In late March, President Dewey made his move. He and Secretary Eisenhower gave a speech advocating The American Reconstruction and Defense Act which proposed $22 Billion in spending to build 41,000 Miles of Interstate highway, to be paid for through additional taxes on cars, tires, trucks, and fuel. In their estimation, this would not only create thousands of well paying jobs, and therefore lift the economy out of it's recession, but also increase National Security by allowing the military to move quickly and efficiently around the country in the case of an invasion or civil uprising. At the end the speech, Dewey said he had no power to pass this bill without the cooperation of Congress, and said to all those listening that if they wished for the The American Reconstruction and Defense Act to become law, that they should let the Democrats in Congress know.
In the following weeks and months, the Democrats stubbornly refused to hold a vote on the ARDA (instead trying and failing to Repeal legislation passed during the 80th Congress over Dewey's Veto), and President Dewey stubbornly refused to focus on anything else. He and National Republicans who supported the plan (Like Oregon Senator Wayne Morse) went on national stumping tours to push for the bill to be given a floor vote. Throughout this whole process, the economy was still in recession, and President Dewey's Approval was dropping by the week. In the mid-summer, the Congressional Democrats came up with a plan. They would allow the bill to pass the Senate with the votes of Liberal Democrats like Hubert Humphrey by going easy on the whipping, then delay giving the bill a vote in the House, and when they did, they would ensure the Bills defeat, leaving President Dewey with egg on his face, and the Democrats in a good position heading into the 1950 midterms. On August 21, the ARDA passed the Senate 51-45, and President Dewey seemed to be gaining an upper hand in his power struggle with the 81st Congress. In reality of course, he was doing no such thing.
And then, on September 21, something happened which meant the Democrats didn't have to do anything to leave the President with Egg on his face.
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Communist Party of China Chairman Mao Zedong declaring that China would henceforth be ruled by the Communist Party, following the Communist victory over the Nationalists in the Chinese Civil War
China would be ruled by the Reds. The world's most populous country, the country which countless numbers of Christian missionaries had preached in, and the country which millions of Americans could claim ancestry from, was now ruled by America's greatest enemy.
Despite the fact that this event was not in anyway related to the ARDA, the reaction to it was centered around ARDA. Congressional Democrats slammed President Dewey, and declared that had he focused not on passing the ARDA, but on fighting the spread of Communism as his predecessor had, China would not have fallen to Communism. President Dewey declared that there was nothing he could have done to stop China falling to Communism because of the bad situation left by Harry Truman, but that the nation could secure itself from Communism by passing the ARDA. In the aftermath of Mao's Speech, President Dewey was booed wherever he went, and his approval rating fell to 38%, down from 74% on his inauguration day.
And 2 weeks later, it got worse for Dewey.
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The Mushroom Cloud resulting from First Lightning, the first atomic bomb test carried out by the Soviet Union
President Dewey announced to the nation that the Sovet Union had successfully developed and tested an Atomic Bomb. The nation went into a panic. The weapon which had leveled 2 entire cities only a few years before, and the weapon which in the mind of many Americans had prevented a WWIII, was now in the possession of America's greatest adversary. When President Dewey said the nation should respond to this by passing the ARDA, it was seen as a copout. The nation didn't care about Interstate Highways anymore, they cared about feeling secure from Communism, and Dewey just didn't make them feel secure. Dewey seemed a defeated President 9 Months in to his 4 year term.
Needless to say, the ARDA was not passed.
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