HISTORY O

F THE U

NITED STAT

ES

OF AMERICAN 1940-1960S.

A LE V E L H

I ST O R Y

AMERICAN ABUNDANCE IN THE POST-WAR ECONOMY

Many Americans feared that the end of World War II and the subsequent drop in military spending might bring back the hardship of the Great depression, with 1.2 million veterans returning home in the need for jobs . Instead, consumer demands fuelled exceptionally strong economic growth and the 50s proved to be a decade of incredible prosperity.

➢ The economy overall grew by 37% during the 1950s.➢ At the end of the decade, the median American family had 30% more

purchasing power than at the beginning. ➢ Inflation, which had wreaked havoc on the economy immediately after

World War II, was minimal, in part because of Eisenhower's persistent efforts to balance the federal budget. Except for a mild recession in 1954 and a more serious one in 1958, unemployment remained low, bottoming at less than 4.5% in the middle of the decade.

➢ More than 1/3 of American Families reached Middle-Class status

SO WHAT CAUSED THE POST-WAR ECONOMIC BOOM?

Many factors came together to produce the Fifties boom. The G.I. Bill, which gave military veterans affordable access to a college education,

added a productive pool of highly-educated employees to the work force at a time American businesses were willing to pay handsomely for engineering and management skills.

Cheap oil from domestic wells helped keep the engines of industry running. Advances in science and technology spurred productivity. At the same time, potential

competitors in Europe and Asia were still recovering from being bombed into smithereens during World War II.

Changes in consumerism patterns: with the end of the depression and wartime scarcities, a rising demand for consumer goods fuelled a steady industrial expansion.

Baby boom and suburban flight helped increase consumer demand. Abundant oil and cheap gasoline. Electronics industry boomed (TV was invented, first generation of computers). Construction, cars, electronics all did well.

Eisenhower’s work in government

1. CAUSES OF THE ECONOMIC BOOM: G.I BILL

The GI Bill of 1944 was created to help 15 million returning veterans of World War II re-enter the job market. The bill established hospitals, made low-interest mortgages available and granted loans covering tuition and expenses for veterans attending college or trade schools.

From 1944 to 1949, nearly 9 million veterans received close to $4 billion from the bill’s unemployment compensation program. The education and training provisions existed until 1956, while the Veterans’ Administration offered insured loans until 1962. The Readjustment Benefits Act of 1966 extended these benefits to all veterans of the armed forces, including those who had served during peacetime.

This bill helped to reduce fierce competition for jobs as well as boost the economy by creating a wide abundance of skilled workers.

2. CAUSES OF THE ECONOMIC BOOM: ADVANCES IN SCIENCE AND

TECHNOLOGY Through technological advancement and mechanisation, American production and manufacturing was more efficient and effective than ever before. Mechanisation meant that farmhands could be replaced and jobs could be done faster, more efficiently and to the best standard possible.

REASONS FOR THE ECONOMIC BOOM: CHANGING ON CONSUMERISM PATTERNS

One of the factors that fuelled the prosperity of the Fifties was the increase in consumer spending. Americans enjoyed a standard of living that was inconceivable to the rest of the world. The time was ripe for Americans to change their spending patterns. The adults of the Fifties had grown up in conditions of economic deprivation, first due to the general poverty of the Great Depression and then due to the rationing of consumer goods World War II. During the Thirties, with unemployment sky-high and the economy in shambles, most people could simply not afford much beyond the basics. During the war, much of the nation's productive capacity shifted to armaments. Everything from sugar to gasoline to tires to nylon stockings were rationed. When consumer goods became available again, people wanted to spend. By the 1950s, though they made up just 7% of the world's population, Americans consumed a third of all the world's goods and services. This changing consumerism brought about many changes..

1. This peacetime economy meant young couples were marrying and starting families at unprecedented rates, as they felt safe to settle down. This lead to the ‘Baby boom’ of the late 40s and 50s where the average birth-rate increased dramatically and more than 65 million children were born. This rising birth-rate created many marketing opportunities as people needed more clothes, food, clothes etc. The sales of baby food increased from $270 million in 1940 to $1.5 billion in 1953, similarly toy sales increased dramatically. Babies become both consumers and source of new markets to help the economy roar.

2. Through new and expanded federal programs, including the G.I bill of Rights many of these young families could purchase their own homes. This led to the famous ‘white flight’, where millions of new families raced to get their own affordable place in the Suburbs.

3. With the massive growth in suburban populations, automobiles were needed more than ever, and were within reach for many first-time buyers. Therefore, as suburbia grew, and consumerism heightened, car sales grew to the extent that 70% of American family owned at least one, and 20% of Americans owned more than one.

. CAUSES OF ECONOMIC BOOM: EISENHOWER'S INFLUENCE

Eisenhower realized that many of Franklin D. Roosevelt's liberal social programs were both popular and effective, so based his schemes on these. Instead of getting rid of Social Security, for example, Ike actually expanded it to cover another ten million people who had been left out of the original program. Instead of turning away from big public works projects he instead invested federal money in the Interstate Highway System, one of the largest public spending projects in the country's history.

