1945–1965
I. The Affluent Society
A. The Economic Record
1. By the end of 1945,
2. American economic leadership translated into affluence
at home; domestic prosperity benefited a wider segment of society than anyone had
thought possible in the dark days of the Great Depression.
3. The predominant thrust of modern corporate life was the
consolidation of economic and financial resources by oligopolies—a few large producers
that controlled the markets. 4.
Conglomerates were protected from instability in any one market by diversifying;
therefore, they were more effective international competitors. 5. The weakness of competition abroad enabled
American businesses to enter foreign regions when domestic markets were
saturated or experiencing recessions.
6. A meeting in
8. The World Bank, the IMF, and GATT encouraged stable
prices, the liberation of trade barriers and the reduction of tariffs, flexible
domestic markets, and free trade based on fixed exchange rates.
9.
10. The AFL-CIO, created by the 1955 merger of the
Congress of Industrial Organizations and the American Federation of Labor,
represented over 90 percent of
12. Consumer spending soared, and inflation was low; yet
the boon was marred by periodic bouts of recession and unemployment that particularly
hurt low-income and nonwhite workers.
1. Americans began to leave older cities in the North and
2. Arthur Levitt applied
mass-production techniques to home construction; other developers followed suit
in subdivisions all over the country, hastening the exodus from farms and cities.
3. New suburban homes, as well as the Federal Housing
Administration and Veterans Administration loans to mortgage them with, were reserved
mostly for whites.
4. Although Shelley v. Kraemer (1948) ruled
that restrictive covenants were illegal, the practice continued until the civil
rights laws of the 1960s banned private discrimination.
5. New growth patterns were most striking in the South and
West, where inexpensive land, unorganized labor, low
taxes, and warm climates beckoned;
7. Automobiles were essential to the growth of suburbs and
to the development of the “Sun Belt”; the 1950s guzzlers became symbols of status
and success.
8. Highways were funded by federal government programs
such as the National Interstate and Defense Highway Act of 1956; air pollution and
traffic jams soon became problems in cities.
9. As Americans began to drive to suburban shopping malls
and supermarkets, downtown retail economy dried up, helping to precipitate the
decay of the central cities.
1. The new prosperity of the 1950s was aided by a dramatic
increase in consumer credit, which enabled families to stretch their incomes. 2. Aggressive advertising by corporations
contributed to the massive increase in consumer spending.
3. Consumers had more free time in which to spend their
money; millions took to the interstate highways, spurring dramatic growth in motel
chains, restaurants, and fast-food eateries.
4. Television supplanted radio as the chief diffuser of popular culture;
it portrayed American families as white, middle-class suburbanites, and
nonwhite characters were usually servants.
5. The Federal Communications Commissioner called
television “a vast wasteland”; however, its images of postwar family life and
society fit with the expectations of many Americans. 6. After the depression, Americans yearned
for security and a reaffirmation of traditional values; this yearning
manifested itself in a renewed national emphasis on religion.
7. In 1954, the phrase “under God” was inserted into the
Pledge of Allegiance, and in 1956 Congress added “In God We Trust” to all
8. Norman Vincent Peale’s The Power of Positive Thinking
embodied the trend toward the therapeutic use of religion in order
to assist Americans in coping with the stresses of modern life. 9. Evangelical religion experienced
resurgence with the popular Reverend Billy Graham. 10. Postwar family demographics changed from previous
years: marriages were remarkably stable, there was a drop in the average age at
marriage, and the birthrate shot up.
11. The baby boom prompted a major expansion in the nation’s
education system, and babies’ consumer needs helped to fuel the economy. 12. Coupled with national defense
expenditures, family spending on consumer goods fueled unparalleled prosperity
and economic growth in the 1950s and 1960s.
13. As parents of baby boomers, men were expected to
conform to a masculine ideal that emphasized their role as responsible breadwinners. 14. Women were advised that their proper
place was in the home; endorsing the “feminine mystique,” psychologists
pronounced motherhood the only “normal” female sex role.
15. Not all women chose to be housewives; an increase in
the overall number of working women coincided with an increase in the number of
older,married, middle-class
working women.
16. Working women still bore full responsibility for child
care and household management. 17. The
emergence of a mass youth culture had its roots in the democratization of
education, the growth of peer pressure, and the increasing purchasing power of
teenagers.
