American studies 2016 03

What is American Studies?

Gilded Age Architecture Victorian Influence

Henry Hobson Richardson

Louis Sullivan“Father of Skyscrapers”“form follows function”

Frank Lloyd Wright“organic architecture”

Foursquare Homes

Richardson’s Trinity Church

Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater

Foursquare Home

The Great Depression & New Deal

1929-1941

Origins and CausesStock crash = symptom

Banks lacked money, people lost savings, debts were called in, no cashProduction stopped, workers fired, no $, consumption declined, no profits, more workers fired

Origins and CausesWealth inequalities

Ballooning stock marketOver reliance on unprotected loansToo much speculation & borrowingOverproduction and uneven distribution capabilities

President Hoover

Herbert HooverProgressiveWar ReconstructionOpposed direct federal aidSelf-help & volunteerismSelf-help cooperatives

“Hoover’s America”

Anti-tax views & opposition to gov’t support deepened depression

Hoovervilles

Seattle, 1931

The Bonus Army/MarchWorld War One veteransGov’t denied their pensionsMarched on Washington, 1932Congregated around White HouseGen. Douglas MacArthurDeep class divisionshttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqevdBZCbcQ

Roosevelt and the New Deal

“Relief, Recovery, Reform” Debt spending

Immediate Responses, 1933Federal Emergency Relief Act

Federal funds for reliefNational Industrial Recovery Act

Fair work and competition codesAdministration to enforce codesGuaranteed labor’s right to organize

New Deal Programs

Civilian Conservation CorpsSoil Conservation ServiceSoil Erosion Planting treesIrrigation and range management

Tennessee Valley Authority

Flood control, Electricity, Irrigation, work

Works Progress AdministrationWPA

Biggest agency1935 employed 8 million and

$2 billion fund Bridges, reservoirs, irrigation, sewage,

schools, playgrounds, education, trainingWork Programs paid minimum wages, pulled them off charity and soup lines“We Work Again”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gk0SpTOi9Aw

1935 Social Security Act

Safety net for all AmericansPercentage of paycheckBased on shorter life-spanIntended to supplement (not replace) incomeLess inclined to “retire”

Financial SystemFederal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)

Insured individual bank deposits Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)

Regulated trading practices in stocks and bonds

Problems with New DealRelief based on race: Tucson scaled payments based on raceFavored large industries and businessHurt some small farmersLocal agencies administered relief and ran programs

Propaganda/Education

Government Promotional Filmhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aq5UiGdje8U

Water and the West

Bureau of ReclamationHoover Dam

Water for L.A., Imperial Valley, Phoenix, and power for region

Central Valley Project harnessed the Sacramento River

Water storage, irrigation, hydro-electricityFederal-corporate alliance$2.5 billion by 1935

Hoover Dam

Grand Coulee Dam

Columbia River, 1941Largest concrete structure in the worldCreated a 150 mile lakeToo much powerBonneville Power AdministrationPowered 70% of Northwest

The Dust Bowl

Economic and environmental disasterOverproduction, monocrops Plowed up grasses for farms to meet the needs of a booming wheat market Soil exhaustion, soil erosionDrought and winds1935: Blew winds from CO and NE, blackened the sky across the plains, into the East and Atlantic Ocean

Responses

Killed millions of animals, burned millions of tons of foodTaylor Grazing Act

Federal control of grazing

Migrants: OkiesPoor whites and sharecroppers Evicted from OK, TX, MI, ARKGoing to CALL.A. Police Chief “bum blockade”

Mexican and Okie Farmworkers

Mexican Repatriation

Mexican & Mexican Americans sent to MexicoNearly 1 millionL.A. County deported 12,000Colorado deported 20,000

The Indian New Deal

John CollierProgressivePueblosPreserve cultures

The Indian New Deal

Multi-faceted legislation

EducationPoliticsReligionLandCultureLanguage

Indian Reorganization

ActIRA, 1934Economic & political assistanceBusiness CouncilsTribal ConstitutionsBIA, InteriorOver half rejected it

Women

Eleanor RooseveltWork & aidPatriotic home economics conserve, recycle, help America “as a woman”

African Americans

Jobs in gov’tSharecropping100,000 blacks evicted by AAANo loans from FHAMary McCloud Bethune http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gk0SpTOi9Aw

“Share the Wealth”Huey LongPopulist Gov. in LAUse of radio and sensational claimsRhetoric of poverty / class tensionsSenatorShare the WealthSocial Justice http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdzAbxsjPRA&NR=1

Public Art and Culture

Federal Writers ProjectTheaterOral histories of slavery, folk lore, Indian stories, Mexican Revolution, cowboys, frontier life, etcNational cultural resources and heritageFederal Arts Program

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKsm3SmBBKU&feature=related

Federal Theatre Project

Writer’s & Theater Project

WPA Posters

Travel through the West

New Deal Work Mural

End of the Depression

Federal spending on an unprecedented level failed to stop itThe largest entrance of the federal government into the American economyMade the federal government into a “broker state” between labor and capitalSocial programs and “safety net” Brought fed gov’t into the lives of nearly all WesternersWWII ended the Depression

Comparisons with the Present?

