1945 -1960

Overview

• Economic Recovery

• Election of Eisenhower

• Growth of Suburbs

• Educational Opportunities

• Mass Culture

• Consumerism

• Post-war discontentment

Topics for Group Powerpoint Slide

Create a slide using information from book about your assigned topic.

• G.I. Bill• Baby Boom• Dwight D. Eisenhower • Growth of Suburbs• Impact of Television in 1950s• Impact of automobile

Economic Recovery after WWII

• Economy improved • Only developed nation untouched by

devastation of war• Instead of spending energy and money on

rebuilding – focused on production of consumer goods

• 50% of world’s total output of goods • Computers and wartime technological advances

were applied to consumer products

G.I. Bill • Veteran’s were given $65 a month ($90 if

they had a family)• Most spent this allowance on higher

education - 51 percent of GIs• Created a new standard. College

education became an expectation for the children of the men who were able to earn their degree because of the GI Bill.

• An important provision of the G.I. Bill was low interest, zero down payment home loans for servicemen.

• This enabled millions of American families to move out of urban apartments and into suburban homes.

1957 1957 1 baby born every 7 1 baby born every 7 secondsseconds

Baby Boom

Baby Boom• Fertility rate ( # of birth’s per 1,000 women)

peaked at 123 in 1957. An American baby was born every 7 seconds.

• Why?– More men in society due to end of WWII.– GI bill allows men to start a family. Married at a

younger age then their parents ( 1 in 3 women married by age 19)

– Medical science improved increasing the survival rate of babies.

– Prosperous economy encouraged parents to have babies sooner.

Election of Dwight D. Eisenhower

Growth of Suburbs

62% of families in 1960 62% of families in 1960 owned home (43% in owned home (43% in 1940)1940)

1949 William Levitt produced 150 houses per week.

$7,990 or $60/month with no down payment.

http://people.cohums.ohio-state.edu/wu287/152lectures2003/1950S.pdf

Music

• Time writer groused in 1956 that rock did for music “ what a motorcycle club at full throttle does for a quiet Sunday afternoon,

• Elvis challenged the status quo and set trends that shaped youth culture

Top Songs of the 1950s1. Chuck Berry - Johnny B. Goode 19582. Elvis Presley - Heartbreak Hotel 19563. Ray Charles - What'd I Say 19594. Little Richard - Tutti Frutti 19555. The Crickets - That'll Be the Day 19576. Bill Haley and His Comets (We're Gonna) Rock Around the Clock

19547. Elvis Presley - Hound Dog 19568. Jerry Lee Lewis - Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On 19579. Elvis Presley - That's All Right (Mama) 195410.Carl Perkins Blue Suede Shoes 1956

Song Analysis

• What is the song about?• What about the song appealed to so many

people?• What types of things were cool to teenagers in

the 1950s based on the song?• Would parents protest the lyrics? Why or why

not? • Do you know the artist or do you think it was a

one-hit wonder? What do you know about the artist?

Role of middle class women• Popular culture glorified

marriage and parenthood more then any other era.

• Women were told to be “helpmates” to their husband’s and full time mothers to their children– “A woman isn’t a woman until

she is married and had children.” (The Tender Trap)

– Working women were called “a menace” (Esquire)

– The ideal wife was married at 16, raised 4 children, cooked and sewed, headed the PTA and exercised to keep her size 12 figure(Life).

Women’s roles continued…

• Education fueled the emerging new gender roles.– Girls learned typing and cooking while boys took

carpentry and business courses.– Guidance counselors cautioned women to not “miss

the boat” of marriage by pursuing higher education.– 2/3 of college women failed to get a degree.

Common joke was that they dropped out to get their M.R.S. degree or their Ph. T (Putting Hubbie Through)

Television

Television

TV became the dominant mass media

Portrayed on TV became the norm

- ideal family, ideal schools, ideal neighborhoods