Chapter 16
Postwar America
I.
Postwar Economic Issues
A. The Peacetime Economy
1. Postwar economies often suffer from
unemployment and recession
2. After WWII, this was largely avoided –
why?
a. Increased consumer spending
1) depression over – people
can afford to shop
2) rationing over – rush to buy
goods that had been
unavailable
b. The Servicemen’s Readjustment
Act aka the GI Bill
- how did this boost the
economy? Provided loans to
veterans to:
1) start a business
2) buy homes
3) attend college
*** all of this helped alleviate
unemployment in the
postwar period
3. One economic problem that did occur
after WWII was inflation
inflation: the loss of value of money –
causes rising prices
a. Higher demand = higher prices
(inflation)
b. because of inflation, workers wanted
higher pay. Led to more labor union
activity
4. Midterm elections 1946
a. Americans unhappy with labor unrest
and high prices – blame Truman and
the Democrats
b. Republicans win control of both the
House and the Senate - 1st time since
1930
4. Congress, to reign in power of labor
unions, passed the Taft-Hartley Act
a. Outlawed closed shop (an agreement
in which a company agrees to hire
only union members)
b. allowed states to pass right to work
laws (law making it illegal to require
employees to join a union) which
outlawed Union Shops (biz that
requires employees to join a union)
c. prohibited featherbedding (practice of
limiting work output in order to create
more jobs)
d. Forbade unions from financially
supporting political campaigns
- Pres Truman vetoed Taft-Hartley,
but Congress passed in 1947 over
the veto
Right to Work States today
Right-to-work states shown in turquoise
B. Truman’s Presidency
1. 1st term accomplishments
a. Executive Orders:
1) Executive Order 9980: barred
discrimination in federal employment
2) Executive Order 9981: ended
segregation in the US armed forces
(1948)
executive order: directive rule or regulation
issued by the Pres. – has the effect of law, but
does not require Congressional action
2. 1948 Election
a. Divisions in the Democratic Party
b. Truman’s Republican opponent was
Thomas Dewey was popular
3. The Campaign
a. “whistle-stop campaign”, traveled more
than 20,000 miles, gave 350 speeches
b. Blamed lack of progress on a “DoNothing Congress” (in reality,
Congress did a lot…but much of it was
in the foreign policy arena)
4. Surprise! Truman wins
a. Narrow victory
b. Bonus? Democrats regain control of
both houses of Congress
NOT
1948 Election
C. Truman’s Fair Deal
1. Fair Deal = Truman’s Domestic Agenda
- accomplished?
a. minimum wage increased
b. Social Security expanded
c. Nat’l Housing Act passed – low income
housing constructed
2. What Fair Deal legislation did Congress
reject?
a. did not pass Nat’l health insurance
b. no subsidies for farmers
c. no federal aid for schools
d. no civil rights legislation
D. Dwight D. Eisenhower’s Presidency
1. 1952 Election
a. Pres. Truman could have run for
reelection – but didn’t. Unpopular due to
Korean War
b. The Candidates
1) Dwight D. Eisenhower (R)
vs
2) Adlai Stevenson (D)
c. The winner? Easy win for Eisenhower
(Ike)
1952
Election
2. Ike’s Philosophy
a. “middle of the road” + business growth
+ dynamic_conservatism: policy of
balancing economic conservatism with
some activism
b. His conservative side
1) ended gov’t price and rent
controls (unnecessary gov’t
control over biz)
2) vetoed school construction bill
3) cut gov’t aid to public housing
4) supported modest tax cuts
RFC
5) attacked “creeping socialism”
(gov’t aid to biz)
- abolished Reconstruction
Finance Corp (RFC)
- cut $ to the Tennessee
Valley Authority (TVA)
c. His activist side (more gov’t spending)
1) Federal Highway Act : largest
public works program in US
history
- constructed a 41,000 mi network
of multi-lane interstate highways
- Results?
