America 1920-1973: Opportunity and Inequality - Post War America

What is consumerism?

The concept that the ever-expanding consumption of goods benefits the economy.

What was consumer society like in post-war America?

Peacetime goods were produced with the same efficiency as war time goods. Soon people could afford luxury goods such as: ovens, televisions and cars. A huge advertising industry and 'buy now, pay later' schemes persuaded people to spend their money. Massive shopping malls were built on the outskirts of towns. America experienced a 'baby boom'.

What is a 'baby boom'?

An increase in the birth rate; This led to a 40% increase in the population in America.

How many out of ten households had a TV at the end of the 1950s?

Nine out of every ten US households

How many out of ten households had a car and a telephone by the end of the 1950s?

Eight out of every ten US households

How many out of ten households had a washing machine by the end of the 1950s?

Seven out of every ten US households.

What percentage of world manufactured goods did the US produce by 1952?

65%

Who replaced FDR after his death in April 1945?

Harry S. Truman

What was Truman's ideas?

Truman felt it was important to help American's most in need and bring about a 'fairer society'. His planes were called the 'Fair Deal'. The two main issues were poverty and rights for African-Americans.

What did Truman raise the minimum hourly wage to?

He raised it from 40 cents to 75 cents.

What did Truman do to the large areas of slum housing?

He cleared them to make way for affordable homes.

What is the GI Bill?

It established hospitals, made cheap home loans available and offered grants to pay ex-soldiers to attend college or trade schools.

How much money did the government give to early 9 million veterans from 1944 to 1949?

Around $4 billion

What were some negatives about Truman's Fair Deal?

His proposal to introduce an NHS was blocked by republicans; An attempt to improve the rights of African-Americans was halted when many Southern politicians voted against it.

What happened to women in America post-war?

Most women went back to become housewives; the few that were employed were in stereotypically 'female' roles e.g. nursing, teaching and secretarial work. Women who tried to pursue a high-flying business or management career often faced discrimination. As a result, a growing number of women

in the late 1950s became increasingly frustrated.

What was the average age a women got married in the 1950s?

20 years old

What was the (mostly male) view of women in the 1950s?

The view that 'a woman's place was in the home' and that she was 'living the American Dream' if she had all the latest gadgets

Who became President in 1952, after Harry S. Truman?

Dwight 'Ike' Eizenhower

What political party was Eisenhower, and what were some of his policies?

He was a Republican who brought lots of business people to the government to keep the economy booming. They succeeded and the standard of living for millions improved and wages kept rising.

What did Eisenhower continue to encourage?

He continued with the New Deal and the Fair Deal. He encouraged economic growth and looked after the middle classes. By the end of the 1950s the USA was producing half the world's manufactured goods. As many as 19 million Americans moved from the cities to live in the suburbs. It was possible for them to do this because they could buy cars, the standard of roads was better and the interest on mortgages was low.

What percentage of American people lived in the suburbs at the end of the 1950s?

25%

What did the number of people who owned a car rise to between 1945-1960?

From 25 million to 62 million.

What were the issues with the 'American Dream' post-war?

25% were still living in poverty - there was no NHS, jobseekers allowance or sickness pay. The elderly failed to benefit from the boom. In 1960, 68% of people over 65 had an income of less than $1000 at a time when the average factory workers earnings were over $4000.

What was the 'teenager' generation (AKA The Rock and Roll Generation)?

Before the war children were expected to work to support their families upon leaving school. Graduating from high school or college was uncommon. In fact, before the 1950s fewer than two out of three students completed compulsory education. After the war this changed, with a booming economy parents could now support their children. They no longer had to get a job, parents began to insist their children finished education and go to college afterwards. As a result, teenagers had more leisure time and spending power than previous generations.

How much did the average teenager spend in a week in 1957, compared to the early 1940s?

$10 and $15 a week in the 1950s compared to $1 - $2 in the early 1940s.

What did teenagers spend their money on? What reputation did they get?