The main economic goal that Eisenhower pursued through both his terms in office was to achieve a balanced federal budget. The government ran a small deficit in 1954 and 1955, then registered a surplus for each of the next two years. As the nation went into a recession in 1958 and 1959, Eisenhower allowed the federal deficit to grow in order to stimulate the economy. By 1960, he managed to return to a surplus.

Interstate project: The new freeway system, officially known as the National System of Interstate and Defence Highways, had a military as well as civilian purpose: it could be used to rapidly evacuate cities in case of a Soviet missile attack. The nationwide 65000 km long construction project was designed for high-speed driving, and cost an estimated $129 billion to build. To satisfy urban interests, sections of highway were constructed into and around cities. The grand jump in employment was from the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956.  The resolution to funding, created a mass amount of needed workers, to build and maintain the highways.  The highways were not the only part in contributing to the increase in jobs. The Act generated a great increase in the use and purchase of automobiles.  Before the Act many families did not own their own car, they may still have had access to a car through a friend or family member, but that still meant the same amount of cars on the road at one time.  Now families wanted to own their own car, they wanted to use the technological advancement set in-place by Eisenhower’s Act.  

SOCIAL CHANGES IN

AMERICA

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The American birth-rate exploded after world war I, between 1946-60 and became known as the baby boom. During this time more than 65 million children were born. At the height of the baby boom a child was born every 7 seconds. Several factors contributed to the baby boom

1. Young couples who had delayed marriage during WWII and the Korean War could now settle down, marry, build homes and start families.

2. The government encouraged the growth of families through incentives such as GI benefits for home purchases.

3. Media propaganda focused heavily on enhancing the birth-rate and having the ‘perfect’ nuclear family.

The baby boom brought about positive effects as the need for food, clothing, diaper and toy sales enhanced and therefore manufacturing increased improving the economy.

The baby boom also stimulated migrations to "suburbia” which in turn brought increased dependence on the automobile and required construction of new and better roads, including those built as part of the Interstate Highway System, the largest public-works project to date.

As happy as all of this seems, some people also worried about the negative effects of the Boom. Since all of those children had been born, all of them had to go to school.  More children meant teacher and classroom shortages, not to mention the crowding of the schools as well. Ten million students entered into elementary schools in the 1950s alone.  There was also a worry about food and whether or not the farmers and other growers would be able to keep up with all the hungry mouths to feed in the country.

THE GROWTH OF SUBURBIA

Suburbs grew rapidly around the cities in the 50s, created to give affordable, low interest homes to the thousands of new families created by the baby boom. The first of these suburbs was Levittown, planned and built by Bill Levitt. These mass produced houses were simple, unpretentious, and most importantly to its inhabitants, affordable to both the white and blue collar worker.

In the 1950s suburbs accounted for 85% of new home construction and the number of suburban dwellers doubled. This movement became known as the “white flight”.

Businesses and advertisers targeted consumers who had money to spend and therefore followed these people to the suburbs resulting in the rapid development of shopping malls, and food restaurants, sparking the rising consumerism trends (along with credit card availability), which helped boost the economy but suburbanisation was also had many negative effects such as the risk of increasing urban decline (as companies, and tax payers are all moving out to the suburbs) but also racial prejudices…

For many of the families that fled the city in favour of the suburbs, the catalyst was the perception of racially diverse urban areas as lower-class and crime-ridden. Real estate law at the time enabled this process, as many minorities were legally excluded from purchasing properties in suburban areas. These racist practices, called redlining, barred African-Americans from pursuing home ownership. Suburban expansion was reserved for middle-class white people, facilitated by increasing wages and home loans.

THE CHANGING WORKPLACE Dramatic changes in the workplace accompanied the countries

economic growth. The on-going mechanisations of farms and factories accelerate in the 1950s and as a result more Americans began working in white collar occupations, instead of blue collar labour (labourers, factory operatives, agriculture etc.)

MEDICAL ADVANCEMENTS There were famous medical breakthroughs in the 50s including… The fight against heart disease moved forward with new techniques for open-heart surgery.

Doctors could implant artificial valves and pacemakers to keep heart patients alive. Vaccines for whooping cough and diphtheria helped restrict those diseases, which had

killed many children during earlier decades. The average life expectancy reached nearly 70 years With the introduction of radiation treatments and chemotherapy, there was some success

with treating cancer victims Polio was treated through Salk's development of injectable vaccines and later Albert Sabin's

oral vaccine which was safer and a more convenient method for treating polio. Researchers developed new antibiotics to treat a whole range of infections diseases. They

invented antihistamines to remedy the effects of allergies. Meprobamate, the first tranquilizer, began to be marketed in 1955 under the names Milltown and Equinil, kicking off a deluge of mind-altering pharmaceuticals. One of the most notable new drugs of the period was the birth control pill. Approved for use in 1960, the Pill would change the lives of millions of women and contribute to the sexual revolution of the 1960s.

Medical care was expensive, however, and many citizens lacked medical insurance. President Truman's proposal for a national health insurance plan died in

Congress and when Eisenhower put forth a much more modest program to help private health insurance companies, the American Medical Association, a

doctors' group, raised the fear of "socialized" medicine. The plan failed to pass and the problem of Americans

lacking health insurance continues today.

