HIST 106 1st Edition Lecture 25 Outline of Last Lecture I Korean war continued II The second red scare III Election of 1953 IV Eisenhower abroad V The 1950s Outline of Current Lecture I Setting the stage II 1950s III 1950s society IV More of Eisenhower V Beginning of the Civil Rights Movement Current Lecture Setting the stage o Bretton woods agreement July 1944 International monetary fund Given the ability to monitor what kinds of deficits the countries in this system have o The French fight a war in Algeria but the IMF would not monetarily support the war o International bank for reconstruction and development part of the world bank o Other currencies will be pegged to the US dollar and the dollar will be pegged to gold Other countries peg their currency to the dollar the dollar is pegged to gold 1950s o Economic stagnation in early 1950s Very few consumer goods were being produced No consumer vehicles produced during WWII There was unemployment from wartime factories being closed o Late 1950s unprecedented economic growth Soldiers that had been saving their money now had a lot of spending power o Reasons fro growth Consumer spending in the post war Massive government spending programs A huge amount was spent over the next 50 years on national defense 1950s society o Baby boom A lot of the soldiers who came home from war start families Between 1920 and 1960 the US has a 19 increase in population o Education GI bill Montgomery GI bill passed in 1944 The government pays for veterans education o Higher education job training help for mortgages unemployment insurance Set up universities to be accessible to a wider portion of the population than ever before Places like Texas A M expanded during this era There were so many incoming freshman that Texas A M had to expand the campus o William Levitt o Levittown All homes had the same floor plan but there were four different facades to help differentiate the thousands of homes Extremely affordable homes o By 1951 17 000 new homes were built o Dependence on the car The urban centers still had the most employment but more and more people living outside of the city More of Eisenhower o Eisenhower had never had an elected office prior to being president and was the last general to date that had become president o Truman had created the Fair Deal that consisted of 21main points Was very ambitious and did not pass Started using a lot of executed order desegregating the army Put forth a bill in congress to provide universal healthcare did not pass Extended benefits for GI bill to all veterans post WWII o Federal highway act of 1956 Eisenhower had seen the autobahn in Germany and thought the US needed something similar o Heavy military funding Mutually assured destruction MAD Built up as many nuclear weapons as possible to keep up with Russia o If one country drops a bomb then all of the bombs on both sides would be dropped o Nuclear bomb testing Tested weapons on Bikini Island to see what happened when a bomb went off at sea Test in the Nevada desert o Developed a boat load of crap we didn t actually need and that would only be used for a few years Beginning of the Civil Rights Movement o Brown vs Topeka board of education 1954 The supreme court declared that segregation was unconstitutional and ordered the expedient integration of public schools o Montgomery bus boycott 1955 Rosa Parks was protesting the segregation of the public transportation services o Integration of Little Rock High School 1957 Little Rock 9 a group of black students that wanted to enroll in Little Rock high school a white high school The governor used the national guard and police to block the students from attending the high school Eisenhower could not allow state sponsored discrimination such as this and knew that he had to enforce the law Tells the governor to stop what he is doing o When the governor says no Eisenhower federalized the national guard and forced them to leave Little Rock high school o Eisenhower calls in the paratroopers and has them protect the students while they enroll The paratroopers stay the entire year at the high school to protect the students and enforce desegregation In the end it was the law makers closest to where the problems were that were the most oppressive
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