The Cold War at Home

I. 1945-46 Strike Wave--effected most industries, and was a result of worker's pent-up demands for wage increases to catch up with the wartime price spiral, and because industry did not want to grant wage increases until price restrictions were removed

A. Steel Workers

1. Little Steel--the steel companies besides US Steel were hoping to break the union (the companies of Little Steel had resisted unionization to the bitter end

B. Electrical Workers

C. Rubber Workers

D. Auto Workers

1. "Open the books"--Reuther demanded at the bargaining table that General Motors present proof that it could not grant the demanded wage increase because of financial considerations--and that proof would be GM "opening the book," or financial ledgers, of the company.

E. General strikes

1. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

2. Rochester, New York

3. Lancaster, Pennsylvania

4. Oakland, California

II. 1946 Election--A Right Turn?

A. Office of Price Administration (OPA)--fearing that inflation would cause a recession that would stunt peacetime recovery, the wartime agency--now headed up by former Toledo mayor Michael DiSalle--was kept in the hope that it could control inflation; the agency was unsuccessful in this attempt, however.

B. Post-war recession--with wartime contracts ended, industry cut back production in the anticipation that there would be a recession--despite the fact that these contracts guaranteed these companies a profit for the next year.

C. Democratic control--as the party that controlled both houses of Congress, as well as the White House, the Democratic Party received the blame for things that went wrong from the end of the war to the 1946 election.

1. "Coziness" with labor--labor was already seen as exceedingly close with the Democratic Party, and therefore the party was blamed in the mainstream press and by the business class for not "controlling" labor in 1946.

2. 1946 Election--Republicans win majorities in both houses of Congress for the first time since 1930. It is generally argued by political scientists and historians that general weariness with "change" as well a desire to "give the other guys a chance," along with Truman's unpopularity, also contributed. These factors did effect turnout of Democratic voters, and allowed Republicans to gain control of the Senate (they increased their control in the House of Representatives, which they had won in the 1944 election--despite FDR prevailing in the presidential election).

D. 1947 Legislation

1. Taft-Hartley Act--amended the National Labor Relations Act to disallow sympathy strikes and boycotts. Gave states the right to outlaw the union shop, the so-called "right to work" (without belonging to a union).

E. 1948 Election

1. Democratic Party Split

a. Progressive Party

b. State Rights ("Dixiecrat") Party

2. Civil Rights plank

a. Desegregating the Armed Forces

3. Lackluster Republican campaign--combination of what Truman labeled the "do-nothing" Congress, and a lackluster campaign by Thomas Dewey, who was running not to lose rather than to win.

III. The Post-war Red Scare

A. Communist spies

1. Rosenberg trial--the conviction of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg

B. Rise of Joe McCarthy

1. Early political career

2. Wheeling (WV) speech

3. Army-McCarthy hearings