Centralized State Power Outline

• Domestic Events during World War 2

• Draft was expanded to recruit more soldiers
• The government passed laws such as the Revenue Act of 1942 and created agencies like the Office of Price Administration (OPA) in order to regulate economy
• War Productions Board decided whether companies would convert to wartime production
• Rationing (people were to try to save food, gas, and shoes, among other things, to help support the war effort)

• The Cold War
• McCarthyism (domestic anticommunism) - House Un-American Activities Committee searched for the influence of communism in the U.S. Many people are unfairly accused of being or working for communists.
• Containment- U.S. wanted to stop the expansion of communism. The Marshall Plan gave billions of dollars of help to European countries, making communism less appealing

• Presidents- Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon
• Both Kennedy and Johnson wanted to use government power to right economic and social wrongs. Johnson passed laws that Kennedy was unable to get to congress. Their ideas ended up forming the basis of the Great Society.
• Many people supported the growth of centralized state power, thinking that the government could use its power to solve the nation's problems.
• State-required loyalty oaths made judged unconstitutional
• Nixon wanted to decrease government power, thought that the Great Society gave the government too much responsibility.