1Jackie Robinson

Key Question 5: What were the major changes in the U.S. economy from 1945 to 1980? C. Wright Mills 1951 and the rise of the higher middle class Business restructuringFeminism in the 1960’sThe Great Society/ Immigration Act of 1965Impact of the Vietnam War on the economyImpact of Vietnam on American society Rise of the radical black activismWomen/Campaigning in the 1970’s and beyondOil crisis of 1972-73

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Unit Themes continued

Key Question 5: What were the major changes in the U.S. economy from 1945 to 1980? - continued

American Indian Movement; Red Power Ceasar Chavez; Dolores Huerta; the United Farm WorkersCuban Immigrants 1959-80“New Refugees” post WWII

Key Question 7: How far did U.S. popular culture change from 1945 to 1980?

Counter-culture

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Post WWII prosperity Minorities in the 20th Century Changing economy in the 70s and 80s

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Because America was virtually undamaged by WWII, American experienced a major economy boost.

After years of rationing during the war, Americans had money to spend and a deep desire to spend it.

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In addition, Americans produced more children during this time than in the past.

This time was called the baby boom. These new families needed new homes,

leading to the rise of the suburbs and many new consumer products.

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Postwar Policies and Prosperity

•Beginning in late 1945, American veterans started returning home.

•Experts were worried that the returning veterans would not find jobs

•If the unemployment rose experts were afraid the economy would tumble.

•Congress passed the G.I. Bill of Rights to help returning veterans.

•The G.I. Bill provided loans for veterans to pay for college or new homes.

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Post War Inflation

•Rising prices was the major postwar problem. prices of merchandise rose.

•Workers demanded higher wages

•Labor unions called strikes.

•President Harry Truman told workers to go back to work and not

to strike.

President Harry Truman the 33rd President of the United States

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The Fair Deal

•President Truman introduced a new reform called the Fair Deal.

•He wanted to extend the liberal policies of his predecessor, Franklin D. Roosevelt.

•Only a few proposals passes:

• A higher minimum wage,

• Extended Social Security benefits,

• Loans for buying low cost houses.

During the post-war years, the United States began to admit, case by case, limited numbers of refugees: Jewish Holocaust survivors after the war, non-Jewish displaced persons fleeing Communist rule in

Central Europe and Russia, Hungarians seeking refuge after their failed uprising in 1956 Cubans after the 1960 revolution

These groups managed to find haven in the United States because their plight moved the conscience of Americans.

However, the basic immigration law remained in place.

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Baby and Economic Booms

•During the Great Depression and World War II many Americans put off having families.

•When the war ended prosperity returned, and the number of births soared.

•Population experts called this phenomenon a baby boom. .

•At the same the economy rapidly expanded.

•More good were produced and sold.

•More jobs were created.

•New technology added to the boom, by promoting steady rises in productivity, or the average output per worker.

Birthrate Chart

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• The economic boom raised Americans’ standard of living, the amount of goods, services, and leisure time.

• Americans bought more washing machines, vacuum cleaners, television sets, automobiles, and many other consumer goods.

washing machines vacuum cleanerstelevision sets

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• Many people bought homes in the suburbs (communities outside the cities).

• Builder William Levitt pioneered a new way of building suburban houses.

• He bought large tracts of land, divided them into small lots, and built identical homes on each lot.

• Homes were mass produced and cheaper to buy.

• Levitt called the project Levittown.

• African Americans were barred from owning or renting in Levittown.

• Levitt feared that if he sold to African Americans, whites would not buy the homes.

William Levitt

Levittown

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• Many Americans flocked to the Sunbelt, a region stretching across the southern rim of the country.

• People were lured there due to the warm climate and good jobs.

• Automobiles became very important to people in the 1950’s.

• By 1969, 9 of 10 Americans living in the suburbs owned a car and a television set.

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American Culture in the 1950’s

•In the mid 1950’s Rock-and-Roll combined sounds or rhythm, blues, country, and gospel with a hard driving beat.

•Teenagers liked rock and roll because it provided an opportunity to show their independence.

•A small group of writers and artists criticized the materialism in American society.

•Novelist, Jack Kerouac termed these people beatniks in his book, On the Road.

beatnik cartoon

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• By the early 1950s C. Wright Mills, influential radical social theorist and critic of 20th century America, wrote White Collar in 1951.

• The book focused on the new middle class – white-collar people on salaries.

• In the book, Mills also comments on:• the rise of mass society where life is impersonal

and mindlessly uniform• the lack of political consciousness in the USA.

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Mills also commented on:•the power of corporate society - society based on the workplace and restructured businesses•Restructured businesses that created the impersonal workplace

• Employees were not valued as individuals

•the many of the new jobs that were alienating people from everyone around them

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While America was experiencing an economy boom, minorities still experienced much discrimination.

