America Theme 4 Flashcards
post war depression - farming
During the war, farmers were urged to produce more wheat and were given subsidies to do so. Some took out loans to buy farmland and machinery
Mechanisation meant fewer workers were needed, which led to unemployment
After the war, farmers were producing too much, known as overproductio
. Some farmers had to sack workers, others defaulted on the loans they had taken out to invest in new machinery and went bankrup
post war depression industry
The Red Summer of 1919 and 1920 saw many strikes.
Most failed to get better working conditions for the strikers and some caused businesses to fail, increasing unemployment.
other industries (older ones) were also in decline.
. For example, the coal industry lost out to other fuels such as waterpower and electricity. In 1900 coal had produced almost 90% of energy in the USA, but by 1930 this had dropped to 60%.
post war depression - government reaction
The Republican government had a laissez-faire approach to the government and believed the economy would right itself, so did not try to stop the depressio
However, they did introduce isolationist tariffs on foreign imports which led other countries to introduce similar restrictive tariffs on US goods and so US exports fell.
how did mass production lead to the post depression boom
division of labour -Henry Ford’s car factories were the most effective example of this
Mass-produced goods were produced more quickly and cheaply, so they could be sold at a lower price. This made them more affordable and so manufacturers sold more of them.
Ford factories produced a car every 10 seconds by 1929.
stats on carsv during boom following depression
By 1929 there were 27 million cars, one car for every five americans.
Ford factories produced a car every 10 seconds by 1929.
Car production stimulated other industries – steel, rubber, oil, road building and service stations
increasing electricity stats
In 1917, there were 7,889,000 homes and businesses wired for electricity; in 1930, there were 24,555,732.
the ford model T
In 1914, a Ford Model T cost $825. Henry Ford paid his workers $5 a day; most industrial workers were getting half that.
utilised specialisation and division of labour
by october 1924, a ford cost $260.
When everyone who could afford a Model T (or a fridge or a radio) had one, demand dropped. In 1927, 15 million Fords had been sold. Demand them dropped, however, this was then replaced by a demand for spare parts.
hire and purchase loans
Before the war, borrowing was seen as a last resort and only banks and loan companies lent money
In the 1920s, companies pushed hire purchase as the practical way to buy
Between 1920 and 1929, consumer debt rose from $3.3 billion to $7.6 billion.
the stock market post war
In the 1920s, the price of shares in the new industries rose rapidly.
As share prices rose rapidly, the media began to point out that it was possible to make money even if you bought just a few shares and sold them a short time later
Shares went into their own boom cycle, called a bull market as ordinary people begna to buy stocks and shares.
the great depression
US trade fell from $10billion in 1929 to $3billion in 1932
By mid 1932 industrial production had dropped to half the 1929 level.
In early 1929, 1.5 million were unemployed – 3% of the workforce.
By December, 1932, unemployment was over 12 million- 25% of the workforce.
Those who lost their jobs could not keep up payments on mortgages and lost their homes too. As people stopped buying goods, prices dropped and more businesses failed
The outcome was homelessness and poverty for many people
recovery after the great depression
Roosevelt promised ‘bold persistent experimentation’ to get America out of the Depression, the new deal.
The New Deal programs focused on the “3 R’s”: relief for the unemployed and for the poor, recovery of the economy back to normal levels, and reform of the financial system to prevent a repeat depression
roosevelt first hundred days.
His first action as president was the Emergency Banking Act to close all the banks, then only reopen the ‘healthy’ ones
. The Glass-Steagall Act separated commercial banking from investment banking and prohibited bankers from using depositors’ money to pursue high-risk investment
. Congress set up the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation FDIC an independent agency to maintain stability and public confidence in the financial system
the dust bowl
Severe drought hit the Midwest and southern Great Plains in 1930. Massive dust storms began in 1931. A series of drought years followed.
By 1934, an estimated 35 million acres of formerly cultivated land had been rendered useless for farming
Roughly 2.5 million people left the Dust Bowl states—Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma—during the 1930s.
roosevelt response to dust bowl struggles.
