The Postwar Boom in Part 1

THE POSTWAR

BOOM

THE AMERICAN DREAM

IN THE 1950S

GI Bill- Serviceman’s
Readjustment Act

■ After demobilization WWII

vets worried about lack of
housing and unemployment

■ provided 1 year

unemployment payments to
vets unable to find work

■ Financial aid for college

■ Low interest loans for

homes or to start
businesses

Multiple Choice

What did the GI Bill NOT do?

• Provide unemployment payments for a year

• Provide low interest loans to buy a home or start a business

• Provide financial aid for college

• Provide free college tuition

THE BABY BOOM

■
During the late
1940s and through
the early 1960s the
birthrate in the U.S.
soared

■
At its height in 1957,
a baby was born in
America every 7
seconds (over 4.3
million babies in ’57
alone)

■
Baby boomers
represent the largest
generation in the
nation’s history

Multiple Choice

Baby Boomers are those who were born during what years?

• Late 1950s- early 1970s

• Late 1930s- early 1950s

• Late 1940s- early 1960s

• Late 1960s- early 1980s

WHY SO MANY BABIES?

Why did the baby boom

occur when it did?

■
Husbands returning from
war

■
Decreasing marriage age

■
Desirability of large
families (conformity)

■
Confidence in economy

■
Advances in medicine

IMPACT OF BABY BOOM

■
As a result of the baby
boom 10 million
students entered
elementary schools in
the 1950s

■
California built a new
school every 7 days in
the late ’50s

■
Toy sales reached an
all-time high in 1958
when $1.25 billion in
toys were sold

WHAT IT WILL MEAN TO YOU

Your generation will be supporting an increasingly

aging American population

Multiple Choice

How old are Baby Boomers today?

• In their early 60s- late 70s

• In their late 40s- early 60s

• In their late 50s- early 70s

• In their early 70s- late 80s

REMARKABLE
ECONOMIC
RECOVERY

■
Immediately following WWII, we experienced
inflation.

■
Experts who predicted a postwar depression were
proved wrong as they failed to consider the $135
billion in savings Americans had accumulated from
defense work, service pay, and investments in war
bonds

■
Americans were ready to buy consumer goods

Multiple Choice

The economy was surprisingly doing well after WWII

• True

• False

THE AMERICAN DREAM IN THE

FIFTIES

■
After WWII ended, Americans
turned their attention to their
families and jobs

■
New businesses and improved
productivity due to new
technology created
opportunities for many

■
By the end of the 1950s,
Americans were enjoying the
highest standard of living in
the world

■
Military spending due to the
Cold War also boosted the
economy.

Ozzie and Harriet reflected
the perfect American family

Open Ended

Why do you think the 1950s is considered to be the golden age of America?

AMERICANS MIGRATE

TO THE SUNBELT

■
Many moved to the
sunbelt states (South and
West)

■ Warm climate (and the

development of air
conditioning made this
possible)

■ Booming industrial

market and growing
cities

■ Growth of aerospace

and electronics
industries

Multiple Choice

What state would be considered a part of the Sunbelt?

• Oregon

• Montana

• Arizona

• New York

CHANGES IN LABOR FORCE

■ Women in the

workforce
increased,
although most
worked part time
and all were
underpaid.

■ Most often jobs,

not careers.

Multiple Choice

Women had jobs but not careers

• True

• False

THE ORGANIZATION AND THE

ORGANIZATION MAN

■
During the 1950s,
businesses expanded
rapidly

■
More and more people
held “white-collar” jobs -
clerical, management, or
professional jobs

■
The fields of sales,
advertising, insurance
and communications
exploded

White Collar jobs expanded

greatly in the 1950s

Multiple Choice

What are "white-collar" jobs?

• Jobs that involve manual labor

• Jobs that are in the tourism and restaurant industry.

• Clerical, management, or professional jobs

• Jobs that involve customer service

FRANCHISES EMERGE

■ Another strategy for

business expansion
was franchising

■ A franchise is a

company that offers
similar services in
many locations

■ Fast food restaurants

developed the first
franchises in America

McDonald’s is one of
the leading franchises

in the world

Multiple Choice

What is an example of a franchise?

• McDonald's

• IBM

• SRP

• Wells-Fargo

CONGLOMERATES EMERGE

■ Conglomerates, major corporations that

include a number of smaller companies
in unrelated fields, emerged in the
1950s

■ One conglomerate, International

Telephone and Telegraph (ITT), bought
rental car companies and hotel chains

MULTI-NATIONAL

CORPORATIONS EMERGE

■ Companies that produced and sold their

goods and services all over the world
and established branches abroad.

■ ie. Coca Cola sold soda worldwide

■ Hollywood had movie audiences worldwide

Multiple Choice

Hollywood is considered a multi-national corporation

• True

• False

SOCIAL CONFORMITY

■
American workers found
themselves becoming
standardized

■
Called the “Organization
Man,” the modern worker
struggled with a loss of
individualism

■
Businesses did not want
creative thinkers, rebels
or anyone that would
“rock the boat”

SOCIAL UNREST

PERSISTS

■
African Americans felt
they deserved equal
rights, especially after
hundreds of thousands
served in WWII

■
Truman took action in
1948 by desegregating
the armed forces

■
Additionally, Truman
ordered an end to
discrimination in the
hiring of governmental
employees

MASS CULTURE OF THE 1950S

POSTWAR AMERICA

■
After WWII, returning
vets faced a severe
housing shortage

■
In response to the crisis,
developers used
assembly-line methods to
mass-produce houses

■
Developer William Levitt
bragged that his
company could build a
home in 16 minutes for
$7,000

■
Suburbs were born

■
Film clips from "A City is
Born" - YouTube

THE SUBURBAN LIFESTYLE

■
Most Americans worked
in cities, but fewer and
fewer of them lived there

■
New highways and the
affordability of cars and
gasoline made
commuting possible

■
Of the 13 million homes
built in the 1950s, 85%
were built in suburbs

■
For many, the suburbs
were the American
Dream

The American Dream complete with

a white picket fence

Open Ended

What are suburbs?

THE AUTOMOBILE

CULTURE

■ After the rationing of WWII,

inexpensive and plentiful fuel and easy
credit led many to buy cars

■ By 1960, over 60 million Americans

owned autos

INTERSTATE HIGHWAY

ACT 1956

■
In 1956 Ike
authorized
a
nationwide
highway
network –
41,000
miles of
road linking
America

THE INTERSTATE HIGHWAY

SYSTEM

■ “Automania” spurred

the construction of
roads linking major
cities while
connecting schools,
shopping centers and
workplaces to
residential suburbs

IMPACT OF THE

HIGHWAY

The Interstate

Highway system
resulted in:

■ More trucking

■ Less railroad

■ More suburbs,

further away

Trucking is the #1 means of
moving cargo in the United

States today

HIGHWAYS

“HOMOGENIZE” AMERICA

■
Another effect of the
highway system was
that the scenery of
America began to
look the same

■
Restaurants, motels,
highway billboards,
gas stations, etc. all
began to look similar

■
The nation had
become
“homogenized”

Anytown, USA

DOWNSIDE
TO MOBILITY

■
While the car industry boom stimulated
production, jobs, shopping centers, and the
restaurant industry, it also had

negative effects

■
Noise

■
Pollution

■
Accidents

■
Traffic Jams

■
Stress

■
Decline of public
transportation

Open Ended

What was the impact of car culture in America? Explain at least one impact.