Chapter 20 The Postwar Years at Home (1945 – 1960)

Chapter 20The Postwar Years at

Home(1945 – 1960)

Section 1The Postwar

Economy

Setting the Scene• items were rationed

or not produced at all during the war

• people were eager to acquire everything the war and the Depression had denied them

• began to spend large sums of money on recreation

Businesses Reorganize• per capita income – the average

annual income per person increased• with research and development

funded by the government, new products were produced

– General Motors

– Chrysler

– Ford

– General Electric

– Westinghouse

• conglomerate – corporation made up of three or more unrelated businesses, that is better able to defend itself against economic downturns– International Telephone and Telegraph,

Avis Rent-a-Car, Sheraton Hotels, Hartford Fire Insurance, & Continental Baking

• franchise – business that contracts to offer certain goods and services from a larger parent company– use the company’s name, suppliers,

products, and production methods• McDonald’s

Technology Transforms Life

• Television– live broadcasts

made shows exciting to watch

– average American family watched 4-5 hours a day

– also became a powerful new medium for advertisers

The Mickey Mouse Club

Howdy Doody

I Love Lucy

Father Knows Best

American Bandstand

• The Computer Industry– Grace Hopper – pioneered creation of

software & coined term debugging when she removed a moth from a relay switch

– transistor – tiny circuit device that amplifies, controls, and generates electrical signals• also took up less space and generated less heat

• Nuclear Power– nuclear fission – produce heat to generate

steam and drive electrical turbines• first nuclear-powered submarine (USS Nautilus)• first nuclear power plant

• Nuclear Power Plant in Glen Rose, Texas– approx 87 miles from Gatesville

• Advances in Medicine– Dr. Jonas Salk & Dr.

Thomas Francis - developed a polio vaccine• introduced on the

Tenth Anniversary of FDR’s death

– antibiotics like penicillin introduced

– new era of surgical advances to correct heart defects

Changes in the Work Force

• new machines began to assume many of the jobs previously performed by people – automation

• demand for more people to keep growing organizations running

• growth of the service industry

• Advantages– buildings were

clean– offices were bright– physically work was

less exhausting– not as dangerous– could rise into

executive positions

• Disadvantages– less connection

with products & services company was providing

– pressure to dress, think, and act alike

Suburbs and Highways

• the baby boom• Moving to the Suburbs

– retreated from aging cities to the suburbs

– GI Bill of Rights – gave soldiers low-interest mortgages to purchase new homes and provide them with educational stipends for college or graduate school

– William J. Levitt – built houses in just weeks instead of months

– some complained that the developments all looked too much alike

“Little boxes on the hillside Little boxes made of ticky-tacky Little boxes on the hillside Little boxes all the same.

There’s a green one and a pink one And a blue one and a yellow one And they’re all made out of ticky-

tacky And they all look just the same.”

- Malvina Reynolds, “Little Boxes”

• Cars and Highways– stores began to move from

cities to shopping centers located in the suburbs

– new car designs every year

– Interstate Highway Act – to build an interstate road system more than 40,000 miles long• theoretically allowed for the evacuation of

major cities in the event of a nuclear attack

– gas stations, repair shops, parts stores– drive-in movies and restaurants– vacations at national parks, seaside

resorts, and amusement parks

The Growth of Consumer Credit

• gas companies began offering credit cards to loyal customers

• consumer credit debt rose from more than $8 billion (1946) to $56 billion (1960)– used credit to purchase washing machines,

vacuum cleaners, and television sets

Section 2The Mood of the

1950s

Setting the Scene

• Americans began to value security over adventure

• happy with the apparent harmony between individuals and groups

Comfort and Security

• Tootle the Engine– young train

engine, who thought it was more fun to play in the fields than stay on the tracks• “Always stay on

the track no matter what.”

