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AFFLUENCE AND ANXIETY

AFFLUENCE AND ANXIETY. America: Past and Present Chapter 29. The Postwar Boom. 1945-1960--rapid economic growth 1960--fear of another depression wanes. Postwar Prosperity. Stimuli to consumer goods industry baby boom population shift to suburbia Increased defense spending

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AFFLUENCE AND ANXIETY

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  1. AFFLUENCE AND ANXIETY America: Past and Present Chapter 29

  2. The Postwar Boom • 1945-1960--rapid economic growth • 1960--fear of another depression wanes

  3. Postwar Prosperity • Stimuli to consumer goods industry • baby boom • population shift to suburbia • Increased defense spending • Increase in capital investments • Employment expands

  4. Birthrate, 1940-1970

  5. Postwar Prosperity:Lingering Problems • Agricultural overproduction, low prices • Older industrial areas decline • 1957-1958--recession slows decade’s economic growth

  6. Life in the Suburbs • Suburbia inhabited by middle class • Characteristics of suburbs • dependence on the automobile • family togetherness • Traditional feminism discouraged • Entrance of more women into workplace stimulates new feminism

  7. The Good Life? • Consumerism the dominant social theme of the 1950s • Quality of life leaves Americans anxious and dissatisfied

  8. Areas of Greatest Growth • Church membership • School attendance • Television watching

  9. Critics of the Consumer Society • Social critics of suburban culture • John Keats • William Whyte • David Riesman • C. Wright Mills criticizes corporations • Jack Kerouac, “Beat” artists promote counterculture

  10. The Reaction to Sputnik • 1957--Russians launch Sputnik • American response • National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) • National Defense Education Act--upgrade the teaching of science • Sense of failure, decline by 1960

  11. Farewell to Reform • Spirit of reform wanes in postwar years • Reasons: • growing affluence reduces sense of grievance • Americans eager to enjoy their new prosperity

  12. Truman and the Fair Deal • Fair Deal attempts to expand New Deal • Limited achievement • consolidates Roosevelt's reforms • sets the agenda for future attempts

  13. Eisenhower's Modern Republicanism • Eisenhower leaves New Deal intact • 1954--Democrats regain Congress • 1956--Highway Act creates interstate highway system • stimulates the economy • shapes metropolitan growth patterns

  14. The Interstate Highway System

  15. The Struggle Over Civil Rights • Cold War prompts quest for American moral superiority • Legal discrimination against African Americans challenges U.S. self-image

  16. Civil Rights as a Political Issue • Truman’s civil-rights legislation fails • 1948--African American vote gives Truman his margin of victory • Civil rights made part of the liberal Democratic agenda • Truman integrates the armed forces

  17. Desegregating the Schools • 1954--Brown v. Board of Education • segregated schools unconstitutional • desegregate "with all deliberate speed" • Massive resistance in Deep South • 1957--Eisenhower’s actions • federal troops sent to Little Rock, Arkansas • Commission on Civil Rights established

  18. The Beginnings of Black Activism • NAACP--press for civil rights in courts • 1955--Martin Luther King, Jr. leads Montgomery bus boycott • 1956--Southern Christian Leadership Conference directs anti-segregation • Sit-ins protest segregation laws • 1960--Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee

  19. Restoring National Confidence • American people more optimistic in 1960 than in 1950 • Fear of economic depression wanes • Fear of Cold War continues • Growing recognition of incompatibility of racial injustice with American ideals

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