by The New Big Book of U S Presidents (2020) (retail) (epub)
Although FDR did not end the Great Depression during his first term, he did ease suffering and easily won re-election in 1936 as a result. During his remaining years in office, international affairs became more important. When war broke out in Europe during 1939, FDR helped transform the U.S. into the “arsenal of democracy” by providing nations like Britain, France, and the Soviet Union with economic and military aid. This effort proved especially difficult because many congressional leaders did not want to involve the U.S. in the growing global conflict. Yet after the Japanese bombed an American naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii in December 1941, American isolationism evaporated, and FDR brought the U.S. into World War II.
Roosevelt made an excellent war leader. He maintained good relations with Great Britain and the USSR and supervised successful military offensives in Europe and Asia. When he died in April 1945, the U.S. economy was booming again and World War II was almost won. Although many of his actions were imperfect, FDR helped make the U.S. the world’s most prosperous and powerful nation. He remains today one of the most respected statesmen in American history.
Born: January 30, 1882
Died: April 12, 1945
Birthplace: Hyde Park, NY
V.P.: John N. Garner, Henry A. Wallace, Harry S. Truman
First Lady: Anna Eleanor Roosevelt
• Appointed the first woman, Frances Perkins, to the cabinet
• The only disabled president
The Great Depression
After the stock market crashed in October 1929, Herbert Hoover claimed that prosperity was “just around the corner.” The U.S. economy, however, continued to decline, throwing millions of people out of work. When Franklin Roosevelt became president, he experimented with several different reforms. Although the economy gradually improved during Roosevelt’s first term, the United States did not regain its economic health until the war in Europe and Asia forced the government to pour massive amounts of money into war-related industries. Defense spending and production created a host of new jobs, provided people with spending money, and set the stage for unprecedented economic growth during the 1940s and 1950s.
A. Philip Randolph (1889-1979)
A pioneer in the civil rights movement, A. Philip Randolph worked to improve the lives of his fellow African Americans. In 1925, Randolph secretly organized the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, a labor organization that secured decent wages and safe working conditions for African-American railroad workers. In 1940, he helped convince President Roosevelt to form the Fair Employment Practices Committee (FEPC) and thereby provided African Americans with a chance to find jobs in the defense industry. After the war, Randolph worked to desegregate the U.S. armed forces and helped organize the famous “March on Washington” that made civil rights a topic of national concern.
The Second World War
When a global economic depression struck the world during the 1930s, extremist leaders like Germany’s Adolph Hitler, Italy’s Benito Mussolini, and Japan’s Hideki Tojo came to power. When these men sent armies into neighboring states, world leaders first attempted to appease them before reluctantly preparing for war. World War II officially began when Germany invaded Poland on September 1, 1939, but many American leaders still hoped to shield the United States from this conflict. Deciding that this isolationist policy would not work, President Roosevelt craftily allied the United States with Great Britain, France, and the Soviet Union. When Japan bombed a U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, in December 1941, the United States joined the war against Germany, Italy, and Japan, and with the help of its allies, won the war after 4 years of bitter fighting.
1933
February 25, 1933
The first aircraft carrier is launched in Virginia.
May 10–11, 1934
A violent storm blows 300 million tons of topsoil from the Midwest and Southwest, causing a massive migration of farmers to California.
1936
African-American Jesse Owens wins 4 gold medals at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, disproving Adolph Hitler’s theory that Aryan Germans comprise a “master race.”
July 2, 1937
Amelia Earhart mysteriously disappears over the Pacific during her proposed flight around the world.
October 30–31, 1938
Orson Welles’s radio play “Invasion from Mars” airs, scaring a confused public.
1938
Jerry Siegel and Joseph Shuster first draw the comic-book character Superman.
1939
The motion picture The Wizard of Oz is released and becomes a popular movie with Americans eager to escape the Depression’s rigors.
February 20, 1942
Roosevelt okays the forced relocation of Japanese Americans to internment camps.
June 6, 1944
“D-Day,” the Allied invasion of Europe begins.
1945
HARRY S. TRUMAN
Democrat, 1945–1953
Afeisty man who never shied away from arguments, Harry Truman made a determined and outspoken president. During his time in office, he made the decisions necessary to end World War II, rehabilitate war-torn Europe, and combat communist expansion. In the end, Truman helped make the United States the world’s most powerful nation.
A member of a farming family in rural Missouri, the young Truman longed to become a powerful and wealthy man. He consumed the novels of Mark Twain and idolized citizen-soldiers like the Confederacy’s Robert E. Lee and ancient Rome’s Cincinnatus. Although he did not attend college, Truman benefited from a solid high school education and worked hard to educate himself throughout his life.
