The 1950’s

Truman’s FAIR DEALFair Deal- Truman’s package of reforms after

WWIIIncrease minimum wageIncrease aid to agriculture and educationEnact 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

Republican Congress22nd amendment- two

term limit of presidentTaft-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.

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 sloganTook a middle of the road

approach “modern republicanism”

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 grewBusiness Methods grew to encourage growth in 3

waysAdvertisingBuy now, pay laterPlanned obsolescence (buying goods that go out of

date)

Shifting EconomyGeneral Motors- 1st corporation to earn 1

billion dollars a yearCost 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.

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 servicesBottlesMaternity wardsHomes/ appliancesSchools

Family Roles: Stay-at-home moms and working dadsMany books published and tv shows

encouraged women to stay at home including “Leave It To Beaver”

Women forwent college and stayed at home

Population ShiftsSuburbs grew

Levittown- first planned community in nation in Long Island, New York

Migration to the SunbeltShift 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

The AutomobileMiddle Class dream to have Two cars in

every garageFathers commuted to jobs in nearby citiesMothers could run to the shopping centers and

supermarketsStatus Symbol

Cars were a sign of consumer culture wealth and prestige

Interstate Highway System1956 construction started and completed

10,000 miles of highway by 1960 (today we have over 45,000 miles)

1956 Highway Act

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 advancedOpen heart surgeryKidney transplant

Life Expectancy increased from 68 in 1950 to 69.7 by 1960

Technological Advances

Nuclear Energy- electricity, x-rays, and radioactive iodine to treat cancerComputers 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

Critics of SuburbiaSuburbia- 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

NonconformityBeat Movement- writers and poets who

were either beaten down or beatific( blissfully happy)- BeatniksStarted New York CityRejected all forms of convention or ways of

livingObscene writing- morally offensive

NonconformityYouth Culture rebelled

against the world of their parents through music, dance, movies, and slangAlan 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”

Art and ComicsThe American Way- comics broke

from convention “Tales from the Crypt”Parents were horrified by new

comicsTaught the youth how to lie, rob,

assault, cheat, steal and break into houses

Abstract Expressionism- new form of art that expressed emotionsVivid and unstructuredJackson Pollock “The source of my

painting is the unconscious”

Poverty in SocietyPeople felt poverty was a moral condition and an

economic problemPauperism- people depending on government assistance

or pubic assistanceWorking poor- more respected than paupers but little

differencePoverty 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 Harrington¼ of society lived in poverty

Poor cities, elderly, no political power

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