History of the USA - Civil Rights - Post war Boom - Key figures etc.

2. AMERICAN ABUNDANCE IN THE POST-WAR
ECONOMY
Many Americans feared that the end of World War II and the subsequent drop in military
spending might bring back the hardship of the Great depression, with 1.2 million
veterans returning home in the need for jobs . Instead, consumer demands fuelled
exceptionally strong economic growth and the 50s proved to be a decade of
incredible prosperity.
➢ The economy overall grew by 37% during the 1950s.
➢ At the end of the decade, the median American family had 30% more purchasing
power than at the beginning.
➢ Inflation, which had wreaked havoc on the economy immediately after World War II,
was minimal, in part because of Eisenhower's persistent efforts to balance the federal
budget. Except for a mild recession in 1954 and a more serious one in 1958,
unemployment remained low, bottoming at less than 4.5% in the middle of the
decade.
➢ More than 1/3 of American Families reached Middle-Class status

3. SO WHAT CAUSED THE POST-WAR ECONOMIC
BOOM?
Many factors came together to produce the Fifties boom.
 The G.I. Bill, which gave military veterans affordable access to a college education,
added a productive pool of highly-educated employees to the work force at a time
American businesses were willing to pay handsomely for engineering and management
skills.
 Cheap oil from domestic wells helped keep the engines of industry running.
 Advances in science and technology spurred productivity. At the same time, potential
competitors in Europe and Asia were still recovering from being bombed into
smithereens during World War II.
 Changes in consumerism patterns: with the end of the depression and wartime
scarcities, a rising demand for consumer goods fuelled a steady industrial expansion.
Baby boom and suburban flight helped increase consumer demand. Abundant oil and cheap
gasoline. Electronics industry boomed (TV was invented, first generation of computers).
Construction, cars, electronics all did well.
 Eisenhower’s work in government

4. 1. CAUSES OF THE ECONOMIC BOOM: G.I BILL
The GI Bill of 1944 was created to help 15 million returning veterans of World War
II re-enter the job market. The bill established hospitals, made low-interest
mortgages available and granted loans covering tuition and expenses for
veterans attending college or trade schools.
From 1944 to 1949, nearly 9 million veterans received close to $4 billion from the
bill’s unemployment compensation program. The education and training
provisions existed until 1956, while the Veterans’ Administration offered
insured loans until 1962. The Readjustment Benefits Act of 1966 extended
these benefits to all veterans of the armed forces, including those who had
served during peacetime.
This bill helped to reduce fierce competition for jobs as well as boost the economy
by creating a wide abundance of skilled workers.

5. 2. CAUSES OF THE ECONOMIC BOOM:
ADVANCES IN SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Through technological advancement and mechanisation, American
production and manufacturing was more efficient and effective than
ever before. Mechanisation meant that farmhands could be replaced
and jobs could be done faster, more efficiently and to the best standard
possible.

6. REASONS FOR THE ECONOMIC BOOM:
CHANGING ON CONSUMERISM PATTERNS
One of the factors that fuelled the prosperity of the Fifties was the increase in consumer spending.
Americans enjoyed a standard of living that was inconceivable to the rest of the world. The
time was ripe for Americans to change their spending patterns. The adults of the Fifties had
grown up in conditions of economic deprivation, first due to the general poverty of the Great
Depression and then due to the rationing of consumer goods World War II. During the Thirties,
with unemployment sky-high and the economy in shambles, most people could simply not
afford much beyond the basics. During the war, much of the nation's productive capacity
shifted to armaments. Everything from sugar to gasoline to tires to nylon stockings were
rationed. When consumer goods became available again, people wanted to spend. By the
1950s, though they made up just 7% of the world's population, Americans consumed a third of
all the world's goods and services. This changing consumerism brought about many changes..
1. This peacetime economy meant young couples were marrying and starting families at
unprecedented rates, as they felt safe to settle down. This lead to the ‘Baby boom’ of the late
40s and 50s where the average birth-rate increased dramatically and more than 65 million
children were born. This rising birth-rate created many marketing opportunities as people
needed more clothes, food, clothes etc. The sales of baby food increased from $270 million in
1940 to $1.5 billion in 1953, similarly toy sales increased dramatically. Babies become both
consumers and source of new markets to help the economy roar.
2. Through new and expanded federal programs, including the G.I bill of Rights many of these
young families could purchase their own homes. This led to the famous ‘white flight’, where
millions of new families raced to get their own affordable place in the Suburbs.
3. With the massive growth in suburban populations, automobiles were needed more than ever,
and were within reach for many first-time buyers. Therefore, as suburbia grew, and

