Post-WWII American Culture, Cold War under Ike

1
Post-WWII American Culture, Cold War under Ike

• Chapter 14

2
Economic Problems Under Truman

• Reconversion transition from ____________________
  ______________ economy.
• ____ million on active duty in 1945, reduced to
  ________million in 1947.
• Massive layoffs due to _________________________
  left ___unemployed.

3
GI BILL OF RIGHTS

• GI Bill provided 6 benefits
• education and training
• Loans for a home, farm, or business
• unemployment pay of 20 a week for 52 weeks
• job-finding assistance
• .
• Program ended July 25, 1956
• Of the 15,440,000 veterans, some 7.8 million were
  trained.
• 2,230,000 in college
• 3,480,000 in other schools
• 1,400,000 in on-job training
• 690,000 in farm training

Total cost of the World War II education program
was 14.5 billion.
4
Post-war ________________

• ________________________ set prices in an attempt
  to cap inflation during World War II
• Ended in 1946
• _______________________ immediately goes up
• 1946 2.7 million workers unemployed
• ______________________ declined after the war
• ______________________ membership grows
• 4.6 million people go on ______________ in 1946
• Truman disliked strikes and threatened to
  ________________ strikers while economy was
  struggling

5
_________________ of 1946

• Truman asks Congress to pass legislation
  guaranteeing ______ Americans jobs, decent
  housing, education opportunities
• Would also have higher __________________,
  unemployment and housing compensation
• Conservative Congress cuts to bits
• Congress responds with _____________ cuts
• Truman __________ tax cuts
• Congress __________________ the veto

6
________________ Act (1947)

• Would limit power of ________________
• Outlawed ________________ shops
• President could order 80-day cooling off period
  in strikes that affect national security
• Members of unions had to sign a _________________
  oath in order to use federal government machinery
  
• Truman vetoes this act
• Congress overrides the veto

7
Election of 1948

• Truman ran for Dems.
• Truman supported ________________.
• Southern Dems. Run separate candidate
  __________________
• Southern Dems known as ________________

8
Election cont.

• ___________________ ran for Repubs.
• Trumans failures and split in Democratic Party
  made Dewey favorite.
• Truman wins despite early forecasts.

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TRUMANS SECOND TERM

• Trumans _____________ program
• Trumans plan, similar to _______________, to
  help with the ________________________
• 1. called for improved housing
• 2. full employment for all Americans
• 3. a higher minimum wage
• 4. better farm price supports
• 5. extension of Social Security.
• 6. financial support of poor

• keep underprivileged peoples from becoming
  __________________________________________________
  .
• Failed largely due to the fact it was too
  __________________________________________________

10
Election of 1952

• ________________
• Dwight D. Eisenhower (R) elected.
• ____________ his VP.
• Republicans accused Democrats of being soft on
  ___________
• Nixon gave __________ Speech

11
Modern Republicanism

• Ike wanted to limit ________________ role
• __________________ federal government
• Conservative in economics
• _________ taxes and government spending
• Liberal when it comes to people
• Left _____________________________ alone
• Focused on ___________________________________

12
Economic Boom

• After a slow start economy took off!
• Solidifies U.S. as _______________country
• 60 of families part of __________________ class
  by end of 1950s
• People amassed over ______________ in savings
  during World War II
• Cold War fears meant a lot of government
  contracts to keep up with USSR
• A lot of jobs and money to be made

13
Post-Word War II Consumption

• American _____________________ doubled in the 25
  years after WWII
• Increased buying on ______________
• Billions spend each year on ____________
  activities

14

• Suburban Living

________, NY. The American Dream
1949 à William Levitt produced _____
houses per week.
7,990 or 60/month with no down payment.
15
Corporations

• With Cold War, defense spending increases
• 1947 ______________ billion (20 of GNP)
• Influenced great economic growth
• U.S. becoming more __________________
• Number of factory workers fell by 4 from 1947-57
• Wages ______________________________

