1950s (1)

 People have savings, service pay, war bonds;
buy goods long missed
 Cold War keeps defense spending up;
foreign aid creates markets
 GI Bill of Rights eases veterans’ return to
civilian life
 Pays partial tuition, unemployment benefits;
provides loans

 Economic Gains
 Defense industries boom, unemployment
falls to 1.2%
 Average pay rises
 Farmers prosper from rising crop prices,
increase in production
 Percentage of women in work force rises to
35%
 Population Shifts
 War triggers mass migrations to towns with
defense industries

 Families adjust to fathers in military;
mothers rear children alone
 Families must get to know each other again
after fathers return
 Many couples rush to marry before husband
goes overseas
 1944 GI Bill of Rights or Servicemen’s
Readjustment Act:
 pays education; loan guarantees for homes, new
businesses

 1945 - 1965 baby
boom - soaring birth
rate after soldiers
return
 Baby boom impacts
economy,
educational system

 Higher prices, lower wages lead to strikes
 Congress passes Taft-Hartley Act, overturns
many union rights
 The American Federation of Labor merges
with the Congress of Industrial
Organizations to become the AFL-CIO

 Truman Supports Civil Rights
 African Americans, especially veterans,
demand rights as citizens
 Congress rejects civil rights laws; Truman
issues executive orders:
 Integrates armed forces; ends
discrimination in government hiring

of Executive order 9981 commanding
Integration of the US Military July 26, 1948
1. It is hereby declared to be the
policy of the President that there
shall be equality of treatment and
opportunity for all persons in the
armed services without regard to
race, color, religion or national
origin…

 Southern Democrats – Dixiecrats - protest
civil rights, form own party
 Truman defeats Thomas E. Dewey in close
political upset
 Democrats regain control of Congress, lose
some Southern states

 Truman’s Fair Deal is ambitious economic
program, includes:
 higher minimum wage, flood control
projects, low-income housing
 Congress passes parts of Fair Deal

 Truman’s approval rating drops over Korean
War, McCarthyism
 decides not to run for reelection
 Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower runs against
Adlai Stevenson
 Newspapers accuse VP candidate Richard
M. Nixon of corruption
 defends self in televised “Checkers speech”
 Eisenhower wins; Republicans narrowly take
Congress

 Favors big business
 Cut gov’t spending
 Reduce taxes
 Attempt to balance the
budget
Dwight D Eisenhower
34th President of the US

 During the 1950s, the economy booms, and
many Americans enjoy material comfort.
 Majority of Americans not in blue-collar
(industrial) jobs
 More in higher-paying, white-collar (office,
professional) positions
 Many in services, like sales, advertising,
insurance, communications

 Conglomerates—corporation that owns
smaller, unrelated companies
 Diversify to protect from downturns in
individual industries
 Franchise—company offers similar
products, services in many places
 Also the right to use company name and system
 Fast-food restaurants among first, most
successful franchises

 Many employees with well-
paid, secure jobs lose
individuality
 Offers comfort and security
 Youth are labeled the “silent
generation”
 Media promotes clean-cut
teen image
 Interest in religion renewed
– Rev. Billy Graham
Reverend Billy Graham

 Men go to school; support families
 Women work at home; look after children
 Magazines, TV, movies glorify role of
homemaker, mother
 Some suburban teenagers work part time;
many have more leisure time.

 Women who keep their jobs after WWII
 Married women working outside the home
(limited opportunities, less pay than men)
 Rock-and-roll music
 Beatniks

 Rock ‘n’ roll—mix of rhythm and blues,
country, pop
 Has heavy rhythm, simple melodies, lyrics
about teenage concerns
 Music appeals to newly affluent teens who
can buy records
 Many adults concerned music will lead to
delinquency, immorality
 Elvis Presley – king of rock ‘n’ roll
Elvis Presley

 Writers, artists express
social, literary
nonconformity
 Poets, writers use free,
open form; read works
aloud in coffeehouses
 Beatnik attitudes, way of
life attract media attention

 Mass media—means of communication that
reach large audiences
 TV in almost 90% of homes in 1960
 Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
regulates communications (censorship)
 Programs: comedies, news, dramas, variety
shows, children’s shows
 Three networks dominate
 Commercial advertisements pay for
programming

 Television cuts into radio, movie markets
 Radio turns to local news, weather, music,
community affairs
 Movies capitalize on size, color, sound
advantages; try gimmicks

 The Computer Industry:
 Wartime research advances industry
 Software advances are made
 Transistor invented
 Nuclear Power – Clean, limitless, affordable
 Advances in Medicine and Childcare:
 Dr. Jonas Salk develops vaccine for polio
 Pediatrician Dr. Benjamin Spock writes popular
guide for parents
 Advances in antibiotics and surgery

Dr. Jonas Salk Developer of
Polio Vaccine
Dr.
Benjamin
Spock
1950s Transistor
Radios

 Shorter work week, paid vacation, labor-
saving devices free up time
 People have time for recreational activities,
spectator sports
 Book, magazine, comic book sales climb
rapidly

 Cheap, plentiful gas,
easy credit, advertising
increase car sales
 No public transit in
suburbs; cars necessary

 Interstate Highway Act—nationwide
highway network unites country
 Highways enable long-haul trucking, new
towns, family vacations
 Towns near highways prosper; those near
older, smaller roads decline

 Returning veterans face housing
shortage
 William J. Levitt (Levittowns) --
Developers use assembly-line
methods to mass-produce houses
 Build suburbs - small residential
communities around cities
 GI Bill of Rights -- pays partial
tuition, unemployment benefits;
provides low-interest loans for
houses and businesses
William J Levitt

 Auto boom stimulates new businesses
 e.g. drive-in movies
 Cars create social, environmental problems
 e.g. accidents, pollution
 Upper-, middle-class whites leave cities;
jobs, businesses follow
 Economic gulf widens between suburban
and urban
 Also widens gap between middle class and
the poor

 Amidst the prosperity of the 1950s, millions
of Americans live in poverty (25%).
 Post WW II–1960, 5 million blacks go from
rural South to urban North
 White flight results in loss of businesses, tax
payers in cities
 Cities can no longer afford to maintain or
improve:
 schools, public transportation, police and fire
departments

 Poverty grows rapidly in decaying inner
cities
 Poor economic conditions lead to illness and
terrible conditions
 Urban renewal—replace rundown buildings
with new low-income housing
 Housing and Urban Development Dept.
created to improve conditions
 Not enough housing built for displaced
people

 Minority groups were still
fighting for equal rights
 During WWII, Mexican
braceros, hired hands, allowed
into U.S. to work
 After war, many remain illegally;
many others enter to look for
work

Mexican Braceros being processed

 60% of Americans in middle class; twice as
many as before WW II
 Consumerism (buying material goods)
equated with success
 Numerous new products appear on market
in response to demand
 Planned obsolescence—making products
that get outdated, wear out
 makes consumers buy or want to buy new ones

 Buy Now, Pay Later
 Credit purchases, credit cards, installments
extend payment period
 Private debt grows; consumers confident of
future prosperity
 Most people have satisfied basic needs; ads
encourage extra spending
 Ads appear in all media; television emerges
as powerful new tool

1950s (1)

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