APUSH
GI Bill servicemen s readjustment act of 1944 college and vocational training for returning veterans; low cost home loans from veterans administration 2 million veterans take advantage of schooling $16 billion in home loans Helped keep economy going Employment Act of 1946 gov t policy to promote full employment, production, purchasing power 3 member panel of econ. Advisers report to president Taft-Hartley Act 1947 outlawed closed shops required anti-communist oath for union leaders
1950-1970 surging economic growth National income doubled in 1950s Prosperity changed ways of living 1945-1970 6x increase in electric output Roots of the Boom: World War II itself Defense spending Related industries Farm productivity
Gov t policies promoted migration away from urban centers FHA loans (federal housing authority) Gov t built highways White Flight whites move to suburbs, southern blacks move to abandoned northern cities; mortgage discrimination; public housing often allowed racial segregation Levittown massive suburb
Huge birthrate increases post-wwii Fueled growth of suburbs Rise of sunbelt advent of air-conditioning
Fair Deal Represented continuation of New Deal policies many provisions failed conservative congress opposed Truman Universal health care provision failed after intense debate Extend Social Security coverage done for 10 million Americans Repeal of Taft Hartley Also failed Fulbright Program Housing Act of 1949 allocation of funds for public housing
Defense Plants under orders to hire regardless of race African-American G.I. s Segregated battalions with few Black officers Red Cross segregated blood Greeted as heroes by Europeans G.I. Bill enabled black veterans to go to college discrimination blocked their way Truman ordered desegregation of military services - 1948 Korea integrated military units
Walter White head of NAACP Charles Houston head of Legal Defense Fund Howard University Law School Professor Began to challenge Plessy v. Ferguson in the courts
Case based on 3 lower court decisions Oliver Brown in Topeka, Kansas; Barbara Johns & fellow students in Virginia;Parents in Clarendon County, South Carolina Warren Court reversed Plessy s Separate but Equal decision Segregation is unconstitutional Schools must desegregate with all deliberate speed
Rosa Parks arrested for sitting in white section Martin Luther King, Jr. organized boycott using nonviolent protest lasted 381 days - Montgomery, Alabama busses desegregated Set up congressional committee to investigate voting violations in the south. Civil Rights Act -1960 Provided federal aid for African American voter registration in the south
Board of Education voted to admit 9 black student to H.S. Gov. Faubus orderd Arkansas National Guard to stop students from attending Pres. Eisenhower sent Federal troops to enforce order School integrated with 9 students receiving Federal protection
African American College students in the south desegregated eating places by staging sit-ins. Black & white students from the north & south integrate bus terminals Railroads & Airlines voluntarily desegregate.
James Meridith: University of Mississippi, 1962 Pres. Kennedy ordered federal marshals to enforce law University of Alabama, 1963 Gov. George Wallace brought Alabama state troopers Personally blocked 2 African-Americans from attending Kennedy ordered in Alabama National Guard
King led peaceful protest of segregation & Jim Crow Laws Police Commissioner Bull Connor set dogs, tear gas, & fire hoses on protesters King jailed JFK intervened
Organized by A. Phillip Randolph as march for jobs & freedom 200,000 marchers (60,000 white) met at Lincoln Memorial King delivered his I Have a Dream Speech
Voting Rights Act, 1964 outlawed poll taxes Civil Rights Act, 1964 outlawed discrimination in public places no federal funds would be given to local or state programs that discriminated government would start & finance lawsuits to desegregate schools established the E.E. O.C. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to investigate complaints of job discrimination
Massive voter registration campaign launched by several civil rights groups in Mississippi Fannie Lou Hamer & the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party challenged the all white Mississippi delegation at the Democratic National Convention James Chaney, Michael Scherner, & Andrew Goodman--3 Civil Rights workers are murdered by Klansmen in Mississippi Tried for murder by acquitted by all white jury Federal Judge sentenced them to 10 years in prison for civil rights violations.
Violent opposition to efforts to register African-American voters Only 350 of 15,000 registered Demonstrators attacked by sheriff Murder of demonstrator Bloody Sunday, March 7 th 600 peaceful protesters marched through Selma attacked by Sheriff Martin Luther King led second March, Tuesday, March 9 th 25,000 march from Selma to Montgomery 300 white clergy participate National coverage of March protected King
outlawed literacy tests federal examiners to supervise at polls government would fund lawsuits to end poll tax
Founded 1909 Leaders: Walter White, Roy Wilkins Methods: lobbying, education, legal action, against violence
Founded: 1910 Leader: A. Whitney Young Methods: nonviolent community action
Founded: 1942 Leader: James Farmer Methods: nonviolent civil disobedience, sit-ins, freedom riders, voter registration
Founded: 1957 Leader: Martin Luther King, Jr. Methods: nonviolent civil disobedience & protest to end segregation in public facilities, & end discrimination in voting and employment
Founded: 1960 Leader: John Lewis, Diane Nash, Ella Baker Methods: nonviolent civil disobedience, sit-ins, freedom riders, voter registration
Founded: 1930 s Leaders: Malcolm X, Elijah Mohammed Methods: favored separation of the races & Black Empowerment
Overcrowded 27.3 people per acre (L.A. average 7.4), 1,000 African-Americans moved to L.A. every month White policeman attempted to arrest Black youth for suspicion of drunken driving Crowd attacked cop, began to riot Rioting for 8 solid blocks Two hours later, entire area of Watts 2,000 rioters Next day 5,000 rioters in 150 block area Riot ended after 6 days, 34 dead, 898 wounded, 4,000 arrested, 45 million in losses
