the postwar years at home
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The postwar years at home. 1945-1960. Postwar economy. The Years Following WWII. AFTER WWII. DURING WWII (you fill it in). What was life like? Military & economic superpower Prosperity Able to purchase: Homes Cars Other items they had once dreamed of owning. Economic Expansion. - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
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THE POSTWAR YEARS AT HOME1945-1960
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POSTWAR ECONOMY
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The Years Following WWIIDURING WWII
(you fill it in)AFTER WWII
What was life like?• Military & economic superpower• Prosperity
• Able to purchase:• Homes• Cars• Other items they had once
dreamed of owning
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Economic Expansion• Greatest time of economic expansion
• GNP• Per capita income
• $1,526 $2,788• Corporate expansion
• General Motors (GM), Ford, Chrysler, General Electric (GE), & Westinghouse
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Franchises• Right to open a restaurant using a parent company’s
brand name & system• Ray Kroc & Multimixers (milkshake machine)• Cali. brothers kept buying mixer• Kroc purchased 2 brothers’ idea of assembly-line food production
(1954)• Acquired name of the brothers’ restaurant
………………………..DRUMROLL………………………………………….
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Franchise Cont.• The system worked so well, it was applied to:
• Clothing stores• Automobile muffler shops
• Why did it work?• Individual with only few thousand $ could own a small business
NAME OTHER FRANCHISES
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Technology• Spurred industrial growth• New & improved products
• Dishwasher• Gas-powered lawnmowers• TV• Computer • Nuclear Power• Advances in medicine
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Fwramn5U3M
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Television• Developed in ‘30s• 2/3 of families owned TV• Mickey Mouse Club• American Bandstand• I Love Lucy• Commercials = persuasive
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Work Force• Before WWII – “blue collar” workers
• produce goods• People performed machine performed
• 1956 – white collar jobs• Office jobs• “When white-collar people get jobs, they sell not only their time and
energy but their personalities as well.” –Sociologist C. Wright Mills
• Those who still had blue-collar jobs:• Working conditions & wages • Unions won important gains
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Increasing Population & Suburbs• Baby boom growing families suburbs
• 25 births per 1,000 people• Growing families move from aging cities new houses in suburbs• Outskirts of an urban area
• Developer William J. Levitt Levittowns • Communities in suburbs• Built houses in weeks instead of months• Homes became affordable
• GI Bill (Servicemen’s Readjustment Act 1944) • gave WWII vets low-interest mortgages to purchase their new homes
WHY MIGHT SOME PEOPLE NOT LIKE SUBURBS?
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Consumer Culture• Companies offer credit cards to loyal customers
• Charge gas purchases when they were on the road• Americans willingly went into debt to purchase the
products they wanted• American Express• BankAmericard (Visa)
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MOOD OF THE ‘50S
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Youth• Americans went from valuing individuality conformity• Youth Culture
• “silent generation”• Little interest in world problems• Strong economy = students to go to school rather than leave to find
a job• Parties, pranks, & joining fraternities & sororities• Products marketed toward youth
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Religion• Interest in religion response in part to the cold-war
struggle against communism• Find hope in wake of nuclear war
• 1954 – “under God” to Pledge of Allegiance• 1956 – “In God We Trust” WHERE DO WE SEE THIS?
• Evangelists used radio and tv to carry their messages • End of ‘50s, 95% of all Americans felt linked to some religion
Billy Graham
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Men & Women’s Roles• Men – go to school and find jobs to support wives &
children• Public sphere away from home
• Women – support husband, kept house, cook, raise children
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Men on the Role of Women• Dr. Benjamin Spock – The Common Sense Book of Baby
and Child Care• Mothers - remain with children if she wanted them to grow up
stable & secure• Adlai Stevenson – Democratic presidential candidate
• 1952 & 1956• “the assignment for you, as wives and mothers, you can do in the
living room with a baby in your lap or in the kitchen with a can opener in your hand.”
