Social Welfare in the United States, 1945–1960

This chapter explores the differing visions of the American welfare state put forward by moderately liberal Democrats and moderately conservative Republicans from the late 1940s through the end of the 1950s. Truman and Stevenson Democrats looked to northern European models for inspiration in the postwar era, but modified their social democratic character to gain the acceptance of a nation with a political culture of individualism and anti-statism. Eisenhower-era Republicans thought in terms of insuring male “breadwinners” against major losses of income rather than a comprehensive, citizen-based model of social welfare entitlement. Even that more limited approach marked a major break with more strongly conservative visions of social provision via the private sector. This narrowing of differences between moderate liberals and moderate conservatives on social welfare policy sheds light on the extent to which the politics and public policy of this period can fairly be characterized as consensual. In policy terms this was embodied by the major reforms of Social Security undertaken by the Truman and Eisenhower administrations in 1950 and 1954 respectively. Its limitations were conversely reflected in the failure to enact social welfare measures that did not conform to the New Deal tradition, particularly in the field of healthcare.