President Harry Truman(D)1945-1953

• Became Vice President for FDR in January, 1945

• Took over for FDR when he died in April, 1945

• On of the most unpopular presidents of all time when he left office-22% approval rating

• Rating has improved greatly over the last 60 years

Truman’s Presidential Accomplishments

• President when WWII ended with Germany and Japan

• Potsdam Conference/Declaration

• (German consequences/ Japan’s surrender or else face destruction)

• Decided to use the atomic bomb against Japan

• “We have discovered the most terrible bomb in the history of the world. It may be the fire destruction prophesied in the Euphrates Valley Era, after Noah and his fabulous Ark.”

• Harry Truman

• 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

• Truman Doctrine and Marshall Plan were passed

• Created the CIA and the national Security Council

• “The Buck Stops Here”

The Fair Deal

• Similar to FDR’s New deal of the 1930’s

• Aimed to promote economic development and social welfare

• Faced a lot of opposition from Southern Democrats and Republicans

• Most Fair Deal proposals did not get passed

• Civil Rights• Housing• Social Security• Minimum Wage• Health• Labor• Education• Agriculture

• Recognized Israel as a homeplace for the Jewish people

• “Hitler had been murdering Jews right and left. I saw it, and I dream about it even to this day. The Jews needed some place where they could go. It is my attitude that the American government couldn't stand idly by while the victims of Hitler's madness are not allowed to build new lives.”

• President Truman

• Berlin Airlift• NATO established• Chinese Civil War ends• McCarthyism• The Korean Conflict and firing

of General Douglass MacArthur

• "I fired him [MacArthur] because he wouldn't respect the authority of the President ... I didn't fire him because he was a dumb sob, although he was, but that's not against the law for generals. If it was, half to three-quarters of them would be in jail.“ Truman

• Assassination attempt over Puerto Rican independence

1948 Election

• Truman(D) vs Thomas Dewey(R)

• Truman came from way behind to win

• Newspapers and polls all assumed Dewey would win easily

President Dwight Eisenhower(R)1953-1961

• Famous WWII general• Decided to join the

Republican Party after WWII

• This all but guaranteed him a win in the 1953 election

• Richard Nixon was his Vice-President

• Diagnosed with Crohn's disease and had a minor stroke while president

Eisenhower’s Presidential Accomplishments

• Dominated by the Cold War-Containment Policy

• Also used CIA to do covert-ops to disrupt communist governments abroad(Iran/Guatamala)

• Opened relations with Spain

• Ended the Korean Conflict as promised in his 1952 election campaign

• Defensive alliances were signed with South Korea and Taiwan

• SEATO was formed

• Increased US involvement in Southeast Asia(Vietnam)-US advisors sent

• Developed idea that nuclear weapons would be defensive weapons(deterrence)

• NASA created due to Soviet Sputnik launch

• US spy plane(U-2) was shot down over USSR

• Allowed McCarthy to do his thing but privately did not approve

• Eisenhower Doctrine

Ike and Chiang Kai-shek

• Believed in laissez-faire

• Believed in a balanced budget

• Deported around 1 million illegal immigrants(mostly Mexicans)

• Sent federal troops to Little Rock, Arkansas to help in the desegregation of all public schools-1954-Brown case

• Helped pass the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 which created the United States' Interstate Highways

President John F. Kennedy(D)1961-1963

• Served in WWII• Was a US Representative

and Senator from Massachusetts before becoming President

• Married Jacqueline Lee Bouvier

• First and only Catholic president

• Youngest elected president and second youngest president

• Assassinated in 1963 in Dallas, Texas by Lee Harvey Oswald

1960 Election

• Ran against Vice-President Richard Nixon

• First presidential televised debates took place

• Many say this helped JFK win the election

Kennedy’s Presidential Accomplishments

• "Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country." JFK

• Cold War Issues dominated Kennedy’s presidency

• Berlin Wall was built in 1961

• Bay of Pigs invasion-1961

• Cuban Missile Crisis• Alliance for Progress

with Latin America• Kennedy increased

the number of helicopters, military advisors and undeclared U.S. Special Forces in the Vietnam

• The CIA helped the new Ba'ath Party government overthrow Communists in Iraq. This new party systematically murdered large numbers of Iraq's educated elite—killings in which Saddam Hussein himself is said to have participated

• Nuclear Test Ban Treaty was signed in 1963

The New Frontier

• promised federal funding for:

• 1. education

• 2. medical care for the elderly

• 3. economic aid to rural regions and

• 4. government intervention to halt the recession

• 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

• Signed the Equal Pay Act of 1963, a federal law aimed at abolishing wage disparity based on sex

• "First, I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth. No single space project in this period will be more impressive to mankind, or more important for the long-range exploration of space; and none will be so difficult or expensive to accomplish—JFK Moonshot speech in 1961

President Lyndon Johnson(D)1963-1969

• JFK’s Vice-President• Took over as

President after JFK was assassinated