Module 22 - The Postwar Boom

GI Bill of Rights

A name given to the Servicemen's Readjustment Act, a 1944 law that provided financial and educational benefits for World War II veterans

consumerism

A preoccupation with the purchasing of new material goods or acquiring goods in ever greater amounts

"Checkers Speech"

A speech made by vice presidential candidate Richard Nixon in 1952 after he had been accused of improprieties regarding a fund established for him to reimburse him for his political expenses. In it, he said that he defended himself and said regardless of what everyone else thought, he would keep a dog that his kids had named checkers. It led to an outpouring of support for Nixon and it secured his place on the republican ticket for the 1952 election.

Dynamic Conservatism

Eisenhower's philosophy of being liberal in all things human and being conservative with all things fiscal. Appealed to both Republicans and Democrats.

Elvis Presley

He brought rock n' roll to a frantic pitch of popularity among the newly affluent teens who bought his records

Edward R. Murrow

He introduced on the scene news reporting with his program see it now and interviewing, with person to person

Dr. Jonas Salk

He was a scientist in the 1950's who developed a vaccine to prevent polio

Jack Kerouac

He was the author of the best-selling book "On the Road", which epitomized the Beat Generation of the late 1940s and early 1950s

mass media

Means of communication such as newspapers, radio, television, and the Internet that can reach large, widely dispersed audiences

The Other America: Poverty in the United States

Michael Harrington published a shocking account that starkly illuminated the issue of poverty

Harry S. Truman

The 33rd U.S. president, who succeeded Franklin D. Roosevelt upon Roosevelt's death in April 1945. Truman, who led the country through the last few months of World War II, is best known for making the controversial decision to use two atomic bombs against Japan in August 1945. After the war, Truman was crucial in the implementation of the Marshall Plan, which greatly accelerated Western Europe's economic recovery.

Fair Deal

Truman's extension of the New Deal that increased minimum wage, expanded Social Security, and constructed low-income housing

bracero

a Mexican laborer allowed into the US for a limited time as a seasonal agricultural worker

franchise

a business that has bought the right to use a parent company's name and methods, thus becoming one of a number of similar businesses in various locations

Rock n' Roll

a form of American popular music that evolved in the 1950s out of rhythm and blues, country, jazz, gospel, and pop; the American musical form characterized by heavy rhythms and simple melodies which has spread worldwide having significant impacts on social dancing, clothing fashions, and expressions of protest

conglomerate

a major corporation that owns a number of smaller companies in unrelated businesses

suburbs

a residential town or community near a city

Federal Communications Commission (FCC)

an agency that regulates U.S. communications industries, including radio and television broadcasting

Indian Reorganization Act

moved official policy away from assimilation and toward Native American autonomy

Dixiecrat

one of the Southern delegates who, to protest President Truman's civil rights policy, walked out of the 1948 Democratic National Convention and formed the States' Rights Democratic Party

termination policy

the U.S. government's plan, announced in 1953, to give up responsibility for Native American tribes by eliminating federal economic support, discontinuing the reservation system, and redistributing tribal lands

planned obsolescence

the designing of products to wear out or to become outdated quickly, so that people will feel a need to replace their possessions frequently

baby boom

the sharp increase in the U.S. birthrate following World War II

urban renewal

the tearing down and replacing of buildings in rundown inner city neighborhoods