History Honors Thesis Summer 2020

Open Access
- Author:
- Miller, Mary
- Area of Honors:
- History
- Degree:
- Bachelor of Humanities
- Document Type:
- Thesis
- Thesis Supervisors:
- David Scott Witwer, Thesis Supervisor
Cathleen Denise Cahill, Thesis Honors Advisor - Keywords:
- history
healthcare
communications
united states - Abstract:
- In 1945, President Truman endorsed national health care. Congress debated national health care three times under Truman’s Presidency, but ultimately, it failed to pass. Several scholars have studied why the United States failed to pass national health legislation in the late-1940s, but little is known about the public’s perception. When scholars have paid attention to the debate or public discourse around national health care, it has been from a top-level perspective or a single lens. In this thesis, I analyze the congressional statements, public relations campaigns, relevant media coverage, and several letters-to-the editor to show the arguments around national health care that resonated with the public and how these arguments affected public opinion. An analysis of these materials revealed that the public largely interpreted national health care as “socialized medicine” and/or as merely a tax on personal income. This analysis showed that the way national health care was presented to the American people mattered significantly in shaping their opinion. There are always more sources and perspectives to consider when painting a better picture of public opinion during this time, and I hope this will contribute to future research on this topic.