ch27 baby boom 57 slides

8/3/2019 Ch27 BABY BOOM 57 Slides

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America: A Concise History

Fourth Edition

CHAPTER 27

The Age of Affluence19451960

Copyright 2010 by Bedford/St. Martins

James A. Henretta David Brody


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Introduction 1959, Richard Nixon and Khrushchev in the

Kitchen debate in Moscow. The Kitchen Debate (Nixon and Khrushchev, 1959) Part I of II

Americans used affluence and massconsumption in service to Cold War politics.

The suburban lifestyle symbolized thesuperiority of capitalism over Communism.

The suburban lifestyle was beyond the reachof the poor, most African Americans andmany Latinos.

(p.795)
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At the Moscow Fair in 1959, the United States put on display some of thetechnological wonders of American home life. When Vice President RichardNixon visited, he and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev had an impromptudebate over the relative merits of their rival systems, with the up-to-dateAmerican kitchen as a case in point.

This photograph shows the debate in progress. Khrushchev is the bald manpointing his finger at Nixon. On the other side of Nixon stands Leonid Brezhnev,

who would become Khrushchev's successor.

The Kitchen Debate


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Economic Powerhouse

Engines of Economic Growth

The Corporate Order

Labor-Management Accord


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Economic Powerhouse

The U.S. enjoyed enormous economicadvantages at the close of World War II.

The American economy benefited from Internal markets,

heavy investment in research and

development and rapid diffusion of new technology.

PAX AMERICANA: U.S. corporationdominated the world economy.

(p.795)


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Engines of Economic Growth July 1944, American global supremacy

rested on economic institutions created at aU.N. conference at Breton Woods, NH.

World bank provided reconstruction funds forEurope.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) was

also set up to stablize currencies with theU.S. dollar serving as benchmark.

1947, General Agreement on Tariffs andTrade (GATT)

(p.796)


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Bretton Woods

The Bretton Woods system guided the worldeconomy by:

Encouraging stable prices Reducing tariffs

Maintaining flexible markets

Maintaining fixed exchange rates for

international trade The World Bank, the IMF and the GATT were

cornerstone of the Bretton Woods system.

(p.797)


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Defense Spending

A second source of postwar prosperity wasdefense spending.

The military-industrial complex that PresidentEisenhower identified in 1961 had roots in thebusiness-government partnerships of 2 worldwars.

But after 1945, unlike 1918, the massivecommitment to defense continued due to theCold War resulting in permanent mobilization

(p.797)


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The Military Economy

As permanent mobilization took hold, science,industry and federal government becameincreasingly intertwined.

Over 60% of the income of Boeing, GeneralDynamics and Raytheon came from military.

Federal money paid for 90% of the cost of

research on aviation and space. The defense buildup created jobs.

The cost of one Huey Helicopter could havebuilt 66 units of low-income housing.

(p.797)


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The Corporate Order

For half of a century, the consolidation ofeconomic power into big corporate firms

characterized American enterprise. Deep pockets financed sophisticated

advertising. Example: Anheuser-Busch,Bud the king of beers.

Mergers into Conglomerates: Example ITTowned Wonder Bread, Sheraton, Avis,Hartford Fire Insurance

(p.798)


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Executive Leadership

Export manufacturing, Gillette, IBM, Mobil Oil,Coca-Cola earned more than half of theirprofits abroad.

Directing large, multi-national enterprisesrequired a different kind of executiveleadership.

Top managers sought business school trainingand ability to manage information.

Skills in corporate planning, marketing andinvestment were needed.

(p.799)


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White-Collar Workers

To staff massive bureaucracies, corporate giantsrequired white-collar foot soldiers.

Companies turned to universities, which, funded

partly by the GI bill, grew explosively after 1945. A younger and more educated generation moved

rapidly up through the corporate hierarchy.

Lifetime employment = lifetime loyalty. The Lonely Crowd(1950) by Sociologist David

Reisman

(p.799)


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Collective Bargaining became a major factor ineconomic life.

The power balance shifted during the Great

Depression and after WWII the labor unionsoverwhelmingly represented industrialworkforce.

Late 1945, Walter Reuther of the United AutoWorkers (UAW) challenged General Motors.

He demanded a 30% wage hike with no priceincrease of cars. The Treaty of Detroit.

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The Treaty Detroit

The Treaty Detroit opened the way for a morebroadly based labor-management accordnot industrial peace, but general acceptance

of collective bargaining as the method forsetting the terms of employment.

