The document provides information about postwar America in the 1950s. It discusses the postwar economic boom and rise of suburbia. The baby boom led to increased births, families with 2-3 children, and more students in schools. Americans pursued the idealized image of the nuclear family and middle class lifestyle. Mass consumerism and advertising encouraged spending. New technologies like television and highways shaped popular culture and mass media.

1. On loose leaf paper, you
may want to take some
notes as I go through the
PowerPoint.
You should read the textbook
pages 423-443 and take notes on
your Reading Notes pages for a
more comprehensive look at the
50s

2. THE POSTWAR
BOOM
THE AMERICAN DREAM
IN THE 1950S

3. GI Bill- Serviceman’s
Readjustment Act
 After demobilization WWII
vets worried about lack of
housing and unemployment
 provided 1 year
unemployment payments to
vets unable to find work
 Financial aid for college
 Low interest loans for
homes or to start
businesses

4. THE BABY BOOM
 During the late
1940s and through
the early 1960s the
birthrate in the U.S.
soared
 At its height in 1957,
a baby was born in
America every 7
seconds (over 4.3
million babies in ’57
alone)
 Baby boomers
represent the largest
generation in the
nation’s history

5. What are the official years of the Baby
Boom Generation?
1946 - 1964 saw a marked increase in the number
of births in North America.
How did the birthrate rise and fall
during the baby boom years in the
US?
1940 2,559,000 births per year
1946 3,311,000 births per year
1955 4,097,000 births per year
1957 4,300,000 births per year
1964 4,027,000 births per year
1974
3,160,000 births per year

6. WHY SO MANY BABIES?
Why did the baby boom
occur when it did?
 Husbands returning from
war
 Decreasing marriage age
 Desirability of large
families (conformity)
 Confidence in economy
 Advances in medicine

7. IMPACT OF BABY BOOM
 As a result of the baby
boom 10 million
students entered
elementary schools in
the 1950s
 California built a new
school every 7 days in
the late ’50s
 Toy sales reached an
all-time high in 1958
when $1.25 billion in
toys were sold

8. Symbols of the Baby Boom
in Suburbia
1950 1960
Hot Dog Production (millions of lbs) 750 1050
Potato Chip Production (millions of lbs) 320 532
Sales of lawn and porch furniture (millions of dollars) 53.6 145.2
Sales of power mowers (millions of dollars) 1.0 3.8
Sales of floor polishers (millions of dollars) 0.24 1.0
Sales of Encyclopaedia (millions of dollars) 72 300
Number of Children age 5-14 24.3 35.5
Number of baseball Little Leagues 776 5,700

9. Fads of the Baby Boomers
Hula Hoops
Frozen Foods
Poodle Skirts and Saddle Shoes
Sock Hops
Barbie and GI Joe Dolls
Bikinis
Frisbees
Yo-yos
Ouija Boards
Dune Buggies
What celebrity deaths have most
affected the Baby Boomers?
John F. Kennedy
Marilyn Monroe
Martin Luther King
John Lennon

10. WHAT IT WILL MEAN TO YOU
Your generation will be supporting an increasingly
aging American population

11. REMARKABLE
ECONOMIC
RECOVERY
 Immediately following WWII, we experienced
inflation.
 Experts who predicted a postwar depression were
proved wrong as they failed to consider the $135
billion in savings Americans had accumulated from
defense work, service pay, and investments in war
bonds
 Americans were ready to buy consumer goods

12. THE AMERICAN DREAM IN THE
FIFTIES
 After WWII ended, Americans
turned their attention to their
families and jobs
 New businesses and improved
productivity due to new
technology created
opportunities for many
 By the end of the 1950s,
Americans were enjoying the
highest standard of living in
the world
 Military spending due to the
Cold War also boosted the
economy.
Ozzie and Harriet reflected
the perfect American family

13. AMERICANS MIGRATE
TO THE SUNBELT
 Many moved to the
sunbelt states (South and
West)
 Warm climate (and the
development of air
conditioning made this
possible)
 Booming industrial
market and growing
cities
 Growth of aerospace
and electronics
industries

14. CHANGES IN LABOR FORCE
 Women in the
workforce
increased,
although most
worked part time
and all were
underpaid.
 Most often jobs,
not careers.