As part of the Second New Deal Roosevelt created the Farm Security Administration (FSA) in 1937 to aid poor farmers, sharecroppers, tenant fanners and migrant workers.
The Second Agricultural Adjustment Act, like the first, provided subsidies for farmers to produce less.
living standards in the 1920’s
For most Americans, the standard of living increased during the 1920s
Many employers introduced life insurance and pension plans.
Many Americans could afford to buy new radios, cars and go to the cinema or watch sports
great depression effect on living standards
By 1932, over 12 million people were unemployed. Millions of people roamed the countryside, stealing rides on freight trains and looking for jobs.
Those who were lucky enough to be employed saw their average earnings fall by a third.
home ownership 1920-40
In the 1920 census, about 6,700,000 people owned their own homes, while about 12,900,000 rented.
The 1940 census listed about 19,600,000 renting homes and 15,200,000 home owners, a very steep rise in home ownership
1940 census stats on general household things
Running water, bathrooms and toilets: Only about 2% of homes had no toilet of any kind, while 59% had an indoor flushing toilet for their own use. Of these homes, 69% had running water in the house and 56% had a bath or shower
Lighting: 78% of homes had electric light, while 20% still relied on oil lamps. The rest used gas, candles, or nothing at all.
Cooking: 48% of homes cooked by gas and only 5% by electricity
Heating: 42% of homes had central heating; for those homes without central heating, the most usual method of heating was a stove, and 11% of homes had no heating at all.
Refrigeration: 44% of homes had an electric fridge, while about 27% did not even have an ice box to keep food cool.
Radios: 82% of people said they owned a radio.
spending money 1920-40
As the 1920s went on, more and more people shopped in chain stores rather than small, local stores.
By 1929, retail chains were selling 21% of all goods sold in the USA
Food: In 1930 people spent 23% of their income on food. They spent 13% of their food-spending money on eating out. By 1933, during the Great Depression, they were spending 25% of their income on food, but only 12% of their food-spending money on eating out
The household appliance market boomed in the 1920s and 1930s. Most of these appliances ran on electricity. It is no accident that Roosevelt set up the Rural Electrification
health and education as a measure of SOL 20-40
Health: The nation’s health was improving. death rates of diseases were decreasing. . The government invested more in providing free healthcare for those who could not afford it - making them more likely to go to the doctor.
In 1917, it spent $3,100,000 on healthcare. By 1930, spending had reached $11 million and, by 1940, it was $32,700,000.
education - In 1917, just 27% of all children aged 14-17 were going to school. By 1929, it was 51% and, by 1940, it was 73%.
impact of bust on living standards
· 1929 car sales fell dramatically, Ford fired 75% of his workforce
· 1932 all of U.S, Steel’s workforce on part time contracts
· 1932 1-2 million people in Hoovervilles
· 1932-33 Chicago could not afford to pay its teachers
· 5x as many black Americans were unemployed compared to white Americans
how was america able to profit during the second world war
Orders for planes and aircraft engines from Britain and the Soviet Union came in thick and fast. America began to provide significant military supplies and assistance to the Allies in September 1940, even though America did not enter the war until December 1941
Much of this aid flowed to the UK and other nations already at war with Germany and Japan through Lend-Lease programme
stats on american military exports during the second world war
Between 1940 and 1945 American industry produced 15 million rifles, over 100,000 tanks, 300,000 aircraft and 93,000 ships.
By 1944, the USA was producing twice as much as Germany, Japan and Italy combined.
By 1944, unemployment was down to 670,000 – 1.2%
Producing 50% of world’s manufacturing with only 7% of world population
Number of taxpayers increased from 4 million in 1939 to 42 million in 1944
the state of the american economy immediately after world war 2
the economy continued to prosper after the war. America emerged as the world’s wealthiest nation after World War Two.
The main growth areas were advertising, aviation, cars, chemicals, construction, defence, food processing, pharmaceuticals, soft drinks and tobacco.
