Transcript postwar america

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U.S. HISTORY & GEOGRAPHY
CHAPTER 14
* Despite worrying about unemployment & a recession after the
war, the economy continued to grow as consumers increased
spending. Demand for goods did lead to higher prices resulting
in an increase in inflation. Cost of living will increase &
industrial workers will demand better pay & go on strike for it.
* Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944 (GI Bill): provide funds
to help veterans establish businesses, buy homes, & attend
college. This aided in boosting the economy.
* Republicans used this opportunity in the 1946 Congressional
elections & get control of both houses of Congress (1st time since
1930).
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* Passed by the Republican
controlled Congress. This law
banned closed shops, allowed
states to pass right-to-work
laws which outlawed union
shops, prohibited
featherbedding, or limiting
work output in order to
create more jobs, & banned
using union money to support
political campaigns. Truman
vetoed the bill & Congress
overrode his veto.
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* After Truman’s reelection he would propose domestic measures
to continue the world of some New Deal programs
* Proposals included: expanding Social Security, raising minimum
wage, public housing, employment through federal spending &
investment, national health insurance, environmental & public
works planning.
* February 1948: Truman proposed a civil rights bill that would
protect the right to vote, abolish poll taxes, & making lynching a
federal crime.
* Executive order barred discrimination in federal employment &
ended segregation in the armed forces.
* Many legislative initiatives will fail in the Republic controlled
Congress
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* Many saw Truman’s reelection as having very little success due to
fractures in the Democratic Party. Southern Democrats will form
the States’ Rights (“Dixiecrat”) Party as they were angry at
Truman’s support of civil rights – candidate = Strom Thurmond –
SC Governor. Liberal Democrats will form the Progressive Party as
they were frustrated at Truman’s ineffective domestic policies
and his anti-Soviet foreign policy – candidate = Henry A. Wallace.
* Republicans nominated Thomas Dewey, NY Governor.
* Truman campaigned focusing on the Republican Congress’ failings
calling it the “do-nothing, good-for-nothing” Congress. Even
though this Congress will enact many legislative initiatives (i.e.
Marshall Plan, Department of Defense, National Security Council,
CIA, etc.), Truman was able to make the phrase “stick” as none of
these measures impacted Americans overall.
* Truman won a narrow but stunning victory over Dewey
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* Truman’s legislative initiatives became known as the “Fair Deal”
where Truman believed that every American should expect the same
from the government.
* Congress supported the following initiatives from the “Fair Deal”:
* Minimum wage to $.75 an hour
* Increased Social Security by 75% & extended them to 10 million additional
people
* National Housing Act of 1949 – provided construction of low0income housing
& long-term rent subsidies
* Congress refused the following initiatives from the “Fair Deal”:
* National Health insurance
* Aid to farmers or schools
* Civil Rights legislation where conservative Republicans & Dixiecrats took the
lead opposing
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In a Herblock Takeoff on "The Charge of
the Light Brigade," a Beleaguered Harry
Truman Charges Against Opponents
Washington Post, February 23, 1948
* Republican Party will have Dwight D. Eisenhower run for
the presidency against Democrat hopeful Adlai
Stevenson.
* Republicans used the slogan “It’s time for change!” & “I
Like Ike” to assist in Eisenhower’s landslide victory.
* Republicans gained an 8-seat majority in the house with
the Senate evenly divided
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* “Middle of the Road” described Eisenhower’s political beliefs
* “Dynamic conservatism” meant balancing economic
conservatism with activism that benefited the country
* Eisenhower:
* Ended government price & rent controls
* Vetoed a school construction bill
* Slashed aid to public housing & the Tennessee Valley Authority
* Abolished the Reconstruction Finance Corporation
* Eisenhower pushed for:
* Federal Highway Act - $25 billion for 10-year project to build more
than 40k miles of interstate highways. Largest public works program
* St. Lawrence Seaway – series of locks along St. Lawrence River that
connected the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean
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* Eisenhower will extend social security benefits to an
additional 10 million people, unemployment payments
to 4 million more citizens, raised the minimum wage, &
still provided some government aid to farmers
* Nation’s economy shifted back to a peacetime economy
successfully before Eisenhower’s second term in 1956
began.
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* 1950s will become a decade of prosperity as Americans will
have more disposable income than previously to spend on
new consumer goods.
* Advertising will help fuel the spending spree & become the
nation’s fastest-growing industry. Manufacturers will use new
marketing techniques to create consumer demand for their
products
* John Kenneth Galbraith published a book called The
Affluent Society where he discusses the nation’s
postwar prosperity & called it a new phenomenon as in
the past we had an “economy of scarcity” but now we
had the abundance – an “economy of abundance”
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* Mass production of suburbs would continue,
appealing to many Americans who were looking for
a better way of life, to escape the crime &
congestion of the city, & to live where it was more
affordable
* GI Bill, tax deductions, & low property taxes made
home ownership attractive to many Americans
* Levittown, NY was one of the earliest mass-
produced suburbs with hundreds of simple, similarlooking homes
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* 1945 – 1961 where more than 65 million children are born
in the U.S.
* Many had put off getting married or having children during
WWII & Korean War would begin their families &
government encouraged the growth of families with the
generous benefits from the GI bill.
