US History-1940's and 1950's

A detailed Summary of US History-1940's and 1950's

One of the first thing staff Sergeant Samuel Goldenberg did when he returned from the Second World War was to make love to his wife Eve. One of her first questions was whether he had been unfaithful. Sam told her that only one man in his entire unit didn't fool around.

The postwar booms: Business and Babies

The baby boom was both a cause and an effect of prosperity. It was natural for the birthrate to soar immediately following a war; what was unusual was that it continued to do so throughout the 1950s the annual total exceeded 4 million, reversing the downward trend in birthrates that had prevailed for 150 years. Births began to decline after 1961, but continued to exceed 4 million per year through 1964.

The third cornerstone of the postwar economic boom was military spending. When the Defense Department was established in 1947, the nation was spending just over ten billion a year on defense. Beginning with the Korean War in the early 1950s, defense spending skyrocketed.

The microchip facilitated the shift from heavy manufact

Immediately after the Second world war, many former GI's had enrolled in college and set up housekeeping with their wives and babies in abandoned military barracks on college campuses. The legislation that made this possible was the Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, popularly known as the GI Bill of Rights.

Highway construction opened up previously remote rural lands for transformation into suburbs. In 1947 Congress authorized construction of a 37,000-mile chain of highways. In 1956, President Eisenhower signed the Highway Act, which launched a 41,000-mile nationwide network.

As education became intertwined with national security, religion became a matter of patriotism. After all, the United States was locked in mortal combat with an atheistic enemy. Religious leaders also emphasized traditional values like family togetherness. The bible topped the best seller lists and books with religious themes told people how to apply religious precepts to the pursuit of worldly success.

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Approximate Word count = 748
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: History

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