684
Postwar America1945ndash1960
1944bull GI Bill enacted
1946bull Series of work strikes
plagues country
1946bull Juan Peroacuten elected
president ofArgentina
1948bull South Africa
introduces apartheid
1952bull Scientists led by Edward
Teller develop hydrogenbomb
Why It MattersAfter World War II the country enjoyed a period of economic prosperity Many more Americans
could now aspire to a middle-class lifestyle with a house in the suburbs and more leisure timeTelevision became a favorite form of entertainment This general prosperity however did not
extend to many Hispanics African Americans Native Americans or people in Appalachia
The Impact TodayThe effects of this era can still be seen
bull The middle class represents a large segment of the American populationbull Television is a popular form of entertainment for many Americans
The American Republic Since 1877 Video The Chapter 22 video ldquoAmerica Takes to the Roadsrdquo describes the cultural impact of the automobile and its importance to the growing baby boom generation
1947bull Levittown
constructionbegins
1948bull Truman elected
president
1944 1948 1952
Truman1945ndash1953
null
50782265
685
1956bull Elvis Presley
appears on TheEd Sullivan Show
bull Federal HighwayAct passed
1958bull Galbraithrsquos The Affluent
Society published
1954bull Gamal Abdel
Nasser takespower in Egypt
1956bull Suez Canal
crisis erupts
These confident newlyweds capture the prosperous
attitude of postwar America
1955bull Salk polio vaccine
becomes widelyavailable
1953bull Lucille Ball gives birth
in real life and on hertelevision show
1957bull Estimated 40 million television
sets in use in United States
1957bull USSR launches
Sputnik I andSputnik II satellites
1956 1960
Eisenhower1953ndash1961
HISTORY
Chapter OverviewVisit the American RepublicSince 1877 Web site at
and click on Chapter OverviewsmdashChapter 22 to preview chapterinformation
tarvol2glencoecom
1944Congress passesGI Bill
686 CHAPTER 22 Postwar America
1947 1953
Return to a Peacetime EconomyAfter the war many Americans feared the return to a peacetime economy They wor-
ried that after military production halted and millions of former soldiers glutted thelabor market unemployment and recession might sweep the country
Despite such worries the economy continued to grow after the war as increased con-sumer spending helped ward off a recession After 17 years of economic depression andwartime shortages Americans rushed out to buy the luxury goods they had long desired
Truman andEisenhower
1950
1946Strikes take placeacross the country
1948Harry S Truman winspresidential election
1952Dwight D Eisenhower winspresidential election
1944
Army fatigues and college diploma
Main Idea After World War II the Truman andEisenhower administrations set out tohelp the nation adjust to peacetime
Key Terms and NamesGI Bill closed shop right-to-work lawunion shop featherbedding ldquoDo-NothingCongressrdquo Fair Deal dynamic conservatism Federal Highway Act
Reading StrategyCategorizing As you read about theTruman and Eisenhower administrationscomplete a graphic organizer similar tothe one below by listing the characteris-tics of the postwar economy of the UnitedStates
Reading Objectivesbull Explain the Truman administrationrsquos
efforts on the domestic front bull Describe President Eisenhowerrsquos
domestic agenda
Section ThemeEconomic Factors Following World War II the federal government supportedprograms that helped the economy makethe transition to peacetime production
Characteristicsof a Postwar Economy
As World War II ended Robert Eubanks was worried as he prepared for his dischargefrom the army He had joined the army because as an African American it was hard for himto find a job that paid well Then he heard about something known as the GI Bill a govern-ment program that paid veteransrsquo tuition for college and provided a living allowance
Eubanks took advantage of the program and enrolled at the Illinois Institute ofTechnology He earned three degrees on the GI Bill and eventually became a professor at theUniversity of Illinois
Years later Eubanks recalled how his life was changed by the bill ldquoItrsquos very hard to explainhow things were during the 1940sldquo he said ldquoThe restrictions on blacks then were rough TheGI Bill gave me my start on being a professional instead of a stock clerkrdquo
mdashadapted from When Dreams Came True
null
94771286
The Servicemenrsquos Readjustment Act popularlycalled the GI Bill further boosted the economy Theact provided generous loans to veterans to help themestablish businesses buy homes and attend college
Inflation and Strikes The postwar economy wasnot without its problems A greater demand forgoods led to higher prices and this rising inflationsoon triggered labor unrest As the cost of living roseworkers across the country went on strike for betterpay Work stoppages soon affected the automobileelectrical steel and mining industries
Afraid that the nationrsquos energy supply would bedrastically reduced because of the striking minersPresident Truman forced the miners to return towork after one strike that had lasted over a monthTruman ordered government seizure of the mineswhile pressuring mine owners to grant the unionmost of its demands The president also halted astrike that shut down the nationrsquos railroads by threat-ening to draft the striking workers into the army
Republican Victory Labor unrest and high pricesprompted many Americans to call for a change TheRepublicans seized upon these sentiments during the1946 congressional elections winning control of bothhouses of Congress for the first time since 1930
Disgusted with the rash of strikes that was cripplingthe nation the new conservative Congress quickly setout to curb the power of organized labor Legislatorsproposed a measure known as the Taft-Hartley Actwhich outlawed the closed shop or the practice offorcing business owners to hire only union membersUnder the law states could pass right-to-work lawswhich outlawed union shops (shops in which newworkers were required to join the union) The measurealso prohibited featherbedding the practice of limit-ing work output in order to create more jobsFurthermore the bill forbade unions from using theirmoney to support political campaigns When the billreached Truman however he vetoed it arguing
ldquo [It would] reverse the basic direction of ournational labor policy inject the government into pri-vate economic affairs on an unprecedented scale andconflict with important principles of our democraticsociety Its provisions would cause more strikes notfewerrdquo
mdashquoted in The Growth of the American Republic
The presidentrsquos concerns did little to swayCongress which passed the Taft-Hartley Act in 1947over Trumanrsquos veto Its supporters claimed the law
held irresponsible unions incheck just as the Wagner Actof 1935 had restrained anti-union activities and employ-ers Labor leaders called theact a ldquoslave laborrdquo law andinsisted that it erased manyof the gains that unions hadmade since 1933
Explaining Why did Truman
veto the Taft-Hartley Act
Trumanrsquos Domestic Program The Democratic Partyrsquos loss of members in the 1946
elections did not dampen President Trumanrsquos spiritsor his plans Shortly after taking office Truman hadproposed a series of domestic measures that sought tocontinue the work done as part of Franklin RooseveltrsquosNew Deal During his tenure in office Truman workedto push this agenda through Congress
Trumanrsquos Legislative Agenda Trumanrsquos proposalsincluded the expansion of Social Security benefitsthe raising of the legal minimum wage from 40cent to75cent an hour a program to ensure full employmentthrough aggressive use of federal spending andinvestment public housing and slum clearance long-range environmental and public works planningand a system of national health insurance
Truman also boldly asked Congress in February1948 to pass a broad civil rights bill that would
Reading Check
The GI Bill African American soldiers review the benefits of the GI Bill which
included loans to attend college and to buy homes
CHAPTER 22 Postwar America 687
Student WebActivity Visit theAmerican RepublicSince 1877 Web site at
and click on StudentWeb ActivitiesmdashChapter 22 for anactivity on postwarAmerica
HISTORY
tarvol2glencoecom
null
25527786
protect African Americansrsquo right to vote abolish polltaxes and make lynching a federal crime He alsoissued an executive order barring discrimination infederal employment and he ended segregation in thearmed forces
Most of Trumanrsquos legislative efforts however metwith little success as a coalition of Republicans andconservative Southern Democrats defeated many ofhis proposals While these defeats angered Trumanthe president soon had to worry about other matters
The Election of 1948 As the presidential election of1948 approached most observers gave Truman littlechance of winning Some Americans still believedthat he lacked the stature for the job and they viewedhis administration as weak and inept
Divisions within the Democratic Party alsoseemed to spell disaster for Truman At theDemocratic Convention that summer two factionsabandoned the party altogether Reacting angrily toTrumanrsquos support of civil rights a group of SouthernDemocrats formed the Statesrsquo Rights or DixiecratParty and nominated South Carolina governor Strom Thurmond for president At the same timethe partyrsquos more liberal members were frustrated byTrumanrsquos ineffective domestic policies and critical ofhis anti-Soviet foreign policy They formed a newProgressive Party with Henry A Wallace as theirpresidential candidate In addition the presidentrsquosRepublican opponent was New York governorThomas Dewey a dignified and popular candidatewho seemed unbeatable After polling 50 politicalwriters Newsweek magazine declared three weeksbefore the election ldquoThe landslide for Dewey willsweep the countryrdquo
Perhaps the only one who gave Truman a chanceto win was Truman himself ldquoI know every one ofthose 50 fellowsrdquo he declared about the writerspolled in Newsweek ldquoThere isnrsquot one of them hasenough sense to pound sand in a rat holerdquo Ignoringthe polls the feisty president poured his efforts intoan energetic campaign He traveled more than 20000miles by train and made more than 350 speechesAlong the way Truman attacked the majorityRepublican Congress as ldquodo-nothing good-for-nothingrdquo for refusing to enact his legislative agenda
Trumanrsquos attacks on the ldquoDo-Nothing Congressrdquodid not mention that both he and Congress had beenvery busy dealing with foreign policy mattersCongress had passed the Truman Doctrinersquos aid pro-gram to Greece and Turkey as well as the MarshallPlan It had also created the Department of Defenseand the CIA and established the Joint Chiefs of Staffas a permanent organization The 80th Congresstherefore did not ldquodo nothingrdquo as Truman chargedbut its accomplishments were in areas that did notaffect most Americans directly As a result Trumanrsquoscharges began to stick and to the surprise of almosteveryone his efforts paid off
With a great deal of support from laborers AfricanAmericans and farmers Truman won a narrow butstunning victory over Dewey Perhaps just as remark-able as the presidentrsquos victory was the resurgence ofthe Democratic Party When the dust had clearedafter Election Day Democrats had regained control ofboth houses of Congress
