(no subject)
Dan Miglin
1. When re-elected in 1948, President Truman sought to continue many of Roosevelt’s New Deal initiatives. He and his cabinet had plans to support farmers’ income rather than prices as well as national health insurance. These plans were, however, condemned as socialistic. Congress also refused to repeal the Taft-Hartley Act, which Truman had originally vetoed. Truman did however, by executive order, end segregation in the military and federal jobs. Overall, Truman’s plan to head up a progressive-minded administration worked out very badly
2. During Truman’s second term, many new developments arose. Nationalism had suddenly broken out in underdeveloped areas, such as the Middle East, which eventually led to the creation of the Jewish state, Israel. Another huge development was the victory of the Communists in China, for both Truman and Stalin overestimated Chiang Kai-shek’s capacity to keep the nation in order. In Korea, the North Korean’s stormed across the 38th parallel, provoking UN intervention. Within the US, the Red Scare under Senator McCarthy was gaining much momentum. The Truman administration dealt with issues in China by appointing Marshall as the new ambassador to China, until he also quit, blaming the Communists for revolting and the nationalists for believing that they could easily win a civil war. The US’s final position on China was that the American aim of stopping communism could not be accomplished without “drastic political and economic reforms” in China.
3. Truman misread Russia’s bomb by assuming that they were now at risk of a nuclear war with Russia, when in reality, neither power could easily launch a nuclear strike against each other. He also miscalculated Russia’s position on the war in Korea, assuming that North Korea had the full support of Russia and China, when North Korea actually had minimal support from both powers, as they both warned that it was not a good time to wage war in Korea.
1. When re-elected in 1948, President Truman sought to continue many of Roosevelt’s New Deal initiatives. He and his cabinet had plans to support farmers’ income rather than prices as well as national health insurance. These plans were, however, condemned as socialistic. Congress also refused to repeal the Taft-Hartley Act, which Truman had originally vetoed. Truman did however, by executive order, end segregation in the military and federal jobs. Overall, Truman’s plan to head up a progressive-minded administration worked out very badly
2. During Truman’s second term, many new developments arose. Nationalism had suddenly broken out in underdeveloped areas, such as the Middle East, which eventually led to the creation of the Jewish state, Israel. Another huge development was the victory of the Communists in China, for both Truman and Stalin overestimated Chiang Kai-shek’s capacity to keep the nation in order. In Korea, the North Korean’s stormed across the 38th parallel, provoking UN intervention. Within the US, the Red Scare under Senator McCarthy was gaining much momentum. The Truman administration dealt with issues in China by appointing Marshall as the new ambassador to China, until he also quit, blaming the Communists for revolting and the nationalists for believing that they could easily win a civil war. The US’s final position on China was that the American aim of stopping communism could not be accomplished without “drastic political and economic reforms” in China.
3. Truman misread Russia’s bomb by assuming that they were now at risk of a nuclear war with Russia, when in reality, neither power could easily launch a nuclear strike against each other. He also miscalculated Russia’s position on the war in Korea, assuming that North Korea had the full support of Russia and China, when North Korea actually had minimal support from both powers, as they both warned that it was not a good time to wage war in Korea.