1940s-1950s - Assignment Example

American Economy 1940-1950 The decade 1940 to 1950 was dominated by World War II which United s of America were involved. The European artists and learned people had run to America from the Hitler and holocaust regimes. This brought new ideas that created disillusionment to American people. The production of war pulled America out of a tremendously large depression; the women were left to replace the people who had gone to participate in the war. This changed the roles of women who had to stop staying at homes and go to work in order to sustain the American country.

I chose this decade because of the World War II, and I can easily demonstrate how it changed the economy of the American people (Jay 23). This decade was significant in making the United States of America the super power country in the economy and makes the country stable politically, economically, socially, and also, the technology of the country was being developed at a unusually high rate. After the war, the American men, came from war they had seen several events in the outside world. They have seen the importance of education and how education had helped to develop other countries well.

The black people in the United States were then accepted to attend school and further their studies. They were allowed to go to college and acquire degrees and develop their knowledge about things in the continent. At the same time, ladies were also enjoying independence since they did not have to work at home all the time, they were allowed to go to school and acquire education that would then help them to get jobs. This greatly impacted the American economy since more people were learned and things were being done in a more civilized way (Jay 45).

The scrap drives for steel, paper, and rubber became a source of supporting the war in America. In the year, 1942, the automobile production was stopped due to war issues, and the food was rationed in the year1943. As the war continued, several economic trends emerged in the United States; the American troops were gaining experience of the war and they were defeating the enemy troops. Soon United States of America became the super power after the Japanese bombing in 1945. Although still, United States was being challenged and opposed by the USSR still they had the lead of the war, and they had the say about what was to happen.

This in turn, made American people become hard working so that they could afford to manage their status as a leading country in the world. The United States implemented a plan that was called the Marshall plan. The plans main objective was to help the countries that were more affected during the war to regain their economic status and rebuild their country. At the same time, the plan was to help in stabilizing the world economic levels. But, this could not take place since there were disputes that arose over the ideology to rebuild the war torn countries and enhance the status of the world economy.

This then led to the rise of the cold war and the communism (Jay 65). After the American heroes had returned home, they realized the power and prejudice that in turn helped them to civil rights reforms that was to take place in the next decades. The servicemen’s’ readjustment Act ensured that the war soldiers were taken to college, and that they were given quality of education. In the 1949, many degrees were conferred more than 1940. This in turn, meant that, the levels of educated people had risen and that there were more employment opportunities that were created in the country.

This increased the income revenues for the central government and made an impact in the economy of the United States. Television which had made its first break through in the 1939 war issue, but was interrupted by World War II made another come back in 1947. The commercial television had more than thirteen channels and was made public. People started to develop computers in the early forties. The first computer was digital it was called ENIAC and it weighed more than 29 tons were completed in the year 1945.

This computer was standing at a height of two stories high. European artists who had managed to escape the Hitler regime moved to United States where they made a remarkably large impact in the American interest in the art. Western art migrated from Paris to the American city New York which started to blossom in the art business. The popular paintings and all kinds of art were developed in New York, and this made the New York City become a fascinating site for art (Michael 89). In the architecture field, simplicity started to become the key element in the country and this brought the interest of many people to start appreciating magnificent architecture.

Houses of different classes were developed from the famous glass house to people using steel office buildings. The first skyscraper of twelve stories was designed by Pietro Belluschi. New kinds of building homes emerged and became cost effective to own a house and this ensured that people lived well. This in turn, gave rise to the real estate business that has blossomed to become a significant source of earning revenues in the, United States of America in the today world. The European émigrés like George Szell and Nadia Boulanger who were born in America did not change much.

They remained more of the traditional people who wrote symphonies. This enhanced the music career in the United States of America, and it inspired more people to join the music career. The music career earns people a living, and it also gives the country a lot of revenue. This created the American economy to be strong. It also created an avenue for socialization in people in the United States. Zoot Suit was the fashion in the United States and was loved by many young people. The war production unit started to restrict the amount of fabric that could be used in the production of the clothes.

On the other hand, the women had designed the convertible suit that became a fashion trend among many young women who loved this kind of suit. The development of love for fashion created an economic trend in that many young people found employment and started to earn a living. This in turn also created revenues for the government (Grantham 87). World War II had negatively impacted the sports world since all young men who were able and well bodied were forced by law to join the American army and fight for the country.

This led to the country losing many young people who took part in sports and who could earn the country revenues by sports. After World War II ended, the young people who were talented in sports returned home, and they were able to start the sports practices. By the year, 1049 some base ball players could earn up to fifty thousand dollars a year. This created a favorable avenue for young, talented people to make a living. The Bretton woods agreement in 1944 was an international agreement that was created to manage and govern the monetary policy among several nations.

This was a marvelous achievement for the United States in because it was supposed to help in rebuilding the war torn countries. Although, the agreement had some issues which included some countries opposing the agreement, the American government, managed to help a few nations to move on from the damages of the war. It also led to the creation of the international bank for reconstruction and the international monetary fund (Michael 92). Works Cited Grantham, Dewey W. The South in Modern America: A Region at Odds.

Arkansas: University of Arkansas Press, 2001. Print Michael D. Bordo, National Bureau of Economic Research. A Retrospective on the Bretton Woods System: Lessons for International Monetary Reform. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1993. Print Michael S. Ray, University of California, Los Angeles. Human Capital and the Wealth of Nations: A New Methodology for Evaluating Measurements of Social and Economic Change in Latin America and Other World Regions. Michigan: ProQuest,, 2008. S.

Jay Levy, Jerome Levy Economics Institute, Bard College. The Employment Act of 1946: 50 years later : conference proceedings including speeches. New York: Bard College, 1996. United Nations. Economic Commission for Latin America, United Nations. Economic Commission for Latin America. Secretariat. Economic bulletin for Latin America, Volume 19, Issues 1-2. New York, U.S.: United Nations, 1975.