7. . CAUSES OF ECONOMIC BOOM: EISENHOWER'S
INFLUENCE
Eisenhower realized that many of Franklin D.
Roosevelt's liberal social programs were
both popular and effective, so based his
schemes on these. Instead of getting rid
of Social Security, for example, Ike
actually expanded it to cover another ten
million people who had been left out of
the original program. Instead of turning
away from big public works projects he
instead invested federal money in the
Interstate Highway System, one of the
largest public spending projects in the
country's history.
 The main economic goal that Eisenhower
pursued through both his terms in office
was to achieve a balanced federal
budget. The government ran a small
deficit in 1954 and 1955, then registered
a surplus for each of the next two years.
As the nation went into a recession in
1958 and 1959, Eisenhower allowed the
federal deficit to grow in order to
stimulate the economy. By 1960, he
managed to return to a surplus.
 Interstate project: The new freeway system,
officially known as the National System of
Interstate and Defence Highways, had a military
as well as civilian purpose: it could be used to
rapidly evacuate cities in case of a Soviet missile
attack. The nationwide 65000 km long
construction project was designed for high-speed
driving, and cost an estimated $129 billion to
build. To satisfy urban interests, sections of
highway were constructed into and around cities.
The grand jump in employment was from the
Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956. The resolution
to funding, created a mass amount of needed
workers, to build and maintain the highways. The
highways were not the only part in contributing to
the increase in jobs. The Act generated a great
increase in the use and purchase of
automobiles. Before the Act many families did
not own their own car, they may still have had
access to a car through a friend or family
member, but that still meant the same amount of
cars on the road at one time. Now families
wanted to own their own car, they wanted to use
the technological advancement set in-
place by Eisenhower’s Act.

9. The American birth-rate exploded after world war I, between 1946-60 and became known as
the baby boom. During this time more than 65 million children were born. At the height
of the baby boom a child was born every 7 seconds. Several factors contributed to the
baby boom
1. Young couples who had delayed marriage during WWII and the Korean War could now
settle down, marry, build homes and start families.
2. The government encouraged the growth of families through incentives such as GI
benefits for home purchases.
3. Media propaganda focused heavily on enhancing the birth-rate and having the ‘perfect’
nuclear family.
The baby boom brought about positive effects as the need for food, clothing, diaper and
toy sales enhanced and therefore manufacturing increased improving the economy.
The baby boom also stimulated migrations to "suburbia” which in turn brought increased
dependence on the automobile and required construction of new and better roads,
including those built as part of the Interstate Highway System, the largest public-works
project to date.
As happy as all of this seems, some people also worried about the negative effects of the
Boom. Since all of those children had been born, all of them had to go to school. More
children meant teacher and classroom shortages, not to mention the crowding of the
schools as well. Ten million students entered into elementary schools in the 1950s
alone. There was also a worry about food and whether or not the farmers and other

10. THE GROWTH OF SUBURBIA
Suburbs grew rapidly around the cities in the 50s, created to give affordable, low interest
homes to the thousands of new families created by the baby boom. The first of these
suburbs was Levittown, planned and built by Bill Levitt. These mass produced houses
were simple, unpretentious, and most importantly to its inhabitants, affordable to both
the white and blue collar worker.
In the 1950s suburbs accounted for 85% of new home construction and the number of
suburban dwellers doubled. This movement became known as the “white flight”.
Businesses and advertisers targeted consumers who had money to spend and therefore
followed these people to the suburbs resulting in the rapid development of shopping
malls, and food restaurants, sparking the rising consumerism trends (along with credit
card availability), which helped boost the economy but suburbanisation was also had
many negative effects such as the risk of increasing urban decline (as companies, and
tax payers are all moving out to the suburbs) but also racial prejudices…
For many of the families that fled the city in favour of the suburbs, the catalyst was the
perception of racially diverse urban areas as lower-class and crime-ridden. Real estate
law at the time enabled this process, as many minorities were legally excluded from
purchasing properties in suburban areas. These racist practices, called redlining,
barred African-Americans from pursuing home ownership. Suburban expansion was
reserved for middle-class white people, facilitated by increasing wages and home
loans.

11. THE CHANGING WORKPLACE
Dramatic changes in the workplace accompanied the countries economic
growth. The on-going mechanisations of farms and factories accelerate
in the 1950s and as a result more Americans began working in white
collar occupations, instead of blue collar labour (labourers, factory
operatives, agriculture etc.)


12. MEDICAL ADVANCEMENTS
There were famous medical breakthroughs in the 50s including…
 The fight against heart disease moved forward with new techniques for open-heart surgery.
Doctors could implant artificial valves and pacemakers to keep heart patients alive.
 Vaccines for whooping cough and diphtheria helped restrict those diseases, which had killed
many children during earlier decades.
 The average life expectancy reached nearly 70 years
 With the introduction of radiation treatments and chemotherapy, there was some success with
treating cancer victims
 Polio was treated through Salk's development of injectable vaccines and later Albert Sabin's
oral vaccine which was safer and a more convenient method for treating polio.
 Researchers developed new antibiotics to treat a whole range of infections diseases. They
invented antihistamines to remedy the effects of allergies. Meprobamate, the first tranquilizer,
began to be marketed in 1955 under the names Milltown and Equinil, kicking off a deluge of
mind-altering pharmaceuticals. One of the most notable new drugs of the period was the birth
control pill. Approved for use in 1960, the Pill would change the lives of millions of women and
contribute to the sexual revolution of the 1960s.
Medical care was expensive, however, and many citizens
lacked medical insurance. President Truman's proposal for a
national health insurance plan died in Congress and when
Eisenhower put forth a much more modest program to help
private health insurance companies, the American Medical
Association, a doctors' group, raised the fear of "socialized"
medicine. The plan failed to pass and the problem of
Americans lacking health insurance continues today.

