The Fair Deal was the term given to an ambitious set of proposals put forward by United States President Harry S. Truman to the United States Congress in his January 1949 State of the Union address. The term, however, has also been used to describe the domestic reform agenda of the Truman Administration,[1] which governed the United States from 1945 to 1953.
A liberal Democrat of the Midwestern Populist tradition, Truman was determined to both continue the legacy of the New Deal and make Franklin D. Roosevelt's proposed Economic Bill of Rights a reality.[2] In September 1946, Truman addressed Congress and presented a 21 point program of domestic legislation outlining a series of proposed actions in the fields of economic development and social welfare.[3] The measures that Truman proposed to Congress included:
Major improvements in the coverage and adequacy of the unemployment compensation system.[4].
Substantial increases in the minimum wage, together with broader coverage.[4]
The maintenance and extension of price controls to keep down the cost of living in the transition to a peacetime economy.[4]
A pragmatic approach towards drafting legislation eliminating wartime agencies and wartime controls, taking legal difficulties into account.[4]
A major expansion of public works, conserving and building up natural resources.[4]
The encouragement of post-war reconstruction and settling the obligations of the Lend-Lease Act.[4]
The introduction of a decent pay scale for all Federal Government employees--executive, legislative, and judicial.[4]
The promotion of the sale of ships to remove the uncertainty regarding the disposal of America’s large surplus tonnage following the end of hostilities.[4]
Legislation to bring about the acquisition and retention of stock piles of materials necessary for meeting the defense needs of the nation.[4]
Many of these proposed reforms, however, were never realized due the opposition of the conservative majority in Congress. Despite these setbacks, Truman's proposals to Congress became more and more abundant over the course of his presidency, and by 1948 a legislative program that was more comprehensive came to be known as the Fair Deal.[5] In his 1949 State of the Union address to Congress on January 5, 1949, Truman stated that "Every segment of our population, and every individual, has a right to expect from his government a fair deal." Amongst the proposed measures included federal aid to education,[6] a large tax cut for low-income earners,[7] the abolition of poll taxes, an anti-lynching law, a permanent FEPC, a farm aid program, increased public housing, an immigration bill, new TVA-style public works projects, the establishment of a new Department of Welfare, the repeal of the Taft-Hartley Act, an increase in the minimum wage from 40 to 75 cents an hour, national health insurance, expanded Social Security coverage, and a $4 billion tax increase to reduce the national debt and finance these programs.[8]
Despite a mixed record of legislative success, the Fair Deal remains significant in establishing the call for universal health care as a rallying cry for the Democratic Party. Lyndon B. Johnson credited Truman's unfulfilled program as influencing Great Society measures such as Medicare that Johnson successfully enacted during the 1960s.[9] The Fair Deal faced much opposition from the many conservative politicians who wanted a reduced role of the federal government. The series of domestic reforms was a major push to transform the United States from a wartime economy to a peacetime economy.[10] In a context of postwar reconstruction and entering the era of the Cold war, the Fair Deal sought to preserve and extend the liberal tradition of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal.[3] During this post-WWII time, people were growing more conservative as they were ready to enjoy the prosperity not seen since before The Great Depression.[11] The Fair Deal faced opposition by a coalition of conservative Republicans and predominantly southern conservative Democrats. However, despite strong opposition, there were elements of Truman’s agenda that did win congressional approval.[12]
Although Truman was unable to implement the entirety of his Fair Deal reform program, a great deal of social and economic progress took place under his administration. A Census report confirmed that gains in housing, education, living standards, and income under the Truman administration were unparalleled in American history. By 1953, 62 million Americans had jobs, a gain of 11 million in seven years, while unemployment had all but vanished. Farm income, dividends, and corporate income were at all-time highs, and there had not been a failure of an insured bank in nearly nine years. The minimum wage had also been increased while Social Security benefits had been doubled, and 8 million veterans had attended college by the end of the Truman administration as a result of the G.I. Bill,[13] which subsidized the businesses, training, education, and housing of millions of returning veterans.[14]
Millions of homes had been constructed through government financing, and progress had been made in slum clearance.[15] Poverty was also significantly reduced, with one estimate suggesting that the percentage of Americans living in poverty had fallen from 33% of the population in 1949 to 28% by 1952.[16] Incomes had risen faster than prices, which meant that real living standards were considerably higher than seven years earlier. Progress had also been made in civil rights, with the desegregation of both the federal civil Service and the armed forces and the creation of the Commission on Civil Rights. In fact, according to one historian, Truman had “done more than any President since Lincoln to awaken American conscience to the issues of civil rights".[13]
Legislation and programs
Note: This listing contains reforms drawn up by the Truman Administration together with reforms drawn up by individual Congressmen. The latter have been included because it is arguable that the progressive nature of these reforms (such as the Water Pollution Law, which was partly a Republican initiative[17]) was compatible with the liberalism of the Fair Deal.
