Chapter 29 –Chapter 29 –Prosperity and ReformProsperity and Reform

1945-19801945-1980

Section 1 –Section 1 –

The Booming Postwar WorldThe Booming Postwar World

Before and During the Truman YearsBefore and During the Truman Years• GI Bill of Rights – a law passed by Congress before Truman was President

and before the war ended. This law provided money for returning veterans (?) to help them pay for college or new homes, or to set up a business or farm. This spending helped the economy to expand.

• Inflation – rising prices. This was a big problem after the war (after Truman was President). Government stopped regulating wages and prices and costs jumped.

• Workers wanted higher wages because of the prices. Employers said no. Workers went on strike. Truman thought workers deserved more pay but was afraid that would lead to higher inflation so he pressured them to go back to work, even threatening to draft them.

• Election of 1948 – Truman won in an upset election. “Give ‘em hell, Harry!”

The Fair DealThe Fair Deal• President Truman’s domestic (?)

program was a 21-point program called the Fair Deal.

• This was opposed by Republicans and conservative Democrats.

• 3 of the points that became law: 1. Higher minimum wage2. Larger Social Security benefits3. Loans for people to buy low-cost

homes• 1 of the points that did not

become law (what does this have to do with today?):

– National health insurance paid by the government

The Eisenhower YearsThe Eisenhower Years• Truman did not run for re-election

in 1952.• Democrats nominated Senator

Adlai Stevenson of Illinois.• Republicans nominated General

Dwight D. Eisenhower– Nickname “Ike”. “I like Ike”– War hero (Korean War and Cold

War)– Landslide victory

• President Eisenhower said he was conservative about money and liberal about people (?)

• President Eisenhower followed a middle of the road approach (?)

• Re-elected in 1956.

The Baby BoomThe Baby Boom

• Birth rate – number of babies born for every 1000 in population.

• Baby boom – from the late 40s to early 60s when the birth rate in the US soared.

• Baby boomers – those born between 1946 and 1965.

• Why?1. What was going on?2. Improvements in health care

Decades 1930s 1940s 1950sPopulation growth in US

9,000,000 19,000,000 29,000,000

Economic ProsperityEconomic Prosperity• Reasons for economic prosperity:

1. More people (more demand)2. Federal spending on roads, houses, schools,

weapons for Cold War. (why does this help?)3. New technology improved productivity (average

output per worker). Companies started using computers in the 1950s.

• Standard of living – a measurement of the amount of goods, services and leisure time people have. During the 1950s, Americans’ standard of living increased.

• Affluence – wealth. Americans had more affluence and started buying many things (washing machines, vacuum cleaners, televisions, cars). Sound familiar?

Life in the 1950sLife in the 1950s• Suburbs – communities just outside cities.

During the ’50s, suburbs grew 40 times faster than cities.– Levittown – a new way of building suburban

homes. William Levitt would buy a large piece of land, divide it up, and build identical houses on each piece. He called his communities Levittown.

– Shopping centers, with new department stores (?), were built near the suburban homes

• Sunbelt – an area of the southern US from Florida to California. Millions of people moved south and west during the ’50s. Why?– Warm climate– Better jobs (many companies moved there

for low taxes and cheap workforce)– Growing industries – agriculture, oil,

electronics, national defense

Life in the 1950s, continuedLife in the 1950s, continued• The automobile• In cities, people did not need cars very often

• In suburbs and in the sunbelt, people usually needed a car to get to work or to a store

• By 1960, 9 out of every 10 families living in the suburbs owned a car

Interstate Highway Act of 1956• Network of thousands of miles of high-speed roads• Cost more than $250 billion• Partly designed based on Cold War fears so that troops and

military equipment could move quickly from one part of the country to another; and so people could leave cities quickly in case of an attack by the Soviet Union

Life in the 1950s, continuedLife in the 1950s, continued

• TELEVISIONTELEVISION• 1946 – 17,000 TV sets in the whole country• 1950s – 7,000,000 sold each year• Shows for everyone:

Life in the 1950s, continuedLife in the 1950s, continued

• HOW DID TELEVISION AFFECT HOW DID TELEVISION AFFECT AMERICAN CULTURE?AMERICAN CULTURE?

1. Brought news and entertainment into people’s homes

2. Commercials encouraged buying consumer goods

3. TV shows tended to show only one view of the ideal middle-class family led people to try to look and act the same (conform)

Life in the 1950s, continuedLife in the 1950s, continued

• ROCK ‘N’ ROLLROCK ‘N’ ROLL– Combination of rhythm, blues, country and

gospel music styles– Provided an opportunity for teenagers of the

1950s to not conform (to behave and dress like most people)

– Chuck Berry: (and in “Back to the Future”)– Big Mama Thornton (Hound Dog):– Elvis Presley (“The King”) (Hound Dog): (and

in “Forrest Gump”)

Hints of ChangeHints of Change

• Dissent (?) from Conformity (?)Dissent (?) from Conformity (?)• Some objected to growing materialism

(being more interested in material goods than in spiritual values)

• Jack Kerouac made up the term “beat” which meant “weariness (?) with all forms of the modern industrial state.” Conformists called Kerouac and those who agreed with him “beatniks”

• Social movements, critical of society, started growing in the 50s