1950s Domestic and Foreign Policies Flashcards
Truman’s stance on Civil Rights
Created President’s Commission on Civil Rights
Fought with Congress over antilynching law, ban on poll tax, and permanent civil rights commission
Not successful because of continual fighting with Congress
What was Truman able to do with regards to civil rights?
Signed an executive order to integrate the armed forces
Dixiecrats
Conservative white southern Democrats
Angry with Truman’s work with Civil Rights
Dixiecrat canidate in 1948 election
Strom Thurmond
Who won the 1948 election?
Truman
Why was the outcome of the 1948 election a surprise?
Almost every poll indicated that Dewey would win
Truman traveled across the country on train to denounce the “do-nothing Congress”
Fair Deal
Truman
Purpose was to guarantee economic opportunity and social stability
What happened to the Fair Deal?
Congress did not pass it
Specifics of the Fair Deal
Nationwide health insurance
Crop system for farmers
Increase minimum wage
Equal employment
Significance of the GI bill
Increased the size of the middle class
More Americans have money in their pockets
Specifics of the GI bill
Paid for WW2 veterans college education
Low cost mortgages
Loans to start a business
How was the American family and household changing after WW2?
Millions of women had joined the workforce during the war and did not want to give up their independence
This tensions between men and women made divorce rates skyrocket
How was the economy changing in the postwar years?
Changing from a wartime to peacetime economy
Characteristics of post war economy
High unemployment (vets back home)
Inflation
American jobs paying less than before
How did Congress handle the new economy?
Set adjustments on prices
Americans began to have more money in their pockets
More jobs created due to big demand
How did the workforce change in the 1950s?
The majority of Americans worked in professional positions such as sales, advertising, insurance, communications instead of blue collar jobs
Conglomerate
Major corporation that owns smaller companies in unrelated industries
Ex: General Electric
Franchise
Company that offers similar products or services in many locations
Ex: McDonalds
Importance of Franchises and Conglomerates
Created jobs
Grew rapidly
Homogenized American culture w/ social conformity
Social Conformity
Employees sacrificed their individuality because businesses did not want creative thinkers
Idea of an “American housewife” created
Advertising played a role in social conformity
Why did Truman decide not to run in the 1952 election?
His dissapproval rating was very high due to the stalemate in the Korean War and the rising power of Mccarthyism
Who were the primary canidates in the 1948 election?
Dewey (R) vs. Truman (D)
Who were the primary canidates in the 1952 election?
Eisenhower (R) vs. Stevenson (D)
Checkers Speech
Nixon, Eisenhower’s running mate, delivers an emotional speech over television denying accusations of getting money corruptly from supporters
First time television used to gain voters
Modern Conservatism
Government should be conservative when it comes to money and liberal when it comes to human beings
How is Modern Conservatism seen in Eisenhower’s office?
Eisenhower balances budget and spending
Expands Social Security and increased minimum wage
Eisenhower’s stance on civil rights and important events
Supported Civil Rights
Established Civil Rights Commission with authority to investigate discriminatory conditions and recommend corrective measures (Civil Rights Act of 1957)
Space Race
Competition of space exploration between the United States and the Soviet Union
Long term impact of the space race
Led to great technological and scientific advances
Created friction between USA and USSR
Sputnik
First artificial satellite launched
Triumph of Soviet technology
Impact of Sputnik
Made Americans fear that we were losing the space race
Large Investment of money dumped into science and education
Creation of NASA
U-2 Incident
Planes secretly flew over Russia and collected info.
Eisenhower allowed one last flight, but this flight got shot down
Powers (pilot) faced 10 years in jail
Significant outcome of U-2 incident
Eisenhower caught lying
Khrushchev cancels an arm race summit
Tensions significantly increased
What is the 1950s known as?
Time of consensus and conformity
Why were the 1950s known as time of consensus and conformity?
People lost individuality
Houses looked the same
Creative minds looked down upon in the workforce
Influence of television on American culture
Perfect family stereotype appeared through television
Minorities not shown on TV
Women portrayed as housewives
Western frontier shows promote violence
Large influx of consumerism through commericals
Beat Movement
Expressed social and literary noncomformity of artists, poets, and writers
Significance of the Beat Movement
These people differed from the stereotypical norm of the 1950s which eventually led to 1960s culture
Significance of Rock and Roll
Captivated teenagers across the country
Importance of African American influence on music
African Americans, despite their segregation, created music enjoyable to everyone
Began to breakdown racial segregation
People enjoy music based off of sound not looks
Planned Obsolescence
Manufactorers intentionally make an item become outdated soon after its release so that consumers must purchase another item
Consumerism
Middle class able to buy recreational products
Credit cards (buy now, pay later)
Advertisement boomed
Automobile Culture
Cheap fuel
Suburbs create need for cars
More cars more roads
More pollution and accidents
Characteristics of the Red Scare
Immense distrust and lack of unity
Many people accused of being Communist spies
People said Truman is too soft on communists
HUAC (House of Un-American Activities Committee)
Committee of the US House of Representatives
Originally for pro-fascists
Called citizens to testify before Congress
Used high pressure, controversial tactics that led to the fear and distrust of anticommunism hysteria
Hollywood and Communism
10 screenwriters accused of being communists by the HUAC
Led to them being put on a blacklist and destroying their careers
Alger Hiss Case
Former Communist spy accused Alger Hiss of being a Soviet spy
Jury convicted Hiss of perjury and he was sent to jail
Hiss thought he was framed, but NSA eventually found substainal evidence of his guilt
Ethel and Julius Rosenburg
Found guilty of espionage and sentenced to death
McCarthysism cause and effects
Senator McCarthy took advantage of the widespread fear of communism and essentially led a witch hunt for communist supporters
What happened to Senator Joseph McCarthy
Republicans did not stop him because they thought he would help win the 1952 election
Severals senators spoke out against him and he was brought down after blaming people in the army
McCarthyism
Accusation made without evidence of wrongdoing
McCarthy was berating people in televised hearings
McCarran Act
Made it illegal to do anything that could lead to a totalitarian dictatorship
Truman thought it punished people for their beliefs and was a violation to the constitutions
Baby Boom
The massive influx of American babies as soldiers returned from war
Impact of baby boomers today
Won’t be any social security left for younger generations because baby boomers will use it all up
Interstate Highway System
Interstate Highway System was the largest public works project in American history
Allows middle class Americans to live in suburbs and commute to urban jobs
Suburbs
Small residential communities surrounding cities
Americans moved out of cities and completed the American dream
What factors led to the growth of the suburbs
Affordable car transportation
new roads
affordable gas
don’t want to raise family in city
affordable housing
white flight
What happened to urban areas during the growth of suburbia
Urban decay (money going towards suburbs)
White flight
Minorities flocked to the cities
Dr. Jonas Salk
Developed a polio vaccine