Civil Rights Movement
As Senator, Truman had not supported the nascent Civil Rights Movement. As President, he did put forward many civil rights programs but most were met with a lot of resistance by conservative southern Democrats. Most proposals were ultimately blocked.[12] However, he successfully integrated the armed forces, denied government contracts to firms with racially discriminatory practices and named African Americans to federal posts.[12] In a 1947 speech to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), which marked the first time a sitting President had ever addressed the group, Truman said "Every man should have the right to a decent home, the right to an education, the right to adequate medical care, the right to a worthwhile job, the right to an equal share in the making of public decisions through the ballot, and the right to a fair trial in a fair court."[18]
Health
A bill was signed which authorized Federal agencies to provide minor medical and dental services to employees (1945).[19]
The National Mental Health Act (1946) authorized federal support for mental health research and treatment programs.[20]
The Water Pollution Law (1948) provided funds for sewage treatment system and pollution research while empowering the Justice Department to file suit against polluters.[21]
The Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (1947) introduced regulations on the use of pesticide in food production.[22]
The Hill-Burton Act (Hospital Survey and Construction Act) (1946) established a federal program of financial assistance for the modernization and construction of hospital facilities.[23] The program brought national standards and financing to local hospitals, and raised standards of medical care throughout the United States during the course of the Fifties and sixties. While the legislation favoured middle-class communities because it required local financial contributions, it channelled federal funds to poor communities, thus raising hospital standards and equity in access to quality care. The program required hospitals assisted by federal funding to provide emergency treatment to the uninsured and a reasonable volume of free or reduced cost care to poor Americans.[24]
The Hospital Survey and Construction Amendments of 1949 raised the amount of federal funding available and raised the federal share of hospital construction to two-thirds. These amendments made it possible for less-wealthy communities to benefit from the Hill-Burton Act of 1946.[25]
A program was established to fund payments to medical vendors for care of low-income persons (1950).[26]
Funding was authorized for research and demonstration relating to the coordination, utilization, and development of hospital services.[27]
The Omnibus Medical Research Act (1950) authorized the establishment of the Institute of Neurological Diseases and Blindness and the transmutation of the Experimental Biology and medical Institute into the much larger Institute of Arthritis and Metabolic Diseases. The legislation also empowered the Surgeon General to establish additional institutes when he felt that they were necessary, and also to ‘conduct and support research and research training relating to other diseases and groups of diseases.’[28]
The Atomic Energy Commission was directed by Congress to investigate the linkage between atomic research and cancer therapies, providing some $5 million for this purpose (1950).[29]
Welfare
The Federal Railroad Disability Insurance program was enacted (1946).[26]
The Social Security Act was amended (1950) to provide a new category of state aid to the totally and permanently disabled.[26][30]
Throughout 1950, more than thirty major changes were made to Social Security. Compulsory coverage was extended was extended to residents of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, federal employees not covered by federal pensions, domestic servants, most self-employed workers, and agricultural workers. State and local government workers were provided with the option of joining the system. Survivor’s benefits were increased and expanded, and Social Security benefits were increased significantly for current beneficiaries by 77.5%. Changes were also made to increase the progressivity of benefits.[31] Another amendment granted wage credits toward all Social Security benefits for military service performed between September 1940 and July 1947.[32]
The Aid to Families with Dependent Children program was expanded to include support for caregivers (1950).[33]
Grants to states for public assistance to needy individuals, those who were totally and permanently disabled, and also to maternal and child welfare services, were broadened and increased.[34]
The Displaced Persons Act admitted 200,000 outside the quota system.[35]
The admissions numbers for displaced persons were doubled to 400,000 (1950).[36]
Federal financial participation of public assistance payments was increased (1946).[19]
The Federal Unemployment Tax Act (FUTA) was amended in 1946 to permit states where employees made contributions under the unemployment insurance program to use some or all of these contributions for the payment of disability.[32] benefits.[37]
The Social Security Act was amended in 1946 to provide survivor benefits to the dependents of World War II veterans who died within three years of having been discharged from the military. The amendments considered veterans of the Second World War to be fully insured under Social Security for purposes of survivor benefits, even if they had not completed the required number of quarters of covered employment under Social Security.[32]
The Civil Service Retirement Act was amended (1948) to provide protection for the survivors of Federal employees.[19]
