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On this day, January 5, 1949, Harry Truman announced his "Fair Deal" proposals.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page• 1949 – In his State of the Union speech, U.S. president Harry S. Truman (pictured) announced: "Every segment of our population, and every individual, has a right to expect from his government a fair deal."
Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman
Fair Deal
The Fair Deal was a set of proposals put forward by U.S. President Harry S. Truman to Congress in 1945 and in his January 1949 State of the Union address. More generally, the term characterizes the entire domestic agenda of the Truman administration, from 1945 to 1953. It offered new proposals to continue New Deal liberalism, but with a conservative coalition controlling Congress, only a few of its major initiatives became law and then only if they had considerable Republican Party support. As Richard Neustadt concludes, the most important proposals were aid to education, national health insurance, the Fair Employment Practices Commission, and repeal of the Taft–Hartley Act. They were all debated at length, then voted down. Nevertheless, enough smaller and less controversial items passed that liberals could claim some success.
{snip}
1949 Proposals
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." The proposed measures included:
• federal aid to education,
• a large tax cut for low-income earners
• the abolition of poll taxes
• an anti-lynching law
• a permanent Fair Employment Practices Commission
• 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, regulating the activities of labor unions
• 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.
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 pushed through Congress during the 1960s.
{snip}
The Fair Deal was a set of proposals put forward by U.S. President Harry S. Truman to Congress in 1945 and in his January 1949 State of the Union address. More generally, the term characterizes the entire domestic agenda of the Truman administration, from 1945 to 1953. It offered new proposals to continue New Deal liberalism, but with a conservative coalition controlling Congress, only a few of its major initiatives became law and then only if they had considerable Republican Party support. As Richard Neustadt concludes, the most important proposals were aid to education, national health insurance, the Fair Employment Practices Commission, and repeal of the Taft–Hartley Act. They were all debated at length, then voted down. Nevertheless, enough smaller and less controversial items passed that liberals could claim some success.
{snip}
1949 Proposals
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." The proposed measures included:
• federal aid to education,
• a large tax cut for low-income earners
• the abolition of poll taxes
• an anti-lynching law
• a permanent Fair Employment Practices Commission
• 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, regulating the activities of labor unions
• 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.
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 pushed through Congress during the 1960s.
{snip}