24. In 1957 birthrate crested and was followed by a "deepening birth dearth," fertility rates dropped below the rate necessary to maintain the existing population figures in 1973, the only thing to lift U.S. population above the 1996 level of 264 million was immigration.
25. The "pig passing through the python" was the wave of baby boomers straining and distorting many aspects of American life as they passed through the stages. In the 1950s canned food and baby products had a big market, 1960s it was clothes and rock music, and the 1970s fuller jeans were popular because they were getting fatter, 1980s they jostled the job market, in the 1990s they had their own children, and now they put strain on social security as they start to retire.
Truman: The "Gutty" Man from Missouri
26. Truman's personality: He was called "average man's average man", first president in many years to not have a college education, had humility, no one thought he could handle the job, "shrinking pipsqueak"
President he turned out to be: "scrappy little cuss", confident to the point of cockiness, loyal to his bad "Missouri gang", trying to show decisiveness and power of command but ending up sticking to wrongheaded notions, had down-home authenticity, few pretensions, rock solid probity, and moxie
Famous sign on his desk: "The buck stops here."
Shaping the Postwar World
27. U.S behavior before WWII was very isolationist, after WWII the U.S. became more international with the development of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) which encouraged world trade by regulating currency rates with Western allies and International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (World Bank) which promotes economic growth. U.S. took lead in creating these and supplied funding.
28. The Senate overwhelmingly approved the United Nations charter on July 28, 1945. The U.S., Britain, USSR, France, and China were on the Security Council.
29. The "priceless opportunity" to "tame the nuclear monster in its infancy" was lost in this era.
