Name______Period______

H US HistoryFlores

1950s Stations – Postwar Confidence and Anxiety

Directions: Use your reading notes and the information at each station to answer the following questions.

Station 1 – Population Movement

  1. Examine the Population Growth by Decade chart. How did the growth of urban and suburban populations differ following WWII?
  1. Examine Documents A,B, C, and D. According to Document D, what caused the shift of population from the cities to the suburbs?
  1. What can you conclude about life in the postwar era from Documents A and C?
  1. Examine the Levittown Documents. What about living in Levittown might have been appealing?
  1. Examine the American Farms chart. What can you conclude about the number and size of American farms after WWII?
  1. Examine the Population for Selected US Cities, 1950-2000 chart. What can you conclude about population movement?

Station 2 – Car Culture: Watch the video and answer the following questions.

  1. Describe the automobiles that were so popular in the 1950s.
  1. What businesses and/or related industries benefited from the widespread sales of automobiles?
  1. Identify the favorite destinations for 1950s drivers.
  1. Identify several hazards of the widespread popularity of automobiles.
  1. Examine the Interstate Highways map. Identify two benefits of the system. Can you think of any cons to the highway network?

Station 3 – Booming Economy

  1. Examine the Gross National Product (GNP) chart. How does GNP reflect an expanding American economy post-WWII?
  1. Provide specific evidence of affluence after reading The Affluent Society excerpt.
  1. Read the excerpt titled The New Industrial Society. How did the Cold War influence American industry?
  1. Examine the excerpt titled Some Fascinating Facts about a Booming Market. Why might business firms target American teenagers for sales?

Station 4 – Social Change

  1. Examine the American Birthrate chart. What years roughly mark the beginning and end of the Baby Boom?
  1. Read the excerpt about Dr. Spock’s book Baby and Child Care. Why do you suppose the book was so extremely popular in the 1950s?
  1. Read the excerpt How to be a Good Wife. Describe a typical wife’s role in the nuclear family according to this excerpt. To what extent do you believe this advice was adhered to?

Station 5 – Assessing 1950s Social Change

  1. Use the Tournament Prioritizer handout to determine the most important social change of the 1950s. Enter the question –What is the most significant social change of the 1950s? Brainstorm possibilities in the “ideas” box. (You may include topics beyond the scope of the stations). Enter your top eight choices in seeded tournament bracket. Each social change competes against an opponent until the championship. Provide a justification statement for why you believe each social change advances to the next round.

Justification Statements:

1 vs. 8 –

2 vs. 7 –

3 vs. 6 –

4 vs. 5 –

Semifinal #1 –

Semifinal #2 –

“Championship” –

Overall Winner: ______