When the United States entered World War I, Truman saw combat in France as an artillery captain. He served admirably and, when the war ended, opened a clothing store in Missouri. When the store did not prosper, Truman shut it down in 1922. Although his business failure had left him deeply in debt, Truman decided to abandon his search for wealth in favor of a political career.
After serving as county judge in Missouri, he won a seat in the United States Senate in 1934. As a senator, Truman focused on reforming the American transportation system, eliminating waste in war production, and protecting the interests of small businesses. His colleagues regarded him as a hardworking and honest person.
In 1944, Franklin Roosevelt made Truman his running mate, hoping to benefit from the senator’s homespun appeal and solid reputation. Roosevelt soundly defeated Republican Thomas Dewey but died after serving just three months of his new term. Shocked to find himself president, Truman immediately faced a number of difficult decisions. By 1945, World War II had entered its final stages, but Truman feared millions of American soldiers would die invading Japan. He therefore ordered the U.S. military to drop atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. After seeing these two cities utterly destroyed, Japan’s government quickly surrendered, ending World War II. After the war, Truman moved to restore Europe’s economic wellbeing by championing the Marshall Plan, a massive relief effort named after his secretary of state, George C. Marshall.
Although Truman hoped to secure good relations with the Soviet Union after the war, he quickly abandoned this effort. As the Cold War dawned in 1946, Truman attempted to maximize American power by forming alliances abroad and using economic and military aid to stop Soviet aggression. In 1947, for example, Truman proclaimed that the United States would assist any nation opposed to communism. Known as the Truman Doctrine, this policy helped prevent the USSR from projecting its power into Greece and Turkey. Furthermore, when the Soviet Union prevented supplies from flowing into western Berlin during the summer of 1948, Truman sponsored the Berlin Airlift. During this 11-month operation, the United States flew supplies into West Berlin around the clock and prevented the city from falling under Soviet control.
Truman also helped to reshape the United States itself after World War II. Hoping to extend FDR’s political legacy by offering the American people a “Fair Deal,” Truman attempted to raise th
e minimum wage, expand the Social Security System, offer federal aid to education, and create better housing for the poor. On July 26, 1948, Truman reinforced the growing civil rights movement by ending segregation in the United States armed forces.
After narrowly defeating Republican Thomas Dewey in the election of 1948, Truman experienced a very difficult second term. Although he provided for European military security by supervising the creation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in 1949, Truman’s popularity suffered when China underwent a communist revolution that same year. When Truman chose to fight communist aggression in Korea while supporting one tax increase after another, he became even less popular. Charges of corruption also undermined the president’s stature during 1951 and 1952. Although no one accused Truman himself of engaging in unethical behavior, Republicans and Democrats alike believed that he had allowed too many people of questionable character into his administration. When Truman decided to fire an insubordinate General Douglas MacArthur, a World War II hero, from his Korean command, many Americans believed he had gone too far. His popularity sank to an all-time low, and the man from Missouri decided not to seek re-election in 1952. Before leaving the White House, however, Truman campaigned vigorously on behalf of the Democratic party’s new nominee, Adlai Stevenson, and reminded friend and foe alike that he retained the spark and fire that had allowed him to guide the nation out of World War II and into the Cold War. Retiring to his home in Independence, Missouri, Truman continued to speak plainly and confidently about world affairs until his death.
Born: May 8, 1884
Died: December 26, 1972
Birthplace: Lamar, MO
Party: Democrat
V.P.: Alben W. Barkley
First Lady: Elizabeth Virginia Wallace
• His wife was the longest-living first lady
• Played piano to relax
Levittown
In 1947, William J. Levitt began building a modern American suburb. Located near Island Trees, New York, this settlement—named after Levitt—consisted of 2,000 appealingly affordable and nearly identical homes. Levittown attracted discharged American soldiers who wanted to purchase their own property. Although Levitt only allowed white people to live in his development, the Truman administration provided people with the easy loans they needed to escape city life. People responded in droves and, by 1951, Levittown had become a massive complex of 17,447 homes. For many residents, it symbolized the American dream.
The Cold War
Because the United States is a capitalist democracy and the Soviet Union was a communist dictatorship, the two nations naturally distrusted each other. Although the two military giants cooperated during World War II, relations broke down when each attempted to shape the political development of postwar Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. Yet, because the United States and the Soviet Union possessed the ability to destroy each other, they had to avoid direct conflict. In other words, the conflict between the two nations never became “hot,” a situation that produced the term Cold War. Lasting more than 40 years, Soviet-American competition produced catastrophic conflicts in places like Korea and Vietnam and caused the American and Soviet governments to distrust their own citizens.
