1. Post War AMERICA

2. THE G.I. BILL
Provided college for returning World War II veterans (commonly referred to as GIs)
Provided one year of unemployment compensation
Millions of GIs bought homes, attended college, started business venture, or found jobs

3. THE G.I. BILL
VA Mortgages paid for nearly 5 million new homes, by making homes affordable with low interest rates and 30 year loans.
President Franklin Roosevelt signs the GI Bill in 1944
Between 1945 and 1954, the U.S. added 13 million new homes to its housing stock

4. Truman and Civil Rights
One of the major acts Harry
Truman made as president was in when 1948 Truman made an executive order
to end segregation in
the armed forces
Truman also asked Congress to pass a civil rights bill that would make lynching a federal crime

5. ELECTION of 1948
Truman angered many Southern Democrats by supporting desegregation
Many people didn’t think he would be re-elected
Harry S Truman
Thomas Dewey
Strom Thurmond
People were so sure that Truman would lose that one headline even incorrectly said that Dewey had won
Historians view the Election of 1948 as the greatest election upset in American history

6. ELECTION of 1948
Southern Democrats leave national party in response to Truman's support for Civil Rights
Strom Thurmond – South Carolina Senator, runs for president as a Dixicrat
Dixicrats were Southern Democrats who backed racial segregation and limiting the voting rights of African Americans. The party was also known as the States Rights Party.
Thomas Dewey, New York’s Governor, runs for the Republicans
Truman appeared to lose – but appeals directly to the people, citing the “Do-nothing Republican Congress” and wins the Election

8. Truman’s “Fair Deal”
Truman said that all Americans had the right to expect a “fair deal” from the government
“The buck stops here.”
-- Harry Truman
What did the Fair Deal do?
It increased the minimum wage
Expansion of Social Security benefits
National Housing Act was passed to provide funding to build low-income housing

9. The Taft-Hartley Act
The federal law that greatly restricting the activities and power of labor unions
Closed union shops illegal (Businesses could hire non-union workers)
Union shop only after a vote of a majority of the employees.
No more jurisdictional strikes and secondary boycotts.
Employers have right to be exempted from bargaining with unions

10. Labor unions hated the Taft-Hartley Act

11. Eisenhower Elected President in 1952
During Eisenhower ‘s presidency America enjoyed
a period of relative prosperity, Eisenhower strengthened Social Security, created the massive new Interstate Highway System and maneuvered behind the scenes to discredit the rabid anti-Communist Senator Joseph McCarthy. Popular throughout his administration, he faltered in the protection of civil rights by failing to fully enforce the Supreme Court’s mandate for the desegregation of schools in Brown v. Board of Education (1954).
During his presidency, Eisenhower managed Cold War-era tensions with the Soviet Union under the looming threat of nuclear weapons, ended the war in Korea in 1953 and authorized a number of covert anti-communist operations by the CIA around the world.

12. Interstate Highways Built
The Federal Highway Act was passed in 1956
This was the largest public works program in American history.
Law called for the building of 40,000 miles of interstate
Interstate roads built in Texas are I-10, I-20, I-30, I-35 and I-45

13. Suburbia in America
During the ’50s, many people began to move into the suburbs.
Suburbs are places outside the city where many white-collar workers live
The New York suburb of Levittown was the first modern suburb

14. 13 million homes built in the 1950s – 85% were suburban
Suburbs = The American Dream
Affordable single-family housing
Good schools
Friendly neighbors like themselves
New highways, affordable automobiles, low gasoline prices
A safe, healthy environment for children
13 million homes built in the 1950s – 85% were suburban

15. The Baby Boom The American birthrate exploded after World War II.
From more than 65 million children were born
This period became known as the Baby Boom
Contributing factors:
The end of wars led to more young couples getting married
G.I. Bill encouraged growth of families by offering generous benefits for home purchases
Pop culture glorified pregnancy, parenthood and large families

16. Technological Breakthroughs

17. Jonas Salk and polio vaccine
Medical advances of the 1950s:
antibiotics to fight infections
new drugs to fight cancer, diabetes and heart disease
polio vaccine developed
Jonas Salk developed the vaccine that prevented polio. Not long after, the threat of polio would almost completely disappear