THE POSTWAR YEARS AT HOME1945-1960

POSTWAR ECONOMY

The Years Following WWIIDURING WWII

(you fill it in)AFTER WWII

What was life like?• Military & economic superpower• Prosperity

• Able to purchase:• Homes• Cars• Other items they had once

dreamed of owning

Economic Expansion• Greatest time of economic expansion

• GNP• Per capita income

• $1,526 $2,788• Corporate expansion

• General Motors (GM), Ford, Chrysler, General Electric (GE), & Westinghouse

Franchises• Right to open a restaurant using a parent company’s

brand name & system• Ray Kroc & Multimixers (milkshake machine)• Cali. brothers kept buying mixer• Kroc purchased 2 brothers’ idea of assembly-line food production

(1954)• Acquired name of the brothers’ restaurant

………………………..DRUMROLL………………………………………….

Franchise Cont.• The system worked so well, it was applied to:

• Clothing stores• Automobile muffler shops

• Why did it work?• Individual with only few thousand $ could own a small business

NAME OTHER FRANCHISES

Technology• Spurred industrial growth• New & improved products

• Dishwasher• Gas-powered lawnmowers• TV• Computer • Nuclear Power• Advances in medicine

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Fwramn5U3M

Television• Developed in ‘30s• 2/3 of families owned TV• Mickey Mouse Club• American Bandstand• I Love Lucy• Commercials = persuasive

http://youtu.be/vnYLnheNu6Q

Work Force• Before WWII – “blue collar” workers

• produce goods• People performed machine performed

• 1956 – white collar jobs• Office jobs• “When white-collar people get jobs, they sell not only their time and

energy but their personalities as well.” –Sociologist C. Wright Mills

• Those who still had blue-collar jobs:• Working conditions & wages • Unions won important gains

Increasing Population & Suburbs• Baby boom growing families suburbs

• 25 births per 1,000 people• Growing families move from aging cities new houses in suburbs• Outskirts of an urban area

• Developer William J. Levitt Levittowns • Communities in suburbs• Built houses in weeks instead of months• Homes became affordable

• GI Bill (Servicemen’s Readjustment Act 1944) • gave WWII vets low-interest mortgages to purchase their new homes

WHY MIGHT SOME PEOPLE NOT LIKE SUBURBS?

Malvina Reynolds – “Little Boxes” (click photo for song)

Consumer Culture• Companies offer credit cards to loyal customers

• Charge gas purchases when they were on the road• Americans willingly went into debt to purchase the

products they wanted• American Express• BankAmericard (Visa)

MOOD OF THE ‘50S

Youth• Americans went from valuing individuality conformity• Youth Culture

• “silent generation”• Little interest in world problems• Strong economy = students to go to school rather than leave to find

a job• Parties, pranks, & joining fraternities & sororities• Products marketed toward youth

Religion• Interest in religion response in part to the cold-war

struggle against communism• Find hope in wake of nuclear war

• 1954 – “under God” to Pledge of Allegiance• 1956 – “In God We Trust” WHERE DO WE SEE THIS?

• Evangelists used radio and tv to carry their messages • End of ‘50s, 95% of all Americans felt linked to some religion

Billy Graham

Men & Women’s Roles• Men – go to school and find jobs to support wives &

children• Public sphere away from home

• Women – support husband, kept house, cook, raise children

Men on the Role of Women• Dr. Benjamin Spock – The Common Sense Book of Baby

and Child Care• Mothers - remain with children if she wanted them to grow up

stable & secure• Adlai Stevenson – Democratic presidential candidate

• 1952 & 1956• “the assignment for you, as wives and mothers, you can do in the

living room with a baby in your lap or in the kitchen with a can opener in your hand.”