For industrial workers, the result was rising

real income, from $54 a week to $71 in 1959. The average workers with three dependents

gained 18% in spendable real income.

(p.800)


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In postwar Europe, the allies were constructingwelfare states.

By the end of the 1950s, union contracts

commonly provided defined-benefit pensionplans, company-paid health insurance.

Collective bargaining had become, in effect, the

American alternative to the European welfarestate.

The affluent worker, a passport into the

middle class.

(p.800)


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The Affluent Society

The Suburban Explosion

The Search for Security

Consumer Culture

The Baby Boom

Contradictions in Womens Lives

Youth Culture

Cultural Dissenters


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The Affluent Society

It is easier to measure the quantitativeaspects of prosperity than it is to measure thequality of life it provides.

1950s, the American good life emerged withexceptional distinctiveness:

preference for suburban living

High value on consumption

Devotion to family and domesticity.

Why these choices?

And what consequences?

(p.801)


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The Suburban Explosion

Migration to the suburbs had beengoing on for a century, but never before

on such a scale as after WWII. In a decade or so, farmland on the

outskirts of a city filled up with tracthosing and shopping malls.

Entire counties that had been once ruralwent suburban by 1960.

(p.801)


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Levittowns

William J. Levitt applied the techniquesof mass production to home building.

A four-room house with appliances cost$7,990 in 1947.

He built them at dizzying speed in NY,

PA, and NJ. Levittown developments were built through

mass-production construction methods.

(p.802)


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The FHA and VA

Even at $8,000, most many youngfamilies were unable to afford a home.

The Federal Housing Administration and the

Veterans Administration made it easier to buya home by providing young couples lowmortgage rates.

As little as 5% down and 2 or 3% interests

Even less for veterans; 1% down.

Home ownership jumped from 45% to 60% by1960

(p.802)


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Suburban Racism The buyers of Levitts houses also got

homogeneous communities.

The developments contained few oldpeople or unmarried adults.

Race: Levitts houses came with

restrictive covenants prohibitingoccupancy by members other than the

Caucasian Race (blacks, Jews and

Catholics)

(p.802)


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Shifting Pop Patterns, 1950-1980A metro area is a central city that forms an integrated

economic and social unit with its surrounding areas.


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The Sun Belt

Suburban living was most at home in thesun belt, low taxes, mild climate, and

sufficient open spaces. The South and West began to boom afterWWII.

1940-70: Florida added 3.5 million people By 1970, California contained 1/10 of the

nations population.

(p.802)


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Automobiles and Suburbia

Suburban growth on such a massivescale would not have been possiblewithout automobiles.

Gasoline cost 15 cents a gallon.

In 1945, Americans owned 25 million

cars. 1965, Americans owned 75 million.

(p.802)


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The Interstate Highway

System More cars required more highways andthe federal government took the

leadership. In 1947, Congress authorized the

construction of 37,000 miles of

highways; 1956, new legislation increased the

commitment by another 42,000 miles.

(p.805)


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1956 Interstate Hghwy Act paved the way for anextensive network of fed hghways through the nation.It also benefited the petroleum, construction, truckingand real estate industries. National economic

integration.

The Interstate Hghwy System, 1930-1970


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Congress called the 1956 legislation creatingAmericas modern freeway system the

National Interstate and Defense Highways

Act. The four-lane freeways, used by commuters,

might some day be needed to evacuate peopleto safety in a nuclear war.

The Cold War was omnipresent at home.

Most alarming was the nuclear standoff.

(p.805)


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Duck andCover

The nation's Civil Defense Agency's efforts to alert Americans to the threat of anuclear attack extended to children in schools, where repeated drills taughtthem to "duck and cover" as protection against the impact of an atomic blast.

Variations of this 1954 scene at Franklin Township School in Quakertown, New

Jersey, were repeated all over the nation.


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In an age of anxiety, Americans yearned for areaffirmation of faith.

Church membership jumped from 49% of

the pop in 1940 to 70% in 1960.

People flocked to Evangelical Protestantdenominations, with a remarkable crop of

new preachers. Most eloquent was young Rev. Billy Graham.

(p.806)


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The religious awakening meshed withAmericans thinking of themselves as arighteous people opposed to godless

Communism. 1954, the phrase under God was inserted

into the Pledge of Allegiance.

1956, U.S. coins carried the words In God

We Trust. Despite its evangelical bent, the religious

resurgence was distinctly moderate in tone.

