<P> By cooperating with internationalist Republicans, Truman succeeded in defeating isolationists on the right and supporters of softer lines on the Soviet Union on the left to establish a Cold War program that lasted until the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 . Wallace supporters and other Democrats who were farther left were pushed out of the party and the CIO in 1946--48 by young anti-Communists like Hubert Humphrey, Walter Reuther, and Arthur Schlesinger, Jr . Hollywood emerged in the 1940s as an important new base in the party, led by movie - star politicians such as Ronald Reagan, who strongly supported Roosevelt and Truman at this time . </P> <P> In foreign policy, Europe was safe but troubles mounted in Asia . China fell to the Communists in 1949 . Truman entered the Korean War without formal Congressional approval . When the war turned to a stalemate and he fired General Douglas MacArthur in 1951, Republicans blasted his policies in Asia . A series of petty scandals among friends and buddies of Truman further tarnished his image, allowing the Republicans in 1952 to crusade against "Korea, Communism and Corruption ." Truman dropped out of the presidential race early in 1952, leaving no obvious successor . The convention nominated Adlai Stevenson in 1952 and 1956, only to see him overwhelmed by two Eisenhower landslides . </P> <P> In Congress the powerful duo of House Speaker Sam Rayburn and Senate Majority leader Lyndon B. Johnson held the party together, often by compromising with Eisenhower . In 1958 the party made dramatic gains in the midterms and seemed to have a permanent lock on Congress, thanks largely to organized labor . Indeed, Democrats had majorities in the House every election from 1930 to 1992 (except 1946 and 1952). </P> <P> Most southern Congressmen were conservative Democrats, however, and they usually worked with conservative Republicans . The result was a Conservative Coalition that blocked practically all liberal domestic legislation from 1937 to the 1970s, except for a brief spell 1964--65, when Johnson neutralized its power . The counterbalance to the Conservative Coalition was the Democratic Study Group, which led the charge to liberalize the institutions of Congress and eventually pass a great deal of the Kennedy - Johnson program . </P>

History of the democratic party in the us