Postwar Society & Liberalism

1. Postwar Society & Liberalism Chapters 19

3. Dwight D. Eisenhower • Eisenhower won the election of 1952. • In presiding over the changes taking place in American society in the 1950s, President Dwight David Eisenhower projected an aura of paternal calm.

4. Eisenhower and theDomestic Agenda • Pursuing what he called “moderate Republicanism,” Eisenhower sought consensus, not confrontation. • Eisenhower’s approach to the presidency: • Methodical staff work • Leadership through persuasion and conciliation • Eisenhower did not try to dismantle New Deal programs. • “Conservative when it comes to money and liberal when it comes to human beings.”

5. Eisenhower and theDomestic Agenda • He even agreed to increases in social security, unemployment insurance, and the minimum wage. • He created the Department of Health, the Department of Education, the Department of Welfare, and pushed through the Interstate Highway Commission, which was the largest public works plan in history.

6. Postwar Society and Liberalism • Characteristics of postwar liberalism • American exceptionalism (People of Plenty). • Government manages the economy. • Government should provide a basic standard of living. • Government should distribute prosperity. • Civil Rights. • The first three were generally accepted by the public during postwar prosperity.

7. Affluence – 1950s • People who had know deprivation and sacrifice for over a decade began to enjoy unprecedented prosperity. • During the war, Americans had postponed purchases of major items such as cars and houses and in the process had saved $150 billion. • Result: Americans obsessed with consumption

8. 1950s- Age of television • 1946: 7,000 TV sets • 1960: 50 million • 9 out of 10 homes • TV advertising taught the public to consume more • Shopping became a major recreational activity • 1945: 8 shopping centers • 1960: 4,000

9. A Boom in Babies • “Baby Boom”-population grew by 30% • Reinforced the idea that a woman’s place was in the home

10. Transition from Rosie the Riveter to the Ideal Homemaker

11. The Rise of the Suburbs • The GI Bill of Rights • Federal Housing Administration (FHA) • Migration • 3.6 million whites move outside of city centers to suburbs • 4.5 million blacks move into vacated city centers • 1960 1/3 of nation lives in suburbs • 1960 ¼ of homes were 10 years old or less

12. Conformity in the 1950s • In an era of prosperity and peace, some commentators began to speak of a “consensus” • A general agreement in American culture, based on values of the broad middle class. • Religion played a role in American conformity in the 1950s.

13. Cracks in the Consensus • The Rebellion of Young America • Juvenile delinquency • 1 million teens arrested each year • Rise of rock ‘n’ roll • R & B “race music” • Little Richard, Ray Charles • Elvis Presley

14. The Early CivilRights Movement • Postwar racial situation • Segregated neighborhoods in North • In 1948, Democrats include Civil Rights plank in platform to capture black votes • Truman desegregates the military after war • National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) • Fight against discrimination with legal challenges • Resolved to test the “separate but equal” doctrine that had upheld racial segregation

15. The Brown Decision • Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas (1954) • Strikes down Plessy v. Ferguson’s “separate but equal” doctrine in regards to education. • Eisenhower supports but does not aggressively push. • Reinforced by the Civil Rights Act of 1957 • There is token desegregation in Little Rock, Arkansas. • Nine black students tried to attend Little Rock High School in 1957 • Eisenhower ordered a thousand paratroopers to Little Rock to protect the students.

16. Boycotts of the 1950s • Baton Rouge Bus Boycott (1953) • 1st successful black boycott in South • Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955) – Rosa Parks was secretary of local NAACP • These boycotts demonstrated that blacks were not happy with the system. • The emergence of a young black leader Martin Luther King, Jr. • He grew up in an affluent black community in Atlanta, went to seminary in the North and would become the most well-known of the leaders.

17. Eisenhower and the Cold War • Had a different view of the Cold War • Need more restraint in military spending. • Cautious in troop use. • Use nuclear bomb threat rather than on military spending (conventional). • More willing to use covert activities—increased U.S. covert involvement by CIA around the world. • Cold War Spreads During Second Administration

18. The Beginning of the Space Race • The Soviets launched the first satellite, Sputnik I (October 1957) • Americans suddenly noticed an apparent “missile gap” • Enlarged defense spending • Created the National Aeronautics and Space Agency (NASA) • National Defense Education Act of 1958 authorized federal grants for training in sciences, math, and foreign languages

19. The “U-2 Summit” • Stalin had died in 1953. • Nikita Khrushchev visited the U.S. in 1959 to endorse “peaceful coexistence” and agreed to a summit • The summit blew up in Eisenhower’s face • Soviets shot down an American U-2 spy plane over Soviet territory in 1960 • Eisenhower refused to repudiate U-2 flights and said that he had personally authorized them for reasons of national security

20. Castro’s revolution in Cuba • Fidel Castro at first had American support • In 1959, Castro crushed the opposition, became dictator, and welcomed Communist aid • The U.S. responded with an embargo of Cuba

21. Significant Events 1946 Levittown construction begins 1950 Kefauver crime hearings  1952 Fertility rate in USA reaches new high  1954 St. Lawrence Seaway Act  1955 Elvis Presley ignites rock and roll  1957 Sputnik launched  1958 Richard Nixon attacked in Latin America NASA established  1959 Kruschev visits United States  1960 Kennedy-Nixon debates  1961 Alliance for Progress Peace Corps begun Kennedy steps up U.S. role in Vietnam  1962 Cuban Missile Crisis