HIST 2112 The Affluent Fifties Suburbia Consumerism and Liberal Consensus Between 1945 1955 most houses built in that decade in history 1960 first year that more people own a home than do not William Levitt made a fortune off selling houses to returning GIs o Created an assembly line basically for a general American home o Quick and cheap house production o Called Levittowns o Eventually made multiple styles Economic growth was huge o Doesn t cease after WWII o 1945 1970 economy will double in size Average income will double 1970 U S produced the most oil in history Cold War military spending o Helps with the economic growth Liberalism continued into the 1950s o Moderate to liberal decade o Due to legacy of New Deal o Corporate liberalism Because of WWII many liberals become less suspicious of corporations and their power Realize that corporations can be very useful if handled correctly Decided to be corporate friendly Can appeal to both parties Liberal consensus period o Dwight D Eisenhower Moderate Republican Supported by both parties Believed in the New Deal Federal Highway Act of 1956 o Employing more people o Stimulating the growth of suburbs o Wherever a highway is placed you open up the land to settlement Buying houses o Take out loans o Banks create balloon loans Knows the government was going to back them incase the ones they loan too cannot pay Explosion in consumerism o Growth in economy gives citizens idea to buy more o Consumerism becomes apart of our national identity o Consumerism and freedom begin to intertwine o Used this to combat the ideas of Soviet Russian and communism Many WWII vets struggled finding purpose after the war and in the corporate world Struggle of feminism o Women were expected to go home and keep up the house and children once they were married Invention of the teenager o Product of consumerism o Teenage years are a luxury
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