"What our servicemen and women want, more than anything
else, is the assurance of satisfactory employment upon their
return to civil life. The first task after the war is to provide
employment for them and for our demobilized workers .... The
goal after the war should be the maximum utilization of our
human and material resources."
Today’s Objective
We will identify and describe the events
that led to widespread prosperity in the
United States during the 1950s.
Which of the following is the most likely
the reason for the building of the Berlin
Wall?
A. The U.S. wanted to contain communism
within its boundaries.
B. The Soviet Union wanted to close an escape
route from Eastern Europe.
C. The U.S. wanted to force a showdown with the
Soviet Union.
D. The Soviet Union wanted to begin the Berlin
airlift to East Berlin.
Which caption is most appropriate for the photograph?
A. Berlin Airlift provides supplies to West Germans in need.
B. The Soviet Union closes escape routes of East Germans.
C. The United States initiates a violent showdown with the Soviet
Union over West Berlin.
D. The United States contains communism behind a permanent,
visible symbol.
How did the United States react to the
event illustrated in the map above?
How did the United States react to the event
illustrated in the map shown here?
A. due to war debt from World War II,
reduced military spending
B. built a joint space station with the
Soviet Union
C. constructed President Ronald Reagan’s
“Star Wars” defense system
D. providing funds to improve the
education system in the United States
Which of the following was NOT a way
President Kennedy responded to Soviet
aggression during the Cuban Missile Crisis?
A. He had Cuban exiles attempt to
overthrow Fidel Castro at the Bay of Pigs
B. He threatened an invasion of Cuba
C. He agreed not to invade Cuba if the
Soviets removed their missiles
D. He placed a blockade on Cuba
It shall be the policy of this Nation to regard any nuclear missile
launched from Cuba against any nation in the Western Hemisphere
as an attack by the Soviet Union on the United States, requiring a
full retaliatory response upon the Soviet Union.
-- U.S. President John F. Kennedy
October 22, 1962
What was the U.S. response to the event listed above?
A. The U.S. and Russia began the Space Race
B. Kennedy secured direct communication between the
White House and the Kremlin
C. During the Communist blockade of West Berlin, British
and U.S. planes flew humanitarian supplies into Berlin
for nearly a year
D. The United States, Canada, Iceland and nine other
Prosperity
of the ’50s
SEs: 14A, 17B, 26E, 27B
State Standards
14A (r) Identify the effects of population growth and
distribution on the physical environment, including
how the 1950s was a time of prosperity and
Americans were moving to the suburbs, creating
suburban sprawl which led to increased traffic
(pollution) and a decrease of green spaces.
17B (r)
Identify the causes of prosperity in the 1950s,
including the Baby Boom and the impact of the GI
Bill (Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944), and
the effects of prosperity in the 1950s such as
increased consumption and the growth of
agriculture and business.
Today’s Product
I will create a bubble map identifying and
describing five things that helped to make
America a prosperous place in the 1950s.
Video Clip:
Life in the 1950s
1950s Homelife - Suburban Sprawl and the Baby Boom (3:41)
Taking Care of Veterans
Following World War I, U.S. war veterans were
promised a bonus they never received, leading to
the Bonus Army debacle during the Depression.
Taking Care of Veterans
To avoid the same type problems after WWII, in
1948 the government passed the Servicemen's
Readjustment Act, also known as the G.I. Bill.
THE G.I. BILL
Provided college for
returning war veterans
Gave GIs one year of
unemployment
It helped re-acclimate
returning GIs to civilian life
and boosted the economy.
Truman and Civil Rights
One of the major acts Harry
Truman made as president
was when he issued
executive order to end
segregation in the armed
forces in 1948.
Truman and Civil Rights
Truman also asked Congress to pass a civil rights
bill that would make lynching a federal crime.
ELECTION of 1948
Southern Democrats leave national party in
response to Truman's support for Civil Rights.
ELECTION of 1948
Strom Thurmond – a South Carolina
Senator – runs for president as a Dixicrat.
ELECTION of 1948
Dixicrats were Southern Democrats who backed racial
segregation and limiting the voting rights of blacks. The
party was also known as the States Rights Party.
ELECTION of 1948
Truman angered many
Southern Democrats by
supporting integration
Many people didn’t think
Harry S Truman
Thomas Dewey
Strom Thurmond
he would be re-elected Some were so sure that
Truman would lose that one
headline even incorrectly
said that Dewey had won
The Election of 1948 is
considered the greatest
election upset in US history.
ELECTION of 1948
Truman’s “Fair Deal”
Truman said that all
Americans had the right
to expect a “fair deal”
from the government
“The buck stops here.”
-- Harry Truman
What did the Fair Deal do?
 It increased the minimum wage
 It expanded Social Security benefits for many Americans
 National Housing Act was passed to provide funding to
build low-income housing
Interstate Highways Built
The Federal Highway Act
was passed in 1956
This was the largest
public works program in
American history.
Law called for the building
of 40,000 miles of interstate
Interstate roads in DFW are
I-20, I-30, I-35 and I-45
Interstate Highways Built
The building of Interstate highways made
traveling across the nation – and within large
cities – much easier for many Americans.
Suburbia in America
Suburbs are places
outside the city
where many whitecollar workers live
The New York suburb
of Levittown was the
first modern suburb
The interstate highway
system helped to inspire
the growth of suburbs in
the 1950s
Suburbs = The American Dream

Affordable singlefamily housing
New highways,
affordable
automobiles, low
gasoline prices
 Good schools
 Friendly
A safe, healthy
neighbors like
themselves
13 million
homes built
in the 1950s
– 85% were
suburban
environment for
children
Suburbia in America
One negative factor of urban sprawl was
that more traffic led to more air pollution
(often called smog) and less green spaces.
The Baby Boom of the ’50s
The American
birthrate exploded
after World War II.
From 1945 -61 more
than 65 million
children were born
This postwar period
became known as
the Baby Boom
The Baby Boom of the ’50s
Contributing factors:
The end of wars led to more young couples getting married
G.I. Bill encouraged growth of families by offering generous benefits
Pop culture glorified pregnancy, parenthood and large families
Technological Breakthroughs
Medical Breakthroughs
Medical advances of the ’50s:
• antibiotics to fight infections
• new drugs to fight cancer,
diabetes and heart disease
• polio vaccine developed
Jonas Salk developed
the vaccine that
prevented polio. Not
long after, the threat of
polio would almost
completely disappear
‘In God We Trust’ became
the official motto of the U.S.
in 1956; the motto can be
found on U.S. coins dating
back to the 1860s and paper
currency since 1956.
Coming up:
Pop
Culture of
the 1950s
Today’s Objective
We will identify and describe the events
that led to widespread prosperity in the
United States during the 1950s.
Today’s Product
I will create a bubble map identifying and
describing five things that helped to make
America a prosperous place in the 1950s.