This Day in Financial History: A Way Back From War

On September 6th 1945, President Harry S. Truman laid out an economic recovery plan to Congress that would address post-War housing and employment needs.

World War II had drawn to a close and the United States was in deep need of a fiscal plan to guide it securely back into peacetime, both in terms of employing returning military personnel and moving the economy back to a steady growth. On this day, Truman detailed his proposals to a fractured Congress, with whom wartime President FDR had maintained an unsettled relationship.

The war had been brought to an abrupt halt by Japan's unconditional surrender and Truman, in the job for only four months following Roosevelt's untimely death early that year, was suddenly ill prepared to deal with the rapid return of soldiers to domestic roles. Economic concerns such as soaring inflation, which reached 6% at one point, and labor disputes were chief amongst the challenges facing the President during this time of rapid transition. 

Though most of his Fair Deal initiatives were torpedoed in many heated battles with Republican leaders of the period, these announcements that led to his New Deal and various civil rights programs remain an influence on the US economy to this day.

Comments

[stock tips]

I need some help writing a short essay that ties together things I have learned in a college level History of the Twentieth Century class.