GOVERNMENT
The Fair Deal Trumanrsquos State of the Union messageto the new Congress repeated the domestic agendahe had put forth previously ldquoEvery segment of ourpopulation and every individualrdquo he declared ldquohasa right to expect from government a fair dealrdquoWhether intentional or not the president had coineda namemdashthe Fair Dealmdashto set his program apartfrom the New Deal
The 81st Congress did not completely embraceTrumanrsquos Fair Deal Legislators did raise the legalminimum wage to 75cent an hour They also approvedan important expansion of the Social Security systemincreasing benefits by 77 percent and extending themto 10 million additional people Congress also passedthe National Housing Act of 1949 which providedfor the construction of more than 800000 units oflow-income housing accompanied by long-term rentsubsidies
Congress refused however to pass national healthinsurance or to provide subsidies for farmers or
African Americans Rally for Truman During the 1948 election President
Truman spoke at many rallies similar to this one in New York City What legisla-tive proposals by President Truman built African American political support
History
null
27973083
federal aid for schools In addition legislators opposedTrumanrsquos efforts to enact civil rights legislation
Describing What was the impact of
the election of 1948
The Eisenhower Years In 1950 the United States went to war in Korea
The war consumed the nationrsquos attention andresources and basically ended Trumanrsquos Fair DealBy 1952 with the war a bloody stalemate and hisapproval rating dropping quickly Truman declinedto run again for the presidency With no Democraticincumbent to face Republicans pinned their hopesof regaining the White House on a popular WorldWar II hero
The Election of 1952 Dwight Eisenhower decidedto run as the Republican nominee for president in1952 His running mate was a young Californiasenator Richard Nixon The Democrats nominatedIllinois governor Adlai Stevenson a witty and elo-quent speaker who had the support of leading liber-als and organized labor
The Republicans adopted the slogan ldquoItrsquos time fora changerdquo The warm and friendly Eisenhower
known as ldquoIkerdquo promised to end the war in Korea ldquoIlike Ikerdquo became the Republican rallying cry
Eisenhowerrsquos campaign soon came under fire asreports surfaced that Richard Nixon had received giftsfrom California business leaders totaling $18000 whilehe was a senator For a while it looked as if Nixonmight be dropped from the ticket In a nationwidespeech broadcast on radio and television Nixoninsisted the funds had been used for legitimate politicalpurposes He did admit that his family had kept onegift a cocker spaniel puppy named ldquoCheckersrdquo Hedeclared ldquoThe kids love the dog [and] regardlessabout what they say about it wersquore going to keep itrdquoThis so-called ldquoCheckers speechrdquo won praise frommuch of the public and kept Nixon on the ticket
Eisenhower won the election by a landslide carry-ing the Electoral College 442 votes to 89 TheRepublicans also gained an eight-seat majority in theHouse while the Senate became evenly dividedbetween Democrats and Republicans
Ike as President President Eisenhower had twofavorite phrases ldquoMiddle of the roadrdquo described hispolitical beliefs which fell midway between conser-vative and liberal He also referred to the notion ofldquodynamic conservatismrdquo which meant balancingeconomic conservatism with some activism
Reading Check
CHAPTER 22 Postwar America 689
10
12
11
6
4
44
28 13
11
2535
118
141
11
8
12
8
47
43 5
16
4
8
16
3
8
19
11
10
9
1586
34
43
6
8
25
23
44 10
9
IOWA
WIS
MINN
NEBR
S DAK
N DAKMONT
ILLIND
KY
OHIOPA
VAWVA
NCTENN
SCGA
FLA
NY
NHVT ME
MASS
RI
CONN
NJ
DELMD
MICH
ALA
LA
ARK
MOKANSCOLO
NEVUTAH
IDAHOWYO
OREG
WASH
CALIF
TEX
N MEXARIZ OKLA
MISS
The Election of 1948A victorious Truman holds a paper thatincorrectly predicted a Dewey victory
Republican
Statesacute Rights
Progressive
21991291
1176125
1157326
189
39
0
CandidateElectoral
VotePopular
VotePolitical
Party
Dewey
Thurmond
Wallace
Presidential Election 1948
Truman 303 24179345 Democrat1 Interpreting Maps How many electoral votes did
President Truman receive2 Applying Geography Skills Where did Strom
Thurmond enjoy strong political support
MotionIn
null
16509436
Eisenhower wasted little time in showing hisconservative side The new presidentrsquos cabinetappointments included several business leadersUnder their guidance Eisenhower ended govern-ment price and rent controls which many conser-vatives had viewed as unnecessary federal controlover the business community The Eisenhoweradministration viewed business growth as vital tothe nation The presidentrsquos secretary of defense for-merly the president of General Motors declared tothe Senate that ldquowhat is good for our country isgood for General Motors and vice versardquo
Eisenhowerrsquos conservatism showed itself inother ways as well In an attempt to curb the federalbudget the president vetoed a school constructionbill and agreed to slash government aid to publichousing Along with these cuts he supported somemodest tax reductions
Eisenhower also targeted the federal govern-mentrsquos continuing aid to businesses or what hetermed ldquocreeping socialismrdquo Shortly after takingoffice the president abolished the ReconstructionFinance Corporation (RFC) which since 1932 hadlent money to banks railroads and other largeinstitutions in financial trouble AnotherDepression-era agency the Tennessee ValleyAuthority (TVA) also came under Eisenhowerrsquoseconomic scrutiny During his presidency appro-
priations for the TVA fell from$185 million to $12 million
In some areas President Eisenhower took an activistrole For example he advocated the passage of twolarge government projects During the 1950s as thenumber of Americans who owned cars increased sotoo did the need for greater and more efficient travelroutes In 1956 Congress responded to this growingneed by passing the Federal Highway Act the largestpublic works program in American history The actappropriated $25 billion for a 10-year effort to constructmore than 40000 miles (64400 km) of interstate high-ways Congress also authorized construction of theGreat Lakes-St Lawrence Seaway to connect the GreatLakes with the Atlantic Ocean through a series of lockson the St Lawrence River Three previous presidentshad been unable to reach agreements with Canada tobuild this waterway to aid international shippingThrough Eisenhowerrsquos efforts the two nations finallyagreed on a plan to complete the project
Extending the New Deal Although PresidentEisenhower cut federal spending and worked to limitthe federal governmentrsquos role in the nationrsquos econ-omy he also agreed to extend the Social Security system to an additional 10 million people He also extended unemployment compensation to an additional 4 million citizens and agreed to increase
Interstate HighwaysAs Cold War tensions rose American
officials realized that the ability to movetroops and military equipment acrossthe country quickly and efficientlycould very well determine whetherthe nation could survive attackSince the haphazard system of two-lane highways that crisscrossedAmerica could not handle such a task theEisenhower administration proposed a41000-mile network of multi-lane inter-state highways The interstate systemchanged American life in several signifi-cant ways
More Efficient Distribution of Goods The interstates made the distribution of goods faster and moreefficient In the 1990s trucks moved more than 6 billion tons ofgoods each year nearly half of all commercial transports in theUnited States Most of these trucks used interstates
The Interstate System 2000
690 CHAPTER 22 Postwar America
Interstatehighways (free)Interstatehighways (toll)
null
18750961
The interstate highways drastically decreased the time it took to travelacross the continent In 1919 a young Dwight D Eisenhower joined 294other members of the army to travel the 2800 miles from Washington DCto San Francisco They made the trip in 62 days averaging 5 miles perhour During World War II General Eisenhower was impressed with themodern design of Germanyrsquos freeway system the Autobahn ldquoThe oldconvoyrdquo he said ldquohad started me thinking about good two-lane highwaysbut Germany had made me see the wisdom of broader ribbons across thelandrdquo Wide lanes and controlled entrance and exit points allowed cars totravel at much higher speeds Using the interstate highways Eisenhowerrsquostrip would now take 41frasl2 days
2800 mile trip took 62 days in 1919
2800 mile trip takes 4 12 days today
Travel TimesWashington DCto San Francisco
Suburbanization and Urban SprawlThe interstate system contributed to the growth of suburbancommunities and the eventual geographic spread of center-less cities Using the interstates suburbanites could com-mute to their jobs miles away
A New Road Culture The interstates created an automobile society In 1997 $687 bil-lion were spent on private automobiles compared to $228 billionfor public transit Additionally chains of fast food restaurants andmotels replaced independent operators across the country
Writing About History
CHAPTER 22 Postwar America 691
Checking for Understanding
1 Define closed shop right-to-work lawunion shop featherbedding dynamicconservatism
2 Identify GI Bill ldquoDo-NothingCongressrdquo Fair Deal Federal HighwayAct
Reviewing Themes
3 Economic Factors How did PresidentEisenhower aid international shippingduring his administration
Critical Thinking
4 Interpreting In what ways did the Taft-Hartley Act hurt labor unions
5 Categorizing Use a graphic organizerto compare the agendas of the Trumanand Eisenhower administrations
Analyzing Visuals
6 Analyzing Maps Study the map onpage 689 Which parts of the countrydid Dewey win Why do you think he did so well in these areas
Agendas
Truman Eisenhower7 Persuasive Writing Take on the role
of a member of Congress during theTruman administration Write a speechin which you try to persuade the 81stCongress to either pass or defeatTrumanrsquos Fair Deal measures
the minimum hourly wage from 75cent to $1 and to con-tinue to provide some government aid to farmers
By the time Eisenhower ran for a second term in1956mdasha race he won easilymdashthe nation had success-fully completed the transition from a wartime to apeacetime economy The battles between liberals andconservatives over whether to continue New Deal
policies would continue In the meantime howevermost Americans focused their energy on enjoyingwhat had become a decade of tremendous prosperity
Evaluating What conservative
and activist measures did Eisenhower take during his
administration
Reading Check
Study Central TMTo review this section go to
and click on Study CentralTMtarvol2glencoecom
null
6232865
In the summer of 1951 Kemmons Wilson traveled with his family from MemphisTennessee to Washington DC He noticed that some of the motels they stayed in were ter-rible Each added a $2 charge per child to the standard room price and many were locatedfar from restaurants forcing travelers back into their cars to search for meals
