Chapter 29 AFFLUENCE AND ANXIETY America Past & Present.
-
Upload
derick-holmes -
Category
Documents
-
view
225 -
download
0
Transcript of Chapter 29 AFFLUENCE AND ANXIETY America Past & Present.
Chapter 29AFFLUENCE AND ANXIETY
America Past & Present
The Postwar Boom
1950s ~ Characterized by a new affluence & economic good times
1960 ~ Fear of another depression wanes
p.841
Postwar Prosperity
Stimuli to consumer goods industry Baby boom Population shift to suburbia 1950 ~ Americans bought
more than 6M cars Increased defense spending Increase in capital investments Employment expands
p.841-842
Birthrate, 1940–1970
p.841
Postwar Prosperity:Some Minor Problems
Agricultural overproduction, low prices Newer industries (aircraft, electronics) continued to
flourish, but older industries (steel) & farmers failed to keep up with national growth
Despite the boom, unemployment rose to over 7% in a shape recession that hit the country in the fall of 1957 & lasted thru the summer of 1958
None of this disguised the fact that the nation was prospering to an extent few had imagined
p.842
Life in the Suburbs
Suburbia inhabited by middle class
1956 ~ First fully enclosed “mall” in Minneapolis Characteristics of suburbs
Dependence on the automobile Family togetherness
Traditional feminism discouraged Entrance of more women into workplace
stimulated new feminism
p.842-843
The Good Life? Consumerism the dominant social theme
of the 1950s Quality of life left Americans anxious &
dissatisfied
Areas of Greatest Growth Church membership School attendance Television watching
p.843-845
Critics of the Consumer Society
Books by social critics of suburban culture John Keats
“Tract homes…spreading like gangrene” C. Wright Mills ~ Corps were the villians
“Rows of blank counters, w/ blank-looking girls, w/ blank folders in their blank hands…”
Jack Kerouac ~ Novelist (On the Road) who set the tone of the beat generation Beatniks: Poetry, drugs, coffeehouses Set the stage for the counterculture of the 1960s
p.845-848
The Reaction to Sputnik
1957: Soviets launched Sputnik American response
National Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA)
National Defense Education Act—upgrade the teaching of science
Duck & cover Sense of failure, declined by 1960
p.846-847
Farewell to Reform
Spirit of reform waned in postwar yrs A turning away from federal regulation &
welfare programs Reasons:
Growing affluence reduced sense of grievance
Americans eager to enjoy their new prosperity
p.848
Truman & the Fair Deal Fair Deal attempted to expand New Deal
Medical Insurance for all Americans Revived & strengthened Fair Employment Practices
Commission (FEPC) Federal aid to education
Truman’s “Fair Deal” was never enacted Doctor’s lobby convinced people that an insurance plan
would be “socialized medicine” Southerners opposed FEPC & aid to education
Truman’s achievements Consolidated Roosevelt's reforms Set the agenda for future attempts to expand New Deal
p.348-349
Eisenhower's Modern Republicanism
Eisenhower left New Deal intact Raised minimum wage and expanded Social Security Created Department of Health, Education, and Welfare
1954 ~ Democrats regained Congress 1956 ~ Highway Act created the
Interstate Highway System Justified on grounds of National defense Stimulated the economy Shaped metropolitan growth patterns
Overall, Ike’s political perspective is characterized as “Moderate Republicanism”
p.849-851
The Interstate Highway System
p.850
The Election of 1956
The Struggle Over Civil Rights
Cold War prompted quest for American moral superiority We criticized the Soviets for their human rights violations
yet still treated Af Ams as second class citizens
Legal discrimination (segregation) against African Americans was rampant Separate restaurants, drinking fountains,
restrooms, waiting rooms, phone booths
African-Americans expected more in postwar America
p.851
Civil Rights as a Political Issue
Truman’s civil-rights legislation failed 1948 ~ African American vote gave Truman his
margin of victory Civil rights made part of the liberal Democratic
agenda Truman integrated
the armed forces Certainly much
more than society at large
p.851-852
Desegregating the Schools
1954 ~ Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka Segregated schools unconstitutional Desegregate "with all deliberate
speed" Massive resistance in Deep South 1957 ~ Gov Orville Faubus: ARNG
Ike sends federal troops to Little Rock, AR
Commission on Civil Rightsp.852-853
The Beginnings of Black Activism
1955 ~ Rosa Parks refuses to “move to the back of the bus” in Montgomery, AL
ML King, Jr. led Montgomery bus boycott 1956 ~ Founded Southern Christian
Ldrsp Conf directed at anti-segregation Sit-ins protested segregation laws
1960 ~ Successful sit-ins led to the founding of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee
SCLC & SNCC began using the direct, nonviolent, passive resistance
p.853-856
Restoring National Confidence
American people more optimistic in 1960 than in 1950
Fear of economic depression waned Fear of Cold War continued Growing recognition of incompatibility of
racial injustice with American ideals
p.856
Chapter 29AFFLUENCE AND ANXIETY
America Past & Present
End