(p.806)


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Consumer Culture

In the 1950s, consumption becameassociated with citizenship.

Buying things now meant participating fully in

American society and fulfilling socialresponsibility.

1951, more money was spent on advertizing

(6.5 billion) than on public schools ($5 billion). Vance Packer The Hidden Persuaders(1957)

(p.807)


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Television

There were only 7,000 TV sets in 1947.

One year later, CBS and NBC began offeringregular TV programming.

By 1950, Americans owned 7.3 million sets.

Ten years later, 87% of American homes had atleast one television set.

Federal Communications Commission (FTC) TV depended entirely on advertising.

(p.807)


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Typical TV shows: The Life of Riley, a comedy (1949)

The HoneymoonersJackie Gleason (1951)

Father Knows Best, starring Robert Youngand Jane Wyatt (1954).

Jack Benny comedy show (1949-65) had ablack character, Rochester, who played a

sidekick. Jack Benny with Marylin Monroe

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Typical TV shows: Television offered 30 Westerns by 1959 such

as Gunsmoke, Wagon Train, Bonanza.

Childrens programs included

The Mickey Mouse Club (1950s) Howdy Doody Episode (1949) 1/3

Captain Kangaroo. 1960s

FCC Commissioner in 1963 concluded thatTV was a vast wasteland but it did sellproducts.

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The Baby Boom

Americans made up for lost time in the realmof love.

Marriages were stable (the divorce rate went

up dramatically in the 1960s)

Married couples were intent on havingbabies.

More babies were born between 1948 and1953 than in the previous thirty years!

People were getting married younger

(p.808)


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The Baby Boom

1945, Gotta Make Up for Lost Time

Postwar families were remarkably stable. Thedivorce rate did not begin to rise until the mid-

1960s.

Everyone wanted to have babies.

People got married younger 22 and 20.

The Baby Boom peaked at 1957 and stayedhigh until the early 1960s.

(p.808)


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The Baby Boom Parents relied on child care experts.

Dr. Benjamin Spocks bestseller Baby and Child

Care, sold one million copies per year.

He advocated abandoning rigid schedules andto take a more tolerant approach.

Spock advised against mothers working outsidethe home.

There were numerous advances in diet, publichealth and medical practice that reducedchildhood illness.

(p.808)


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Exploding Education

The new middle class, Americas first collegeeducated generation, place a high value oneducation.

Suburban parents approved 90 percent of theschool bond issues during the 1950s.

By 1970, school expenditures accounted for7.2% of the gross national product, double the

1950 levels. 1960s, baby boomers swelled college

enrollments and the ranks of student protestors.

(p.808)


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Contradictions in Womens Live

Betty Friedan, Feminine mystique (1963)

and the dream image of the suburbanhousewife.

The postwar consumer culture alsoemphasized womans domestic role as

purchasing agent for the home and family.

Despite the Feminine mystique more than1/3 of women held jobs outside the home.

Occupational segmentation still hauntedwomen.

(p.809)


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Womens work

More than 80 percent of all employed women didstereotypical womens work as salespeople,

health care workers, waitresses, stewardesses,domestic servants, receptionists, telephone

operators and secretaries.

Married women worked to supplement familyincome. Even in 1950s many men could not afford

the middle class lifestyle. Even when working outside the home, women still

were responsible for most of the householdmanagement and child care.

(p.811)


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Youth Culture American youth culture had first been noticed in

the 1920s and had its roots in the

lengthening years of education,

the role of peer groups, and

the consumer tastes of teenagers.

Market research revealed a distinct teen marketto be exploited.

1956, advertisers projected an adolescentmarket of $9 billion for transistor radios, 45-rpmrecords, clothing and Hula Hoops.

(p.811)


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Youth Culture The Wild One(1951) Marlon Brando.

Rebel without a Cause(1955) James Dean.

What really defined the generation was itsmusic. Rejecting romantic ballads of the 40s,

Teens discovered rock and roll, combination:

white country

western music

black inspired rhythm and blues

(p.811)
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Cultural Dissenters Youth rebellion was only one aspect of a broader

discontent with 1950s conformist culture.

Artists, jazz musicians and writers expressed

their alienation in a remarkable flowering ofintensely personal, introspective art forms.

Jackson Pollock, Abstract Expressionism.

Black musicians developed a hard drivingimprovisional style of jazz known as bebop.