18.
20. In major cities, gay men and women founded gay rights
organizations, but many gays were still perceived as a threat to mainstream
sexual and cultural norms and therefore remained closeted.
21. Postwar artists,musicians,
and writers expressed their alienation from mainstream society through
intensely personal, introspective art forms; abstract expressionism captured
the chaotic atmosphere of the nuclear age.
22. A similar trend developed in jazz, as black musicians originated a
hard-driving improvisational style known as “bebop.”
23. The rebellion of the Beats, although strictly cultural,
inspired a new generation of rebels in the 1960s who championed both political
and cultural change.
II. The Other
A. Migration to Cities
1. With jobs and financial resources flowing to
the suburbs, urban newcomers inherited a declining
economy and a decaying environment
·
the “Other
2. The War Brides Act, the Displaced Persons Act, the
McCarran-Walter Act, and the repeal of the Chinese Exclusion Act all helped to
create an influx of immigrants into American cities. 3. The federal government welcomed Mexican labor
under its bracero program
but deported those who stayed illegally; 4 million Mexicans were deported
during “Operation Wetback.” 4. Residents of Puerto Rico had been American citizens
since 1917, so they were not subject to immigration laws; they became
5. Cuban refugees were the third largest group of Spanish-speaking
immigrants; the Cuban refugee community turned
6. Internal migration from rural areas brought large
numbers of people to the cities, especially African Americans, after the introduction
of innovations like the mechanical cotton-picker, which reduced southern demand
for labor. 7. By 1960, about half of the
nation’s black population was living outside the South, compared with only 23
percent before World War II. 8. After
the 1953 “Termination” programs, many Indians settled together in poor urban
neighborhoods alongside other nonwhite groups; many found it difficult to
adjust to an urban environment and culture.
1. Between 1950 and 1960, the nation’s twelve largest
cities lost 3.6 million whites and gained 4.5 million nonwhites.
2. As affluent whites left the cities, urban tax revenues shrank,
leading to the decay of services and infrastructure; housing continued to be a crucial
problem.
3. Urban renewal demolished about 400,000 buildings and
displaced 1.4 million people between 1949 and 1967.
4. Postwar urban areas increasingly became places of last
resort for
5. Two separate
III. John F. Kennedy and the Politics of
Expectation A. The New Politics 1. Democrat John F. Kennedy, with Lyndon B. Johnson as his running mate,
won the 1960 presidential election over Republican Richard M. Nixon.
2. Kennedy called for civil rights legislation, health
care for the elderly, aid to education, urban renewal, expanded military and
space programs, and containment of communism abroad.
3. Kennedy practiced what became known as the “new
politics,” an approach that emphasized youthful charisma, style, and
personality more than issues and platforms.
4. Television was a powerful medium for political life;
voters who listened to the 1960 presidential debates on the radio concluded
that Nixon had won, and those who watched it on TV felt that Kennedy had won.
5. Kennedy, a Catholic, successfully appealed to the
diverse elements of the Democratic coalition;
Johnson brought in the votes of southern white Democrats.
1. A resolute cold warrior, Kennedy proposed a new policy
of flexible response measures designed to deter direct attacks by the
2. Kennedy adopted a new military doctrine of counterinsurgency;
soon the Green Berets of the U.S. Army’s Special Forces were being trained to
repel guerrilla warfare.
3. The Peace Corps, the Agency for International Development,
and the
5. Isolated by the
6. In early 1961, Kennedy attempted to foment an
anti-Castro uprising; the CIA-trained invaders were crushed by Castro’s troops
after landing at
8. In October 1962, American reconnaissance planes flying
over
9. In a televised address, Kennedy confronted the Soviet
Union and announced that the
10. After a week of tense negotiations, both Kennedy and
Khrushchev made concessions:
the
1. Kennedy could not mobilize public or congressional support
for his New Frontier agenda; also, he was not as passionate about domestic reform
as he was about foreign policy. 2.
Funding for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and its
Mercury program won support; on May 5, 1961, Alan Shepard
became the first American in space. 3.
After Kennedy’s assassination, the Tax Reduction Act (the Kennedy-Johnson tax
cut, 1964) marked a milestone in the use of fiscal policy to encourage economic
growth.
