Civil War Nov 9th

Key Personalities

  • Dwight D. Eisenhower

    • U.S. President from 1953 to 1961

    • First president of the television age

  • John F. Kennedy

    • U.S. President from 1961 to 1963

    • Adopted a broad range of economic policies featuring low taxes to promote growth

    • Encouraged a massive increase in social program spending

  • Lyndon Johnson

    • U.S. President from 1963 to 1969

    • Implemented the Great Society welfare program, his most lasting domestic initiative

  • Richard Nixon

    • U.S. President from 1969 to 1974

    • Elected in 1968 on a platform of stability

    • Resigned in 1974 in disgrace

The Patterns of Affluence in the Late 1940s and 1950s

  • Overall economic boom by the end of the 1950s, although not universally shared

  • Key Economic Indicators

    • GNP increased from $200 billion in 1945 to $500 billion in 1960

    • Per capita income rose from $1,300 in 1945 to $1,800 in 1960

    • Unemployment averaged approximately 5% from 1945 to early 1960s, a significant improvement from double-digit rates of the 1930s

    • Inflation averaged about 3% per year from 1945 to 1960 despite high economic growth

    • Growth in international trade: U.S. exports doubled from 1950 to 1960

  • General Causes of Economic Boom

    • Government Spending

    • Military spending during the Korean War

    • Investments in schools, housing, and veterans’ benefits

    • National Highway System: $100 billion spent after the 1956 Interstate Highway Act

    • Technological Improvements

    • Worker productivity increased by 35% from 1945 to 1955

    • Integration of computers into the business environment

    • Growth of a skilled workforce: scientists, engineers, and professionals

    • Baby Boom

    • U.S. population grew from 150 million in 1950 to 180 million in 1960

    • Increased government spending on educational facilities due to population growth

    • Surge in consumer demand

    • Suburban Growth

    • Suburban population grew by 47% in the 1950s, more than twice the rate of overall population growth

    • High demand for automobiles

    • Significant government investment in infrastructure

    • Remarkable growth in the housing industry: one-third of Americans lived in suburbs by 1960

    • Levittowns: Model of suburbs developed by Arthur Levitt in Long Island, NY

      • Characterized by uniform subdivisions, treeless streets, with homes selling for under $10,000

The Consumer Culture

  • Consumerism flourished during the 1950s

    • Consumer credit increased by 800% from 1945 to 1957

    • Affluent Americans purchased more extravagant automobiles

    • Introduction of new household products:

    • Dishwashers, garbage disposals, refrigerators, stereos

    • Proliferation of children's toys such as hula hoops and Disney-themed products

    • Expansion of national advertising campaigns for various products

The Great Society

  • John F. Kennedy's approach to generating economic activity and addressing poverty

    • Introduced tax credits for businesses

    • Reform of international trade via the “Kennedy Round” of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade

    • Extended minimum wage coverage and raised minimum wage from $1 per hour to $1.25 per hour

    • Increased Social Security benefits

  • After Kennedy’s assassination, Lyndon Johnson gained the largest majority in American electoral history

    • Complete Democratic control allowed for a series of extensive domestic reforms alongside the Vietnam War

  • The Great Society and the ‘War on Poverty’

    • Economic Opportunity Act (1964)

    • Created the Office of Economic Opportunity

      • Coordinated vocational training programs, provided college work-study grants, and funded the Neighborhood Youth Corps

    • Established Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA) to provide education and social services in communities

    • Allocated $3 billion to assist many poor Americans, particularly African-Americans, to escape poverty, though many social problems remained unaddressed

    • Medicare (1965)

    • Result of a twenty-year battle over subsidized health insurance

    • Benefits available to all elderly Americans, appealing to middle-class Americans

    • Allowed doctors to practice privately with bills covered by government

    • Costs rose from $6.2 billion in 1970 to $60 billion in 1984

    • Medicaid program for low-income Americans enacted in 1966

    • Establishment of new government agencies, including the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Department of Transportation

    • Omnibus Housing Act of 1965

    • Provided rent supplements for the poor

    • Food stamps introduced in 1967

    • Inflation of Great Society Costs

    • Federal government expenditures rose from $94.4 billion in 1961 to $197 billion in 1970

    • Official poverty rates decreased from 21% in 1959 to 13% in 1969