13. TELEVISION AND THE MASS MEDIA
Though television had been invented in the 1930s, few Americans had watched a TV show
even into the late 1940s. But by the end of the Fifties, TVs were present in 90% of
homes and watching television was the favourite leisure activity of nearly half the
population.
Television was the ultimate purveyor of mass culture. Before its arrival, people had to
venture out to a theatre or cinema or concert hall to seek entertainment. And they had
to pay for it. With television, the entertainment came to them for free. Millions could
tune in and watch the same show—and millions did.
Television put the movie industry on the defensive. As the TV audience grew, movies lost
viewers and weekly movie attendance dropped from 82 million to 36 million by 1950.
Hollywood struggled to recapture attention form audiences so the development of
cinemascope/Cinerama took place – whereby movies were screened on panoramic
screens.
Between the 1940s and 2000s, commercial television had a profound and wide-ranging
impact on American society and culture. It influenced the way that people think about
such important social issues as race, gender, and class. It played an important role in
the political process, particularly in shaping national election campaigns. TV programs
and commercials have also been mentioned as major factors contributing to increased
American materialism (a view that places more value on acquiring material
possessions than on developing in other ways). Finally, television helped to spread
American culture around the world.

14. ROCK AND ROLL
The cultural phenomenon of the Eisenhower era with the greatest long-term
impact was the advent of rock n' roll. In the mid-1950s, black and white music
blended into a robust new hybrid. Rock drew on the culture of alienation as
well as the increased buying power and sense of identity of the nation's
young people.
Probably the most critical juncture of rock history took place on 22 February
1956. That day, Elvis Presley released a song called "Heartbreak Hotel." Elvis
had been stirring up increasing excitement among fans in the previous two
years, but this was to be his first big hit. Elvis Presley popularized black
music in the form of rock and roll, and shocked more staid Americans with his
ducktail haircut and undulating hips. In addition, Elvis and other rock and roll
singers demonstrated that there was a white audience for black music, thus
testifying to the increasing integration of American culture.

15. WOMEN
World War two opened up tremendous opportunities for women because so many men
joined the armed services and went abroad, leaving open many jobs that had been
previously closed to women. It had been long assumed women couldn't do those jobs --
engineering, other professions in the sciences, manufacturing jobs that had been
considered men's work, things women were believed to be too weak to do. Women
entered these jobs, excelled, and enjoyed them for the most part. The female labour
force at this time grew by over 50%. Women made airplanes and warships, munitions
and tanks, working in technical and scientific fields for the first time. They enjoyed the
work, the good pay, the opportunities for advancement, and the excitement of working
with other women and men on important jobs that needed to be done for the war. Most
wanted to continue working after the war ended (75%) But, of course, millions of men
came back from serving in the military and there was a widespread fear that there would
be another depression once the wartime economy shut down. Women were asked to do
their part by leaving the job market. Many were fired from their jobs so the returning
veterans could be re-employed.
As women's opportunities in the paid labor force outside the home contracted, women
began to infuse the work of being a homemaker. The ideal was not only to be someone
who cleaned the house and took care of the kids, but to be someone who became a
professional, nurturing and educating her children, managing her household.
However, not all women were satisfied with this role and still found employment as
secretaries, waitresses, or in other clerical jobs, what we often call the "pink collar" work
force. These jobs were not as well paid, and many women faced opposition and
discrimination from society for working and not conforming to the housewife role, but
women did take those jobs because they either wanted independence or needed to keep

16. WHAT INFLUENCED WOMEN’S GENDER ROLES?
This role of women was very much promoted and propagated throughout the media, with TV
shows clearly emphasizing gender roles and the importance of women working in the
home. Experts and psychologists also claimed that families suffer if the mother works.
The schools promoted this idea too, with domestic science courses. Girls were conformed
into their gender roles, doing cooking and learning about domestic work to prepare them
for their future jobs in the home.
The rise of suburbs helped create the role of housewife and homemaker for white, middle
class women.
Similarly, the trend of consumerism during the 1950's offered new technologies that
increased the daily work of housewives. Examples of new technologies that radically
altered the role of the housewife include the washer and drier, vacuum cleaner and lawn
mower.

18. POVERTY AMIDST PROSPERITY
The 1950s saw a tremendous expansion of the middleclass, 1/5 or
about 30 million other people, however, lived below the poverty line
at this time. Such poverty remained invisible to most American’s
who assumed the countries general prosperity had provided to
everyone with a comfortable existence, but this was not the case.
The poor included…
1. Single mothers
2. The elderly
3. Minorities: Mexicans, Puerto Ricans
4. African-Americans
5. Inner city residents

19. DECLINE OF THE INNER CITY
The poverty of the 1950s was most apparent in the urban
centres. As middle class families moved out to the
suburbs they left behind the poor and less educated.
Many city centres deteriorated because the taxes middle
class payed moved out with them.
Cities no longer had the tax dollars to provide adequate
public transport, housing and other services. When the
government tried to help inner city residents it often
made matters worse. In the end rural renewal
programmes actually destroyed more houses than it
created.