15. THE ORGANIZATION AND THE
ORGANIZATION MAN
 During the 1950s,
businesses expanded
rapidly
 More and more people
held “white-collar” jobs -
clerical, management, or
professional jobs
 The fields of sales,
advertising, insurance
and communications
exploded
White Collar jobs expanded
greatly in the 1950s

16. FRANCHISES EMERGE
 Another strategy for
business expansion
was franchising
 A franchise is a
company that offers
similar services in
many locations
 Fast food restaurants
developed the first
franchises in America
McDonald’s is one of
the leading franchises
in the world

17. CONGLOMERATES EMERGE
 Conglomerates, major corporations that
include a number of smaller companies
in unrelated fields, emerged in the
1950s
 One conglomerate, International
Telephone and Telegraph (ITT), bought
rental car companies and hotel chains

18. MULTI-NATIONAL
CORPORATIONS EMERGE
 Companies that produced and sold their
goods and services all over the world
and established branches abroad.
 ie. Coca Cola sold soda worldwide
 Hollywood had movie audiences worldwide

19. SOCIAL CONFORMITY
 American workers found
themselves becoming
standardized
 Called the “Organization
Man,” the modern worker
struggled with a loss of
individualism
 Businesses did not want
creative thinkers, rebels
or anyone that would
“rock the boat”

20. Despite their success, some workers questioned whether
pursuing the American dream exacted too high a price, as
conformity replaced individuality

21. THE 1948 ELECTION
 The Democrats
nominated President
Truman in 1948
 The Republicans
nominated New York
Governor Thomas
Dewey
 Polls showed Dewey
held a comfortable
lead going into
election day
Dewey

22. TRUMAN WINS IN A
STUNNING UPSET
 Truman’s
“whistlestop,”
“Give ‘em hell,
Harry” campaign
worked
 Truman won a
very close race
against Dewey
Truman holds a now infamous Chicago
Tribune announcing (incorrectly)
Dewey’s victory

23. To protest Truman’s emphasis on Civil Rights, the South
opted to run a third candidate, South Carolina Governor
Strom Thurmond- Dixiecrat

24. DESPITE GROWTH,
ISSUES PERSIST
 One persistent
postwar issue
involved labor
strikes
 In 1946 alone, 4.5
million discontented
workers, including
Steelworkers, coal
miners and railroad
workers went on
strike

25. TRUMAN TOUGH ON
STRIKERS
 Truman refused to let strikes cripple the nation
 He threatened to draft the striking workers and
then order them as soldiers to return to work
 The strategy worked as strikers returned to their
jobs

26. SOCIAL UNREST
PERSISTS
 African Americans felt
they deserved equal
rights, especially after
hundreds of thousands
served in WWII
 Truman took action in
1948 by desegregating
the armed forces
 Additionally, Truman
ordered an end to
discrimination in the
hiring of governmental
employees

27. Truman’s Fair Deal
 An extension of Roosevelt’s New Deal
 Proposal for a nationwide system of
health insurance and a crop-subsidy
system – both defeated
 Raised minimum wage and
extended Social Security Coverage

28. REPUBLICANS PLAN
FOR 1952 ELECTION
 By 1951 Truman’s
approval rating sank
to an all-time low of
just 23%
 Why? Korean War,
rising tide of
McCarthyism, and a
general impression
of ineffectiveness The Republican (right) were
chomping at the bit in the ’52
election

29. STEVENSON VS. IKE 1952
ELECTION
 The Democrats
nominated
intellectual Illinois
Governor Adlai
Stevenson while
the Republicans
nominated war
hero Dwight David
Eisenhower
Stevenson Ike

30. “I LIKE IKE”
 Eisenhower used the
slogan, “I Like Ike”
for his presidential
campaign
 Republicans used
Ike’s strong military
background to
emphasize his ability
to combat
Communism
worldwide

31. IKE’S VP SLIP-UP
 One potential disaster
for Ike was his running
mate’s alleged “slush
fund”
 Richard Nixon
responded by going on
T.V. and delivering an
emotional speech
denying charges but
admitting to accepting
one gift for his children
– a dog named Checkers
 The “Checkers speech”
saved the ticket
Nixon and his dog
Checkers

