1. Postwar America ( )
Lesson 5 Postwar Prosperity

2. Lesson 5 Postwar Prosperity
Postwar America ( )
Lesson 5 Postwar Prosperity
Learning Objectives
Describe how the Unites States made the transformation to a booming peacetime economy.
Discuss the growth of the Sunbelt and the effects of migration.
Describe changes in the U.S. economy in the postwar period.
Discuss the accomplishments and leadership qualities of Presidents Harry Truman and Dwight Eisenhower.

3. Lesson 5 Postwar Prosperity
Postwar America ( )
Lesson 5 Postwar Prosperity
Key Terms
demobilization
GI Bill of Rights
baby boom
productivity
Sunbelt
service sector
information industries
franchise businesses
Sam Walton
Estee Lauder
multinational corporations
AFL-CIO
Taft-Hartley Act
Fair Deal

4. Causes and Effects of Prosperity in the 1950s
After World War II, many Americans worried that the war’s end would bring renewed economic depression. Numerous economists shared this pessimistic view of the future, predicting that the American economy could not produce enough jobs to employ all those who were returning from the military. Yet instead of a depression, Americans experienced the longest period of economic growth in American history, a boom that enabled millions of Americans to enter the middle class. This era of sustained growth fostered a widespread sense of optimism about the nation’s future.

5. Causes and Effects of Prosperity in the 1950s
Impact of the GI Bill
A Baby Boom Increases Consumption
Postwar Inflation
Free Enterprise Improves U.S. Standard of Living
Technological Progress Enhances Productivity
Military Spending Supports Growth

6. Causes and Effects of Prosperity in the 1950s
After the war, large factories produced non-wartime goods, such as these radios, fueling the nation’s new prosperity. Compare How is this factory similar to those that flourished during World War II?

7. Causes and Effects of Prosperity in the 1950s
Analyze Data In your opinion, which is more important to the U.S. economy, home ownership or automobile ownership? Why?

8. Americans Migrate to the Sunbelt
In 1958, two New York baseball teams—the Dodgers and the Giants—moved to California. Their move reflected another crucial trend of the postwar era, the growth of the Sunbelt, the name given to the southern and western states. By the mid-1960s, California passed New York as the state with the largest population. The migration to Sunbelt cities, such as Houston, Texas, and Los Angeles, California, continued for the rest of the twentieth century.

9. Americans Migrate to the Sunbelt
Causes of Migration
Effects of Migration on Society and the Environment

10. Americans Migrate to the Sunbelt
During the 1950s, many Americans moved to the warm and sunny South and West, the so-called “Sunbelt.” Huge developments, like Lakeland Park in California, met their need for housing.

11. Americans Migrate to the Sunbelt
Analyze Maps Several states in the sunbelt saw significant growth in their populations. Based on the map, which states had the most growth? Which states lost population?

12. Innovations and Economic Development
The important postwar population shifts were matched by equally groundbreaking structural changes in the American economy. For the first time in American history, more people found employment in the service sector—businesses that provide services, such as healthcare, law, retail, banking, or insurance—than in the manufacturing sector. These shifts led some to describe the United States as a postindustrial society.

13. Innovations and Economic Development
Innovative Computers Drive Economic Growth
Changes in the Labor Force
The Role of Entrepreneurs
Entrepreneurs Lead Management Innovations
American Corporations Go Multinational
Effects of Prosperity on Labor

14. Innovations and Economic Development
Service sectors, such as advertising, financial services, and insurance, experienced a great deal of growth during the 1950s.

15. Truman’s Postwar Leadership
As the postwar economy evolved and new demographic patterns changed society, American leaders faced rapidly shifting domestic and foreign political landscapes. On April 12, 1945, when Franklin Roosevelt died, Harry S. Truman had been Vice President for only 4 months. When Eleanor Roosevelt told him that her husband had died, Truman responded, “Is there anything I can do for you?” She replied, “Is there anything we can do for you? For you are the one in trouble now.”

16. Truman’s Postwar Leadership
Relationships with Congress and Labor
Support for Civil Rights
Truman Defeats Dewey
Consequences of Truman’s Presidency

17. Truman’s Postwar Leadership
Unmet demands for pay raises in the face of inflation led to labor unrest, such as this strike at a Pittsburgh steel mill, during the Truman administration.

18. Eisenhower Leads a Thriving Nation
The 1952 election was hardly a contest. The Republican candidate, Dwight Eisenhower, was so popular that both the Democratic and Republican parties had wanted him as their presidential candidate. Eisenhower, whose nickname was Ike, charmed the public with his friendly smile, reassuring personality, and record of service and honesty. The Democratic candidate, Adlai Stevenson, a senator from Illinois, failed to catch the popular imagination the way Eisenhower did.

19. Eisenhower Leads a Thriving Nation
President Dwight D. Eisenhower led the United States during a time of exuberant growth and prosperity.

20. Quiz: Causes and Effects of Prosperity in the 1950s
At the end of World War II, many American soldiers were afraid of
A. demobilization.
B. inflation.
C. readjustment.
D. unemployment.

21. Quiz: Americans Migrate to the Sunbelt
What caused a shift in representation in Congress?
A. migration to warmer regions
B. high inflation of the price of goods
C. the return of soldiers from World War II
D. the number of women in the labor force

22. Quiz: Innovations and Economic Development
What role did women play in keeping more families in the middle class?
A. Women are credited with having created the boom in the information industry.
B. Many of the earliest franchise businesses were owned and operated solely by women.
C. Many families remained in the middle class because of the paychecks earned by women.
D. Women developed technologies that helped farms produce more food with fewer workers.

23. Quiz: Truman’s Postwar Leadership
President Truman lost political standing in his own party due to his support for civil rights and his
A. stance on foreign issues.
B. trouble with trade unions.
C. national health insurance program.
D. attacks on the “do nothing” Congress.

24. Quiz: Eisenhower Leads a Thriving Nation
Though Eisenhower had never held political office, most Americans believed he would take the “middle road” due to his
A. calm personality.
B. record of honesty.
C. conservative views.
D. military background.