Chapter 29 – Prosperity and Reform Section 1 – The Booming Postwar World

Before 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 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 wage 2.Larger Social Security benefits 3.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 Years Truman did not run for re-election in 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 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 Why? 1.What was going on? 2.Improvements in health care Decades  1930s1940s1950s Population growth in US 9,000,00019,000,00029,000,000

Economic 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 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, 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, 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, continued HOW DID TELEVISION AFFECT AMERICAN CULTURE?HOW DID TELEVISION AFFECT 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, 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”)Chuck BerryBack to the Future –Big Mama Thornton (Hound Dog):Big Mama Thornton –Elvis Presley (“The King”) (Hound Dog): (and in “Forrest Gump”)Elvis Presley

Hints 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