Fair Deal

(noun)

This term characterizes the domestic agenda of the Truman Administration.

Related Terms

(noun)

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, which governed the United States from 1945 to 1953.

Related Terms

Examples of Fair Deal in the following topics:

  • The Fair Deal

    • President Truman's domestic reform agenda, called the Fair Deal, was a set of proposals aimed at economic development and social welfare.
    • The Fair Deal was the term given to United States President Harry S.
    • The most important proposals of the Fair Deal were aid to education, universal health insurance, legislation on fair employment and repeal of the Taft-Hartley Act.
    • The Depression did not return after the war and the Fair Deal had to contend with prosperity and an optimistic future.
    • Although Truman was unable to implement his Fair Deal program in its entirety, a great deal of social and economic progress took place in the late Forties and early Fifties.

  • Partisan Cooperation and Conflict

    • They also opposed most of Truman's Fair Deal bills .
    • As he readied for the 1948 election, Truman made clear his identity as a Democrat in the New Deal tradition, advocating national health insurance, the repeal of the Taft-Hartley Act, and an aggressive civil rights program.
    • Taken together, it all constituted a broad legislative agenda that came to be called the "Fair Deal. " Truman's proposals were not well received by Congress, even with renewed Democratic majorities in Congress after 1948.
    • Only one of the major Fair Deal bills, the Housing Act of 1949, was ever enacted.
    • On the other hand, the major New Deal programs still in operation were not repealed, and there were minor improvements and extensions in many of them.

  • Peacetime Politics

    • Truman hoped to extend New Deal social programs to include more government protection and services and to reach more people.
    • The Congress, which was much more Republican in its membership during his presidency than it had been during Franklin Roosevelt's, did not usually share Truman's desire to build on the legacy of the New Deal.
    • The Truman administration did go considerably beyond the New Deal in the area of civil rights.
    • Taken together, it all constituted a broad legislative agenda that came to be called the "Fair Deal."
    • Although Truman was unable to implement his Fair Deal program in its entirety, a great deal of social and economic progress took place in the late Forties and early Fifties.

  • Empowering Labor

    • The New Deal succeeded in introducing a number of laws that empowered labor.
    • During the First New Deal (1933-34/5), reforms that aimed to empower labor were limited.
    • Title I of NIRA outlined guidelines for the creation of the so-called "codes of fair competition" (rules according to which industries were supposed to operate), guaranteed trade union rights, and permitted the regulation of working standards (e.g., minimum wages, maximum working hours, etc.).
    • The 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) is another critical piece of labor legislation passed under the New Deal.

  • The Last of the New Deal Reforms

    • Historians continue to debate when the New Deal ended.
    • Although traditionally the New Deal is divided into two stages (First New Deal, 1933-34/5 and Second New Deal 1935-38), some historians refer to the final phase of the New Deal as the Third New Deal.
    • One of the most influential pieces of legislation passed in the final stage of the New Deal was also the 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).
    • Despite the continuous economic crisis and hardships, the New Deal was largely over by 1939, where this family was seeking New Deal benefits.
    • Examine the last New Deal programs pushed through by the Roosevelt administration

  • Industrial Recovery

    • The National Recovery Administration (NRA), which was one of the outcomes of the National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA), was the main New Deal agency focused on industrial recovery.
    • It was one of the most prominent and controversial New Deal laws focused on boosting the industry.
    • First, trade and industrial associations were permitted to seek presidential approval of "codes of fair competition."
    • The codes of fair competition were to be developed through public hearings.
    • In the long-term, the Act allowed a surge in the growth and power of unions, which became a core part of the New Deal Coalition.

  • Neglected Americans and the New Deal

    • Some of the First New Deal flagship programs either excluded or even hurt African Americans.
    • Analogously, the 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act, which established federal minimum wage and maximum working hours, excluded agricultural and domestic labor.
    • However, other New Deal programs produced much more positive outcomes for African Americans.
    • The 1933 National Industrial Recovery Act, the 1935 National Labor Relations Act, and the 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act all excluded agricultural and domestic workers.
    • Evaluate to what extent African Americans and women benefitted from New Deal policies

  • Resistance to Business Reform

    • Many business leaders and conservative politicians expressed strong opposition to the New Deal's programs and reforms that aimed at industrial recovery.
    • However, neither Roosevelt nor his New Deal experts and advisers attempted to overthrow or even radically reform capitalism.
    • Not surprisingly, the idea did not gain much popularity among those who promoted limited government intervention, laissez-faire, and individualism.
    • Among them, business leaders,Republicans, and conservative Democrats constituted the most powerful group of New Deal's opponents.
    • The so-called Roosevelt Recession that began in 1937 provided fresh fuel for business and political opponents of the New Deal.

  • Launching the New Deal

    • Some of the most important programs and reforms of the First New Deal were:
    • Public work projects were an essential component of the job creation program under the New Deal.
    • While the Second New Deal was a continuation of the First New Deal, reforms and programs labeled as the Second New Deal were less a result of the earlier sense of emergency and more a reflection of bolder attitudes.  
    • The most important programs of the second stage of the New Deal were:
    • The Fair Labor Standards Act (1938) was the first federal law that included a national minimum wage and the forty-hour week as the standard work week.

  • The Second New Deal

    • In 1935, the Roosevelt administration unveiled legislation that would be known as the Second New Deal.
    • This "Second New Deal" was noted to be more liberal and more controversial than the "First New Deal" of 1933–34.
    • The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 set maximum hours (44 per week) and minimum wages (25 cents per hour) for most categories of workers.
    • The Second New Deal also addressed housing.
    • The United States Housing Authority was one of the last New Deal agencies.