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The 1950’s

The 1950’s. Truman’s FAIR DEAL. Fair Deal- Truman’s package of reforms after WWII Increase minimum wage Increase aid to agriculture and education Enact a national health insurance program War ends, labor demanded decreases, unemployment increases

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The 1950’s

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  1. The 1950’s

  2. Truman’s FAIR DEAL • Fair Deal- Truman’s package of reforms after WWII • Increase minimum wage • Increase aid to agriculture and education • Enact a national health insurance program • War ends, labor demanded decreases, unemployment increases • Price controls lifted, prices sky rocket, inflation increases, workers demand higher wages, strikes occur

  3. Republican Congress • 22nd amendment- two term limit of president • Taft-Hartley Act- limited the power of labor unions and outlawed closed shop (workplace in which the employer agrees to hire only members of a certain union) • Congress refused to act on civil rights but Truman issued an executive order of desegregated troops.

  4. Truman to Eisenhower • Truman wins 1948 election although newspapers predicts Wallace to defeat him. • For the next 4 years Truman battled with Congress over Fair Deal legislation. • 1952 Republican Eisenhower defeats Stevenson • “I like IKE” popular campaign slogan • Took a middle of the road approach “modern republicanism”

  5. Economic Growth • Emergence of McDonalds 1940’s- two brothers Dick and Mac opened the first “fast food” restaurant • Real Income grew after WWII. People in the 1950’s had twice as much money as people in the 1920’s. • People were SPENDING MONEY and shopping centers grew • Business Methods grew to encourage growth in 3 ways • Advertising • Buy now, pay later • Planned obsolescence (buying goods that go out of date)

  6. Shifting Economy • General Motors- 1st corporation to earn 1 billion dollars a year • Cost of living Index- measures differences in wages and goods over time (GM had a agreement with workers, as Cost of living Index rose, so did their wages) • Blue-Collar workers to White-Collar workers- workforce changed from factory or skill trade jobs to professionals such as lawyers, doctors, engineers, sales, and managers.

  7. Marriage, families, & a BABY BOOM • Marriages increased in 1946 (soldiers returned home from war) which led to…. • BABY BOOM- large increase in the number of babies born from 1945-1967. This led to an increase in… • Diaper services • Bottles • Maternity wards • Homes/ appliances • Schools • Family Roles: Stay-at-home moms and working dads • Many books published and tv shows encouraged women to stay at home including “Leave It To Beaver” • Women forwent college and stayed at home

  8. Population Shifts • Suburbs grew • Levittown- first planned community in nation in Long Island, New York • Migration to the Sunbelt • Shift of manufacturing and other businesses to warm-weather states including, Texas, California, and Florida and 10 other states. • Shift made available due to water projects in the arid SW and development of air conditioners

  9. The Automobile • Middle Class dream to have Two cars in every garage • Fathers commuted to jobs in nearby cities • Mothers could run to the shopping centers and supermarkets • Status Symbol • Cars were a sign of consumer culture wealth and prestige • Interstate Highway System • 1956 construction started and completed 10,000 miles of highway by 1960 (today we have over 45,000 miles)

  10. 1956 Highway Act

  11. Technological Advances • Polio Vaccine- Dr. Jonas Stalk – made up of small parts of the polio virus so people could develop antibodies to protect them from the actual virus. • 1954- 2 million school children took part in trials and was deemed successful • Surgical techniques advanced • Open heart surgery • Kidney transplant • Life Expectancy increased from 68 in 1950 to 69.7 by 1960

  12. Technological Advances Nuclear Energy- electricity, x-rays, and radioactive iodine to treat cancer Computers enter the workplace 1946- ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer), 18,000 vacuum tubes, 1,500 square feet of floor space (a Levittown home), and could perform 300 multiplications per second. 1952- UNIVAC (Universal Automatic Computer I)- same as above but could handle letters and words

  13. Critics of Suburbia • Suburbia- critics saw suburbia as a wasteland of conformity and materialism (needed wealth) • The Organization Man- book by William Whyte- saw the suburbs as packaged villages that have become the dormitory of a new generation of organization men. • Defense of Suburbia- although no African American’s there were many different religious and ethnic groups present in Suburbs

  14. Nonconformity • Beat Movement- writers and poets who were either beaten down or beatific( blissfully happy)- Beatniks • Started New York City • Rejected all forms of convention or ways of living • Obscene writing- morally offensive

  15. Nonconformity • Youth Culture rebelled against the world of their parents through music, dance, movies, and slang • Alan Freed- disc Jockey Cleveland Ohio played black rhythm and blues (Rock’n’roll) ELVIS PRESLEY “Elvis the Pelvis” • James Dean- Rebel Without a Cause • “Big Daddies” (older people), “Boss” (great), “Threads” (clothes), “radioactive” (really popular), “Don’t have a cow”, “Cool it”

  16. Art and Comics • The American Way- comics broke from convention “Tales from the Crypt” • Parents were horrified by new comics • Taught the youth how to lie, rob, assault, cheat, steal and break into houses • Abstract Expressionism- new form of art that expressed emotions • Vivid and unstructured • Jackson Pollock “The source of my painting is the unconscious”

  17. Poverty in Society • People felt poverty was a moral condition and an economic problem • Pauperism- people depending on government assistance or pubic assistance • Working poor- more respected than paupers but little difference • Poverty line-minimum amount of income one would need to meet basic needs. 1949-$2,000 families 2008-$22,000 family of four • An Invisible Class “The Other America” by Harrington • ¼ of society lived in poverty • Poor cities, elderly, no political power

  18. Landscape of Poverty • Inner Cities- 1945-1960 African Americans moved from the south into northern cities as whites moved to the suburbs • Housing Act of 1949-urban renewal, replacing slums with high rise apartments in cities became “the projects” • American Farmers- lived in poverty • Agribusiness- food production by corporate farms put small farmers out of business • Mexican braceros- worked for low wages on corporate farms • Appalachia- mountainous poor region in the South • Poorest Citizens- American Indians • Termination Policy- ended federal aid to tribes • Voluntary Relocation Program- encouraged Indians to move to cities • 100 tribes were terminated, land was sold, and poverty grew worse • By 1963, termination was a failure and abandoned

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