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American Society During the Cold War

American Society During the Cold War. Kitchen Debate. 1959-VP Richard Nixon travels to Moscow to open American National Exhibit Visited with Nikita Khrushchev and drank Pepsi-Cola Standing in a model of a “typical” American home, the men argued over which country had the best society.

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American Society During the Cold War

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  1. American Society During the Cold War

  2. Kitchen Debate • 1959-VP Richard Nixon travels to Moscow to open American National Exhibit • Visited with Nikita Khrushchev and drank Pepsi-Cola • Standing in a model of a “typical” American home, the men argued over which country had the best society. • Seen on TVs around the world. • Could be viewed as victory of capitalism over communism.

  3. http://img.timeinc.net/time/photoessays/2008/coldwar/Kitchendebate-.jpghttp://img.timeinc.net/time/photoessays/2008/coldwar/Kitchendebate-.jpg

  4. The Economy • US in era of unprecedented economic growth • Huge consumerism demand following end of the WWII • Business used scientific and military innovations in consumer goods, i.e. plastics and synthetic fibers • Gross Domestic Product TRIPLED in twenty years.

  5. Bretton Woods Conference • July 1944; conducted by United Nations • The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (aka the World Bank) to provide private loans to rebuild Europe and encourage development of Third World countries. • The International Monetary Fund (IMF), to stabilize the value of currencies to provide a good environment for trade. U.S. dollar was standard for valuing other currencies. • US has strongest currency and provides the most capital.

  6. Bretton Woods Conference, 2 • Part 3 comes in 1947 • General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) set up international group to oversee trade rules and practices • The Bretton Woods System worked for US • Reflected the American idea of what the global economy should be. • Was complimentary to US goals in Cold War diplomacy

  7. Role of Defense Spending • Remember the “military-industrial complex”? • Economy continued with military expenditures almost equal to war time. • Defense Department (with relatively new home in the Pentagon) grows rapidly. • Industrial dependence upon govt spending • Over 60 percent of the income of Boeing, General Dynamics, and Raytheon linked military contracts; Lockheed’s level was 81 percent and Republic Aviation’s was 100 percent.

  8. Opportunity Costs • The value of the use of resources in an alternative way that is not obtained when the resources are used in the current way. • http://www.economics.noaa.gov/?goal=home&file=economics&view=conceptsandtools X 60

  9. BTW… Do you like how I snuck-in an economic concept without you knowing it?

  10. GDP: 1930 - 1972 http://ebooks.bfwpub.com/henretta6e.php

  11. So what’s wrong with this???? • John Kenneth Galbraith • The Affluent Society, 1958 • Economists and politicians were not paying any attention to the poor • Contended 1 out of 13 families earned less than $1,000 a year. • $3,000/year considered poverty level

  12. Welcome to Suburbia • By 1960, more people lived in suburbs than in the cities • Tremendous post-WWII housing boom • William Levitt used mass-production techniques to build houses and communities • Levitt's houses had restrictive covenants prohibiting occupancy “by members of other than the Caucasian Race.” (Also often applied to Jews and Catholics. http://ebooks.bfwpub.com/henretta6e.php) • FHA and VA help people with mortgages • Rapid growth of “sun belt”

  13. Levittown http://www.affordablehousinginstitute.org/blogs/us/Levittown_house_1948_small.jpg

  14. Suburbs mean cars… …and cars mean highways. Connecting the Nation: The Interstate Highway System, 1930 and 1970  The 1956 Interstate and Defense Highways Act paved the way for an extensive network of federal highways throughout the nation. The act pleased American drivers and enhanced their love affair with the automobile, and also benefited the petroleum, construction, trucking, real estate, and tourist industries. The new highway system promoted the nation's economic integration, facilitated the growth of suburbs, and contributed to the erosion of America's distinct regional identities. http://ebooks.bfwpub.com/supp3.php?map&27&2&bookId=henretta6e

  15. So what was life like? • Consumer culture • Lots of advertising • “keeping up with the Jones” • TV invades our homes • By 1960, 87% of homes owned TVs • Replaced movies as chief diffuser of popular culture • Shows like • Father Knows Best and the Honeymooners • Wagon Train, Gunsmoke, and Bonanza • Howdy Doody, Mickey Mouse Club, Captain Kangaroo • Was TV “a vast wasteland”?

  16. The Baby Boom and Dr. Spock • Parents of “Baby Boom” children depended upon Baby and Child Care by Dr. Benjamin Spock • Baby Boom spurred on the economy! American birthrates from 1860 – 1980. http://ebooks.bfwpub.com/supp3.php?figure&27&3&bookId=henretta6e

  17. Shifting Population Patterns 1950–1980 http://ebooks.bfwpub.com/supp3.php?map&27&1&bookId=henretta6e

  18. Wanting to Feel Safe… • Highway system could be used as escape routes in case of nuclear attack • Political dissent discouraged • First time we had a peace-time draft • Increasing racial tensions • Afraid of nuclear face-off with Soviet • Concerned about health problems associated with above ground nuclear tests • New antinuclear groups such as SANE (the National Committee for a Sane Nuclear Policy) and Physicians for Social Responsibility called for an international test ban.