20. AFRICAN AMERICANS AND ETHNIC MINORITIES
The prosperity of the Eisenhower years did not touch all Americans, however. Even as the
nation prospered and the middle class did well, some 25% of citizens lived in poverty
(then defined as an annual income under $3,000 for a family of four). Much of this
poverty was said to be "invisible;" it affected blacks in urban neighbourhoods and
whites in depressed rural areas like the Appalachian Mountains. Middle-class folks
enjoying their new swimming pools in the suburbs could go through their lives without
ever seeing the misery in other sectors of American society. Poverty amid plenty was
another paradox of the Fifties, but most were able to ignore it.
The Federal Housing Administration was party responsible for this poverty of African
Americans and ethnic minorities as its policies reinforced patterns of segregation by
denying its low-interest loan services to non-whites. This policy endorsed redlining and
discrimination in sales, financing and homeowners insurance. This meant many African
Americans were denied access to the suburbs and were forced to live in the low socio-
economic areas of the inner city.
As well as the Federal housing administration, there was a large wage gap between African
Americans and white’s with African Americans earning only 51% of what the average
white American earned.
In the U.S., blacks, Mexicans, Chinese and Japanese immigrants were targets of
discrimination in employment and property ownership.. Since Chinese Americans were
effectively denied citizenship until the 1950s, their access to jobs was limited, and they
were prohibited by law from owning property. For Mexican Americans, opportunities for
employment were largely limited to guest worker programs. The bracero program, which

21. OTHER MINORITIES
Native Americans faced challenges
throughout the post-war era. By 1950
the native Americans who made up
1% of the population, were the
poorest ethnic group in America.
After WWII, during which many
native Americans served the US, the
government launched a program to
bring native Americans into
mainstream society, through a plan
known as the Termination policy.
This policy deepened poverty for
many native American’s and seized
rich farmland at the expense of
Native American’s
Much of the populations Hispanic
populations also suffered from
poverty. During the 1950s and 60s
the Bracero Program brought nearly
5 million Mexicans to the US to work
on farms and ranches in the SW.
Bracero’s were contracted
temporarily and afterwards many left
home. Some 350000 settled into the
US however, and many of these
labourers suffered extreme poverty
and hardship. They tolled long hours
for little pay in conditions that were
often unbearable. Many also lived in
crudely built shacks or on the
streets.
Native Americans Hispanics

23. TRUMAN ON CIVIL RIGHTS
Although Truman is not particularly famous for his contributions to the Civil Rights Movement, Truman actually had a
major impact on civil rights in the sense that he proposed many laws promoting desegregation and raised national
awareness of the problems with discrimination due to race, gender and religion.
Truman’s greatest impacts on civil rights came as a result of his domestic program, the Fair Deal. This program, which
was influenced by Roosevelt’s New Deal, was made to “guarantee economic opportunity and social stability”[1] for the
citizens of the United States, including minority groups.
In a 1947, Truman made a speech regarding civil rights in front of the National Association for the Advancement of
Coloured People. There, he spoke of his support for the freedom of the nation, stating that “There is no justifiable
reason for discrimination because of ancestry, or religion, or race, or colour.”[2] During this speech, he not only urged
African Americans to continue their fight for civil rights, but also promised them the government’s support on this
issue. He was the first president to ever address this group, showing that he would not only support their cause, but
also not let the many pro-segregation groups and citizens affect his actions towards ending discrimination.
As part of the Fair Deal, Truman made an executive order in 1946 that had a major effect on civil rights. By this executive
order, 9808, he created the Committee of Civil Rights. This committee was responsible for investigating the current
status of civil rights in the U.S. and finding ways to improve the civil rights of the United States citizens, particularly
African Americans. A year after the committee was formed, it released a report called To Secure These
Rights. Truman responded to this 178 page report by sending a ten-point civil rights message to congress, which
included creating laws against lynching, ending segregation in transportation, protecting voting rights, and creating a
fair employment practices committee. Although none of the ideas in this report were put into action, this report
opened new doors for civil rights.
In 1948 Truman followed the ideas of his State of the Union address and continued his battle for civil rights by establishing
executive orders 9980 and 9981. These orders called for an end to racial discrimination in the federal government and
banned segregation of armed services. They did not completely eliminate segregation in these areas, but did allow
some African American soldiers to gain leadership positions in the Korean War, which was something that never
occurred during WWII.
While civil rights were a big part of the Democratic platform during Truman’s presidency, he may have also had an ulterior
motive when devoting so much attention to them. During the election of 1948, Truman’s approval ratings were down
and it seemed as if he would not win. However, that same year he issued both of his executive orders relating to civil
rights, upping his approval ratings. Though the support he had gained from farmers, labourers, African Americans,
and others who benefited from actions in favour of civil rights, he was able to win the election.
Lynching and segregation of African Americans were still occurring at the end of Truman’s presidency, but he did have
some success with improving civil rights. Whether his motive was to gain more votes, or merely to follow the
Democratic platform, he did succeed in bringing a great amount of attention to discrimination problems in the U.S. He
helped the nation to take one of the first major steps towards desegregation, and helped pave the way for future
presidents to even further eliminate segregation.

