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The Nifty Fifties American Society and Culture
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GI BILL OF RIGHTS

• War vets given
• Unemployment benefits while looking for a job

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Housing/Family

• Move from cities to suburbs
• Mass produced Levittowns_______________
• Increase in____________

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Baby Boom

• Height of boom 1957 ? a baby was born every 7
  sec.
• How will this impact the American economy and
  educational system?

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Economy at Home

• March 1946 3 million unemployed b/c war
  factories shut down, changed over
• High ________ b/c govt kept prices of goods low
  during the war
• Workers earned less than they did during the war
• Congress had to reestablish ________________
• People had in savings b/c no luxuries during
  war
• Marshall Plan helped nations recover from war
  ____________________________

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Truman vs. Strikes

• High prices, low wages in US
• Striking ________________________
• Fed govt seized mines, control of RRs
• Threatened to _____________________
• 1948 Republicans won seats in Congress
  (inflation, shortages, strikes under Democrats)
• Congress ignores Trumans domestic suggestions

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• Top priorities for African-Americans
• Fed Anti-lynching law
• Abolition of ____________
• Est. of permanent body to prevent racial
  discrimination in hiring
• Congress _________________
• July 1948 Truman issues __________________ for
  ___________________________ and end
  discrimination in the hiring of govt employees

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1948 Election

• Truman Democrat
• Strom Thurmond ___________ opposed civil
  rights, States Rights Democratic Party
• Henry Wallace liberal Progressive Party
• Thomas Dewey - Republican

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TRUMAN WINS!! b/c of Whistlestop campaign and
Give em hell, Harry campaign.Dewey was
thought to win, early edition of Chicago Tribune
had Dewey winning. Stunning, narrow political
upset.
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Trumans Fair Deal
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• Addition to FDRs New Deal
• Compulsory ____________________
• Crop-subsidy system to give steady income to
  farmers
• Not popular among Democrats or Republicans
• Positives Congress raised min. wage from .40 to
  .75, extend ___________________ to 10 million
  more people, created flood control irrigation
  projects, and provided to cities to clean
  up/create low-income housing

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1952 Election

• Truman low approval ratings b/c of
  ___________________________________
• Adlai Stevenson Democrat Illinois
• Dwight Eisenhower Republican
• Against ________________________________
• Korean War increased inflation, strikes
• Running mate Richard Nixon (_______________
  Speech accused of profit from secret fund set up
  by wealthy supporters denied misconduct)
• Won by a narrow margin 55 of popular vote

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1952 1956
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Brown v Board of Education
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Big Businesses

• ____________________________
• Major corporation that includes smaller companies
  in unrelated industries
• Ex Verizon, Apple today
• _____________________________
• A Co. that offers similar products or services in
  many locations
• McDonalds (15 cent burgers)

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• The buying of material goods
• New Products
• Polyester materials replace cotton, wool, silk
• Teflon nonstick cookware
• Plastics replace wood, glass, metal
• Electric appliances washing machines, dryers,
  blenders, freezers, dishwashers
• TVs, Tape recorders, hi-fi record players
• Casual Clothing
• Lawn mowers, BBQ equipment, pools, etc.

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Todays consumerism
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Planned Obsolescence
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Buy now, pay later

• 1950 1st Credit Card Diners Club
• 1958 Amex

• 1958 Amex

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1950s Ads
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1st TV Commercial

• 1941 for 9
• By 1960 spend 1.6 billion for TV ads
• 2010 Super Bowl 30-second commercials during
  next month's Super Bowl on CBS are selling for
  between 2.5 million and 2.8 million. That's a
  drop from last year, when ads averaged 3 million
  on NBC - a record
• Obama spent 85,000 a day in tv ads
• http//youtube.com/results?search_query1950comme
  rcialsearch_type

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Federal Communications Commission (FCC)

• Regulates and licenses TV, phone, telegraph,
  radio, communications industries

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Conformity v. Nonconformity
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Bathing Suit
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The Other America today
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White Flight

• White mid-class moves to suburbs in millions
• Rural south move to cities
• Cities Lost business, taxes
• Fortune mag. Thought poverty would end by 1960
• Mike Harringtons The Other America Poverty in
  the United States (shows poverty exists and its
  a reality)

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Urban Renewal

• National Housing Act of 1949 a decent home and
  a suitable living environment for every American
  family
• Tear down old homes, build new low-income housing
• Problem Not enough homes for everyone, Dodger
  Stadium built instead urban removal

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Mexican-Americans

• Braceros hired hands allowed in US in WWII to
  yield crops, now expected to go back to Mexico
  (200,000 people), many stay illegally
• Hundreds of thousands flee Mexicos econ
  conditions to find work in US
• 1954 Operation Wetback Fed program to find and
  return illegal's to Mexico
• Face discrimination in US

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Longoria Incident

• Felix Longoria WWII hero killed in Philippines
• Hometown funeral parlor wouldnt let his family
  use facilities b/c they were Mexican
• 1948 Mexican Americans organized GI Forum
• Unity League of CA formed to register voters to
  promote candidates who would represent them

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Native Americans

• 1934 Indian Reorganization Act
• Economic NA lands no longer individual farms
  belong to entire tribes
• Cultural of boarding schools cut, had to
  attend day schools on reservations
• Political Tribes allowed to elect tribal
  councils to govern reservations
• National Congress of Amer Indians (1944)
• NAs had same civil rights as white Amers
• To protect customs of NAs on reservations

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Termination Policy

• Eliminated Fed econ support, ended reservation
  system, distributed tribal lands among Native
  Americans
• Bureau of Indian Affairs attempted to help find
  jobs/pay moving costs/living expenses, etc.
• Failure Thousands of acres of land sold to
  developers, no job training, racial prejudice, no
  access to med care, increased state welfare
  termination policy abandoned