THE POSTWAR BOOM

1. THE POSTWAR BOOM Unit 4 Lesson 12 (Chpt 27)

2. OBJECTIVES • To understand the economic and political changes that occurred in postwar America. • To explore American society of the 1950s.

3. WARM UP • What is the American Dream? • Do you think your dreams are different from those of your parents?

4. Post-war Reconversion • Unemployment, Prices, Inflation Rise • Wages drop & workers strike • Govt controls until wages catch up and prices level off. • Limit power of unions (Taft-Hartley Act) • New technology spurs product research & dvpt

5. Readjustment • GI Bill • Education and home loans, ease return • Housing Crisis • Levittown's: mass produced suburban homes • Redefining Family • Divorce rate up, Women want say in home/family

6. Economic Growth • $135 billion in savings = $$$$ to spend!!! • Auto, home ownership up • Demand = more jobs • New Business Organization • White collar workers: clerical, managerial, professional • Conglomerates (AT&T) and Franchises (McDonald’s-1955) • The Company Man: Conformity & loyalty… automatons

7. The Suburban Lifestyle • Suburban Living • Baby Boom • Return to Religion • Women Conflicted • Modern Amenities & Automobile Culture • Interstate Highway System (1956) • Credit – 1st for gas, later Diner’s Club, American Express & Visa • Growing gap between middle class & poor • “White flight” from cities, influx rural poor…urban poverty & decay

8. 1948 Election • Truman (D) • Thomas Dewey (R) • Strom Thurmond (Dixiecrat)

9. Truman’s Fair Deal • Benefits for workers • ↑min wage, ↑ unemploy coverage • Expand Soc Security • National health insurance • Control over atomic energy • Increase civil rights • Desegregates armed forces, ban discrim in fed hiring • Conservative Congress challenges…

10. 1952 Election • Truman not running • Adlai Stevenson (D) vs. Dwight Eisenhower (R) • Nixon’s Checkers Speech • “I Like Ike” and his Modern Republicanism • Conservative w/$, Liberal w/humans • Balanced budget, tax cut, hike min wage, unemploy benefits, public housing • Re-elected ‘56

11. Different Styles Both committed to helping ppl & fighting Communist expansion

12. Pop Culture • Mass Media: TV, Radio & Movies, Comics, Magazines, Advertising • Portray an idealized white America • Teenager: “Silent Gen”, stay in school, allowance, entertainment, cars, consumers • Rock n Roll: Chuck Berry, Elvis Presley… mix electric instruments w/ blues beats • Condemned by adults (rebellious, immoral)

13. 50’s Subculture • The Beat Movement • “Beats / Beatniks” • Reject conformity and consumerism of society • Open sexuality, drug use • Literature: Jack Kerouac’s On the Road, Allen Ginsberg Howl

14. Activity • Create an acrostic poem for • “A M E R I C A N D R E A M”

15. Another Motorcyclist Emerges a Rebel Indicative of Changes in America Now Dollars Rule Everything Around Me An invincible feeling that Mass media projects as Eisenhower paints a picture of which picket fences where Roles are redefined and Ideologues of real happiness are concealed by Conformity and no American can Negotiate this sea of loose morals Do rejoice in consumerism and all that new Religion as well as the Experience of the white collar worker for America will only see times like this until people open their Minds Examples

16. Closure • How did the US avoid the historic post-war economic downturn?