challenge & change in the 1950’s chapter 27, lesson 5
TRANSCRIPT
CHALLENGE & CHANGEIN THE 1950’SChapter 27, Lesson 5
Dwight D. Eisenhower (R) is elected President in 1952
Americans returned home from WWII and started families
Economy does very well when “Ike” is in office
Lives of most Americans improved during this time
Americans are still worried about nuclear war
Cities set up air raid warning signals
People built bomb shelters in their back yards
Air raid drills done in school
MCCARTHYISM
RED SCARE Government workers during Truman & Eisenhower’s
presidencies who were thought to be “security risks” were forced to resign or were fired
Senator Joe McCarthy used this fear to grow his own political power
Accused educators, journalists, entertainers, etc.
McCarthy investigates the Army looking for communists Investigation seen on TV turns public opinion against him He loses his power in the Senate as a result
CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT
Brown vs. Board Young black girl must travel through a dangerous rail yard to get to
her all black school – her father sues for the right to send his daughter to the closer by all white school
Thurgood Marshall First African-American Supreme Court Justice works on the case
Rosa Parks Parks refused to give her Montgomery Alabama bus seat to a white
person and was arrested
CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT
Martin Luther King Jr. Montgomery Bus Boycott Non-violent protest This drew attention to the racial discrimination against blacks in America
1957 Civil Rights Law First civil rights law since the end of reconstruction
Little Rock Nine Arkansas governor tries to prevent 9 African-American high school
students from attending an all white school National guard is called to keep students out US Army troops arrive to protect the 9 students (101st Airborne) Eventually the governor backed down
LIFE IN THE 1950’S
More products, more jobs, higher standard of living
“Family” and “Home” became symbols of American life
Husbands were “breadwinners” and women were “housewives”
Women did have jobs, but those jobs were seen as temporary until they had children
Eventually, women begin to question the narrow role assigned to them by society
In the early 1960’s, the women’s movement would begin
LIFE IN THE 1950’S
Interstate highway system
LIFE IN THE 1950’S
SPACE RACE
Soviets launch Sputnik on 10/4/57 First satellite
Concern grows over the Soviet Union being able to do something that America could not
Sputnik II carried a dog into space – before the Americans got there
Explorer I – 1/31/58 The following October NASA is born