U.S. History - What was politically going on in 1950?

[86 911]

I have a project that I'm working on for U.S. History and I'm researching the year 1950. Basically, President Truman was in office, the Japanese Peace Treaty was made, the Korean War started, and the Cold War kept going on. For one of my assignments, I have to pick 3 political cartoons from 1950 and analyze them, but I need some help. One of my political cartoons has Truman and Acheson on ship named "Foreign Policy" and the river is in a zig-zag form and the caption reads: "What do we do next, zig or zag?". What does this signify? Next is a cartoon with Truman in his office talking to two other guys. One of the guys is reading a tablet labeled: "Senator Taft's Forces Etc" and the other guy seems to be walking away. The president is saying: "So much for Korea. How's Ohio?". What point is trying to be made here?
So my two major questions are:

1) What was the public's general attitude to President Truman?
2) Why was the Foreign Policy criticized so much in 1950?

[86 911]

Come on guys. Only 33 views in over 24 hours????? Bump...

[bigchillcar]

google your keywords. sorry, it's late here and i'm drifting..
ryan

[Joeaksa]

Matt,

There is so much on the internet, better you should look there. I was not alive then but my Brother was and he went to war in Korea during this time.

Harry S. Truman was thrown into the mix after less than 50 days as a Vice President, when FDR died. He had not been made aware of many of the secret programs and plans as FDR did not really like him. He made decisions that effected the world for years and we have to live with many of them even to this day.

He was involved in:

The decision to drop the nuke bomb over Japan, ending any possible invasion of that country. It was estimated that an invasion of Japan would have resulted in over 1 million American soldiers and 10 million Japanese killed, so it was a difficult decision.

That said, to this day there are people who say dropping the nuke was not correct and that there were other ways to end the war. Personally I feel that if anyone could have found a way. Harry Truman would have done it. He was in the Army in WW1 and knew what it was like to be in combat.


The GI Bill (passed in 1944) provided assistance to veterans for college tuition and to buy houses with low-interest mortgages.
Eighty-five percent of new houses were constructed outside of central cities.

The postwar "Baby Boom" (1946 to 1964), was the largest generation in history.

In 1947, Taft-Hartley anti-labor legislation was passed over Truman's veto.

Truman insisted upon a strong civil rights plank in the Democratic Party platform, prompting southern Democrats to bolt from the party.

Truman's Fair Deal program managed to extend Social Security to 10 million additional people, provided flood control, and raised the minimum wage to 75 cents an hour, but failed to win national health insurance and more assistance for farmers.

The "McCarthy Hearings," brought on by several U.S. Cold War setbacks and an increasingly anti-Communist political atmosphere at home, persisted for more than five years.

Truman's approval ratings dropped to 23 percent by 1951, with the public unhappy with the war in Korea, doubts about Communist subversion, and the "loss of China" to Communism

Like I said, look on the internet, as there is so much out there. At the time he was in office public feelings for him were mixed but as he grew older and we got other Presidents most of the country realized what a good man and leader he really was. We sure could use a few more like him now.

Good luck on the report...

[kach22i]

You need to go to an old folks home and ask these questions.

[red-beard]

Originally posted by Joeaksa
The "McCarthy Hearings," brought on by several U.S. Cold War setbacks and an increasingly anti-Communist political atmosphere at home, persisted for more than five years.

McCarthy was not the paranoid freak he is made out to be today. He was being given ultra-secret decrypts from Army Intelligence. He knew who the communist agents were. The NY Times man that was being defended by the NY Times in those often replayed video clips, was a paid Soviet Agent.

Both the Soviet archives and the US Archives de-classified in 1990's show the truth.

Becareful not to mix up the HUAC (House Un-American Activities commitee), which was the group that black listed the Hollywood writers in the late 1940's, with McCarthy who was in the senate.

[Joeaksa]

Redbeard brings up some very interesting points. The intel we got when Russia fell was very telling in some areas, especially about the Russian spies in our country during the war and for the next 20 years.

We gave them the hydrogen bomb and so many other secrets that its not funny. Their spies just took them and in many cases we had a good idea that they were there but did nothing about it...

Hope that most of the members of the HUAC rot in hell. They ruined many people's lives for no reason...

[fastpat]

Originally posted by kach22i
You need to go to an old folks home and ask these questions.