- efficient distribution of goods
- suburbanization and urban
sprawl
- Americans pick private car
travel over public
transportation
- travel time reduced
- increased national security
Interstate
Highways
2) Authorized construction of the
Great Lakes - St. Lawrence
Seaway
- connected Great Lakes to Atlantic
Ocean
- expanded int’l trade and shipping
3) Expanded New Deal programs
- expanded Social Security
- extended unemployment
compensation
- increased minimum wage
- continued aid to farmers
3. 1956 Election: Ike reelected easily
Eisenhower (R) vs Adlai Stevenson (D)
II. Characteristics of the 1950s
A. Era of Affluence
1. The Affluent Society by John
Kenneth Galbraith: said US affluent
with high standard of living b/c of new
biz techniques and improved
technology
affluence:abundance of money,
property, and other material goods
2. The Statistics: btwn 1940-1960…
a. Avg income almost tripled in all classes
b. rise in home ownership
c. mechanization of farms and factories led
to growth of white collar jobs (jobs in fields
not requiring work or protective clothes – such as
sales)
d. growth of multinational corporations :
large overseas companies (cheap labor,
closer to raw materials)
e. growth of franchises
f. growth of conglomerates
conglomerate: very large company made up of several
smaller companies that supply varied products or services
3. Conformity – characteristic of the era
conformity: behavior that is the same as the behavior
of most other people in a society, group, etc.
a. Franchises presented uniform look &
style
b. corporations expected employees to
conform to company standards
c. “keep up with the Jones’ mentality”
1) had to buy same new products as
neighbors (vacuums, air conditioners,
coffee makers etc
2) led to growth of advertising (fastest
growing industry of the era) to influence
choices among brands of goods that were
essentially the same – equate products to
4. Movin’ on up…and out to the suburbs
a. Suburb Statistics
1) 85% of new home construction in burbs
2) suburban population doubled, city
population grew only 10%
b. why move to the ‘burbs?
1) to escape crime & congestion of cities
2) seen as a move UP – American Dream
achieved!
3) picturesque environment
c. Suburban life became affordable
1) GI bill: low-interest loans made living in
the burbs affordable
2) gov’t’s tax deductions for home interest
payments and property taxes
d. Levittown, NY
1) one of earliest planned residential
communities
2) mass-produced hundreds of similarlooking, inexpensive homes in a potato
field 10 mi E of NY
3) hundreds of similar communities sprung
up nationwide
B. 1950s Family
1. Postwar Baby Boom
a. 1946-1964: 65m babies born in US
b. Why a baby boom?
1) couples marrying after WWII & Korea
2) GI benefits for home purchase
encouraged growth of family
3) pop culture celebrated large families,
pregnancy, parenthood
2. Women in the 50s
a. Main role? Homemaker (remember I
LOVE LUCY episode – Quiz Show)
b. focus on success through HIS job
c. still number of women working outside
the home increased somewhat during
1950s
– by 1960 ~ 1/3 of all married
women were part of paid workforce
C. Technological Breakthroughs
1. Electronics
a. Transistor (1947): made miniaturized
radios and calculators possible
b. Computer (1946)
1) US Military: ENIAC – to make military
calculations
2) later, UNIVAC – to handle biz data
c. Result of new technology? Allowed
Americans to work more quickly and
efficiently resulting in more free time
ENIAC
2. Medical Miracles
a.
b.
c.
d.
Antibiotics: to fight infection
New drugs: to fight diabetes, cancer etc
New surgery techniques
Polio vaccine – developed by Jonas Salk
- polio cases fell dramatically to fewer
than 5000 by 1960.
POLIO
• highly contagious viral
infection that can lead to
paralysis, breathing
problems, or even death
• No cure once infected
• Today, eradicated in all
but Afghanistan,
Pakistan, and Nigeria
One treatment for lung
paralysis due to polio was
to place the patient into an
iron lung - a device that
would push and pull chest
muscles to make them
work
III. Pop Culture 1950s
A. Mass Media in the 50s
1. Television
a. available in 40s, but affordable in ‘50s
- 80% had TV by 1957
b. The impact of TV
1) info via TV news
2) growth of advertising - commercials
3) televised sports led growth of pro and
college sports
4) decline of radio and movies (temporarily)
5) spread of US culture worldwide
c. The Programs
The Ed
Sullivan
Show
1) comedy: sit-coms (I Love Lucy)
2) Action: westerns (Lone Ranger); police
(Dragnet)
3) Variety: (Ed Sullivan)
4) Quiz Shows ($64,000 Question)
2. The Movies
a. As TV popularity grew, movie
attendance fell
b. New innovations to attract viewers
1) 3-D movies/glasses
2) cinemascope: large, panoramic screen
shows
3) made movies especially for TV
4) sold old movies for rebroadcast on TV
c. Starring roles
1) single women played roles of women
hoping to get married
2) black actors played stereotypical roles
such as maids or servants
3. Radio
a. As TV popularity grew, radio popularity
fell
b. TV took over many of radio’s concepts
(comedy, soap-opera, dramas etc)
c. To win back audiences, Radio turned to
targeted programming
1) aired recorded music, news, talk shows,
weather, etc…
2) led to growth of radio industry in this era
B. The New Youth Culture
1. Rock ‘n’ Roll
a. a new American form of music - 1950s
1) incorporates rhythm and blues, country,
and gospel
2) use of electronically amplified
instruments and a loud and heavy beat
b. Elvis Presley = King of Rock ‘n’ Roll
Elvis!