Frustrated Wilson decided to build a motel chain that would provide interstate travel-ers with comfortable lodgings They would be located near good family restaurants andallow kids to stay free Together with a group of investors Wilson began building theHoliday Inn motel chain Families loved his motels and soon Holiday Inns were sproutingup all over the country
Wilson said he never doubted the success of his endeavor ldquoI like to think that Irsquomso normal that anything I like everybody else is going to like toordquo he said ldquoTheidea that my instincts are out of line just doesnrsquot occur to merdquo His prosperity mirroreda growing affluence in the nation This time of prosperity made the shortages of theGreat Depression and World War II a distant memory
mdashadapted from The Fifties
1947Construction ofLevittown begins
692 CHAPTER 22 Postwar America
American Abundance Wilsonrsquos motel chain proved successful largely because the 1950s was a decade of
incredible prosperity In 1958 economist John Kenneth Galbraith published TheAffluent Society in which he claimed that the nationrsquos postwar prosperity was a newphenomenon In the past Galbraith said all societies had an ldquoeconomy of scarcityrdquo
The Affluent Society
Kemmons Wilsonon magazine cover
1946 1954
1950David Riesmanrsquos TheLonely Crowd published
1955Salk polio vaccinebecomes widely available
1958John Kenneth Galbraithrsquos TheAffluent Society published
1950 1958
Main Idea The postwar economic boom broughtgreat changes to society including theways many Americans worked and lived
Key Terms and NamesJohn Kenneth Galbraith white-collarblue-collar multinational corporationfranchise David Riesman Levittownbaby boom Jonas Salk
Reading StrategySequencing As you read aboutAmerican society in the 1950s completea time line similar to the one below byrecording the scientific and technologicalbreakthroughs of the time
Reading Objectives bull Explain the reasons for and the effects
of the nationrsquos economic boombull Describe changes to the American fam-
ily that took place during the 1950s
Section ThemeContinuity and Change Americansbecame avid consumers in the atmos-phere of postwar abundance
1946 1958
null
1190639
meaning that a lack of resources and overpopula-tion had limited economic productivity Now theUnited States and a few other industrializednations had created what Galbraith called anldquoeconomy of abundancerdquo New business tech-niques and improved technology enabled thesenations to produce an abundance of goods andservices for their peoplemdashall of which allowedmany of them to enjoy a standard of living neverbefore thought possible
The Spread of Wealth Some critics accusedGalbraith of overstating the situation but the factsand figures seemed to support his theory Between1940 and 1960 the average income of American fam-ilies roughly tripled Americans in all income brack-etsmdashpoor middle-class and wealthymdashexperiencedthis rapid rise in income The dramatic rise in homeownership also showed that the income of averagefamilies had risen significantly Between 1940 and1960 the number of Americans owning their ownhomes rose from about 43 to about 62 percent
Accompanying the countryrsquos economic growthwere dramatic changes in work environmentsMechanization in farms and factories meant that fewerfarmers and laborers were needed to provide the pub-lic with food and goods As a result more Americansbegan working in what are called white-collar jobssuch as those in sales and management In 1956 forthe first time white-collar workers outnumberedblue-collar workers or people who perform physicallabor in industry
Multinationals and Franchises Many white-collaremployees worked for large corporations As thesebusinesses competed with each other some expandedoverseas These multinational corporations locatedthemselves closer to important raw materials andbenefited from a cheaper labor pool which madethem more competitive
The 1950s also witnessed the rise of franchises inwhich a person owns and runs one or several storesof a chain operation Because many business leadersbelieved that consumers valued dependability andfamiliarity the owners of chain operations oftendemanded that their franchises present a uniformlook and style
The Organization Man Like franchise ownersmany corporate leaders also expected their employeesto conform to company standards In general corpora-tions did not desire free-thinking individuals or peoplewho might speak out or criticize the company
Some social observers recognized this phenomenonand disapproved of it In his 1950 book The LonelyCrowd sociologist David Riesman argued that thisconformity was changing people Formerly heclaimed people were ldquoinner-directedrdquo judging them-selves on the basis of their own values and the esteemof their families Now however people were becom-ing ldquoother-directedrdquo concerning themselves with win-ning the approval of the corporation or community
In his 1956 book The Organization Man writerWilliam H Whyte Jr assailed the similarity manybusiness organizations cultivated in order to keep anyindividual from dominating ldquoIn group doctrinerdquoWhyte wrote ldquothe strong personality is viewed withoverwhelming suspicionrdquo and the person with ideasis considered ldquoa threatrdquo
The New Consumerism The conformity of the1950s included peoplersquos desires to own the same newproducts as their neighbors With more disposableincome Americans bought more luxury items such asrefrigerators washing machines vacuum cleanersand air conditioners Americans also bought a varietyof labor-saving machines As House and Garden maga-zine boasted in a 1954 article coffeemakers blendersand lawn trimmers ldquo[replaced] the talents of caretakergardener cook [and] maidrdquo
CHAPTER 22 Postwar America 693
The Organization Man In the 1950s more and more people worked
in white-collar corporate jobs Some social critics worried that this develop-
ment emphasized conformity In what other ways did society encouragepeople to conform
Analyzing Political Cartoons
ldquoHe never wastes a minute JPmdashthatrsquos his lunchrdquo
null
24879886
Accompanying the nationrsquos spending spree was thegrowth of more sophisticated advertising Advertisingbecame the fastest-growing industry in the UnitedStates as manufacturers employed new marketingtechniques to sell their products These techniqueswere carefully planned to whet the consumerrsquosappetite The purpose of these advertisers was to influ-ence choices among brands of goods that were essen-tially the same According to the elaborate advertisingcampaigns of the time a freezer became a promise ofplenty a second car became a symbol of status and amouthwash became the key to immediate success
The Growth of Suburbia Advertisers targetedtheir ads to consumers who had money to spendMany of these consumers lived in the nationrsquos grow-ing suburbs that grew up around cities
Levittown New York was one of the earliest ofthe new suburbs The driving force behind thisplanned residential community was Bill Levitt whomass-produced hundreds of simple and similar-looking homes in a potato field 10 miles east of NewYork City Between 1947 and 1951 thousands offamilies rushed to buy the inexpensive homes and
soon other communities similar to Levittownsprang up throughout the United States
Suburbs became increasingly popular throughoutthe 1950s accounting for about 85 percent of newhome construction The number of suburban dwellersdoubled while the population of cities themselvesrose only 10 percent Reasons for the rapid growth ofsuburbia varied Some people wanted to escape thecrime and congestion of city neighborhoods Othersviewed life in the suburbs as a move up to a better lifefor themselves and their children In contrast to citylife suburbia offered a more picturesque environ-ment As developers in earlier periods had done thedevelopers of the 1950s attracted home buyers withpromises of fresh air green lawns and trees
Affordability became a key factor in attractinghome buyers to the suburbs Because the GI Billoffered low-interest loans new housing was moreaffordable during the postwar period than at anyother time in American history Equally attractivewas the governmentrsquos offer of income tax deductionsfor home mortgage interest payments and propertytaxes For millions of Americans the suburbs came tosymbolize the American dream They owned theirhomes sent their children to good schools lived insafe communities and enjoyed economic security
Nevertheless some social commentators such asarchitect Lewis Mumford and writer John Keatsviewed such plain and identical-looking communitiesas another sign of conformity ldquoYou too can find a boxof your ownrdquo wrote Keats ldquoinhabited by peoplewhose age income number of children problemshabits conversations dress possessions perhapseven blood types are almost precisely like yoursrdquo
Interpreting What were two causes
and effects of the economic boom of the 1950s
The 1950s Family In addition to all the other transformations taking
place in the nation during the 1950s the Americanfamily also was changing Across the country manyfamilies grew larger and more married womenentered the workforce
The Baby Boom The American birthrate explodedafter World War II From 1945 to 1961 a period knownas the baby boom more than 65 million children wereborn in the United States At the height of the babyboom a child was born every seven seconds
Several factors contributed to the baby boom Firstyoung couples who had delayed marriage during
Reading Check
694 CHAPTER 22 Postwar America
The Baby Boom
Source Historical Statistics of the United States Colonial Times to 1970
Live
Birt
hs (
per 1
000
peo
ple)
1940 1945 1950 1955 1960 1965 1970
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
17
Year
1 Interpreting Graphs When did therapid rise in population shown herereach its peak
2 Analyzing Cause and Effect Whatfactors contributed to this rapid rise inbirths
null
24284236
World War II and the Korean War could now marrybuy homes and begin their families In addition thegovernment encouraged the growth of families byoffering generous GI benefits for home purchasesFinally on television and in magazines popular cul-ture celebrated pregnancy parenthood and largefamilies
Women in the Fifties Many women focused ontheir traditional role of homemaker during the 1950sEven though 8 million American women had gone towork during the war the new postwar emphasis onhaving babies and establishing families now discour-aged women from seeking employment ManyAmericans assumed that a good mother should stayhome to take care of her children
ldquoLetrsquos face it girlsrdquo declared one female writer inBetter Homes and Gardens in April 1955 ldquothat wonder-ful guy in your housemdashand in minemdashis buildingyour house your happiness and the opportunitiesthat will come to your childrenrdquo The magazineadvised stay-at-home wives to ldquoset their sights on ahappy home a host of friends and a bright futurethrough success in HIS jobrdquo
Despite the popular emphasis on homemakinghowever the number of women who held jobs out-side the home actually increased during the 1950sMost women who went to work did so in order tohelp their families maintain their comfortablelifestyles By 1960 nearly one-third of all marriedwomen were part of the paid workforce
Evaluating What were three factors
that contributed to the baby boom
Technological Breakthroughs As the United States underwent many social