The American Indian Movement and Red Power fought the federal government and sought to raise public awareness of the violation of treaty rights.

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• Discrimination limited the lives Mexican Americans and other Latinos.

• They were not subject to strict segregation laws.

• However, the laws as well as traditions worked against them.

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• Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in the major league baseball in 1947 when he joined the Brooklyn Dodgers.

• He was even named the rookie of the year.• Under pressure from civil rights groups, President

Truman ordered integration, or the mixing of different racial groups, in the armed forces in 1948.

Jackie Robinson integration

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• The 1960’s and 1970’s were years of idealism.

• They also turned out to be a time of uncertainty, tragedy, and turmoil for Americans of all ages.

Protest, Reform, and Doubt

John R Kennedy, the 35th President of the United States

The 36th president of the United States Lyndon Johnson

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• After he was elected in 1960, John F Kennedy urged Congress to pass laws to help millions of Americans living in poverty.

• Congress blocked all the president’s poverty programs.

• Congress did fund the Peace Corps, a program that sent volunteers to teach or provide technical help and developing nations.

• Lyndon Johnson became president after Kennedy was assassinated in 1963 and began the Great Society programs.

Peace Corps

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The Great Society•The Great Society programs included:

• Medicare in which the government would help pay hospital costs for senior citizens

• Medicaid which gave money to help or citizens with their medical bills.

• A new office of economic opportunity created job training programs for the unemployed, gave loans to needy farmers and businesses, and poor sections of cities.

• Programs to build housing for low income and middle income families

• Head Start programs to help of children in our schools.

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• Despite President Johnson’s social reforms, protest movements grew in the 1960’s.

• The civil rights movement expanded. • Opposition to the War in Vietnam grew. • Young people began to reject the lifestyles of their parents. • Many Americans joined the counterculture movement. • They criticized the drive for personnel success. • Instead of going to college they “dropped out” and joined

communes. Inspired by the civil rights movement, counterculture called for peace, justice, and social equality.

A burning Viet Cong base

People from communes in the 1960’s

• The war effort strained the nation's production capacities, leading to imbalances in the industrial sector.

• Factories produced military items rather then consumer goods

• The government's handling of economic policy cause much controversy.

• The government's military spending caused several problems for the American economy: • Overseas spending contributed to an imbalance of

payments and a weak dollar• Military expenditures, combined with domestic

social spending, created budget deficits, which fueled inflation.

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• Anti-war sentiments and dissatisfaction with government further eroded consumer confidence

• Interest rates rose, restricting the amount of capital available for businesses and consumers

• The Vietnam War was a important factor in bringing down the American economy from the growth and affluence of the early 1960s to the economic crises of the 1970s.

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• The Black Panthers were a radical group who told African Americans to arm themselves to end segregation.

• Black Muslims, such as Malcolm X argued that African Americans could succeed only if they separated from white society.

• Before he was assassinated, Malcolm X began to change his views.

Malcolm XBlack Panthers

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• Many angry protesters turned violent during August of 1965.

• In Watts, a black neighborhood in Los Angeles, rioters set fire to buildings and looted stores.

• Some 4,000 people were arrested, 34 people were killed, and 1,000 people injured.

• Chicago and Detroit also had similar violent protests.

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• As more and more young men were sent to fight in Vietnam, the antiwar movement gained strength.

• Protesters staged rallies, burned draft cards, and refused to serve in the military.

• Protests did not end until 1973, when the US withdrew from Vietnam and the War ended.

Milton L. Olive III fought and died in the Vietnam War

A soldier in the Vietnam War

Economy crash Reaganomics Technology

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The economy boom lasted until the 1970s. The economic collapse coupled with the oil

crisis caused American to enter a turbulent time.

When America choose to support Israel in a war against members of OPEC (oil producers in the Middle East), OPEC cut off America’s oil causes massive shortages in America.

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• Richard M. Nixon was elected president in 1968

• He reduced the funds for the Great Society programs during his presidency, including job training, low income housing, and education.

• He called this transfer of power the “New Federalism.”

• During his campaign he said he wanted to help the “silent majority.”

• The Silent Majority were the people who were disturbed by the unrest in the 1960’s but did not protest publically.

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• Nixon inherited the space program from Kennedy and Johnson.

• In 1969, just as Nixon took office, two astronauts landed a small craft on the moon’s surface. Millions of people watched this event on the television.

• Neil Armstrong became the• first person to step on the

moon.

First moon walk

Neil Armstrong

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• During the Nixon years, the economy suffered from stagflation, a combination of rising prices, high unemployment, and slow economic growth.

• To halt inflation Nixon froze wages and prices. • To stimulate growth Nixon increase federal spending.• Still the economic problems would no go away.