Miles Davis - Boplicity

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ElvisPresleyHound DogBlue Suede

Shoes

http://youtu.be/VR_BV37BU1s

(p.812)
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Cultural Dissenters The young white Beats were a group of

writers and poets centered in New York.

Alan Ginsberg, poem Howl(1956)

Jack Kerouac, On the Road(1957)

The Beats were apolitical, their rebellion wascultural.

American culture in the postwar period wascriticized by a counterculture that celebratedsex, drugs, and life on the edge.

(p.813)


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The Other America

Immigrants and Migrants

The Urban Crisis

The Emerging Civil Rights Struggle


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The Other America

While Middle Class families flocked to thesuburbs, an opposite stream of poor andworking-class migrants moved to the cities.

Many were southern blacks. These newcomers inherited a declining

economy and a decaying environment.

The Other America (Michael Harrington,

1962) was largely invisible. Only in the South where blacks organized to

combat segregation, did social injustice catchthe nations attention.

(p.813)


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Immigrants and Migrant The National Origins Acts of 1924, U.S.

Immigration policy had aimed mainly atkeeping out foreigners.

1948, the Displaced Persons Act, permittedthe entry of 415,000 Europeans.

Some were former Nazis such as Werner von

Braun, the rocket scientist. 1943, The Chinese Exclusion Act was

repealed

(p.813)


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Immigrants and Migrant Mexico replaced eastern and southern Europe

as the nations labor reservoir.

WWII the federal government allowed braceros

(temporary workers) to ease wartime laborshortages.

The program was revived in 1951 during theKorean war.

Many Mexicans came illegally.

1953-54, the Federal government deportedmany Mexicans in operation Wetback.

(p.814)


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Mexicans and Puerto Ricans

Another major group of Spanish speaking

migrants came from Puerto Rico.

They were American citizens since 1917 andhad unrestricted rights to move to the mainland

U.S. Migration increased dramatically after WWII.

Most Puerto Ricans went to New York where

they settled in East Harlem and then scatteredin the citys five boroughs. More Puerto Ricanshave now lived in New York than in San Juan

(p.814)


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Fidel Castro and Cuban Cuban refugees constituted the third largest

group of Spanish-speaking immigrants.

In the six years after Fidel Castros seizure of

power in 1959, 180,000 people fled Cuba forthe United States.

Cuban refugees turned Miami into a

cosmopolitan, bilingual city almost overnight. Miamis Cubans prospered in large part

because they arrived with money and skills.

(p.814)


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Native Americans 1953, Congress authorized a program

terminating the autonomous status of theIndian Tribes and encouraging voluntary

migration from the reservations. The Bureau of Indian Affairs subsidizedmoving costs and established relocationcenters.

Despite the assimilationist goal, the 60,000Native Americans who migrated settledtogether in ghetto neighborhoods.

(p.815)


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African Americans African Americans came in large numbers

from the rural south, continuing the GreatMigration that had begun during World War I.

Black migration was hastened by thetransformation of southern agriculture.

Synthetic fabrics cut into the demand for

cotton, reducing cotton agriculture. Also mechanization reduced the demand for

farm labor.

(p.815)


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Rural migration to cities .Where did the displaced farmfolk go?

White Appalachians moved to Cincinnati andChicago.

Three million blacks move to Chicago, NewYork, Washington, Detroit and Los Angeles.

Certain sections of Chicago seemed like theMississippi Delta transplanted.

Characteristic of postwar migration withinthe United States was the movement ofmillions from rural to urban areas.

(p.815)


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The Urban Crisis

(p.815)


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The Urban Crisis

(p.815)


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The Urban Crisis The process of urban renewal often

constructed nondescript, high-riseapartments for low-income families.

The notorious Robert Taylor Homes inChicago, a huge complex of 28 sixteen-storybuildings and 20,000 residents, almost allblack, became a breeding ground for crimeand hopelessness.

(p.815)


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The Emerging Civil Rights

Struggle

(p.815)


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Struggle

(p.816)


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Struggle

(p.816)


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Struggle 6. All of the following were elements of the landmark civil rights caseof Brown v. Board of Educationexcept

(p.816)

Ch t r 27


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Chapter 27The Age of Affluence

19451960

Map 27.1 Shifting Population Patterns, 19501980 (p. 803)

Map 27.2 Connecting the Nation: The Interstate Highway System, 1930and 1970 (p. 805)

Figure 27.1 Income Inequality, 19172002 (p. 798)

ch27 baby boom 57 slides

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