Post War America 1950s & 60s

Question 1

What happened to consumer spending the the 1950s after the war ended?

Answer 1

• Average African American earned three times the average wage in the UK
• Consumer boom. People chased after the American Dream to own your own home filled with goods.
• Goods could be bought on hire purchase or with the first credit cards

Question 2

How did America culture change in the 1950s and 60s including TV, teenagers?

Answer 2

• By 1958, 8/10 households had a tv.
• The teenager was a distinctive group in the 1950s. They were rebellious and wore different clothes to their parents.
• Rock and roll became very popular with teens. Elvis Presley had over 170 hit records.
• James Dean was a star of cinema. ‘Rebel Without a Cause’

Question 3

Describe the Red Scare of the 1950s, including HUAC and McCarthyism.

Answer 3

• Cold War followed WW2, nuclear arms race. Like the 1920s, the Red Scare returned
• HUAC: House Un-American Activities Committee; ruled that people had to show patriotism at all times. Anyone who didn’t was seen as a communist. ‘The Hollywood Ten’
• Joseph McCarthy was a senator in the government. He claimed to have a list of communists working the in the government. He accused people in the army for being communist and was called a bully

Question 4

List the achievements of the NAACP in the 1950s.

Answer 4

• Brown vs Board of the education; judges ruled that school segregation was unconstitutional.
• In 1956 the Supreme Court ruled that segregation on buses was illegal, thanks to the protests of the Montgomery bus boycotts

Question 5

What was non-violent direct action and who was its most famous advocate?

Answer 5

• Direct protests refused to use violence, so it was difficult to arrest those involved. Most famous leader was Martin Luther King
• ‘Sit Ins’ in segregated cafes. Black students would sit in white seats and refuse to move
• ‘Freedom Rides’ where mixed groups of black and white kids sat together by bus and refused to desegregate. They were attacked and arrested and President Kennedy had to step in and stop the violence

Question 6

What sort of action did the Nation of Islam and the Black Panther movement advocate?

Answer 6

• Nation of Islam was lead by Malcolm X who wanted African Americans to form their own state
• Black Panther movement said black people should arm themselves and force white people to give them equality
• Both groups wanted to use violent tactics

Question 7

List two achievements of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s.

Answer 7

• 1963; 250,000 people attended the march in Washington DC where Martin Luther King gave his famous ‘I Have A Dream’ speech
• 1964; Civil Rights Act passes; made it illegal to discriminate against people in housing and employment
• 1965 voting rights act passes; removed reading tests as a qualification to vote
• 1968 civil rights act updated; stopped discrimination in housing based on race and religion, nationality or gender

Question 8

How successful were Kennedy’s New Frontier and Johnson’s Great Society?

Answer 8

• Kennedy’s New Frontier aimes to tackle poverty by increasing the minimum wage and improving inner city housing. JFK was assassinated in ‘63, leaving his vice president Johnson to complete his ideas
• Johnson’s Great Society declared war on poverty;
  • Economic Opportunities Act: improved education and training for young people so they could find work
  • Developement Act: provided money to remove slum housing
  • Medicare: hospital care care for the poor
  • He also passed the Civil Rights Act in 1964

Question 9

How did female equality develop in the 1960s and 70s?

Answer 9

• National Organisation of Women (NOW) demandes women’s freedom, including dancing sex discrimination at work and allowing access to contraception and abortion
• Equal right amendment act; worked to improve previous laws on equal pay as women still only earned 70% of what men earned for doing the same job
• Contraception legal to unmarried women
• Roe vs Wade made abortion in the first three months of pregnancy legal (1973)

Question 10

Name two reasons for resistance to feminism in America.

Answer 10

• Many middle class women didn’t see the need for change. Religion affected some people’s views, especially on topics like abortion and contraception
• A lot of married women only cared about changed that would directly affect them, like equal pay
• Changing a law didn’t mean people’s attitudes or opinions changed