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Post-WWII American Culture, Cold War under Ike

Chapter 14

Economic Problems Under Truman

•  Reconversion: transition from __________________________________ economy.

•  ____ million on active duty in 1945, reduced to ________million in 1947.

•  Massive layoffs due to _________________________ left ___unemployed.

Post-war ________________ •  High ________________________ •  High ________________________ •  Decrease in __________________ •  4.6 million people go on ____________ in 1946

–  Truman disliked strikes and threatened to __________ strikers while economy was struggling

•  Truman wants to increase _________________to create jobs, raise unemployment compensation, minimum wage, funding to build homes, funding for college education

•  Republicans respond with ______________

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________________ Act (1947)

• Would limit power of ________________

•  Truman vetoes this act • Congress overrides the veto

Election of 1948

•  Truman ran for Dems. •  Truman supported

________________. –  Desegregated the

__________ in 1948 •  Southern Dems. Run

separate candidate: __________________

•  Southern Dems known as ________________

Election cont. •  ___________________

ran for Repubs. •  Truman’s failures and

split in Democratic Party made Dewey favorite.

•  Truman wins despite early forecasts.

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Truman’s “_____________” program Truman’s plan, similar to _______________, to help with the ________________________ 1. Improved housing 2. Full employment for all Americans 3. Higher minimum wage 4. Aid to farmers 5. Extend of Social Security. 6. Increased aid for poor

*keep poor from becoming __________________________________________________. *Failed: __________________________________________

TRUMAN’S SECOND TERM

Election of 1952 •  “________________” •  Dwight D. Eisenhower

(R) elected. •  ____________ his VP. •  Republicans accused

Democrats of being soft on ___________

•  Nixon gave “__________ Speech”

“Modern Republicanism”

•  Ike wanted to limit ________________ role and ____________________________

•  Conservative in economics –  _________ taxes and government spending

•  Liberal when it comes to people – Left _____________________________ alone

•  Focused on ___________________________________

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Economic Boom •  Economy taking off in late 1940s •  U.S. _________________ country in the world •  60% of families part of __________________

class by end of 1950s •  People amassed over ______________ in savings

during World War II –  Cold War fears meant a lot of government contracts to

keep up with USSR –  A lot of jobs and money to be made

Consumerism Americans were becoming a consumer

society…..Buying whatever new product that came out that would make their lives comfortable.

Post-Word War II Consumption

•  American go on a spending spree in the 1950s

•  Increased buying on ______________ – 

•  People working ________________weeks – Billions spend each year on _______ activities –  Increase in credit _______________!

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Suburban Living

$7,990 or $60/month with no down payment.

________, NY.: “The American Dream”

1949 William Levitt produced _____ houses per week.

Women in the Work Place

•  _____ million new jobs created after 1950

•  Many were _______ collar jobs

•  Opened up many opportunities for women

Baby Boom It seems to me that every other young housewife I see is pregnant. -- British visitor to America, 1958

1957 à 1 baby born every __________

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The Culture of the Car

Car registrations: 1945 --> 25,000,000 1960 --> 60,000,000

2-car families doubles from 1951-1958

1956 --> ___________________ Act --> largest public works project in American history!

* Cost $32 billion * 41,000 miles of new highways built

The Culture of the Car

First McDonald’s (1955)

Franchises, Hotels and Drive-In’s

Drive-In Movies

Howard Johnson’s

The Culture of the Car

• The U. S. population was on the move in the 1950s.

• NE & Mid-W ---> S & SW (“________” states)

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Television in the 1950s

_________ sets sold in 1946

Some famous shows of the 1950s:

Consensus and Conformity •  Ideal American portrayed

in TV, movies •  Fear of

_____________________caused this to grow.

•  ___________ membership doubled between 1945-1970.

•  Rev. Billy Graham •  _____________________

_____________________ added to $ and Pledge.

Religious Revival Hollywood: apex of the biblical epics.

It’s un-American to be un-religious! -- The Christian Century, 1954

The Robe The Ten Commandments Ben Hur 1953 1956 1959

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Teen Culture In the 1950s à the word “________” entered

the American language. By 1956 à 13 mil. teens with $7 bil. to spend

a year.

1951 à “ROCK ‘N ROLL”

____________ à “The King”

Teen Culture The “_____________” Generation: * Jack Kerouac --> On The Road * Allen Ginsberg --> poem, “Howl” * Neal Cassady * William S. Burroughs

• Jack Kerouac is said to have responded: We’re a beat generation! • Against __________________________values of the Great Depressions and WWII generation (their parents) • Would influence the “__________________” of the 1960’s

• New Soviet leader after ________’s death in 1953 to 1965. • Not as harsh as Stalin

• Believed US and Soviet Union could “________________” with one another but the Soviet Union had to be as strong

militarily as the US.

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Atomic Anxieties:

• “_____________________ Generation” ______________________ Bomb: • U.S. tested in Nov. ’52

• 100 times more powerful than A-Bomb

• USSR tested H-Bomb 9 months later

Americans began building

underground ____________ and

cities had underground fallout

shelters.

USSR passing USA?

Brinkmanship •  Massive Retaliation: •  No middle ground

–  Tried to scare USSR into not attacking others

•  Brinksmanship:

•  Added to fear in the United States

John Foster Dulles and MacArthur in Korea, 1950

____________ •  On October 4, 1957 the

Soviet Union launches ______________, the first man-made satellite to orbit the Earth.

•  In 1958, the U.S. creates the ______, and the space race is in full gear.

•  Caused panic in the USA

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1960 - The ____ Affair

•  American U-2 spy plane is shot down on a mission over the Soviet Union.

•  Soviets capture of pilot Francis Gary Powers.

•  Powers sentenced to 10 years in USSR prison

•  Ike denied Powers was ________: that it was on a weather study flight

•  ________________ demanded an apology and Ike to admit U.S. was spying

The U-2 Affair

•  Powers served less than two years and was released in 1962 in

exchange for Soviet spy Rudolf Abel.

• Suffering major embarrassment, Eisenhower was forced to admit the truth behind the mission and the U-2 program,

• He refused to publicly apologize to Khrushchev.

• This refusal caused the Paris Summit to collapse when Khrushchev stormed out of negotiations.