32. IKE WINS 1952 ELECTION

33. MASS CULTURE OF THE 1950S

34. POSTWAR AMERICA
 After WWII, returning
vets faced a severe
housing shortage
 In response to the crisis,
developers used
assembly-line methods to
mass-produce houses
 Developer William Levitt
bragged that his
company could build a
home in 16 minutes for
$7,000
 Suburbs were born
 Film clips from "A City is
Born" - YouTube

35. THE SUBURBAN LIFESTYLE
 Most Americans worked
in cities, but fewer and
fewer of them lived there
 New highways and the
affordability of cars and
gasoline made
commuting possible
 Of the 13 million homes
built in the 1950s, 85%
were built in suburbs
 For many, the suburbs
were the American
Dream
The American Dream complete with
a white picket fence

36. THE AUTOMOBILE
CULTURE
 After the rationing of WWII,
inexpensive and plentiful fuel and easy
credit led many to buy cars
 By 1960, over 60 million Americans
owned autos

37. INTERSTATE HIGHWAY
ACT 1956
 In 1956 Ike
authorized
a
nationwide
highway
network –
41,000
miles of
road linking
America

38. THE INTERSTATE HIGHWAY
SYSTEM
 “Automania” spurred
the construction of
roads linking major
cities while
connecting schools,
shopping centers and
workplaces to
residential suburbs

39. IMPACT OF THE
HIGHWAY
The Interstate
Highway system
resulted in:
 More trucking
 Less railroad
 More suburbs,
further away
Trucking is the #1 means of
moving cargo in the United
States today

40. HIGHWAYS
“HOMOGENIZE” AMERICA
 Another effect of the
highway system was
that the scenery of
America began to
look the same
 Restaurants, motels,
highway billboards,
gas stations, etc. all
began to look similar
 The nation had
become
“homogenized”
Anytown, USA

41. “Our new roads, with their
ancillaries, the motels, filling
stations, and restaurants
advertising eats, have made it
possible for you to drive from
Brooklyn to Los Angeles without a
change of diet, scenery, or culture.”
John Keats, The Insolent Chariots
1958
Safari Montage: Story of Us
Superpower /Interstate Hwy

42. DOWNSIDE
TO MOBILITY
 While the car industry boom stimulated
production, jobs, shopping centers, and the
restaurant industry, it also had
negative effects
 Noise
 Pollution
 Accidents
 Traffic Jams
 Stress
 Decline of public
transportation

43. RISE OF
CONSUMERISM
 By the mid-1950s,
nearly 60% of
Americans were
members of the
middle class
 Consumerism (buying
material goods) came
to be equated with
success and status

44. NEW PRODUCTS
 One new product after
another appeared in
the marketplace
 Appliances, electronics,
and other household
goods were especially
popular
 The first credit card
(Diner’s Club) appeared
in 1950 and American
Express was introduced
in 1958
 Personal debt
increased nearly 3x in
the 1950s

45. THE ADVERTISING
AGE
 The advertising
industry capitalized
on runaway
consumerism by
encouraging more
spending
 Ads were everywhere
 Ad agencies increased
their spending 50%
during the 1950s
Advertising is everywhere today in
America

46. REDEFINING THE FAMILY
 A return to traditional
roles after the war was
the norm
 The “Nuclear Family” was
idealized
 Men were expected to
work, while women were
expected to stay home
and care for the children
 Conflict emerged as
many women wanted to
stay in the workforce
 Divorce rates surged

47. WOMEN’S ROLES IN THE
1950S
 During the
1950s, the role
of homemaker
and mother was
glorified in
popular
magazines,
movies and
television

48. WOMEN AT WORK
 Those women who
did work were
finding job
opportunities
limited to fields such
as nursing, teaching
and office support
 Women earned far
less than man for
comparable jobs

49. ADVANCES IN MEDICINE
AND CHILDCARE
 Advances in the
treatment of
childhood
diseases included
drugs to combat
typhoid fever and
polio (Jonas Salk)
Dr. Salk was instrumental in
the eradication of polio

50. DR. SPOCK
ADVISES PARENTS
 Many parents raised
their children according
to the guidelines of
pediatrician Dr.
Benjamin Spock
 He thought children
should be allowed to
express themselves and
parents should never
physically punish their
kids
Dr. Spock’s book sold 10
million copies in the 1950s

51. LEISURE IN THE 1950s
 Americans
experienced shorter
work weeks and
more vacation time
than ever before
 Leisure time
activities became a
multi-billion dollar
industry
 Labor-saving
devices added more
spare time
Labor-saving
devices
provided
more leisure
time for
Americans

52. POPULAR LEISURE
ACTIVITES
 In 1953 alone
Americans spent $30
billion on leisure
 Popular activities
included fishing,
bowling, hunting and
golf
 Americans attended,
or watched on T.V.,
football, baseball and
basketball games
Bowling remains
one of the top
leisure activities
in the U.S.