Wealth inequalitiesDeregulationBad Home mortgagesMassive individual debtInflated costs & uncontrolled speculative investments in commoditiesCollapse of investment-debt-loan systemA Vicious Cycle:

Retraction of loans, increase in job losses, fall in investments, layoffs, decline in consumption, reduced production, layoffs, no consumption…

IEconomic Boom

The Thriving Peacetime EconomyThe years following World War II saw one of the longest sustained economic expansions in the history of the U.S.The automobile industry played a key role in the expansion with millions of cars quickly produced and the steady construction of the interstate highway system

Changing Work PatternsAt this point in history, the United States stopped being primarily a goods producer and began a new path as a service providerPeople enjoyed the leisure resulting from work which was characterized by conformity and “belongingness.”White-collar and blue-collar workers enjoyed a higher standard of living than ever before

II. Demographic and Technological Shifts

Population GrowthDuring the Great Depression, the birthrate had dropped to an all-time lowThe birth rate exploded as millions of postwar Americans began familiesThe death rate was also declining due to peacetime and new medical breakthroughs

Movement WestPostwar American became more mobile than ever before; most headed westCities throughout the Sunbelt South and West coast saw enormous growth as Americans who had been stationed in these areas returned after the war.Population also shifted away from the traditional city centers to outlying suburbs where housing was cheaper

Technology A technological revolution transformed the war efforts of the Atomic Commission into a collection of scientist hard at work to improve transportation, satellites, and other consumer goods that were often the byproducts of military researchThe new field of computers also reflected the technology of the era; tiny transistors would help miniaturize computers for use in many items from ovens to vacuum cleaners

III. Consensus and Conformity

Traditional Roles for Men and WomenThe necessities of World War II had interrupted the natural progression of social roles for men and womenPostwar, men and women had different expectations: education and business for men and homemaking and childrearing for womenSlow change during the decade reestablished the working patterns of the war: women found more entry points into corporate America

Cultural RebelsInfluences of mysticism and BuddhismWriters of the “Beat Generation” Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg: developed new styles of writing; introduction of the paperback novelElvis Presley and new rebellion of Rock-n-RollArt experimentation: Jackson Pollock

IV. Origins of the Welfare State

Harry TrumanAmerica’s first postwar presidentBelieved the federal government held the responsibility of ensuring social welfare of AmericansHis liberal program of social reform was rejected by Congress, but he was elected to his first stand-alone term (Truman replaced Roosevelt after his death) despite a split within the Democratic Party

The Fair DealWith a new national mandate as a result of the election, Truman again tabled his liberal social program which would be known as the “Fair Deal”Despite mixed results and some failures, Truman was responsible for keeping the Democratic Party alive after its near collapse

IkeTruman’s popularity fell drastically during his termFormer General Dwight D. Eisenhower was elected the next Republican presidentThe opposite to Truman in almost every way, Eisenhower was a restrained president and desired a limited role of the presidency in national affairs

V. The Other America

Poverty Amid AffluenceEconomic growth of the era favored the middle and upper classesFully one third of the population lived substandard existences, usually along the lines of raceAfrican Americans continued to be this country’s least prosperous group of citizens

Lavender Mist No. 1 – 1950 – Oil on canvas

The United The United States in 1960s States in 1960s

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IntroductionIntroductionThe sixties were a time of change, and the sixties were the age of youth.

I 70 million children from the post-war baby boom became teenagers and young adults. Vietnam War, Cuban Missile Crisis, Civil Rights Movements, The Beatles, Hippie Culture, Woodstock Festival and assassinations.

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Andy Warhol

JFKJFK

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Marilyn Monroe – Silkscreen

Cuban Missile Cuban Missile CrisisCrisis

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Vietnam Vietnam War(1965-War(1965-

1975)1975)

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HippiesHippies

Reading US Culture _ Kevin Chen

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Dead / Drop Outs

American Civil Rights American Civil Rights Movement (1)Movement (1)

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MoonMoon

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The Nixon Administration

New Federalism- Nixon’s idea to reduce the size and power of the federal government

Increased Social SecurityFood Stamp ProgramOccupational Safety and Health AdministrationEnvironmental Protection Agency

Nixon expands the Government

WatergateNixon’s Downfall

Nixon Resigns

FORD

Pardon

Panama Canal

Iran Hostage Crisis

The Reagan Revolution1980-1988

Reagan’s Plan

Reducing the size of the Federal governmentLowering government spendingpromoting traditional morality and valuesstimulating business by reducing government regulations and lowering taxesstrengthening the national defense

“Reaganomics” To reach this goal Reagan:make deep cuts in government spending on social welfare programslower taxes

Supply Side Economics

“Trickle Down” affect

The idea is that:large tax cuts on investments would give more money to the wealthyin turn the wealthy would invest their money in new businesses in order to make more moneythe new businesses would create new products and services creating more jobs for workersmore workers would be making more money creating more taxpayersmore taxpayers would increase federal revenues

The Results of Reaganomics1982 -initially high interest rates caused a severe recession

1986 – inflation dropped to 4% (1980 = 14%)

GNP increased by 10%Unemployment declinedStock Market soared

©Subject Centre for Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies

Military Spending

To strengthen the national defense Reagan increased military spending.Between 1981 and 1984 the defense budget almost doubled“Star Wars”

program (aka) Strategic Defense Initiative- created a missile shield to protect the US from a nuclear attack by “knocking down incoming missiles

George HW Bush Despite popularity due to the success with the Gulf War there were many problems that led to Bush Sr. not being re-electedFaltering economy

High deficit spending

President Bill ClintonIncrease taxes to reduce the national debt. Balanced budgetNAFTAMidterm Elections of 1994 Democrats lost control of both Houses

Clinton’s Second Term

1998 Monica Lewinsky scandalClinton denied involvement,

lying under oathThey obtained a semen-

stained dress and testimony from Lewinsky and Clinton confessed and apologized

Impeachment of Clinton in 1998 after the scandal they acquitted him and he was not forced to leave office.

TechnologyInternet becomes available-World Wide WebCell phonesMore personal computers; Video Games: Donkey Kong, Super Mario World, Pokemon, Mario Kart, Test Drive series, StarCraft, Sonic.PlayStation