Post War America

Question 1

Why was there an increased prosperity in the post war period?

Answer 1

•consumerism: efficient production so cheaper goods
•GI Bill: helped veterans buy houses (cheap loans), go college. = £4 billion
•fair deal: slums removed, wages from 40 to 75 cents an hour
•Eisenhower brought business into gov. to boost £

Question 2

What were the affects of prosperity and consumerism?

Answer 2

•ads on TV
•buy now pay later schemes
•75 mill cars
•better housing, mass production and could afford, live in suburbs
•baby boom: more than 65 mill: settle and have baby

Question 3

Why were most not living the American Dream?

Answer 3

•1/4 living in poverty, +50% AA’s
•south didn’t prosper as north
•old: 2/3 of over 65 lived on less than 1/4 of a average wage
•women were forced back into traditional roles, married early (20), low wages, look after babies

Question 4

What were the causes of the red scare in 1950s?

Answer 4

•cold war + nuclear threats from USSR
•containment didn’t work as china became communist
•spy scandals: Hiss accused of spying for USSR + 2 American’s executed for spying

Question 5

What was done to stop communism? (1960s)

Answer 5

•HUAC: investigate sus communists e.g influential ppl (many lost jobs)
•McCarthyism: frantic investigation on all, opposed would be targeted= hero
e.g 30,000 ‘communist’ books removed
•name of protecting USA, gov attacked rights and started to control organisations

Question 6

What was the impact of McCarthyism and why did it fail?

Answer 6

•left wing groups left= imbalance in politics
•politicians afraid to challenge as careers harmed
•filmmakers + writers jailed for views
•accused 45 army officers with no proof who fed anti McCarthy stories to the press

Question 7

How did popular culture change?

Answer 7

•teens: more £ + time so products and ads targeted to them
•gen gap: old saw teens as rude and rebellious
•Rock and roll: easy rhythm, bad lyrics= immoral+ dangerous
•TV:3 mill to 55 mill in 10 years, £500 to £200 = products and influenced

Question 8

What were key movements for civil rights growth? (1950s)

Answer 8

•Brown vs Topeka: desegregation in schools
•Till:drew attention to violence on AA’s
•Little rock 9:Resistance to desegregation of schools in south, Eisenhower intervenes
•Montgomery bus boycott: buses weren’t segregated/ 3/4 were AA’s= companies suffered financially

Question 9

What other peaceful protests occurred? (1960s)

Answer 9

•sit ins: 70,000 with +3000 arrested
•freedom riders: faced violence, publicity helped gain sympathy
•Birmingham+Washington (200,000:Wd.c) march : broadcasted worldwide/JFK sent army to help
•Selma to Montgomery march: violently suppressed=50 hospitalised

Question 10

What were the impacts of the protests? (E.g laws passed)

Answer 10

•Civil rights law 1957: right to vote but not effective
•mass support worldwide, whites and federal government/ JFK voted by AA’s
•Civil rights act 1964:outlawed discrimination in employment/desegregation
•lots of police violence/threats from KKK and white supremacists
•AA’s poor so didn’t ^ economic positions of millions
•civil rights act 1968:fair housing + protect civil rights workers

Question 11

What was black power?

Answer 11

•rejected non violence
•wider issues like poverty
•became radical after King’s death
•self defence
•pride in heritage

Question 12

Who were the black panthers?

Answer 12

•violence for self defence e.g guns
•police were racist/no protection
•social programmes e.g breakfast clubs /health clinics
•10 point programme of demands e.g freedom, education, end police brutality
•5000 members

Question 13

What was the Nation of Islam?

Answer 13

Believed in separatism as whites were racist and rejected Christianity as a whites person’s religion

Question 14

What are the positives of the New frontier?

Answer 14

•gave + gov. jobs to AA’s
•CEEO= all in gov treated fairly
•increased wages by 25% and cut taxes
•social security train unemployed+increased benefits for old
•loans of £5 bill to improve houses and roads, funding development of poor areas
•peace corps: young travel and learn skills
• wanted to give +£ to schools= equal

Question 15

What are the negative of the new frontier?

Answer 15

•JFK tried to call off march to Washington, fear of response from politicians
•modernising factories (£900 mill) meant more lost jobs
•congress voted against plans for education + blocked Medicare plans
•CEEO only helped gov./ many still unemployed
•increased wage didn’t help unemployed
•only take out house loans if could afford repayments

Question 16

How did LBJ’s great society help civil rights in America?

Answer 16

•civil rights act: end segregation
•voting rights act: ban literacy tests, 400,000 black voters in 12 months
•immigration Act: ended racial quotas so more ppl of colour in USA

Question 17

How did LB Johnson’s Great society help with poverty and health?

Answer 17

•Operation ‘Headstart’ £ to schools +
Elementary and secondary education act gave +funding
•minimum wage +1.25 to 1.40
•Housing Act = funds to low income housing
•Model cities act cleared slums
•Job corps help get jobs quicker
•Medicare: healthcare for elderly and poor fams

Question 18

What were the successes of the great society?

Answer 18

•gov spending on education, health and poor trebled
•2 million children helped in the Help start program
•AA’s poor fell from 55% to 27%

Question 19

What were the negatives of the great society?

Answer 19

•resented as taxes spent on ‘gov handouts’ / gov too involved
•by 1968 unemployment started to rise + riots in major cities
•many programmes later cut
•help overshadowed by Vietnam war

Question 20

What did JFK’s PCSW report find?

Answer 20

•women earned 60% less than men for same job
•limited access to education e.g 7% were doctors
•95% managers were men
•lose jobs for being married or kids

Question 21

What laws helped the feminist movements?

Answer 21

•Griswold vs Connecticut allowed use of contraceptives for fams
•’No fault’ divorce law allowed divorce by ‘mutual consent’
•Educational amendment act ban on sexual discrimination in education
•NOW:staged large demos, wrote to politicians, had +40,000 members (most middle class and aged)
•Roe vs wade allowed safe and legal abortion

Question 22

What laws gave limited help to women?

Answer 22

•equal pay act: average wage for women remained lower
•ERA= gave qual rights as part of constitution but was stopped by anti feminist
•women’s liberation movement: NOW not done enough, extreme young / staged protests + ‘Freedom Trash cans’ burn bras