The Postwar Years at Home

1. The Postwar Years at Home

2. The Postwar Economy

3. Business Reorganizes • Economic Boom • GNP--$212B in 1945; $504B in 1960 • Income--$1526 to $2,788 • Conglomerates • Businesses diversified to avoid mistakes of the 1920s

4. Life Changing Technology • Dishwashers • Gas powered lawn mowers • Television • 1955 Average family watched 5hrs / day • Computers • Developed for the war • Became available for business use. • Bell Telephone Labs invented the Transistor.

5. Nuclear Power • Technology was used to generate electricity. • Seen as cheap energy source • Medicine • 1954--Polio Vaccine • 1944--Penicillin and other antibiotics were bing produced

6. The Work Force • Historically Americans were blue collar workers (produced tangible goods) • White Collar jobs emerged (services not manufacturing)

7. The Baby Boom • Began during WWII • Birth rate had fell to 19 births/1000 people during the depression. • 1942 25+ births / 1000 (peak)

8. Suburbs • Growing families left the cities • Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944 (GI Bill) gave low interest mortgages to veterans. • Mass production techniques were applied to housing development.

9. Cars and Highways • Americans depended more on cars than public transit. • 1956 Interstate Highway Act • $26 Billion to build 40K miles • Designed for military purposes • Quick evacuation after nuclear strike • Run way system (every 5th mi straight) • Quick troop movement. • New businesses emerged b/c of the new “car culture”

10. Consumer Credit • Gas companies offered credit cards • Americans willingly went into debt to purchase products

11. The Mood of the ‘50s

12. Comfort and Security • Society emphasized conformity • Emergence of the “Youth Culture” • Young people had more leisure • Companies marketed products to younger Americans.

13. Resurgence of Religion • Caused in Part by the Cold War and the nuclear threat. • 1954-- “Under God” was added to the Pledge of Allegiance • 1955-- “In God We Trust” was placed on our currency • Billy Graham • Key figure • Southern Baptist minister • Preached large scale crusades • Frequent guest at the White House

14. Roles of Men and Women • Men • Expected to work and provide for the family. • Women • Expected to play a supportive role in the home. • 1963 The Feminine Mystique • Betty Friedan • Attacked the cultural denial of creative roles to women

15. Challenges to Conformity • Emergence of Rock and Roll • “Beat Generation” Beatniks • Stressed spontaneity and spirituality • Challenged traditional patterns of respectability • Open sexuality and drug use.

16. Domestic Politics and Policy

17. Economic Reconversion • Was Truman’s 1st priority • Economic controls were lifted and prices soared 25% • Strikes • Hit the auto, steel, electrical, coal, and railroad industries. • 4.6 million struck in 1946 • 1947 Taft Hartley Act • Allowed the President to declare an 80 day cooling off period

18. Truman’s Fair Deal • 21 new programs that extended the New Deal • Included: • Programs to bring full employment • Higher minimum wage • Greater unemployment compensation • Housing assistance • National Health Insurance program • Atomic Energy control • Faced Opposition from Conservative Dem’s and Rep’s

19. Election of 1948 • Truman’s support was weakening, even among Democrats. • “You just sor of forget about Harry until he makes another mistake.” • “To err is Truman” • Republican Thomas E. Dewey opposed him.

20. Truman campaigned by train against the Republican Congress • “Do nothing 80th Congress” • “If you send another Republican Congress to Washington, you’re a bigger bunch of suckers than I think you are.” • Republican Thomas E. Dewey opposed him. • Poles and Experts picked Dewey to win. • Truman won an astounding upset

22. Eisenhower and the Republican Approach • 1952 Election • Rep. Dwight D. Eisenhower “Ike” ran against Dem. Adlai Stevension • “I Like Ike” • Ike promised: • To end the Korean War • A tough approach to the Communists

24. Checkers Speech • Sept. 1952 Ike’s VP candidate--Richard Nixon--was accused by the NY Post of having a special fund set up by rich Republicans. • Nixon had done nothing wrong, but the accusation was hard to shake. • Many wanted Ike to dump him. • Sept 23 Nixon went on TV and: • Denied any wrong doing • Admitted taking one gift: “We did get something, a gift, after the election . . . It was a little cocker spaniel dog . . . And you know, the kids, like all kids, loved the dog, and I just want to say this, right now, that regardless of what they say about it, we are going to keep it.” p. 782 • Appealed to the American people to contact the Eisenhower campaign and express their opinion. • Ike kept Nixon on the ticket and won the election

25. Eisenhower Presidency • Served 2 terms • Modern Republicanism • Worked to slow the growth of government • Cut spending • Reduced taxes • Worked to balance the budget • Sought to encourage and support corporate America. • Maintained a mood of stability

26. Demands for Civil Rights

27. Gains for Equality • Truman’s Actions • 1948 banned discrimination in the hiring of federal employees • 1948 ended segregation in the military. • Jackie Robinson • 1st African American to break the color line in MLB

28. Brown v. Bd. of Ed. Topeka, Kansas • Plessy v. Ferguson 1896 had upheld “separate but equal” segregation. • 1951 Oliver Brown sued Topeka Bd. of Ed. To allow his 8 yr. old daughter attend an all white school. • Thurgood Marshall argued the case. • May 17, 1954 US Supreme Court declared unanimously that “separate facilities are inherently unequal.”

29. The Montgomery Bus Boycott 1955 • Rosa Parks (sec. of the NAACP) refused to give up her seat in the middle section of the bus for a white man. • Was arrested for violating segregation laws.

30. Boycott • African Americans refused to use the bus system until the segregation policy was dropped. • 26 year old Martin Luther King, Jr. became the spokesman for the protest. • 50K African Americans in Montgomery walked, rode bicycles, or carpooled for a year • The bus company refused to change, but the US Supreme Court ruled bus segregation illegal.

31. The Little Rock 9 • Central High School was to be integrated • 1957 Gov. Orval Faubus delcared he couldn’t face integration. • Ike federalized the National Guard to protect the students. • The school year was grueling, but all 9 made it through.