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| | What is your view? | | What is your view? |
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| − | == Post World War II ==
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| − | The return of all the soldiers from war was a time of great joy for the nation. Families were reunited. Soldiers quickly married and began to have families.
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| − | Cars were plentiful and there were good interstate roads. In 1940, the first multi-laned superhighway had been built in Pennsylvania, known as the "Pennsylvania Turnpike." The federal government helped pay for these roads and they still work well to this day.
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| − | After World War II ended in 1945, the nation was anxious to get back to normal. But President Truman kept government controls on wages and prices in effect even after the war ended. This infuriated voters, who wanted to return to normal life as quickly as possible. In the fall elections of 1946, voters dealt President Truman a huge loss and returned the Republicans to control of Congress for the first time since before the Great Depression.
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| − | The Republicans then moved quickly to pass important legislation. They passed (and the states ratified) the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution in order to limit future presidents to two full terms in office, so that no one could ever again repeat what President Franklin Roosevelt did in dishonoring President Washington’s precedent of no more than two terms. President Roosevelt died in office during his fourth term as president.
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| − | The Republicans also passed, over President Truman’s veto, the Taft-Hartley Act to limit the power of unions. This was one of the most important pieces of legislation in the entire century of the 1900s, and by far the most significant labor legislation in our history. By 1947 unions had risen to the zenith of their power, having membership of nearly 10.5 million nationwide.
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| − | The Taft-Hartley Act did the following:
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| − | *established the right of employees NOT to join unions in states that also supported this right
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| − | *a union could represent all employees only if state law permitted it and a majority of workers voted for it
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| − | *unions must give 60 days notice before striking
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| − | *the federal government could prohibit a strike for 80 days if it endangered national health or safety
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| − | *a later amendment in 1959 prohibited “secondary boycotts,” which were devastating “sympathy strikes” against additional companies to increase pressure on target company
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| − | For the purposes of American history, simply remember that the Taft-Hartley Act finally ended the unions' enormous power. And not a moment too soon, because crippling strikes hurt the country's economy in 1946 after the end of World War II. Ever since passage of the Taft-Hartley Act, Democrats have tried to repeal it, without success.
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| − | Full Employment Act 1946: watered-down version of fed. govt. backing full employment
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| − | Marshall Plan "1947: financial assistance to European economies struggling from WWII, Communists reject it"
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| − | Jackie Robinson "1947: broke ""color barrier"" by becoming first black baseball player in Major Leagues, for Brooklyn Dodgers"
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| − | Organization of American States 1947: Latin American organization incl. US to handle issues
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| | == Cold War == | | == Cold War == |