Key highlights and accomplishments.

1. 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

2. 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

3. • 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”

4. 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

5. • 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

6. 1948 Election
• Truman(D) vs Thomas Dewey(R)
• Truman came from way behind to win
• Newspapers and polls all assumed Dewey
would win easily

9. 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

12. 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

13. Ike and Chiang Kai-shek

14. • 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

16. 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

19. 1960 Election
• Ran against Vice-President Richard Nixon
• First presidential televised debates took
place
• Many say this helped JFK win the election

21. 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

22. • 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

24. 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

25. • 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

26. President Lyndon Johnson(D)
1963-1969
• JFK’s Vice-President
• Took over as
President after JFK
was assassinated