I'll say, I was 3 in 1950, and not particularly interested in politics beyond my yard.

However, it's my opinion that Truman was an extension of the fascist government of Roosevelt. Roosevelts power was substantially reduced, but Truman kept many of the Roosevelt thugs in office. Further, against the reccomendations of the Joint Chiefs of staff and many in the Pacific Threater command, Truman ordered the nuclear weapons be deployed against Japan, a war crime of monstrous proportions. Japan had offered surrender a number of times prior to these nuclear attacks.

Further, as time has gone by, Truman's affiliation with Missouri organized crime has been talked about very little, but he was wired into the criminal gang that dominated Kansas City bootlegging and other criminal vices for decades.

1950 hd a lot going on, you should be able to find an aspect to discuss; if you include at least one relatively unknown but controversial event and discuss it thoroughly after careful research, you'll do well.

[Nathans_Dad]

Yeah, let us know what kind of grade you get on your paper after writing about Roosevelt the fascist...I can't wait.

[fastpat]

Originally posted by Nathans_Dad
Yeah, let us know what kind of grade you get on your paper after writing about Roosevelt the fascist...I can't wait.

1. Economic Fascism
2. Roads to Fascism: Sixty Years Later
3. They Saw It Coming: The 19th-Century Libertarian Critique of Fascism

It's quite common to mistake fascism itself as only being either the German National Socialists or the the nationalistic Italian version, with all fascists that existed contemporary with those two versions, and the versions that exist today.

That is a mistake provided by both Soviet propagandists who protrayed fellow socialists who followed the fascist model as their opposites and somehow reactionary; and the Roosevelt Administration propagandists who had a vested interest in masking what he was really doing.

Roosevelt was a fascist of the first order. If you disagree with this statement, please provide a rationale as to why you think he was something other than fascist.

[Joeaksa]

Originally posted by fastpat
I'll say, I was 3 in 1950, and not particularly interested in politics beyond my yard.

However, it's my opinion that Truman was an extension of the fascist government of Roosevelt. Roosevelts power was substantially reduced, but Truman kept many of the Roosevelt thugs in office. Further, against the reccomendations of the Joint Chiefs of staff and many in the Pacific Threater command, Truman ordered the nuclear weapons be deployed against Japan, a war crime of monstrous proportions. Japan had offered surrender a number of times prior to these nuclear attacks.

1950 hd a lot going on, you should be able to find an aspect to discuss; if you include at least one relatively unknown but controversial event and discuss it thoroughly after careful research, you'll do well.

Considering that Truman was in the end of a world war when the Pres died and he took over, are you suggesting that he should have just fired everyone and started new right then? What are you smoking?

Lets see, Japan offered to surrender "a number of times" prior to the nuke bomb was dropped? Funny that you are the only person I have ever heard say this. Any documentation pray tell?

86911, Please do some research, and hopefully not using this thread as a beginning point. There are some glaring errors here.

JoeA

[tabs]

If U had known the Robber Barons and Titans of Industry, were a working man in the Great Depression, Communism looked like a pretty good alternative.

So during the 30s and 40s the Soviets had a lot of Fellow Travelers
that were more than willing to help out their fellow Proliatariate in Russia. It wasn't until the truth about the Stalinist regime came out that the tide finally turned.

In the 1948 Presidential election many newspapers reported that Dewey had won...it was a close election in which Truman prevailed.

The Big thing that kicked off fear of internal Communist subversion in our government was the fall of China to Mao in 1949...as in how could such a thing have happened, it must have been because we have Communists in our own government..paticularily the State Department...and Alger Hiss was a Fellow Traveler btw.

Also during WW2 Atomic secrets were passed by Fellow Tralvers to the Soviets. At Potsdam in late July 1945 Stalin was well aware that the USA had the Bomb. Truman knew that it was his Ace in the Hole to keep the Soviets contained, and didin't think the Soviets knew about the bomb.

One aspect of dropping the Bomb was to let the Soviets know who was the boss. BTW even after dropping 2 bombs on Japan the Militarists still didn't surrender, it was only after the Soviets overran the Japanese Army in Manchuria that they threw in the towel.

