Chapter 29AFFLUENCE AND ANXIETY

America Past & Present

The Postwar Boom

1950s ~ Characterized by a new affluence & economic good times

1960 ~ Fear of another depression wanes

p.841

Postwar Prosperity

Stimuli to consumer goods industry Baby boom Population shift to suburbia 1950 ~ Americans bought

more than 6M cars Increased defense spending Increase in capital investments Employment expands

p.841-842

Birthrate, 1940–1970

p.841

Postwar Prosperity:Some Minor Problems

Agricultural overproduction, low prices Newer industries (aircraft, electronics) continued to

flourish, but older industries (steel) & farmers failed to keep up with national growth

Despite the boom, unemployment rose to over 7% in a shape recession that hit the country in the fall of 1957 & lasted thru the summer of 1958

None of this disguised the fact that the nation was prospering to an extent few had imagined

p.842

Life in the Suburbs

Suburbia inhabited by middle class

1956 ~ First fully enclosed “mall” in Minneapolis Characteristics of suburbs

Dependence on the automobile Family togetherness

Traditional feminism discouraged Entrance of more women into workplace

stimulated new feminism

p.842-843

The Good Life? Consumerism the dominant social theme

of the 1950s Quality of life left Americans anxious &

dissatisfied

Areas of Greatest Growth Church membership School attendance Television watching

p.843-845

Critics of the Consumer Society

Books by social critics of suburban culture John Keats

“Tract homes…spreading like gangrene” C. Wright Mills ~ Corps were the villians

“Rows of blank counters, w/ blank-looking girls, w/ blank folders in their blank hands…”

Jack Kerouac ~ Novelist (On the Road) who set the tone of the beat generation Beatniks: Poetry, drugs, coffeehouses Set the stage for the counterculture of the 1960s

p.845-848

The Reaction to Sputnik

1957: Soviets launched Sputnik American response

National Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA)

National Defense Education Act—upgrade the teaching of science

Duck & cover Sense of failure, declined by 1960

p.846-847

Farewell to Reform

Spirit of reform waned in postwar yrs A turning away from federal regulation &

welfare programs Reasons:

Growing affluence reduced sense of grievance

Americans eager to enjoy their new prosperity

p.848

Truman & the Fair Deal Fair Deal attempted to expand New Deal

Medical Insurance for all Americans Revived & strengthened Fair Employment Practices

Commission (FEPC) Federal aid to education

Truman’s “Fair Deal” was never enacted Doctor’s lobby convinced people that an insurance plan

would be “socialized medicine” Southerners opposed FEPC & aid to education

Truman’s achievements Consolidated Roosevelt's reforms Set the agenda for future attempts to expand New Deal

p.348-349

Eisenhower's Modern Republicanism

Eisenhower left New Deal intact Raised minimum wage and expanded Social Security Created Department of Health, Education, and Welfare

1954 ~ Democrats regained Congress 1956 ~ Highway Act created the

Interstate Highway System Justified on grounds of National defense Stimulated the economy Shaped metropolitan growth patterns

Overall, Ike’s political perspective is characterized as “Moderate Republicanism”

p.849-851

The Interstate Highway System

p.850

The Election of 1956

The Struggle Over Civil Rights

Cold War prompted quest for American moral superiority We criticized the Soviets for their human rights violations

yet still treated Af Ams as second class citizens Legal discrimination (segregation) against

African Americans was rampant Separate restaurants, drinking fountains,

restrooms, waiting rooms, phone booths African-Americans expected more in postwar

America

p.851

Civil Rights as a Political Issue

Truman’s civil-rights legislation failed 1948 ~ African American vote gave Truman his

margin of victory Civil rights made part of the liberal Democratic

agenda Truman integrated

the armed forces Certainly much

more than society at large

p.851-852

Desegregating the Schools

1954 ~ Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka Segregated schools unconstitutional Desegregate "with all deliberate

speed" Massive resistance in Deep South 1957 ~ Gov Orville Faubus: ARNG

Ike sends federal troops to Little Rock, AR

Commission on Civil Rightsp.852-853

The Beginnings of Black Activism

1955 ~ Rosa Parks refuses to “move to the back of the bus” in Montgomery, AL

ML King, Jr. led Montgomery bus boycott 1956 ~ Founded Southern Christian

Ldrsp Conf directed at anti-segregation Sit-ins protested segregation laws

1960 ~ Successful sit-ins led to the founding of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee

SCLC & SNCC began using the direct, nonviolent, passive resistance

p.853-856

Restoring National Confidence

American people more optimistic in 1960 than in 1950

Fear of economic depression waned Fear of Cold War continued Growing recognition of incompatibility of

racial injustice with American ideals

p.856

Chapter 29AFFLUENCE AND ANXIETY

America Past & Present

End