13 million new homes were built 1948 – 59. In 1955 7.9 million cars were manufactured – most cars were made in Detroit by the Big Three – General Motors, Ford and Chrysler.
what was the post WW2 boom fuelled by
A huge demand for the consumer goods people had done without during the war made the move from wartime industries to civilian ones easier. Production increased (from $213 billion-worth of goods in 1945 to $284 billion-worth in 1950), which helped keep unemployment low.
The business boom encouraged employers to expand their workforce and to raise wages
The government came down hard on strikes for higher wages as prices rose. When coal miners went on strike, President Truman took control of the mines. The rail workers went on strike to support the miners. Truman took over the railways
A post-war ‘baby boom’ meant a growing demand for child-centered goods. In 1947, nappy sales were $32 million; in 1957, they were $50 million. Toy manufacturers made $1.6 billion in 1959. By 1961, their profits had risen to $2 billion.
how did the government control prices during world war 2
In 1942, the government introduced the General Maximum Price Regulation which froze prices. As a result, some goods were rationed such as sugar, coffee, petrol and meat.
post war consumerism
once the war ended, Americans needed no incentive to start consuming again
The post-war economic boom led to a burst of consumerism that made the consumerism of the 1920s look insignificant
Manufacturers offered consumers an ever-widening range of choice of goods. Ford’s idea of one model of car in one colour vanished
Manufacturers realised that constantly updating their goods made people buy more often. They also introduced a new policy, built-in obsolescence. They made less sturdy machines that wore out more quickly and so needed replacing more often.
the impact of TV on consumerism
televisions were very expensive (about $200 in 1948), the screens were small (about 15 cm × 12 cm) and you could only get reception in the New York area.
By 1950, 9% of homes had a television; in 1955 it was 65% and by 1960 it was 85%. This was facilitated by most homes having electricity by 1950.
people switched out things like going to the cinema for atching TV.
pre-cooked ‘TV dinners’ that could be heated and eaten in front of the television were develope
how did manufacteurers use consumers as targets to increase sales and profits
they increased their range of goods widely
the toy industry grew rapidly, helped by developments in the plastic industry
Products aimed at children were advertised around children’s programmes on television and radio, targeting children for their ‘pester-power’ with their parents, not the parents themselve
. In 1955, Davy Crockett was a television hero. In just five months, the company making Davy Crockett outfits made $100 million from sales of just the racoon-skin caps of the outfit
Women, especially working women, were targets for ‘labour-saving’ devices. Washing machines. vacuum cleaners, wipe-clean floors
health and nutrition following the second world war
after war, people ate and drank more than before including foods with high fat salt sugar.
also ate synthetic foods, like artificial sweeteners.
Coca Cola made $55.7 million before tax in 1950 and $79.1 million in 1959.
. The 1950s saw the first big studies into the effects that food, drink and smoking had on health. By the early 1960s, there were reports about the health effects of smoking and too much cholesterol in the die
teenage consumption
A 1959 survey showed that teenagers spent about $10 billion a year
Transport 38%: Most of this was car-related. In 1959, there were 1.5 million teenage car owners.
Clothing and sports 24%: Teenage girls consumed more clothing and cosmetics than the boys ($20 million on lipstick, $9 million on curling tongs
Food and drink 22%: Teenagers ate and drank a significant amount outside the home. Teenagers ate about 20% more than adults and, when eating out, they ate huge amounts of ice cream and drank a lot of milk, giving a huge boost to the dairy industry. They consumed 145 gallons of ice cream a year.
Entertainment 16%: Teenagers spent $75 million on records.
By 1950, there were 43 million children aged under 15, 27% of the population. By 1960 this was 57 million, 31% of the population
car ownership after the war
By the 1950s, most American families could afford to buy a car. Cars were long, multi-coloured and decorated with large quantities of chrome – reflected American affluence and self-confidence. Car ownership meant more Americans could get to places faster and more comfortably.
1960 census stats compared with 40
In 1960, about 62% of all people owned their own homes compared to 43% in 1940
In 1960, 93% of homes had running water in the house; 86% of all homes had an indoor flushing toilet of their own use, while 85% had a bath or shower
Only 1% of homes had no heating at all.