The Civil Service Retirement Act of 1930 was amended (1945) to provide retirement credit, in computing length of service, to persons who left Government service to enter the armed forces.[19]
The Internal Revenue Code and the Social Security Act were amended (1945) in order to extend coverage to all employees of the Bonneville Power Administration who were not covered under the Federal Civil Service Retirement Act and therefore had no retirement protection.[38]
The Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act and Railroad Retirement Act amendments (1946) established monthly survivor benefits and sickness and maternity benefits for railroad employees. The Social Security Act was also amended by the provision making wages in railroad employment applicable for survivor benefits under the old-age and survivors insurance program.[39]
The Social Security Act was amended (1946) to provide coverage to private maritime employees under State unemployment insurance, monthly benefits under old age and survivors insurance for survivors of certain World War II veterans, and temporary unemployment benefits to seamen with wartime Federal employment. Permission was given to States, with employee contributions under their unemployment insurance laws, to use such funds for temporary disability insurance benefits. There would also be greater Federal sharing in public assistance payments for a specified period, and larger grants were to be provided for maternal and child health and child welfare, as well as the extension of these programs to the Virgin Islands.[40]
A bill was approved (1947) which extended to July 1949 the time in which income from nursing service and agricultural labor could be disregarded in making old age assistance payments.[41]
A law as passed (1947) under which certain aged recipients of assistance could continue, until July 1949, to care for the sick or work for wages on a farm without having such wages jeopardize their assistance payment.[42]
The Railroad Retirement Act was amended (1948) to increase certain survivor and retirement benefits.[43]
A law was passed (1948) which raised railroad pensions by 20%, yet reduced taxes on payrolls.[44]
A law was passed (1948) which increased certain benefits payable under the Longshoremen's and Harbor Workers Compensation Act.[45]
A law was approved (1949) which authorized appropriations for the Federal Security Administrator to meet the emergency needs of crippled children for fiscal year 1949, in addition to funds authorized under the Social Security Act.[46]
An act for the rehabilitation of the Navajo and Hopi tribes of Indians was approved (1950), which included a provision to increase the Federal participation in public assistance payments.[30]
The Social Security Act of 1950 increased welfare benefits,[47] extended the coverage of social security to elderly Americans, and raised the minimum wage. These benefits appealed to both middle-class and working-class Americans.[48] Farm and domestic employees and nonfarm self-employed persons came to be covered for first time under the Social Security Old-Age Insurance pension program.[26] As a result of these changes, an additional 10.5 million Americans were covered by Social Security.[49] According to one historian the 1950 act “was almost as significant as the original 1935 legislation.”[50]
In September 1950, benefits began to be paid to dependent husbands, dependent widowers, wives under the age of sixty-five with children in their care, and divorced wives.[51]
A law was signed (1952) which increased sickness and unemployment benefits for railroad workers by 30% to 60%, and was financed by a payroll levy on the railroads.[52]
The Social Security Act was amended (1952) to extend for another year “the time within which State Governments could make agreements that were retroactive to January 1, 1951, for old-age and survivors insurance coverage of State and local Government employees”.[53]
The Social Security Act of 1952 increased benefits under the old-age and survivors insurance program, extended the period of wage credits for military service through December 31, 1953, liberalized the retirement test and raised the retirement test from $50 to $75 a month. The legislation also changed, for a two year period, the grant formula for public assistance payments in order to make additional funds available to the States.[54]
A new Fair Labour Standards Act established a 75-cent-an-hour minimum wage.[30]
The Employment Act of 1946 created a clear legal obligation on the part of the federal government to use all practical means ‘to promote maximum employment, production, and purchasing power.’ The Act also established “the basic core of machinery for such economic planning – the Council of Economic Advisers working directly for the President, and the joint Committee on the Economic report in Congress.” Under the Employment Act, within two decades following its passage, swift measures taken by the Federal Reserve authorities and by the administration in charge held in check four recessions, those of 1948-49, 1953–54, 1957–58, and 1960-61.[30]
Tax relief for low-income earners was passed by Congress.[56]
The first code of federal regulations for mine safety was authorized by Congress (1947).[57]
The Federal Coal Mine Safety Act of 1952 provided for annual inspections in certain underground coal mines, and provided the Bureau with limited enforcement authority, including the power to issue violation notices and imminent danger withdrawal orders. The Act also authorized the assessment of civil penalties against mine operators for refusing to give inspectors access to mine property or for noncompliance with withdrawal orders, although no provision was made for monetary penalties for noncompliance with the safety provisions.[57]
