Recent American History

Unit II: Post-War America, The New Frontier and The Great Society

What should I be able to do? Identify the social and economic problems

America faced after WWII Explain how the desire for stability led to

political conservatism Describe the causes and effects of social

unrest in the postwar period Complete 1948 Presidential Election picture

analysis and reading questions to explain the surprise that occurred in the Election of 1948

Postwar Problems and Solutions

Is the economy better or worse in a time of war?

Post War Situations Read each case then develop a solution to the problem

- You are a factory owner of a large furniture company. Every year since the war, your company has earned around $10 million. Now that the war is over, the returning veterans are coming home and looking for work. During the war, you have employed hundreds of capable men and women who have been working in the factory for over four years now and know how to do their jobs well. Training and hiring new workers would cost you over $2 million. However, the government is willing to cut your annual corporate taxes by 15% if 2/3 of your workers are veterans. You also want to help the returning veterans who fought for the country. What is your solution?

Post War Situations - You are a member of the U.S. Senate. Tomorrow

you will have to vote on a law that could potentially end the campaign that has been encouraging women to leave their jobs in factories, go back home to raise their families and become homemakers. You know for a fact that the contribution of women factory workers kept America in WWII, but you also realize that many factories only hired women temporarily until men came home from the war. If this bill passes, then the campaign will end and many women will return home. If the bill does not pass, many women will continue to work, leaving many veterans without jobs. Also, since women have the right to vote, you many not be reelected. What is your decision?

Postwar Problems and Solutions Job Shortages

GI Bill of Rights Provided returning

veterans with: Money for

education Year’s worth of

unemployment benefits

Low-interest Loans

GI Bill of Rights

“More than any other law passed by Congress, it shaped American society in the postwar period, millions of people whose parents or grandparents had never dreamed of going to college saw they could go. It allowed millions of Americans to achieve a standard of living that was generally better than that enjoyed by their parents.”

Postwar Problems and Solutions Severe Housing

Shortage Mass Housing

Developments Levittowns and

Sunbelt 16 minute home @

$8000 Promoted

conformity with strict rules

Postwar Problems and Solutions High Inflation Rates

Congress establishes controls on: Prices Wages Rents

Success led to increase in American consumption

Postwar Problems and Solutions Labor Strikes

Truman threatens workers with an executive order

Taft-Hartley Act Limited power of

labor unions Major component:

outlawing closed shop law

Postwar Problems and Solutions Discrimination and

Racial Violence Committee on Civil

Rights Developed to

investigate inequality in the U.S.

Focus on de jure segregation

Executive Order Ordered by President

Truman Required integration of

armed forces

Big Picture The years following WWII were a time of prosperity

in the United States. As the economy boomed, fears of a return to depression conditions faded. During the 1950s, millions of working-class families became affluent enough to move up into the middle class.

The GI Bill enabled veterans to attend college, establish businesses and buy homes; it helped to prevent the economic recession that occurs after wars

The 1950s economic problems included housing shortages, unemployment and rising prices, however increased demand for consumer goods created economic prosperity.

Election of 1948

‘The Surprise”

Election of 1948

Democratic Party Candidate: Harry Truman (incumbent)

Dixicrats (State’s Rights Party) Candidate: Strom Thurmond

- Broke with DP because didn’t agree with Truman’s stance on Civil Rights

Progressive Party Candidate: Henry Wallace

- Wanted to improve relations with Soviet Union

Republican Party Candidate: Thomas Dewey

Strom’s Story

Truman’s Domestic Agenda “Every segment of our population…has a right to expect from our government a fair deal”

Truman’s Domestic Agenda Reform program to aid the transition from a

wartime to peacetime economy Extension of New Deal that promised:

Increase in minimum wage Increase in aid to agriculture and education National health insurance program

Agenda frustrated (much not passed) by Congress

Big Picture The 1948 Election saw competition between

four political parties and ended in a surprise victory by Harry Truman.

Truman’s Fair Deal provided some social and economic reforms but met strong opposition from Congress.

The Election of 1952

First use of political advertising

What should I be able to do? Understand how the use of television

commercials differs from previous forms of political communication.

Understand how the first campaign commercials in 1952 changed exposure to and perception of candidates and issues in presidential campaigns.

Summarize Eisenhower’s domestic policy of modern Republicanism and describe why Eisenhower appealed to many Americans.

QuestionWhat do you know about the main presidential candidates for the 2008 election? Their records, their positions on issues and life stories? In what ways did you get your information?

