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Ch 14 Sec 1 Post-War America-Truman & IKE Presidencies -1945-1960
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Challenges for Truman -President Truman took over for FDR after his death in April 1945

Major challenges were demobilizing the troops and reconverting the economy to a peace time economy

The Impact of the GI Bill -Not only did the _______________________________________________ pay
for part of college tuition but it also gave them one year of unemployment benefits while they were job
hunting and low interest government loans (Buy homes or start businesses)

By the summer of 1946, 10 million men and women were released from the armed forces
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Economic Readjustment -Price Controls ended in June 1946 and prices skyrocketed (Ex. Sugar, Meat,
Coffee, Beans, Rent and New Homes)
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Truman Faces Strikes -Facing higher prices and lower wages 4.5 million discontented workers including
steel workers, coal miners, automobile workers, maritime workers and railroad workers went on
________________________ in 1946
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The Taft - Hartley Act -The law outlawed the _______________________________, secondary boycotts,
and the use of union dues for political activities
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Truman Supports Civil Rights
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Truman was the first US President to propose an _________________________ law, a ban on poll taxes
as a voting requirement, and a permanent civil rights commission
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The Election Of 1948 – Upset Victory for Truman over Dewey

Despite the inflation and Labor unrest Truman was nominated for the Democrats
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Truman sent spending measures for Education and Housing that he knew the Republicans would kill,
Truman called them “____________________________________________________________”
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Southern Democrats angry about Truman’s Pro Civil Rights Position broke away and formed the
______________________________________________
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Truman’s Fair Deal -Truman wanted an extension to FDR’s New Deal

All measures were defeated by Southern Dem. and Rep.
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Fair Deal Victories -The Housing Act of 1949- $2.8 billion for slum clearance and low-rent housing
projects
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The Minimum Wage Act of 1949 – 40 cents to 75 cents per hr.
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The Eisenhower Years -1952-1960
 IKE’s Policies were known as “modern Republicanism” or “dynamic conservatism”
 Ike’s favored big business and his cabinet reflected that, although he accepted the New Deal
 Ike aided corporate America and tried to end government competition with business (Ex. TVA)
 IKE cuts in spending allowed the economy to slow due to lack of tax revenue ( No increase/decrease)

IKE’s Accomplishments -IKE tried to say above party politics – “Middle of the road” Does not dismantle
the New Deal
 Real Wages increased 20% during the 1950’s which allowed economic prosperity, Per-capita income
and Real Purchasing power increased
 IKE reacted on the issue of Civil Rights with the crisis at Little Rock Central High School in 1957 although
he did not assume leadership on civil rights
 The_______________________________Act of 1955 – Raised the minimum wage from 75 cents to $1
 Social Security was expanded to cover farmers and state and local government employees
 Funding was increased for public housing although the focus was on the suburbs not revitalizing the
inner cities ( Racial Gap) FHA
 The ____________________________________________Act of 1956 - $32 billion and 41,000 miles of
new interstate highway ( Largest Public Works Project in history)
 The National Defense Education Act of 1958- $280 million in grants to state universities and $300
million in low cost tuition loans ( Post-Sputnik)
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Popular IKE wins Re-election
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Ch 14 Sec 2 The Affluent Society
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Due to a major housing shortage ____________________________________and other builders
developed mass produced house in the suburbs and the new homes were $7,000

Nearly 8 million women went to work during the war and made all family decisions, when the men
came home tensions rose, 1 million marriages ended.
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Yet America experienced an increase in the birthrate or a
“_____________________________________________” was underway, reached its’ peak in 1957
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Lonely Crowds and Organizational Men
 By 1956 the majority (51%) of Americans held white collar jobs instead of blue collar jobs
 Many large corporations bought companies in different industries and formed diversified
conglomerates or multinational ______________________________. (Ex. ITT bought Avis, Sheraton
Hotels, Hartford Fire Ins., and Continental Banking) Others: ATT, Xerox and GE
 Franchises offered similar products at different locations, they were independently owned yet they
received free advertising (Ray Kroc McDonald’s)
 The Organizational Men by William H. Whyte – Companies pushed teamwork, cooperation, loyalty
which led to the age of conformity
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Advances in Medicine and Child Care -Dr. Jonas _________________________Polio Vaccine
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Technology of the 1950’s
 The first electric digital computer was tested at the University of Pa. in 1946 (ENIAC)
 In 1947 scientists at Bell Labs invented the transistor to replace vacuum tubes
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The Affluent Society
 The GNP increased from $205 billion in 1940 to $500 billion in 1960, By the mid 1950’s 60 of Americans
were members of the middle class
 Consumerism – the buying of material good came to be equated with success
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Mass- Culture of the 1950’s & Discontents
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Television : Tube of Plenty -The three main networks ABC, CBS, and NBC grew directly from radio
organizations
 Critics objected to TV’s effect on children, its stereotypical portrayal of women and minorities
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Radio and Movies of the 1950’s -Radio Stations broadcast local news, weather, music and community
issues
Youth Culture- Conformity of the 1950’s -Middle Class society wanted to imitate those around them
“_________________” was 1st used
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Hail! Hail! Rock ‘n’ Roll -African- Americans began adding electronic instruments to traditional blues
music to create rhythm and blues (DJ – Allen Freed)

The Teenager of the 1950’s
 By 1965, 85% of the nation’s teens were in high school compared to 10% in 1900
 Manufacturers targeted teens with cosmetics, clothing, radios, phonographs, and cars
 Teens were torn between the youth culture and assuming the pressures of adult responsibility
 Many blamed rock and roll for an increase in juvenile delinquency but the numbers were exaggerated

Pockets of Non-Conformity
 Centered in San Francisco, LA and NYC Greenwich Village the
_________________________________movement expressed the social non-conformity of artists,
poets, and writers (The Beat Generation) Ginsberg & Kerouac
 ________________________________________lived nonconformist lives and sought higher
consciousness through Buddhism, music and drugs
 Ch 14 Sec 4 The Other Side Of American Life
 “The ghettos are killing us; not only our dreams but our very bodies

40 million Americans lived in poverty in the 1950’s
 “White ____________________________________” caused decaying inner cities
 The Other America: Poverty in the United States in 1962 by Michael Harrington
 Urban Renewal was attempted but limited in scale, more like urban removal
 The Racial Gap
 African –American music had inspired the birth of Rock and Roll and was the basis of it
 Influential Non-Rock and Roll Singers were Nat “King “Cole, Lena Horne, Ray Charles
 Influential Jazz Musicians were Mile Davis, Sonny Rollins, Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie
 African American radio show were broadcast on separate stations
 In the early 1950’s record labels would not sign black artists, and white versions of early
rhythm and blues hits were released
 Hispanics
 5 million Mexicans had come to the US through the Bracero Program
 Farms and Ranchers, temporary contract workers, 350,000 stayed in the US
 Long hours, little pay, prejudice, substandard housing and exposure to pesticides
 Native Americans
 Post WWII policy of bringing native Americans into mainstream society called the
________________________________________________ policy was a failure.
 Relocation from reservations to urban centers was not a good idea or policy
 Juvenile Delinquency
 Anti-Social or criminal behavior in young people, 45% increase in juvenile crime rate between
1948-1953.
 Many blamed TV, Movies, racism, no parents, Rock-Roll, comic books and the rising divorce
rate.