Chapter 19 The Postwar Boom Notes – Flashcards
Unlock all answers in this set
Unlock answersquestion
How did the GI Bill help returning veterans?
answer
It paid for college, helped the unemployed, and offered low interest loans.
question
What economic challenges did America face after the war?
answer
Housing shortages, employment, readjustment to family life, lower wages, and shortages of goods.
question
What caused the economy to recover so rapidly?
answer
Americans had money to spend. They had saved so much during the war.
question
How did Truman handle strikes by miners and railroad workers?
answer
He threatened them with the draft and make them work.
question
What caused voters to elect a conservative Republican Congress in 1946?
answer
Americans were not satisfied with the shortages of goods and rising costs.
question
How did Truman deal with civil rights?
answer
He supported civil rights, equality for everyone.
question
How did Truman use his executive power to advance civil rights?
answer
Truman issued an executive order integrating the military after Congress refused to act.
question
How did the civil rights issue affect the Democratic Party in the election of 1948?
answer
It divided the party in the south.
question
What was Truman's Fair Deal?
answer
An extension of the New Deal to health insurance and helping farmers
question
How was the Fair Deal received by Congress?
answer
Congress did not pass any of the Fair Deal laws.
question
Why did Truman not run for reelection in 1952?
answer
Due to the Korean War and McCarthyism.
question
What kind of leadership style did Eisenhower bring to the presidency?
answer
He was in the middle road of domestic issues. He didn't want any controversy.
question
What did Eisenhower's reelection in 1956 signify?
answer
Americans liked what he was doing domestically.
question
What happened to blue-collar jobs in the 1950's?
answer
new opportunities created white collar jobs. There were not as many needs for blue-collar jobs
question
How were conglomerates and franchises alike?
answer
Both were successful businesses that grew rapidly.
question
How were conglomerates and franchises different?
answer
Conglomerates grew by diversifying. Franchises grew by opening stores in new locations.
question
How did expectations change from one generation to another?
answer
It changed form individuality to conformity
question
What effects did the climate in many corporations have on some workers?
answer
Some became dissatisfied with the emphasis on conformity and the impersonal corporate atmosphere.
question
What were some aspects of the suburban lifestyle?
answer
Affordable house, good schools, safe and healthy environment for children
question
Why was there a baby boom?
answer
Families reuniting, decreased marriage age, confidence in economic prosperity and advances in medicine.
question
How did the baby boom affect American life in the 1950s?
answer
Creation of youth-centered culture; increased demand for consumer goods and jobs related to educating and taking care of children.
question
What did many American women think of their role as homemakers?
answer
They were not happy. They felt isolated, bored, and unfulfilled.
question
What happened to car sales in the 1950's?
answer
Car sales increased because of the suburbs.
question
How did the interstate highway system change the way America traveled?
answer
It made travel faster and connected people to far off locations.
question
What opportunities were created by the successes of the automobile industry in the 1950s?
answer
It stimulated production, provided jobs, made suburbs accessible.
question
What problems were created by the successes of the automobile industry in the 1950s?
answer
Pollution, accidents, economic differences in poor and middle-class Americans, and deterioration of public transport.
question
What were American buying patterns for consumer goods in the 1950s?
answer
Buying new things
question
How did manufactures encourage people to buy more consumer goods?
answer
Planned obsolescence
question
How did advertisers seek to increase sales?
answer
By convincing Americans to buy things they really didn't need.
question
What does television provide for the American people?
answer
entertainment
question
What do Americans object to on TV?
answer
Violence
question
What happened to radio in the 1950's?
answer
Focused on news and music
question
What happened to movies in the 1950's?
answer
Focused on color, size of the screen, and sound.
question
How did the beat movement challenge conformity?
answer
They did not have typical jobs or attitudes about society. They are the opposite of the average 1950's American.
question
How did the attitude of beat writers toward structure reflect their views about society?
answer
They didn't like structure as was occurring in the 1950s. Think outside the box.
question
Why do you think many young Americans were attracted to the beat movement?
answer
Teenagers looking for alternatives to the conformity and consumerism of their parents found a celebration of poverty, unconformity and art that reflected immediate sensory experience.
question
How did rock n roll challenge middle class values?
answer
People thought it would lead to teenage delinquency and immorality
question
How did rock n roll get into mainstream culture?
answer
Through radio ad television exposure
question
What was the relationship between Blacks and mainstream culture in the 1950s?
answer
They were not represented in the mass media.
question
Why did whites leave the cities?
answer
To live in the new suburbs
question
What was the result of white flight?
answer
Decay of the city due to lack of people, businesses, and taxes.
question
How did urban renewal affect cities?
answer
It did create new business but did not create enough housing for those displaced
question
What role did Mexican-Americans play in the development of the Southwest?
answer
They filled jobs that other Americans did not want.
question
What was the Longoria incident?
answer
Longoria was a Mexican-American killed during WW2 and the hometown would not bury him in the local cemetery.
question
How did the Longoria incident motivate Mexican-Americans to increase their political and social activism?
answer
They were outraged at the discrimination against them and the incident spurred them on to become more politically active and organized.
question
What civil rights efforts were undertaken by Native Americans?
answer
To make sure that Native Americans had civil rights and to retain their tribal customs
question
What was the termination policy?
answer
the US govt gave up responsibility for the tribes and eliminated federal economic support