* Popular culture of the time celebrated pregnancy,
parenthood, & large families
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* Many Americans who worked in offices (white-collar jobs) became
known as white-collar workers for the white collar shirts & ties
they wore. Whereas workers who worked as laborers or in
factories (blue-collar jobs) became known as blue-collar workers
representing the blue denim shirts they typically wore.
* Many corporations become multinational corporations as they
expanded overseas new raw materials & cheap labor. Some
corporations allowed for franchises to be purchased & run by
another person. These franchises were expected to conform to the
uniform look &style of the corporation itself.
* Conformity would be expected by employers as well. The idea of
conformity would extend into the home life of individuals as well,
no longer judging themselves on their own values & esteem of
their families.
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* 1947: transistor, tiny electric generator that made
radios smaller & portable
* 1946: ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator &
Computer) used to make military calculations. A
few years later, UNIVAC (Universal Automatic
Computer) would process business data & started
the computer revolution
* Aviation: Designers would use more plastics, light
metals, swept-back wings, & jet engines allowing
the planes to fly farther on the same amount of
fuel. These technological advances would aid in
making flying more affordable to Americans.
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Electronic
Numerical
Integrator
&
Computer
Universal Automatic Computer
* Cancer: radiation & chemotherapy helped many cancer
patients survive
* 1950: Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) helped many
survive heart attacks. 1952: pacemakers & artificial valves
would replace worn out ones
* Tuberculosis: blood test to detect & new antibiotics helped
deal with this contagious lung disease & in 1956 it would
fall from the top 10 list of fatal diseases
* Polio: Jonas Salk developed an injectable polio vaccine
which was available to public in 1955. Albert Sabin
developed an oral polio vaccine.
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* Television sets were expensive. 1946 – 8k owned by 1957
more than 40 million sets & 80% of families had at least 1
TV
* Early TV programs were comedies, variety shows, & action
programs.
* I Love Lucy, comedy, was the most popular TV show of the
time. Other shows included comedy starring Bob Hope &
Jack Benny (adapted from radio), Ed Sullivan’s Toast of
the Town (variety show), The $64,000 Question (quiz
show), The Long Ranger & Gunsmoke (westerns), Dragnet
(police show).
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From left, Lucille Ball , Vivian Vance ,
Desi Arnaz and William Frawley
* As television’s popularity grew, movies lost
views & theaters began to close.
* Cinemascope would save the movie industry as
it allowed for films to be shown on large
panoramic screens. Full-color movies like The
Robe & Around the World in 80 Days will be
expensive but draw the crowds back to the
theaters.
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* Even though TV would adapt many shows from radio, the
radio industry continued to thrive as commuters in their
car, traveling from the suburbs into the cities, would
listen to the radios for news & entertainment
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* 50s Teens were able to separate from the ideals of their parents as
they had disposable income to spend & the mass media meant that
teens around the country could hear the same music & TV shows
* Rock ‘n’ Roll music is adapted from rhythm-and-blues music. The
music became wildly popular among young people. Buddy Holly,
Chuck Berry, Bill Haley & the Comets, & Elvis Presley would be
among the popular entertainers of 1950s.
* Rock ‘n’ Roll allowed the teenagers to create a generation gap,
cultural separation, between them & their parents
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* White writers & artists will highlight the values gap of the
era & criticize American culture for its sterility,
conformity, & emptiness. This movement will be small
but laid the foundations for the youth cultural rebellion
in the 1960s
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* African American entertainers will struggle to find
acceptance but many rock ‘n’ roll singers like Chuck
Berry, Little Richard, Ray Charles, the Shirelles, the
Ronettes will all find popularity & record hit songs.
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* The minimum income necessary to support a family
was the imaginary marker set up by the government
to determine the poverty line in America. Approx.
30 million people lived below this line.
* Poverty was predominant in the nation’s urban
centers as middle class residents’ tax dollars went
to suburbs instead of cities.
* Cities were no longer able to provide adequate
public transportations, housing, & other services.
Urban renewal programs would be initiated to try
to eliminate poverty only to create other problems
(i.e. violence)
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* African Americans: Long-standing patterns of racial discrimination
kept many African Americans poor. A Raisin in the Sun, 1959 play
written by Lorraine Hansberry, told the story of a working class
African American family struggling against poverty & racism
* Hispanics: struggled with poverty as well. 5 million Mexicans came
to work through the Bracero Program but these were temporary
contracts for work. Many returned home with approx. 350k
settling permanently facing many conditions that were often
unbearable for little pay
* Native Americans: Poorest ethnic group in the nation with them
making up less than 1% of population. Termination policy was the
attempt by the federal government to mainstream Native
Americans by withdrawing all official recognition of the Native
American groups as legal entities & made them subject to the
same laws as white citizens
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* Juvenile delinquency, antisocial or criminal
behavior of young people saw a 45% rise in
juvenile crime rates in 1948 to 1953.
* Americans disagreed on what was to blame.
Going from television, movies, music, racism,
busy parents, rising divorce, lack of religion,
rebelling against conformity, & a lack of
discipline as some of the reasons why this was
occurring. Others pointed to teen violence,
poverty, gangs, & drugs.
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