changes during the postwar era the nation also wit-nessed several important scientific advances Inmedicine space exploration and electronics Americanscientists broke new ground during the 1950s
Advances in Electronics The electronics industrymade rapid advances after World War II In 1947three American physicistsmdashJohn Bardeen Walter HBrattain and William Shockleymdashdeveloped thetransistor a tiny device that generated electric sig-nals and made it possible to miniaturize radios andcalculators
The age of computers also dawned in the postwarera In 1946 scientists working under a US Armycontract developed one of the nationrsquos earliest
computersmdashknown as ENIAC (Electronic NumericalIntegrator and Computer)mdashto make military calcula-tions Several years later a newer model called UNIVAC (Universal Automatic Computer) wouldhandle business data and launch the computer revo-lution The computer along with changes andimprovements in communication and transportationsystems allowed many Americans to work morequickly and efficiently As a result families in the1950s had more free time and new forms of leisureactivity became popular
Medical Miracles The medical breakthroughs ofthe 1950s included the development of powerfulantibiotics to fight infection the introduction of newdrugs to combat arthritis diabetes cancer and heart
Reading Check
The Incredible Shrinking ComputerPast The First ComputerENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer) wasthe first large-scale digital computer Operating from 1946to 1955 its primary function was to provide data for themilitary It weighed more than 30 tons and took up 1800square feetmdashmore than some houses
Present Modern MarvelsModern computers are very small andvery fast Many personal comput-ers now fit easily in a briefcase orbackpack They are also moreefficient While the ENIAC couldperform approximately 5000calculations per second thetypical home computerperforms about 70million calculationsper secondmdash14000times faster
null
20715561
disease and groundbreaking advances in surgicaltechniques Polio however continued to baffle themedical profession
Periodic polio epidemics had been occurring inthe United States since 1916 The disease had evenstruck the young Franklin Roosevelt and forced himto use a wheelchair In the 1940s and 1950s howeverpolio struck the nation in epidemic proportionsOfficially known as infantile paralysis because itgenerally targeted the young the disease brought awave of terror to the country No one knew where orwhen polio would strike but an epidemic broke outin some area of the country each summer cripplingand killing its victims People watched helplesslywhile neighbors fell sick Many died and those whodid not were often confined to iron lungsmdashlargemetal tanks with pumps that helped patientsbreathe If they eventually recovered they wereoften paralyzed for the rest of their lives
Because no one knew what caused the disease par-ents searched for ways to safeguard their families eachsummer Some sent their children to the country toavoid excessive contact with others Public swimmingpools and beaches were closed Parks and play-grounds across the country stood desertedNevertheless the disease continued to strike In 1952 arecord 58000 new cases were reported
Finally a research scientist named Jonas Salkdeveloped an injectable vaccine that preventedpolio Salk first tested the vaccine on himself hiswife and his three sons It was then tested on 2 mil-lion schoolchildren In 1955 the vaccine was declaredsafe and effective and became available to the gen-eral public The results were spectacular New casesof polio fell to 5700 in 1958 and then to 3277 in 1960American scientist Albert Sabin then developed anoral vaccine for polio Because it was safer and moreconvenient than Salkrsquos injection vaccine the Sabinvaccine became the most common form of treatmentagainst the disease In the years to come the threatof polio would almost completely disappear
Conquering Space After the Soviet Union launchedSputnik the worldrsquos first space satellite in October1957 the United States hastened to catch up with its
696 CHAPTER 22 Postwar America
Polio Epidemic In the 1940s and 1950s Americans were very concerned
about the wave of polio cases that struck so many young children Here devices
known as iron lungs help polio patients breathe How did people try to safe-guard against the spread of the disease
History
null
16786362
Writing About History
CHAPTER 22 Postwar America 697
Checking for Understanding
1 Define white-collar blue-collar multi-national corporation franchise babyboom
2 Identify John Kenneth Galbraith DavidRiesman Levittown Jonas Salk
3 Describe how and why the suburbsbecame popular places to live
Reviewing Themes
4 Continuity and Change How was theaffluent society of the United States inthe 1950s different from previousdecades
Critical Thinking
5 Interpreting What caused the advertis-ing industry boom in the 1950s
6 Organizing Use a graphic organizersimilar to the one below to list thecauses and effects of the economicboom of the 1950s
Analyzing Visuals
7 Analyzing Photographs Study thephotograph on page 696 of childrensuffering from polio What do you thinkit was like to live in such an environ-ment Do Americans today face similarmedical fears
Boom
EffectsCauses8 Descriptive Writing Write an article
for a magazine such as Better Homesand Gardens describing changes theAmerican family underwent during the1950s
Cold War rival Less than fourmonths later on January 31 1958the United States launched its ownsatellite from Cape CanaveralFlorida Reporter Milton Brackerdescribed the jubilant scene
ldquoAs the firing command neared adeadly silence fell on those who werewatching In the glare of the search-lights a stream of liquid oxygen couldbe seen venting like a lavender cloudfrom the side of the seventy-footrocket At fourteen and one-halfseconds after time zero after thepriming fuel had ignited almost invisi-bly the main stage engine came tolife with an immeasurable thrust offlame in all directions With thou-sands of eyes following it the rocketdug into the night and accelerated asits sound loudened Spectators onnear-by beaches pointed and cranedtheir necks and cried lsquoThere it isrsquo andbegan to cheerrdquo
mdashquoted in Voices from Americarsquos Past
Meanwhile engineers were building smootherand faster commercial planes Poet Carl Sandburgwrote about taking the first American jet flight fromNew York to Los Angeles The trip took only five anda half hours ldquoYou search for words to describe thespeed of this flightrdquo wrote an amazed Sandburg
ldquoYou are whisked from an ocean on one side ofthe continent to an ocean on the opposite side in lesstime than it takes the sun to trace a 90-degree arcacross the skyrdquo
Examining What medical and tech-
nological advances met specific needs in the late 1940s and
1950s
Reading Check
i n H i s t o r yDr Jonas Salk 1914ndash1995
The man who developed the vaccinefor one of the nationrsquos most feared dis-eases almost did not go into medicineJonas Salk enrolled in college as a pre-law student but soon changed his mindldquoMy mother didnrsquot think I would makea very good lawyerrdquo Salk said ldquoproba-bly because I could never win an argu-ment with herrdquo Salk switched his majorto premed and went on to become aresearch scientist
Salk initially directed the search for acure to the dreaded ailment of polio atthe University of Pittsburghrsquos VirusResearch Laboratory Every so oftenSalk would make rounds in the over-crowded polio wards of nearbyMunicipal Hospital where nursesdescribed their feelings of pity andhelpless rage as paralyzed childrencried for water As one nurse said ldquoI
can remember how the staff used to kidDr Salkmdashkidding in earnestmdashtellinghim to hurry up and do somethingrdquo
Salk became famous for his break-through vaccine The shy doctor how-ever did not desire fame About hisbecoming a celebrity Salk observedthat it was ldquoa transitory thing and youwait till it blows over Eventually peoplewill start thinking lsquoThat poor guyrsquo andleave me alone Then Irsquoll be able to getback to my laboratoryrdquo
Study Central TMTo review this section go to
and click on Study CentralTMtarvol2glencoecom
null
119011665
1955The quiz show The $64000Question debuts
698 CHAPTER 22 Postwar America
In 1953 Lucille Ball and her real-life husband Desi Arnaz were starring in one of the mostpopular shows on American television I Love Lucy In January Ball had a babymdashboth in reallife and on her show Her pregnancy and the birth of her baby became a national event thatcaptivated her audience A pre-filmed segment of the show showed Lucy and her husbandgoing to the hospital to have the baby and the show was broadcast only a few hours after thereal birth More than two-thirds of the nationrsquos television sets tuned in an audience of around44 million viewers Far fewer people watched the next day when television broadcast a presi-dential inauguration
I Love Lucy was so popular that some people actually set up their work schedules aroundthe show Marshall Fieldrsquos which had previously held sales on the same night the show wason eventually switched its sales to a different night A sign on its shop window explainedldquoWe love Lucy too so wersquore closing on Monday nightsrdquo A relatively new medium televisionhad swept the nation by the mid-1950s
mdashadapted from Watching TV Four Decades of American Television
The New Mass Media Although regular television broadcasts had begun in the early 1940s there were few
stations and sets were expensive By the end of the 1950s however the small black-and-white-screened sets sat in living rooms across the country Televisionrsquos popularity
Popular Culture of the 1950s
1956Elvis Presley appears on the Ed SullivanShow Allen Ginsbergrsquos ldquoHowlrdquo published
195740 million television sets inuse in the United States
1958TV quiz show scandalsbegin to surface
1955 1956 1957 1958
Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz
Main Idea During the carefree and prosperous1950s Americans turned to televisionnew forms of music cinema and litera-ture to entertain themselves
Key Terms and NamesEd Sullivan Alan Freed Elvis Presley gen-eration gap Jack Kerouac Little Richard
Reading StrategyCategorizing As you read about thepopular culture of the 1950s complete agraphic organizer similar to the onebelow comparing new forms of massmedia during the 1950s
Reading Objectives bull Explain the characteristics of the new
youth culturebull Discuss the contributions of African
Americans to 1950s culture
Section ThemeCulture and Traditions The 1950sadded such elements as rock rsquonrsquo rollmusic and sitcom television to modernculture
New Forms of Mass Media Description
null
11441435
forced the other forms of mass mediamdashnamelymotion pictures and radiomdashto innovate in order tokeep their audiences
The Rise of Television Popularity During WorldWar II televisions became more affordable for con-sumers In 1946 it is estimated there were between7000 and 8000 sets in the entire United States By1957 there were 40 million television sets in use Over80 percent of households had televisions
