1. Postwar America:
AP US History

2. Economic Readjustment
Immediate Economic Problems ( )
Recession, Inflation, Labor Conflict
Long Economic Boom ( s)
WWII/Cold War Military Spending
New Deal Social Spending
Industrial Dominance
Large expansion of living standards and more Americans experience middle class life/comfort

3. HW Questions
1. How did each of the following contribute to economic growth? -Government Spending -Suburbia -Baby Boom 2. What were 3 factors supporting the idea of the homogenous society? 3. What were 3 factors challenging the idea of the homogenous society?

4. The Homogenous Society
Liberal Government Policy: GI Bill, Interstate Highway Act, NDEA, Truman & Ike Institutionalizes the New Deal
(exception: Taft-Hartley Act – anti union)
Social Change: Baby Boom, Suburbia (Levittown), Sunbelt, Auto Culture, Interstates
Big Business: IBM, Coke, Boeing, McDonalds, Ford, General Motors, advertising
Cult of Domesticity
Television: “the vast wasteland”
Popular Music: Elvis, Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry
Technology: plastics, medicine, chemicals, appliances, automation, computers
Literature: Salinger, Kerouac, Ginsberg, Heller
Left Out: minorities, women, poor, inner cities

5. Writing/Discussion Questions
Practice Synthesis:
The 1950s were like ….
Argumentation:
Were the 1950s a golden age for American life?
Thesis w/ 2 bulleted pieces of evidence

6. Baby Boom

7. Suburbia

8. Sunbelt (Rustbelt)

9. Dixiecrats

10. Election of 1948

11. Interstate Highway System

12. Cult of Domesticity

13. 1950s Television

14. 1950s Rock and Roll

15. Literature