• Youth Culture– little interest in the problems and crises

of the larger world– more children able to complete

secondary school– expected to stay in school, only part-

time jobs (baby-sitting)

– businesses began selling to the youth market– bobby socks / poodle skirts / letter sweaters– teenage girls collected items such as silver

and linen to prepare for marriage, often just after high school

• A Resurgence in Religion– people began to flock back to churches– found hope in the face of the threat of

nuclear war– Dial-a-Prayer– growth of evangelists

– 1954 – Congress adds “under God” to the Pledge of Allegiance

– “In God We Trust”

Men’s and Women’s Roles

• roles defined by social and religious traditions– men – go to school, find a job and support

wives and children– women – supporting role of keeping house,

cooking meals, and raising children

Challenges to Conformity• Women at Work

– norm was for women to leave work after they got married (not all did)• secretaries, teachers, nurses, sales clerks

– Betty Friedan – The Feminine Mystique

• Tupperware Parties– home-based sales were less intimidating

than door-to-door

• Youthful Rebellions– some young people

rejected the values of their parents

– Rebel Without a Cause – James Dean

– The Catcher in the Rye – J.D. Salinger• struggles to

preserve own integrity despite the fierce pressure to conform

– Alan Freed – radio disc jockey who began playing black rhythm-and-blues• “Moondog Rock

‘n’ Roll Party”

– Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Fats Domino, Bill Haley and the Comets, Jerry Lee Lewis, Buddy Holly

Chuck Berry

Little Richard

Fats Domino

Bill Haley and the Comets

Jerry Lee Lewis

Buddy Holly

– Elvis Presley• “Don’t Be Cruel”• “Hound Dog”• “Heartbreak

Hotel”

– rock-and-roll• felt that it threatened many who were

comfortable with racial segregation• didn’t like the idea of black and white

teenagers going to the same concerts or dancing to the same music

– “Beat Generation” – beatniks• promoted spontaneity or acting out at a moment’s

notice without planning

– Jack Kerouac – On the Road– Allen Ginsberg – “Howl”

I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked, dragging themselves through the negro streets at dawn looking for an angry fix; Angel-headed hipsters burning for the ancient heavenly connection to the starry dynamo in the machinery of the night.

–Allen Ginsberg – “Howl”

Section 3Domestic Politics and Policy

Setting the Scene

• 1950s called the conservative years

Truman’s Domestic Policies

• had a scattershot approach to government

• offered a new set of proposals in every speech

• The Peacetime Economy– reconversion –

the social and economic transition from wartime to peacetime

– wages failed to keep up with prices

– strikes in various prominent industries

– began to limit the power of unions

– Taft-Hartley Act – allowed the President to declare an 80-day cooling off period during which strikers had to return to work , if the strikes were in industries that affected national interest

– required union officials to sign oaths that they were not Communists

– vetoed by Truman, but passed by CongressSenator Robert A. Taft

• Truman’s Fair Deal– 21-point program designed to promote full

employment, a higher minimum wage, greater unemployment compensation, housing assistance, national health insurance program, control atomic energy

• Truman on Civil Rights– “I am not asking

for social equality, because no such things exist, but I am asking for equality of opportunity for all human beings, and, as long as I stay here, I am going to continue the fight.”

– federal anti-lynching law, abolish the poll tax, board to prevent discriminatory practices in hiring

– biracial committee formed on Civil Rights

– banned the discrimination in the hiring of federal employees

– end to segregation and discrimination in the armed forces

The Election of 1948

• Truman ran against Republican Thomas E. Dewey– campaigned against

the Republican Congress (80th ‘Do Nothing’ Congress)

– almost all experts and pollsters had picked Dewey to win

– Truman wins in an astounding upset

• 22nd Amendment– limited presidents

to two terms (1951)

Eisenhower and the Republican Approach

• Ike - nickname

• “K1C2” – Korea, Communism, Corruption

• promised to end the Korean War

• Vice-President Richard Nixon

• The Checkers Speech– during the election, Nixon was accused of

receiving illegal gifts from political friends– many proposed Eisenhower dump him

from the ticket

– Nixon gave a televised speech where he admitted that he had received one gift, a little cocker spaniel they named Checkers

– people demanded Nixon continue

• Eisenhower as President– worked

behind the scenes

– won reelection in 1956

• Modern Republicanism– wanted to limit the President’s power and

increase the authority of Congress and the courts

– cutting spending, reducing taxes, and balancing the budget

– “dynamic conservatism”

– Eisenhower’s Cabinet• favored big business• successful businessmen, plus one union leader

– “eight millionaires and a plumber”

– attempt to balance the budget backfired, but maintained a mood of stability

– minimum wage increased from 75¢ to $1.00

• Meeting the Technology Challenge– National Aeronautics and Space

Administration (NASA) – formed in 1958, as an independent agency for space exploration

– National Defense Education Act – improve science and mathematics instruction in schools to meet the scientific and technical challenge of the Soviet Union

– money to build science and foreign language facilities for schools