Child labor was finally prohibited through an amendment to the Fair Labor Standards Act (1949).[58]
The number of employees covered by the federal minimum wage was increased.[59]
The Judiciary and Judicial Procedure Act of 1948 prohibited employers from intimidating, discharging, threatening to discharge, or coercing permanent employees for serving jury duty.[60]
The 81st Congress provided the chief executive with the power to deal with inflation.[61]
The McGuire Act (1952) strengthened fair trade laws by enabling manufacturers to extend price maintenance even to retailers “who refused to sign contracts.”[62]
Education
The National School Lunch Act (1946) established school lunch programs across the United States, with the purpose of safeguarding "the health and well-being of the nation's children and to encourage the consumption of agricultural abundance".[63]
The George-Barden Act (1946) expanded federal support for vocational education.[64]
The National Science Foundation was established to support education and research in science.[65]
Long-term low-interest loans to colleges for dormitory construction were authorized (1950).[66]
Following the outbreak of the Korean War aid was provided for current expenses and for the construction of additional school facilities in districts which had became centers of wartime activity and were overwhelmed by the arrival of military personnel and their families.[67]
The federal government funded scholarships and loans for nursing students and provided aid to medical schools in order to meet the growing need for caregivers.[68]
Housing
The Federal Housing and Rent Act (1947) was passed to encourage the construction of new rental housing in cities.[69]
The Farmers Home Administration was established (1946) to assist self-help rural housing groups as well as to make grants and loans for the repair and construction of rural homes.[70]
The Housing Act of 1949 was a major legislative accomplishment stemming from the Fair Deal. This led to the allocation of federal funds to go towards new housing projects, urban renewal, and more public housing. This spawned the growth of urban regions in the post-war United States. Much of the mass urban development that took place during this time can still be seen today.
The Federal Housing Administration’s mortgage insurance programs were liberalized, authorizing a program of limited technical research and setting up a new program for guaranteeing a minimum yield on direct investments in housing.[72]
The Housing Act of 1950 enlarged and liberalized the loan guarantee privileges of Second World War veterans by administering a direct loan program for those veterans who were unable to acquire private home financing. The legislation also authorized a program of mortgage insurance for co-operative housing projects, a program of technical aid, and a new program of mortgage insurance for low-priced new rural housing.[73]
A permanent national housing agency was established (1947), promising co-ordination of the principal nonfarm housing functions of the federal government.[74]
Rent controls were extended (1951) to cover previously exempted categories.[75]
Funds were provided for Slum clearance and urban renewal.[76]
Veterans
The Veterans' Emergency Housing Act (1946) encouraged the construction of housing for returning soldiers.[77]
The Veterans' regulations were amended (1945) to provide increased rates of pension for certain service-incurred disabilities, generally on a parity with rates payable for similar disabilities under the World War I Veterans' Act, 1924, as amended.[78]
The Veteran's Readjustment Assistance Act (1952) included provisions for unemployment compensation for veterans under a uniform Federal formula.[79]
Legislation was approved (1952) which increased veteran's compensation and pension rates.[30]
A law was signed (1949), which extended for one year to June 1950 reconversion and unemployment benefits for seamen provided by Title XIII of the Social Security Act.[19]
$3.7 billion was spent of GI benefits from 1945 to 1949.[80]
The Social Security Act was amended (1952) to grant wage credits toward Social Security benefits for each month of military service after July 1947 and before January 1954.[32]
Agriculture
The Farmers Commodity Credit Corporation Charter Act (1948) stabilised, supported and protected farm incomes and prices, assisted in maintaining adequate supplies, and facilitated an orderly distribution of commodities.[81]
The Agricultural Act (1948) introduced a more flexible system of price supports.[75]
The Agricultural Act (1949) maintained price supports at 90% of parity.[35] The Act also made certain donated commodities acquired through price-support operations by the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) available for distribution to local public welfare organizations serving poor Americans, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and school lunch programs. It also authorized the CCC “to pay for added processing, packaging, and handling costs for foods acquired under price support so that recipient outlets could more fully use them”.[82]
The Disaster Loan Act (1949) made farmers who experienced severe crop losses due to natural disasters eligible for special low-interest loans.[83]
Federal power projects
Rural electrification and public power were extended.[84]
^De Luna, Phyllis Komarek. Public Versus Private Power During the Truman Administration : a Study of Fair Deal Liberalism. New York: Peter Lang, 1997. 35-36.
^ abcBoyer, Paul S. Promises to Keep: The United States since World war II, page 78. Second ed. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1999
