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9. MIDDLE-CLASS AMERICA TRIUMPHANT

AN AMERICAN POST-WAR REBOUND

CONTENTS

A swing to the Republican "Right" after the war

The G.I. Bill

The booming American economy

The "Baby Boomers"

Christian-Capitalist-Constitutional America

Christian Revival

The world of television

The textual material on this webpage is drawn directly from my work
        America's Story – A Spiritual Journey © 2021, pages 274-285.
A SWING TO THE REPUBLICAN "RIGHT" AFTER THE WAR

American capitalism had stormed back into existence because of the wartime need for ships, airplanes, tanks, trucks, arms of all sorts, etc.  But with the war ending those jobs came to a halt and workers were let go – reviving old anti-capitalist attitudes of the American blue-collar working class – which went on a massive strike (five million workers out) during the 1945-1946 period.  Then too the Middle Class or white-collar workforce employed in wartime government offices also faced similar reductions – except that Middle Class America generally expected this to happen – as Middle-Class America in general found bloated government operations distasteful and understood this wartime government work to have been merely temporary.

Indeed, the reaction of the average American voter was not only to expect government cutbacks but also to do something about "unpatriotic" workers' movement (identified closely with distasteful Socialism).  All of this resulted in a massive routing of the Roosevelt New Deal Democrats from public office in the post-war elections and the return of the Republican Party to power, massively so.  And one of the first things the Republican Party in Congress did (1947) was to pass the Taft-Hartley Bill which put huge restraints on the American Labor Unions' ability to force the unionization of the American worker.  Truman vetoed the bill – but it was easily overridden by a 2/3 vote in Congress, thus becoming the law of the land.[1] 

[1]But then Truman himself during the remainder of his presidency would use the Taft-Hartley Act twelve times in his own confrontation with American unions.

THE G.I. BILL

But one piece of the legacy of the Roosevelt years that the Republicans would not touch was the 1944 G.I. Bill – which promised servicemen that after the war they would receive – not a pension or payment – but financial assistance (very low-cost government loans) in heading off to college, buying a house, or starting up a business.  In short, the G.I. Bill worked wonders in helping former soldiers move on – and up – in life after the war, avoiding the typical crisis that occurs when soldiers are returned after war to a sagging economy where jobs are scarce and unemployment rampant.

THE BOOMING AMERICAN ECONOMY

In fact quite the opposite actually happened with the post-war American economy.  Virtually no cars had been produced during the war years and consumers were eager to trade up to a shiny new car, helping the automobile manufacturers quickly shift back to massive automobile production from the manufacture of tanks, trucks, and airplanes that they had converted their operations to during the war.  Then there was a huge demand for the new and quite affordable small homes that allowed young American families to leave the multi-generational old homes of traditional America – and move out on their own in the widening world of America.  Military service had introduced young men to the dreamy world of California, the robust world of Texas, etc. – and after the war young Americans eagerly moved West in huge numbers, into fast-growing suburban neighborhoods – arising, however, around not only the newly expanding cities in the West but also in cities everywhere across the country.  Consequently, the construction industry boomed – offering plenty of jobs for young men who had returned home from military service.

The Marshall Plan aiding the European recovery also added immensely to the American economy.  Much of Europe's industrial infrastructure had been destroyed by the war – although America's factories had been untouched.  Consequently, the Marshall Plan funds mostly made their way back to America in the form of orders for American goods:  machinery, trucks and tractors, electronics, etc.  In fact, by the year 1950 it would be correct to say that America itself provided fully half of all industrial products being produced worldwide.

THE "BABY BOOMERS"

The startup of a family was a matter that young Americans had been forced to put off during the war years.  But now, peacetime presented the opportunity for young men and women to make up for that lacking.  They rather quickly married in massive numbers – and soon began to produce the next generation.  Babies were thus born also in massive numbers in the period of 1946 and after – the beginning of the "Baby Boom."  And those babies, soon children (the 1950s) and eventually young adults (by the mid-1960s) would develop into a very distinct generation of Americans, known appropriately as the "Baby Boomers" – and eventually just "Boomers."  They would come to rock the nation.

Entitlement" replaces the sense of service or duty among the Boomers.  Tragically, what these young parents seemingly were unaware of was that the enormous dignity they found in their lives as Americans was a huge personal emotional payoff that mysteriously came from the life of service or duty, which they had been forced to take in both the Depression and recent war just to survive.  Now with peace in the world and America prospering greatly, they saw the "wonderful" possibilities that their Boomer children would never have to undergo such a social burden.

Sadly this adult or Vet generation failed to understand how important their approach to life – through the taking up of burdensome but necessary service or duty to the surrounding social world – was behind their also deep sense of both personal and corporate success.  Thus they would raise and supposedly "bless" their Boomer children – as part of their on-going sense of personal duty – by trying to keep from them the "burden" of such sacrifice, such dutiful service.  They would give their children generously and freely all the personal and social payoffs that they themselves in their growing up never had the pleasure to experience.

And in doing so, they believed they were performing a great service to their children.  Actually quite the opposite would be the social results.