24. EISENHOWER ON CIVIL RIGHTS
Although many of the civil rights advancements made during Eisenhower’s presidency were more of a result of the efforts of American
citizens than Eisenhower himself, Eisenhower did take many government actions to support the minority groups, particularly
African Americans. Through his addresses to the nation, contact with American citizens, and action taken through bills
supported, Eisenhower succeeded in having an impact on the progression of civil rights.
In his State of the Union address in 1953, Eisenhower recognized that despite some efforts made by previous presidents, segregation
still existed, and he stated that he would “use whatever authority exists in the office of the President to end segregation in the
District of Columbia, including the Federal Government, and any segregation in the Armed Forces.”[4] He also reminded the
American citizens that they or their ancestors were once immigrants, likely hoping to make them reconsider their discrimination
against current immigrants. While Eisenhower did make promises to continue the advancement of civil rights in his State of the
Union address, it was only mentioned in a very small portion of his lengthy speech, suggesting that it may not have been the
most important factor in his mind.
Eisenhower did not take any major action towards civil rights until 1956, when submitted the Civil Rights Act of 1957 to
congress. They denied the bill in this year, but in 1957, it was passed. This bill made it federal law that people could not stop
eligible American citizens, including African Americans, from voting. While this bill did not include great enough consequences
to be fully successful, it was the first civil rights bill to be passed in 82 years, and it symbolized the beginning of a series of bills
to come.
Eisenhower’s motives in passing this bill can be questioned because he chose to have it proposed directly before an election. He may
have been attempting to gain the vote African Americans in an attempt to increase his public support. However, it would not have
made a difference, given that he won approximately 57 per cent of the popular vote and won the electoral vote 457 to 73.[5]
Eisenhower showed further support of the advancement of civil rights in September, 1957, when he used troops in support of the
Supreme Court’s decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka. In this case, they ruled that racial segregation in public
schools was unconstitutional. When the governor of Arkansas ordered state troops to keep nine black students from entering a
previously all-white school in Little Rock, Eisenhower took control of the state troops and sent 1,000 federal troops in to protect
them. This action showed the states that Eisenhower was serious about enforcing the federal desegregation laws, and that no
state government could trump the federal government.
Despite this success, Eisenhower soon recognized that Southern states were finding ways around the Civil Rights Act of 1957. In
Response to this problem, he supported the passing of another bill, The Civil Rights Act of 1960, which would make the
punishments for preventing people from voting more severe. Although congress eliminated some of Eisenhower’s
recommendations within the bill, Eisenhower believed this Act to be “an historic step forward in the field of civil rights.”[6]
In addition to helping segregated parties on a whole, Eisenhower also made contacts with many individual people who were suffering
from segregation, symbolizing that he did not believe he was above them like many other white Americans did. Eisenhower was
the first president to ever meet in the White House with black Civil Rights leaders. He invited Martin Luther King, Jr., A. Philip
Randpolph, Roy Wilkins, and Lester B. Granger to his home for a meeting about national Civil Rights issues. Eisenhower was
also the first president to place an African-American in an executive white house position, and an Italian-American as his official
assistant.
During his presidency, Dwight D. Eisenhower took many risks when promoting Civil Rights. He declared that the government’s
desegregation policies were not working, proposed controversial bills, and made alliances with people whose races were often

25. PRESIDENTS VIEWS ON CIVIL RIGHTS
A L I K E
Both of these presidents were generally in favour of
African American civil rights and against
discrimination and segregation. For this reason,
both of them took important actions in support
of civil rights. For example, President Truman
appointed a federal committee on civil rights to
investigate issues like the lynching of African
Americans and to give suggestions as to how
these issues might be resolved. Truman went
much further than that in July of 1948 when he
banned racial discrimination in the hiring of
federal employees and when he ordered that the
military should desegregate.
Eisenhower also took important actions in favour of
civil rights. Under his presidency, public
facilities in Washington, D.C. were desegregated,
as were veterans’ hospitals. Most famously,
Eisenhower sent troops to Little Rock, Arkansas
(and nationalized the Arkansas National Guard)
to protect the first African American students to
attend Central High School in that city. All of
these were important actions.
D I F F E R E N T
The main difference between the two men came in terms
of their attitudes towards using law to end
segregation and discrimination. So far as we know,
Truman did not voice any doubts about the efficacy
of using the law to end racial discrimination.
By contrast, Eisenhower is known for his doubts on this
issue. He believed, for example, that the Supreme
Court’s decision in Brown v. Board of Education
was actually a setback for civil rights. He believed
that it was impossible to force people to change by
changing laws. However, this does not necessarily
mean that Truman and Eisenhower actually held
different beliefs. Unlike Truman, Eisenhower was in
office at a time when more activism was
occurring. Truman did not have to think about how
to deal with the fallout from Brown. He did not have
to deal with the beginnings of the Civil Rights
Movement. Therefore, it is possible that he would
have said similar things (and it is possible that
Eisenhower would not have said what he did if he
had been president during Truman’s time).

