The American Way of Life 1945-1968

USA & the Wider World 1945-1989

• The American Way of Life

Affluence

• WW2 brought full employment

•Wages were high –

• 1940 - $754

• 1944 - $1,289

•After WW2 incomes continued to rise -

• 1950 - $3,319

• 1968 - $8,000

•‘the economy of abundance’

Immigration

• With the baby boom – immigration contributed to the dramatic rise in population

• WW2 Refugees• 17,000 Korean war brides and

their children• Immigrants from Eastern Europe • 275,000 Mexicans became US

citizens – farm labourers in California, Arizona and Texas

• From rural to urban areas• The middle classes moved from

the cities to the suburbs• Black Americans moved from

the South to the North (and west)

Migration

•1940 – 130 million•1955 – 165 million•1960 – 179 million•1989 – 250 million

Population

The New Rich• The ‘old rich’ retained and expanded

their wealth• The Rockefellers• The Vanderbilts

• By 1960 – 100,000 millionaires

• The ‘new rich’ made their money from oil, financial services and property

• 1988 – 1.3 million millionaires

The Consumer Society• Vast increase in range of goods

• Between 1945-1950 – 20 million fridges – 5.5 million cookers – 21.4 million cars

• By end 1950s – 225,000 dishwashers per year

• By 1960 half of American homes had a TV

• Advertising

The Car Culture• Mass movement to suburbs• Poor public transport

• 1945 – 26 million cars• 1975 – 130 million cars

• The country was changed to facilitate car ownership – motorways, car parks, drive-ins, drive through’s etc

• Important for image and status• Petrol was cheap.

The Cadillac

Buy Now, Pay Later• Instalment buying – hire purchase

• Retailers offered consumers attractive conditions with low interest rates

• General Motors ‘buy now, pay later’

• Banks and department stores began issuing credit cards

• During 1950s – private debt went from $105 billion to $263 billion

• By 1970s over 600 million credit cards for 150 million adult Americans

Little Boxes• Malvina Reynolds

Little boxes on the hillside,Little boxes made of ticky tacky,Little boxes on the hillside,Little boxes all the same.There's a green one and a pink one And a blue one and a yellow one,And they're all made out of ticky

tackyAnd they all look just the same.

• Presentation prepared by:

• Dominic Haugh• St. Particks Comprehensive School• Shannon• Co. Clare

• Presentation can be used for educational purposes only – all rights remain with author