TELEVISION AND THE MASS MEDIAThough television had been invented in the 1930s, few Americans had watched

a TV show even into the late 1940s. But by the end of the Fifties, TVs were present in 90% of homes and watching television was the favourite leisure activity of nearly half the population.

Television was the ultimate purveyor of mass culture. Before its arrival, people had to venture out to a theatre or cinema or concert hall to seek entertainment. And they had to pay for it. With television, the entertainment came to them for free. Millions could tune in and watch the same show—and millions did.

Television put the movie industry on the defensive. As the TV audience grew, movies lost viewers and weekly movie attendance dropped from 82 million to 36 million by 1950. Hollywood struggled to recapture attention form audiences so the development of cinemascope/Cinerama took place – whereby movies were screened on panoramic screens.

Between the 1940s and 2000s, commercial television had a profound and wide-ranging impact on American society and culture. It influenced the way that people think about such important social issues as race, gender, and class. It played an important role in the political process, particularly in shaping national election campaigns. TV programs and commercials have also been mentioned as major factors contributing to increased American materialism (a view that places more value on acquiring material possessions than on developing in other ways). Finally, television helped to spread American culture around the world.

ROCK AND ROLLThe cultural phenomenon of the Eisenhower era with the greatest

long-term impact was the advent of rock n' roll. In the mid-1950s, black and white music blended into a robust new hybrid. Rock drew on the culture of alienation as well as the increased buying power and sense of identity of the nation's young people.

Probably the most critical juncture of rock history took place on 22 February 1956. That day, Elvis Presley released a song called "Heartbreak Hotel." Elvis had been stirring up increasing excitement among fans in the previous two years, but this was to be his first big hit. Elvis Presley popularized black music in the form of rock and roll, and shocked more staid Americans with his ducktail haircut and undulating hips. In addition, Elvis and other rock and roll singers demonstrated that there was a white audience for black music, thus testifying to the increasing integration of American culture.

WOMENWorld War two opened up tremendous opportunities for women because so many men

joined the armed services and went abroad, leaving open many jobs that had been previously closed to women. It had been long assumed women couldn't do those jobs -- engineering, other professions in the sciences, manufacturing jobs that had been considered men's work, things women were believed to be too weak to do. Women entered these jobs, excelled, and enjoyed them for the most part. The female labour force at this time grew by over 50%. Women made airplanes and warships, munitions and tanks, working in technical and scientific fields for the first time. They enjoyed the work, the good pay, the opportunities for advancement, and the excitement of working with other women and men on important jobs that needed to be done for the war. Most wanted to continue working after the war ended (75%) But, of course, millions of men came back from serving in the military and there was a widespread fear that there would be another depression once the wartime economy shut down. Women were asked to do their part by leaving the job market. Many were fired from their jobs so the returning veterans could be re-employed. As women's opportunities in the paid labor force outside the home contracted, women began to infuse the work of being a homemaker. The ideal was not only to be someone who cleaned the house and took care of the kids, but to be someone who became a professional, nurturing and educating her children, managing her household. However, not all women were satisfied with this role and still found employment as secretaries, waitresses, or in other clerical jobs, what we often call the "pink collar" work force. These jobs were not as well paid, and many women faced opposition and discrimination from society for working and not conforming to the housewife role, but women did take those jobs because they either wanted independence or needed to keep working.

WHAT INFLUENCED WOMEN’S GENDER ROLES?

This role of women was very much promoted and propagated throughout the media, with TV shows clearly emphasizing gender roles and the importance of women working in the home. Experts and psychologists also claimed that families suffer if the mother works.

The schools promoted this idea too, with domestic science courses. Girls were conformed into their gender roles, doing cooking and learning about domestic work to prepare them for their future jobs in the home.

The rise of suburbs helped create the role of housewife and homemaker for white, middle class women.

Similarly, the trend of consumerism during the 1950's offered new technologies that increased the daily work of housewives. Examples of new technologies that radically altered the role of the housewife include the washer and drier, vacuum cleaner and lawn mower.

THE OTH

ER SIDE OF LIFE

DURING AMERICAN

PROSPERITY

P O V E R T Y AN D H

A R D S H I P

POVERTY AMIDST PROSPERITYThe 1950s saw a tremendous expansion of the middleclass,

1/5 or about 30 million other people, however, lived below the poverty line at this time. Such poverty remained invisible to most American’s who assumed the countries general prosperity had provided to everyone with a comfortable existence, but this was not the case.

The poor included… 1. Single mothers2. The elderly3. Minorities: Mexicans, Puerto Ricans4. African-Americans5. Inner city residents

DECLINE OF THE INNER CITYThe poverty of the 1950s was most apparent in

the urban centres. As middle class families moved out to the suburbs they left behind the poor and less educated. Many city centres deteriorated because the taxes middle class payed moved out with them.

Cities no longer had the tax dollars to provide adequate public transport, housing and other services. When the government tried to help inner city residents it often made matters worse. In the end rural renewal programmes actually destroyed more houses than it created.

