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The postwar years at home

The postwar years at home. 1945-1960. Postwar economy. The Years Following WWII. AFTER WWII. DURING WWII (you fill it in). What was life like? Military & economic superpower Prosperity Able to purchase: Homes Cars Other items they had once dreamed of owning. Economic Expansion.

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The postwar years at home

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  1. The postwar years at home 1945-1960

  2. Postwar economy

  3. The Years Following WWII AFTER WWII DURING WWII (you fill it in) • What was life like? • Military & economic superpower • Prosperity • Able to purchase: • Homes • Cars • Other items they had once dreamed of owning

  4. Economic Expansion • Greatest time of economic expansion • GNP • Per capita income • $1,526  $2,788 • Corporate expansion • General Motors (GM), Ford, Chrysler, General Electric (GE), & Westinghouse

  5. Franchises • Right to open a restaurant using a parent company’s brand name & system • Ray Kroc & Multimixers (milkshake machine) • Cali. brothers kept buying mixer • Kroc purchased 2 brothers’ idea of assembly-line food production (1954) • Acquired name of the brothers’ restaurant ………………………..DRUMROLL………………………………………….

  6. Franchise Cont. • The system worked so well, it was applied to: • Clothing stores • Automobile muffler shops • Why did it work? • Individual with only few thousand $ could own a small business NAME OTHER FRANCHISES

  7. Technology • Spurred industrial growth • New & improved products • Dishwasher • Gas-powered lawnmowers • TV • Computer • Nuclear Power • Advances in medicine http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Fwramn5U3M

  8. Television • Developed in ‘30s • 2/3 of families owned TV • Mickey Mouse Club • American Bandstand • I Love Lucy • Commercials = persuasive

  9. Work Force • Before WWII – “blue collar” workers • produce goods • People performed  machine performed • 1956 – white collar jobs • Office jobs • “When white-collar people get jobs, they sell not only their time and energy but their personalities as well.” –Sociologist C. Wright Mills • Those who still had blue-collar jobs: • Working conditions & wages • Unions won important gains

  10. Increasing Population & Suburbs • Baby boom  growing families  suburbs • 25 births per 1,000 people • Growing families move from aging cities  new houses in suburbs • Outskirts of an urban area • Developer William J. Levitt  Levittowns • Communities in suburbs • Built houses in weeks instead of months • Homes became affordable • GI Bill (Servicemen’s Readjustment Act 1944) • gave WWII vets low-interest mortgages to purchase their new homes WHY MIGHT SOME PEOPLE NOT LIKE SUBURBS?

  11. Malvina Reynolds – “Little Boxes” (click photo for song)

  12. Consumer Culture • Companies offer credit cards to loyal customers • Charge gas purchases when they were on the road • Americans willingly went into debt to purchase the products they wanted • American Express • BankAmericard (Visa)

  13. Mood of the ‘50s

  14. Youth • Americans went from valuing individuality  conformity • Youth Culture • “silent generation” • Little interest in world problems • Strong economy = students to go to school rather than leave to find a job • Parties, pranks, & joining fraternities & sororities • Products marketed toward youth

  15. Religion • Interest in religion  response in part to the cold-war struggle against communism • Find hope in wake of nuclear war • 1954 – “under God” to Pledge of Allegiance • 1956 – “In God We Trust”  WHERE DO WE SEE THIS? • Evangelists used radio and tv to carry their messages • End of ‘50s, 95% of all Americans felt linked to some religion Billy Graham

  16. Men & Women’s Roles • Men – go to school and find jobs to support wives & children • Public sphere away from home • Women – support husband, kept house, cook, raise children

  17. Men on the Role of Women • Dr. Benjamin Spock – The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care • Mothers - remain with children if she wanted them to grow up stable & secure • Adlai Stevenson – Democratic presidential candidate • 1952 & 1956 • “the assignment for you, as wives and mothers, you can do in the living room with a baby in your lap or in the kitchen with a can opener in your hand.” Video 

  18. Women’s Views • Frustrated with expectations • Wanted to earn their own $  buy the items that symbolized the “good life” • Automobiles • Electric appliances • 1950 – 22% of all married women had jobs • 1961 – 31%

  19. Challenges to Conformity • Some young people rejected values of parents • Films, books, and music were used to express thoughts • Rebel Without a Cause (film) • James Dean • The Catcher in the Rye (novel) • Rock & Roll • Grew out of rhythm & blues • Elvis Presley • Adults disliked him – feared he would cause immorality