Fridges were no longer recorded, but freezers were recorded instead; 18% of homes had a freezer in 1960
About 92% of homes had at least one radio. Newly registered goods were washing machines (40%), telephones (78%), televisions (85%) and air conditioning (1%)
general economic challenges of the 70’s
The 1970s saw the economy move into a new phase, ‘stagflation’
Previously, when businesses stopped expanding, wages stopped rising - or even fell. So people spent less and prices fell
In the 1970s, prices didn’t fall. Instead, inflation carried on and people came to see rising prices as normal
The Watergate scandal, and the inability of Ford and Carter to solve the economic problems added to the sense of national crisis.
nixons actions 1969-74
The Nixon shock was a series of economic measures undertaken by Nixon in 1971 in response to increasing inflation.
Unemployment was at 6.1% and inflation at 5.84%.
Nixon’s response to inflation was an Executive Order wage freeze for 90 days: Economic Stabilization Act
The Nixon shock has been widely considered to be a political success, but an economic failure for bringing on the 1973–1975 recession, the stagflation of the 1970s.
1973 oil crisis
in the 1973 Arab- Israeli War, the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) Venezuela, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Kuwait.
As a result of the Yom Kippur Wars, and their support for Palestine, OPEC put up prices by 70% and then put an embargo on oil exports to the USA and other countries that supported Israel. It kept prices high even after the war ended.
By January 1974, world oil prices were four times higher than before the crisis. Fuel prices never returned to earlier levels.
america experienced a 387% increase in the price of oil after the criss
1979 fuel shortage
May to July.
Shortages were as bad as in 1973, although, as it only lasted three months, there was no fuel rationing.
The lack of immediate access to cheap fuel was horrifying to car-dependent Americans.
odd even rationing to cope with oil/shortages
Odd–even rationing was introduced to try and manage the distribution of gasoline in the 1970s. In practice, people could only get petrol on a particular day. One example of how this was done was that people could get depending on whether their license plate ended in an odd or even number
carter suggestions to reduce fuel consumption
In 1977 Carter suggested heating should be a maximum of 18ºC in winter and air conditioning should only be used when it reached 26ºC in summer.
He led by example, introducing these changes at the White House and in government buildings
shift in car consumption as a result of oil crises
Both crises created high levels of discontent with the government
A significant number of people changed their car-buying habits, changing from big American ‘gas-guzzling’ cars to smaller Japanese and European cars that used less fuel.
By 1981. Japan had 23% of the American car industry. Chrysler lost billions and needed a $1.5 billion government bailout in 1980. Detroit was badly hit, foreign competition led to a 24% unemployment rate.
fords actions 1974-77
*Encouraged Americans to cut their mileage by 5% and stop wasting food.
· He gave out ‘Whip Inflation Now’ badges
· *He cut federal expenditure
· *1975 Omnibus Energy Act (domestic oil prices were allowed to rise slowly to decrease consumption)
· *In the long run his policies did help to bring the economy out of recession
the economy under carter and his actions 77-81
Soaring fuel prices set inflation rising sharply and a significant depression set in.
in 1978, 63% of Americans stated that inflation was their biggest concern.
Unemployment levels rose from 5.8% of the workforce in 1978 to 7.1% in 1979
Carter cut government expenditure on defence and welfare and he urged voluntary wage and price controls in the private sector
. This alienated blue-collar workers who wanted him to reduce unemployment as a matter of priority
In 1978, the National Consumer Cooperative Bank was set up to provide low interest loans for housing and small businesses.
what did carters 1977 energy programme suggest
· Oil conservation (through cutting down on travel)
· Development of alternative energy sources (nuclear, coal and solar)
· Higher taxes on larger cars to encourage Americans to buy smaller cars
· More effective insulation in homes and workplaces
income inequality in the USA during the 60’s
the gap between rich and poor became more marked.
In 1949, the richest 1% of the population controlled 20% of the country’s wealth. By 1956, it was 26%
In 1968, a production worker earned, on average, $6,370 a year. The chief executive of the company he worked for was taking home, on average, in wages and bonuses, about $157,000
escalated to $12,962 against $373,000 in 1978.
problems non-white americans faced in the 60’s and 70’s
it was harder for non-white Americans to get hired and, if they were hired, they were automatically paid less than a white colleague doing the same job.
