S8 Ep1118: Truman's Post-Election Struggles and the Rise of Dean Acheson GUEST: Nick Bunker By Labor Day 1949, President Harry Truman's optimistic mood following his 1948 victory had soured as he was "overtaken by events." A post-election recession created a $5 bill

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John Batchelor

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🗓️ 12 July 2026

⏱️ 12 minutes

🔗️ Recording | Apple Podcasts | RSS

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Summary

Truman's Post-Election Struggles and the Rise of Dean Acheson GUEST: Nick Bunker By Labor Day 1949, President Harry Truman's optimistic mood following his 1948 victory had soured as he was "overtaken by events." A post-election recession created a $5 billion budget deficit, stalling his "Fair Deal" liberal reforms. Simultaneously, the communist takeover of China provided a grim backdrop to his administration. Truman relied heavily on his Secretary of State, Dean Acheson, a competent and diligent official who shared Truman's "Wilsonian" internationalist philosophy. However, internal friction plagued the administration. Defense Secretary Louis Johnson, harboring presidential ambitions, aggressively cut military spending to appeal to fiscal conservatives, ultimately depleting American readiness. Meanwhile, powerful Southern Democrats like Senator Walter George and Sam Rayburn blocked civil rights legislation and remained skeptical of public spending and the newly formed NATO alliance. This political dissension undermined Democratic stability during the critical early months of the Cold War. (1)

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0:29.6	This is CBS Eye on the World. Here's John Batchler. This is CBS Eye on the World. Here's John Batchelor.
0:40.3	This is CBS I in the world. I'm John Batchelor.
0:44.3	The quote from Bertrand Russell, 1949,
0:47.3	at present, all except the most thoughtless live under the shadow of fear.
0:53.3	I welcome the historian Nick Bunker, his new book,
0:58.0	In the Shadow of Fear, America and the World in 1950.
1:02.0	These are the months between Labor Day,
1:05.0	1949, and the North Korean sneak attack on South Korea in late June of
1:10.0	1950, in which everything changed for my
1:15.3	life, for the life of the 20th century in America, and perhaps for the world, although there's
1:21.4	unfinished business here, because what I learned from Nick is that everything was in place
1:26.5	in that period that we struggle with today in Asia, in Europe, questions about budget, questions about personality, the presidency, all of that.
1:36.3	I welcome Nick. Nick, it's a great pleasure to speak with you again. We've had occasion to talk about your young Benjamin Franklin, which is inspirational, and your empire at the edge, which is the story of right before the revolution in the 18th century.
1:51.0	Here we are now in the 20th century. We're getting closer to modern times there.
	...

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