By the late 1950s television news had become animportant vehicle for information Television advertis-ing spawned a growing market for many new prod-ucts Advertising after all provided television withthe money that allowed it to flourish As one critic con-cluded ldquoPrograms on television are simply a device tokeep the advertisements and commercials frombumping loudly togetherrdquo Televised athletic eventsgradually made professional and college sports one ofthe most prominent sources of entertainment
Comedy Action and Games Early television pro-grams fell into several main categories includingcomedy action and adventure and variety-style enter-tainment Laughter proved popular in other formats
besides the half-hour situation comedy Many of theearly television comedy shows such as those starringBob Hope and Jack Benny were adapted from popularold radio shows Benny enjoyed considerable televi-sion success with his routines of bad violin playingand stingy behavior
Television watchers in the 1950s also relishedaction shows Westerns such as Hopalong Cassidy TheLone Ranger and Gunsmoke grew quickly in popular-ity Viewers also enjoyed police programs such asDragnet a hugely successful show featuring JoeFriday and his partner hunting down a new criminaleach week
Variety shows such as Ed Sullivanrsquos Toast of theTown provided a mix of comedy opera popular songdance acrobatics and juggling Quiz shows attractedlarge audiences too after the 1955 debut of The$64000 Question In this show and its many imitatorstwo contestants tried to answer questions from sepa-rate glass-encased booths The questions storedbetween shows in a bank vault arrived at the studioat airtime in the hands of a stern-faced bank execu-tive flanked by two armed guards The contestantscompeted head-to-head with the winner returningthe following week to face a new challenger
Television programming depicted a narrow view ofAmerican culture in the 1950s Most television showsduring these years centered around a common image ofAmerican lifemdashan image that was predominantly whitemiddle-class and suburban epitomized by the popularsituation comedy The Adventures of Ozzie and HarrietSuch shows also reinforced traditional gender rolesshowing fathers working and mothers staying home toraise children and take care of the house
Westerns were also popular at the time especiallyThe Lone Ranger in which a mysterious masked manhelped people in distress The HowdyDoody Show which featuredBuffalo Bob and his freckle-facedmarionette was the first net-work kidsrsquo show to run five days a week the first tel-evision show ever broadcastin color and the first showever to air more than 1000 continuous episodes
TV Nation
Ozzie andHarriet
Tonto and theLone Ranger
Howdy Doody
null
16666187
In 1956 the quiz show Twenty-One caused anuproar across the nation after Charles Van Doren ayoung assistant professor with a modest incomewon $129000 during his weeks on the program Theviewing public soon learned however that VanDoren and many of the other contestants hadreceived the answers to the questions in advanceBefore a congressional committee in 1959 Van Dorenadmitted his role in the scandal and apologized to hismany fans saying ldquoI was involved deeply involvedin a deceptionrdquo In the wake of the Twenty-One fraudmany quiz shows went off the air
Hollywood Adapts to the Times As the popular-ity of television grew movies lost viewersldquoHollywoodrsquos like Egyptrdquo lamented producer DavidSelznick in 1951 ldquoFull of crumbling pyramidsrdquoWhile the film business may not have been collaps-ing it certainly did suffer after the war Attendancedropped from 82 million in 1946 to 36 million by1950 By 1960 when some 50 million Americansowned a television one-fifth of the nationrsquos movietheaters had closed
Throughout the decade Hollywood struggledmightily to recapture its audience ldquoDonrsquot be alsquoLiving Room Captiversquordquo one industry ad pleadedldquoStep out and see a great movierdquo When contestsdoor prizes and an advertising campaign announc-ing that ldquoMovies Are Better Than Everrdquo failed tolure people out of their homes Hollywood began totry to make films more exciting Between 1952 and1954 audiences of 3-D films received special
glasses that gave the impression that a monster or aknife was lunging directly at them from off thescreen Viewers however soon tired of both theglasses and the often ridiculous plots of 3-Dmovies
Cinemascope movies shown on large panoramicscreens finally gave Hollywood a reliable lure Wide-screen spectacles like The Robe The Ten Command-ments and Around the World in 80 Days cost a greatdeal of money to produce These blockbusters how-ever made up for their cost by attracting huge audi-ences and netting large profits The movie industryalso made progress by taking the ldquoif you canrsquot beatrsquoem join rsquoemrdquo approach Hollywood eventuallybegan to film programs especially for television andalso sold old movies which could be rebroadcastcheaply to the networks
Like television the films of the fifties for the mostpart adhered to the conformity of the times Roles forsingle women who did not want families were fewand far between For example each of MarilynMonroersquos film roles featured the blond movie star asmarried soon to be married or unhappy that shewas not married
Movies with African Americans routinely por-trayed them in stereotypical roles such as maids ser-vants or sidekicks for white heroes Even whenAfrican Americans took leading roles they wereoften one-dimensional characters who rarely showedhuman emotions or characteristics African Americanactor Sidney Poitier resented having to play suchparts
ldquoThe black characters usually come out on thescreen as saints as the other-cheek-turners as peo-ple who are not really people who are so nice andgood As a matter of fact Irsquom just dying to playvillainsrdquo
mdashquoted in The Fifties The Way We Really Were
Radio Draws Them In Television also lured awayradio listeners and forced the radio industry likeHollywood to develop new ways to win back audi-ences After television took over many of radiorsquos con-cepts of comedies dramas and soap operas forexample many radio stations began to specialize inpresenting recorded music news talk showsweather public-service programming and shows forspecific audiences
As a result of this targeted programming radiostations survived and even flourished Their num-bers more than doubled between 1948 when 1680
700 CHAPTER 22 Postwar America
Quick and Easy Eats Along with the televisioncame TV dinners Capitalizing on the televisionboom of the 1950s these frozen individual mealsoffered an entreacutee a side dish or two and a dessertall on an aluminum tray divided into compartments
Not everyone actually ate TV dinners in front ofthe television but the meals were popular becausethey offered convenience Noted one food industryexecutive of the time ldquoWhen Mary Smith rusheshome from work late in the afternoon she wants tobuy food that not only willlook pretty on the tablebut is something she canget ready in the half hourbefore her husbandcomes home for dinnerrdquo
null
2653621
stations were broadcasting to the nation and 1957when more than 3600 stations filled the airwaves
Identifying How did the television
industry affect the US economy
The New Youth Culture While Americans of all ages embraced the new
mass media some of the nationrsquos youth rebelledagainst such a message During the 1950s a numberof young Americans turned their backs on the con-formist ideals adult society promoted Althoughthese youths were a small minority their actionsbrought them widespread attention In general theseyoung people longed for greater excitement and free-dom and they found an outlet for such feelings ofrestlessness in new and controversial styles of musicand literature
Rock rsquonrsquo Roll In the early 1950s rock rsquonrsquo rollemerged as the distinctive music of the new genera-tion In 1951 at a record store in downtown Cleveland
Ohio radio disc jockey Alan Freed noticed whiteteenagers buying African American rhythm and bluesrecords and dancing to the music in the store A weeklater Freed won permission from his station managerto play the music on the air Just as the disc jockey hadsuspected the listeners went crazy for it Soon whiteartists began making music that stemmed from theseAfrican American rhythms and sounds and a newform of music rock rsquonrsquo roll had been born
With a loud and heavy beat that made it ideal fordancing along with lyrics about romance cars andother themes that spoke to young people rock rsquonrsquo rollgrew wildly popular among the nationrsquos teensBefore long boys and girls around the country wererushing out to buy the latest hits from such artists asBuddy Holly Chuck Berry and Bill Haley and theComets In 1956 teenagers found their first rock rsquonrsquoroll hero in Elvis Presley Presley who had been bornin rural Mississippi and grown up poor in MemphisTennessee eventually claimed the title of ldquoKing ofRock rsquonrsquo Rollrdquo
While in high school Presley had learned to playguitar and sing by imitating the rhythm and blues
Reading Check
CHAPTER 22 Postwar America 701
THE KING OF ROCK Elvis Presley shown here sign-ing autographs after a per-formance in Houston tookAmerican youth in the 1950sby storm Parents on the other hand were less thanthrilled with his musicmdasha blend of African American-inspired rhythm and blues and early rock rsquonrsquo rollmdashand his hip-swiveling gyrations on stage For Presleyrsquos firstappearance on The Ed SullivanShow the host insisted thatcameras show him only fromthe waist up Elvis added to hisfame by starring in a string offilms that audiences loved butcritics panned
MOMENTinHISTORY
null
14482137
music he heard on the radio By 1956 Elvis had arecord deal with RCA Victor a movie contract andpublic appearances on several television shows Atfirst the popular television variety show host EdSullivan refused to invite Presley on insisting thatthe rock rsquonrsquo roll music was not fit for a family-oriented show When a competing show featuringPresley upset his own high ratings howeverSullivan relented He ended up paying Presley$50000 per performance for three appearancesmore than triple the amount he had paid any otherperformer
The dark-haired and handsome Presley owed hiswild popularity as much to his moves as to his musicDuring his performances he would gyrate his hipsand dance in other suggestive ways that shockedmany in the audience Presley himself admitted theimportance of this part of his act
ldquoIrsquom not kidding myself My voice alone is just anordinary voice What people come to see is how I useit If I stand still while Irsquom singing Irsquom dead man Imight as well go back to driving a truckrdquo
mdashquoted in Godrsquos Country America in the Fifties
Not surprisingly parentsmdashmany of whom listenedto Frank Sinatra and other more mellow and main-stream artistsmdashcondemned rock rsquonrsquo roll as loudmindless and dangerous The city council of SanAntonio Texas actually banned rock rsquonrsquo roll from thejukeboxes at public swimming pools The music thecouncil declared ldquoattracted undesirable elementsgiven to practicing their gyrations in abbreviatedbathing suitsrdquo A minister in Boston complained thatldquorock and roll inflames and excites youthrdquo
The rock rsquonrsquo roll hits that teens bought in recordnumbers united them in a world their parents didnot share Thus in the 1950s rock rsquonrsquo roll helped tocreate what became known as the generation gap orthe cultural separation between children and theirparents