Music, cars, fashion and alcohol. Teenage boys became 'thrill seekers' who raced cars, drank heavily and formed gangs. Teenagers got a reputation for being rebellious, secretive and aggressive.

Which celebrities became famous among teenagers?

James Dean and Marlon Brando became emblems of teenage rebellion. In 1953 the film The Wild One, Brando's character leads a motorcycle gang.

What was popular culture like in the 1950s?

One of the most popular products in the 1950s was the TV. It helped make professional and college sports big businesses, and sometimes provided excellent comedy and dramatic shows to vast audiences that might not otherwise have had access to them. Movies also grew more popular; In the period following WWII when most of the films were idealised with conventional portrayals of men and women, young people wanted new and exciting symbols of rebellion. Hollywood responded to audience demands - the late 1940s and 1950s saw the rise of the anti-hero - with stars like newcomers James Dean. Due to television (a small black and white screen) becoming affordable and a permanent fixture in most people's homes, the movies fought back with gimmicks - colour films, bigger screens, and 3-D.

How many people owned a TV at the end of the 1950s compared to the start?

55 million, compared to 3 million at the start

What was the Second Red Scare?

A fear of communism that spread throughout the US in response to the Soviet Union getting nuclear weapons and the fall of China to communism

What was the policy of containment?

Stop the spread of communism

When did China become communist?

1949

Who was Alger Hiss?

A high-ranking American government official accused of spying for the Soviet Union

Who was Ethel and Julius Rosenberg?

Two Americans who were accused of spying for the Soviet Union and were executed in June 1953

What was HUAC?

House of Representatives Un-American Activities Committee - investigated allegations of communist activity in the U.S. during the early years of the Cold War (1945-91). The committee used its power as weapon and called citizens to testify in high-profile hearings before Congress. This intimidating atmosphere often produced dramatic but questionable revelations about Communists infiltrating American institutions. HUAC's controversial tactics contributed to the fear, distrust and repression of the Red Scare.

What was the Loyalty Programme?

The program gave the FBI the power to fire government employees when "reasonable grounds" existed for belief that they were disloyal. Evidence of disloyalty included not only treasonous activities, but "sympathetic association" with a long list of organisations deemed by the Attorney General to be "Communist, fascist, or totalitarian."

Who was Joseph McCarthy?

An ambitious and dishonest Republican senator who claimed he had a list of 205 members of the Communist Party of the United States who worked for the State Department in 1950. This caused a sensation and McCarthy's list was front page news. Many saw anti-communist McCarthy as a hero.

What was McCarthyism?

The practice of making accusations of subversion or treason without proper regard for evidence; Over the next few years McCarthyism became associated with a communist witch hunt, in which over 2,000 men and women were summoned to appear before the Senate's House Un-American Activities Committee.

Why did McCarthyism fall out of favor?

In 1954, he accused 45 army officers of being communist, but he had no proof and McCarthyism began to lose public support.

What is the impact on American citizens as the result of McCarthyism?

Many hard-working citizens had lost their jobs because they were labelled as "Communists". While many fired college professors returned to their jobs in universities, public school teachers could not. Those who retained their jobs realised that their career has been destroyed. Many, failed to convince everyone that they were in fact innocent. McCarthyism also had a huge effect on the psychological aspect of life. Innocent people had to go through the trauma of being prosecuted by their own country. Relationships were destroyed because one could never know who to trust or would turn you in. The children of the accused were victims as well. Their peers at school were often told by their parents to stay away from them.

What does Civil Rights mean?

To protect and provide everyone equal access to the opportunities we have in society and access to the facilities that are out there that everyone gets to use.

What was the Civil Rights Movement?

The Civil Rights Movement was the movement in the 1950s and 60s that used peaceful protests to gain equal protection under the law and a fair chance at success in America for African Americans

What was Brown v. Board of Education 1954?

In 1951, the father of an African-American girl, Linda Brown, took the local education authority to court as he wanted his daughter to attend her local 'whites only' school. He was aided by the NAACP. Brown lost his case but appealed to the SCOTUS. On May 17th 1954, the Supreme Court rules on the case, unanimously agreeing that segregation in public schools is unconstitutional.