Video
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Women’s Views• Frustrated with expectations• Wanted to earn their own $ buy the items that
symbolized the “good life”• Automobiles• Electric appliances
• 1950 – 22% of all married women had jobs• 1961 – 31%
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Challenges to Conformity• Some young people rejected values of parents• Films, books, and music were used to express thoughts
• Rebel Without a Cause (film)• James Dean
• The Catcher in the Rye (novel)• Rock & Roll
• Grew out of rhythm & blues• Elvis Presley
• Adults disliked him – feared he would cause immorality
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Challenges Cont.• Members of the “Beat Generation” – called beatniks
• writers• Artists
• Challenged traditional patterns of respectability • Shocked Americans with their open sexuality & use of illegal drugs
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DOMESTIC POLITICS & POLICY
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True or False?• 1950s were a liberal time period – politically & culturally
True False• In 1950, Dwight D. Eisenhower was president
True False• President Harry Truman wanted to follow in FDR’s
footstepsTrue False
• WWII ended in 1950True False
• Truman was a Democrat & Eisenhower was a RepublicanTrue False
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Overview• 1950s were conservative time politically & culturally• Americans pressured gov’t to help maintain nation’s new
prosperity• President Truman (Democrat) – 1st struggled with the
problems of reconversion to a peacetime economy• President Eisenhower (Republican) – took low-key
approach to presidency• Friendly & reassuring
We have heard of him before.
When?
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Truman• What is Truman’s claim to fame?
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Truman’s Domestic Policies• Scattered approach to governing
• New proposals in every speech• Peacetime economy
• Reconversion – social & economic transition from wartimepeace• Most soldiers home by 1946
• People went from rationing to wanting goods immediately • Wages failed to keep up with prices
• People began to strike• Truman – workers fail to understand that big wage might hurt
economy’s health
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Taft-Hartley Act• 1947 – passed by Congress• Allowed president to declare 80-day cooling-off period
when strikes hit industries that affected national interest• Strikers had to return to work & gov’t examined situation• Union officials signed non-Communist oaths
Truman vetoed TH Act but was still passed by Congress
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Truman’s Fair Deal• Supported FDR’s New Deal
• Extended New Deal Fair Deal• Gov’t needs to play an active role in economy• promotes full employment• Higher minimum wage• Compensation for workers without jobs• National health insurance • Control atomic energy
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Fair Deal Cont.• Congress opposed him
• Only passing the Employment Act 1946• Truman’s support dropped in polls• 1946 – Republicans win majority of both houses of
Congress
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Election of 1948• Truman runs again• Support within party is disintegrating
• Democrats support Progressive Henry Wallace (1 of FDR’s VP)• Opponent of Truman was Republican Thomas E. Dewey
Truman – “If you send another Republican Congress to Washington, you’re a bigger bunch of suckers than I think you are.”
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WHO IS THIS?
WHO WON?
ACTUALLY, TRUMAN WON. EXPLAIN THIS PICTURE.
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Dwight Eisenhower aka “Ike”• Former commander-in-chief of the Allied forces• President on Colombia University• Head of NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization)• Talented diplomat• VP was Richard Nixon (later becomes president)
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The Checkers Speech• People want Eisenhower to dumb Nixon from the ticket• Newspapers accused Nixon of having special fund
• “set up by rich Republican supporters”• He DID received a gift from a political supporter………………………..a dog named Checkers…………….
People changed their mind & wanted Nixon to still run
Video
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Ike as President• Served 2 terms• “I am not one of those desk-pounding types that likes to
stick out his jaw and look like he is bossing the show.”• Critics claimed he lacked leadership
• Defends himself – “Now, look, I happen to know a little about leadership. I’ve had to work with a lot of nations, for that matter, at odds with each other. And I tell you this: you do not lead by hitting people over the head…I’ll tell you what leadership is. It’s persuasion – and conciliation – and education – and patience. It’s long, slow tough work. That’s the only kind of leadership I know or believe in – or will practice.”
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Ike as President Cont.• Wanted to:
• Slow growth of the federal gov’t• Limit the President’s power • authority of Congress & courts
• Priorities included:• Cut spending• Reduce taxes• Balance budget
• Favored:• Big business• Encouraged/supported corporate America
Modern republicanism
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Ike as President Cont.• Attempted to balance budget
• Backfired• Cuts in gov’t spending economy slump tax revenues drop
deficit grew larger • 3 economic recessions • Still helped maintain mood of stability & economic security
• Minimum wage: $0.75 $1.00
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National Defense Education Act• 1958• Improve science & mathematics instruction in schools so
that the U.S. could meet the scientific & technical challenge from the USSR
• Millions of $ in low-cost loans to college students• Reductions in repayments if they became teachers• Federal gov’t granted millions of $ to state schools for
building science & foreign language facilities