Unit 6 day 2: The 50s Flashcards
What was the kitchen debate
A debate between Vice President Richard Nixon and Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev
What did American employers accept for the very first time after WWII
Collective bargaining with labor unions
What did the power of labor unions translate to
rising wages, expanding benefits, and an increasing rate of home ownership
What is the American century
a global age defined by American ideals and American might, both political and economic
Who predicted the dawning of the American Century
Henry Luce
What magazine did Henry Luce publish?
Time
Where was the major financial un conference held
Bretton Woods, New Hampshire July 1944
What did the world bank provide
loans for the reconstruction of war-torn Europe, as well as for the economic development of previously colonized nations
What did the International Monetary Fund do?
stabilize national currencies and provide a predictable monetary environment for trade
What did the IMF and World Bank encourage countries to do?
Become capitalist
What agreement oversaw trade rules and practices?
General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT)
Who coined the term military-industrial complex?
Dwight D. Eisenhower in his farewell address
What was the military-industrial complex
the growth of military establishment and defense contractors
What caused an increase in military-industrial spending?
Soviet Union’s launch of Sputnik
What did the National Defense Education Act of 1958 do?
funneled millions of dollars into American universities
What did type of worker did new corporate giants require?
White-collar worker
What was analyzed in The Affluent Society
the nation’s successful, “affluent” middle class
How did The Other America describe poverty?
“economic underworld”
What two things became synonymous in consumer culture?
Buying and American citizenship
What did the GI Bill do?
helped send 2.2 million veterans to college and another 5.6 million to trade school via government financing
What is the proper name for the GI Bill?
Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944
What did the Veterans administration do?
help former soldiers purchase ew homes with no down payment
What employment practice helped grow the middle class?
collective bargaining and unions
What grew up with baby boomers
consumption and advertising
Did television mirror American experience?
They only mirrored very few American’s experiences
Who made up the largest audience for motion pictures?
teenagers
What was bepop
a hard-driving improvisational style of music developed by black musicians
What were fans of bebop called?
Beats
What caused church membership to jump?
age of anxiety about nuclear annihilation and the rise of communism
Who was the nation’s leading evangelical/
Reverend Billy Graham
What roles did men and women have in a family?
men were breadwinners and decision makers, women cared for children and took a secondary position in public life
What became an almost civic resposibility
to have children
What were miracle drugs
medicine that provided ready cures for previous serious diseases
What did Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care encourage mothers to do?
trust their own instincts and be flexible
What was a double day for women
a day of paid work and family work
What were homophiles
a group of lesbian and gay activists
What was the American template for “the good life
a high value on consumption, a devotion to family or domesticity, and a preference for suburban living
who applied mass construction techniques to housing?
William J. Levitt
What were homes in Levittown like?
four room house, with kitchen appliances, priced around $7,990
What two organizations radically reshaped the home mortgage market
Federal Housing Administration (FHA) and the Veterans Administration (VA)
How were Levitt’s houses discriminatory
only allowed the Caucasian race
What Supreme Court case outlawed restrictive covenants?
Shelley v. Kraemer
Was the ruling in Shelley v. Kramer Effective
No, it was not until 20 years later in the Fair Housing Act when federal law explicitly prohibited racial discrimination
what did the National Interstate and Defense Highways Act authorize?
$26 billion to fund a vast expansion of the national highway network and 42,500 miles worth of newly constructed highways into a single system
What two new commercial forms dominated the late 20th century
Fast food and shopping malls
Who owned the McDonald company
Ray Kroc
What was the Sunbelt
A broad swath of the South and Southwestern states. where defense industry jobs, low taxes, mild winters, and plenty of open space encouraged the construction of sprawling subdivisions
What business was Sunbelt suburbanization close to
the military-industrial complex
What groups left cities, and what groups entered cities
Middle-class whites/African Americans
Why was the Kerner commission founded
due to a wave of destructive race related riots in the summer of 1967
What did the Displaced Persons Act of 1948 allow
the entry of approximately 415,000 Europeans, many of them Jewish refugees
What did the McCarran-Walter Act end?
the exclusion of Japanese, Koreans, and Southeast Asians