26. SEGREGATION
Despite having gained their emancipation from slavery in 1865, African Americans faced
discrimination in every aspect of their lives until at least the 1950s. The 14th
amendment (1868) to the United States Constitution promised ‘the equal protection of
the laws’ to all the nation’s citizens. In practice, many US lawmakers, law courts and
law enforcers approved a systematic segregation according to race. This resulted in
African Americans being forced to use separate entrances to buildings; separated in
theatres and on buses; and denied access to ‘whites only’ swimming pools, hospitals,
schools, housing and even cemeteries. They had to endure inadequate and sub-
standard facilities; were intimidated into not exercising their voting rights; were
referred to by the derogatory terms ‘nigger’ and ‘coon’; and were at risk of becoming
victims of mob rule, horrific violence and even lynching's.
Laws known as the Jim Crow laws enforced this segregation and the unequal distribution
of the nation’s resources that accompanied it. Segregation and racial intolerance were
worse in the southern states, where over 50 per cent of African Americans lived.

27. LIFE FOR AFRICAN AMERICANS IN THE 1940S
Unemployment and poverty in the South prompted as many as 2 million blacks to leave their
homes in search of jobs in northern cities in the years after World War I. The Great
Depression and the invention of the mechanical cotton picker in the 1940s exacerbated
these job shortages in the South by eliminating white planters’ need for sharecroppers
and field hands. Additionally, as more and more blacks migrated north to the cities, more
and more white northerners left the cities for the suburbs, thus transforming inner cities
into predominantly black neighbourhoods. Nonetheless, exposure to the much higher
standard of living in northern cities also made blacks aware of the degree of income
inequality that existed between North and South, black and white. As a result, more and
more northern blacks began clamouring for jobs, education, and social services—a cry
that helped launch the modern civil rights movement as well as the Great Society.
World War II also had a dramatic effect on black Americans, as black civil rights leaders
publicized their “Double V” campaign for victory both abroad and at home. After civil
rights leader A. Philip Randolph threatened to organize a march on Washington, D.C., to
protest racial inequality, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 8802 to
desegregate defence industries. This action alone allowed more than 200,000 northern
blacks to find jobs in various defence industries, boosting their average income
considerably. President Harry S Truman later desegregated the military with Executive
Order 9981 and also created the President’s Committee on Civil Rights, one of the first
government committees since Reconstruction seriously devoted to tackling racial
issues. In the years after World War II, as the Cold War began, activists wondered how
the United States could fight for freedom abroad when so many still lacked freedom at
home. Foreign dignitaries from the USSR asked this question too and accused the
United States of hypocrisy. Growing international pressure helped convince President
John F. Kennedy to endorse the civil rights movement fully in the early 1960s.

28. ORIGINS OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT
On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks left her job as a seamstress in Montgomery, Alabama, and
boarded a bus to go home. In 1955 buses in Montgomery reserved seats in the front for whites
and seats in the rear for African Americans. Seats in the middle were open to African
Americans, but only if there were few whites on the bus.
Rosa Parks took a seat just behind the white section. Soon, all of the seats on the bus were
filled. When the bus driver noticed a white man standing, he told Parks and three other African
Americans in her row to get up and let the white man sit down. The other three African
Americans rose, but Rosa Parks did not. The driver then called the Montgomery police, who
took Parks into custody.
News of the arrest soon reached E. D. Nixon, a former president of the local chapter of the
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Nixon, who wanted
to challenge bus segregation in court, told Parks, “With your permission we can break down
segregation on the bus with your case. ”Parks replied, “If you think it will mean something to
Montgomery and do some good, I’ll be happy to go along with it.”
When Rosa Parks agreed to challenge segregation in court, she did not know that her decision
would spark a new era in the civil rights movement. Within days of her arrest, African Americans
in Montgomery had organized a boycott of the bus system. Mass pro- tests soon began across
the nation. After decades of segregation and inequality, many African Americans had decided
the time had come to demand equal rights.
The struggle would not be easy. The Supreme Court had declared segregation to be constitutional
in Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896. The ruling had established the “separate but equal” doctrine.
Laws that segregated African Americans were permitted as long as equal facilities were
provided for them.

29. THE MONTGOMERY BUS BOYCOTT
On 1 December 1955, in Montgomery, Alabama, 42-year-old Rosa Parks began a phase of the civil
rights movement. when the ‘whites only’ section had filled up. The bus driver called the police,
who arrested her.
Rosa Parks, a well-respected member of the NAACP, went to jail for violating the law, not giving up
her seat to a white gentleman. In protest, the African American community, who comprised 75
per cent of bus users in Montgomery, began a boycott of the city’s buses that continued for
382 days. This was in addition to African American demands for equal and polite treatment
from bus drivers and the provision of jobs for African American drivers.
African Americans wanted recognition of their equal rights to bus seats. Bus companies faced
massive financial losses but refused to give in. The bus companies had the support of large
sections of the white community, especially people who belonged to the Ku Klux Klan and the
Citizens’ Councils formed to resist integration.
The boycott demonstrated African Americans’ determination to take unified action in the fight for
their rights; the value of economic power as a weapon; the extent of racism that existed within
many southern communities; and the changed attitudes of many whites. The African American
slogan was ‘People don’t ride the bus today. Don’t ride it for freedom’. Montgomery’s African
American residents walked or gained transport through car pools, often with the help of
sympathetic members of the white community.
Martin Luther King, a young Baptist minister working in Montgomery, took on an important role as
president of the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA), the organisation directing the
bus boycott. His church became a center for planning tactics and for providing inspiration and
emotional support to help make the boycott unanimous.

