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President Truman created the fair deal which was a package of reforms for after WWII. The cancelation of war contracts caused millions of defense workers to lose jobs and prices skyrocketed. Workers demanded wage raises. Truman didn't do anything about the strikes until they hit the railroad. He warned people that it could dangerously affect resources and he would have to have armed forces run the railroad.

Republicans eventually gained control in both houses of Congress. Congress passed the 22nd amendment which limited the president to 2 terms and passed the Taft-Hartley Act which placed limits on the power of unions. Truman also desegregated the armed forces by executive order.

Truman had many reforms in his fair deal but was unable to get them passed by Congress. The democratic party ended up splitting into factions; the left wing democrats and the dixiecrats which were southern.

In 1952 President Eisenhower won election and won re-election four years later. He embraced modern republicanism which is conservative with money and liberal concerning human beings. One thing Eisenhower did under modern republicanism was expanding social security.

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By the end of the 1950's the middle class were finding themselves with great affluence. During WWII people saved lots of money and are now ready to spend it. The need to spend encouraged businesses to expand their production which caused income to increase. Companies used methods to influence people to continue buying goods. The three main methods used were ad campaigns, easier ways to buy now and pay later (introduction of the credit card), and planned obsolescence. Planned obsolescence is "the desire to own something a little newer, a little better, a little sooner than necessary."

In the early 1950's the economy was dominated by the goods industries such as steel and appliances, but by the end of the 50's the service industries became more important, for example McDonald's and motel chains like the Holiday Inn.

The workforce also shifted from a majority of blue collar jobs to a majority of white collar jobs. Both groups were able to prosper. People with blue collar jobs were able to start dressing, acting, and consume like those with white collar jobs.

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More people now were getting married sooner and at younger ages which means they were then also having kids sooner and a lot of them. The 1950's marks the baby boom. It was the largest population boom in US history. This helped industry and sales because it boosted the need for baby supplies and homes as families moved to the suburbs. Factories worked overtime to provide people with appliances, furniture, and other goods.

There was the idea of an ideal or "traditional" family. In an ideal family the father was the one who went to work while the mother stayed home to take care of the kids and the home. The only reason a mother would work is if there were economic difficulties. The mother's main job was to devote full time to teaching and taking care of their children. The media reinforced the ideal family through magazines, ads, and especially TV. Television just started becoming popular and the TV shows families would watch would show kids and adults what families should be like. Due to the increase in early marriage many women either dropped out of college or didn't go to college at all. The college admission rate dropped sharply.

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Population shifted from cities to suburbs. The shift started due to veterans coming home and wanting to buy houses. The Levitt brothers came up with a process that revolutionized home building. The Levitt brothers began working on Levittown which was the first planned community in the nation. The brothers were able to keep prices low and produce thousands of homes. The houses were small, boxy, identical homes with two bedrooms and one bathroom. The process of building was sped up by having different crews specialized in one specific task. Between 1950 and 1956 the amount of Americans living in the suburbs increased by 46%, however the neighborhoods were almost completely white and middle class.

Along with the suburbs people were also moving from the north to the sunbelt. The sunbelt is the warm states across the south from Florida to California. Manufactures and businesses began moving down there and the people followed. People were also attracted by the warm weather, sunny beaches, and attractions such as Disneyland. Between 1950 and 1960 California's population grew by 50%. Two technological advances made the move possible. The first being the design and construction of massive water projects in the dry South West. The second being the development of room air conditioning designed for houses.

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Automobile sales stayed strong through the decade due to the increasing demand for cars. Families started to need two cars in their garage instead of just one. The car became a status symbol. It was a sign of wealth and prestige. Automakers would encourage people to trade in their old model for the new one.

People started to demand for more roads. The Federal Government put together a plan to create an Interstate Highway System to connect the major cities around the county by a big network of superhighways. This was also seen as a good way to add to the nation's defense in the Cold War. The Interstate Highway benefited the country because it made long distance travel faster and safer, it created economic opportunities like roadside businesses, it created more choices for people to choose from on where to live, work, or shop, and it increased the nation's dependence on the automobile.

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At this time the treat of disease was still great. Polio was one of the most feared diseases. It took many lives. In 1938 President Roosevelt established the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis for a cure. They were able to create a polio vaccine which was used in millions of kids. Surgical techniques also advanced. The first open heart surgery and kidney transplant were performed. The pacemaker was invented and researchers started experimenting with heart transplants. The diseased that were once killers now had cures thanks to antibiotic drugs. These medical advances caused the life expectancy to rise.