Activity 1 Directions- Take out a blank piece of paper - Fold paper in half (hot dog style) - Work with the person sitting next to you and

develop a pro/con list comparing the advantages and disadvantages of television during political campaigns vs. more traditional techniques

- Develop at least 3 pros and 3 cons

Historical Context The election of 1952 was the first election where

presidential commercials ever aired, at a time when Americans were not used to seeing candidates on television

Dwight D. Eisenhower- Republican

Vice President: Richard Nixon

Adlai Stevenson- Democrat

- Vice President: John Sparkman

Political Advertising Commercial Television was a new form of medium for

presidential candidates in 1952. In your opinion, who used this medium to better advantage, Eisenhower or Stevenson? Explain your answer using details from the spots.

What concerns does a candidate face when presenting himself in a television ad that might not exist in other situations?

With Which do you agree more? “The idea that you can merchandise

candidates for high office like breakfast cereal is the ultimate indignity to the democratic process”—Adlai Stevenson, 1956

“Television is no gimmick, and nobody will ever be elected to major office again without presenting themselves well on it”—Television producer and Nixon campaign consultant Roger Ailes, 1968

Big Picture After the election of 1952, television would

become an indispensible form of communicating a political message. A candidate’s ability to present himself on television became just as important as his views on the issue.

The Affluent Society

What are the differences between liberals and conservatives?

Eisenhower’s Domestic Agenda “Conservative when it comes to money, and liberal when it comes to people”

Eisenhower’s Domestic Agenda Middle of the road

domestic policy that combined both liberal and conservative ideas

Led to an increase in social programs and defense spending

Do you know?

Why do you believe many Americans supported Eisenhower in the 1950s?

The Big Picture Modern Republicanism was Eisenhower’s

Policy that stated he would be conservative with money and liberal with human beings; because the policy addressed liberal and conservative agendas, it was popular with many Americans.

1950’s Cultural Changes

The American Dream Graphic Organizer

1950’s Culture: Causes and Effects

Business Expansion

• Rise of monopolies/franchises/conglomerates

• Reduction of individuality within workplace—conformity

• Machines/computers take place of jobs once held by humans

• White-collar jobs outnumber blue-collar

1st McDonalds“They put the hamburger on the assembly line”

“It requires a certain kind of mind to see the beauty in a hamburger bun. Yet is it any more unusual to find grace in texture and softly curved silhouette of a bun than to reflect lovingly on the…arrangements of textures and colors in a butterfly’s wing? Not if you view the bun as essential material in the arm of serving a great many meals fast.” Ray Kroc

1950’s Culture: Causes and Effects

Suburban Migration

• Increased need for roads and transportation mediums

• New definition of the “American Dream”

• Deterioration of cities

1950s Culture: Causes and Effects

Population Growth Causes

• Reunion of families after WWII • Decrease in the age of marriage • Desirability of large family • Confidence in continued

economic prosperity • Dr. Jonas Salk and the polio

vaccine

Population Growth Effects

• Need to move outside of cities • Production in related industries

1950’s Culture: Causes and Effects

1950s Culture: Causes and Effects

Increased Leisure Time

(Causes)

• Less hours worked/week• Increased consumption of

time-saving devices

Increased Leisure

Time (Effects)

• Many enjoyed high number of recreational pursuits

• Increase in reading• Activities geared towards

youth increased

1950s Culture: Causes and Effects

Consumerism

(Causes)

• Many more Americans reached middle-class status

• New products• Introduction of credit cards • Planned obsolescence • Increase in advertising

Consumerism

(Effects)

• Strong economy • Increased conformist culture • Defined gender roles

1950s Culture: Causes and Effects

Automobile Culture (Causes)

• Cheap gasoline • Increased credit lines • Increased advertising

Automobile Culture (Effects)

• Cars became a necessity • Interstate Highway Act • Decline in other travel mediums• Increases in related industries• Increases in accidents/pollution• Gap between rich and poor

increases

1954 Chevy Bel Air 1955 Chevy Bel Air 1956 Chevy Bel Air

1950s Culture: Causes and Effects

Television’s Golden Age(Causes)

• More Americans owned TVs and could afford TVs

• Newest medium of entertainment

Television’s Golden Age

(Effects)

• Portrayed an “idealized” society

• Created defined societal/gender roles

• Increase in advertising• Radio and movies turned

toward/captured what TV could not

1950s Popular Culture

American Bandstand

Planned Obsolescence

Planned Obsolesce

Dr. Salk and the Polio Vaccine

Betty Friedan “The problem lay buried, unspoken for

so many years in the minds of American women. It was a strange stirring, a sense of dissatisfaction, a yearning that women suffered in the middle of the 20th century in the United States. Each suburban housewife struggled with it alone. As she made the beds, shopped for groceries, matched slipcover material, ate peanut butter sandwiches with her children, chauffeured Cub Scouts and Brownies, lay beside her husband at night—she was afraid to ask even of herself the silent question—is this all?

