U.S. History / Unit 8: World War II and the Early Cold War
8.7 Postwar America and the Arms Race
Notes
- The GI Bill (1944) helped veterans pay for college and buy homes.
- The baby boom and cheap mass-built housing like Levittown led to rapid growth of suburbs. Many suburbs excluded Black families.
- The Interstate Highway Act (1956), signed by President Eisenhower, built a national highway network.
- Arms race: the U.S. tested the hydrogen bomb in 1952; the Soviets followed. Both sides built huge nuclear stockpiles.
- The Soviets launched Sputnik (1957), the first artificial satellite. The U.S. responded by creating NASA (1958) and funding science education (National Defense Education Act).
Practice
The GI Bill helped World War II veterans by:
It helped build the postwar middle class.
The Soviet launch of Sputnik in 1957 led the United States to:
Americans feared falling behind the Soviets in technology.
The growth of suburbs like Levittown after WWII was driven mainly by:
Young families with veterans' benefits bought new suburban houses.
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