1950s

Focus Question:

Why are the 1950s remembered as an age of affluence (prosperity)?

Rocky Transition to Peace

Truman announced set of reforms: the Fair Deal Raise minimum wage Enact national health insurance

program With rising prices and

unemployment, workers wanted wage increases and striking

Congress Responds: Taft-Hartley Act

T-H Act limits power of unions to combat and prevent strikes

Closed shop or workplace where an employer agrees to hire only members of a certain union outlawed

Bans sympathy strikes by other unions

Truman Defeats Dewey

Election of 1948Truman Defeats Dewey

Truman campaigns on a whistle-stop tour to win the reelection against Dewey

Truman’s Fair Deal reforms blocked by Republican Congress

Congress did pass Truman’s proposal to raise minimum wage

Election of 1950: Ike takes the middle of the road

“I like Ike” Modern Republicanism voted in to

office with Eisenhower Social Security Benefits expanded Arms buildup during peacetime to

combat the Cold War Interstate system designed & built

Consumer Demand = Economic Growth

Due to large savings and more “real” income, people spend more money than ever before

Businesses advertise & offer charge cards

New & improved products encourage customers to get the newest product and latest designs

Economy Shifts from Goods to Services

GM becomes the first US business to earn more than $1 billion a year

GMs success based on guaranteeing its workers wage hikes that were tied to the cost-of-living index

Fast-food restaurants and motel chains begin to compete for consumer business

New companies are selling franchises (agreements to operate a business that carries that company’s name and products)

Economy Shifts from Goods to Services

Blue-collar to White-collar Job Shift

White-collar workers outnumber blue-collar workers for the first time in US History

Blue-collar workers are part of middle class

White-collar workers are usually salaried, while blue-collar workers are paid by the hour

Marriage Boom leads to Baby Boom

Marriages increased greatly Married at younger ages Increase in marriages leads to

more babies being born = baby boom

More diapers, baby food, homes, cars, schools are needed to accommodate these new kids

Family Roles Dr. Spock encourages women to stay

home to raise children in his books Mass media (TV, magazines, movies)

portray “traditional family” with working dads and homemaker moms

The number of women attending college dropped and many who do attend drop out to get married

Leave it to Beaver & Father Knows Best TV families

Middle Class Families Move to the Suburbs

New planned communities are providing needed housing for middle class families

New suburban communities revealed homogeneity being white and middle class

Americans move to the sunbelt Population shift possible with

invention of air conditioning and water projects

The Suburbs

The Middle Class Dream Increased number of people

commuting from the suburbs led to the production and sale of cars

Cars are a status symbol; new and better designs each year

Interstate system needed New business along interstate:

gas stations, motels, restaurants

Life Expectancy Dr. Salk created polio vaccine Surgical techniques created

saving lives Use of antibiotics to treat

diseases increases Advances in medicine increase

life span by ~ 2 yrs

Nuclear Energy & Computers Nuclear energy used for electricity First electric digital computer

called ENIAC performs 300 multiplications per second

Invention of transistor has allowed for smaller and more reliable computers

Suburbia and Conformity fostered conformity & materialism same age, class, & income Suburbs consisted of uniform,

unidentifiable homes “organization men” working for

large corporations or government Children grew up valuing “fitting in”

above thinking for themselves

The Beats Rejected all forms of convention Shunned traditional jobs and

materialism of American life Men wore beards. Men and women wore

dark clothes and berets Studied Eastern religions:

Hinduism and Buddhism

Beat Literature Based on feelings &

adventures Writing often flowed

in a stream ofconsciousness and could go for pages

without a period or punctuation

Youth Culture Rock n Roll was a new style of music

that teenagers embraced Radios and record players were

inexpensive Elvis Presley represented rebellion

against music and manners of older generations

Hollywood catered to teens Teens developed their own language

Two Americas Poverty was a moral and

economic problem People who needed assistance

viewed as lazy Elderly and children were

misfortunate because they couldn’t work

Working poor had jobs

Two Americas Poverty line is the minimum

amount of income needed to meet basic needs

Poor lived in cities Mass produced clothing allowed

for assimilation into society No political power

Inner Cities African Americans, Puerto

Ricans, Mexican Immigrants Industry jobs disappeared from

cities Housing Act of 1949 destroyed

many homes where low-income groups lived

Rural Life Migrant workers, farmers,

Appalachia’s residents Small farmers couldn’t compete

with corporate farms Migrant workers given low pay at

corporate farms Coal industry declined leading to

no work for Appalachia's miners

America’s Poorest Citizens American Indians Termination policy of 1953 ended

federal aid to tribes, withdrew land protection, distributed tribal land among individuals

Voluntary Relocation Program encouraged Native Americans to move to cities

Poverty By 2000, overall poverty rate in the US

decreased by half Recession following 2001, the rate grew Poverty rates of older Americans and

children has dropped due to SS payments

African Americans made the most gains. More than half were in poverty in the 1950s, now this rate is 25%; three times higher than that of whites