Politics As Usual: The Age Of Truman And Eisenhower

Politics as Usual: The Age of Truman and Eisenhower

Like its predecessor, the second edition of Politics as Usual,treats the decade and a half after World War II as a discretehistorical era, the end of which represents a watershed in thepolitical life of the nation. Despite the pressures created by theCold War and the challenges posed by developing nations, Americanpolitics from 1945 to 1960 reflects a relatively stableequilibrium. Although from different political parties, Harry S.Truman and Dwight D. Eisenhower shared a basic caution in fiscalaffairs and an acceptance of the global responsibilities thrust onthe United States after the war. Meanwhile, Democrats andRepublicans continued to contest elections along the familiar faultlines formed during the New Deal, and the American electoratedivided its loyalties relatively evenly between the two majorparties.