1950s
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1950s. Focus Question: Why are the 1950s remembered as an age of affluence (prosperity)?. Rocky Transition to Peace. Truman announced set of reforms: the Fair Deal Raise minimum wage Enact national health insurance program - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
1950s
Focus Question:
Why are the 1950s remembered as an age of affluence (prosperity)?
Rocky Transition to Peace
Truman announced set of reforms: the Fair Deal Raise minimum wage Enact national health insurance
program With rising prices and
unemployment, workers wanted wage increases and striking
Congress Responds: Taft-Hartley Act
T-H Act limits power of unions to combat and prevent strikes
Closed shop or workplace where an employer agrees to hire only members of a certain union outlawed
Bans sympathy strikes by other unions
Truman Defeats Dewey
Election of 1948Truman Defeats Dewey
Truman campaigns on a whistle-stop tour to win the reelection against Dewey
Truman’s Fair Deal reforms blocked by Republican Congress
Congress did pass Truman’s proposal to raise minimum wage
Election of 1950: Ike takes the middle of the road
“I like Ike” Modern Republicanism voted in to
office with Eisenhower Social Security Benefits expanded Arms buildup during peacetime to
combat the Cold War Interstate system designed & built
Consumer Demand = Economic Growth
Due to large savings and more “real” income, people spend more money than ever before
Businesses advertise & offer charge cards
New & improved products encourage customers to get the newest product and latest designs
Economy Shifts from Goods to Services
GM becomes the first US business to earn more than $1 billion a year
GMs success based on guaranteeing its workers wage hikes that were tied to the cost-of-living index
Fast-food restaurants and motel chains begin to compete for consumer business
New companies are selling franchises (agreements to operate a business that carries that company’s name and products)
Economy Shifts from Goods to Services
Blue-collar to White-collar Job Shift
White-collar workers outnumber blue-collar workers for the first time in US History
Blue-collar workers are part of middle class
White-collar workers are usually salaried, while blue-collar workers are paid by the hour
Marriage Boom leads to Baby Boom
Marriages increased greatly Married at younger ages Increase in marriages leads to
more babies being born = baby boom
More diapers, baby food, homes, cars, schools are needed to accommodate these new kids
Family Roles Dr. Spock encourages women to stay
home to raise children in his books Mass media (TV, magazines, movies)
portray “traditional family” with working dads and homemaker moms
The number of women attending college dropped and many who do attend drop out to get married
Leave it to Beaver & Father Knows Best TV families
Middle Class Families Move to the Suburbs
New planned communities are providing needed housing for middle class families
New suburban communities revealed homogeneity being white and middle class
Americans move to the sunbelt Population shift possible with
invention of air conditioning and water projects
The Suburbs
The Middle Class Dream Increased number of people
commuting from the suburbs led to the production and sale of cars
Cars are a status symbol; new and better designs each year
Interstate system needed New business along interstate:
gas stations, motels, restaurants
Life Expectancy Dr. Salk created polio vaccine Surgical techniques created
saving lives Use of antibiotics to treat
diseases increases Advances in medicine increase
life span by ~ 2 yrs
Nuclear Energy & Computers Nuclear energy used for electricity First electric digital computer
called ENIAC performs 300 multiplications per second
Invention of transistor has allowed for smaller and more reliable computers
Suburbia and Conformity fostered conformity & materialism same age, class, & income Suburbs consisted of uniform,
unidentifiable homes “organization men” working for
large corporations or government Children grew up valuing “fitting in”
above thinking for themselves
The Beats Rejected all forms of convention Shunned traditional jobs and
materialism of American life Men wore beards. Men and women wore
dark clothes and berets Studied Eastern religions:
Hinduism and Buddhism
Beat Literature Based on feelings &
adventures Writing often flowed
in a stream ofconsciousness and could go for pages
without a period or punctuation
Youth Culture Rock n Roll was a new style of music
that teenagers embraced Radios and record players were
inexpensive Elvis Presley represented rebellion
against music and manners of older generations
Hollywood catered to teens Teens developed their own language
Two Americas Poverty was a moral and
economic problem People who needed assistance
viewed as lazy Elderly and children were
misfortunate because they couldn’t work
Working poor had jobs
Two Americas Poverty line is the minimum
amount of income needed to meet basic needs
Poor lived in cities Mass produced clothing allowed
for assimilation into society No political power
Inner Cities African Americans, Puerto
Ricans, Mexican Immigrants Industry jobs disappeared from
cities Housing Act of 1949 destroyed
many homes where low-income groups lived
Rural Life Migrant workers, farmers,
Appalachia’s residents Small farmers couldn’t compete
with corporate farms Migrant workers given low pay at
corporate farms Coal industry declined leading to
no work for Appalachia's miners
America’s Poorest Citizens American Indians Termination policy of 1953 ended
federal aid to tribes, withdrew land protection, distributed tribal land among individuals
Voluntary Relocation Program encouraged Native Americans to move to cities
Poverty By 2000, overall poverty rate in the US
decreased by half Recession following 2001, the rate grew Poverty rates of older Americans and
children has dropped due to SS payments
African Americans made the most gains. More than half were in poverty in the 1950s, now this rate is 25%; three times higher than that of whites