The Beat Movement If rock rsquonrsquo roll helped to createa generation gap a group of mostly white artists whocalled themselves the beats highlighted a values gapin the 1950s United States The term beat may havecome from the feeling among group members ofbeing ldquobeaten downrdquo by American culture or fromjazz musicians who would say ldquoIrsquom beat right downto my socksrdquo
The beats sought to live unconventional lives asfugitives from a culture they despised Beat poetswriters and artists harshly criticized what they con-sidered the sterility and conformity of American lifethe meaninglessness of American politics and theemptiness of popular culture
In 1956 29-year-old beat poet Allen Ginsbergpublished a long poem called ldquoHowlrdquo which blastedmodern American life Another beat member JackKerouac published On the Road in 1957 AlthoughKerouacrsquos book about his freewheeling adventureswith a car thief and con artist shocked some readersthe book went on to become a classic in modernAmerican literature
Summarizing How did rock rsquonrsquo roll
help create the generation gap
African American Entertainers While artists such as Jack Kerouac rejected
American culture African American entertainersstruggled to find acceptance in a country that oftentreated them as second-class citizens With a fewnotable exceptions television tended to shut outAfrican Americans In 1956 NBC gave a popularAfrican American singer named Nat King Cole hisown 15-minute musical variety show In 1958 after64 episodes NBC canceled the show after failing tosecure a national sponsor for a show hosted by anAfrican American
African American rock rsquonrsquo roll singers had moreluck gaining acceptance The talented AfricanAmerican singers and groups who recorded hitsongs in the fifties included Chuck Berry RayCharles Little Richard and the Drifters The latteryears of the 1950s also saw the rise of severalAfrican American womenrsquos groups including the
Reading Check
702 CHAPTER 22 Postwar America
Jack Kerouac
null
27084836
Reading Check
Writing About History
CHAPTER 22 Postwar America 703
Checking for Understanding
1 Define generation gap2 Identify Ed Sullivan Alan Freed Elvis
Presley Jack Kerouac Little Richard3 Explain what happened to motion pic-
tures and radio when television becamepopular
Reviewing Themes
4 Culture and Traditions What roles didAfrican Americans play in television androck rsquonrsquo roll
Critical Thinking
5 Comparing How did the themes of tel-evision shows of the 1950s differ fromthe themes of the literature of the beatmovement
6 Organizing Use a graphic organizersimilar to the one below to list thestyles of music and literature that madeup the new youth culture of the 1950s
Analyzing Visuals
7 Analyzing Photographs Study thephotographs on pages 698 and 699Many people have criticized these tele-vision programs for presenting a one-sided view of American life Do youagree with this criticism Why or whynot
New YouthCulture 8 Expository Writing Imagine you are a
beat writer in the 1950s Explain to yourreaders how the themes you writeabout are universal themes that couldapply to everyone
Crystals the Chiffons the Shirelles and theRonettes With their catchy popular sound thesegroups became the musical ancestors of the famouslate 1960s groups Martha and the Vandellas andthe Supremes
Over time the music of the early rock rsquonrsquo roll artistshad a profound influence on music throughout theworld Little Richard and Chuck Berry for exampleprovided inspiration for the Beatles whose musicswept Britain and the world in the 1960s Elvisrsquos
music transformed generations of rock rsquonrsquo roll bandsthat were to follow him and other pioneers of rock
Despite the innovations in music and the eco-nomic boom of the 1950s not all Americans were partof the affluent society For much of the countryrsquosminorities and rural poor the American dreamremained well out of reach
Evaluating What impact did
American rock rsquonrsquo roll artists have on the rest of the world
Fats Domino
Little Richard
African American Entertainers Rhythm and blues music provided the
roots of the 1950s rock rsquonrsquo roll sound Did African American rock rsquonrsquo rollartists experience the same acceptance as artists like Elvis Presley Whyor why not
History
Study Central TMTo review this section go to
and click on Study CentralTMtarvol2glencoecom
null
6676948
N O T E B O O K
V E R B A T I MV E R B A T I M
ProfileProfile
THE DUCKTAILBanned in several Massachusetts schools in 1957
COLLIERrsquoSThe respected magazine loses circulation publishes its final edition on January 4 1957
LEONARDO DA VINCIrsquoS
THE LAST SUPPERNow everyone can paint their own copy to hang in their homes
W I N N E R S amp L O S E R SW I N N E R S amp L O S E R S
The Ducktail
JAMES DEAN had a brief but spectacular career as a film star His role in Rebel Without a Cause made him an icon for American youth in the mid-50s In 1955 Dean was killed in a car crash He was 24
ldquoI guess I have as good an insight into this rising generation as anyother young man my age Therefore when I do play a youth I try to imitate life Rebel Without a Cause deals with the problems of modern youth If you want the kids to come and see the pictureyoursquove got to try to reach them on their own grounds If a picture is psychologically motivated if there is truth in the relationships in it then I think that picture will do goodrdquo
mdashfrom an interview for Rebel Without a Cause
ldquoIt will make a wonderful place
for the children to play in and it
will be a good storehouse toordquoMRS RUTH CALHOUNmother of three on her backyard
fallout shelter 1951
ldquoRiddle Whatrsquos college
Thatrsquos where girls who are above
cooking and sewing go to meet
a man they can spend their lives
cooking and sewing forrdquoad for Gimbelrsquos department store campus clothes 1952
ldquoRadioactive poisoning
of the atmosphere and hence
annihilation of any life on Earth
has been brought within the range
of technical possibilitiesrdquoALBERT EINSTEINphysicist 1950
ldquoIf the television craze
continues with the present level
of programs we are destined to
have a nation of moronsrdquoDANIEL MARSHPresident of Boston University 1950
ldquoEvery time the Russians throw
an American in jail the House
Un-American Activities Committee
throws an American in jail to
get evenrdquo MORT SAHLcomedian 1950s
POODLE CUTSShort curly hairstyle gains wide
popularity and acceptance
TV GUIDENew weekly magazine achieves
circulation of 65 million by 1959
PALMER PAINT COMPANY
OF DETROITSells 12 million paint-by-number kits
ranging from simple landscapes and portraits to Leonardo da Vincirsquos The Last SupperPoodle Cut
SU
PE
R S
TOC
K
BE
TTMA
NN
CO
RB
IS
AR
CH
IVE
PH
OTO
S
704 CHAPTER 22 Postwar America
null
17721635
3cent Cost of first-class postage stamp
19cent Cost of loaf of bread
25cent Cost of issue ofSports Illustrated
35cent Cost of movie ticket
50cent Cost of gallon of milk (delivered)
$205 Average hourly wage
$2845 Cost of new car
$5234 Median incomefor a family of four
$19500Median price to buy a home
Be PreparedldquoKnow the Bombrsquos True DangersKnow the Steps You Can Take toEscape ThemmdashYou Can SurviverdquoGovernment pamphlet 1950
DIGGING YOUR OWN BOMB SHELTERBetter go shopping Below is a list of items included with the $3000Mark I Kidde Kokoon designed toaccommodate a family of five for athree- to five-day underground stay
air blower radiation detector protective apparel
suit face respirator radiation charts (4) hand shovel combi-
nation (for diggingout after the blast)
gasoline driven generator
gasoline (10 gallons)
chemical toilet toilet chemicals
(2 gallons) bunks (5) mattresses and
blankets (5) air pump (for
blowing up mattresses)
incandescent bulbs (2) 40 watts
fuses (2) 5 amperes clockmdashnon-electric
first aid kit waterless hand
cleaner sterno stove canned water
(10 gallons) canned food (meat
powdered milkcereal sugar etc)
paper products
American Scene 1950ndash1960(MILLIONS)
N U M B E R S 1 9 5 7N U M B E R S 1 9 5 7
answers 1 b 2 d 3 c 4 a
Bomb Shelter
Children 5ndash14
243
355
1950 1960Girl Scouts amp Brownies
18
40
1950 1960Bicycle Production
20
38
1950 1960National Forest Campers
15
66
1950 1960Outboard Motors in Use
28
58
1950 1960
A N A G E O F P R O S P E R I T Y 1 9 4 5 ndash 1 9 6 0
1950s WORD PLAY
Translation PleaseMatch the word to its meaningTeen-Age Lingo1 cool a a dull person an outsider2 hang loose b worthy of approval3 hairy c formidable4 yo-yo d donrsquot worry
BE
TTMA
NN
CO
RB
IS
PO
PP
ER
FOTO
AR
CH
IVE
PH
OTO
CHAPTER 22 Postwar America 705
null
14121611
1953Federal government institutes terminationpolicy directed at Native Americans
706 CHAPTER 22 Postwar America
1956
In 1959 Lorraine Hansberryrsquos play A Raisin in the Sun opened on Broadway The playtold the story of a working-class African American family struggling against poverty andracism The title referred to a Langston Hughes poem that wonders what happens to an unre-alized dream ldquoDoes it dry up like a raisin in the sunrdquo Hansberryrsquos play won the New YorkDrama Critics Circle Award for the best play of the year Reflecting later upon the playrsquostheme she wrote
ldquoVulgarity blind conformity and mass lethargy need not triumph in the land of Lincolnand Frederick Douglass There is simply no reason why dreams should dry up like raisinsor prunes or anything else in the United States I believe that we can impose beauty onour futurerdquo
mdashadapted from To Be Young Gifted and Black
Poverty Amidst Prosperity The booming 1950s saw a tremendous expansion of the middle class In 1950 about
1 in 3 Americans were poor By 1959 only 1 in 5 were poor Despite these dramatic gains about 30 million people still lived below the poverty line a figure set by the gov-ernment to reflect the minimum income required to support a family Such poverty
The Other Side ofAmerican Life
1955Rudolf Fleschrsquos Why JohnnyCanrsquot Read published
1962Michael Harringtonrsquos TheOther America published
1959A Raisin in the Sunopens on Broadway
1953
Lorraine Hansberry
1959 1962
Main Idea Not everyone in the United States pros-pered during the nationrsquos postwar boomas millions of minorities and rural whitesstruggled daily with poverty
Key Terms and Namespoverty line Michael Harrington urbanrenewal Bracero program terminationpolicy juvenile delinquency
Reading StrategyTaking Notes As you read about socialproblems in the United States in the 1950suse the major headings of the section tocreate an outline similar to the one below
Reading Objectivesbull Identify those groups that found them-
selves left out of the American eco-nomic boom following World War II
bull Explain the factors that contributed tothe poverty among various groups
Section ThemeContinuity and Change For somegroups poverty continued during theapparent abundance of the 1950s
The Other Side of American LifeI Poverty Amidst Prosperity
ABCDE
II
null
10114484
remained invisible to most Americans who assumedthat the countryrsquos general prosperity had providedeveryone with a comfortable existence The writerMichael Harrington however made no suchassumptions During the 1950s Harrington set out tochronicle poverty in the United States In his bookThe Other America published in 1962 he alerted thosein the mainstream to what he saw in the run-downand hidden communities of the country
