HIST 1302

TOPIC: Presidents and Popular Culture

PRESIDENTS

1945-1981

Harry S. Truman (Democrat)—1945-1953)

“The Fair Deal”

• United Nations Established

• State of Israel Recognized

• Champion of Equal Rights for all Americans

• Advocated National Health Insurance

• Opposed Taft-Hartley Act

• Expanded Social Security, Federal Aid for

Education, and raised the minimum wage

• No commitment to social or economic reform

• Balanced federal budget

• Reduced military spending

• Supported National Highway System

• Kept federal activities to a minimum

• Encouraged resistance to Communism in Southeast Asia

Eisenhower’s “Modern Republicanism”

7 min. 42 sec.

John F. Kennedy (Democrat)—1961-1963)

“The New Frontier”

• Created the Peace Corps

• Set the goal of reaching the Moon by end of 1960s

• Supported equal rights for all Americans

• Provided support for defense of South Vietnam

• Opposed Castro regime in Cuba

• Successfully defused Cuban Missile Crisis

• Supported American presence in Berlin

Lyndon B. Johnson (Democrat)—1963-1969

“The Great Society”

• Championed equal rights for all Americans (3 Civil Rights bills)

• Declared “War on Poverty” (Equal Opportunities Act)

• Championed health insurance for elderly and poor (Medicare and

Medicaid)

• Championed consumer and environmental laws

• Encouraged exploration of space

• Committed combat troops to the War in Vietnam

Richard M. Nixon (Republican—1969-1974)

• Encouraged “détente” between U.S. and China and Soviet

Union

• Sought “Peace with Honor” in Vietnam

• Ended war in Vietnam at beginning of second term

• Tried to cover up Watergate burglary

• Resigned in 1974 to avoid impeachment

Gerald R. Ford (Republican—1974-1977)

• Pardoned Nixon

• In office during reunification of Vietnam under a

Communist government

• Vetoed increase in veterans’ benefits

• Unable to bring inflation and recession under control

• Only President never elected to office

Jimmy Carter (Democrat—1977-1981)

• Championed environmental laws

• Mediated peace between Israel and Egypt

• Normalized relations with China

• Arranged future transfer of Panama Canal

• Successfully negotiated release of Iran hostages

Life in Postwar America

Boom Times & the Rise of the Middle Class

Following World War II, America’s economy boomed and the

middle class dramatically increased in size.

The G.I. Bill

• Signed into law by FDR in 1944

• Enabled millions of veterans to go to college

• Provided veterans with no-down payment home loans; stimulated postwar housing boom.

• Provided veterans with unemployment insurance for up to 1 year from date of discharge

5 min. 28 sec.

The G.I. Bill stimulated the

postwar building boom.

Developer Bill Levitt pioneered the assembly-line method of building

inexpensive suburban houses in Levittown, Long Island, NY.

By the end of the 1950s, 25% of all Americans lived in Levitt-

style suburban housing developments all over the country.

In 1950 there were 39 million cars on the road. By 1960

there were 74 million and 80% of American families had at

least one car. The rest had two or more.

In 1956, Congress passed the Interstate Highway Act,

creating our modern interstate highway system.

3 min. 19 sec.

This postwar “Baby

Boom” also stimulated

the economy.

Between 1946 and

1952, 25 million “baby

boomers” were born.

The 1950s also saw a demand for

new electrical appliances.

Suburban American women

were expected to follow the

traditional roles of housewife

and mother, and most did.

7 min. 15 sec.

By the mid-1950s 75% of American

households had a TV! I Love Lucy

The Honeymooners

Father Knows Better Leave It To Beaver

Superman

2 min. 20 sec.

Rock n’ Roll is Here to Stay

1955: “Rock n’ Roll” music becomes a

national sensation.

Bill Haley and the Comets

Because many Rock n’ Roll artists

were black, Southern white

parents suspected an NAACP plot

to bring about racial integration!

In truth, Rock n’ Roll did

break down racial barriers.

Chuck Berry

2 min. 09 sec.

1956: A young singer named Elvis

Presley takes the country by storm!

4 min. 17 sec.

Rebellious Youth

Music

Fashions

Hairstyles

Lifestyles

The War in Vietnam

“Beatlemania” and the “British Invasion”

The Beatles The Rolling Stones

The Animals

The Yardbirds

Starting in 1964, a “British

Invasion” of long-haired rock

musicians swept the U.S.

In 1967, the Hippie

Movement, centered in

San Francisco and New

York, called for young

people to “turn on, tune

in, and drop out.”

The older generation reacted negatively to long

hair, particularly on young men.

In 1968, a Broadway musical celebrated long-haired youth.

From the beginning,

young people protested

the war in Vietnam. 8 min. 38 sec.

In August 1969 nearly a half million young people

attended the Woodstock festival in New York state.

The Altamont Festival, held in California in Dec. 1969,

featuring the Rolling Stones, was far less peaceful.

Women’s Lib and Other

Movements

In 1966, Betty Friedan, author of The Feminine

Mystique, founded the National Organization for

Women (NOW) to demand equal rights for women.

Gloria Steinem, journalist and founder of Ms. Magazine, was

another leader of the Women’s Liberation Movement, which

demanded equal pay and equal opportunities for women in the

workplace as well as abortion rights. Steinem also championed

the unsuccessful Equal Rights Amendment (ERA).

In 1973, in Roe vs. Wade—a case that originated in Dallas, Texas—the

U.S. Supreme Court handed down a still-controversial 7-2 decision that

permits women to have an abortion provided the fetus is not “viable”

(able to survive outside the mother’s womb).

Beginning in the late 1960s, Gay Men and Lesbians also began to

agitate for an end to discrimination based on their sexual orientation,

which they asserted was an inborn trait, not a conscious choice.

Borrowing tactics from the Black Civil Rights Movement, Mexican-

Americans and Native Americans also agitated for equal treatment

under the law, as well as compensation for past injustices.