Harlem, Philadelphia 1964 Cleveland, Omaha - 1966 Newark, NJ 1967 Plainfield, NJ 1967 Detroit - 1967 Chicago, Baltimore, DC, -reaction to King Assassination
Redirected: 1966 Leader: Stokely Carmichael Methods: slogan Black Power!! expelled white members, advocated use of violence in response to violence
Founded: 1966 Leader: Huey Newton, Bobby Seale, Eldridge Cleaver Soul on Ice Cleaver s memoirs Methods: direct confrontation, carried guns for self-defense, organized ghetto youth, created programs to help poor
Rift with Black Muslims over his change of heart had become more like MLK killed by Black Muslims F.B. I. knew of danger, did not intervene
in Memphis to help garbage workers strike shot by James Earl Ray (white) F.B.I. investigation of shooting questionable
Women, Hispanics, Native Americans, Gays and Lesbians more to come
Betty Friedan wrote Feminine Mystique - Told how society had assigned women to the role of subservient to the needs of their husband & children N.O.W. Gloria Steinem Movement Goals - Full equality with men End discrimination in economic & social life employment, education, society Reproductive freedom & government support of child care
JFK, Inauguration Razor-thin margin of victory meant Kennedy had no mandate Few domestic accomplishments: Area Redevelopment Act (1961) spent $400 million in loans & grants Housing Act (1962) spent $5 billion on urban renewal, ended redlining Minimum wage raised to $1.25/hour, and extended to 3 million more workers ** Peace Corps sent thousands of young, idealistic volunteers to help development projects in the third world
Tremendous goodwill aftermath of JFK assassination Tax Reduction Act (1964): $11.5 billion tax cut fueled economic growth: GNP almost doubled 10 million jobs created Economic Opportunity Act allocated $1 billion to fight war on poverty: Office of Economic Opportunity led by Sargent Shriver, Kennedy s brother-in-law Maximum feasible participation outraged local politicians seeking patronage
Job Corps aimed at inner-city teens Volunteers In Service To America (VISTA) domestic version of the Peace Corps Head Start preparing poor kids for school Upward Bound preparing poor high schoolers for college Legal Service to the Poor response to Warren Court s extension of defendants rights Gideon v. Wainwright (1963) right to a public defender Miranda v. Arizona (1966) right to be informed of rights Model Cities upgrade employment, housing, education & health
First Lady, Lady Bird Johnson reads to a head start class in 1966
Medicare = hospital insurance for elderly Medicaid = grants to states to pay for health care for the poor Costs split 50%/50% with states LBJ signs medicare and Medicaid into law with an aged President and Mrs. Truman at his side
Elementary & Secondary Education Act (1965) allocated $1.3 billion to local school districts Required to follow federal guidelines, esp. on racial & sex discrimination Higher Education Act expanded federal assistance to colleges 1965 Immigration Act ended racist quotas Hemispheric ceilings on visas: 120,000 for western, 170,000 for eastern Immediate family members let in outside of quotas 2 new Cabinet Departments: Housing & Urban Development (1965) & Transportation (1966)
By 1965 there were over 21,000 miles of federal interstate highways (Eisenhower Interstate System) 1968 Nixon elected to the presidency 21 July 1969 US becomes first nation to land on the moon Space Race Meanwhile, America plagued by race riots, urban decay, antiwar protests War in Vietnam
Bring us Together Again Law & Order on our streets Silent Majority Southern Strategy soft-pedal civil rights, oppose busing initiatives, appoint conservative SCOTUS judges New Federalism-take power from Washington D. C. & give it to state & local Less concerned with domestic problems saw Great Society as a strain
Stagflation: An economic concern because inflation and unemployment go up First major inflation since Post WWII era Inflation went up to 8% Unemployment up to 7.5% Why does this happen? LBJ s Great Society spending Vietnam Spending Tax Cut Nixon s Reaction: Nixon puts a 90 day freeze on wages and prices -1971 Took country off gold-standard
Yom Kippur War causes embargo on oil to the US Oil imports fall to almost 19000 barrels a day Costs Climb! Emergency Highway Conservation Act Nat l speed limit - 55 Trans-Alaskan Pipeline oil Prudhoe Bay $8 billion project Billions into researching and developing nuclear power
EPA passed Federal agency that began to enforce environmental laws Clean Air Act of 1970 Focused on car emissions restrictions Rachel Carson Wrote Silent Spring book that looked effects of DDT on the environment
26 th amendment voting age 18 (1971) OSHA occupational safety and health admin (1970) Consumer Product Safety Commission (1972) Roe v. Wade 1973 woman and doctor, not state gov t have right to control what happens to her body (privacy)
August 9, 1974 Nixon resigns the Presidency Charged w/ Defying Congressional Subpoenas Misuse of Pres. Power Obstruction of Justice Gerald Ford takes over Pardons Nixon
In the late 70s, the U.S. was overextended Americans distrusted their government as a result of Vietnam & Watergate The economy had entered a recession with high unemployment & inflation A decline in America s status in the world A series of presidents (Ford & Carter) that failed to inspire a sense of hope among the American people
Another issue during Ford s presidency was a growing economic recession Since the early 1970s, the economy had grown stagnant with few new jobs or business profits Inflation, interest rates, & unemployment were all on the rise High inflation
Making the economic situation worse was the oil crisis of the 1970s In retaliation for American support of Israel, OPEC cut off oil to the U.S. in 1973 As a result, gas prices soared & shortages led to long lines for gasoline
Ford had no answer for stagflation or the gas crisis & was challenged by Georgia Democrat Jimmy Carter in the 1976 election Carter ran as an outsider who played no part in Vietnam, Watergate, or the recession
In the 1976 election, Carter beat Ford
- As president, Carter tried to attack the energy crisis, stagflation, & the recession - 1977 and 78 recoveries to unemployment, inflation BUT Iranian revolution (1979) brought another oil crisis; tight money policies did not help as needed