What is the significance of the Brown v Board of Education case?

The ruling paves the way for largescale desegregation. The decision overturns the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson ruling that sanctioned "separate but equal" segregation of the races, ruling that "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.

Who was the NAACP attorney who helped Brown with his case?

Thurgood Marshall, who will later return to the Supreme Court as the nation's first black justice.

What did some states refuse to do despite the Brown v Board ruling?

Southern states refused to desegregate schools; Mississippi formed a White Citizens Council to ensure segregation would remain. By 1956, not a single African-American child was attending any school where there were white students in six Southern states.

What was the Murder of Emmett Till?

In August 1955, fourteen-year-old Chicagoan Emmett Till is visiting family in Mississippi when he is kidnapped, brutally beaten, shot, and dumped in the Tallahatchie River for allegedly whistling at a white woman. Two white men, J. W. Milam and Roy Bryant, are arrested for the murder and acquitted by an all-white jury. They later boast about committing the murder in a Look magazine interview. The case becomes a popular cause of the civil rights movement.

What was the Montgomery Bus Boycott?

In December 1955 NAACP member Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat at the front of the "coloured section" of a bus to a white passenger, defying a southern custom of the time. In response to her arrest the Montgomery black community launches a bus boycott, which will last for more than a year, until the buses are desegregated Dec. 21, 1956.

Who was the Little Rock Nine?

In 1957, nine black students are blocked from entering the school on the orders of Governor Orval Faubus. President Eisenhower sends federal troops and the National Guard to intervene on behalf of the students, who become known as the "Little Rock Nine." The AA students took the governor to court and won - the soldiers were forced to leave and the pupils now had the right to go to the school.

How many children out of 2 million black students were going to the same schools as whites by 1960?

In Arkansas, only 2500 black students were going to the same schools as whites

By 1962, what states still refused to allow black students to attend white schools?

Alabama, Mississippi and South Carolina

What was the 1957 Civil Rights Act?

The Brown v board case and the MBB led to increased public support for civil rights and a civil rights act being passed in Congress. The act aimed to increase black voter registration, make it illegal to obstruct voter registration and allow federal courts to prosecute states that did not guarantee citizen's voting rights. However, in practice, all-white juries in the South were unlikely to uphold federal prosecutions of state violations of voting rights.

What were the Greensboro Sit-Ins?

In February 1960, four black students from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College begin a sit-in at a segregated Woolworth's lunch counter. Although they are refused service, they are allowed to stay at the counter. The event triggers many similar nonviolent protests throughout the South. Six months later the original four protesters are served lunch at the same Woolworth's counter. Student sit-ins would be effective throughout the Deep South in integrating parks, swimming pools, theatres, libraries, and other public facilities

What were the freedom riders?

In May 1961, over the spring and summer, student volunteers begin taking bus trips through the South to test out new laws that prohibit segregation in interstate travel facilities, which includes bus and railway stations. Several of the groups of "freedom riders," as they are called, are attacked by angry mobs along the way

What was SNCC and CORE?

Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and Congress of Racial Equality - they organised the Freedom Rides.

How many campaigners staged 'sit-ins' protests across the South in 1960 and 1961?

70,000

What was the Birmingham March?

In May 1963, MLK organised a long violent protest march in Birmingham, Alabama. The police, under the orders of the police chief Eugene 'Bull' Connor attacked the protests with dogs, water cannons, tear gas, electric cattle and batons. These images of brutality, which are televised and published widely, are instrumental in gaining sympathy for the civil rights movement around the world.

How many children were attacked during the 1963 Birmingham March?

900

What was the Washington March?

In August 1963, MLK gives his famous 'I have a dream speech' to 200,000 people.

What was the Selma March?

In the name of African-American voting rights, 3,200 civil rights demonstrators in Alabama, led by Martin Luther King Jr., begin a historic march from Selma to Birmingham, Alabama. When the marchers reached the outskirts of Selma they were brutally attacked by local police.

