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THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE USA 1945-54 - Coggle Diagram
THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE USA 1945-54
ECONOMIC TRANSFORMATION
Post-war prosperity
the per capita income at $1,450 was almost twice as high as Great Britain
Urban americans consumed about 3,00 calories a day , about 50 more than the average person in Europe --> with also the increase of the boom of processed foods
there was more opportunities for work - industries like aircraft production, chemicals and industrial
However not everyone experienced the boom or prosperity, lile in 1947 still 33% od homes lacked running water and 40% flushing toilets.
The GI Bill of rights
also knows as the selective servicemen's readjustment act (1944) offered grants to US veterans who served in ww2,v for education, learning new skills or setting up a business.
8 million men took this
they revicved $20 per week whole looking for work
but this wasnt always acessbile to those all - like minorities who were servicemen
Car industry
the development of cars, led to greater mobility and the suburbs
Americans were no longer needed to live in crowded towns and cities
sale of cars - 69,500 to 6.7 million by 1950
Majority of them were also US made, with the big three - Ford, General motors and Chrysler
also the number of family friendly cars doubled between 1951-1958
also imcreased buisnesses like roadisde hotels, motels, gas stations and garages --> with mcdonald enjoyed annaul sales of $37 illion
interstate highway act
- boosted federal subsides for road building and developed infrastructure, of US highways. it created 41,000 mile system, mainly duel carriage ways designed to eliminate unsafe roads.
The growth of Suburbs
in 1944 - 114,000 new family homes were built 1950 - 1.7 million
15 million were built , mainly for private purchase
in 15 years ownership of your home went up by 10%
many acquired their homes through the Federal Housing Administration --> this offered mortgages of up to 90% of the cost price and interest rates as low as 4%
people living in the suberbs increased from 17% in 1920 and 33% by 1960
it also increased services in the suburbs, from restaurants to shopping malls. in 1946 there were 8, by late 1950's there was 4,000
The Consumer Society
incessant advertising - multi-billion dollar indusy , riding from $6 billion in 1950 to $13 billion in the 1960's
by 1960 there were 50 million tv in the US
due to the baby room, there was an increase in baby clothes to nappies.
nappies in 1957 was a $50 million industry
4 millon babies were born in 10 years
divorce rates fell
and the average age for marriage dropped from 21.5 to 20.1 in 1956 and within 7 months normally the women would be pregnant
leisure time also rose
by 1951 - 90% of american families had fridges and telephones - often paid with credit
but this meant the amount of debt also increased about $50 million in 15 years
tv dinners
Americans also ncrased the amont of protein - meat they ate from 750 million in 1950 to 2 billion by 1960 of hotdogs
THE HUAC and McCarthyism
The House Un-American Activities committee
was set up by congress in 1938
to investigate Americans who sympathized with the Nazis
the most common case is agaisnt the Hollywood film community who were accused of making communist themed movies to brainwahs americans
people like charlie chaplin, a british comedy actor, was forced to leave the us
there was the hollywood 10 --> mainly groups of writers and directors, whom were fired from their jobs, and evidently sent to prison for contempt of Congress for refusing to testify before the HAUC
1954 - a second investigstion was carried out , which produced the 'black-list' of 350 indivuals who would not be employed in the film industry
the HAUC were also suspicious over labour unions and their links to communism.
Union leaders were forced to swear that they were non-communist by the terms of th Taft-Hartley Act. which outlawed the closed shop ans secondary strikes whole also forcig leaders to confess to being anti-communist also gives the president power to prevent stikes that he considered agianst national intrest
it is also believed there were communist infiltrating government by having spies in the state department as it tended to highr people from wealthy - edcated classes
1947- president truman appeared to fuel these charges by introducing the Loyalty review board (exectitive order 9835) to perform check-ups in government employees, and any found to be sympathetic could be fired.
within 4 years, 1,200 had been dismissed and a further 6,000 resigned
they also found intrest groups like the NAACP a risk from accusation of communist sympathies, as they purged their memebership.
