After the series of strikes that shook the nation in 1946 it affected the performance of the Democrats in the congressional elections of ’46. The Republicans won a majority in the Congress. The Republican Congress, under the leadership of Senator Aft, tried to review

the Pro-Labor Wagner Act (1935). This was in an effort to check the powers of the labor Union. The new Act allowed managements to sue Unions in case of strikes. It forced the Unions to accept a sixty-day "cooling off period" before going on strikes and lockouts. Besides, the Act forbade the Unions to participate in political campaigns and required all Unions to swear that they were not communists before the National Labor Relations Board recognized them.

The President vetoed it by stating that: "The Taft-Hartley Bill is a shocking piece of legislation. It would contribute neither to industrial peace nor to economic stability and progress." The Congress, however, overrode the President’s veto by a large majority.

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Table of Contents

11.0 - Chronology of Major Events in this Period
11.1 - Conditions at Home
11.2 - The Employment Act
11.3 - The Taft-Hartley Labor Management Relations Act
11.4 - The Truman's Civil Rights Program
11.5 - The McCarthy Period
11.6 - The Cold War Abroad
11.7 - The Korean War
11.8 - The Eisenhower Administration
11.9 - The Civil Rights movement and the question of Desegregation
11.10 - The Labor Reform act
11.11 - The Budget
11.12 - The Economy in the 60s
11.13 - The Communist Threat Abroad
11.14 - The Threat of Nuclear War
11.15 - The Exploration of Outer Space
11.16 - The Geneve Conference on Disarmament
11.17 - Our WorldToday