HIS-144-RS-America after WWII Worksheet
docx
keyboard_arrow_up
School
Grand Canyon University *
*We aren’t endorsed by this school
Course
-144
Subject
History
Date
Jan 9, 2024
Type
docx
Pages
3
Uploaded by BarristerLyrebirdMaster1056
Name: __Ceciellia Maddox___________
HIS-144: America after World War II
Directions:
Using resources from the Topic 5 Readings, including your textbook, materials
provided by your instructor through class discussion, and materials from the GCU Library Guide
for HIS-144 US History Themes, respond to the prompts below.
Each answer to the questions should be 100-200 words.
While APA style is not required for the body of this assignment, solid academic writing is
expected, and documentation of sources should be presented using APA formatting guidelines,
which can be found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center. Proof of
research is needed for each answer.
Wikipedia, Ask.com, ehow.com, and other online information sites, encyclopedias, or
dictionaries are not considered university academic sources and are NOT TO BE USED
.
1.
Explain the G.I. Bill. In what ways does it change America?
This oversimplification of the bill's focus on higher education obscures its other important
ideas. The introduction of the GI Bill of Rights after World War II evokes images of
thousands of war veterans enrolling in classes. The GI Bill allowed veterans to get mortgages
for the purchase of new homes, but it did not cover the cost of modifying existing residences.
These and other reasons contributed to a rise in the number of city-dwelling Americans who
relocated to the suburbs and rural regions. The GI Bill was a precursor to the welfare state
and demonstrated the revolutionary potential of governmental involvement in 21st-century
American society. Too much authority was given to local governments over issues like
housing loans and college admissions, which often worked to entrench structural racism, and
the measure failed to alleviate racial inequality. Thus, the GI Bill implicitly supported racial
discrimination by providing advantages to white Americans while denying them to African
Americans.
2.
Why is the automobile so important to post war America?
Between 1929-1941, the Great Depression occurred, and most Americans didn’t have money
to buy cars. Then from 1941 to 1945, no cars were produced- because all manufacturing had
been converted to war production. The vehicle also had a profound impact on American
culture, particularly in the 1950s when it became affordable to the middle class and working
poor. In addition to rising incomes, the federal government spent $25 billion to construct
41,000 miles of interstate roads over the course of the decade beginning in 1956 thanks to the
passage of the National Interstate and Defense roads Act. The legislation, at the time the
greatest public works project in American history, dramatically facilitated both suburban
growth and the spread of the automobile. A decade later, eight out of 10 Americans had a
vehicle of their own.
1
3.
Describe gendered spheres in American society during WWII and how they changed
after the war. How did women’s roles change?
In the 1950s there became a conning affect where society was trying to convince American
women to leave their jobs and take the roles as wives and mothers. Advice books and
magazine articles ("Don't Be Afraid to Marry Young," "Cooking to Me is Poetry,"
"Femininity Begins at Home") were ideas so that a woman would believe the most important
job was to bear and rear children was hardly a new one, but it began to generate a great deal
of discontent among women who yearned for a more fulfilling life. (Betty Friedan, an
advocate for women's rights, said in her 1963 book The Feminine Mystique that suburban
life was "burying women alive.") This disillusionment helped spark a new wave of feminism
in the 1960s. Women who stayed in the workforce saw an increase in gender inequality in the
workplace. Women in the workforce were pushed towards the service industry when males
returned from military duty. Secretaries, teachers, nurses, and servers made up the bulk of
their workforce. There were little opportunities for women to grow in their fields of work.
4.
What was the role of religion in post-World War II American society?
The phrase "In God We Trust" was written on all U.S. money, and the phrase "Under God"
was added to the U.S. Pledge of Allegiance. The participation of Catholics and Jews in this
religious revival set it apart from all of others that came before it; contrary to popular belief,
it was not exclusively a Protestant revival. They broadened the scope of American religious
life by expanding it beyond the exclusive purview of Protestantism as Catholics and Jews
gained tolerance for practicing their religions in public after earning permissions to do so.
This shift to acceptable plurality led to many discussions about the presence of religion in
American life, particularly when Catholics sought government subsidies for parochial
schools and Jews attempted to secure protection by stressing the separation of church and
state. This transition to acceptable pluralism led to many disputes about the place of religion
in American life.
References
Carp, E. W. (2010). The GI Bill [Review of The GI Bill].
Journal of Social History
, 637–639.
History.com/Editors. (2010, June 17). The 1950s. HISTORY; A&E Television Networks.
https://www.history.com/topics/cold-war/1950s
National Museum of American History. (2017, February 28). City and Suburb. National Museum
of American History; Smithsonian.
https://americanhistory.si.edu/america-on-the-move/city-and-
suburb
2
Schultz, K. M. (2017a). HIST, Comprehensive (pp. 456–457, 474). Cengage Learning.
3
Your preview ends here
Eager to read complete document? Join bartleby learn and gain access to the full version
- Access to all documents
- Unlimited textbook solutions
- 24/7 expert homework help