AFRICAN AMERICANS AND ETHNIC MINORITIES

The prosperity of the Eisenhower years did not touch all Americans, however. Even as the nation prospered and the middle class did well, some 25% of citizens lived in poverty (then defined as an annual income under $3,000 for a family of four). Much of this poverty was said to be "invisible;" it affected blacks in urban neighbourhoods and whites in depressed rural areas like the Appalachian Mountains. Middle-class folks enjoying their new swimming pools in the suburbs could go through their lives without ever seeing the misery in other sectors of American society. Poverty amid plenty was another paradox of the Fifties, but most were able to ignore it.

The Federal Housing Administration was party responsible for this poverty of African Americans and ethnic minorities as its policies reinforced patterns of segregation by denying its low-interest loan services to non-whites. This policy endorsed redlining and discrimination in sales, financing and homeowners insurance. This meant many African Americans were denied access to the suburbs and were forced to live in the low socio-economic areas of the inner city.

As well as the Federal housing administration, there was a large wage gap between African Americans and white’s with African Americans earning only 51% of what the average white American earned.

In the U.S., blacks, Mexicans, Chinese and Japanese immigrants were targets of discrimination in employment and property ownership.. Since Chinese Americans were effectively denied citizenship until the 1950s, their access to jobs was limited, and they were prohibited by law from owning property. For Mexican Americans, opportunities for employment were largely limited to guest worker programs. The bracero program, which began in 1942 and officially ended in 1964, allowed them temporary entry into the U.S. as migrant workers in farms throughout California and the Southwest.

OTHER MINORITIES

Native Americans faced challenges throughout the post-war era. By 1950 the native Americans who made up 1% of the population, were the poorest ethnic group in America. After WWII, during which many native Americans served the US, the government launched a program to bring native Americans into mainstream society, through a plan known as the Termination policy. This policy deepened poverty for many native American’s and seized rich farmland at the expense of Native American’s

Much of the populations Hispanic populations also suffered from poverty. During the 1950s and 60s the Bracero Program brought nearly 5 million Mexicans to the US to work on farms and ranches in the SW. Bracero’s were contracted temporarily and afterwards many left home. Some 350000 settled into the US however, and many of these labourers suffered extreme poverty and hardship. They tolled long hours for little pay in conditions that were often unbearable. Many also lived in crudely built shacks or on the streets.

Native Americans Hispanics

CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT

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TRUMAN ON CIVIL RIGHTSAlthough Truman is not particularly famous for his contributions to the Civil Rights Movement, Truman actually had a major

impact on civil rights in the sense that he proposed many laws promoting desegregation and raised national awareness of the problems with discrimination due to race, gender and religion.  

Truman’s greatest impacts on civil rights came as a result of his domestic program, the Fair Deal.  This program, which was influenced by Roosevelt’s New Deal, was made to “guarantee economic opportunity and social stability”[1] for the citizens of the United States, including minority groups.  

In a 1947, Truman made a speech regarding civil rights in front of the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People.  There, he spoke of his support for the freedom of the nation, stating that “There is no justifiable reason for discrimination because of ancestry, or religion, or race, or colour.”[2]  During this speech, he not only urged African Americans to continue their fight for civil rights, but also promised them the government’s support on this issue.  He was the first president to ever address this group, showing that he would not only support their cause, but also not let the many pro-segregation groups and citizens affect his actions towards ending discrimination.  

As part of the Fair Deal, Truman  made an executive order in 1946 that had a major effect on civil rights.  By this executive order, 9808, he created the Committee of Civil Rights.  This committee was responsible for investigating the current status of civil rights in the U.S. and finding ways to improve the civil rights of the United States citizens, particularly African Americans.  A year after the committee was formed, it released a report called To Secure These Rights.  Truman responded to this 178 page report by sending a ten-point civil rights message to congress, which included creating laws against lynching, ending segregation in transportation, protecting voting rights, and creating a fair employment practices committee.  Although none of the ideas in this report were put into action, this report opened new doors for civil rights.

In 1948 Truman followed the ideas of his State of the Union address and continued his battle for civil rights by establishing executive orders 9980 and 9981.  These orders called for an end to racial discrimination in the federal government and banned segregation of armed services.  They did not completely eliminate segregation in these areas, but did allow some African American soldiers to gain leadership positions in the Korean War, which was something that never occurred during WWII.

While civil rights were a big part of the Democratic platform during Truman’s presidency, he may have also had an ulterior motive when devoting so much attention to them.  During the election of 1948, Truman’s approval ratings were down and it seemed as if he would not win.  However, that same year he issued both of his executive orders relating to civil rights, upping his approval ratings.  Though the support he had gained from farmers, labourers, African Americans, and others who benefited from actions in favour of civil rights, he was able to win the election.

 Lynching and segregation of African Americans were still occurring at the end of Truman’s presidency, but he did have some success with improving civil rights.  Whether his motive was to gain more votes, or merely to follow the Democratic platform, he did succeed in bringing a great amount of attention to discrimination problems in the U.S.  He helped the nation to take one of the first major steps towards desegregation, and helped pave the way for future presidents to even further eliminate segregation.

