Chapter 32

baby boom

12 million returning veterans contributed to this expansion of the next generation.

The Power of Positive Thinking

1952 book written by Reverend Norman Peale who spread his feel good theology

Dwight Eisenhower

34th president after Truman.

Levittown

A development on long island to create a suburb of NY. The Federal Housing Admin helped to keep these low cost

International Business Machines (IBM)

A large company that took part in the idea of moving workers in their company where they needed them. Jokingly nicknamed themselves "i've been moved"

The Great American Boom

A name for the growth and prosperity of America after WWII

Ralph Ellison

African American man that wrote Invisible Man in 1952 talking about a individual trapped in privacy

Richard Wright

African American writer commented on the unpreparedness of African Americans who moved to the city

cult of feminine domesticity

After WWII the role of women in the workplace greatly changed as family size increased and families tended to stay home with their children.

Serviceman's Readjustment Act of 1944

Also called the GI (government issue) bill of rights. This was racist. Didn't offer the same rights to whites as to African Americans

Jackson Pollock

An abstract expressionist artist to express modern ideas of society

Edward Hooper

Artist known for painting about desolate loneliness

George Meany

Became head of the AFL in 1955

Veteran's Administration

Created by the GI Bill of Rights. A government agency that dealt with retired war heroes after WWII

Willis Carrier

Created the air conditioner

Black migration

Describes a time during and after WWII where a large population of African Americans moved north to the cities.

"good news" religion

Describes the religious messages expressed during the 50s rather than the fire and brimstones was that explicitly ignored negative issues

white flight

During WWII African Americans moved north and midwest and as white families formed after the war, some moved into suburb areas to resist this change.

Under God, In Got We Trust

Eisenhower's push to spread his greatly religious ideals. Changed the pledge and the dollar

James Jones

Wrote From Here to Eternity in 1951 which talks about individualism in a time of mass conformity

John Galbraith

Wrote The Affluent Society in 1958 which challenged the idea that a good economy would solve social issues

John Keats

Wrote The Cracks in the Picture Window in 1956 which criticized the suburban life of being not that good

David Riesman

Wrote The Lonely Crowd in 1950. Inner directed v. outer directed people. Said we were becoming petty

The Beats

Young men that rebelled against the mundane middle class like Allen Ginsberg and Saul Bellow

rock and roll

a new kind of music that bridged the gap between blacks and whites

Alan Freed

coined rock and roll

Elvis Presley

hips

blue collar

hourly wage workers (lower class)

white collar

salaried workers (higher class)

Death of a Salesman

Play by Arthur Miller talking about the soullessness of business people

the silent generation

Refers to teens in the 50s who were very compliant and not rebellious

Norman Peale

Reverend who championed the "feel good theology"

C Wright Mills

Sociologist who wrote White Collar Society in 1951. Said that white collar workers were soulless people who just wanted money

automation

Technological advancements in industries. Machinery that helped to make products

neo-orthodoxy

Movement in the religious community that argued that the gospel of "good news" was just a way of sociability or "belonging," rather than a way of reorienting life toward God.

Sunbelt

Name for the urban population growth in the South from the Carolinas to California

Reinhold Niebuhr

Neo-orthodox preacher who wanted people to realize pain around them. CHALLENGED MORAL COMPLACENCY

William Levitt

New York developer. Built 10,600 houses on 1,200, acres