Jackie Robinson
In 1947, Jack Roosevelt Robinson joined the Brooklyn Dodgers and became the first African American to play major league baseball. Before Robinson broke baseball’s color barrier, African Americans played in the segregated Negro Leagues and made far less money than their white counterparts. Robinson’s spectacular success with the Dodgers proved that African Americans could excel among white athletes and added momentum to America’s growing civil rights movement. After Robinson retired from baseball, he became an active member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and, alongside people like Roy Wilkins and Martin Luther King, Jr., worked to end segregation in America.
1945
August 6, 1945
The United States drops an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, destroying the city.
1946
ENIAC, the world’s first computer, appears. It revolutionizes the world of technology.
November 6, 1947
America’s longest running television program, Meet the Press, goes on the air.
1947
Raytheon Company introduces the first microwave oven.
1948
McDonald’s, a popular hamburger stand, begins to spread across the United States.
April 5, 1950
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg are sentenced to death for supplying atomic secrets to the Soviet Union.
June 25, 1950
North Korea invades South Korea and begins the Korean War.
December 29, 1950
African-American Ralph Bunche wins the Nobel Peace Prize.
1950
“Smokey the Bear” becomes a symbol for forest fire prevention.
April 8, 1952
President Truman takes over America’s steel mills in order to prevent a national strike.
1953
DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER
Republican, 1953–1961
Anational hero before he entered the White House, Dwight Eisenhower remained incredibly popular throughout his presidency. His economic policies kept the country prosperous, and his grandfatherly presence reassured Americans fearful of nuclear war.
Growing up in a poor but hardworking family in Abilene, Kansas, Eisenhower dreamed of becoming a railroad engineer or a baseball star. After finishing high school, he chose to attend West Point and developed a love for military life. After graduating from West Point in 1915, Eisenhower served in Panama and the Philippines before returning to the U.S. to prepare the army for World War II. On June 6, 1944, Eisenhower led the Allied forces into Europe, and, with the help of the Soviet Union, defeated Germany in 1945. After the war, he served as president of Columbia University and commanded NATO forces in Europe before defeating Democrat Adlai Stevenson in the presidential election of 1952.
As president, Eisenhower first ended the Korean War and then attempted to breathe a spirit of cooperation into American life. His moderate brand of politics focused on reducing government spending, keeping the military strong, and protecting law and order in the U.S. Eisenhower also aggressively opposed the spread of communism abroad and supported the overthrow of potentially pro-Soviet governments in Iran and Guatemala.
Ike’s second term proved more difficult than his first. In 1957, African Americans pressed for more civil rights, forcing the reluctant president to have army troops enforce the integration of Little Rock’s Central High School. When the Soviet Union launched Sputnik, the world’s first space satellite, that same year, Eisenhower had to convince the American people that nuclear war was not imminent. After communists took control of Cuba in 1959 and the Soviet Union shot down an American spy plane in 1960, a dispirited Eisenhower looked forward to retirement. Before leaving office, however, he warned Americans to control the accelerating arms race. The American people still “liked Ike” when he left office.
Rock and Roll
Although people tend to remember the 1950s as a boring era, it was actually a thrilling time. As the U.S. economy boomed, people began having more children than ever before, and those children added a new dimension to American culture. Rock and roll music slowly developed during the early 1950s, as both white and African-American youths injected a new vitality into country music and the blues. Artists like Chuck Berry, Little Richard, and Elvis Presley entertained increasingly large crowds. When musicians appeared on respectable television programs, they became more popular than ever.
Born: October 14, 1890
Died: March 28, 1969
Birthplace: Denison, TX
V.P.: Richard M. Nixon
First Lady: Marie Geneva Doud
• His favorite books were the westerns of Zane Grey
• Considered working as a cowboy in Argentina
McCarthyism
On
February 9, 1950, U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy declared that more than 200 members of the Communist party secretly held positions in the U.S. government. Although McCarthy could not prove that a communist conspiracy to overthrow the U.S. government actually existed, he used televised hearings between April and June of 1954 to ruin the reputations of several innocent people. As time passed, McCarthy’s accusations became increasingly wild, and his fellow senators condemned him. Still, McCarthy captured the imaginations of millions of Americans and created an atmosphere of fear and paranoia inside the United States known as “McCarthyism.”
1953
May 7, 1954
The French fortress falls at Dienbienphu, Vietnam.
May 17, 1954
The Supreme Court decides that segregated facilities are unconstitutional.
April 12, 1955
Jonas Salk announces he has created a cure for polio.