In 1960, the average income for a white family was $5,835. The average income for a black family was $3,230.
stats on poverty in 1966
In 1966, about 12% of white Americans and 41% of non-white Americans were living below what the poverty line, the equivalent of a family of four living on $3,000 a year. Many lived in the inner cities, although there were also still areas of extreme rural poverty
kennedy federal governments anti-poverty policies
Kennedy outlined anti-poverty policies in his New Frontier.
He was able to pass the Social Security Amendment, 1961 which provided new or increased benefits to 4.4 million people, costing $800 million in the first year, gained through additional taxes.
The Area Redevelopment Act of 1961 which aimed to stimulate new job creation in urban and rural depressed areas and the Food Stamp Programme was made permanent by Executive Order in 1964
LBJ federal government intervention to combat poverty
Johnson introduced his ‘Great Society’ to fight the war on poverty.
He set up an independent agency, with a staff of over 130 and a budget of over $960 million, to run the policies, reporting directly to him.
Johnson stressed that poverty was the enemy (and the problem), not poor people
social welfare programmes were extended to cover more people and pay out more benefits
community action programmes (poverty alleviation)
could make a big difference
They collected data on the biggest local problems and presented projects to solve them.
One successful project in Memphis focused on high infant mortality and worked with medical professionals to set up free clinics to provide care and advice before and after birth.
The scheme was then used all over the country. However, some projects failed
the competition to gain project funding could lead to greater racial tension, even violence.
nixons shifting policy towards poverty
in 1969, he shifted the focus of federal aid to supporting the working poor, the old, children and people with disabilities, all of whom received extra aid.
In his first year, Nixon set about dismantling the Office of Economic Opportunity that had been set up by Johnson to administer the War on Poverty programs.
While not in favour of OEO policies, Nixon did pass anti-poverty legislation, enlarging the food stamp programme and making federal government administer it.
To encourage the poor to find work, Nixon emphasised ‘workfare’ not welfare. His Earned Income Tax Credit gave working poor with children up to $400 a year, linked to their earning in the year.
Nixon also cut welfare benefits while seeming not to. For example, in the Family Assistance Plan of 1970, he ‘rationalised’ welfare benefits by combining them. However, the sum of the benefits he combined was often greater than the revised benefit
carter attitudes and policies towards poverty
he wanted to have a plan to help both working and non working poor without raising budget costs, this was impossible.
In 1978, the National Consumer Cooperative Bank was set up, to give low-interest loans to co-operative organisations, largely in urban areas. . This bank began work in 1980 with a $184 million budget.
The Rural Development Loan Fund was set up just before Carter’s defeat in the 1981 election. It extended various forms of help available to farmers by giving low-interest loans to rural communities to provide electrification, clinics, farm equipment for communal use - whatever was needed.
no leisure time 20’s 30’s
many people had very little leisure time; it was a benefit for the middle classes and the better-off working classes
Most poor people still worked long hours, if they had a job at all. Working or not, they had little money to spare for leisure pursuit
During the Great Depression, the situation of many people got worse. People lost their jobs; some lost their homes too. Men and boys, some only in their early teens, left the family home to wander the country, looking for work. Many families who lost their homes lived and travelled in their cars, searching for work.
the leisure industry 1917-45
Movie theatres, theatres and sports stadiums sprang up in and around cities and towns. Eating out became a popular leisure activity - as did visiting the illegal speakeasies where people could gamble and drink
By 1930, New York had hundreds of cinemas, ranging from tiny 50-seaters in black areas to the luxurious Roxy, built to hold over 5,000 people
In the South, movie theatres were segregated, with black people sitting in the balcony seats, unless the town had more than one movie theatre. In that case, the theatres themselves were segregated
The popularity of movies led to a huge expansion of the movie industry, especially in Hollywood. This created an employment boom for workers in the movie industry, the building industry and the service industries that fed and housed the workers.