16
Women in the Work Place

• _____ million new jobs created after 1950
• _____ million were clerical or service work
• Women made up a majority of these

17

• Baby Boom

It seems to me that every other young housewife I
see is pregnant. -- British visitor to
America, 1958
1957 ? 1 baby born every __________
18
The Culture of the Car

Car registrations 1945 --gt 25,000,000
1960 --gt
60,000,000 2-family cars doubles from 1951-1958
1956 --gt ___________________ Act --gt largest
public works project in American history!
Cost 32 billion 41,000 miles of
new highways built
19
The Culture of the Car
Franchises, Hotels and Drive-Ins
First McDonalds (1955)
Drive-In Movies
Howard Johnsons
20
The Culture of the Car

• The U. S. population was on the move in the
  1950s.
• NE Mid-W ---gt S SW (________ states)

21
Television in the 1950s
_________ sets sold in 1946 Some famous shows of
the 1950s
22
Leisure in the 1950s

• People working 40-hour weeks
• 1953 ________billion on leisure goods and
  activities.
• Increased consumption ________________ by 1958

23

• Consumerism

Americans were becoming a consumer
society..Buying whatever new product that came
out that would make their lives comfortable.
24
Consensus and Conformity

• Ideal American portrayed in TV, movies
• Fear of _____________________caused this to grow.
• ___________ membership doubled between 1945-1970.
• Rev. Billy Graham
• __________________________________________ added
  to and Pledge.

25
Religious Revival
Hollywood apex of the biblical epics.
The Robe The Ten Commandments Ben
Hur 1953 1956
1959
Its un-American to be un-religious!
-- The Christian Century, 1954
26
Teen Culture

• In the 1950s ? the word ________ entered
  the American language.
• By 1956 ? 13 mil. teens with 7 bil. to spend
  a year.

1951 ? race music ? ROCK N ROLL
____________ ? The King
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Teen Culture
The _____________ Generation Jack
Kerouac --gt On The Road Allen Ginsberg
--gt poem, Howl Neal Cassady
William S. Burroughs

• Jack Kerouac is said to have respondedWere a
  beat generation!
• Against __________________________values of the
  Great Depressions and WWII generation (their
  parents)
• Would influence the __________________ of the
  1960s

28

• New Soviet leader after ________s death in 1953
  to 1965.
• Not as harsh as Stalin
• Believed US and Soviet Union could
  ________________ with one another but the
  Soviet Union had to be as strong militarily as
  the US.

29
USSR passing USA?

• Atomic Anxieties
• _____________________ Generation

• ______________________ Bomb
• U.S. tested in Nov. 52
• 67 times more powerful than A-Bomb
• USSR tested H-Bomb 9 months later

Americans began building underground ____________
and cities had underground fallout shelters.
30
Massive Retaliation

• Massive Retaliation
• No middle ground
• Tried to scare USSR into not attacking others
• Brinksmanship
• Added to fear in the United States

John Foster Dulles and MacArthur in Korea, 1950
31
____________

• On October 4, 1957 the Soviet Union launches
  ______________, the first man-made satellite to
  orbit the Earth.
• In 1958, the U.S. creates the ______, and the
  space race is in full gear.
• Caused panic in the USA

32
1960 - The ____ Affair

• On May 1, an American U-2 spy plane is shot down
  on a mission over the Soviet Union.
• After the Soviets announce the capture of pilot
  Francis Gary Powers.
• Powers is sentenced to 10 years in USSR prison
• Ike denied Powers was ________ that it was on a
  weather study flight
• ________________ demanded an apology and Ike to
  admit U.S. was spying

33
The U-2 Affair

• Suffering major embarrassment, Eisenhower was
  forced to admit the truth behind the mission and
  the U-2 program,
• He refused to publicly apologize to Khrushchev.
• This refusal caused the Paris Summit to collapse
  when Khrushchev stormed out of negotiations.

• Powers served less than two years and was
  released in 1962 in exchange for Soviet spy
  Rudolf Abel.