Tuesday April 25 th The Americans Chapter 19 ttt p 632663 1950s terms reading NOTES PPT slides History Alive Ch 41 p 532547 Peace Prosperity and Progress ID: 912452
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Slide1
1950s Post-War Boom QUIZ (Tuesday, April 25th )
The Americans, Chapter 19, “ttt”…p. 632-6631950s termsreading NOTES (PPT slides)History Alive! Ch. 41 (p. 532-547) Peace, Prosperity, and ProgressCh. 42 (p. 548-555) Rebelling Against ConformityOverview 1950s, plus video notes: Post-War USA, “Superpower,” & “Date with your Family”
Review the following slides, especially…?
…ALL materials found here:
Slide2Ch. 19 “ttt” review: Postwar Boom Examine the “5 word ANSWER” and images for each question (below).
What WORD(S) and image(s) do NOT belong? Using the GI bill, millions of returning soldiers got an education and bought homes in the growing suburbs. After years of denial, consumers launched a spending spree that helped fuel an economic boom. Voters grew more conservative.HIGHER QUALITY OF LIFEMONEYCOMMUNISMOPPORTUNITYSUPPORT
1. What social, economic, & political changes occurred after WW II?
“BLOW OUT”…UP?
Knock out???
Slide3Ch. 19 “ttt” review: Postwar Boom Examine the “5 word ANSWER” and images for each question (below).
What WORD(S) and image(s) do NOT belong? While many enjoyed prosperity in the 1950s, including more leisure time, critics said that the new economy stifled individualism. Also, the new car culture, which gave freedom to travel and to live away from work, caused a decline of the inner cities and added pollution and traffic deaths to society’s woes. RELAXATIONTECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCEMENTSHIGHER STANDARD OF LIVINGREDUCED RICH-POOR “GAP”
INDIVIDUALITY
2. What were the benefits and costs of prosperity in the 1950s?
“BLOW OUT”…UP?
Knock out???
Slide4Ch. 19 “ttt” review: Postwar Boom Popular culture of the 1950s—spread largely through television but also through print media—deemphasized minorities and women. The counterculture criticized material values and conformity.
CELEBRATED FEMALESTV & LITERATUREPOSSESSIONSBEATNIKS DISLIKED “SAMENESS”SELFISH or GREEDYEMPHASIZED PEOPLE OF COLOR
3. Describe the values of 1950s popular culture & the subcultures that arose in opposition to them.
“BLOW OUT”…UP?
Knock out???
Slide5Ch. 19 “ttt” : Postwar Boom
Most African Americans, Hispanics, & Native Americans were denied a part in the prosperity of the 1950s.BLACKSLATINOSINDIANSWHITESHIPPIES
“BLOW OUT”…UP?
Knock out???
4. What groups were NOT touched by the prosperity of the 1950s?
Slide6Post-War USASafari Montage VIDEOPost-war prosperity and the rise of a consumer
society put America in the global spotlight. Landmark policies such as the G.I. Bill and Truman's Fair Deal shaped the political landscape as daily life becomes suburbanized along the ''crabgrass frontier.'' The Cold War, the Korean War, the arms race, the Red Scare and McCarthyism, and the early civil rights movement coincide with the Baby Boom, the birth of television, the growing influence of advertising, teen rebellion and rock & roll. The changing roles of women and ''The Feminine Mystique'' are also highlighted in this program
Slide7Post-War USASafari Montage VIDEOPost-war prosperity and the rise of a consume
r society put America in the global spotlight. Landmark policies such as the G.I. Bill and Truman's Fair Deal shaped the political landscape as daily life becomes suburbanized along the ''crabgrass frontier.'' The Cold War, the Korean War, the arms race, the Red Scare and McCarthyism, and the early civil rights movement coincide with the Baby Boom, the birth of television, the growing influence of advertising, teen rebellion and rock & roll. The changing roles of women and ''The Feminine Mystique'' are also highlighted in this program
Slide8Slide9Slide10Slide11Slide121950s Essential Terms Review
Slide13Servicemen’s Readjustment ActTo smooth the country's transition to peace after World War II, Congress passed the Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944. It was commonly known as the GI Bill of Rights.It provided assistance to returning service people, including low-interest home loans, and grants to pay college tuition. As a result, college enrollments skyrocketed. By the spring of 1949, nearly 26,000 students were attending U.C. Berkeley. By comparison, barely 17,000 had been enrolled in 1941. Such rapid growth took place in higher education institutions all through the state.
Wheeler Hall on the campus of the University of California, Berkeley, 1949.
