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Post-War Kansas

Post-War Kansas. Chapter 6, Section 1. Post-War Boom. After WWII, people were ready to get back to normal life Women could leave their factory jobs and go back to the home 1946-1952 was the “baby boom” Very high birth rate after WWII

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Post-War Kansas

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  1. Post-War Kansas Chapter 6, Section 1

  2. Post-War Boom • After WWII, people were ready to get back to normal life • Women could leave their factory jobs and go back to the home • 1946-1952 was the “baby boom” • Very high birth rate after WWII • Alf Landon – “we have a reconstruction and rehabilitation job ahead that will tax the tremendous capabilities of our country to the limit. We must meet it.”

  3. Baby Boomers

  4. Kansas Rebuilds • Not enough houses, shortage of goods • Cheap houses for factory workers were only temporary – needed for returning soldiers • The US gov’t wanted to combat communism • Saw home ownership as a way to do this • GI Bill – Congress gave college education, living expenses, and home loans to soldiers • Televisions became more common in homes • Promoted capitalism through tv shows

  5. Anti-Communism Propoganda

  6. Rebuilding Industries • Factories that built planes for war now built them for travel and mail • Those that built tanks now built cars, refrigerators, freezers, and washing machines • Medical advances from the battlefield were brought back home • Mental health hospitals improved • Karl Menninger opened a world-famous clinic

  7. Modernizing Kansas • 100,000+ farms still didn’t have running water and electricity • Better highways were needed in rural areas • Alcohol was still illegal in Kansas • Had been legalized in the US in 1933 • Alcohol was the big issue in the governor’s election in 1946 • New governor, Frank Carlson promised a vote • Kansas legalized alcohol in 1948

  8. Kansas Floods • Advisors had urged flood control systems as early as 1927 in Kansas • Began being built in 1949 with federal money • Smoky Hill and Fall Rivers were dammed to create the Kanopolis and Fall River Reservoirs • Farmers were unhappy • Lots of farmland was to be flooded

  9. Kansas Floods • July 1951 – one of the greatest Missouri River floods in history happened • Reminded Kansas why dams and reservoirs were needed • Land from Central Kansas to Eastern Missouri was flooded • Thousands lost homes, billions of dollars in damage • Railroads lost, businesses destroyed

  10. Kansas Floods

  11. More Weather Disasters • Drought from 1952 – 1956 • Reminded Kansas about soil conservation • 1958 – Federal Water Supply Act • Allowed water from reservoirs to be used for irrigation and drinking water • May 25, 1955 – deadliest tornado in Kansas history in Udall • 77 died, 400+ injured • Happened after the weatherman said all was clear – 0 trees left in the town

  12. 1955 Tornado

  13. Rapid Industrial Growth • Kansas businesses employed war factory workers in making goods Americans wanted • Wichita companies Beech, Boeing, Cessna, and Learjet built planes for businesses and airlines • Boeing continued to build planes for the military – needed B-52s for the Cold War • Kansas oil fields produced gasoline • New “drywall” material for houses was produced from gypsum near Medicine Lodge

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