Video

Women’s Views• Frustrated with expectations• Wanted to earn their own $ buy the items that

symbolized the “good life”• Automobiles• Electric appliances

• 1950 – 22% of all married women had jobs• 1961 – 31%

Challenges to Conformity• Some young people rejected values of parents• Films, books, and music were used to express thoughts

• Rebel Without a Cause (film)• James Dean

• The Catcher in the Rye (novel)• Rock & Roll

• Grew out of rhythm & blues• Elvis Presley

• Adults disliked him – feared he would cause immorality

Challenges Cont.• Members of the “Beat Generation” – called beatniks

• writers• Artists

• Challenged traditional patterns of respectability • Shocked Americans with their open sexuality & use of illegal drugs

DOMESTIC POLITICS & POLICY

True or False?• 1950s were a liberal time period – politically & culturally

True False• In 1950, Dwight D. Eisenhower was president

True False• President Harry Truman wanted to follow in FDR’s

footstepsTrue False

• WWII ended in 1950True False

• Truman was a Democrat & Eisenhower was a RepublicanTrue False

Overview• 1950s were conservative time politically & culturally• Americans pressured gov’t to help maintain nation’s new

prosperity• President Truman (Democrat) – 1st struggled with the

problems of reconversion to a peacetime economy• President Eisenhower (Republican) – took low-key

approach to presidency• Friendly & reassuring

We have heard of him before.

When?

Truman• What is Truman’s claim to fame?

Truman’s Domestic Policies• Scattered approach to governing

• New proposals in every speech• Peacetime economy

• Reconversion – social & economic transition from wartimepeace• Most soldiers home by 1946

• People went from rationing to wanting goods immediately • Wages failed to keep up with prices

• People began to strike• Truman – workers fail to understand that big wage might hurt

economy’s health

Taft-Hartley Act• 1947 – passed by Congress• Allowed president to declare 80-day cooling-off period

when strikes hit industries that affected national interest• Strikers had to return to work & gov’t examined situation• Union officials signed non-Communist oaths

Truman vetoed TH Act but was still passed by Congress

Truman’s Fair Deal• Supported FDR’s New Deal

• Extended New Deal Fair Deal• Gov’t needs to play an active role in economy• promotes full employment• Higher minimum wage• Compensation for workers without jobs• National health insurance • Control atomic energy

Fair Deal Cont.• Congress opposed him

• Only passing the Employment Act 1946• Truman’s support dropped in polls• 1946 – Republicans win majority of both houses of

Congress

Election of 1948• Truman runs again• Support within party is disintegrating

• Democrats support Progressive Henry Wallace (1 of FDR’s VP)• Opponent of Truman was Republican Thomas E. Dewey

Truman – “If you send another Republican Congress to Washington, you’re a bigger bunch of suckers than I think you are.”

WHO IS THIS?

WHO WON?

ACTUALLY, TRUMAN WON. EXPLAIN THIS PICTURE.

Dwight Eisenhower aka “Ike”• Former commander-in-chief of the Allied forces• President on Colombia University• Head of NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization)• Talented diplomat• VP was Richard Nixon (later becomes president)

The Checkers Speech• People want Eisenhower to dumb Nixon from the ticket• Newspapers accused Nixon of having special fund

• “set up by rich Republican supporters”• He DID received a gift from a political supporter………………………..a dog named Checkers…………….

People changed their mind & wanted Nixon to still run

Video

Ike as President• Served 2 terms• “I am not one of those desk-pounding types that likes to

stick out his jaw and look like he is bossing the show.”• Critics claimed he lacked leadership

• Defends himself – “Now, look, I happen to know a little about leadership. I’ve had to work with a lot of nations, for that matter, at odds with each other. And I tell you this: you do not lead by hitting people over the head…I’ll tell you what leadership is. It’s persuasion – and conciliation – and education – and patience. It’s long, slow tough work. That’s the only kind of leadership I know or believe in – or will practice.”

Ike as President Cont.• Wanted to:

• Slow growth of the federal gov’t• Limit the President’s power • authority of Congress & courts

• Priorities included:• Cut spending• Reduce taxes• Balance budget

• Favored:• Big business• Encouraged/supported corporate America

Modern republicanism

Ike as President Cont.• Attempted to balance budget

• Backfired• Cuts in gov’t spending economy slump tax revenues drop

deficit grew larger • 3 economic recessions • Still helped maintain mood of stability & economic security

• Minimum wage: $0.75 $1.00

National Defense Education Act• 1958• Improve science & mathematics instruction in schools so

that the U.S. could meet the scientific & technical challenge from the USSR

• Millions of $ in low-cost loans to college students• Reductions in repayments if they became teachers• Federal gov’t granted millions of $ to state schools for

building science & foreign language facilities