EISENHOWER ON CIVIL RIGHTSAlthough many of the civil rights advancements made during Eisenhower’s presidency were more of a result of the efforts of American

citizens than Eisenhower himself, Eisenhower did take many government actions to support the minority groups, particularly African Americans.  Through his addresses to the nation, contact with American citizens, and action taken through bills supported, Eisenhower succeeded in having an impact on the progression of civil rights.

In his State of the Union address in 1953, Eisenhower recognized that despite some efforts made by previous presidents, segregation still existed, and he stated that he would “use whatever authority exists in the office of the President to end segregation in the District of Columbia, including the Federal Government, and any segregation in the Armed Forces.”[4]  He also reminded the American citizens that they or their ancestors were once immigrants, likely hoping to make them reconsider their discrimination against current immigrants.  While Eisenhower did make promises to continue the advancement of civil rights in his State of the Union address, it was only mentioned in a very small portion of his lengthy speech, suggesting that it may not have been the most important factor in his mind.

Eisenhower did not take any major action towards civil rights until 1956, when submitted the Civil Rights Act of 1957 to congress.  They denied the bill in this year, but in 1957, it was passed.  This bill made it federal law that people could not stop eligible American citizens, including African Americans, from voting.  While this bill did not include great enough consequences to be fully successful, it was the first civil rights bill to be passed in 82 years, and it symbolized the beginning of a series of bills to come.  

Eisenhower’s motives in passing this bill can be questioned because he chose to have it proposed directly before an election.  He may have been attempting to gain the vote African Americans in an attempt to increase his public support.  However, it would not have made a difference, given that he won approximately 57 per cent of the popular vote and won the electoral vote 457 to 73.[5]

Eisenhower showed further support of the advancement of civil rights in September, 1957, when he used troops in support of the Supreme Court’s decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka.  In this case, they ruled that racial segregation in public schools was unconstitutional.  When the governor of Arkansas ordered state troops to keep nine black students from entering a previously all-white school in  Little Rock, Eisenhower took control of the state troops and sent 1,000 federal troops in to protect them.  This action showed the states that Eisenhower was serious about enforcing the federal desegregation laws, and that no state government could trump the federal government.  

Despite this success, Eisenhower soon recognized that Southern states were finding ways around the Civil Rights Act of 1957.  In Response to this problem, he supported the passing of another bill, The Civil Rights Act of 1960, which would make the punishments for preventing people from voting more severe.  Although congress eliminated some of Eisenhower’s recommendations within the bill, Eisenhower believed this Act to be “an historic step forward in the field of civil rights.”[6]

In addition to helping segregated parties on a whole, Eisenhower also made contacts with many individual people who were suffering from segregation, symbolizing that he did not believe he was above them like many other white Americans did.  Eisenhower was the first president to ever meet in the White House with black Civil Rights leaders.  He invited Martin  Luther King, Jr., A. Philip Randpolph, Roy Wilkins, and Lester B. Granger to his home for a meeting about national Civil Rights issues.  Eisenhower was also the first president to place an African-American in an executive white house position, and an Italian-American as his official assistant.

During his presidency, Dwight D. Eisenhower took many risks when promoting Civil Rights.  He declared that the government’s desegregation policies were not working, proposed controversial bills, and made alliances with people whose races were often considered inferior.  Through his relentless efforts, Eisenhower not only made a huge impact on society, but set a precedent for more Civil Right advancements to continue after his presidential term ended in 1961.

PRESIDENTS VIEWS ON CIVIL RIGHTS

A L I K EBoth of these presidents were generally in favour of

African American civil rights and against discrimination and segregation.  For this reason, both of them took important actions in support of civil rights.  For example, President Truman appointed a federal committee on civil rights to investigate issues like the lynching of African Americans and to give suggestions as to how these issues might be resolved.  Truman went much further than that in July of 1948 when he banned racial discrimination in the hiring of federal employees and when he ordered that the military should desegregate. 

Eisenhower also took important actions in favour of civil rights.  Under his presidency, public facilities in Washington, D.C. were desegregated, as were veterans’ hospitals.  Most famously, Eisenhower sent troops to Little Rock, Arkansas (and nationalized the Arkansas National Guard) to protect the first African American students to attend Central High School in that city.  All of these were important actions.

D I F F E R E N TThe main difference between the two men came in terms of

their attitudes towards using law to end segregation and discrimination.  So far as we know, Truman did not voice any doubts about the efficacy of using the law to end racial discrimination. 

By contrast, Eisenhower is known for his doubts on this issue.  He believed, for example, that the Supreme Court’s decision in Brown v. Board of Education was actually a setback for civil rights.  He believed that it was impossible to force people to change by changing laws.  However, this does not necessarily mean that Truman and Eisenhower actually held different beliefs.  Unlike Truman, Eisenhower was in office at a time when more activism was occurring.  Truman did not have to think about how to deal with the fallout from Brown.  He did not have to deal with the beginnings of the Civil Rights Movement.  Therefore, it is possible that he would have said similar things (and it is possible that Eisenhower would not have said what he did if he had been president during Truman’s time).