Consequently, the Boomers would not form this deep sense of personal connection through the path of duty or deep personal service to the surrounding social world.  Indeed, they would be amazingly lacking in such social powers.  This was because the Boomers would grow up seeing society not as something you are deeply wed to through the personal investment of service or duty.  Instead, when they looked out on society it was to see what social entitlements were due them through their social connections, and changing those connections (marriages, jobs, local communities) when they did not see a proper social payoff coming their way.  Thus it was that they were largely attached to society only to the extent that society continued to offer a person his or her "entitlements."  In short, socially speaking, they were badly "spoiled."

CHRISTIAN-CAPITALIST-CONSTITUTIONAL AMERICA

Christian America.   A notable thing about post-war middle-class culture was that it was personal and highly relational – rather than dreamily rational or utopian – the kind of world that those who like to direct the lives of others from a position of lofty and rather abstract enlightenment typically live by.  The war that Middle America had just been through was neither rational nor abstract.  It had not been fought on the basis of high and noble ideals – the way Wilson took America into the First World War in the name of "making the world safe for democracy" – but more as a sense of simple defense of the America that had been treacherously attacked by Japan and called to war by Hitler's own design.  There had been much personal sacrifice involved for Americans.  Indeed, this war had been from the beginning very personal.

But going at life on a relational rather than rational basis had been given considerable impetus by the Christianity that informed most Americans at this point – the sense that their personal relationship with God was critical in their ability to go the course – all the way to victory.  Americans looked to God rather than to human programs to keep them moving forward.  True, there was a Washington government to lead the way.  But even there, that lead was more personal, prayerful, spiritually-directed than programmatic.  Roosevelt had kept in close touch with the hearts of Americans with his fireside chats and personal prayers – ones that related the president, the citizen, and God in a very special way – vitally needed to keep things moving ahead, even in the face of huge uncertainties that always accompany war.

Thus Americans came out of the war highly committed to their Christian faith – especially in the way it defined for them the idea of America itself, what it stood for, how it operated – what was to be expected from American life – and what defined the good and the bad in all of this.

Capitalist America.  Right along with Christianity came Capitalism as core to Middle America's understanding of life.  Certainly the huge industrial war machine led by American capitalists had proven itself.   And the continuing economic prosperity that followed the war in terms of the building boom in American housing, the booming automobile industry, and the easy availability of a whole number of domestic or personal consumer items brought capitalism back into favor in the American heart.  It was also easy to look across to Europe and see that continent's tendency towards Socialism seemingly serving much less capably than the American capitalist system.

Constitutional America.   And America's governmental system clearly had proven its strengths during and after the war – when Washington's immense military and bureaucratic system, needed so vitally during the war, was now reduced drastically in order to let America return the focus of its political dynamic back to local American life.  Here too, with the process of government carried out essentially as a local responsibility – rather than as some imperial institution located in a distant national capital – there was something very constitutional in all this.  Americans were proud of their Constitution, considering it to be the perfect model – even for the world – of excellent government.

Over the next twenty years that followed the end of the war in 1945, Christianity, Capitalism, and Constitutionalism (the Three C's) would all come together to form something of a grand cultural blend.

CHRISTIAN REVIVAL

Awakenings.  Interestingly, one of the groups taking the initiative in this matter were America's capitalists, now restored to dignity because of the war.  They had joined Abraham Vereide even before the war in strongly supporting his prayer-breakfast movement.  But now they were joined by Washington senators and congressmen, as a strong sense of Christian responsibility, not just to the country but to the world, called forward an active spirit of American social mission.

And then along with this, there was the young Christian evangelist, Billy Graham, who seemed to be taking the nation by storm as he packed huge coliseums with vast multitudes attending his various crusades ... with his month-long 1952 Washington D.C. crusade drawing as many as half a million participants, many of them also representatives and senators from Congress.

So effective was this crusade (well financed by American business leaders) that it led to the call by President Truman (although he generally tended to prefer to keep the matter of religion personal and private) for an annual National Day of Prayer – the first one, captioned "Freedom Under God," to be held that year (1952) on the 4th of July.[2] 

[2]Actually Truman had several times previously called the nation to prayer …  when he found himself facing a number of crises for which he had no easy answers.  His unsophisticated but very Biblical and very personal Christian faith drew criticism from more sophisticated and "theologically-informed" voices of the day.  But the important fact was that Truman truly looked to God and the Christian world for support in carrying out the responsibilities placed on him by his nation.

THE WORLD OF TELEVISION

Then too, just as the radio revolutionized life in the 1920s, the widespread appearance of the new television (TV) would have the same massive impact on American life from the early 1950s onward.  The development of the TV certainly also put a huge boost in the American economy, Americans flocking in vast numbers to the stores to buy this new and most wonderful addition to American homelife.  It was like having the movie industry brought into your home.  In fact, Hollywood was in a bit of a panic fearing that this TV craze would bring down the movie industry (it did not).

But the TV put in front of Americans a clearer picture of a well-modeled world of everything from family life (The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet), cowboy heroes (Hopalong Cassidy), comedy (I Love Lucy), and classic drama (The Hallmark Hall of Fame).  Soon it would move on to major sports events (National Football League games) and the latest dance steps for teens (American Bandstand).  In short it presented a very clear definition of the core ideals of Middle-Class American life, something that Americans felt set them apart from – and way ahead of – the rest of the world in terms of modern development.



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  Miles H. Hodges