Slide14GI Bill of Rightsshaped American society in the post WW II period for the betterMillions of people whose parents or grandparents had never dreamed of going to college saw that they could go
It allowed millions of Americans to achieve a standard of living that was generally better than that enjoyed by their parents.
Slide15GI Bill of Rights SuburbanizationEconomy was more robust (shift from wartime to peacetime was less problematic than anticipated) Cars and home construction led to increased
prosperity for manyconformity = suburban lifestyle house w/white-picket fence, 2-car garage…drastic increase in the number of children born (baby boom)women experienced greater economic independence during WW II society’s expectations limited the opportunities of women (stay at home?)greater divorce rate (more than a million by 1950)
~1/3 of all Americans live in suburbs by 1960
College, marriage, family, house, & job were common post-WW II goals
Slide16Baby BoomThe economic prosperity that followed World War II triggered a baby boom that peaked in 1957 (one baby every 7 seconds) and lasted until 1964. Then, almost as suddenly as it began, the boom ended. By 1966, the birthrate had dropped below the lowest level seen during the Depression years. In just two years, the baby boom had become a baby bust.
Slide17Dr. Benjamin SpockThe belief that mothers should not work outside the home unless they had to for economic reasons was promoted by Dr. Benjamin Spock, the leading childcare expert of the day. First published in 1946, Spock’s
Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care was a best seller for many years. Spock advised mothers to devote themselves full-time to raising their children. Any distraction from that task, such as a job or hobby, he argued, could damage a young child.
Slide18Dr. Jonas Salkdeveloped polio vaccine (1955) Until 1955, when the Salk vaccine was introduced, polio was considered the most frightening public health problem of the post-war United States. The 1952 epidemic was the worst outbreak in the nation's history. Of nearly 58,000 cases reported that year, 3,145 people died and 21,269 were left with mild to disabling paralysis,
with most of the victims children.
Slide19The first Levittown homes were just 800 square feet in size, but they came with an expandable attic. Buyers could choose from five models that differed in color, roofline, and window placement. Even the salesmen used assembly-line methods. A buyer could choose a house and sign a contract within three minutes.
The rapid growth in housing starts was made possible by a revolution in home construction techniques. Using assembly-line methods pioneered by Henry Ford, homebuilders like the Levitt brothers were able to mass-produce homes at an astonishing rate.
Suburbs
Slide20The 1948 election was a huge political upset for pollsters and headline writers. On election night, some newspapers printed the next day’s edition before the results were final. A gleeful Truman holds up the morning edition of the Chicago Tribune, which had predicted the wrong outcome.
#33: Harry S. Truman (1945-1953)
Democrat-served almost two terms: (1945-1949) and (1949-1953). He finished out Roosevelt’s fourth term after Roosevelt had served almost three months of it.
Commission on Civil Rights created in 1946, then his executive order desegregated the armed forces in 1948.
His “Give ‘
em
hell, Harry” campaign pulled off a stunning upset in 1948 against Thomas Dewey (Gov. of NY)
His “Fair Deal” economic program had mixed results.
Compulsory health insurance and crop-subsidy programs were defeated by Congress
Minimum wage raised ($.40
$.75 per hour), extension of Social Security benefits, plus flood, irrigation, & public housing projects were supported.
Slide21conformityAmericans looked for normalcy & calm following Great Depression & WW IIIdeal family? Father = breadwinner ($) Mother
= stay at-home, cook, clean, etc. Children = clean-cut, behaved & respectful, did choresSimilarity did NOT sit well with everyone…a counterculture movement develops as people resist the “sameness” of the 1950s ideals
1950s were a time when “everyone” behaved and thought in socially expected ways
http://libguides.wsulibs.wsu.edu/content.php?pid=109047&sid=820606
Slide22prosperityAt the end of World War II, many economists feared the economy would once again fall into a depression. Instead, consumer spending helped spur a long period of economic growth. The nation’s productivity more than doubled from 1945 to 1960.