SEGREGATION Despite having gained their emancipation from slavery in 1865, African

Americans faced discrimination in every aspect of their lives until at least the 1950s. The 14th amendment (1868) to the United States Constitution promised ‘the equal protection of the laws’ to all the nation’s citizens. In practice, many US lawmakers, law courts and law enforcers approved a systematic segregation according to race. This resulted in African Americans being forced to use separate entrances to buildings; separated in theatres and on buses; and denied access to ‘whites only’ swimming pools, hospitals, schools, housing and even cemeteries. They had to endure inadequate and sub- standard facilities; were intimidated into not exercising their voting rights; were referred to by the derogatory terms ‘nigger’ and ‘coon’; and were at risk of becoming victims of mob rule, horrific violence and even lynching's.

Laws known as the Jim Crow laws enforced this segregation and the unequal distribution of the nation’s resources that accompanied it. Segregation and racial intolerance were worse in the southern states, where over 50 per cent of African Americans lived.

LIFE FOR AFRICAN AMERICANS IN THE 1940S

Unemployment and poverty in the South prompted as many as 2 million blacks to leave their homes in search of jobs in northern cities in the years after World War I. The Great Depression and the invention of the mechanical cotton picker in the 1940s exacerbated these job shortages in the South by eliminating white planters’ need for sharecroppers and field hands. Additionally, as more and more blacks migrated north to the cities, more and more white northerners left the cities for the suburbs, thus transforming inner cities into predominantly black neighbourhoods. Nonetheless, exposure to the much higher standard of living in northern cities also made blacks aware of the degree of income inequality that existed between North and South, black and white. As a result, more and more northern blacks began clamouring for jobs, education, and social services—a cry that helped launch the modern civil rights movement as well as the Great Society.

World War II also had a dramatic effect on black Americans, as black civil rights leaders publicized their “Double V” campaign for victory both abroad and at home. After civil rights leader A. Philip Randolph threatened to organize a march on Washington, D.C., to protest racial inequality, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 8802 to desegregate defence industries. This action alone allowed more than 200,000 northern blacks to find jobs in various defence industries, boosting their average income considerably. President Harry S Truman later desegregated the military with Executive Order 9981 and also created the President’s Committee on Civil Rights, one of the first government committees since Reconstruction seriously devoted to tackling racial issues. In the years after World War II, as the Cold War began, activists wondered how the United States could fight for freedom abroad when so many still lacked freedom at home. Foreign dignitaries from the USSR asked this question too and accused the United States of hypocrisy. Growing international pressure helped convince President John F. Kennedy to endorse the civil rights movement fully in the early 1960s.

ORIGINS OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENTOn December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks left her job as a seamstress in Montgomery, Alabama,

and boarded a bus to go home. In 1955 buses in Montgomery reserved seats in the front for whites and seats in the rear for African Americans. Seats in the middle were open to African Americans, but only if there were few whites on the bus.Rosa Parks took a seat just behind the white section. Soon, all of the seats on the bus were filled. When the bus driver noticed a white man standing, he told Parks and three other African Americans in her row to get up and let the white man sit down. The other three African Americans rose, but Rosa Parks did not. The driver then called the Montgomery police, who took Parks into custody.

News of the arrest soon reached E. D. Nixon, a former president of the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Nixon, who wanted to challenge bus segregation in court, told Parks, “With your permission we can break down segregation on the bus with your case. ”Parks replied, “If you think it will mean something to Montgomery and do some good, I’ll be happy to go along with it.”

When Rosa Parks agreed to challenge segregation in court, she did not know that her decision would spark a new era in the civil rights movement. Within days of her arrest, African Americans in Montgomery had organized a boycott of the bus system. Mass pro- tests soon began across the nation. After decades of segregation and inequality, many African Americans had decided the time had come to demand equal rights.

The struggle would not be easy. The Supreme Court had declared segregation to be constitutional in Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896. The ruling had established the “separate but equal” doctrine. Laws that segregated African Americans were permitted as long as equal facilities were provided for them.

THE MONTGOMERY BUS BOYCOTT On 1 December 1955, in Montgomery, Alabama, 42-year-old Rosa Parks began a phase of the

civil rights movement. when the ‘whites only’ section had filled up. The bus driver called the police, who arrested her.

Rosa Parks, a well-respected member of the NAACP, went to jail for violating the law, not giving up her seat to a white gentleman. In protest, the African American community, who comprised 75 per cent of bus users in Montgomery, began a boycott of the city’s buses that continued for 382 days. This was in addition to African American demands for equal and polite treatment from bus drivers and the provision of jobs for African American drivers.

African Americans wanted recognition of their equal rights to bus seats. Bus companies faced massive financial losses but refused to give in. The bus companies had the support of large sections of the white community, especially people who belonged to the Ku Klux Klan and the Citizens’ Councils formed to resist integration.

The boycott demonstrated African Americans’ determination to take unified action in the fight for their rights; the value of economic power as a weapon; the extent of racism that existed within many southern communities; and the changed attitudes of many whites. The African American slogan was ‘People don’t ride the bus today. Don’t ride it for freedom’. Montgomery’s African American residents walked or gained transport through car pools, often with the help of sympathetic members of the white community.

Martin Luther King, a young Baptist minister working in Montgomery, took on an important role as president of the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA), the organisation directing the bus boycott. His church became a center for planning tactics and for providing inspiration and emotional support to help make the boycott unanimous.