Growing car ownership and better road systems meant people could get to National Parks to hike and camp.
In 1929, book sales were $117 million; by 1939, they had fallen to $74 million, because of the Depression.
the leisure industry 1945-80
In the 1950s and 1960s, most working Americans had more time and money to spend on leisure
On average, Americans spent about one-sixth of their income on leisure - either leisure products (such as televisions) or leisure pursuits (such as tickets to the movies or to a baseball game
The very poor and the homeless had little chance of leisure, but poorer working families could listen to sport on the radio or even buy cheap tickets to sports events or the movies
The growth of relatively cheap fast-food chains meant they could eat out sometimes too
The first hamburger chain in the States was White Castle opened in 1921 by Billy Ingram and Walter Anderson. They had a small menu with cheap hamburgers and sold them in large numbers
When automobiles became more popular, drive-in restaurants appeared around the United State
The McDonald brothers opened the first McDonald’s with fast food in 1948. Soon after them, others started opening their fast food chains: Burger King and Taco Bell opened theirs in the 1950s, while Wendy’s started in 1969
. Disneyland opened in 1955
disneylandd
1955 california
17m park was the most lavish amusement park on earth
but, opening day was a disaster. traffic was backed up for hours delaying celebrity gfuests.
temperature reached over 100 degrees.
Khrushchev visited in 1959
protests in 1963 over the lack of African American workers
1980 - 300 anti-vietnam protestors entered the park
spectator sports
Spectator sports became a very popular leisure activity. Sports coverage in the newspapers increased as it became clear that sport sold papers.
As more people had more leisure time, the numbers of spectators for all kinds of sports grew (e.g. the American football Rose Bowl stadium, built in 1922 for an audience of 57,000, had to be enlarged in 1928 to hold 76,000
In the 1920s, Americans could watch professional baseball, college football, horse racing, dog racing and boxin
Baseball was the most popular spectator sport and radio broadcasts of baseball games led to more people wanting to watch a game, not just listen to
Most major league baseball stadiums held about 35,000 people in the 1920s, but the New York Yankees stadium was rebuilt in 1923 to hold 53,000, then considered the biggest audience it could hope to expect.
In 1917, attendance at Yankees games was just over 330,000 for the whole year. In 1920, it was just over 1,290,000 for the year.
radio and spectator sports
a rematch for a highly anticipated boxing match led to just one new york department store selling 90k worth of radios in the week before the fight.
In 1934, the baseball league sold the rights to broadcast its games to the Ford Motor Company for $10,000
sports stars
Babe Ruth, the Yankees baseball star player, was such a draw that his salary rose from $20,000 a year in 1920 to $80,000 in 1930.
Gene Tunney, the boxer, was the son of an Irish immigrant dock worker and Jack Dempsey came from a farming family.
leisure during the second world war
, during the war, leisure time came second to war effort.
there were significant restrictions on leisure imposed by wartime conditions (e.g. night-time baseball games were stopped to save electricity)
National football and baseball teams were told by President Roosevelt to carry on playing to keep up morale, as long as their players joined the military if they were called up
While the men were away at war, women took over their roles at home, and this included forming their own sporting teams. The All American Girls Professional Baseball League played from 1943 to 1954 and games drew audiences of about 1,600 a game, on average Smaller local teams sprang up all over the country.
spectator sports new audiences post war
After the war, football and baseball leagues, which, like industry, had been mainly in the North and East of the USA, began to move South and West. New stadiums were built for larger audiences.
The television companies spent a lot of money on the rights to televise sport - . In the late 1940s, baseball television rights were selling for about $1,000 a game
By the 1980s, a vast range of sports was televised, not just big stadium sports.
This brought a significant drop in sports attendance, which had been getting worse all through the 1970s.
. Major baseball league attendance rose from just under 330 million in the 1970s to just over 460 million in the 1980s. this rise was due to sponsors
knock on effects of increased car culture
Industrial effects: Once there was a significant market for cars in the early years of the car industry, car factories expanded and employed more workers. They also started producing spare parts
Associated supplies: Cars needed petrol to run and mechanics to maintain them. In 1929, there were 121,500 filling stations that made $1,800 million that year in petrol sales. By 1967, there were 216,000 filling stations that made $22,709 million that year.
