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