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• Gerald Ford became the new President after the Watergate scandal forced Nixon from office.

• In 1976, Jimmy Carter won the election as the new President.

• Carter was a strong defender of human rights. • He was unable to stop rising prices and inflation.

Gerald Ford the 38th President

Jimmy Carter became the 39th President

Under Ford the economic problems continued, but policy was more prudent.

Federal oil reserves were created to ease future short term shocks

Carter started phasing out price controls on petroleum

High inflation and high unemployment continued

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1970’s Social Reforms

•In the 1970’s many African Americans won public offices in small towns and large cities. Atlanta, Cleveland, Detroit, New Orleans, and Los Angles had all elected black mayors by 1979. •President Johnson appointed Thurgood Marshall to the Supreme Court. •Many Universities adopted affirmative action programs which sought to hire and promote minorities.

Thurgood Marshall

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The Women’s Rights Movement•Since the 1960’s, women’s drive for equal rights has been known as the Women’s Rights Movement. •In the workplace qualified women found male employers were unwilling to hire them for certain jobs. •They were usually paid less then men. •In 1966, writer Betty Friedman helped set up the National Organization for Women (NOW), which worked or equal rights for women in jobs and education into the 1970’s.

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• New laws helped women make some gains. The Equal Rights Act of 1964 required equal pay for equal work and outlawed discrimination in hiring based on gender and race.

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•In the 1970’s Latino’s worked hard for equal Rights. •More than 10 million Latino’s lived in the United States, many were migrant workers from Mexico. •They were paid low wages and worked in harsh conditions. •Many Latino’s from Puerto Rico came to the United States to work in factories.

• They faced job and house discrimination. •Cuban Americans fled from Fidel Castro when he set up a communist government in Cuba.

• The first wave of Cuban immigrants from 1959-1962 were mostly educated individuals.

• The second wave of immigrants from Cuba in the 1980’s were mostly unskilled workers. • Many settled in Miami, Florida and were subject to

discrimination.

The Hispanic Flag

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• Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta formed the United Farm Workers, a union of migrant workers.

• When the workers were mistreated Chavez called for a national boycott of farm products.

• This led to higher wages and better working conditions.

• By the mid 1960’s Latino’s began taking pride in their history and culture.

• Latino’s became registered voters and they elected many Latino officials to represent their own interests.

• One result of the Voting Rights Act of 1975 was bilingual elections.

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•Native Americans also worked for their rights. •The American Indian Movement (AIM) protested the treatment of Indians. •The Native Americans wanted to remind Americans of the governments failure to deal fairly with American Indians.

• The 1973 oil crisis started in October 1973, when the members of Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries or the OAPEC proclaimed an oil embargo.

• By the end of the embargo in March 1974,

the price of oil had risen from US$3 per barrel to nearly $12.

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• The oil crisis, or "shock", caused many global short-term and long-term economic and political effects.

• The 1973 "oil price shock", along with the 1973–1974 stock market crash, has been regarded as the first event since the Great Depression to have a persistent economic effect.

• They were blamed for dramatic price inflation in the period following the crisis.

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End of the Decade

•After decades of social change, many conservatives called for return to traditional values.

•These included religion, family, and patriotism.

•Evangelical Christian churches grew rapidly during the 1970’s and 1980’s.

•Evangelists sought out to convert people using television to widen their audience.

•In 1979 Jerry Falwell founded the Moral Majority.

•The group supported political candidates who favored conservative religious goals.

Jerry Falwell

A fix to the unemployment

and inflation of the time.

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Reagan+Economics=Reaganomics

1. reduce govt. spending2. reduce marginal tax rates

on income from labor and capital

3. reduce government regulation of the economy

4. control the money supply to reduce inflation

Reduce governm

ent Spending

Reduce M

arginal Tax R

ates

Reduce govt. R

egulation of Econom

y

Control $ supply to reduce inflation

(Wikipedia)

Policies derided as "Trickle-down economics“ due to the significant cuts in the upper tax brackets

Massive increase in Cold War related defense spending caused large budget deficits

The U.S. trade deficit expansion contributed to Savings and Loan crisis

To cover new federal budget deficits, United States borrowed heavily both domestically and abroad raising national debt $700 billion to $3 trillion

Reagan described the new debt as the "greatest disappointment" of his presidency

(Wikipedia)

American economy did better than any other pre- or post- Reagan years

Median family income grew by $4,000, during Reagan Era and after wards decreased by $1500

Interest Rates, Inflation, and Unemployment decreased faster than pre- and post- Reagan years

Productivity Rate increased, declined and then stayed the same

(Wikipedia)

The first computer was created during WWII. The next few decades saw major changes in

technology. These changes lead to an improvement in the

economy and changes in the society. And eventually led to a whole new way of

American life.

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