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Transcript
The 1950s

Eisenhowers
 Election
 Domestic Policy
The Arms Race
 Post War American Life

1952 Election
 Democratic
National Convention
 Nominated Adlai E. Stevenson
○ Gov. IL
 Republican
National Convention
 Nominated Dwight D. Eisenhower
 WWII hero
 VP: Richard Nixon
Results of the Election of 1952

Eisenhower won
 34 million-27.3 million
 442-89
The 1950s

Eisenhowers
 Election
 Domestic Policy
The Arms Race
 Post War American Life

Dynamic Conservatism

Fiscally Conservative
 Goal:
 Balance the Federal Budget and Guarding Against
“Creeping Socialism”
 Interstate Highway Act 1956
Interstate Highway Act 1956


Cost: $114 billion over 35 years
42,000 mi of highways 1957-69
Interstate Highway Act 1956


Cost: $114 billion over 35 years
42,000 mi of highways 1957-69
The 1950s

Eisenhowers
 Election
 Domestic Policy
The Arms Race
 Post War American Life

Sputnik


10/4/1957 Sputnik
was launched in by
the Soviet Union.
First manmade
object put in orbit.
U.S. Response


Vanguard TV3 was
the first attempt by
U.S. to launch a
satellite
December 6, 1957
at Cape Canaveral
So, how did we
get to this
point?
Arms Race – America Begins To Rearm

National Security Act
 Department of Defense –
○ Housed in the Pentagon
○ Headed by the Secretary of Defense
○ Coordinate the army, navy, and air force
Arms Race – America Begins To Rearm

National Security Act
 Department of Defense –
○ Housed in the Pentagon
○ Headed by the Secretary of Defense
○ Coordinate the army, navy, and air force
 Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) –
○ Gather facts on foreign countries
Arms Race

1949 – USSR
exploded an A-Bomb
Hydrogen Bomb
Truman ordered the development of
the “H-bomb” (hydrogen bomb)
 A-Bomb – Fission Bomb
 H-Bomb – Fusion Bomb
 1952 – The U.S. tested its first H-bomb
at Bikini Atoll

Arms Race

1953 – USSR tested their first H-bomb
Delivery - SAC
 Secretary
of State John Foster Dulles
 Advocated “massive retaliation” –
included use of nuclear weapons
 Strategic
Air Command (SAC)
 Fleet of superbombers
Delivery



Bombers were in
the air 24/7
B-52 Bomber
U-2 spied on USSR
Delivery

Intercontinental
Ballistic Missiles
(ICBMs)
 Soviets made the first
○ R-7
○ put Sputnik in space
Delivery

The U.S. eventually
perfected their own
design
 Atlas
Delivery

The U.S. eventually
perfected their own
design
 Atlas
 Titan
Delivery

The U.S. eventually
perfected their own
design
 Atlas
 Titan
 Polaris
Delivery

The U.S. eventually
perfected their own
design
 Atlas
 Titan
 Polaris
 Minuteman
Mutually Assured Destruction

With both countries now having the
atomic bomb and the means to delivery
the bomb we entered an era of
mutually assured destruction (MAD)

Duck and Cover
The Tsar Bomb

Link

Link
Check Up!

Debate the following prompt: MAD
created greater security for the United
States.
The 1950s

Eisenhowers
 Election
 Domestic Policy
The Arms Race
 Post War American Life

Postwar Economic Anxieties

Would the Great Depression Return?
Postwar Economic Anxieties
Would the Great Depression Return?
 Some predicted that it would return:

 GDP slumped
 Deflation – Prices dropped 33%
 4.6 million went out on strike in 1946
Economic
Stimulus
Economic
Boom
Post
War
Boom
Sunbelt
Babyboom
Government Economic Stimulus

Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944
(GI Bill)
 Pay for GIs to go to college
○ 8 million
○ cost $14.5 billion
Government Economic Stimulus

Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944
(GI Bill)
 Pay for GIs to go to college
○ 8 million
○ cost $14.5 billion
 Veterans Administration (VA) loaned $16
billion to
○ buy homes, farms, and small businesses
Interstate Highway Act 1956


Cost: $114 billion over 35 years
42,000 mi of highways 1957-69
Check Up!

How did the G.I. Bill help the economy
in the long run, and help stop a
recession from occuring in the short
run?
Economic
Stimulus
Economic
Boom
Post
War
Boom
Sunbelt
Babyboom
The Economic Boom

Economy 1950s and 1960s
 Income Increased
 America had 40% of the world’s wealth (6%
of pop.)
The Economic Boom

Results of the
Economic Boom of
the 1950s and 1960s
 Income Increased
 America had 40% of the
world’s wealth (6% of
pop.)
 Funded the civil rights
movement
 Surplus paid for
Medicare and welfare
programs
The Economic Boom

What Started Economic
Prosperity?
 WWII
 G.I.
 Highway Act
 Military Industrial
Complex:
○ Aerospace
○ Electronics
○ Research and development
The Economic Boom

What Started Economic
Prosperity?
 Cheap energy –
○ Electricity increased 6x
○ U.S. doubled oil
consumption 1945-1970
The Economic Boom

What Started Economic
Prosperity?
 Education Enrollment
○ 1940: 36%
○ 1970: 90%
○ Education = Productivity
The Economic Boom

What Started Economic
Prosperity?
 Farmers
○ 1930 25%
○ 1945 15%
○ 1990s <2%
Economic
Stimulus
Economic
Boom
Post
War
Boom
Sunbelt
Babyboom
Baby Boom


Birthrate increased
until 1957
50 million babies
born by the end of
the 1950s
Baby Boom
What impact is the baby boom going to have on the United States in each
of the following decades?
1950
1960
1970
1980
1990
2000
2010
2020
2030
Economic
Stimulus
Economic
Boom
Post
War
Boom
Sunbelt
Babyboom
The Sunbelt

Growth of
the Sunbelt
 Sunbelt -
Florida through
California
 Pop. growth rate
double that of the
old industrial zones
of the NE
The Sunbelt

California
 1963, CA most
populous State
 Pop. 35 million
people
 1 out of 8 Americans
Check Up!


Respond to the following prompt in the form of a
thesis:
How did American society changing following WWII?