Life in the 1950s
Chapter 23
Peacetime Economics- 23.1
Domestic Policies: Truman & Eisenhower
After WWII, Americans feared the US would sink into the
Depression again.
• *The GI Bill (Servicemen’s Readjustment Act)
• Gave money to veterans to start businesses, buy homes &
go to college
• US government poured $38.5 Billion into higher
education for Military veterans.
• Taft-Hartley Act (1947)
▫ Banned closed shop
▫ Allowed states to pass right to work laws
▫ Prohibited featherbedding
▫ Unions can’t use money to support political campaigns
Truman & Civil Rights
• 1948- Truman asked Congress:
1. Pass a Civil Rights Bill to do the following:
• Protect African-American’s right to vote
• Abolish poll taxes
• Make lynching a federal crime
** His Civil Rights agenda was blocked by
Republicans & Southern Democrats.
** Truman did:
1. Desegregate (integrate) the US military (1948)
2. Bar discrimination in federal government hiring.
• Dixiecrats (a third party)
▫ Southern Democrats who split with
Democrat Party over Civil Rights.
▫ Strom Thurmond-nominee
• Progressive Party
▫ Democrats split because anti-Soviet & poor
domestic policy
▫ Henry Wallace
• Republican
▫ George Dewey
• Democrat
▫ Harry Truman
▫ Blamed the “Do-Nothing Congress”
Presidential Election of 1948
*The Fair Deal
• Minimum wage raised
• Increased social security
benefits
• National Housing Act of
1949
▫ Construction of low income
housing
• Wanted but didn’t get:
▫ Civil Rights legislation
▫ Education federal aid
▫ National health insurance
“Every segment of our population
and every individual has a right to
expect from . . . Government a fair
deal.”
The 1952 Election
• Republicans nominated Dwight D. Eisenhower & Richard
Nixon- “I like Ike” “It’s Time for a Change!”
• Democrats nominated Adlai Stevenson
1952 Election Campaign
• “Checkers Controversy”- Nixon addressed charges that
he had accepted campaign contributions from wealthy
donors.
• Eisenhower & Nixon win in a landslide
** 1956- Eisenhower & Nixon won a second term!!
Dynamic Conservatism
• Eisenhower’s plan to
balance economic
conservatism with
activism to benefit the
country
• *Federal Highway Act
▫ Largest public works
project ever
▫ $25 Billion to construct
40,000 miles of highway.
• Cut government spending
• Limited government
involvement
The Affluent Society
1950’s a decade of prosperity
1. 1940-1955: family income tripled
2. 1940-1960:Home ownership 41% to
61%
3. Number of white collar jobs
outpaced blue collar jobs.
• “The Affluent Society”: Book written
by John Kenneth Galbraith
• An economy of abundance
A. Multinational Corporations
▫ Offices & factories in other
countries
• Franchises & Chain stores
“Communism doesn’t
work because people
like to own stuff.” –
Frank Zappa
What icon urged women to get out
during WWII and work?
1. Superwoman
2. Carrie Chapman
Catt
3. Alice Paul
4. Rosie the Riveter
Conformity
• New Consumerism
▫ Desire of people to conform
to other people’s desires
• Suburbia – **Levittown, NY
▫ 1st large suburbs; mass
produced homes (Bill Levitt)
• *The Baby Boom
▫ 1945 – 1961 – over 65 million
babies were born
Factors that led to the Baby
Boom
1. Young couples delayed marriage
until after WWII ended.
2. GI Bill encouraged home
purchases
3. Advertising glorified parenthood
Roles of Women in the 1950’s
• Still looked upon as “homemaker”
• Number of women working outside the home
increased
• TV glorified traditional “homemaker role” (Lucy,
Father Knows Best”, Leave It to Beaver”)
• Jonas Salk
▫ Developed injectable vaccine
for polio
• Transistor
▫ Made small radios & calculators
possible
• ENIAC – Electrical Numerical
Integrator & Computer
▫ First computer used for the Army
• UNIVAC – Universal Automatic
Computer
▫ First computer for businesses
• First American jet flight from NY
to Los Angeles
Albert Sabin:
Oral Polio
Vaccine.
Pop Culture
• Television
• 1946- 8,000 TV sets in US
• 1957- 80% owned TV’s
• * America’s new favorite
Pastime.
▫ News
▫ Advertising
▫ Ozzie & Harriet
▫ The Lone Ranger
▫ Dragnet
Gameshows: $64,000 Question
Twenty One- cheating scandal
(Charles Van Doren)
Movies lost popularity
• Cinemascope, 3-D
▫ Became popular for its wide
screens
• Rock N’ Roll
▫ Distinctive music of the youth
▫ Roots in African American
Rhythm & Blues
• Elvis Presley – King of Rock
N’Roll
• African Americans found
acceptance in Rock N’ Roll where
they didn’t find it on TV or the
movies
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▫
▫
▫
Chuck Berry
Ray Charles
Little Richard
The Drifters
The Beat Movement
•
•
•
•
•
•
The Beats-group of mostly white POETS
Called themselves “the Beats”
Criticized conformity
Jack Kerouac
Allen Ginsburg
Generation Gap
▫ Created as young people
united in music against their parents
▫ Juvenile Delinquency: 1948- 1953 juvenile crime
increased 45% ; car theft popular crime among
middle class whites youths
The Other Americans
• Written by Michael Harrington
• Exposed poverty in America
Appalachian region – poorest
region
• 1950’s young people left behind
elderly & young children
• Urban Renewal Programs
▫ Tried to eliminate poverty by
tearing down slums & erecting
new buildings
• US gov’t evicted residents when
they started to earn money=
encouraged poverty
Race in the 1950s
• African Americans
• Whites fled cities “white flight”
▫ Blacks left in deteriorating
inner cities as suburbs grew
▫ NAACP – fought
unsuccessfully for greater
economic opportunity
• Hispanics
▫ Brought over by Bracero
program faced harsh working
conditions
Native Americans Policy 1950’s
• The Termination Policy
▫ Federal government withdrew all official
recognition of Native American groups
▫ Helped Native Americans move off reservations–
land developers gained the land & got rich.
▫ Attempted to assimilate them into society as white
citizens– Failed
▫ Helped deepen Native American poverty--