ABSTRACT
World War II severely strained American political, economic, and social institutions. By the end of the 1940s, women were once again entering the labor force in unprecedented numbers, though now taking more traditional jobs-sales, service, and clerical work. Just as the war shouldered aside reforms, so it provided an excuse to abolish various New Deal relief agencies. Roosevelt believed that in wartime the government could do no more than ensure that the poor were "not ground down below the margin of existence". The war weakened liberalism in one final respect: it raised issues that threatened to rupture the New Deal coalition. If the Democratic Party had an Achilles heel, it was the issue of racial justice. The war inspired civil rights groups to develop new forms of protest. Then, in April 1945, Harry S. Truman assumed the presidency, and four months later the war ended. When peace returned, the government reduced its operations, but they remained well above prewar levels.