ldquoTens of millions of Americans are at this verymoment maimed in body and spirit existing at levelsbeneath those necessary for human decency If thesepeople are not starving they are hungry and some-times fat with hunger for that is what cheap foodsdo They are without adequate housing and educa-tion and medical carerdquo
mdashfrom The Other America
The poor included single mothers and the elderlyminority immigrants such as Puerto Ricans andMexicans rural Americans black and white andinner city residents who remained stuck in crowdedslums as wealthier citizens fled to the suburbsPoverty also gripped many Americans in the nationrsquosAppalachian region which stretches fromPennsylvania to Georgia as well as NativeAmericans many of whom endured grindingpoverty whether they stayed on reservations ormigrated to cities
ECONOMICS
The Decline of the Inner City The poverty in the1950s was most apparent in the nationrsquos urban cen-ters As white families moved to the suburbs manyinner cities became home to poorer less educatedminority groups The centers of many cities deterio-rated because as the middle class moved out theirtax money went with them This deprived inner citiesof the tax dollars necessary to provide adequate pub-lic transportation housing and other services
When government tried to help inner city resi-dents it often made matters worse During the 1950sfor example urban renewal programs tried to elimi-nate poverty by tearing down slums and erecting newhigh-rise buildings for poor residents The crowdedanonymous conditions of these high-rise projectshowever often created an atmosphere of violenceThe government also unwittingly encouraged the res-idents of public housing to remain poor by evictingthem as soon as they began to earn any money
In the end urban renewal programs actuallydestroyed more housing space than they created Too
often in the name of urban improvement thewrecking ball destroyed poor peoplersquos homes tomake way for roadways parks universities tree-lined boulevards or shopping centers
African Americans Many of the citizens left behindin the cities as families fled to the suburbs wereAfrican American The large number of AfricanAmerican inner city residents resulted largely from themigration of more than 3 million African Americansfrom the South to the North between 1940 and 1960
Many African Americans had migrated in thehopes of finding greater economic opportunity andescaping violence and racial intimidation For manyof these migrants however life proved to be littlebetter in Northern cities Fewer and fewer jobs wereavailable as numerous factories and mills left thecities for suburbs and smaller towns in order to cuttheir costs Long-standing patterns of racial discrimi-nation in schools housing hiring and salaries in theNorth kept inner-city African Americans poor Thelast hired and the first fired for good jobs they oftenremained stuck in the worst-paying occupations In1958 African American salaries on average equaledonly 51 percent of what whites earned
Inner-City Poverty This young African American girl in Chicagorsquos inner
city struggles to fill a bowl with water that has frozen due to lack of heat
Why did the numbers of poor in the countryrsquos inner cities grow in the1950s
History
null
2407001
Poverty and racial discrimination also deprivedmany African Americans of other benefits such asdecent medical care Responding to a correspondentwho had seen A Raisin in the Sun Lorraine Hansberrywrote ldquoThe ghettos are killing us not only ourdreams but our very bodies It is not an abstrac-tion to us that the average [African American] has alife expectancy of five to ten years less than the aver-age whiterdquo Several African American groups suchas the NAACP and the Congress of Racial Equality(CORE) pressed for greater economic opportunityfor African Americans In general however theseorganizations met with little success
Hispanics African Americans were not the onlyminority group that struggled with poverty Much ofthe nationrsquos Hispanic population faced the sameproblems During the 1950s and early 1960s theBracero program brought nearly 5 million Mexicansto the United States to work on farms and ranches inthe Southwest The Braceros were temporary contractworkers and many later returned home Some camewith their families however and about 350000 set-tled permanently in the United States
These laborers who worked on large farmsthroughout the country lived a life of extremepoverty and hardship They toiled long hours forlittle pay in conditions that were often unbearable AsMichael Harrington noted ldquo[The nationrsquos migrant
laborers] work ten-eleven-twelve hour days in tem-peratures over one hundred degrees Sometimesthere is no drinking water Women and childrenwork on ladders and with hazardous machineryBabies are brought to the field and are placed in lsquocra-dlesrsquo of wood boxesrdquo
Away from the fields many Mexican familieslived in small crudely built shacks while some didnot even have a roof over their heads ldquoThey sleepwhere they can some in the openrdquo Harrington notedabout one group of migrant workers ldquoThey eat whenthey can (and sometimes what they can)rdquo The nationwould pay little attention to the plight of Mexicanfarm laborers until the 1960s when the workersbegan to organize for greater rights
Native Americans Native Americans also facedchallenges throughout the postwar era of prosperityBy the middle of the 1900s Native Americansmdashwhomade up less than one percent of the populationmdashwere the poorest group in the nation Average annualfamily income for Native American families for exam-ple was $1000 less than that for African Americans
After World War II during which many NativeAmerican soldiers had served with distinction theUS government launched a program to bring NativeAmericans into mainstream societymdashwhether theywanted to assimilate or not Under the plan whichbecame known as the termination policy the federalgovernment withdrew all official recognition of theNative American groups as legal entities and madethem subject to the same laws as white citizens Atthe same time the government encouraged NativeAmericans to blend in to larger society by helpingthem move off the reservations to cities such asMinneapolis Minnesota
Although the idea of integrating Native Americansinto mainstream society began with good intentionssome of its supporters had more selfish goalsSpeculators and developers sometimes gained richfarmland at the expense of destitute Native Americangroups
Most Native Americans found termination a dis-astrous policy that only deepened their poverty Inthe mid-1950s for example the Welfare Council ofMinneapolis described Native American living con-ditions in that city as miserable ldquoOne Indian familyof five or six living in two rooms will take in rela-tives and friends who come from the reservationsseeking jobs until perhaps fifteen people will becrowded into the spacerdquo the council reportedDuring the 1950s Native Americans in Minneapoliscould expect to live only 37 years compared to 46
Vocational Training Native American Franklin Beaver learns to become a
stone mason at this vocational school sponsored by the US Indian Bureau
Why was the government trying to bring Native Americans into mainstreamsociety
History
null
26321985
years for all Minnesota Native Americans and 68years for other Minneapolis residents BenjaminReifel a Sioux described the widespread despairthat the termination policy produced
ldquoThe Indians believed that when the dark clouds ofwar passed from the skies overhead their rising tideof expectations though temporarily stalled wouldagain reappear Instead they were threatened by ter-mination Soaring expectations began to plungeTermination took on the connotation of exterminationfor manyrdquo
mdashquoted in The Earth Shall Weep
Appalachia The nationrsquos minorities were not theonly people dealing with poverty The picturesquestreams and mountains of Appalachia hid the ruinedmines scarred hills and abandoned farms of impov-erished families who had dwelled in these hills forgenerations
During the 1950s 15 million people abandonedAppalachia to seek a better life in the nationrsquos citiesThey left behind elderly and other less mobile resi-dents ldquoWhole countiesrdquo wrote one reporter who vis-ited the region ldquoare precariously held together by a
flour-and-dried-milk paste of surplus foods Themen who are no longer needed in the mines and thefarmers who cannot compete have themselvesbecome surplus commodities in the mountainsrdquo
A host of statistics spoke to Appalachiarsquos miseryStudies revealed high rates of nutritional deficiencyand infant mortality Appalachia had fewer doctorsper thousand people than the rest of the country andthe doctors it did have were older than their counter-parts in other areas In addition schooling in theregion was considered even worse than in inner cityslums
Identifying Which groups of people
were left out of the countryrsquos economic boom of the 1950s
Juvenile DelinquencyDuring the 1950s many middle-class white
Americans found it easy to ignore the poverty andracism that afflicted many of the nationrsquos minoritiessince they themselves were removed from it Somesocial problems however became impossible toignore
One problem at this time was a rise in or at least arise in the reporting of juvenile delinquencymdashanti-social or criminal behavior of young people Between1948 and 1953 the United States saw a 45 percent risein juvenile crime rates A popular 1954 book titled1000000 Delinquents correctly calculated that in thefollowing year about 1 million young people wouldget into some kind of criminal trouble Car theftstopped the list of juvenile crimes but people were
Reading Check
CHAPTER 22 Postwar America 709
Poverty in Appalachia This mining family lived in the kind of extreme
poverty that was often overlooked in the 1950s Eight people lived in this
three-room house lined with newspaper Why was infant mortality sohigh in Appalachia
History
null
18850237
also alarmed at the behavior of young people whobelonged to street gangs and committed muggingsrape and even murder
Americans could not agree on what had triggeredthe rise in delinquency Experts blamed it on a hostof reasons including poverty lack of religion tele-vision movies comic books racism busy parents arising divorce rate and anxiety over the militarydraft Some cultural critics claimed that young people were rebelling against the hypocrisy andconformity of their parents Conservative commen-tators pinned the blame on a lack of disciplineDoting parents complained Bishop Fulton J Sheenhad raised bored children who sought new thrillssuch as ldquoalcohol marijuana even murderrdquo Liberalobservers preferred to pinpoint social causes blam-ing teen violence on poverty and feelings ofhopelessness among underprivileged youthsDelinquency in the 1950s however cut across class
and racial linesmdashthe majority of car thieves forexample had grown up in middle-class homes
Most teens of course steered clear of gangsdrugs and crime Nonetheless the publictended to stereotype young people as juveniledelinquents especially those teens who favoredunconventional clothing long hair or streetslang
