What Happened To Living Standards?

Question 1

The impact of anti poverty policies and economic divisions

Answer 1

More marked divisions of rich and poor: 1949: richest 1% controlled 20.8% of US by 1956: 26%
BA harder to get hired and paid less
Roosevelt’s Affirmative Action was slow coming and caused resentment

Question 2

Poverty in 1966

Answer 2

12% of WA and 41% of BA living below the poverty line

Question 3

Effect of race relations on American geography

Answer 3

South Bronx in NY: Hispanic Ghetto
Areas such as south side Chicago had increasing no of people living in ‘housing units’
‘White flight’ whilst non whites concentrated in cities
Deliberate fires: landlords burn down apartments to claim insurance

Question 4

Kennedys New Frontier

Answer 4

Moral issue not just political
1964 Civil Rights Act and 1965 Voting Rights Act
Non whites elected into office

Question 5

‘War on Poverty’

Answer 5

Part of LBJ’s Great Society

Greatest one time reduction in poverty 22% to 13%

Question 6

Medicare, Headstart and Job Corps

Answer 6

Provided support medically- 1965 Medicare Act
Helped impoverished children gain higher levels of education
Offered work and training for young men and women

Question 7

Other action of LBJ’s Great Society

Answer 7

Govt support for the arts and creation of PBS
Clean air/ forest/ river acts and preserved large land areas
1961 Housing Act: urban renewal, low income housing and low interest housing loans
1968 Economic Opportunities Act
Child nutrition act, Medicare Act

Question 8

LBJ federal govt anti poverty policies

Answer 8

Set up independent agency, staff of over 130+
Social welfare programmes extended to more people and pay out more benefits
Collected data on biggest local problems and presented projects

Question 9

Examples of projects under LBJ

Answer 9

Memphis: clinics to provide care and advice before and after birth
Black and Hispanic communities in LA fought to gain project funding- heightened racial tension and violence

Question 10

CAPs

Answer 10

Funding not enough for large scale problems
Congress didn’t pass all Great Society bills
Community Action Plan (CAPs)

Question 11

Criticisms of LBJs Great Society- Nixon

Answer 11

Encouraged to stay on welfare; favoured ‘working poor’, Nixon set out dismantling the Office of Economic opportunity and promoted ‘workfare’ not ‘welfare’

Question 12

General criticisms of LBJs Great Society

Answer 12

Assistance should only be given to those who need it or it’ll only damage US further
Food Stamp programme and ‘rationalised welfare’: combined benefits of Family Assistance Plan

Question 13

Carters administration and welfare

Answer 13

1978 Consumer Corporative Bank: low interest loans to co op organisations
Largely in urban areas
Lent money to small local groups to start businesses/ buy homes
Helped poor improve position

Question 14

Rural Development Loan fund Carter

Answer 14

Extended various help to farmers

Low interest loans to rural communities to provide electrification, clinics, equipment for communal use etc

Question 15

Last two years of Carter- new tactics

Answer 15

Introduced tax cuts: thought would help economy where trying to manipulate money supply had failed
Public lost confidence
More honest but less confident than Nixon

Question 16

Incompetence of Carter

Answer 16

Three Mile Island

Iran Hostage Crisis

Question 17

Reasons for increased leisure time

Answer 17

Spare time due to improving economy and regulation of working hours
Labour saving mechanisms
1938 Fair Labour Standards Act: 40hr week and overtime rules, minimum wage established

Question 18

Results of increasing leisure time

Answer 18

Not all benefitted equally
Economic response: more movie theatres, theatres and sports stadiums: eating out
Illegal speakeasies: gamble and drink

Question 19

By 1930: number of cinemas and differences in South and North

Answer 19

NY had 100s if cinemas; ranging from tiny 50 sweaters in Black areas to the luxurious Roxy, built to hold 5,000 people
North Carolina only had more than 1 movie theatre in 3 of all its towns
South were segregated and north unofficially

Question 20

Expansion of movie industry

Answer 20

Particularly Hollywood

Employment boom for movie industry workers and those in the building/ service industries that fed and housed the workers

Question 21

Radio and book industry

Answer 21

Grew

Development of the paper back

Question 22

Spectator sports

Answer 22

Very popular and radio broadcasts of baseball meant more people watched
Radio sold sport and sport sold radio

Question 23

Jack Dempsy

Answer 23

Farming family, working class background 
Rematch with Gene Tunney boxing, week prior: NY dep sold $90,000 worth of radios

Question 24

Gene Tunney

Answer 24

Boxer son of Irish immigrant dock worker

Question 25

Babe Ruth

Answer 25

Baseball player
Back ground meant that, without his baseball success, he couldn’t have expected to earn 1/10 a much a year as his lowest income in baseball

Question 26

Leisure time during WWII

Answer 26

Leisure time second to war effort
Wartime condition restriction: night time baseball stopped to save electricity
Baseball players joined military: impacted quality of game
Travelling to games was harder

Question 27

Women and sports during WWII

Answer 27

Formed own teams such as the All Americans Girls Professional Baseball League
Women’s teams collapsed when men returned

Question 28

How and why did the leisure industry change in the period 1945-80?

Answer 28

More white collar workers
40% of married women working
Average Americans spent 1/6 of income on leisure (eg TV, tickets)
Poorer families could listen to sport in the radio or even buy cheap tickets to sport events/ movies

Question 29

Impact of children on leisure activities

Answer 29

Baby boom increased popularity of theme and water parks

Disneyland (1955) 90min TV slot presented by Reagan

Question 30

Leisure activities in suburbs

Answer 30

Bowling alleys, golf courses and tennis courts

Large malls to facilitate growing leisure activity of shopping

Question 31

Technological leisure activities

Answer 31

Computing for some yet home use of the Internet didn’t take off until 90s
TV changed the world of sport and all sport benefitted from TV at first
TV companies spent a lot im for the right to televise sports
Drop in sports attendance, could see and hear at home
All but very poor own TV; watch games for free as films improved