Big Picture The years following WWII were a time of

prosperity in the United States. As the economy boomed, fears of a return to depression conditions faded. During the 1950s, millions of working-class families became affluent enough to move up into the middle class.

Lash Out Against Conformity

What are the fads today?

1950s Fads

What should I be able to do? Describe the ways in which people lashed out

against 1950s conformity.

Food For Thought

What characterizes teenagers from other groups?

Lash Out Against Conformity Teenagers

First time word teenagers entered vocabulary

Parents fearful of new, teenage subculture

Mass media targeted new group (examples: The Catcher in the Rye, Rebel Without a Cause)

Bill Haley and his Comets First Major Rock and

Roll act. Rock Around the Clock

Became a national success and teenage anthem.

Do you think Parents would object to this song? Why?

Why would parents object?One, two, three o'clock, four o'clock, rock,Five, six, seven o'clock, eight o'clock, rock,Nine, ten, eleven o'clock, twelve o'clock, rock,We're gonna rock around the clock tonight.

Put your glad rags on and join me, hon,We'll have some fun when the clock strikes one,We're gonna rock around the clock tonight,We're gonna rock, rock, rock, 'til broad daylight.We're gonna rock, gonna rock, around the clock tonight.

When the clock strikes two, three and four,If the band slows down we'll yell for more,We're gonna rock around the clock tonight,We're gonna rock, rock, rock, 'til broad daylight.We're gonna rock, gonna rock, around the clock tonight.

(1st guitar solo)

When the chimes ring five, six and seven,We'll be right in seventh heaven.We're gonna rock around the clock tonight,We're gonna rock, rock, rock, 'til broad daylight.We're gonna rock, gonna rock, around the clock tonight.

When it's eight, nine, ten, eleven too,I'll be goin' strong and so will you.We're gonna rock around the clock tonight,We're gonna rock, rock, rock, 'til broad daylight.We're gonna rock, gonna rock, around the clock tonight.

(2nd guitar solo)

When the clock strikes twelve, we'll cool off then,Start a rockin' round the clock again.We're gonna rock around the clock tonight,We're gonna rock, rock, rock, 'til broad daylight.We're gonna rock, gonna rock, around the clock tonight.

Elvis Aaron Presley (1935 - 1977) Elvis crossed racial

lines. Young girls loved

him! Are there any

artists that compare today?

Lash Out Against Conformity Rock n’ Roll

Combined sounds from various genres

Increased generational divide

Helped to decrease racial divide

The Beat Generation

Rebellion against Consensus

Lash Out Against Conformity Beat Movement

Expressed the social and literary nonconformity of artists and poets

Beatniks—lived nonconformist lives and cared little for material goods

Allen Ginsberg’s America How does the poem reflect a lack of

conformity with 1950s values? What is the message of the poem? What criticisms does Ginsberg level at

America?

Big Picture The 1950s were widely viewed as an age of

conformity. Some social critics worried that the suburbs had become wastelands of cultural conformity and materialism. However, many currents of nonconformity also swirled through this decade.

Kennedy and the Johnson Administrations

Kennedy Administration Election of 1960

First televised debates Pitted John F Kennedy

vs. Richard M. Nixon Role of media had huge

influence on outcome Nixon appeared

sickly and uptight Kennedy appeared

relaxed and confident

JFK

Youngest president ever elected. Who was our youngest

president? First and only

Catholic President Closest race since

1888.

Ask not what your country

can do for you, but what you can do for your country!

New Frontier

New Frontier Target Issues

What Kennedy Did to Address Issues

Managing the Economy

• Increase in government spending • Persuade steel industry to reduce prices • Reduced taxes

Helping the Disadvantaged

• Donated his salary to charities • Passed Area Redevelopment Act—provided financial assistance to poor. •Peace Corps

Kennedy Administration Flexible Response

Believed U.S. should have options other than nuclear war

Two-part plan Increase stockpile of

nuclear weapons Tripled nuclear capability

Boost funding to unconventional forces Special forces/Green

Berets Peace corps

PUT A MAN ON THE MOON!

List three reasons for the US to be concerned about Cuba’s

connection to communism?

Kennedy Administration Crisis in Cuba

Communist revolution in 1959 overthrow Cuban dictator

Establish strong ties with Soviet Union

Transform Cuba into a communist country with a planned economy

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f3/FCR_to_FDR_letter_complete.jpg

Kennedy Administration Bay of Pigs

Kennedy’s first foreign policy initiative

CIA’s clandestine mission to invade Cuba and overthrow Castro’s regime

Hoped to spark support against Castro

Mission highly unsuccessful Castro anticipated attack Cuban troops were killed

or captured Expected “uprising”

never occurred

Soviet Response Soviets supplied Cuba with Arms.

