USA history: After World War II

After World War II, life in America begins to return to normal. Unlike much of Europe, America has not suffered widespread destruction. The government supports returning soldiers to attend college, buy houses, and start businesses. The hardships of the war caused people to delay having children. But with their good jobs and homes, many now feel ready.

Babies are born in record numbers. It’s a baby boom! Growing families begin to move to new neighbourhoods being built on the outskirts of cities: suburbs. They kit out these homes with the latest appliances: electric fridges, ovens, and washing machines. People need a way to get from their suburban homes to city workplaces, so more and more families buy cars.

They don’t use them just for commuting, but for road trips too on the new Interstate Highway System that connects America’s largest cities. People head to Las Vegas, Nevada, the gambling capital of the country, or spend spring breaks in sunny locations, like Florida. Young people throw off the restrained, survival-focused mood of the war years. They visit amusement parks in record numbers and let loose on the dance floor swinging and jiving to a new form of music: rock and roll. As for children, they enjoy new inventions filling toy store shelves: the Slinky, Silly Putty, Frisbees and hula hoops.

But the postwar period isn’t a time of fun and freedom for everyone... Black soldiers returning from war find the same racism they faced before. Despite their sacrifices overseas, back home they still struggle to get hired for well-paying jobs, still encounter segregation in restaurants, parks, on busses, and still experience violence, especially while wearing their military uniforms. Many women, meanwhile, grow increasingly unhappy with their role as homemakers. During the war, lots of women worked jobs outside the home, filling openings left by men off fighting.

Now, they are expected to go back to cleaning, cooking, and taking care of children full time. There is little or no opportunity to pursue a career if they choose. A new threat emerges as the victors of World War II try to divide power between themselves. The world is separating into two types of government: democratic and communist and those in the democratic United States are growing fearful of the communist Soviet Union. Many people suspect that communists, nicknamed “Reds”, are hiding in their midst.

From 1950 to 1954, a politician named Joseph McCarthy launches investigations into communist infiltration of the United States government and the armed forces. Despite finding no real proof of communist activity, more than 2,000 people lose their jobs because of McCarthy’s accusations. Hundreds of celebrities and artists, too, are accused by the government of communist connections. Their careers are destroyed. The atmosphere of fear and mistrust will only grow in the coming decades, as hostility between the Soviet Union and the United States — the world’s two superpowers — deepens...