Many parents were also growing concernedover the nationrsquos educational system As babyboomers began entering the school system theyignited a spurt in school construction During the1950s school enrollments increased by 13 mil-lion School districts struggled to erect new build-ings and hire new teachers Nevertheless
shortages sprang up in both buildings and the peopleto staff them
Americansrsquo education worries only intensified in1957 after the Soviet Union launched the worldrsquos firstspace satellites Sputnik I and Sputnik II ManyAmericans felt they had fallen behind their Cold Warenemy and blamed what they felt was a lack of techni-cal education in the nationrsquos schools Life magazineproclaimed a ldquoCrisis in Educationrdquo and offered a grimwarning ldquoWhat has long been an ignored nationalproblem Sputnik has made a recognized crisisrdquo In thewake of the Sputnik launches efforts began to improvemath and science education in the schools Profoundfears about the countryrsquos young people it seemeddominated the end of a decade that had brought greatprogress for many Americans
Evaluating How did many
Americans feel about the education system of the 1950s
Reading Check
Writing About History
Checking for Understanding
1 Define poverty line urban renewaltermination policy juveniledelinquency
2 Identify Michael Harrington Braceroprogram
3 Evaluate how the federal governmentrsquostermination policy affected NativeAmericans
Reviewing Themes
4 Continuity and Change Why did urbanrenewal fail the poor of the inner cities
Critical Thinking
5 Interpreting What were some possiblereasons for a dramatic rise in juveniledelinquency in the 1950s
6 Organizing Use a graphic organizersimilar to the one below to list the groupsof Americans who were left out of thecountryrsquos postwar economic boom
Analyzing Visuals
7 Analyzing Photographs Study thephotograph on this page What in thephotograph might attract young peopleto this type of life Why would othersoppose such a life
Groups ofLow-IncomeAmericans
8 Expository Writing Using library orInternet resources find informationabout juvenile delinquency in the UnitedStates today to write a report Comparetodayrsquos problems with those of the1950s Share your report with the class
710 CHAPTER 22 Postwar America
Rebelling Against Conformity This biker one of the Louisville ldquoOutlawsrdquo fits the
stereotype of the 1950s juvenile delinquent
Study Central TMTo review this section go to
and click on Study CentralTMtarvol2glencoecom
null
1670276
711
Study and Writing
Writing a Journal
Applying the Skill
Writing a Journal Imagine that you have had thechance to take part in a great adventuremdashfor instanceserving in the armed forces during a war overseas orparticipating in a spaceflight Make notes for a journalentry describing what you have done and seen
Glencoersquos Skillbuilder Interactive Workbook
CD-ROM Level 2 provides instruction andpractice in key social studies skills
Why Learn This Skill
Journal writing is personal writing with a casualstyle The style in which you write is not as impor-tant as what you write aboutmdashyour experiencesinterests and feelings Journal writing can help yougenerate new ideas and it can also give you aclearer picture of your thoughts and help you putthem in order
Learning the Skill
A journal is a written account that records whatyou have learned or experienced In a journal youcan express your feelings about a subject summa-rize key topics describe difficulties or successes insolving particular problems and draw maps orother visuals To help you get started writing inyour journal follow these steps
bull Jot down notes or questions about a specific topicor event as you read your textbook Then look fordetails and answers about it as you continuereading
bull Describe your feelings as you read a selection orlook at a photograph Are you angry happy frus-trated or sad Explain why you are reacting inthis way
bull Ask yourself if drawing a map or flowchartwould help you understand an event better If sodraw in your journal
Practicing the Skill
The following excerpt is a journal entry describ-ing the launching of the nationrsquos first satellite in1958 Read the excerpt and then use the followingquestions to help you write entries in your ownjournal
ldquoAs the firing command neared a deadly silencefell on those who were watching At fourteenand one-half seconds after time zero after thepriming fuel had ignited almost invisibly the mainstage engine came to life with an immeasurablethrust of flame in all directions With
thousands of eyes following it the rocket dug intothe night and accelerated as its sound loudenedSpectators on nearby beaches pointed and cranedtheir necks and cried lsquoThere it isrsquo and began tocheerrdquo
1 What is particularly interesting about thisdescription
2 What are your feelings as you read the excerpt
3 Note the descriptive phrases and details thatmake the event come to life Try to use similartechniques when writing in your journal
4 Draw a map or other visual to help you under-stand the situation described here
Skills Assessment
Complete the Practicing Skills questions on page713 and the Chapter 22 Skill ReinforcementActivity to assess your mastery of this skill
Cover from aWorld War II
journal
null
19519035
Reviewing Key Facts
16 Identify GI Bill Fair Deal John Kenneth Galbraith DavidRiesman Ed Sullivan Alan Freed Elvis Presley Jack KerouacMichael Harrington
17 What were three characteristics of the economy of theUnited States after World War II
18 What were two reasons for the economic boom of the1950s
19 What caused many Americans to move to the suburbs in the1950s
20 How did the scientific discovery of the transistor affect communications
21 Which groups of Americans found themselves left out of thepostwar economic boom
Critical Thinking
22 Analyzing Themes Continuity and Change How has massmedia changed since the 1950s
23 Evaluating What factors led to a rise in juvenile delinquencyin the United States during the 1950s
24 Comparing and Contrasting Harry S Truman was aDemocrat and Dwight D Eisenhower was a Republican Howwere the domestic agendas of these two presidents differentHow were they similar
25 Interpreting Primary Sources George Gallup one of thenationrsquos first pollsters spoke at the University of Iowa in 1953about the importance of mass media in the United StatesRead the excerpt and answer the questions that follow
ldquoOne of the real threats to Americarsquos future place inthe world is a citizenry which duly elects to be enter-tained and not informed From the time the typical citi-zen arises and looks at his morning newspaper until heturns off his radio or television set before going to bed
1 closed shop
2 right-to-work law
3 union shop
4 featherbedding
5 dynamic conservatism
6 white-collar
7 blue-collar
8 multinational corporation
9 franchise
10 baby boom
11 generation gap
12 poverty line
13 urban renewal
14 termination policy
15 juvenile delinquency
Reviewing Key TermsOn a sheet of paper use each of these terms in a sentence
bull The GI Bill provided loans to millions of war veterans
bull Consumer spending increased rapidlybull More Americans owned homes than ever before
bull Workers went on strike for higher wagesbull Trumanrsquos civil rights bill did not passbull Eisenhower cut back New Deal programs
bull The US population grew dramaticallybull The number of working women increased
bull Financially able people moved from crowded cities to new suburbs
bull Many poor people remained in cities that now faced major economic and social problems
bull Medical breakthroughs included the polio vaccine antibiotics and treatments for heart disease arthritis cancer and diabetes
bull Improvements in communication transportation and electronics allowed Americans to work more efficiently
bull Many poor people in inner cities and rural areas had limited access to health care
bull Popular culture included new forms of music radio cinema and literature
bull Television replaced radio as the nationrsquos newest form of mass media
bull African Americans and other minorities were for the most part not depicted on television
bull Many television programs promoted stereotypical gender roles
Science
Technology
and Medicine
Popular
Culture
Population
Patterns
Economy
Signs of Prosperity Signs of Inequality
he has unwittingly cast his vote a hundred times forentertainment or for education Without his knowing ithe has helped to determine the very character of ourthree most important media of communicationmdashthepress radio and television rdquo
mdashquoted in Vital Speeches of the Day
a According to Gallup what is a threat to the future of theUnited States in the world
b How do American citizens determine what is read seenand heard in the mass media
26 Organizing Use a graphic organizer similar to the onebelow to list the changes to the American family during the1950s
Practicing Skills
27 Writing a Journal Imagine that you are Dr Jonas Salk andyou realize that you have just discovered the worldrsquos firstsuccessful polio vaccine Write a journal entry that describeshow you feel about this accomplishment and what impact itwill have on the world
Writing Activity
28 Writing a Book Report Read one of the books aboutAmerican society in the 1950s such as Why Johnny CanrsquotRead or The Other America Write a book report explainingthe main concepts of the book and whether or not the issuesare similar to or different from the main issues in Americansociety today
Chapter Activities
29 American History Primary Source Document Library
CD-ROM Read the speech ldquoOn Televisionrdquo by NewtonMinow under The Postwar World Working with a few ofyour classmates evaluate whether television has improvedsince Minowrsquos critical assessment Has television contentchanged since the 1950s If so how Present your findingsand comparisons to your class
30 Research Project Work with a small group to researchadvertisements from the 1950s Write a report comparingand contrasting advertisements from that decade with adver-tisements today Present one or more of the advertisementsalong with your comparisons to your class
Geography and History
31 The graph above shows the number of suburban dwellers inthe United States as a percentage of the total populationStudy the data displayed in the graph and answer the ques-tions belowa Interpreting Graphs What trend in the percentage of
suburban dwellers does this graph show
b Understanding Cause and Effect How might the trendof suburban dwellers shown on this graph have affectedlife in suburbs and cities
Perc
ent o
f Tot
al P
opul
atio
n
50454035302520151050
Year
Suburban Dwellers 1910mdash1980
19801970196019501940193019201910
Source The First Measured Century
Changes to American Family
Self-Check QuizVisit the American Republic Since 1877 Web site at
and click on Self-Check QuizzesmdashChapter 22 to assess your knowledge of chapter content
HISTORY
tarvol2glencoecom
Directions Choose the phrase that best
completes the following statement
Which of the following did the Eisenhower administrationwork to achieve
F Fixing wage and price controls
G Defeating the Federal Highway Act
H Repealing right-to-work laws
J Extending the Social Security system
Test-Taking Tip Pay careful attention to the wording of thequestion Note that three of the four answer choices werenot part of Eisenhowerrsquos programs
StandardizedTest Practice
CHAPTER 22 Postwar America 713