The Development Of The USA (1929-2000) - The Impact Of WW2 + Post-war Developments

Question 1

What was the impact of WW2 on the economy in terms of markets?

Answer 1

Markets open up
Tariffs and custom duties dropped
US economy is strong as it is not damaged by war

Question 2

What are the impacts of WW2 on agriculture?

Answer 2

Farmers prospered
Good weather
USA could sell food abroad

Question 3

What was the impact of WW2 on consumer industries?

Answer 3

Demand increased and created employment as a result of increased wages
Sales of new cars rose from 69,000 in 1945 to 6.7 million in 1950

Question 4

What was the impact of WW2 on military production?

Answer 4

US economy supplied Allied powers with weapons - 25% of Britains military equipment from US in 1944
50% of world manufacturing in US
Military spending funded Cold War
Defence budget increases from $11 billion to 50 billion from 1948 to 1950s
People encouraged to buy war bonds
When $200 000 billion was claimed back in 1950s it created an economic boom

Question 5

What was the impact of WW2 on employment? (5 facts)

Answer 5

War created 17 million jobs
14 million in factories
4 million black Americans move from South to industrial North
Employment of women grew from 12 million to 21 million
Employment fell to 670 000 in 1944

Question 6

What was the impact of WW2 on personal and national wealth?

Answer 6

Income doubled
Gross national profit rose from $200 000 million to $300 000 million
Standard of living rose

Question 7

What was the impact of WW2 on old and new industries?

Answer 7

Old industry, such as coal, steel, oil and ship building, boosted
New industry, such as electricity, rubber, chemicals, boosted by government

Question 8

What was the impact of WW2 on big businesses?

Answer 8

US government wanted to make use of leading industrialists to divide for needs of war
War production Board decided what products the US needed more of, such as aircrafts, or less of, such as fridges
Motors produced machine guns
Weapons produced with government money

Question 9

What happened at Pearl harbour?

Answer 9

On 7 December 1941 the Japanese launched an attack on the American fleet in Pearl Harbour
20 American ships and 300 planes were destroyed
2403 soldiers and civilians were killed

Question 10

In 1945 who was the biggest economic power in the world?

Answer 10

USA

Question 11

How many extra men did General Motors employ during the war?

Answer 11

750,000

Question 12

Why was there a high demand from Europe for US goods?

Answer 12

European countries had been destroyed by war

Question 13

What are 4 key statistics from industrial expansion?

Answer 13

By 1950, USA produced
1/2 of the worlds manufactured goods
57% of steel
62% of oil
80% of cars

Question 14

What put an end to the Great Depression?

Answer 14

World War Two

Question 15

What was improved efficiency of the workforce?

Answer 15

Consumer goods could be produced more cheaply which kept down prices
This led to people being able to buy more

Question 16

What was increased spending?

Answer 16

More money was spent on consumer goods such as TVs and cars, leading to increased turnover
Kept wages high

Question 17

What were the Korean and Cold Wars?

Answer 17

US was kept busy producing new weapons which led to big orders for steel, coal and electronics
Increased standard of living and employment

Question 18

Which luxuries became necessities?

Answer 18

Large cars, television games, refrigerators

Question 19

Why did people move to the suburbs?

Answer 19

Embodied American Dream
Could own their own home and raise children away from the dangers of city life

Question 20

Why else did people move to the suburbs?

Answer 20

Most families owned a car so did not need to live as close to their workplace as

Question 21

What is a final reason that people moved to the suburbs?

Answer 21

Houses were reasonably priced, with low interest so affordable for newly married middle class couples looking to start a family

Question 22

What 3 items showed off family status in suburbia?

Answer 22

TVs, washing machines, fridges

Question 23

What are two negative examples of suburbanisation?

Answer 23

Women unable to go to work felt isolated
Ethnic minorities were often denied homes by building developers

Question 24

In 1959, what percentage of people lived below the poverty line?

Answer 24

29, mainly black Americans

Question 25

Which group of America was particularly poor?

Answer 25

Those living in the southern states

Question 26

What affected people’s income?

Answer 26

Where they lived
Black Americans were part of an underclass that did not share in prosperity

Question 27

What was the lack of welfare services?

Answer 27

1955 - 90% of recipients of welfare in New York were African American
No NHS
Rising cost of healthcare
USA did not give good pensions and welfare services