overview of the 1950s. dwight eisenhower (“ike”) 1945-1952: democrat truman clashed with...
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Overview of the 1950s
Dwight Eisenhower (“Ike”)
• 1945-1952: Democrat Truman clashed with Republican Congress
• High inflation, low wages led to strikes
• Congress weakened unions, outlawing “closed shops” and “sympathetic strikes” despite Truman’s veto
• 1952: War hero Eisenhower elected– Conservative financially– “Liberal when it comes to
human beings”– Favored a huge military arms
build-up, which he warned against when in his final presidential speech
Economic Growth
• Wartime factory technology efficiently made new consumer goods
• McDonald’s symbolized efficiency in “fast food”
• “Real” income = income adjusted for inflation
• 1950s real family income was twice that of 1920s (and products were more efficiently made)
• Companies encouraged purchasing:
– Shopping centers– Ads– Planned Obsolescence (always
coming out with a newer, better model)– (Remind you of cell phones?)
Blue Collar to White Collar
• Americans increasingly provided services instead of making products– Major product companies: cars,
like Ford, Chrysler, General Motors (GM)
– Services: restaurants and hotels, like McDonald’s and Holiday Inn
• “Franchises” spread new chain companies around the country– Local owners bought rights to
open a store– Company provided services,
branding, menus, etc.• White-collared workers (desk
jobs) out-numbered blue-collared workers (skilled physical work) by end of 1950s
Suburbs and the Baby Boom
• Baby Boom: children born between 1946-1964
• Huge growth in child population due to return from WW2 and prosperity
• Middle-class families moved to new “tract” homes outside of cities: suburbs– Levittown: example new NYC:
17,447 homes in just 4 years– Men commuted to city to work;
women stayed home to watch children
• Americans moved to Sunbelt (especially south west and California)
Cars and Technology
• Cars defined American life– 1956 Interstate Highway
System began– Commuting– Personal Image associated with
car– Shopping centers with parking
• Polio vaccine ended threat of polio in US
• Manhattan project created atomic bomb in 1945. 1950s saw– Nuclear power plants– Computers began to store data
and do complex calculations• Transistors replaced tubes,
shrinking electronics dramatically
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