Download Chapter 27 Post War America

Postwar America
The Truman and Eisenhower
administrations led the nation to
make social, economic, and political
adjustments after World War II.
The GI Bill of Rights
• This was passed in 1944, it was created
to help ease veteran’s return to civilian
life.
– It offered partial tuition payments.
– Guaranteed a year’s worth of
unemployment benefits while searching
for work.
– Offered low interest guaranteed loans.
– Millions of young families used the loans
to buy houses, farms, and businesses.
Housing Crisis
• Pre-Fab housing was manufactured.
• The suburbs exploded. For less than
$7,000.00, one could purchase a home.
• Americans loved the openness, and
small-town feel of the suburbs.
War Marriages in Trouble
• After the war, G.I.’s came back home to their
wives who had a new sense of freedom.
• They were working on the assembly lines
and now lost their job to the men who had
returned.
• They had been the breadwinners and
decision makers, and now that was back to
the responsibility of the husband.
The Economy Recovers
• People had gone without any goods for
so long and now had money to spend.
• The American economy boomed, the
demand for goods and services were
more than the supply could keep up
with.
• Production increased and with it so did
the jobs.
Truman’s Fair Deal
• Was an extension of Roosevelt’s New Deal.
• It included:
– Raising the hourly minimum wage from 40 cents
to 75 cents.
– Extending Social Security coverage to 10 million
more people.
– Initiated flood control and irrigation projects.
– Provided financial support for cities to clear out
slums and build 810,000 housing units for lowincome families.
Conglomerates
• A major corporation that includes a
number of smaller companies in
unrelated industries.
• Examples are Time-Warner, and
General Electric, Coca-Cola.
Franchise
• A company that offers similar products
or services in many locations.
• McDonald’s, Burger King, Dunkin
Donuts.
The Baby Boom
• This era was between the late 1940’s
and the early 1960’s.
• The birth rate of America soared after
the veterans from World War II had
settled into a family life.
• The height of the boom was in 1957.
• This is the largest generation in the
nation’s history.
Dr. Jonas Salk
Dr. Jonas Salk
• He created a vaccine for polio. That
would help make Polio a thing of the
past within the next twenty years.
• Polio is a crippling disease. It was a
viral disease which affected the spinal
cord causing muscle weakness and
paralysis.
Dr. Benjamin Spock
Dr. Benjamin Spock
• He wrote a book called “Common Sense
Book of Baby and Child Care”, in 1946.
• The book took off in the 1950’s when the
baby boom started to hit.
– He encouraged parents not to spank or scold their
children.
– He encouraged families to hold meetings so that
kids could express themselves.
– He said it was important for mothers to stay at
home.
American Leisure in the Fifties
• American’s had more leisure time than
ever before.
• More people now owned:
– Washing Machines
– Clothes Dryers
– Dishwashers
– Lawn Mowers
– Television Sets
$30 Billion is spent on Leisure
Activities
• Sports: Fishing, hunting, bowling,
boating, golf.
• Pro Sports attendance rose.
• Americans became avid readers.
– Hemingway
– J.D. Salinger
– Sports Illustrated
– Reader’s Digest
Automobile Culture
• Due to Suburban living, American’s need
cars for transportation to work and leisure
activity.
• New highways were formed because of the
car boom.
– Route 495
– Route 24 were built during this time.
– The Interstate Highway Act- built a
nationwide highway network. This helped
create more suburbs farther from the
cities.
1950’s Automobiles
Car Boom Creates
• Drive In Theaters are created.
• Drive in Restaurants and diners are
created.
• Shopping Malls are built.
Negative Effects of Car Boom
• Pollution.
• Upper class and middle class whites left the
crowded cities for Suburbian life.
• Jobs and Businesses soon followed.
• Public Transportation declined.
• Poor in the cities were left without jobs or
public service.
• The gap between the poor and middle class
widened.
Consumerism
• Buying material goods.
• This became a way to show someone
how successful you were.
• The more materials the better off you
were.
Planned Obsolescence
• This is where manufacturers began using
this marketing strategy. They would
purposely design products to wear out or
become outdated in a short period of time.
• Americans came to expect new and better
products and to throw out items that have
been hardly used.
• America became a “throw away society.”
The First Credit Card is issued.
• The Diner’s Club in 1950 was America’s
first credit card.
• The American Express card would be
introduced in 1958.
• Instead of saving money, American’s
were spending it. They felt that
economic prosperity would continue.
Advertising Boom
• Advertising was now in magazines, on
radio and television and on billboards
along highways.
Mass Media
• Means of communication that reach
large audiences.
• This was used through television and
radio.
The Rise Of Television
• The 1950’s were considered the
“Golden Age” of Television.
• Federal Communications Commission
(FCC)- is a government agency that
regulates and licenses television,
telephone, telegraph, radio, and other
communications industries.
• By 1956 they had allowed 500 new
stations to broadcast across America.
The Beat Movement
• Was started in New York City’s
Greenwich Village.
• The movement was made up of poets,
artists, and writers who expressed
social and literary works against the
norm.
– Jack Kerouac “On the Road” 1957
– Allen Ginsberg “Howl”
Jack Kerouac
1922-1969
Allen Ginsberg
1926-1997
Rock and Roll
• A disc jockey named Alan Freed named
the new sound of rhythm and blues
Rock and Roll.
• Although it was a predominately
african-american sound, many white
artists took advantage and recorded
their own versions of the songs.
Early Pioneers of Rock and Roll
•
•
•
•
•
•
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Little Richard
Chuck Berry
Fats Domino
Elvis Presley
Bill Haley and the Comets
Buddy Holly and the Crickets
Jerry Lee Lewis
Jazz
• Was reinvented in the fifties by artists
such as Miles Davis, Sonny Rollins,
Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, and
Thelonius Monk.
• Their music was not in the mainstream
because they were African-American.
Most radio stations would not play it.
Urban Renewal
• The National Housing Act was passed to tear
down old rundown neighborhoods and
construct low income housing.
• Although it did some good, a lot of the land
was used for parking lots and shopping
malls.
• This did not address the need for housing
the poor. The poor simply left what used to
be their living space and go to another poor
neighborhood.
Braceros
• They were Mexican hired hands that
were allowed into the United States in
order to harvest certain crops. Once
the harvest was done they were sent
back to Mexico.
• The problem was many remained in the
U.S. illegally.
The Longoria Incident
• Felix Longoria was a Mexican-American
World War II hero, who was killed in the
Phillipines.
• The only undertaker in town refused to
provide funeral services.
Termination Policy
• This eliminated federal economic
responsibility for Native American Tribes.
• All reservations and tribal lands were
discontinued.
• The bureau of Indian affairs tried to relocate
Native Americans into cities.
– The Indians were not prepared or equipped for
new jobs.
– Discrimination and prejudice was a large reason
why they did not succeed.