Economics
Economics in the 1950's and the affects
Black and White soldiers on the battle field.
50 Dollar Bill from the 1950's
A president signing a bill
GI bill of Rights
To help ease Veterans return to civilian life Congress passed the Servicemen’s readjustment Act, or the GI Bill Of Rights In 1941. In addition to encouraging vets to get an education by paying part of their tuition, The GI bill guaranteed them a years worth of unemployment benefits while job hunting. The Service men's Readjustment Act of 1944, known informally as the G.I. Bill, was a law that provided a range of benefits for returning World War II veterans (commonly referred to as). Benefits included low-cost mortgages, low-interest loans to start a business or farm, cash payments of tuition and living expenses to attend college, high school or vocational education, as well as one year of unemployment compensation. It was available to every veteran who had been on active duty during the war years for at least ninety days and had not been dishonorably discharged; combat was not required. By the end of the program in 1956, roughly 2.2 million veterans had used the G.I. Bill education benefits in order to attend colleges or universities, and an additional 6.6 million used these benefits for some kind of training program.
Since the original 1944 law, the term has come to include other veteran benefit programs created to assist veterans of subsequent wars as well as peacetime service. Historians and economists consider the G.I. Bill a major political success especially in contrast to the treatments of World War I veterans and a major contribution to America's stock of human capital that sped long-term economic growth.WWII Transport truck
Sometimes called a Deuce
WWII Duck
If you go to the WISCONSIN dells you get a chance to ride on one of these
WWII Jeep truck
The Economic Readjustment
After World War II the united states converted from a wartime to a peacetime economy. The us government immediately canceled war contracts totaling $35 billion. WIthin ten days of Japan's surrender, more than a million defense workers were laid off. Unemployment increased as veterans joined laid off defense workers in the search for jobs. At the peak of post war unemployment in march 1946 nearly 3 million people were seeking work. Many Americans feared that the end of World War II and the subsequent drop in military spending might bring back the hard times of the Great Depression. But instead, pent-up consumer demand fueled exceptionally strong economic growth in the post war period. The automobile industry successfully converted back to producing cars, and new industries such as aviation and electronics grew by leaps and bounds. A housing boom, stimulated in part by easily affordable mortgages for returning members of the military, added to the expansion. The nation's gross national product rose from about $200,000 million in 1940 to $300,000 million in 1950 and to more than $500,000 million in 1960. At the same time, the jump in postwar births, known as the "baby boom," increased the number of consumers. More and more Americans joined the middle class.