Unit 6 Lesson 3 Eisenhower and Postwar Conflicts

Question 1

What caused a fear that unemployment would rise and the economy would tumble?

Answer 1

When the war ended in 1945, two thirds of all American men between the ages of 18 and 34 were in uniform. Experts feared that without wartime production, many returning soldiers might not find jobs.

Question 2

Even before the war ended, Congress passed the Gl Bill of rights, what was its purpose?

Answer 2

Even before the war ended, Congress passed the GI Bill of Rights to help returning veterans.

Question 3

benfits of the GL bill of rights?

Answer 3

Under this law, the government spent billions of dollars to help veterans set up farms and businesses. Many GIs received loans to pay for college or a new home. It also provided a full year of unemployment benefits for veterans who could not find work.

Question 4

During the war, the government had controlled prices and wages. After the war, the controls ended. The price of goods rose aka inflation, What problems did inflation cause?

Answer 4

Workers demanded higher wages to pay for the price increases. When employers refused, labor unions called strikes. President Harry Truman was sympathetic to workers but feared that higher wages would only add to inflation. He urged strikers to return to work.

Question 5

Describe the election of 1948?

Answer 5

1. Labor strikes and soaring prices had already helped Republicans win a majority in both the House and the Senate for the first time since the 1920s. Among Democrats, unhappy liberals and conservatives deserted Truman to form parties of their own. The Republicans confidently nominated Governor Thomas Dewey of New York for President. Truman fought and won

Question 6

In Congress, the Fair Deal faced heavy opposition from conservative Democrats and Republicans. What polices were passed?

Answer 6

. Only a few of the proposals passed: a higher minimum wage, expanded Social Security benefits, and loans for buying low-cost houses. Congress rejected most of Truman’s reforms, including a bold plan to provide government-financed health insurance.

Question 7

Election of 1952, who were the candiates?

Answer 7

In 1952, President Truman chose not to run for reelection. Democrats nominated Adlai Stevenson of Illinois. Republicans chose General Dwight D. Eisenhower, a hero of World War II. Eisenhower, known as “Ike,” promised to end the conflict in Korea and lead Americans through the Cold War.

Question 8

How was the election of 1952 different from the others

Answer 8

For the first time, television played a major role in a presidential campaign. Instead of long speeches, Republicans used 20-second TV “spots” of Ike responding to questions from hand-picked citizens

Question 9

Who won the election of 1952?

Answer 9

Still, enough voters were impressed with Ike’s military experience and foreign policy skills to give him a landslide victory.

Question 10

What did President Eisenhower belive in? What was “striaght road down the middle”?

Answer 10

Like most Republicans, President Eisenhower believed in limiting federal spending and reducing federal regulation of the economy. He called his political course the “straight road down the middle.”

Question 11

President Eisenhower favored what?

Answer 11

He favored cutting the federal budget but expanding Social Security benefits and some other New Deal programs. Most Americans supported Eisenhower’s middle-of-the-road approach. In the 1956 presidential election, voters reelected Ike to a second term of office.

Question 12

What was the baby boom?

Answer 12

Population experts called the phenomenon a baby boom. In the 1930s, the population of the United States had grown by only 9 million. In the 1940s it grew by 19 million and in the 1950s by an astounding 29 million! Most couples married young, had an average of three children, and completed their families by their late twenties.

Question 13

What factors led to the baby boom?

Answer 13

When the war ended and prosperity returned, the number of births soared. Improvements in health care and nutrition contributed to the baby boom. Better care for pregnant women and newborn infants meant that more babies survived. Fewer children died from childhood diseases than had died in the past.

Question 14

What happens when the economy expands?

Answer 14

The economy rapidly expanded in the postwar years. When an economy expands, more goods are produced and sold and more jobs are created.

Question 15

How did the governement lead to an econmic boom?

Answer 15

Federal projects also increased factory production. The government spent more money to build new roads, houses, and schools.

Question 16

How did new technology add to the ecomnomic boom, what is productivy?

Answer 16

New technology added to the boom by promoting steady rises in productivity, or the average output per worker. Corporations began using computers to perform calculations and keep records.

Question 17

High productivy allowed US to do what?

Answer 17

High productivity allowed the United States to manufacture and consume, or use, more goods than any other country.

Question 18

Increased productivty did what to American lives?

Answer 18

Increased productivity also led to a workweek that averaged 40 hours. Americans now had more leisure time.

Question 19

What is standard of living?

Answer 19

Americans’ standard of living, a measurement that determines how well people live based on the amount of goods, services, and leisure time people have. Americans bought washing machines, vacuum cleaners, televisions, automobiles, and many other consumer goods.

Question 20

Economic boom rasied Americans’…

Answer 20

The economic boom raised Americans’ standard of living

Question 21

due to the newfound wealth in America people bought homes in the….

Answer 21

many people bought homes in the suburbs

Question 22

what is a suburb?

Answer 22

communities outside the cities.

Question 23

What did the GL bill encourage?

Answer 23

The GI Bill encouraged home building in the suburbs by offering low-interest loans to veterans. During the 1950s, suburbs grew 40 times faster than cities.

Question 24

How did Builder William Levitt change the way houses were made

Answer 24

Builder William Levitt pioneered a new way of building suburban houses. He bought large tracts of land and then divided them into small lots.

On each lot, he built a house identical to every other house in the tract. Because these houses were mass-produced, they cost much less to build than custom-made houses. They could also be constructed rapidly. Using preassembled materials, teams of carpenters, plumbers, and electricians could put up a Levitt house in 16 minutes.

Question 25

What was Levittown?

Answer 25

Levitt began his first big project in 1947 on Long Island, where he put up 17,000 new homes. It was the largest housing development ever built by an American. Levitt called the project Levittown. African Americans were barred from owning or renting in Levittown. Levitt feared that if he sold to blacks, whites would not buy.

Question 26

The rise of shopping centers?

Answer 26

Shopping centers with modern department stores sprang up near the suburban housing developments. There were eight shopping centers in 1946. By the end of the 1950s, there were 4,000. No longer did consumers have to travel to the city to buy what they wanted. Shiny new shopping centers were only a short drive away.

Question 27

What is the sunbelt of US?

Answer 27

Americans also flocked to the Sunbelt, a region stretching across the southern rim of the country. States from Florida to Texas and California began to experience dramatic growth.

Answer 28

For Americans on the move, the Sunbelt, both then and now, had many lures: a warm climate; good jobs; a prosperous economy based on agriculture, oil, and electronics; and, national defense industries. Businesses still move to the region for its low taxes and growing workforce. The workforce included recent immigrants from Latin America and Asia. Like many ambitious newcomers, they were willing to work hard to establish new lives in the United States.

Question 29

What was the federal aid highway act?

Answer 29

To accommodate the increase in automobiles, the federal government built thousands of miles of highways. In 1956, Congress passed the Federal-Aid Highway Act. This act called for a network of high-speed roads linking the nation. It set aside $41 billion to build 40,000 miles of highway.

Question 30

Beniftis of the federal aid highway act?

Answer 30

The new highway system boosted the economy, especially the automobile and trucking industries. Americans could travel more easily for business or pleasure. As a result, a new roadside culture of motels and fast-food restaurants emerged.

Question 31

Who were beatniks?

Answer 31

Not all Americans in the 1950s were happy about the emphasis on getting and spending. A small group of writers and artists criticized what they saw as the growing materialism of American society and its lack of individuality. Novelist Jack Kerouac coined the term beat, meaning “weariness with all forms of the modern industrial state.” Middle-class observers called Kerouac and others like him beatniks