The US Army in 1950 was quiet unprepared for the N Koreans invasion of the South and they nearly kicked the US out. Douglas MacArthur the defacto ruler of Japan, scraped up some troops and invaded at Pusan and kicked those Commie Ba$tards a$$es back to the Yalu river...whereupon the Chinese joined in to...MacArthur was all for using the bomb against China, and a general invasion of the place as well...U see he was sympatico with Chang Kai Shek(ex ruler of China beofre Mao) in Tawian. So ole Truman fired him for going beyond his directives...this then set the stage for what happened in Vietnam a decade later, where the White House was even picking which bridges should be bombed...and again in 2003s war in Iraq..where the WH determined the number of troops to be used against the militarys said requirements.

[tabs]

BTW...I have never heard anybody so out to lunch as Fast Pat...it amazes me that he lives on the planet Earth...I often wonder what Universe does he live in???? that his sense of History is so skewed.

[fastpat]

Originally posted by Joeaksa
Considering that Truman was in the end of a world war when the Pres died and he took over, are you suggesting that he should have just fired everyone and started new right then?

Are you disputing facts about Truman's fascist employees, or making excuses for the thug?

Lets see, Japan offered to surrender "a number of times" prior to the nuke bomb was dropped? Funny that you are the only person I have ever heard say this. Any documentation pray tell?

86911, Please do some research, and hopefully not using this thread as a beginning point. There are some glaring errors here.

JoeA

Documentation:
World War II: The Rest of the Story & How It Affects You Today, rev. ed.

I recommend you buy a copy.

[fastpat]

Originally posted by tabs
BTW...I have never heard anybody so out to lunch as Fast Pat...it amazes me that he lives on the planet Earth...I often wonder what Universe does he live in???? that his sense of History is so skewed.

Your only proof appears to be received knowledge at the high school level. Is there more?

[dd74]

Originally posted by red-beard
Becareful not to mix up the HUAC (House Un-American Activities commitee), which was the group that black listed the Hollywood writers in the late 1940's, with McCarthy who was in the senate.

Didn't McCarthy and HUAC work together?

Cool thread, BTW, guys.

[tabs]

Originally posted by fastpat
Your only proof appears to be received knowledge at the high school level. Is there more?

And again Fast U prove youself to be just like those retards that I used to push down the stairs...

without being longwinded Fast what in holy he11 makes U think FDR was a Facist...most Right wingers think he was a Commie..

The USA in 1932 was never closer to an overthrow of the government due to the effects of the Great Depression. The Hoover admin was completely inept or better said had a failed conception of how to get America going again. FDR got things moving again, maybe not perfectly but what human endevor is perfect. The fact that things were being done gave America hope. WPA, TVA, NRA, SS, closing of the banks, taking the USA off the Gold Standard etc.

[tabs]

The problem with revisionist history is that it is looked at through the mind set of today rather than trying to understand the mindset of the times. As they say hindsight is 20/20. An actor on the the stage of history doesn't know the outcome of his actions ro inactions, but the reader of the book will know everytime..Oh just why didn't he do that instead....or he musta bin up to this...it was part of the conspiracy or grand scheme....all horse *****...

[Joeaksa]

Originally posted by tabs
One aspect of dropping the Bomb was to let the Soviets know who was the boss. BTW even after dropping 2 bombs on Japan the Militarists still didn't surrender, it was only after the Soviets overran the Japanese Army in Manchuria that they threw in the towel.

Tabs is right on with the above. The real reason why the Japanese surrendered was the Russians and their ability to head East after the fall of Berlin.

They were not ready to throw in the towel even after the two nukes were dropped but they knew that if the Ruskies got closer that they would want part of their empire, and ran the white flag up the pole.

[Tervuren]

Originally posted by tabs
And again Fast U prove youself to be just like those retards that I used to push down the stairs...

without being longwinded Fast what in holy he11 makes U think FDR was a Facist...most Right wingers think he was a Commie..

The USA in 1932 was never closer to an overthrow of the government due to the effects of the Great Depression. The Hoover admin was completely inept or better said had a failed conception of how to get America going again. FDR got things moving again, maybe not perfectly but what human endevor is perfect. The fact that things were being done gave America hope. WPA, TVA, NRA, SS, closing of the banks, taking the USA off the Gold Standard etc.

A lot of what FDR did, did not help. America was still in a depression until after WWII, the War just helped give jobs.

The one thing I can think of that did help, was the massive amount of government projects done to give people jobs, roads, dams, etc..