimately helped to
  liberalize publishing in the United States.
• The Beat Generation developed a reputation as new
  bohemian hedonists, who celebrated non-conformity
  and spontaneous creativity.

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Transistors
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The Other America by Michael Harrington
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Suburbia