Affluence and conformity, 1955-63

• How did the USA stand as a country in 1955?

  The USA was the worlds first consumerist society, largest economy and dominated the non-communist world
• What were the signs of American consumerism?

  Americans owned cars, televisions, refridgerators and their own homes before others
• How did the USA stand as a country in the 1990s?

  The USA began to be challenged as the European Union began to enjoy similar standards of living to those once associated with the USA
• What popular culture emerged from 1950s America?

  Rocknroll teenage culture popular music cinema
• What were the predominant themes in 1960s and 1970s America?

  protest movements and rapid cultural change as well as a growth in Christian religious groups and the republican party in backlash to these changes
• What was the most successful change that took place between 1955-1992?


  the success of the civil rights movement and the fight to gain social, economic and political equality
• What was the USA's GNP in 1940?


  The USA's Gross National Product was $99.7 billion
• What was the USA's GNP in 1945?


  The USA's Gross National Product was $211 billion
• What percentage of supply was from the USA in 1947?

  The USA was producing 57% of the worlds steel, 43% of the worlds electricity, and 62% of the worlds oil
• What was the USA's GNP in 1960?

  $503.7 billion
• What were the differences in income for Black and White Americans in 1953?

  The median income for a white family was $4,392 per year compared to only $2,461 for non-white families
• how much did the population of the USA rise by between 1940 to 1950?


  The population of the USA in1940 was 130 million and by the mid 1950's the population had risen to 165 million
• how did the numbers living in urban areas increase between 1950 to 1960?

  The population of Americans living in urban areas in the 1950s was 96.5 million compared to 124.7 million in the 1960s
• What was the Old South?

  The Southern areas of the USA that remained very racist, many Black Americans continued to escape rural poverty and racial discrimination in the Old South by moving to Northern cities.
• what were the traditionally "Black" areas of the USA?

  Watts district of Los Angeles West and North Philidelphia South Bronx Harlem in New York City
• What was the FHA?

  Federal Housing Authority. They supported anti-jewish, and anit-black restrictive covenants on new suburban housing developments
• Restrictive Covenants


  a list of conditions attached to the sale of a house
• What did the restrictive covenants force?

  they forced Black Americans to live in privately owned rental accommodation in inner city areas that created rundown racial ghettos
• What was President Trumans Public Housing Act?


  an act that increased the building of public housing although from the period of 1949-1959 only 32000 houses were funded that led to densely populated areas with poor public amenities
• What was the racial layout of the USA in the 1940s?

  A predominantly non-white inner city and a predominantly white suburbia
• what were Levittowns and what did they do?


  Levittowns were a type of new suburb built near New York City and in Eastern Pennslyvania in the late 1940s and early 1950s that was regarded as typical of suburban development across the USA. They encouraged racial segregation as they were only accessible for Whites at the beginning
• how many families owned houses in 1960?


  3 in 5
• megalopis


  a new term used to describe the suburban growth from Boston, Massachusetts to Washington DC that encompassed New York City and more
• what happened to the percentage of car manufacturing between 1945-1960?


  the number of cars produced in the USA increased by 133%
• National Interstate and Defense Highways Act


  1956 President Eisenhower This was the culmination of a number of federal initiatives to improve the USA's highway structure a 10 year programme that cost $25 billion to construct a national network of 42,500 miles of interstate highways between 4 and 8 lanes wide
• Federal Aid Highways Act


  1938 Franklin Roosevelt required the Bureau of Public Roads to assess the feasibility of building six major toll roads although action was delayed because of the Second World War in 1941.
• Highways Act


  1944aimed to construct 40,000 miles of highways
• what was the result of these highway acts?

  President Truman proposed $25 million in 1952 to pay for highway construction on a 50:50 basis with state governments but by the time that Eisenhower became president in 1953, only 6500 miles had been constructed
• number of cars produced in 1946

  2 million cars produced per year
• number of cars produced in 1955

  8 million cars produced per year
• what were the 3 car companies that dominated car production in America?

  General Motors Ford Chrysler
• how many people owned cars in 1960?

  By 1960, 75% of Americans owned at least one car and over 15% owned more than one car per family
• What effect did an increase in car ownership have on population structure?

  The growth in ownership of cars meant that people could move to the suburbs but still work in the inner city
• What did USA car based culture look like?

  In 1956, 3000 new drive in movie theatres opened with multi-level car parks and motels that catered for car users. 1,800 out of town shopping centres were built that led to the decline in inner cities as retail centres. Mcdonalds and other fast food places were created and became hugely popular.
• What was teenage culture in the 1950s?

  Car ownership fuelled teenage culture and american teengaers were more mobile and independent than before, RocknRoll music went alongside a new 'hot-rod' car culture in which young men bought and customised fast cars
• How did car culture play into consumerism?

  car manufactures continuously recreated and redesigned newer models of cars with trendy parts that led to 7 million cars being discarded every year for newer models.
• white collar work


  those associated with office work and service industries like banking and insurance
• blue collar work


  associated with manufacturing industries and predominantly a male work force
• what did the workforce consist of in 1960?


  twice as many women were at work as in 1940 and 40% of all women over 16 held a job
• what was the importance of white-collar work on income?

  during the 1950s, the average family in suburbia made $6500 a year, 70% higher than the average income of the rest of the nation and service industries began to use this to their advantage.