Slide23poverty40 million “other” Americans lived in poverty & were not benefitting from the economic boom of the 1950sElderly people, single women & children, minority groups such as African-Americans, Latinos, and Native Americans By 1962, 1 in 4 Americans were poorSuburban growth took people, businesses, & tax money from urban centers…decay & poverty rose
Slide24white flightLarge numbers of white citizens left cities and moved to suburbs in 1950s resulting in isolation from other races & classesBetween WW II and 1960, nearly 5 million African Americans moved from the rural South to urban areasCities lost businesses & property taxes, so schools, public transportation, fire, & police departments were underfunded
Urban poor suffered
Slide25urban renewala program of land redevelopment in areas of moderate to high density urban land use (cities)relocation of businesses, the demolition of structures, the relocation of peopleless congestion when areas of cities receive freeways and expresswaysTruman gained Congressional support for cities to clear out slums & build 810,000 housing units for low-income families
Slide26Slide27automobile -Suburban lifestyle required a car -ownership increased from 40 (1950) to 60 million (1960)
For many Americans in the 1950s, buying a new car was a yearly ritual. Automakers encouraged this practice in two ways. First, each year, they made changes to the style, so that each year’s models looked different from those of the year before. Second, they introduced new features every year, designed to make driving more pleasurable. The combined effect was to make last year’s car look and feel old long before its useful lifetime was over.
Created booming car industry & other areas of growth, but cars widened the gap between urban & suburban quality of life
Slide28Interstate Highway SystemLed to the trucking industry, growth of suburbs, drive-in movies, restaurants, shopping malls, pollution, traffic jamsEconomic gap between people in cities & suburbs, plus middle class and poor widened--poverty rose
authorized by Congress & signed by President Eisenhower in 1956, a network of ~45,000 miles of highways connecting major cities around the country
all highways are built under the same guidelines, so that each has at least two lanes in each direction, periodic rest areas for travelers, and no traffic lights or railroad crossings
Slide29Dwight D. Eisenhower 34th President (1953-1961)--RepublicanSupreme commander of Allied forces in WW II and leader of NATO forcesTwice defeated Adlai Stevenson (Democratic governor of Illinois)
“Modern Republicanism” = conservative when it comes to money and liberal when it comes to human beings.”
“Dynamic conservatism” led to immense popularity (middle-of-road course of action, avoided controversial issues)
Slide30President EisenhowerEnsured popular New Deal programs & presided over massive buildup of arms during peacetime fight over civil rights was growing in mid-1950s (1954-Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka…ended segregation in public schools)Vice President was Richard Nixon, who was accused of profiting from a secret “slush fund” set up by wealthy supporters
Once Dwight D. Eisenhower’s “I like Ike” campaign got rolling, it never stopped. The 1952 presidential campaign was the first to make extensive use of television ads. One observer complained that campaigns were “selling the president like toothpaste.”
Slide31televisionNew “mainstream media” that added to earlier print media (newspapers & magazines), radio, and moviesTV reached 9% of American homes in 1948, then 55% by 1950, and 90% by 1960“entertainment and information marvel of the postwar years”“Golden Age” of 1950s TV entertainment refers to comedy shows like
Texaco Star Theater & I Love LucyNews programs, westerns, sports events, original dramas, and children’s entertainment shows spawned $2 billion in advertising by 1960 (up from $170 million in 1950)
Slide32counterculturenonconformity = rebellion against conventional behavior or customary ways of livingvoices of dissent rang out in the 1950sYouth culture = teens rebelling against parents’ music, dances, movies, & language due to sheer numbers of “baby boomers” and rising affluenceBeat movement & Rock ‘n’ Roll are two examples
Slide33Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg & “beatniks”“Beat movement” = nonconforming group of writers and poets who rejected materialism and traditional 9-to-5 jobs that began in New York City’s Greenwich Village, then spread to San Francisco, and Los AngelesFeelings, adventures, and “stream of consciousness” celebrated, along with Zen Buddhism, Hinduism, jazz music called bebop, and sometimes drugs
Drew media attention & inspired the imagination of many college students
Slide34Slide35Rock ‘n’ Roll MusicAlan Freed (1951) was a Cleveland, Ohio disc jockey who played music from black rhythm and blues artists who used electronic (amplified) instruments, esp. the electric guitar, for a mostly white teenage audienceRhythm, blues, country, and pop resulted in a brash new sound… “music that’s black and white-music that is American.”“Elvis the Pelvis” was a symbol of rebellion against music and manners for the young
Rock ‘n’ Roll was initially condemned as immoral, but it grew in popularity & gained acceptance by end of 1950s
Slide36What was so “fabulous” about the 50s?
Slide37What was the “American dream” in the 50s?
Was it “nightmarish” in any way?
Slide38What impact did suburbanization & the automobile have on America?
Slide39Why did television become so popular?
Slide40America: Story of UsThe interstate highway system designed by President…Trucking industry, the economy, and the economic gap…
The US productivity between (1945-1960)…America had 1/2 of the world's … 2/3 of the world's … an average family income that was ??? times greater than a typical family in Europe. The “baby boom” was the dramatic rise…The first Levittown homes were…