American History Chapter 19 – Postwar America

The Soldiers Come Home GI Bill of Rights – passed by Congress in 1944 to help veterans return to normal life. It paid a partial amount of school tuition, and guaranteed a year’s worth of unemployment, as well as low interest loans. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_vv7GwVkAU

I see… I think… I wonder…

Suburbia/Housing Crisis Suburbs were created in response to a housing shortage. These are small housing communities surrounding cities. William Levitt stated his company could build a house assembly line style in 16 minutes. These houses and the area they were in became known as Levittowns. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wT_A9PFOY18

Extra Info Due to its mass-produced nature, the Levittown house soon became synonymous with homogeneity (sameness) and dullness. Most of these communities did not have any black families because of their racial exclusiveness; in Levittown for example the initial lease called for only whites to be allowed to live in its homes.

Divorce/Redefining the Household There was a high rate of divorce during this time, women had gotten used to unconventional roles, and did not want to go back to traditional roles. Why????

Economic Readjustment Because the war was over, the wartime economic boom ended. Millions were laid off, and price protections to stop inflation ended. Once the Cold War started, defense spending increased, which helped the economy.

1948 Election Dixiecrats – Southern Democrats who ran their own candidate, Strom Thurmond to protest against Truman’s pro civil rights stance. Truman won re-election.

The Fair Deal Fair Deal - Truman’s proposed as an extension of New Deal Nationwide health insurance Crop subsidies These were defeated Minimum wage was increased Financial support to improve housing in the cities was enacted. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVwnluRJWhw

Truman’s Inherited Problems Discontented workers were striking Truman threatened to draft them and take control of the mines where many worked. Congress overrode his veto of and passed the Taft-Hartley Act, which took away many New Deal Rights Truman supported Civil Rights when he ordered the desegregation of the armed forces.

A New President Dwight D. Eisenhower became president, Richard Nixon became Vice president

Business and Organization Americans were becoming white collar or business workers. These were higher level, higher paid positions. Conglomerates major corporations with smaller unrelated companies kept expanding. Franchises which are companies offering similar products in many locations were becoming a booming business.

Suburbs Americans were now living in suburbs and traveling to work.

Changing Lives Baby Boom – The birth rate soared, due to veterans coming home and starting families. Many new drugs were developed to save and increase life expectancy. Business and education expanded due to the increase in babies. More and more women began working outside of the home, their job opportunities were limited to traditional women’s roles such as nurses, teachers and secretaries. Women also earned less money. Americans had more time for leisure than ever, they participated in sports, reading, cooking, religion, do it yourself projects, because most were working the new standard 40 hour work week. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wT_A9PFOY18&t=111s

Automobiles New car sales skyrocketed from 40 million in the 1950s to 60+million in the 1960s. Cars were necessary to suburban living.   The Interstate Highway Act was passed in 1956 to build a nationwide highway network. This made high speed and long haul travel more possible. People started traveling more than before, small towns along highways grew quickly. Job opportunities grew due to new businesses along highways.  Cars caused problems as well, pollution, traffic jams and accidents

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8U8SMuZd8aQ

Consumerism Planned obsolescence – to encourage more people to buy goods, manufacturers made products that would go bad on purpose. They also introduced new updates to products. Americans started buying with credit cards, and the average debt in America grew to $179 billion Advertisers took advantage of this and started putting ads everywhere, they used psychology to create a need for a product. Television was the most popular way to advertise. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D56nut_9e8s

More Mass Media Beat Movement – From San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York, this movement expressed non-conformity in social and literary work. Jazz – A type of music made popular by African Americans which was characterized by the use of improvisation.

Rock ‘N’ Roll Music from rhythm and blues, first played by Alan Freed a DJ from Cleveland in 1951. Teenagers followed this type of music exclusively. Chuck Berry and Elvis Presley were known for rock ‘n’ roll. Presley became the “King” of Rock ‘n’ Roll, teenagers followed him around the country. Many adults condemned this type of music, some cities banned concerts, they believed it would lead to delinquency and immorality.

The Other America 1962 1 out of 4 Americans were living in poverty Millions of Americans were leaving the cities for the suburbs. This kept the money from the cities. This was known as “white flight” Urban Renewal tearing down rundown neighborhoods and rebuilding with low cost housing, the National Housing Act of 1949 helped to do this.