Week 12 Reflection

The 1950s was a great time for America but also bad due to racism. The economy had amazing growth after World War II.  The industrial production grew due to the cold war. There was a mass production of cars. The standard consumer package of the 1950s was a Home, TV set and car. The bad that was still going on was the racism. 7 million whites left the cities and moved to the suburbs, while 3 million blacks moved into the cities. The whites started the profile where the blacks stayed as ghetto places of crimes, poverty, and welfare. The government provided much more for the whites and the middle class than they did the poor. Which is crazy because those are the ones who need the most help. A lot of things happen such as the gross national product grew by 250% and the baby boom happened before which increased the population by 20%.  Also, America became “Consumers republic” this means all citizens were encouraged to consume because it was good for the nations and its economy. The suburban life was segregated, and it was a black suburb. People of the same income usually lived in the same neighborhoods. Many highways were created during this time 40,000 miles of highway were built in the 1950s to link suburbs and cities. The reason for doing this was to make people get cars and drive. The other reason highways were made was because of President Dwight Eisenhower that way it was easier to move troops and military equipment around. What’s crazy is that it took Eisenhower 62 days to travel unpaved roads from Washington D.C. to San Francisco. today that trip only takes 72 hours. Which is amazing how much the improvements have done. As of today, there are 46,300 miles of interstate highways, which cost a lot approximately good $129 billion to build. I’m happy that this was done because I couldn’t imagine trying to travel without them it’ll be very bad. Things would take forever. The 1950s was a very busy time and a lot went on bad and well.