The post-war era

After the end of World War II, America entered a period of unprecedented economic growth that lasted for nearly twenty-five years. The economic boom was based on increasing output and increasing demand in automobile, housing and defense industries. The gross national product was constantly growing and more and more Americans could afford better housing, automobile and schooling for their children.

The era is much associated with the name of President Eisenhower, whose open personality seemed to symbolize the time. Changes in economy produced new patterns of living – in the 1950s, more and more middle-class Americans were moving to the suburbs, where children could grow "with grass in their pants". Suburban life, though very comfortable and well-arranged, was not available for all Americans – usually there lived only white middle-class, while thousands of blacks, Indians and Mexican-Americans suffered poverty.

In the 1950s, American pop-culture was developing – there appeared many fads and ideas that later became known all over the world.

Changing Economic Patterns

After 1945, economic growth resulted in the growth of the major American corporations. Smaller companies merged into powerful conglomerates, which could control a variety of industries. Large corporations also developed holdings overseas, in the countries where labor costs were lower.

The pattern on jobs also changed – now fewer workers were producing goods, but more people were employed in providing services. By 1956, for the first time in the US history, people providing services (white-collar workers) outnumbered people employed in manufacturing (blue-collar workers). By 1970, white-collar workers comprised 65 % of the work force and many economists concluded that the United States had become a "postindustrial" society, where jobs involved intellect rather than manual labor.

A trend toward economic consolidation brought changes in agriculture. New machines revolutionized farming methods, the use of fertilizers and pesticides tripled labor productivity. Farming became a big business, threatening survival of the family farm. By the 1960s, it took big money to become a farmer. Often only big business could afford the necessary land, machinery and fertilizer.

New forms of economy provided new patterns of living. Many Americans migrated to the new places, that could offer jobs and better living conditions. This mass migration contributed to the growth of the Sunbelt – the area running from southern California across the southwest and south all the way to the Atlantic coast. Among the booming Sunbelt cities were Houston, Baton Rouge, Long Beach, Miami, Mobile, and Phoenix. Due to the Sunbelt migration California became the most populous state in the Union.

An important contribution to the mobilization of the nation made the construction of highways and interstate roads. According to the Highway Act, signed by President Eisenhower in 1956, a 41,000 mile national wide network of highways was launched. The system of highways was completed by the 1970s, bringing prosperity to the towns along the way.

The highway system and the growth of suburbs, where cheap housing for middle-class families was provided, produced megalopolis – almost uninterrupted metropolitan complex stretching along the northeastern seaboard of the United States. This megalopolis – the so-called "Boswash" encompassed parts of eleven states, stretching from Boston, New York, Philadelphia and Baltimore to Washington.

Other megalopolises that developed at the same period were "Chipitts" – a band of heavy industry and dense population stretching from Chicago to Pittsburg, and "San-San" – San Francisco to San Diego.