  20. Challenges Cont. • Members of the “Beat Generation” – called beatniks • writers • Artists • Challenged traditional patterns of respectability • Shocked Americans with their open sexuality & use of illegal drugs

  21. Domestic politics & Policy

  22. True or False? • 1950s were a liberal time period – politically & culturally True False • In 1950, Dwight D. Eisenhower was president True False • President Harry Truman wanted to follow in FDR’s footsteps True False • WWII ended in 1950 True False • Truman was a Democrat & Eisenhower was a Republican True False

  23. Overview • 1950s were conservative time politically & culturally • Americans pressured gov’t to help maintain nation’s new prosperity • President Truman (Democrat) – 1st struggled with the problems of reconversion to a peacetime economy • President Eisenhower (Republican) – took low-key approach to presidency • Friendly & reassuring We have heard of him before. When?

  24. Truman • What is Truman’s claim to fame?

  25. Truman’s Domestic Policies • Scattered approach to governing • New proposals in every speech • Peacetime economy • Reconversion – social & economic transition from wartimepeace • Most soldiers home by 1946 • People went from rationing to wanting goods immediately • Wages failed to keep up with prices • People began to strike • Truman – workers fail to understand that big wage might hurt economy’s health

  26. Taft-Hartley Act • 1947 – passed by Congress • Allowed president to declare 80-day cooling-off period when strikes hit industries that affected national interest • Strikers had to return to work & gov’t examined situation • Union officials signed non-Communist oaths Truman vetoed TH Act but was still passed by Congress

  27. Truman’s Fair Deal • Supported FDR’s New Deal • Extended New Deal  Fair Deal • Gov’t needs to play an active role in economy • promotes full employment • Higher minimum wage • Compensation for workers without jobs • National health insurance • Control atomic energy

  28. Fair Deal Cont. • Congress opposed him • Only passing the Employment Act 1946 • Truman’s support dropped in polls • 1946 – Republicans win majority of both houses of Congress

  29. Election of 1948 • Truman runs again • Support within party is disintegrating • Democrats support Progressive Henry Wallace (1 of FDR’s VP) • Opponent of Truman was Republican Thomas E. Dewey Truman – “If you send another Republican Congress to Washington, you’re a bigger bunch of suckers than I think you are.”

  30. WHO IS THIS? WHO WON? ACTUALLY, TRUMAN WON. EXPLAIN THIS PICTURE.

  31. Dwight Eisenhower aka “Ike” • Former commander-in-chief of the Allied forces • President on Colombia University • Head of NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) • Talented diplomat • VP was Richard Nixon (later becomes president)

  32. The Checkers Speech • People want Eisenhower to dumb Nixon from the ticket • Newspapers accused Nixon of having special fund • “set up by rich Republican supporters” • He DID received a gift from a political supporter ………………………..a dog named Checkers……………. People changed their mind & wanted Nixon to still run  Video

  33. Ike as President • Served 2 terms • “I am not one of those desk-pounding types that likes to stick out his jaw and look like he is bossing the show.” • Critics claimed he lacked leadership • Defends himself – “Now, look, I happen to know a little about leadership. I’ve had to work with a lot of nations, for that matter, at odds with each other. And I tell you this: you do not lead by hitting people over the head…I’ll tell you what leadership is. It’s persuasion – and conciliation – and education – and patience. It’s long, slow tough work. That’s the only kind of leadership I know or believe in – or will practice.”

  34. Ike as President Cont. • Wanted to: • Slow growth of the federal gov’t • Limit the President’s power • authority of Congress & courts • Priorities included: • Cut spending • Reduce taxes • Balance budget • Favored: • Big business • Encouraged/supported corporate America Modern republicanism

  35. Ike as President Cont. • Attempted to balance budget • Backfired • Cuts in gov’t spending  economy slump  tax revenues drop  deficit grew larger • 3 economic recessions • Still helped maintain mood of stability & economic security • Minimum wage: $0.75  $1.00

  36. National Defense Education Act • 1958 • Improve science & mathematics instruction in schools so that the U.S. could meet the scientific & technical challenge from the USSR • Millions of $ in low-cost loans to college students • Reductions in repayments if they became teachers • Federal gov’t granted millions of $ to state schools for building science & foreign language facilities

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