4. Kennedy managed to push through legislation raising the
minimum wage and expanding Social Security benefits, but he ran into
congressional opposition on federal aid to education and medical insurance for
the elderly.
1. One of the gravest failures of the Kennedy
administration
was its reluctance to act on
civil
rights.
Christian Leadership Conference helped to organize the
Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee in order to facilitate sit-ins by blacks
demanding an end to segregation. 3. The
Congress of Racial Equality organized freedom rides on bus lines in the South
to call attention to segregation on public transportation; the activists were
attacked by white mobs. 4. Most southern
communities quietly acceded to the Interstate Commerce Commission’s prohibition
of segregated interstate vehicles and facilities. 5. Television cameras captured the severe
mistreatment of civil rights activists during a protest in
6. In what black leaders hailed as the “Second Emancipation
Proclamation,” Kennedy promised major legislation banning discrimination in
public accommodations.
7. Medgar Evers, the president
of the
8. A massive civil rights march on
10. Southern senators blocked the civil rights
legislation, and there was an outbreak of violence by white extremists; in
1. On November 22, 1963, in
IV. Lyndon B. Johnson and the Great
Society A. The Momentum for Civil Rights 1.
Johnson won the 1964 election in a landslide and used his energy and genius for
compromise to bring to fruition many of Kennedy’s stalled programs as well as
many of his own. 2. The Civil Rights Act
passed in June 1964; Title VII outlawed discrimination in employment on the
basis of race, religion, national origin, or sex.
3. The Civil Rights Act forced desegregation of public
facilities throughout the South, yet obstacles to black voting remained.
4. A civil rights campaign known as Freedom Summer
established freedom schools, conducted a voter registration drive, and
organized the
5. The reaction of white southerners to Freedom Summer was
swift and violent; fifteen civil rights workers were murdered, and only 1,200 black
voters were registered.
6. Civil rights activists near
Johnson redoubled his efforts to get pending voting-rights
legislation passed. 7. The Voting Rights
Act of 1965 suspended the literacy tests and other measures most southern states
used to prevent blacks from registering to vote.
8. The Twenty-fourth Amendment’s outlawing of the federal poll tax, combined with the Voting Rights Act, allowed millions of blacks to register to vote for the first time.
1. When Johnson beat out Republican senator Barry
Goldwater for the presidency in 1964, he achieved one of the largest margins in
history:
61.1 percent of the popular vote.
2. Johnson used this mandate not only to promote the civil
rights agenda but also to bring to fruition what he called “The Great Society.”
3. The Elementary and Secondary Education Act helped to benefit impoverished
children; the Higher Education Act provided the first federal scholarships for
college students.
4. Federal health insurance legislation was enacted; the
result was Medicare for the elderly and Medicaid for the poor.
5. The National Endowment for the Arts and the National
Endowment for the Humanities supported artists and historians in their efforts
to understand and interpret the nation’s cultural and historical heritage.
6. At the insistence of his wife, Lady Bird, President Johnson
promoted the Highway Beautification Act of 1965.
7. Great Society programs emphasized quality of life: the
problems of “vanishing beauty,”“increasing ugliness,”
and shrinking open space and the effects of pollution, noise, and blight. 8. Liberal Democrats brought about
significant changes in immigration policy with the passage of the Immigration
Act of 1965, which abandoned the quota system of the 1920s. 9. The “War on Poverty” expanded longestablished social insurance programs, welfare programs
(like Aid to Families with Dependent Children and Food Stamps), and public works
programs.
10. The Office of Economic Opportunity created programs
such as Head Start, the Job Corps, Upward Bound,Volunteers in Service to
11. The Johnson administration put issues of poverty,
justice, and access at the center of national political life, and it expanded
the federal government’s role in protecting citizens’ welfare. 12. The political necessity of bowing to
pressure from various interest groups hampered Great Society programs; another
problem was limited funding.
13. Democratic support for further governmental activism
was hindered by a growing conservative backlash against the expansion of civil rights
and social welfare programs.
14. After 1965 the Vietnam War siphoned funding away from
domestic programs; in 1966 the government spent $22 billion on the war and only
$1.2 billion on the War on Poverty.