What was the Civil Rights Act of 1964?

This prohibited discrimination of all kinds based on race, colour, religion, or national origin. The law also provides the federal government with the powers to enforce desegregation.

What was the Voting Rights Act of 1965?

This prohibited racial discrimination in voting and ensured all Americans had the right to vote.

What was the Black Power movement?

A movement which used violent methods to gain racial equality. By 1965, the non-violent direct-action protest had achieved a great deal. But many African Americans remained angry and frustrated. They still faced poverty, low wages, poor education and inadequate housing

Who were Tommie Smith and John Carlos?

U.S. track athletes who held their gloved fists in the air during the National Anthem to demonstrate black power and as a tribute to their AA heritage and a protest of the living conditions of minorities in the US.

What was the Nation of Islam?

A Black Power organisation that was founded in the 1930s, it argued for separatism (keeping races apart). It said that white society was racist and corrupt and rejected Christianity as a white man's religion. The best known member was Malcom X. He became less extreme towards the end of his life and he left the Nation of Islam.

What was the Black Panther Party?

Formed in California in 1966, they had around 5000 members by 1968. This extreme militant group totally rejected King's non-violent approach. It argued that African-American's had to protect themselves from white racists, using violence if necessary.

What was the 1968 Civil Rights Act (Fair Housing Act)?

It became law, banning the discrimination in housing and making it a federal crime to 'by force or by threat of force, inure, intimidate, or interfere with anyone.... By reason of their race, colour, religion or national origin.'

What happened to the Black Power movement towards the end of the 1960s?

They declined very quickly in the late 1960s because its organisation was very poor and it had little money to support itself. It also declined because the government preferred King's the peaceful methods to the violence and hatred of Black Power. However, it can be said that Black Power did manage to achieve something for black people as a whole. Black Power leaders did try to help the people in the inner-city ghettos, and they did increase black pride and a sense of black nationalism.

When was JFK elected President?

November 1960

What was JFK's ideas?

His aim was to eliminate poverty, inequality and deprivation for all Americans including Black Americans.

What was JFK's New Frontier?

A series of domestic programmes that tried to eliminate poverty and inequality, improve education and fight unemployment.

How did Civil Rights benefit from the New Frontier?

He gave more important jobs to African-Americans than any other president. He created the CEEO - Commission on Equal Employment Opportunity to ensure that all people employed with the federal government had equal employment opportunities. He stood up to Southern politicians who failed to defend civil rights.

How did the economy benefit from the New Frontier?

He cut taxes to give people more money to spend. He made $900 million available to businesses to create new jobs and gave grants to companies to buy new high-tech equipment and train their workers to use it. He also increased government spending on the armed forces, creating jobs

How did healthcare and decreasing poverty benefit from the New Frontier?

JFK proposed an ambitious system of health insurance called Medicare. He made $4.9 billion available for loans to improve housing, clear slums and build roads. His Social Security Act improved benefits for the elderly and unemployed.

What did JFK raise the minimum wage to?

$1 to a $1.25

How did education benefit from the New Frontier?

JFK established the Peace Corps, an organisation that sends volunteers abroad to assist people in poorer countries. They worked as teachers, doctors, nurses and technical advisors. He was also keen to introduce an education law to give more money to schools.

How did Civil Rights NOT benefit from the New Frontier?

The CEEO only helped those already in the government and did nothing to find jobs for the millions of unemployed African Americans. The black American unemployment rate was twice that of white Americans. He also attempted to get MLK to all off his march on Washington as he believed it might make some politicians in Congress resist civil rights even more.

How did the economy NOT benefit from the New Frontier?

In some cases the new equipment meant fewer workers were needed. By 1963, 4.5 million people were unemployed - only 1 million fewer than 1960.

How did healthcare and decreasing poverty NOT benefit from the New Frontier?

The minimum wage was only helpful to those in work, and the loans to improve housing were only useful if the person could afford the loan repayments. Also, US Congress defeated JFK's proposals for Medicare.

