1. CHAPTER 23
POST WAR ECONOMY

2. 23-1 Peace time economy - flourished after WWII
GI Bill - provided loans to vets for businesses, homes and college
Demand for goods = higher prices= labor unrest (workers want to benefit from the higher prices of goods)
Ex - Coal miners strike Truman orders them back to work
Taft - Hartley Act - outlawed closed shops- practice of forcing owners to hire only union members
Owners could pass right to work laws - allowed them to hire outside union
Prohibited feather - bedding - limiting worker output to create new jobs

3. Truman Harry S. Truman - democrat (1945 - 1953)
Increased Gov. spending in business
Increased Federal spending
Passed Fair Deal legislation (min. wage, GI Bill) - Trumans domestic policy
Truman attacked congress, calling it a “Do Nothing Congress”

4. Dwight D. Eisenhower (1953-1961)
1952 Election Eisenhower (rep.) vs. Stevenson (dem.)
Eisenhower wins - Richard Nixon is Vice President
Wanted to limit Gov. involvement in business
Limit all Gov. spending
Republicans are more conservative (spend less money)
He ended price controls, vetoed school construction bills, slashed aid to housing, ended RFC
Eisenhower did have an active side though; passed fed. Highway act, Gt. Lakes sea way, extended social security
THIS POLICY IS DYNAMIC CONSERVATISM - save but spend on some

5. Chapter 23 - sect. 2 John Kenneth Galbraith - 1958
-economist “economy of abundance” - stated the U.S. post - war economy was prospering because of new business techniques and improved technology
Average family income tripled
owning a home went from 41% to 61%
Increase in white - collar jobs such as sales and management
By 1956 white collar outnumbered blue-collar workers - physical labor

6. Sect. 2 cont. 1950s - companies began to change
Multinational corporations - jobs were being moved overseas
Franchise - several stores in one chain
David Riesman - sociologist argued that workers were forced to conform to the group and were becoming “other directed” instead of “inner directed”.
William H. Whyte wrote “The Organization Man” - business wanted to keep people the same, no stand out personality

7. Sect. 2 cont.
1950s saw a growth of suburbs - urban areas outside the inner city
Levittown, New York - One of the first suburbs
By % of new homes were in the burbs
baby boom (65 million children born in the U.S.)

8. Technology breakthroughs
Transistor was invented - making it possible for small radios and calculators
ENIAC one of the nations earliest computers (military)
UNIVAC - later model that would handle business data and launch the computer revolution

9. Medical Miracles
1950s - antibiotics, new products to combat arthritis, diabetes, cancer, and heart disease
1940s and 1950s polio epedemic
Jonas Salk - invented a polio vaccine vaccine was declared safe

10. Chapter 23 - section 3 Pop culture of the 1950’s
TV tv sets by million
Bob Hope, Jack Benny, The Lone Ranger, Gunsmoke
Variety shows were a big hit - Ed Sullivan “Toast of the Town”
Quiz Shows were popular - until Charles Van Doren had the answers to the questions

11. Sect. 3 cont.
TV hurt the movie industry until Cinemascope - movies shown on large panoramic screens lured people back
Movies were expensive to make but earned that back in profit , “The Ten Commandments”

12. Sect. 3 cont. The New Youth Culture
Rock and Roll - early 1950’s based on African American rhythm and blues
Alan Freed - Ohio radio DJ started playing black music
Elvis Presley - rock and roll criticized for
being white and playing black music

13. Artists of the 50’s
African American - Chuck Berry, Ray Charles , Little Richard, Drifters
African American women - Crystals, Chiffons, Shirelles

14. Section 4 - the other side of American life
Even though the middle class was expanding, 1 in 5 still lived below the poverty line
Poverty line - figure set by Gov. to reflect the minimum income required to support a family
Michael Harringtone - wrote “ The Other America” - exposed poverty that exists in America

15. Sect. 4 cont.
Urban renewal - Gov. attempt to help the poor by tearing down slums in the inner city
Not successful because it eliminated affordable housing
Minorities are the largest group of poor
Bracero program - Hispanics filling labor intensive jobs in the United States
Native Americans were the poorest group
Termination Policy - Gov. began withdrawing legal recognition of N.A. and made them subject to all laws

16. Sect. 4 cont.
Juvenile Delinquency - anti-social or criminal behavior of young people
U.S. saw a 45% increase in delinquency
Reasons: poverty, lack of religion,tv, divorce.
Other experts said it was a natural rebellion of young people to conformity
After Soviets launched sputnik I and II the Gov. began to concentrate on science and math education