Postwar Era Review (1945-1950)

Despite costing $14.5 billion, why do some analysts claim the GI Bill to be one of the US's best investments?

Veterans who took advantage of tuition subsides ended up making $10,000 - $15,000 more per year than those who didn't, generating lots of tax revenue.

Why was it difficult for woman and African Americans to access the benefits of the GI Bill?

Segregation made it difficult for African Americans to take advantage of education benefits since they were not permitted to enroll at most colleges and universities in the South.

What drew Americans from the Northeast to the Upper Midwest to the Sunbelt states of California (go California!) and Florida?

The prevalence of postwar defense plants in those states, and the jobs available there.

Levittown was the first major example of....

a private suburban housing development in the postwar era.

How were Africans left out of the postwar housing boom?

Restrictive covenants prevented homeowners from selling to minorities and banks denied loans to people of color.

The romance of war aside, what contributed to the origins of the baby boom during WW2?

Soldiers would get extra pay if they had families to support.

What was decided at the Yalta Conference in 1945?

The Allied powers decided to divide Germany, as well as the city of Berlin, into four administrative zones.

What's the difference between a cold war and a hot war?

A cold war is fought at a distance where competing nations never actually attack one another; a hot war is a shooting war directly between two points.

How did Britain, France, and the US contradict the blockade of West Berlin in 1948?

They organized a massive support mission, flying hundreds of airplanes to deliver food and fuel each day.

George Keenan's Long Telegram, sent from Moscow to the US Secretary of State in 1946, advised that the United States' policy towards communism should be one of....

containment; the United States should do everything in its power to block the advance of Soviet power and the spread of communism.

The Marshall Plan, named after Secretary of State George C. Marshall, provided....

$13 billion in economic aid to the destabilized countries of war-torn Europe.

NATO was organized as....

a defensive alliance between Western European countries an the United States.