The Sunday Times review of the week's domestic news noted the raging national debate over control of the atom in the eight months since the bomb had been dropped on Hiroshima. Some wanted it under civilian control, while others wanted the military to be in charge. A Senate committee headed by Brien McMahon, Democrat from Connecticut, had been hearing testimony on the matter. A vast letter writing campaign had produced 70,972 missives, almost all in favor of civilian control. That week the Senate committee unanimously approved the McMahon Bill providing for predominantly civilian control and a federal monopoly over all atomic energy activities in the US. This would be McMahon's crowning achievement. He began a campaign for the presidency in 1952 but dropped out when he was diagnosed with cancer. He died that same year.
Congress also passed the Patman bill that week which provided government subsidies for the construction of 2,700,000 new houses by the end of 1947. Little housing was built during the war and what did get built was mainly temporary housing for defense workers. About a million families in US were living with other families at this time. Congress also passed legislation to convert military housing to civilian use. John William Wright Patman was a Texas Democrat and New Deal supporter who served in Congress from 1929 to 1976.
The review also touched on the battle over the draft in Congress (see the main section coverage for more) and on Truman's plan to unify the Armed Services, which faced stiff opposition from the Navy. The section provided an organizational chart of the military, if Truman had his way. It also noted that most military leaders, including Eisenhower, believed the draft was necessary for the Armed Services to meet its manpower needs.
The wheat shortage was also a big topic that week, Although wheat growing on farms compared favorably to the situation in 1945 the stock in warehouses was less than a third of 1945 levels, according to The Times. Some of the wheat was going to foreign export and some was being used to feed livestock, due to a quirk in the price control regulations. The black market was also diverting grain and in some cases farmers were holding their wheat from the market in protest over the ceiling prices. The government was issuing new regulations that would ration wheat to bakers and grocers but were not willing to take the politically unpopular action of imposing rations directly on consumers, despite the desperate plea for more wheat exports from international aid organizations. The government preferred to rely on voluntary cutbacks.