In November 1956, the Supreme Court ruled in favour of the MIA’s case for desegregation. The boycott ended on 20 December 1956, when the bus companies agreed to allow all bus travellers the same rights to any vacant seats.

BROWN VS. BOARD OF EDUCATIONAfter World War II, the NAACP continued to challenge segregation in the courts. From 1939

to 1961, the NAACP’s chief counsel and director of its Legal Defense and Education Fund was the brilliant African American attorney Thurgood Marshall. After the war, Marshall focused his efforts on ending segregation in public schools.

in the 1950s, African American children attended schools that were lacking in toilets, running water and even desks. Local education authorities only purchased new books for the white students in their districts. In Alabama in 1949, the state’s expenditure on African American students amounted to 27 per cent of its expenditure on white students.

In 1954 the Supreme Court decided to combine several cases and issue a general ruling on segregation in schools. One of the cases involved a young African American girl named Linda Brown, who was denied admission to her neighborhood school in Topeka, Kansas, because of her race. She was told to attend an all-black school across town. With the help of the NAACP, her parents then sued the Topeka school board. Throughout this process, supporters of segregation fought strongly to maintain separate schools for white children. They argued that the Constitution did not give the US federal government the power to overrule state law on education.

On May 17, 1954, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, that segregation in public schools was unconstitutional and violated the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Chief Justice Earl Warren summed up the Court’s decision, declaring: “In the field of public education, the doctrine of separate but equal has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal” and therefore demanded desegregation of schools.

LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSASIn 1957, nine African American students tried to attend Central High School in

Little Rock, Arkansas. They had to endure threats and attempted violence from the racist crowds lining the streets that led to the school. Pro- segregation Arkansas governor, Faubus, sent in the Arkansas National Guard to ‘preserve order’.

Little Rock degenerated into mob rule as pro-segregationists engaged in campaigns of hatred and violence against African Americans. African Americans suffered beatings, had their property attacked and lived under constant threat from the racist groups who controlled the city. Finally, President Eisenhower, more concerned to enforce the federal law on integration than committed to desegregation, ordered 1000 federal troops into Little Rock. Two days later, on 27 September 1957, the nine African American students entered Central High School under the protection of the United States army.

Then the Arkansas National Guard troops took over a month later, violence against the new students resumed. Governor Faubus used this as an excuse to close the high schools for a full year. The state then established ‘private’ schools, which excluded African Americans. Despite a court order that schools be reopened, desegregation lacked strong support from either state or federal governments and remained difficult to enforce. In 1960, only about 13 per cent of African American students in the southern states attended integrated schools. In 1964, the figure was 2 to 3 per cent for the nation as a whole.

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TRUMAN’S FIRST ADMINISTRATIONFew thought Truman could win an election in his own right in 1948. Inflation was

still a problem, the Republican Congress had blocked his legislative program, and the Democratic Party was badly split, 2 factions abandoned the party altogether and others viewed Truman’s administration as weak. Angry of Truman’s support of civil rights and frustrated by Truman’s ineffective domestic policies liberal members in his party formed a new progressive party with Wallace. Despite this, Truman won most electoral votes and in 1948 became President. Most of his votes were received in the South with strongest support from African‐Americans, Catholics, Jews, farmers, and organized labour.

TRUMAN’S FAIR DEALTruman announced an ambitious domestic agenda, known as the Fair Deal,

at his inauguration in January 1949. Some Fair Deal programs that were implemented included an increase in

the minimum wage, an expansion of Social Security, funding for low‐income public housing, and farm price supports. However, even with Democrats back in control of both houses, the president could not get Congress to back other key elements of the Fair Deal.

Conservatives in both parties were able to muster enough votes to block his really significant policy initiatives, such as civil rights legislation that would expand on Truman's executive orders prohibiting discrimination in federal government hiring and ending segregation in the armed services; national health insurance; federal aid to education; and repeal of the Taft‐Hartley Act.

He did however, have some legislative successes, such as the Housing Act of 1949 which provided for the construction of low income housing and long term rent subsides.

TRUMAN AND TACKLING COMMUNISMThe threat of communism was a major focus of Truman’s second administration. The

president supported the creation in 1949 of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), a military alliance of democratic nations, including the United States, Canada, France, the United Kingdom and eight other countries, and appointed Dwight Eisenhower (1890-1969) as its first commander.

Also that year, a revolution in China brought the Communists to power, and the Soviets tested their first nuclear weapon.

Additionally, during his second term Truman had to contend with unproven accusations made by U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy (1908-1957) that the presidents administration and US state department had been infiltrated by communist spies.

In June 1950, when communist forces from North Korea invaded South Korea, Truman sent in U.S. planes, ships and ground troops to aid the South Koreans. The conflict turned into a lengthy stalemate that left Americans frustrated and hurt Truman’s popularity; however, his decision to intervene ultimately preserved South Korea’s independence.