COMMUNISM AND McCARTHYISM
he was a junior senators from Wisconsin
in February 1950 he made a speech that the state department was infested with over 200 spies
althoghh he hadnt a shred of evidence to back up his claims, a few days later he readjusted his figure to 57
but many listened and trusted him
these people were idenfied during the preliminary screening of 3,000 federal employees
but McCarthy had drinking issues
debates wether he brough on the second red scare along with
-china and usa
-loyalty review board
-The Taft Hartley Act
-Korean war
-Atomic bombs
-Hollywood
-McCarthyism
Anticommunism and the Cold War Context
the communist control act 1954 made it illegal t communicate communist ideas including by semaphone
atomic weapons :
in 1949 the USSR exploded its first nuclear weapon , thus the US losing its monopoly on atomic weapons
President Truman said thar rhe USA would seek to develop a hydrogen bomb, with as much as x1000 the power of an atomic bomb.
THE RED SCARE
a series of spy scandls across the globe, in the US, the British Physcisit, Klaus Fuchs, wad convinced un 1950 of giving nuclear secrers to the USSR
one of his associated, Harry Gold was also arrested on the same charges
also Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were executed for giving away atomic secrets
The case of Alger Hiss
worked for the Us
accusrd of being a communist spy
he was a key figure at the Yalta conference and the end of ww2 --> apprenlty where he used his influence to ensure the success of post war USSR
Found guilty of perjury --> lying in court
1950-53 : Korean War
1950 - communist North Korea invaed Capitilsit South Korea
UN : send in troops to support South Korea
USSR and China : sent troops to support North Korea
CULTURAL CHANGE
HOLLYWOOD
it was under investigation from the HUAC, sought to prove in loyalty by making a series of cold war movies about communist infiltration and spies
Edward Ludwigs - Big Jim Mclain, john wayne is a HUAC investigator in Hawaii
Robert Stevenson's 'i married a communist' - the former life of spy catches up with him
TV
the number of tv sets had risen from 60,000 (1947) to 37 million by (1955)
with $15.6 billion on the sale and repair of tv sets
1954 saw the introduction of tv dinners
it was estimagted that half the population's leisure time was the tv
there was a regular audience of 50 million watching
i love lucy
- about a dizzy blonde
Leave it to breaver : depicted the boy beaver learning that his mum and dad was always right and that life utsode a family group was unpleassnt and uncertin
this amplified gender roles and the ideals of a family unit
protrays middle-class women, never working class, white families and this idea of a women without a husband is a lonely one and there is a co-dependancy
STEREOTYPING
WOMEN
homemakers and mothers
ladies home journal and Mccalls
which were full of articles on cooking, fashion, homeware and how to keep the husband happy
in tv and adertisin, they were always protrayes as the middle-class white women
the magazine 'redbook' ran a $500 competition prize inviting women to write in 'why you feel trapped' it received over 24,000 entries
in Hollywood they were often portrayed as the submissive, vulnerable and sweet, like John Farrows 'Hondo' that concluded the role of the homemakers and mother
However actors like Bette Davi to Joan Crawford played the 'pioneer woman' who played assertive and dominant characters which socked the public.
BLACK AMERICANS
they were steroylpyed by either being called 'mammy', 'uncle' or 'boy'.
they were often the ones getting laughed at rather than with him
they were normally servants or caricatures,
Andy 'n' Amos
the NAACP fought against the television as it depicted black americans as stupid or cunning
it then cancleeded production in 1952
they also sttod against black face in many shows
The NAACP and schools
1896 - pleasy vs furgerson case had allowed segregation and emphasises
that facilities must be separate but equal
1933 - Margold report, which argued the pleasy vs fuergson had been poorly thought out and vaguly written
brown vs Topeka board of education
aruging over the fact black chilren had to walk miles to go to poorly resrouced and unstaffed segrated schools, with the white schools with all these things very close to them.
revered beown whose 7 year olf daghrer had to cross railways and wait for a bus to get to school, was ridiculous
the surpeme court, has a new chief of jusrice who was symphatic to civil rights, Earl Warren, who in `1954 the court ruled that in question of education , the notion of 'seperate but equal' had no place
t
TEENAGE CULTURE
1950 - 41.6 % of the population was under 24 and in 1960 nearly 45% were teenagers
a market developed for their intrests - but there as gang fights, teenage drunkness, and disrespectful behaviour towards adults
in 1956 the nuber of teenage ,uders in NY rose by 26% over the previous years
Changing status of minorities
NATIVE AMERICANS
25,000 served in the armed forces and a further 40,00 worked in war production
this is meant mant left the reservations to live in the same way as other groups in rhe cities and production centres
the 1944 indian cliams cmmission was set up to offer fianical compensation to native americans for claims to their lost land