Record of the 79th Congress (First Session)

Report Outline
Note
Legislation by Congress in War and Peace
Congress and the Executive Branchy
Government Finances in Transition
Reconversion to a Peace Economy
Conflicts Over Labor Legislation
Congress and the United Nations
National Defense and Service Legislation
Constitutional, Political and Electoral Questions
Special Focus

Note

Results of leading roll calls in the Senate and House during the 1945 session are shown in italic numerals in the following pages. These roll calls will be given in full, in geographic arrangement, in a separate section of this Report with the title “Record Votes in the 79th Congress, First Session.” Political analyses of these and other important roll calls are omitted from this section but will be carried in summary tables in the second section of the Report.

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Legislation by Congress in War and Peace

Congress gave ready assent in 1945 to a series of measures which pledged full cooperation by the United States with other nations to maintain the peace and to solve political, social and economic problems left by the war. Ratification of the United Nations charter by the Senate in July was followed by two-house approval in December of legislation to make American military forces available for the enforcement of peace without further action by Congress.

United States participation in the International Bank and World Monetary Fund agreed upon at Bretton Woods was voted by large majorities in both houses. To promote a freer flow of world trade, the President was given authority to make additional cuts in American tariffs—of as much as 50 per cent—in postwar trade agreements with other nations. Additional appropriations were made for the work of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration and membership was accepted in the World Food Organization.