30. BROWN VS. BOARD OF EDUCATION
After World War II, the NAACP continued to challenge segregation in the courts. From 1939 to
1961, the NAACP’s chief counsel and director of its Legal Defense and Education Fund was the
brilliant African American attorney Thurgood Marshall. After the war, Marshall focused his
efforts on ending segregation in public schools.
in the 1950s, African American children attended schools that were lacking in toilets,
running water and even desks. Local education authorities only purchased new books
for the white students in their districts. In Alabama in 1949, the state’s expenditure on
African American students amounted to 27 per cent of its expenditure on white students.
In 1954 the Supreme Court decided to combine several cases and issue a general ruling on
segregation in schools. One of the cases involved a young African American girl named Linda
Brown, who was denied admission to her neighborhood school in Topeka, Kansas, because of
her race. She was told to attend an all-black school across town. With the help of the NAACP,
her parents then sued the Topeka school board. Throughout this process, supporters of
segregation fought strongly to maintain separate schools for white children. They
argued that the Constitution did not give the US federal government the power to
overrule state law on education.
On May 17, 1954, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka,
Kansas, that segregation in public schools was unconstitutional and violated the equal
protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Chief Justice Earl Warren summed up the
Court’s decision, declaring: “In the field of public education, the doctrine of separate but equal
has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal” and therefore demanded
desegregation of schools.

31. LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSAS
In 1957, nine African American students tried to attend Central High School in Little Rock,
Arkansas. They had to endure threats and attempted violence from the racist crowds
lining the streets that led to the school. Pro- segregation Arkansas governor, Faubus,
sent in the Arkansas National Guard to ‘preserve order’.
Little Rock degenerated into mob rule as pro-segregationists engaged in campaigns of
hatred and violence against African Americans. African Americans suffered beatings,
had their property attacked and lived under constant threat from the racist groups who
controlled the city. Finally, President Eisenhower, more concerned to enforce the federal
law on integration than committed to desegregation, ordered 1000 federal troops into
Little Rock. Two days later, on 27 September 1957, the nine African American students
entered Central High School under the protection of the United States army.
Then the Arkansas National Guard troops took over a month later, violence against the new
students resumed. Governor Faubus used this as an excuse to close the high schools
for a full year. The state then established ‘private’ schools, which excluded African
Americans. Despite a court order that schools be reopened, desegregation lacked
strong support from either state or federal governments and remained difficult to
enforce. In 1960, only about 13 per cent of African American students in the southern
states attended integrated schools. In 1964, the figure was 2 to 3 per cent for the nation
as a whole.

33. TRUMAN’S FIRST ADMINISTRATION
Few thought Truman could win an election in his own right in 1948. Inflation was still a
problem, the Republican Congress had blocked his legislative program, and the
Democratic Party was badly split, 2 factions abandoned the party altogether and others
viewed Truman’s administration as weak. Angry of Truman’s support of civil rights and
frustrated by Truman’s ineffective domestic policies liberal members in his party formed
a new progressive party with Wallace. Despite this, Truman won most electoral votes
and in 1948 became President. Most of his votes were received in the South with
strongest support from African‐Americans, Catholics, Jews, farmers, and organized
labour.

34. TRUMAN’S FAIR DEAL
Truman announced an ambitious domestic agenda, known as the Fair Deal, at his
inauguration in January 1949.
Some Fair Deal programs that were implemented included an increase in the minimum
wage, an expansion of Social Security, funding for low‐income public housing, and
farm price supports. However, even with Democrats back in control of both houses, the
president could not get Congress to back other key elements of the Fair Deal.
Conservatives in both parties were able to muster enough votes to block his really
significant policy initiatives, such as civil rights legislation that would expand on
Truman's executive orders prohibiting discrimination in federal government hiring and
ending segregation in the armed services; national health insurance; federal aid to
education; and repeal of the Taft‐Hartley Act.
He did however, have some legislative successes, such as the Housing Act of 1949 which
provided for the construction of low income housing and long term rent subsides.

35. TRUMAN AND TACKLING COMMUNISM
The threat of communism was a major focus of Truman’s second administration. The
president supported the creation in 1949 of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization
(NATO), a military alliance of democratic nations, including the United States, Canada,
France, the United Kingdom and eight other countries, and appointed Dwight
Eisenhower (1890-1969) as its first commander.
Also that year, a revolution in China brought the Communists to power, and the Soviets
tested their first nuclear weapon.
Additionally, during his second term Truman had to contend with unproven accusations
made by U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy (1908-1957) that the presidents administration
and US state department had been infiltrated by communist spies.
In June 1950, when communist forces from North Korea invaded South Korea, Truman sent
in U.S. planes, ships and ground troops to aid the South Koreans. The conflict turned
into a lengthy stalemate that left Americans frustrated and hurt Truman’s popularity;
however, his decision to intervene ultimately preserved South Korea’s independence.

