5. Converting America from War to Peace

About this Lecture

Lecture

In this module, we think about the transformation of America from a nation at war to a nation at peace, focusing in particular on: (i) Truman’s attitude towards the New Deal; (ii) Truman’s response to the ‘strike wave’ of 1945-46; (iii) the impact of Truman’s loss of Congress following the 1946 mid-terms; (iv) the reasons for Truman’s unexpected election victory in 1948; and (v) the extent to which society changed during Truman’s administration.

Course

In this course, Professor Mark White (Queen Mary University of London) explores the presidency of Harry Truman (1945-53). In the first module, we think about Truman’s rise to power and how he became President in April 1945. In the second, we think about his attitude towards the Soviet Union, before turning in the third to his transformation of the US national security system with the launch of the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan, as well as the National Security Act 1947. In the fourth and fifth modules, we turn from foreign policy to domestic policy, thinking first about McCarthyism and the Red Scare, and then about other aspects of Truman’s domestic policy, including his response to the strike wave of 1945-46 and his Fair Deal.

Lecturer

Mark White is Professor of History at Queen Mary, University of London, specialising in US foreign policy in the Cold War and the US presidency since 1945. His recent publications include Against the President: Dissent and Decision-Making in the White House (2007) and The Presidency of Bill Clinton: The Legacy of a New Domestic and Foreign Policy (2012)