Roads: Roads were improved and expanded. In 1917, the USA had 2,925,000 miles of public road. Eisenhower’s 1956 Highways Act created 41,000 miles of interstate highways. By 1980, there were 3,860,000 miles of public road. In 1960, 21% of people had no car; by 1980, it was 12%
Shopping: The car allowed for the development of shopping malls. Southdale, Minneapolis, whir opened in 1956, was the world’s first covered, air-conditioned mal
Entertainment: In the 1950s and 1960s, there were a growing number of national drive-in restaurant chains, as well as fast food chains. Drive-in restaurants catered to families.
Tourism: The car (and the expanding road system) was vital to the development of the tourist industry within the USA. People could make trips to major cities. They could go to big attraction (e.g. theme parks such as Disneyland).
problems that came with increased car ownership
As cars got cheaper, it was the poorest Americans, who couldn’t afford even a cheap car, who suffered most
Life for someone without a car became increasingly difficult, as the non-car transport infrastructure shrank. Rail travel was only convenient if you wanted to go from city to city on fast trains
Buses carried people to more places and the most significant company, Greyhound Buses, carried millions of passengers every year. But conditions were crowded, the buses were slow and their only passengers were non-drivers -mostly people who could not afford a car
By the 1970s, the cities had too many cars. Driving was slow, pollution was rising and protests against pollution were rising too. The two fuel crises of the 1970s led to fuel rationing, rising prices, long queues for fuel and even fights at the pumps
the impact of increased air travel
Mass passenger travel by aeroplane came later than car travel, but it had many similar effects on Americans
Early air travellers had to be very hardy. The cabins were unpressurised, so aeroplanes were banned from flying higher than 10,000 feet because passengers became too dizzy or even fainted.
Smoking was allowed, and caused fires and accidents. Many people were too scared to fly.#
Then, in 1925, the Kelly Act laid out national routes for mail delivery. Many of the companies that were contracted to take the mail put in seats for passengers. The number of air routes, and passengers, rose rapidly.
stat for increased flying - Western Air Express carried 267 passengers in 1926 and over 25,000 in 1929
flying after the second world war
By the end of the Second World War, the jet engine had been invented and radar had been discovered to help pilots fly ‘blind’ in bad weather condition
After the war, the tanker design was adapted to become the first US passenger jet, the Boeing 707, which could carry up to 181 passengers at speeds of 550 miles an hour.
Money was available for this development because the Cold War led to competition between the USA and the USSR in many technological fields, including flight.
However, the rise in the number of aeroplanes and flights was dangerous. The collision of two passenger airliners over the Grand Canyon in 1956 led the government to set up the Federal Aviation Administration (1958) to run the air traffic control system and manage the needs of all the airlines.#
Early planes had held about a dozen passengers. The first Boeing 747 (first flight 1969) could carry up to 450 passengers.
who benefitted from changes in air travel
The huge increase in air traffic and falling ticket prices meant middle-class professionals could fly regularly, as well as the wealthy Journeys that had taken days by car now took hours, people could sleep and were fed in-flight.
it was having an impact on how a significant number of Americans lived their lives: some people took jobs farther away and commuted to them by plane; people travelled further around the country
As international travel became more popular, the number of foreign tourists entering the USA went up.
In 1970, 5,260,000 Americans went abroad and the USA had 2,288,000 visitors.
By 1980, 8,163,000 Americans went abroad and there were 8,200,000 foreign visitors
airline deregulation
The 1978 Airline Deregulation Act ran down the Civil Aeronautics Board (it was closed in 1984).
This ended federal government control over the various airlines, including ticket pricing, routes, buyouts and mergers.
By the 1970s, many aeroplanes were flying half full in order to offer a large number of flights a day. Deregulation meant many airlines could lower their prices and cut services.
New low-cost’ airlines could also set up in competition with the established airlines, which helped to pull ticket prices down still more after 1980