53. POPULAR CULTURE
 A new era of mass
media led by
television
emerged in the
1950s
 In 1948, only 9%
of homes had T.V
 In 1950, 55% of
homes had T.V.
 By 1960, 90% of
American homes
had T.V.

54. THE GOLDEN AGE
OF TELEVISION
 The 1950s was
known as the
“Golden Age of
Television”
 Comedies were
the main
attraction as
Milton Berle,
Lucille Ball and
Desi Arnaz were
very popular
Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball
starred in I Love Lucy

55. TELEVISION EXPERIMENTS
WITH VARIOUS FORMATS
 Television innovations
like on-the-scene-
news reporting,
interviews, westerns
and sporting events
offered the viewer a
variety of shows
 Kids’ shows like The
Howdy Doody Show
and The Mickey Mouse
Club were extremely
popular

56. TV ADS, TV GUIDES AND TV
DINNERS EXPAND
 TV advertising soared from $170 million in 1950 to
nearly $2 billion in 1960
 TV Guide magazine quickly became the best selling
magazine
 Frozen TV dinners were introduced in 1954 – these
complete ready-to-heat meals on disposable aluminum
trays made it easy for people to eat without missing
their favorite shows

57. A SUBCULTURE EMERGES
 Although mass
media and
television were
wildly popular in
the 1950s,
dissenting voices
emerged
 The “Beat
Movement” in
literature and rock
n’ roll clashed with
tidy suburban
views of life

58. BEATNIKS FOLLOW OWN PATH
 Centered in San
Francisco, L.A. and
New York’s Greenwich
Village, the Beat
Movement expressed
social nonconformity
 Followers, called
“beatniks”, tended to
shun work and sought
understanding
through Zen
Buddhism, music, and
sometimes drugs
Beatniks often performed poetry
or music in coffeehouses or bars

59. MUSIC IN THE 1950s
 Musicians in the
1950s added
electronic instruments
to traditional blues
music, creating
rhythm and blues
 Cleveland DJ Alan
Freed was the first to
play this music in
1951– he called it
“rock and roll”
FREED

60. ROCK N’ ROLL
 In the early and mid-fifties, Richard
Penniman, Chuck Berry, Bill Haley and
the Comets, and especially Elvis Presley
brought rock and roll to the forefront
 The driving rhythm and lyrics featuring
love, cars,
and problems
of being
young ---
captivated
teenagers
across the
country

61. THE KING OF ROCK AND
ROLL
 Presley’s
rebellious style
captured young
audiences
 Girls screamed
and fainted,
and boys tried
to imitate him

62. Date: 10/27/16
Activity: 1950s PPT Review
Warm Up:
 Why were the beat movement
and Rock ‘n’ Roll controversial in
the 1950s?
Homework:
• Articles must be printed AND
submitted through turnitin.com
Class ID: 13377099
Class Password: writing
• Study Guide due tomorrow
10/28
• Unit 2 Test 10/28
Pg Assignment Date
30 Project Calendar 10/14
31 Role Chart 10/14
32 Research Notes 10/14
33 Task Sheet 10/14
34 Rubric 10/14
35 Peer Edit 10/24
36 Unit 2 Study Guide 10/24

63. Date: 10/26/16
Activity: 1950s PPT Review
Warm Up:
How/where did we see
conformity in the 1950s?
Homework:
• Good copy of Mag due
TOMORROW 10/27
• See new Rubric
• (article is 35 pts)
• Articles must be printed AND
submitted through turnitin.com
Class ID: 13377099
Class Password: writing
• Study Guide due Friday 10/28
• Unit 2 Test 10/28
Pg Assignment Date
30 Project Calendar 10/14
31 Role Chart 10/14
32 Research Notes 10/14
33 Task Sheet 10/14
34 Rubric 10/14
35 Peer Edit 10/24
36 Unit 2 Study Guide 10/24

64. SECTION 4: THE OTHER
AMERICA
 In 1962, nearly
one out of every
four Americans
was living below
the poverty level
 Most of these
poor were the
elderly, single
women and
their children,
and/or minorities

65. WHITE FLIGHT
 In the 1950s, millions
of middle-class white
Americans left the
cities for the suburbs
 At the same time
millions of African
American rural poor
migrated to the cities
 The so-called “White
Flight” drained cities
of valuable resources,
money and taxes

66. Inner Cities
 1962 one out of every four Americans
was living below poverty line
 HUD – Housing and Urban
Development
 Construction of low-income housing

67. Poverty Leads to Activism
 Many Mexicans came to America both
legally and illegally in 1900’s
 Many Mexican-Americans faced
discrimination
 Longoria Incident – WWII hero denied
funeral services in his Texas home
 Organize GI Forum and Unity League
of CA

68. Native Americans
 From the passage of the Dawes Act,
1837-1934, policy of Americanization
 1924 – Snyder Act granted
citizenship to all Native Americans
 1934 Indian Reorganization Act
move policy to Native American
Autonomy

69. Native Americans Cont.
 1943 The Bureau of Indian Affairs
and the federal bureaucracy were
found to be at fault for the troubling
problems of horrific poverty due to
extreme mismanagement.
 1953 Termination Policy – eliminated
economic support, discontinued
reservation system, distributed tribal
lands to individual tribes
 Due to its failure Termination Policy
abandoned in 1963

70. Goals for the rest of today
 Get your magazine put together
and turned in.
 Make sure your name is on
EVERYTHING in the magazine.
 Make sure I have ONE rubric with
your names in the appropriate role
 Work on study guide (due
tomorrow)

71. Goals for Today:
Take about 20ish Minutes to get the following
accomplished!
•Check to make sure everyone has their rough
drafts of everything!
•See if anyone needs help printing, editing,
creating.
•Make sure you all have each other’s contact
information to send good copies of items,
especially in case of illness.
•Get your order together so the TOC can be
made.
•Get your citations together so the Bibliography
can be made.

72. Date: 10/28/16
Activity: Test/Vocab
Warm Up:
Homework:
• Articles must be printed AND
submitted through turnitin.com
Class ID: 13377099
Class Password: writing
• Vocab, Reading and
Questions all due on
Tuesday 11/1
Pg Assignment Date
34 Rubric 10/14
35 Peer Edit 10/24
36 Unit 2 Study Guide 10/24
37 Unit 3 Vocab 10/28
38
Communists Take Power
In China Reading
10/28
39
Communists Take Power
In China Questions
10/28

73. Date: 10/20/16
Activity: 1950s PPT Review
 Warm Up: None
Homework:
• Mass Culture Read by Tomorrow
10/20
• Rough Draft of Mag Article due
by MONDAY 10/24
• We will be in the library on
FRIDAY TO WORK ON
THIS
• Social Issues Read by 10/25
• Good copy of Mag due 10/27
• Rubric is being altered
• Articles must be printed AND
submitted through turnitin.com
• Unit 2 Test 10/28
Pg Assignment Date
27 Postwar Prosperity 10/13
28 Mass Culture in the 1950s 10/13
29 Social Issues of the 1950s 10/13
30 Project Calendar 10/14
31 Role Chart 10/14
32 Research Notes 10/14
33 Task Sheet 10/14
34 Rubric 10/14

74. Date: 10/25/16
Activity: 1950s PPT Review
 Warm Up: Take the first 10-12
minutes to work in your groups if
you need to organize and ensure
no one is overlapping
material/ads or extra additions.
Also, discuss order for TOC
Homework:
• Good copy of Mag due 10/27
• See new Rubric
• (article is 35 pts)
• Articles must be printed AND
submitted through turnitin.com
Class ID: 13377099
Class Password: writing
• Study Guide due Friday 10/28
• Unit 2 Test 10/28
Pg Assignment Date
30 Project Calendar 10/14
31 Role Chart 10/14
32 Research Notes 10/14
33 Task Sheet 10/14
34 Rubric 10/14
35 Peer Edit 10/24
36 Unit 2 Study Guide 10/24