affluence and anxiety chapter 29. domestic policy truman and the fair deal fair deal attempted to...
TRANSCRIPT
Domestic Policy
Truman and the Fair Deal• Fair Deal attempted to expand
New Deal – Medical Insurance for all
Americans– Revived and strengthened Fair
Employment Practices Commission (FEPC)
– Federal aid to education• Spirit of reform waned in
postwar years (Apathetic Public)– Dixiecrats split democratic party
over civil rights reform • Fair Deal failed but set the
agenda for future attempts to expand New Deal
Eisenhower's Modern Republicanism
• Eisenhower left New Deal intact– Raised minimum wage and
expanded Social Security– Created Department of Health,
Education, and Welfare• 1956: Highway Act created
interstate highway system – Stimulated the economy – Shaped metropolitan growth
patterns• Overall Eisenhower years were
politically moderate
Postwar Prosperity• 1945–1960: Rapid economic
growth – Some older industries will
suffer (steel, agriculture, etc…)
– Recession hits by end of 50’s– Increase in Defense Spending
• Stimuli to consumer goods industry– Baby boom – Population shift to suburbia– Increase in capital spending
• Opportunity – GI Bill 1944– Employment Act 1946
Cultural Change• Consumerism the dominant social theme of the 1950s• Suburbia inhabited by middle class
– Most significant social change– Dependence on the automobile– Family togetherness– Created anxiety and dissatisfaction – Women in the workplace stimulates new feminism
• Areas of Greatest Growth– Church membership booms– School attendance (federal aid to focus on math and science/Sputnik)– Television watching
• Critics of the Consumer Society– The “Beat” movement were artists and authors (ex: David Riesman)
criticizing the conformity of suburban corporate culture