Crabgrass Frontiers

1
Crabgrass Frontiers

• Moving to the Burbs

2
(No Transcript)
3
Labor Unions, the New Deal, and Womens Work

• Labor democratizes America
• New Deal Consumerism
• The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)
• The Depression and Womens Work
• World War II and American Prosperity
• Rosie the Riveter
• The Baby Boom

4
Self Reliance and the Suburban Family

• We always stood on our own two feet.
• Constructing an American middle class.
• G.I.Bill
• By 1948 ½ of all male college students were G.I.
  Bill recipients
• 2.5 million students attended college on the
  first G.I. Bill
• V.A. Loans
• 1/5 of all houses sold in the 1950s had V.A.
  mortgages.
• National Defense Education Act

5
The 50s Family A Historical Anomaly?

• The Myth of the 50s Family
• Economic Realities
• Levittown
• Suburban values
• A More complex Reality

6
Women in the Work Force 1940 11 million working
women 3 million unemployed 1 million
discouraged 15 million in work force 1945 19.5
million working women (4.5 million increase in
women in the workplace during WWII)
Rosie the Riveter
7
Baby boom facts

• 1943 Total American births exceeded 3 million
  for first time in U.S. history
• Between 1946-1964 76 million children born
• Causes
• 1943-1950 High rate of fertility of 35-30 year
  old women.
• 1945-1960 Age of first marriage fell.
• 1955 ½ of all first-time brides were teenagers
• Higher percentage of American women marry
• By 1960 fewer than 3 of women were still single
  at age 32.
• Small increase in family sizes

8
Levittown Cape Cod (1948)
9
Economic Numbers of the 50s

• GNP increases 250 (1945-1960)
• By 1960
• 65 of Americans are middle class
• 75 of Americans owned a car
• 90 of Americans owned a TV
• Food spending up 33
• Clothing expenditures up 20
• Spending on household furnishings up 240
• 13.5 million new homes built.

10
(No Transcript)