1) known for his moves (gyrating hips) and
his music
2) record deals, movie contract, TV
appearances
Elvis
c. The Generation Gap
Parents: Big
Band Music
Frank Sinatra
Artie Shaw
Glenn Miller
1) parents condemned rock ‘n’ roll as loud,
mindless, dangerous, devil music
2) teens bought rock ‘n’ roll music in record
numbers
3) created a generation gap: cultural
separation between children and their
parents
Kids: Rock n
Roll
Elvis Presley
Little Richard
Chuck Berry
2. Country Music
a. Popular Stars: Johnny Cash; Patsy Cline:
Hank Williams
b. appealed to both urban and rural
audiences
c. themes of drinking, loving and losing
Walkin’ After Midnight
3. The Beats (sometimes called beatniks)
a. beatnik: one who participated in a
social movement of the 1950s - stressed
artistic self-expression and the rejection
of the conformity of conventional society
b. The “beat generation” embraced
originality and individuality –
experimented with drugs, free love,
communal living
c. criticized the sterility and conformity of
American life, the meaninglessness of
American politics
d. John Kerouac wrote On the Road about a
freewheeling adventures with a car thief –
shocked readers
C. Black Entertainers
1. TV
a. blacks largely shut out of TV
b. Exception was Nat King Cole who had a
15 min. variety show in 1956
c. show canceled after 2 yrs b/c of difficulty
attracting a sponsor for a show hosted
by a black man
2. Rock ‘n’ Roll
a. more acceptance
b. top black rock ‘n’ rollers of the 1950s
The Shirelles
- Chuck Berry; Little Richard; Ray Charles
- Chiffons, Shirelles, the Supremes
IV. The Other Side of American Life
A. Some left out of prosperity of the ‘50s
1. Statistics
a. overall, a reduction of poverty
1) 1950: 1 in 3 poor
2) 1959; just 1 in 5 poor but still 30 m below
poverty line: level of personal or family
income below which one is classified as
poor by the gov’t
b. Michael Harrington wrote The Other
America
1) alerted readers to poverty pockets in US
2) single moms, immigrants, inner city etc.
2. Decline of Inner City
a. whites moved to suburbs - inner cities
now home to poorer, less educated
minority groups
b. when whites moved, tax $ went with them
- deprived inner cities of $ needed to
provide adequate public transportation,
housing etc. – area deteriorated
c. Govt attempts to help
1) urban renewal: gov’t programs that
attempt to eliminate poverty and revitalize
urban areas
2) tore down slums, built high rise projects
Cabrini Green d. Problems with urban renewal
1) violence in projects
Projects: Chicago
2) gov’t encouraged residents of public
housing to remain poor by evicting them
as soon as they began earning money
3) destroyed housing space – destroyed
poor people’s homes to make way roads,
parks, etc..
Cabrini Green
Projects: Den of
gang violence and
poverty
3. Black Americans
a. many black Americans in cities due to
Great Migrations
b. fewer factory jobs after wartime
c. racial discrimination in schools, housing,
hiring, salaries
d. 1958: earned average of 51% of whites
4. Hispanics
a. Bracero program brought 5 m Mexicans
to US – 350,000 stayed
b. migrant farm workers experienced low
pay, long hours, terrible living conditions
5. Native Americans
a. made up less than 1% of US population
b. poorest group in the nation
c. Termination Policy: an attempt at
assimilate NAs into US mainstream
society by withdrawing recognition of NA
groups as legal entities
1) encouraged them to move off
reservations and into cities
2) disastrous results – deepened
poverty
3) NAs remain the poorest sector in
US society
6. Appalachia
a. poor non-minority region in Appalachian
mts
b. many moved to city and left behind
elderly and less mobile residents
c. poor nutrition; high infant mortality; poor
schools;
B. Juvenile Delinquency
1. Increased Criminal behavior in young
people
Juvenile Delinquency: antisocial,
criminal behavior of young people
a. top crimes
1) car theft
2) street gangs/muggings
b. possible causes of juvenile delinquency
1) poverty
2) lack of religion
3) tv, movies, comic books
4) busy parents
5) rising divorce rate
2. Concerns with Education System
a. b/c of baby boom: teacher shortages +
school building shortages
b. concern with lack of technical ed in
schools (as a result of Sputnik)
c. efforts to improve math and science ed
began