36. EISENHOWER
In the 1950’s the USA went to war in Korea. This consumed the nations
attention and resources and effectively ended Truman’s fair deal. By
1952 Truman’s approval rating dropped quickly and he decided not to
run again for presidency. Instead Eisenhower, a world war II war hero
ran for presidency and the slogan “I like Ike” was soon adopted.
Eisenhower won the election in a landslide of votes 442:80.

37. EISENHOWER
Although there were dangerous moments in the cold war,
people often remember the Eisenhower years as “happy
days”, a time of prosperity, where American’s enjoyed the
benefits of a booming economy. Yet the Eisenhower
years were not carefree – the president faced important
issues in domestic affairs. Managing the economy
involved important decisions about how to maintain
prosperity, protect freedom, and make difficult decisions
about civil rights which were becoming an urgent
national issue. Most decisions Eisenhower made were
accepted as the right choices, however, some critics
believed he had not used his powers enough to protect
individual freedom.
So how did he do it?

38. EISENHOWER: MODERN REPUBLICANISM
Although some Republicans hoped that Eisenhower would dismantle all of Franklin Roosevelt's
New Deal programs, the president realized that doing so was neither possible nor desirable.
In fact, Eisenhower supported some components of the New Deal, such as Social Security,
whose coverage was expanded to the self‐employed, farm workers, and military personnel;
and the federal minimum wage, which rose to $1 an hour during his administration. However,
the president's domestic agenda did reverse some New Deal trends. For example,
Eisenhower focused on reducing the federal budget, which included cutting farm subsidies,
abolishing the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, keeping inflation in check, and
promoting private rather than public development of the nation's energy resources. Despite
Eisenhower's concern for fiscal responsibility, he was prepared to increase spending to get
the country out of the 1953, 1957, and 1958 recessions.
Modern Republicanism represented a pragmatic approach to domestic policy. Committed to
limiting the role of the government in the economy, the administration was ready to act when
circumstances demanded it.
Eisenhower's modern Republicanism embraced two major public works projects — the St.
Lawrence Seaway and the interstate highway system. The Seaway, a joint American‐Canadian
effort completed in 1959, gave ocean‐going ships access to the Great Lakes. The Interstate
Highway Act, passed in 1956, authorized the federal government to finance 90 per cent of the
cost of building the interstate system through a tax on automobiles, parts, and gasoline that
went into the Highway Trust Fund. The 30‐year construction program skewed the nation's
transportation policy in favour of cars and trucks and resulted in reduced spending on urban
mass transit and railroads.

39. THE FEDERAL HIGHWAY ACT
Eisenhower endorsed the Federal Highway
Act in 1956, calling for the construction
of a network of interstate highways,
which would improve national
transportation. In fewer than twenty
years, this highway construction
became the largest public works project
in U.S. history and cost more than $25
billion. New taxes on gasoline, oil, and
trucks helped pay for this massive
endeavour. The new interstates had an
enormous impact on the growth of the
suburbs and prosperity but also
severely crippled the development of
public transportation systems.

40. EISENHOWER AND MCCARTHY
One of the key issues facing the nation during the 1952 campaign and the early years of Eisenhower's presidency
was Senator Joseph McCarthy's near-fanatical campaign to root out the Communists who had supposedly
infiltrated America's government and society. McCarthy had begun hunting Communists in government and
public life in 1950. While he was genuinely concerned about the threat of internal Communist subversion
(which, we now know, was wildly overblown; Communists were never more than a tiny, beleaguered minority
within the United States), McCarthy found that the publicity his crusade generated gave a tremendous boost
to his political career. By 1952 he was flinging accusations around indiscriminately, wildly alleging
Communist infiltration of all sectors of American society.
Eisenhower also worried about Communist spies or agents, but he disliked McCarthy's outrageous methods,
including a tendency to consider someone guilty until proven innocent. Eisenhower, however, did not want
to criticize McCarthy publicly, as he was fearful that such a direct confrontation would demean his office or
work to the senator's advantage: "I just won't get into a pissing contest with that skunk," the President
declared.
Among those McCarthy came to target was General George C. Marshall, who had been the United States' highest-
ranking military officer as Army Chief of Staff during World War II. Later, as President Harry Truman's
Secretary of State, Marshall had devised a plan to rebuild Europe. He was perhaps the country's best-
respected figure in military and international affairs. He had also, however, tried to reconcile the Nationalist
and Communist forces in China, and when the Communists won the civil war there in 1949, Marshall was one
of those accused of "losing" China. McCarthy, making a typically wild leap in logic, concluded that Marshall
was somehow acting to help the Communists. This personally offended Eisenhower. George Marshall was
one of Eisenhower's closest friends and the man responsible for his rise in the military. This led to
Eisenhower’s decision to work quietly, behind the scenes, to frustrate McCarthy's investigations. Television
could have a powerful political effect now 70% of people owned TV’s, so Eisenhower used it to his
advantage; he was the first President to allow television cameras in his news conferences and the first to
have an advertising agency produce a television campaign commercial for his re-election. Television could
also diminish political power, and that is what it did to McCarthy. After watching McCarthy on television,
millions of viewers agreed with the question that Joseph Welch, a lawyer working for the Army, put to the
senator: "Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last?"