Affluence & Anxiety

1. Affluence & Anxiety America: Past & PresentChapter 29

2. Thinking Back… • What revived the US economy from the Great Depression? • What were World War II’s effects on women? Minorities?

3. The Postwar Boom • Levittown as symbol of rise of suburbia • Themes of the Post-war Period • 1945-1960 - rapid economic growth • 1960 - fear of another depression wanes

4. Levittown Levitt used Mass production

5. Levittowns • Why so successful? • Massed production. Simple design, low cost $6900 in 1948 & still less than 10K by 1951? • Who settled there? • Young married couples (VET & wife starting families)-away from “mom”

6. Why a Baby Boom?

7. Levittowns • Who was not involved in this move to Suburb Heaven?

8. Postwar Prosperity • Stimuli to consumer goods industry • Baby boom • Population shift to suburbia • Increased defense spending • Increase in capital investments • Employment expands • Population > 60M

9. Flight to the Suburbs • LEVITTOWN SYMBOLIZED THE MOST SIGNIFICANT SOCIAL TREND OF THE POSTWAR ERA—THE FLIGHT TO SUBURBS. • RESIDENTIAL AREAS SURROUNDING NEW YORK & CHICAGO NEARLY DOUBLED IN THE 1950S. • SCORECARD-CENTRAL CITIES =STAGNATE • SUBURBS GROW BY NEARLY 46%. • BY 1960, SOME 60 MILLION PEOPLE, 1/3 OF THE NATION LIVED IN SUBURBAN RINGS AROUND THE CITIES. • BEGAN WITH BABY BOOM THAT BEGAN DURING WWII.

10. Consumer Products

11. Postwar Prosperity: Lingering Problems • Some regions do not boom • Bumper crops keep food prices low • Old manufacturing does not grow • Steel Industry falls behind rest of nation • 1957-58 Recession slows economy • GNP doubles between 1940 & 1960 • Highest standard of living in the history of the world

12. Birthrate, 1940-1970

13. 1930’s 2 kids 1950s4 or 5

14. Life in the Suburbs • Rise of Middle Class • Class distinction minimized • Blue collar, white collar, professional • Characteristics of suburbs • Dependence on the automobile • Family togetherness • Extended family minimized • Traditional feminism discouraged • 40% of women working outside the home by 1960

15. Ready, Set, Review! • What was the state of the US economy in the 1950’s? • In what places did the economy not participate in this boom? • What was the effect of these changes on women and the family?

16. Thinking Back… • When was the last period of increase in commercialism & leisure? Why? • What were the unifying characteristics of the Progressive movement? • What were some of the successes and failures of the New Deal?

17. The Good Life? • Consumerism the dominant social theme of the 1950s • American culture has its critics & hypocrisy

18. Areas of Greatest Growth • Church membership • Catholics • Protestants • Jews • School attendance • Call for “progressive” education reforms • Increase in college attendance • Television watching

19. 1950’s –Key Images

20. Rise of Television • TV threatens movies in popularity • Movies colorize to stay ahead • TV Shows • Westerns • Quiz Shows • Heavy influence of advertising

21. 1950s images and Icons

22. 1950s Images and Icons • YUBBA, DUBBA, DO! • Meet the Flintstones!!!

23. Critics of the Consumer Society • Social critics of suburban culture – Loss of Individuality • John Keats • William Whyte • David Riesman • C. Wright Mills criticizes corporations • Office is dehumanizing • More white collar than blue collar workers • Jack Kerouac, “Beat” artists promote counterculture

24. Allen Ginsburg - Howl I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked, dragging themselves through the negro streets at dawn looking for an angry fix, angelheaded hipsters burning for the ancient heavenly connection to the starry dynamo in the machinery of night, who poverty and tatters and hollow-eyed and high sat up smoking in the supernatural darkness of cold-water flats floating across the tops of cities contemplating jazz, who bared their brains to Heaven under the El and saw Mohammedan angels staggering on tenement roofs illuminated

25. Jackson Pollack

26. The Reaction to Sputnik • 1957 - Russians launch Sputnik • American response • National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) • National Defense Education Act - upgrade the teaching of science • US needs recommitment to excellence

27. Farewell to Reform • Spirit of reform wanes in postwar years • Reasons: • Growing affluence reduces sense of grievance • Americans eager to enjoy their new prosperity

28. Truman and the Fair Deal • Fair Deal attempts to expand New Deal • Attempts at FEPC, national insurance, education aid blocked by Congress • Limited achievement • Consolidates Roosevelt's reforms • Sets the agenda for future attempts

29. Eisenhower's Modern Republicanism • Eisenhower leaves New Deal intact • “Conservative w/Money and Liberal w/People” • 1954 - Democrats regain Congress • Johnson – Sen. Maj. Leader • Rayburn – Speaker of the House

30. Eisenhower's Modern Republicanism • Creates Dept. of Health, Education and Welfare • Resists Health care reform – “”Socialization of Medicine” • 1956 - Highway Act creates interstate highway system • stimulates the economy • shapes metropolitan growth patterns

31. Election of 1956

32. Ready, Set, Review! • Who were the “Beat” poets, and how did they attack mainstream culture? • Why did the launching of Sputnik terrify Americans, and how did the US government respond? • What was the legacy of the New Deal in the Truman & Eisenhower years?

33. Thinking Back… • What 1896 court case made “separate but equal” official policy? • How had opportunities in World War I and World War II affected civil rights in the US?

34. The Struggle Over Civil Rights • Cold War prompts quest for American moral superiority • Legal discrimination against African-Americans challenges U.S. self-image • 1896 – “Separate but equal” mandates segregation across the nation

35. Civil Rights as a Political Issue • Truman’s civil-rights legislation fails • Presidential Commission on Civil Rights calls for permanent FEPC • Civil rights plank in ’48 platform led to Dixiecrats • Truman integrates the armed forces • Navy, Air Force comply quickly • Needs of Korean War force Army into compliance

36. Civil Rights as a Political Issue • Civil rights made part of the liberal Democratic agenda • Strengths Civil Rights division of Justice Dept. • 1948 – AA vote gives Truman his margin of victory • Key cities give Dems CA, OH, IL • Truman includes Civil Rights legislation in Fair Deal

37. Desegregating the Schools • 1954 - Brown v. Board of Education • Segregated schools unconstitutional • “Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.” • Desegregation "with all deliberate speed" • Massive resistance in Deep South • 1957 - Eisenhower’s actions • Federal troops sent to Little Rock, Arkansas • Commission on Civil Rights established

38. Segregation-Schools & Society

39. The Little Rock Nine

40. The Beginnings of Black Activism • NAACP - press for civil rights in courts • 1955 - Martin Luther King, Jr. leads Montgomery bus boycott • 1956 - Southern Christian Leadership Conference directs anti-segregation • Sit-ins protest segregation laws • 1960 - Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee

41. Dr. Martin Luther King

42. Ambivalence at the Close of the Decade • American people more optimistic in 1960 than in 1950 • Fear of economic depression wanes • Fear of Cold War continues • Growing recognition of incompatibility of racial injustice with American ideals

43. Ready, Set, Review! • In what case did the Supreme Court reverse its decision in Plessy? How? • What event did Rosa Parks incite by not giving up her seat on a bus? • Describe Dr. King’s strategy for improving civil rights conditions?