Soviets viewed opportunity to spread communism to the Western Hemisphere.

US saw this as a threat.

October 14th 1962 Secret U-2 mission revealed up to 40 nuclear

missile silos on Cuba. Made the US highly susceptible to Soviet

attack.

EXCOMM

President creates a committee referred to as EXCOMM

Lyndon Johnson – Vice President

Dean Rusk – Secretary of State

Robert McNamara - Secretary of Defense

General Maxwell Taylor - Chairman of the JCS

McGeorge Bundy - Special Assistant to the President

John McCone - CIA Director

Robert Kennedy - Attorney General

George Ball - Undersecretary of State

Theodore Sorensen - Special Counsel

Llewellyn Thompson - Soviet Specialist

Adlai Stevenson - U.S. Ambassador to the U.N.

Pursue Diplomacy Blockade Cuba (Quarantine) Air strike and Invade

Three Choices

Option Assignments

Diplomacy Blockade Destroy Missiles

EXCOMM GROUPS

Resolution US elected to ‘quarantine’ Soviet Ships

headed to Cuba. Soviets agree to stop placement of missiles in

Cuba if… US publically agreed to never invade Cuba. US removed ICBM’s from Turkey.

Relations with USSR still tense, but communication improved. HOTLINE.

Questions What did the United States do correctly? What should we have done differently?

What should we take away from the Cuban Missile Crisis in dealing with foreign nations? Are there lessons for today? If so what are they?

Kennedy Administration Tensions in Berlin

Borders between Eastern and Western Germany were closed everywhere except in Berlin Thousands of East Berliners fleeing into West

Berlin Approx. 25,000 East German refugees each day

To halt refugees, Khrushchev constructs Berlin Wall A concrete barrier dividing communist East

Berlin from noncommunist West Berlin Became symbolic of deepening Cold War divide

Berlin Wall (1961) Wall that Khrushchev built to prevent Eastern

Berliners from fleeing to Western Berlin

Kennedy’s Domestic Agenda •Increased aid to education •New programs to end poverty •Tax cuts to stimulate economic growth

Expand Economic Opportunity

•Raise minimum wage•Fund medical care •Clear slums

Promote Equality

•Enact legislation banning racial discrimination

Promote Civil Rights

Protect Liberty and Democracy

Big Picture During his brief time as President, John F.

Kennedy faced many domestic and foreign challenges. His presidency began with great optimism and ended in tragedy, leaving many of his goals unfulfilled

Can on lone person change the world or does it take the force of many?

Assassination of JFK

Don’t let it be forgot, that once there was a spot, for one brief shining moment that was known as Camelot

Concerning JFK’s assassination Individually list:

Everything you know for a FACT.

Everything you believe to be the truth, but don’t know for sure.

Any rumors or theories that you have heard.

What do you know?

Why is there contradiction on the assassination of JFK?

How could we discover the truth?

Questions

Election of 1964

Watch the Goldwater commercial that aired during the 1964 Presidential Election. Why do you believe people

feared Barry Goldwater?

Johnson’s Great Society

Johnson Administration War on Poverty

Continued JFK’s fight to help the disadvantaged

Created Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO)—group that coordinated a series of new antipoverty programs

Examples: Head Start, Volunteers in Service to

America Helped to significantly reduce

poverty levels in America

Johnson Administration“More concerned with the quality of their goals than the quantity of their goods”

Great Society - Passed more

legislation than any other president

- Mixed results - Had limited success

because the Vietnam War took away support and funding

Great Society Programs

Poverty

Tax Reduction Act

Medicare and Medica

id

Economic Opportunity Act

Cities

Omnibus

Housing Act

Dep. Of Housing and Urban Development

Education

Elementary and

Secondary Education

Act

PBS

Higher Education Act

Arts and Humanities Act

Discrimination

Civil Rights Act

Voting Rights Act

Immigration Act

Environment

Wilderness

Preservation Act

Clean Air Act

Water Quality

Act

Air Quality

Act

Consumer

Advocacy

Truth in

Packaging

Department of Transportation

Highway

Safety Act

Johnson Administration Warren Court

Extremely liberal Supreme Court during Johnson Administration

Expanded civil rights and civil liberties greatly

Examples: Ensuring “one person,

one vote” Ruling on prayer in

school Protecting the rights of

the accused

Big Picture In 1964, voters elected liberal Democrat LBJ

by a wide margin. Johnson used this mandate to enact a broad programs of reforms he called the Great Society. With his powers of persuasion, Johnson pushed more than 200 bills through Congress.