Discuss the social, political and econoic conditions of the 1950s Essay

Discuss the social, political and econoic conditions of the 1950s which lead to the social upheaval of the 1960s - Essay Example eal legislation, which created programs for employment and housing.1 Harry Truman, who followed Roosevelt’s presidency, continued Roosevelt’s New Deal initiatives with â€Å". . . a full employment bill, a higher minimum wage, national housing legislation, an extension of Social Security, and a new public works program, and the establishment of a permanent Fair Employment Practices Commission.†2 Truman introduced to Congress a twenty-one point program, but only two of his proposals passed the conservative Congress.3 However, after the 1948 election, with a liberal Congress in place, â€Å"Liberalism was vindicated,†4 Many of Truman’s twenty-one points were passed, and Truman called for Congress to pass an increase in the Federal Income Tax of $4 billion dollars to pay for it.5 By the time the 1950 New Year rolled in, America was experiencing an economic forward plunge. There would perhaps never be better times for Americans than the economic and pol itical abundance of the 1950s. During the 1950s, there was a housing boom,6 along with a baby boom,7 and America settled into an atmosphere of post-war comfort and focusing on the task of working and raising families. It was, too, during these years where middle class America experienced abundance and growth, that the cultural, political, economic and social disparities between blacks and whites in America began emerging as dark cloud over America. It seemed that Americans were pursuing the American dream, and that all was Leave it to Beaver and Father Knows Best.8 When Eisenhower was elected president in 1953, there was a loud and clear Black voice speaking up in America, and though it was not strong enough to swing the election in favor of Democrats, Black America had aligned itself with the Democratic platform.9 Seventy-three percent of the Black vote went to the Democratic candidate that voting year.10 Although there would be much unrest in the American south as a result of an emerging Black identity