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Supplemental Information: Cold War Era
Interstate Highway System/ Act of 1956
On June 29, 1956, President Dwight Eisenhower signed the Federal-Aid Highway
Act of 1956. The bill created a 41,000-mile “National System of Interstate and
Defense Highways” that would, according to Eisenhower, eliminate unsafe roads,
inefficient routes, traffic jams and all of the other things that got in the way of
“speedy, safe transcontinental travel.” At the same time, highway advocates argued,
“in case of atomic attack on our key cities, the road net [would] permit quick
evacuation of target areas.” For all of these reasons, the 1956 law declared that the
construction of an elaborate expressway system was “essential to the national
interest.”
Main Idea:
Baby Boomers Generation
Almost exactly nine months after World War II ended, “the
cry of the baby was heard across the land,” as historian
Landon Jones later described the trend. More babies were
born in 1946 than ever before: 3.4 million, 20 percent more
than in 1945. This was the beginning of the so-called “baby
boom.” In 1947, another 3.8 million babies were born; 3.9
million were born in 1952; and more than 4 million were
born every year from 1954 until 1964, when the boom
finally tapered off. By then, there were 76.4 million “baby
boomers” in the United States. They made up almost 40
percent of the nation’s population.
Main Idea:
Suburbanization of the 1950s
The years after World War Two saw a massive movement of people into new
suburbs.
The growth of suburbs resulted from several historical forces, including the
social legacy
of the Depression, mass demobilization after the War (and the consequent
“babyboom”), greater government involvement in housing and development,
the mass marketing of the automobile, and a dramatic change in
demographics. As families began moving from farms and cities into new
suburbs, American culture underwent a major transformation. Race and
class dynamics began to shift; the longer distance between home and work
generated a highway and housing construction boom; and older community institutions began to disappear as the
family turned inward.
Main Idea:
Berlin Airlift
After World War II, the Allies partitioned the defeated Germany into a Soviet-occupied
zone, an American-occupied zone, a British-occupied zone and a French-occupied
zone. Berlin, the German capital city, was located deep in the Soviet zone, but it was
also divided into four sections. In June 1948, the Russians–who wanted Berlin all for
themselves–closed all highways, railroads and canals from western-occupied
Germany into western-occupied Berlin. This, they believed, would make it impossible
for the people who lived there to get food or any other supplies and would eventually
drive Britain, France and the U.S. out of the city for good. Instead of retreating from
West Berlin, however, the U.S. and its allies decided to supply their sectors of the city from the air. This effort,
known as the “Berlin Airlift,” lasted for more than a year and carried more than 2.3 million tons of cargo into West
Berlin.
Main Idea:
Alger Hiss
Though Alger Hiss, a U.S. State Department official, was accused of spying for the Soviet
Union and imprisoned, he was never convicted of espionage per se. Throughout his life,
Hiss denied any involvement in espionage, and many historians have for years remained
polarized on the question of Hiss's spying; some believe that declassified documents
prove he did spy for the Soviets, and some still see these allegations as groundless.
Main Idea:
Douglas MacArthur
Douglas MacArthur (1880-1964) was an American general who commanded the Southwest
Pacific in World War II (1939-1945), oversaw the successful Allied occupation of postwar
Japan and led United Nations forces in the Korean War (1950-1953).
Main Idea: