The GI Bill after WWII provided education and housing benefits to veterans, encouraging many to move to new suburban developments built by Levitt and others. Affordable new homes in the suburbs led to mass migration and "white flight" from cities in the 1950s. During this postwar period of economic growth, consumerism and car culture rose along with leisure activities. The baby boom also swelled the population as more focused on domestic life. Television and new forms of media and music further influenced popular culture trends.

1. Postwar America and the
Rise of Popular Culture

2. The Growth of Suburbia
G.I. Bill of Rights in 1944 encouraged veterans
to get an education by paying part of their
tuition, 1 year of unemployment benefits,
and a federally guaranteed loan
• In 1945 and 1946 the housing crisis led
developers William Levitt and Henry
Kaiser to create efficient-assembly-line
mass produced homes (Levittowns)
• Levitt, who bragged that his company
could build a house in 16 minutes, offered
homes in small residential communities
surrounding cities, called suburbs, for less
than $ 7,000
• As a result, starting in the 1950s millions
of middle-class white Americans left the
cities for the suburbs (white flight)

3. Truman’s Domestic Policy
• During President Truman’s
presidency, he offered what
he called a “Fair Deal”- an
extension of Roosevelt’s New
Deal, including proposals for
a nationwide system of
compulsory health insurance
and a crop-subsidy system
(both were defeated in
Congress)

4. Eisenhower’s Domestic Policy
• As president, Eisenhower was
determined to reverse the trend he saw
in U.S. domestic policy toward greater
federal involvement in the affairs of the
states, localities, and private citizens.
• He began to collect information on
domestic policy and formulate his own
concept of a domestic program.
• He was in fact willing to strengthen
those federal programs that had good
track records and even to introduce new
measures on a selective basis.
• This was his concept of the "Middle
Way."

5. Baby Boom Era
• The suburban lifestyle was
accomplished through achieving job
security, home, and the so-called good
life
• As soldiers returned from WWII and
settled into family life, they
contributed to an unprecedented
population explosion known as the
baby boom (1940s-1960s)
• At the height of the baby boom era
(1957), one American infant was
estimated to be born every 7 seconds
(a total of 4,308,000 that year)

6. Leisure Activities Increase
• Leisure activities in the
1950s increased with
the 40 hour work week
established- these
activities included
fishing, bowling,
hunting, boating, and
golf

7. The Automobile Culture
The automobile culture expanded by
the following:
• easy credit
• plentiful fuel
• suburban living
• the Interstate Highway System
(Interstate Highway Act 1956)

8. Positive and Negative Effects of
Auto Industry
• The automobile industry boomed and
stimulated production and provided
jobs, but it also increased other
negative aspects of the automobile
culture
Positive: creation of drive-in-movies,
restaurants, and shopping malls
Negative: pollution, noise, traffic jams,
road rage, public transportation
declined

9. The Growth of Consumerism
Consumerism grew in the 1950s and
1960s- that is, buying material goods
came to be equated with success
• planned obsolescence (items designed
to become obsolete)
• Buy Now, Pay Later (purchase on
credit)
• The Diner’s Club issued the first credit
card in 1950 (American Express 1958)
• advertising industry capitalized on
consumerism by encouraging even
more spending

10. Popular Culture
Popular culture of the 1950s was
facilitated by the following:
• Mass media (means of
communication)
• The Rise of Television
• The Beat Movement
(expressed the social and
literary nonconformity of
artists, poets, and writers
• Rock ‘n’ Roll (Elvis Presley)