chapter 41—peace, prosperity, and progresscommunications commission, 1961 ... who is that masked...
TRANSCRIPT
Chapter 41—Peace, Prosperity, and Progress
Why are the 1950s remembered as an age of affluence?
41.2 Postwar Politics
Rocky Transition to Peace
Fair Deal--Truman’s package of reforms
Economy adjusts to peacetime--govt. cancels contracts, price controls lifted
Inflation soars but wages don’t increase
Labor unions strike
Taft-Hartley Act—placed limits on the power of unions Outlawed closed shop
Banned sympathy strikes
Upset Victory in 1948
Democratic Party split into 3 factions:– Democrats: Harry Truman
– Progressives: Henry Wallace
– Dixiecrats: Strom Thurmond
Republican Party—Thomas E. Dewey
Truman’s ―whistle stop‖ tour helped him win narrow victory over Dewey
Most of his Fair Deal reforms blocked by Congress
Ike Takes Middle of the Road
1952 Election—Republicans nominate Dwight D. Eisenhower
– Supreme commander of armed forces during WWII
– Head of NATO
– ―I Like Ike‖—campaign slogan
Eisenhower’s presidency
– Supported ―modern Republicanism‖
– Expanded Social Security; massive peacetime arms buildup
– Worried about ―military industrial complex‖
1952 Election
Dwight D. "Ike" Eisenhower's campaign slogan "I Like Ike" epitomized the swell spirit that defined American culture in the 1950s.
Consumer Demand Spurs Economic Growth
Due to large savings and twice as much real income for many families than in the 1920s, Americans began spending more than ever before.
Consumers were spending money in different places (shopping centers).
To encourage spending, businesses used advertising and offered credit cards.
Businesses used planned obsolescence to encourage spending by introducing new products.
Consumerism1950 Introduction of the Diner’s Card
All babies were potential consumers who spearheaded a brand-new market for food, clothing, and shelter.
-- Life Magazine (May, 1958)
Consumerism
Economy Shifts from Goods to Services
General Motors became the first U.S. corporation to earn more than $1 billion/yr
GM workers received regular wage hikes tied to a cost-of-living index.
New companies sold franchises, or agreements to operate a business that carries a company’s name and sells its products (McDonald’s, Holiday Inn)
Franchises
Workforce Shifts from Blue to White-Collar Workers
For the first time, white-collar workersoutnumber blue-collar workers.
Growing middle-class
Marriage Boom to Baby Boom
More people were marrying and at younger ages.
Rise in marriages led to increase in number or babiesBaby Boom
More diapers, baby food, homes, cars and schools needed for children
Baby BoomIt seems to me that every other young housewife I see is pregnant.
-- British visitor to America, 1958
1957 1 baby born every 7 seconds
Baby Boom
Dr. Benjamin Spockand the Anderson Quintuplets
Family Roles—Working Dads, Stay-at-home Moms
Dr. Benjamin Spock, leading child-care expert of the day, wrote Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care
Television brought the ideal family to life on screen
Number of women attending college dropped, many drop out to marry
Well-Defined Gender Roles
The ideal modern woman married, cooked and cared for her family, and kept herself busy by joining the local PTA and leading a troop of Campfire Girls. She entertained guests in her family’s suburban house and worked out on the trampoline to keep her size 12 figure.
-- Life magazine, 1956MarilynMonroe
The ideal 1950s man was the provider, protector, and the boss of the house. -- Life magazine, 1955
1956 William H. Whyte, Jr. The Organization Man
A a middle-class, white suburban male is the ideal.
Television1946 7,000 TV sets in the U. S.1950 50,000,000 TV sets in the U. S.
Television is a vast wasteland. Newton Minnow, Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, 1961
Truth, Justice, and the American way!
Television – The Western
Davy CrockettKing of the Wild Frontier
The Lone Ranger(and his faithfulsidekick, Tonto): Who is that masked man??
Sheriff Matt Dillon, Gunsmoke
Television-Family ShowsThe Typical TV Suburban Families
The Donna Reed Show1958-1966
Leave It to Beaver1957-1963
Father Knows Best1954-1958 The Ozzie & Harriet Show
1952-1966
Suburbs and Sunbelt
New planned communities, like Levittown, are providing needed housing for middle-class
New suburbanites were white, middle-class (homogeneity)
More and more Americans move to Sunbelt—warm-weather states
Suburban Living
$7,990 or $60/month with no down payment.
1949 William Levitt produced 150 houses per week.
Suburban Living:The New “American Dream”
k 1 story high
k 12’x19’ living room
k 2 bedrooms
k tiled bathroom
k garage
k small backyard
k front lawn
By 1960 1/3 of the U. S. population in the suburbs.
Middle Class Dream; Interstate Highway System
More people commute to work from suburbs led to more production and sale of cars
Cars become a status symbol
In 1956, Congress authorizes construction of Interstate Highway System
Creates new roadside businesses (gas stations, motels, restaurants)
The Culture of the CarCar registrations: 1945 25,000,000
1960 60,000,000
2-family cars doubles from 1951-1958
1956 Interstate Highway Act largestpublic works project in Americanhistory!
Å Cost $32 billion.
Å 41,000 miles of new highways built.
1959 Chevy Corvette1958 Pink Cadillac
The Culture of the Car
First McDonald’s (1955)
America became a more homogeneous nation because of the automobile.
Drive-In Movies
Howard Johnson’s
The Culture of the CarThe U. S. population was on the move in the 1950s.
NE & Mid-W S & SW (“Sunbelt” states)
1955 Disneyland opened in Southern California.(40% of the guests came from outsideCalifornia, most by car.)
Frontier Land Main Street Tomorrow Land
Advances in Medicine
Dr. Jonas Salk created a polio vaccine
Antibiotics being used to treat diseases
Life expectancy increases
Nuclear Energy and Computers
Nuclear energy used to generate electricity
First electronic digital computer, called ENIAC, can perform 300 multiplications per second
Transitor allows for smaller and more reliable computers
Progress Through Science1951 -- First IBM Mainframe Computer
1952 -- Hydrogen Bomb Test
1953 -- DNA Structure Discovered
1954 -- Salk Vaccine Tested for Polio
1957 -- First Commercial U. S. NuclearPower Plant
1958 -- NASA Created
1959 -- Press Conference of the First 7American Astronauts
Atomic Anxieties:
“Duck-and-Cover
Generation”
Atomic Testing:
1946-1962 U. S. exploded 217 nuclear weapons over thePacific and in Nevada.
Progress Through Science