  19. …brought a return to Religion • Church membership rose from 49% in 1940 to 60% in 1960 • Meshed with American view of self vs. the “godless Communists” • Pledge of Allegiance amended to include “under God” • Starting 1956, coins included “In God We Trust” • Evangelist Billy Graham, Bishop Fulton Sheen, Norman Vincent Peale

  20. What about Women? • Many believed a woman’s place was in the home. • Betty Freidan & The Feminine Mystique • Published in 1963 • “The problem that has no name.” • Women were unhappy with being financially, emotionally, and intellectually dependent upon their husbands. • Until 1964, “Help Wanted” sections of the newspapers separated jobs into Male and Female • Women held stereo-typical jobs

  21. Youth Culture • Initially based on the spending power of teenagers • Targeted products to the teens • Silly putty • Hula hoops • Pepsi Cola • It’s all about the music! • Rock ‘n Roll • Elvis Presley • “Race Records” • MAD Magazine • Senate investigation linking juvenile delinquency with youth culture

  22. Cultural Dissenters • Painting: Abstract Expressionism • Jazz: • Bebop with Charlie Parker • “Cool” with Miles Davis • Literature: The Beats • Protest was cultural, Beats were “apolitical” • Allen Ginsberg • Jack Kerouac

  23. Jackson Pollock http://www.annrea.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/jackson-pollock2.jpg

  24. Immigration Legal Immigration to the United States by Region, 1931–1984  Historically, immigrants to the United States had come primarily from Europe. This figure shows the dramatic shift that began after 1960, as Latinos and Asians began to arrive in increasing numbers. Asians, who represented nearly 50 percent of all immigrants by the 1980s, especially benefited from the liberalization of U.S. immigration laws. source: Robert W. Gardner, Bryant Robie, and Peter C. Smith, “Asian Americans: Growth, Change, and Diversity,” Population Bulletin 40, no. 4 (Washington, D.C.: Population Reference Bureau, 1985): 2.http://ebooks.bfwpub.com/henretta6e.php

  25. Immigration to the Cities • Automation in manufacturing greatly reduced unskilled and semiskilled jobs. • Civil rights activist Bayard Rustin warned that Black migrants were becoming economically superfluous. • White-flight from the cities • In the 1950s, the nation's twelve largest cities lost 3.6 million whites while gaining 4.5 million nonwhites.

  26. Urban Renewal • Urban planners, investors, builders, etc. wanted to revitalize city centers. • Between 1949 and 1967 urban renewal demolished almost 400,000 buildings and displaced 1.4 million people. • The displaced to be relocated to low-cost federally-funded housing projects • Destroyed community life • Social isolation • Breeding grounds for crime and hopelessness

  27. The “Underclass” • Gunnar Myrdal wrote The American Dilemma in 1962 • Groundbreaking work on race relations • Coined the phrase “underclass” meaning a population permanently mired in poverty and dependency • Shrinking economic opportunities would trap the underclassin unemployment and ultimately become unemployable.

  28. The Civil Rights Movement Begins • The South continued to be segregated • Two-pronged approach • Protests • Court Cases • Truman used Executive Orders • Created National Civil Rights Commissionin 1946 • Desegregated the military in 1948 • Pushed for Civil Rights legislation several times although it was defeated in the Senate by Southern filibusters .

  29. Milestones • Brown v. Board of Education, 1954 • Although much of the South responded with “massive resistance” • Southern Manifesto: • 1956 • 101 Southern Congressmen • Brown decision was abuse of Judicial Power • Little Rock 9 in 1957 • President Eisenhower was the first president since Reconstruction to use federal troops to enforce the rights of African-Americans • Montgomery Bus Boycott, 1955 • Rosa Parks, Dr. King & SCLC • Over a year but busses finally integrated

  30. Milestones, 2 • Greensboro, NC • February 1960 • 4 African-American students sat at an all-white lunch counter at Woolworth’s • They were arrested but the tactic finally worked • Strategy adopted at other Southern lunch counters • By end of 1960, African-Americans could eat at 126 Woolworth’s throughout the South.

  31. Greensboro Sit-In, 1960 http://americanhistory.si.edu/brown/history/6-legacy/images/sit-in.jpg

  32. Sources M&M:http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&source=imghp&q=m%26m&gbv=2&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai= Wonderbread: http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&source=imghp&q=Wonder+Bread&gbv=2&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai= Clairol:http://gogd.tjs-labs.com/pictures/clairol-gh-10-01-1965-998-M5.jpg Hidden Persuaders cover:http://image.absoluteastronomy.com/images/encyclopediaimages/b/bk/bk_cover_hidden_persuaders.gif The Honeymooners:http://jeffreyalanmiller.files.wordpress.com/2008/03/130-214the-honeymooners-posters.jpg Howdy Doody:http://www.zianet.com/chief/Howdy%20Doody.jpg Bonanza:http://marcellomedia.blogs.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/02/19/bonanza.jpg

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