EISENHOWERIn the 1950’s the USA went to war in Korea. This consumed the nations

attention and resources and effectively ended Truman’s fair deal. By 1952 Truman’s approval rating dropped quickly and he decided not to run again for presidency. Instead Eisenhower, a world war II war hero ran for presidency and the slogan “I like Ike” was soon adopted. Eisenhower won the election in a landslide of votes 442:80.

EISENHOWERAlthough there were dangerous moments in the cold

war, people often remember the Eisenhower years as “happy days”, a time of prosperity, where American’s enjoyed the benefits of a booming economy. Yet the Eisenhower years were not carefree – the president faced important issues in domestic affairs. Managing the economy involved important decisions about how to maintain prosperity, protect freedom, and make difficult decisions about civil rights which were becoming an urgent national issue. Most decisions Eisenhower made were accepted as the right choices, however, some critics believed he had not used his powers enough to protect individual freedom.

So how did he do it?

EISENHOWER: MODERN REPUBLICANISMAlthough some Republicans hoped that Eisenhower would dismantle all of Franklin Roosevelt's New

Deal programs, the president realized that doing so was neither possible nor desirable. In fact, Eisenhower supported some components of the New Deal, such as Social Security, whose coverage was expanded to the self‐employed, farm workers, and military personnel; and the federal minimum wage, which rose to $1 an hour during his administration. However, the president's domestic agenda did reverse some New Deal trends. For example, Eisenhower focused on reducing the federal budget, which included cutting farm subsidies, abolishing the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, keeping inflation in check, and promoting private rather than public development of the nation's energy resources. Despite Eisenhower's concern for fiscal responsibility, he was prepared to increase spending to get the country out of the 1953, 1957, and 1958 recessions.

Modern Republicanism represented a pragmatic approach to domestic policy. Committed to limiting the role of the government in the economy, the administration was ready to act when circumstances demanded it.

Eisenhower's modern Republicanism embraced two major public works projects — the St. Lawrence Seaway and the interstate highway system. The Seaway, a joint American‐Canadian effort completed in 1959, gave ocean‐going ships access to the Great Lakes. The Interstate Highway Act, passed in 1956, authorized the federal government to finance 90 per cent of the cost of building the interstate system through a tax on automobiles, parts, and gasoline that went into the Highway Trust Fund. The 30‐year construction program skewed the nation's transportation policy in favour of cars and trucks and resulted in reduced spending on urban mass transit and railroads.

THE FEDERAL HIGHWAY ACTEisenhower endorsed the Federal Highway

Act in 1956, calling for the construction of a network of interstate highways, which would improve national transportation. In fewer than twenty years, this highway construction became the largest public works project in U.S. history and cost more than $25 billion. New taxes on gasoline, oil, and trucks helped pay for this massive endeavour. The new interstates had an enormous impact on the growth of the suburbs and prosperity but also severely crippled the development of public transportation systems.

EISENHOWER AND MCCARTHYOne of the key issues facing the nation during the 1952 campaign and the early years of

Eisenhower's presidency was Senator Joseph McCarthy's near-fanatical campaign to root out the Communists who had supposedly infiltrated America's government and society. McCarthy had begun hunting Communists in government and public life in 1950. While he was genuinely concerned about the threat of internal Communist subversion (which, we now know, was wildly overblown; Communists were never more than a tiny, beleaguered minority within the United States), McCarthy found that the publicity his crusade generated gave a tremendous boost to his political career. By 1952 he was flinging accusations around indiscriminately, wildly alleging Communist infiltration of all sectors of American society.

Eisenhower also worried about Communist spies or agents, but he disliked McCarthy's outrageous methods, including a tendency to consider someone guilty until proven innocent. Eisenhower, however, did not want to criticize McCarthy publicly, as he was fearful that such a direct confrontation would demean his office or work to the senator's advantage: "I just won't get into a pissing contest with that skunk," the President declared.

Among those McCarthy came to target was General George C. Marshall, who had been the United States' highest-ranking military officer as Army Chief of Staff during World War II. Later, as President Harry Truman's Secretary of State, Marshall had devised a plan to rebuild Europe. He was perhaps the country's best-respected figure in military and international affairs. He had also, however, tried to reconcile the Nationalist and Communist forces in China, and when the Communists won the civil war there in 1949, Marshall was one of those accused of "losing" China. McCarthy, making a typically wild leap in logic, concluded that Marshall was somehow acting to help the Communists. This personally offended Eisenhower. George Marshall was one of Eisenhower's closest friends and the man responsible for his rise in the military. This led to Eisenhower’s decision to work quietly, behind the scenes, to frustrate McCarthy's investigations. Television could have a powerful political effect now 70% of people owned TV’s, so Eisenhower used it to his advantage; he was the first President to allow television cameras in his news conferences and the first to have an advertising agency produce a television campaign commercial for his re-election. Television could also diminish political power, and that is what it did to McCarthy. After watching McCarthy on television, millions of viewers agreed with the question that Joseph Welch, a lawyer working for the Army, put to the senator: "Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last?"

At the end of 1954, the Senate voted to censure McCarthy. Never again was the senator a major force in national politics. During the four years that he had the spotlight, however, McCarthy ruined many reputations by making reckless and unsubstantiated charges. Eisenhower played a significant, albeit limited, role in finally curbing McCarthy's power.