Unit 8: Social Transformations Following World War II (1945 – 1990s)
Major Themes for Unit 8
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The push for minority civil rights and freedoms;
The economic trends following World War II
American consumerism
Immigration issues
Shifting political and demographic trends
Major Topics for Unit 8
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Economic fears and prosperity following World War II
The role of an activist government in the economic life of the nation
The Truman Presidency: Civil Rights and the Fair Deal
Modern Republicanism and the rise of Dwight Eisenhower
Suburban realities and the advent of the youth culture in America
Consumerism and the power of television
Voices of dissent: civil rights, young people, women, other minorities
Rock and Roll and the development of the modern American counter-culture
The Kennedy White House and the New Frontier
President Johnson’s Great Society program
The increasing militancy of the civil rights movement: from King to Malcolm X
Art, culture, and politics of the crazy 1960s (A.H.B.L.)
New challenges and issues for the American government and people: 1980s - 1990s
Unit 8 Vocabulary
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Demobilization
The G.I. Bill
Taft-Hartley Act
“Dixiecrats”
“modern” Republicanism
Levittowns
The Interstate Highway Act
Brown v. The Board of Education
Thurgood Marshall
Rosa Parks
The Montgomery Bus Boycott
The Little Rock 9
Orval Faubus
James Meredith
The Civil Rights Act of 1957 and 1964
The Voting Rights Act of 1964 and the 24th Amend.
The “Beat” Generation: Ginsburg, Kerouac
Rachel Carson
Barry Goldwater
Earl Warren
The Miranda rules
Medgar Evers
C.O.R.E.
S.N.C.C.
S.C.L.C.
Freedom Summer
Black Power
28. Black Panthers
29. The Watts riots
30. The Kerner Commission
31. Milliken v. Bradley
32. Univ. of California v. Bakke
33. Betty Friedan
34. Title VII and Title IX
35. Gloria Steinem
36. Roe v. Wade
37. The Equal Rights Amend.
38. Phyllis Schlafly
39. Mario Savio
40. 1968 Democratic Convent.
41. Woodstock / Altamont
42. Timothy Leary
43. “hippies”
44. SDS
45. Andy Warhol and “pop” art
46. Martin Luther King
47. American Indian Movement
48. Michael Harrington
49. Rock and Roll
50. The 1965 Civil Rights Act
Unit 8 Study Questions
1. What were the major goals of President Truman’s Fair Deal, and were they
accomplished?
2. What was suburban life like during the 1950s?
3. What problems did the Great Society Programs address?
4. How were the 1950s not what it seemed in terms of conformity and traditional
American values?
5. Contrast the national agendas of President Kennedy and President Eisenhower.
6. What did the Supreme Court do to secure the rights of those accused of crimes?
7. How did President Truman avoid an economic depression after World War II?
8. What steps were taken in the 1960s to ensure environmental safeguards?
9. How did Presidents Truman and Eisenhower respond to racism and segregation?
10. How did President Johnson carry on after the death of President Kennedy?
11. What was the Warren Commission and what were its findings?
12. What were the different approaches to civil rights from the 1950s through the 1970s?
13. What prevented the Civil Rights movement from unifying into a single, integrated
movement?
14. What were some of the scientific and technological realities in the 1970s, 1980s, and
1990s which influenced major social, economic, and political issues in the United
States?
15. What were (are) some of the debates regarding the proper role of the American
government in the affairs of the American people?