Freedom from Chaos New Highway System New Families

The Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 gave $25 billion to the new system in order to make the 41 thousand miles that was planned for the new roads. Not only did the highway help aid the military and civil defense operations but it also helped the people living in the suburbs. Building these roads made travel to the work place and back home more unproblematic for the people who needed it. Since the travel was less complex for the public it helped take away the closeness of the cities. More people were encouraged to move to the suburbs. They saw this as a way to live the American Dream.

The people who moved from the congested city to the spacious and laid back suburbs got freedom. Meaning they didnt have to worry as much about the cost of living since it was less in the suburbs. Freedom from the over crowdedness of the city. As well as depending on other people for their homes or apartments. They were free to make choices that they other wise wouldnt have had the ability to do if they still resided in the city.

Many couple were getting married and starting their own family. Thats when they found out that it would be easier if they would move into the suburbs right outside of the city. One of the reason this was better for them was because the cost of living in the suburbs was less then the cost for living in the city. The families who lived in the suburbs still lived close enough to the city to get to the shops that were in the city.

When the soldiers came home from fighting in the war, they were getting married and starting their own family. With the increase of the births of the kids it resulted in the Baby Boom. The number of births peeked to 4.2 million in The results of the boom consisted of more roads being paved, higher demand for consumer goods, automobiles and of course more suburban homes being built.

There were three Levitts who ran the company. Abraham Levitt, who was the father and financier, Alfred Levitt was the architect, and William Levitt was the salesman and production manager. The three of them worked for the United States building on the brink of 2,400 units for the Navy in Virginia. They were also the people who helped with the inhabited construction boom that housed an age bracket and in addition they aided the expansion of the suburbs during the 50s. Families wanted to live in their own homes spaced out from the other people around them. That was part of the American Dream. One of the most well-known effects that the Levitts were involved with was Levittown. It was built outside of Trenton in The family used cheap materials and used few blueprints. After people saw the affects of this town, Benjamin Fairless, president of U.S. Steel, bought up acres of nearby farmland to develop into 4,000 houses in Falls Township, Pa. evittown/building.html com/watch?v=pHnIjp ndAnM

The G.I. Bill was created in order to prevent a strain on the nations economy when the service men returned from fighting in the war. The Bill gave servicemen the ability to go back to school to get a better education, get low-interest loans to buy a house or start a business. Of the 13 million homes that were in the suburbs 11 million of them were financed with loans from the program. With the ability to buy their own home, many of them made the decision to move to the suburbs. With this, the suburbs expanded to make room for the new comers from the cities. tory/The_GI_Bill.html

Bibliography Consequences of 1950s White Flight. 1 Apr Web. 15 Feb How Suburbs Changed the United States Web. 15 Feb THE 1950s: POST-WAR AMERICA HITCHES UP AND heads for the 'burbs. Penton Media, Inc., Web. 15 Feb The GI Bill. 14 July Web. 15 Feb : American dream houses, all in a row. Web. 15 Feb