How did education NOT benefit from the New Frontier?

JFK's efforts to provide funding for schools was denied. Congress was dominated by Southern politicians and they refused support his plans after they had clashed with him over Civil Rights.

When was JFK assassinated?

November 22, 1963

Who was Lyndon B. Johnson?

Thenew President following the assassination of JFK. LBJ continued to develop JFK‟s ideas. Johnson wanted to create a Great Society. He won the 1964 election by stating that he wanted to end poverty. He carried on the work promised by JFK. Johnson was a much more experienced politician than Kennedy and could pass more laws.

Why did LBJ face criticism during the latter stages of his presidency?

He was criticised for America's involvement in the Vietnam War - some thought it was costing the USA too much money and students protested against the draft system (conscription). In 1968 Johnson decided not to run for re-election and Nixon became the next President of the USA.

What was LBJ's domestic program called?

The Great Society

How did Civil Rights benefit from the Great Society?

1964 Civil Rights Act was passed and is considered one of the crowning legislative achievements of the civil rights movement. First proposed by President John F. Kennedy, it survived strong opposition from southern members of Congress and was then signed into law by LBJ

How did the economy benefit from the Great Society?

The Job Corps was introduced to help high school leavers get jobs. The minimum wage increased from $1.25 to $1.40.

How did healthcare and decreasing poverty benefit from the Great Society?

The Medical Care Act (1965) provided Medicare (for the old) and Medicaid (for the poor). This was to help all Americans have access to medical care. A Housing Act funded low-income housing. The Model Cities Act cleared up inner-city city slums. Air and Water Quality Acts tightened controls over pollution. Safety standards were improved for consumer products.

What percentage of African-American families lived in poverty in 1970, compared to 1959?

30% of AAs lived in poverty in 1970, compared to 56% in 1959.

How did education benefit from the Great Society?

Operation Headstart gave money to schools in cities to provide a better education for the poor. Also, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act provided major funding for schools.

How did Civil Rights NOT benefit from the Great Society?

In 1964 and 1965, African-Americans in Harlem, New York and Watts, Los Angeles rioted after African-American men were shot by police officers. The riots disheartened Johnson. Johnson would be confronted by more urban unrest in 1968, when massive riots broke out in response to Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination.

How did the economy NOT benefit from the Great Society?

Programs were costly to run and increased national debt. Social Security and Medicare took the largest part of the budget

How did healthcare and decreasing poverty NOT benefit from the Great Society?

By 1968, unemployment was on the increase and there was widespread rioting in the poorer areas of some cities. One of the main legacies of the "war on poverty" was an increased cynicism about what the government can achieve.

What was reported about women in the workplace in 1963?

Women earned around 60% less than men for the same job. 95% of managers were men - the majority of work for women was part-time and with limited responsibility. Only 4% of lawyers and 7% of doctors were women. In some jobs (such as cabin crew) women could be legally dismissed if they were married.

What was The Feminine Mystique?

A book published by Betty Freidan in 1963. This was a very important book in terms of women's rights and the feminist movement. Friedan said that women should have equal rights with men in every way and that women should be able to pursue a good career.

When was it made legal for all married couples allowed to use contraception?

1965

Which state became the first to adopt a 'no fault' divorce law which allowed couples to divorce by mutual consent?

California, 1969

What is the Educational Amendment Act?

This act bans sexual discrimination in education, enabling girls to study the same subjects as boys.

What was the National Organisation for Women?

A feminist group established by Friedan in 1966. They demanded equal rights for women in US law and a woman's right to make her own decisions with regards to reproduction (at the time abortion was illegal in all US states). Women held protests and strikes in order to gain these rights. Within a few years NOW had 400,000 members. However, it was many middle-class, middle-aged women. Younger, more extreme women became known as the Women's Liberation Movement.

What was the Equal Rights Amendment 1972?

A change to the constitution that was passed by Congress. It said that equality of rights under the law could not be denied on basis of sex.