Chapter 27  The Postwar Years at Home

Post war economy

·         BUSINESSES REORGANIZE

·         Per capita income the average income per person was $1536.00 to  $2788.00

·         Companies began conglomerating their interests

·         Companies  began building franchises because of advances in production of milkshake machines

·         Technology transforms life

·         Television

·         Three networks control what is on  Mickey mouse club, I love Lucy

·         The computer industry

·         A woman developed the software which runs the computer

·         Came  up with the term debugging

·         Transistors change the size of appliances

·         the census bureau purchased one of the first computer systems

·         nuclear power

·         Disney made a movie about a  genie in the bottle

·         Supposed to be a story about nuclear power

·         Suppose to show how we control the awesome power

·         Advances in medicines

·         Cures for polio by Dr Salk and Dr Francis

·         A number of other advances came about in the 50s

Changes in the work place

·         The type of work done changed a little

·         More white collared workers

·         People who worked in a clean environment

·         Blue collared workers were the people working in construction and other manual labor jobs

·         Wages and working conditions improved

·         Unions joined

·         AFL-CIO became the largest union and has considerable clout

·         Growth of the service industry created this influx of suit and tie employees

·         Working in a large corporation had drawbacks

·         Individualism was lost

·         Uniform dress and philosophy

Suburbs and Highways

·                     Growth in population the baby boom era

·         Moving to the suburbs

·         People wanted new homes

·         Moved away from the center of the towns

·         Homes could be purchased using low financing

·         GI Bill gave low interest housing to service men

·         Homes were built in a mass production type format

·         Little Boxes song

·         Cars and highways

·         People moved away from the center of town

·         Lived in suburb and worked in town

·         Needed more and better roads, using personal auto more and mass transportation less

·         Vacations to “SEE THE USA”

The growth of consumer credit

·                     Credit cards for the trips

·                     Credit cards for the nice things they wanted

·                     Credit cards for buying new American Products

                            Section two of chapter 27

                            The mood of the 1950 

                            After World War II, American ideals were told in the children’s story about he little train that learned to stay on the tracks.

                The youth of American did not show interest in the world problems or crises. Economical strength of nation and family was good allowed kids to stay in school longer join fraternities and look for fun much like the kids of 1920 did.

                The movie grease shows the different types of clothing worn by the youth of America during the fifties

Religion emerged as a renewed interest throughout America. in 1954 the words In God We Trust were added to the pledge of allegiance. Slogans such as the family that prays together stays together were created. Dial pray lines were set up. Religious tent revivals were popular. Billy Graham and Oral Roberts were a few of the traveling evangelists. 

Roles of men and women in the 1950s changed.

Have students read page 775 about the roles of women and men and discuss the differences between then and now

Rock n Roll and other ways of being non-conformists were tried by the youth of the 1950s. Alan Freed

Can the students name groups from the 50s? the beatniks were group of people who had philosophies which were out of the mainstream thinking of the time. This group practiced drug use and open sexuality.

Domestic Politics and Policies

            Truman’s Fair Deal:

            21 point plan

1.      promote full employment

2.      higher minimum wage

3.      unemployment compensation

4.      housing assistance for all Americans

Truman was considered a loose cannon and no effective because of the Republican Congress that rejected most of his ideas and proposals

During the election of 1948

            Truman campaigned against the Republican congress instead of his opponent Dewey

            He campaigned against the do nothing congress with comments such as

“..if you send another Republican to Washington, you’re a bigger bunch of suckers than I thought”  crowds would yell encouragement with “..Give ‘Em Hell, Harry…”

The election of 1948 was so close, the newspapers had headlines,    Dewey Defeats Truman.

The next four years was Truman fighting with the Republican congress

The Election of 1952, Stevenson versus Eisenhower

            Eisenhower was a talented diplomat and he had Richard Nixon as a running mate

            The election and campaign had slogans like “…I like Ike…” and the Republicans had a formula for success in the election,   K 1 C 2 focus on Korea and communism and corruption.

Richard Nixon was being the target of the media, claiming that he was living above his means with a secret campaign fund.   Nixon faced the nation with a speech known as the “Checkers Speech”  “…he said that the only thing he ever received was a cocker spaniel that his daugther named checkers and he would not return the dog

As President, Eisenhower was calm and dignified. His philosophy of leadership was as follows

..leadership is not desk pounding,  but persuasion and conciliation and education and patience

Eisenhower coined the phrase Modern Republicanism

            Conservative with money, and liberal when it came to dealing with human beings

His attempts to balance the budget back fired. Growth in business fell from 4.3% 2.5%

Tax revenues dropped and deficit grew

Although this was happening, the minimum wage rose from $.75 / hour to $1.00 / hour

The launch of the Sputnik caused fear to spread in America, the Russians could now bomb us from the orbit in outer space

Because of the fear the nation passed the NATIONAL DEFENSE EDUCATION ACT of 1958

            It improved math and science instruction in the high schools

Millions of dollars provided for low cost loans to college students if became teachers the loan repayment would be reduced, state colleges built science and language buildings

DEMANDS FOR CIVIL RIGHTS

            Truman supported the idea of civil rights He appointed a Biracial Committee on Race Relations

This committee focused on federal anti-lynching laws, abolishing the poll tax as a voting requirement, and establish, a standing board which would prevent discriminatory practices in hiring

Congress would not do anything about the suggestions

            Truman banned discrimination in hiring of federal employees and he ordered the end of discrimination and segregation in the military

The Korean War helped with this action.

Other areas of civil right concerns

            Education: Brown vs. Board of Education

            Linda brown walked by an all white school on her way to a bus stop to be bussed to an all African American school

Went all the way to the Supreme Court and their attorney won Thurgood Marshal who would become a Supreme Court justice

This was the start of changes in the United States