Scientists were also exploring ways to use nuclear energy peacefully. They started using to generate electricity. Medical researchers use the nuclear energy for radioactive isotopes which are used for the diagnosis and treatment of diseases. They also use the energy for x-rays and for radioactive iodine to treat thyroid cancer.

In 1946 two engineers built an electronic digital computer. It was huge and bulky and could only crunch numbers. Eventually by 1947 the transistor was invented which created improvements to the computers design by making it smaller. As the computers went down in size more and more workplaces had them. Computers revolutionized the collection and storage of data.

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The definition of poverty expanded. Most understood poverty as lacking the means to live decently such as money, goods, and resources. Poverty was sought to be a moral condition and economic problem. Those who fell into poverty were looked down upon because they depended on the help of public assistance. Eventually society saw that poverty resulted from misfortune. Social scientists began examining poverty. They decided that the issue was more economical than moral.

At the end of the 1950's 1 in 4 Americans were living below the poverty line, however it went unnoticed by most of society due to poor families being camouflaged and stowed away. Poverty was camouflaged by the location in which they lived, what they wore, and how old they were. The middle class was moving to the suburbs which left the poor in the cities. There were a lot of inexpensive clothes available so they could dress the same as others. Most were over the age of 65 causing them to not be noticed. They rarely strayed from home and wielded no political power therefore were ignored by the rest of society.

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By 1959 more than a quarter of the nations poor were kids and 1/3 were elderly. As the middle class moved out of the cities to suburbs the poor moved in. They came looking for job opportunities however industries relocated and took jobs away. Housing was limited due to discrimination so Blacks and Latinos gathered in the abandoned decaying inner city, which turned into slums. Congress passed the Housing Act of 1949 to try and help. The act was meant to destroy the slums and provide decent housing for everyone, however once everything was demolished there weren't enough rebuilt to house all of the families.

Farmers faced poverty as well due to new agribusinesses. Agribusinesses produced food by large corporations. The small farms couldn't compete with them so many sank into poverty. The workers for the large corporations also struggled because they got low wages and had wretched living conditions.

The poorest American citizens were the Native Americans. The Indian Reorganization Act affirmed that the natives had the right to govern themselves and that the federal government had the responsibility of protecting their land and provide economic aid and social services. 1953 Congress wanted to save some money so they decided to terminate the government's responsibility of the natives. It took away all government help from the Natives. The Voluntary relocation act got some natives to move to cities but they struggled to adapt to that new way of life. Termination failed and in 1963 the policy was abandoned.

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In the 1920's traditional culture changed. People were starting to express themselves more. There was music, dancing, new clothes, and new opportunities. A lot of people started moving to the cities. Roads were made better and more of them which led to the mass production of automobiles. Women started to express themselves more openly. Radio and film also became popular. Almost every family would tune into the radio at night.Women started working and getting more opportunities. People started spending a lot of money on goods due to the creation of credit which allowed people to buy things now and pay back later. This spending however led the economy into a great depression.

The 1950's was another stage of change. TV became the next way to get news instead of the radio. More roads were created and they were greatly expanded through the interstate highway system. Cars became even more important which led to the creation of businesses such as fast food, gas stations, and motels. Instead of more people moving to the cities the middle class started moving out into suburbs to have families. Women started taking a different role as well. Unlike the 1920's where the women were out looking for jobs, opportunities, and freedom. They sank back and started staying in the home to take care of the house and the kids. People again started spending lots of money on goods such as cars, clothes, and appliances. The idea of credit was improved which helped so the economy would not fall back into a depression like at the end of the '20's.

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I think the 1950's isn't all that different than today. We still have the things we had then they're just improved and updated. We still use and have the interstate highway system everyday. Credit cards were invented in the 1950's and we definitely still use them to buy a lot of goods. McDonalds is still one of our biggest fast food franchises, however we have many many more now. Our technology has improved a lot more since then, for example we have color tv's with multiple stations and doctors can do tons of surgerys and prescribe thousands of medications. The automobile industry is still producing new models every year to get people to buy the newest version. Poverty still exists where people need the government's assistance to get by. A difference though is that women now aren't expected to just stay home all the time and have babies. Women have a lot of freedom today and can compete for any job. There is still a high middle class population but families are no longer having as many kids. Today typically a family has 2 or 3 kids. Over all the 1950's gave us a lot of new businesses, inventions, and ideas that have stuck with society and have been advanced even more by present day 2017.