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PROSPERITY AND PROBLEMS
I'O" -Il'of' p'Mpmly'"Lim"llsi.,rin ,....,."..}""rk_" T hew ar ?"theformerRedCrosswork er saidtothe
interviewe r. "T he w ar wasfun forA m e ri ca. "A
st ran g eth ingtosay. you m aythin k.limAmericans
w er e theonlypeopleIIIthe wor ldth at the Secon d
World War had m adebetter off. T heir hom eshadn ot
bee n bombedo r theirland fo ug htover. Bu sy
wartime facto rieshad g iventh emgoodwag es.
in the yearsth at followedthew arA merican sbecame
bette rotT still .Bet w een 1947and 1971 rhc valueof
th ei r wagesin buyingpower- their " real i nco m es' as
th is is callcdc-morcthand o ub led.A m erica ns boug h t
moreho u ses,cars.televisionsets.consum ergoodso f
every k ind.They became themostprosperou s
peo ple theworldh adeverseen. As earl y as19W.
55 p ercen tofall familieso wne dw ashingmachines.
75 per cento vvnedcars, 90percenth adtelevisionsets
and nearl y all hadrefrig erato rs.
IOH
D uring th eseyearsofprosperityth e UnitedStates
wasled firstbyPres ident Trum an(1945 -53),th en
b y Pres ide ntE is enh o wer (1953 -( 1). III IW)1 a new
Pr esident called John F. Kenn edy(1t)61-3)w as
elected.Kenned yto ld theA mericanpeopleth at th eywere
facinga " ne wfro ntie r;"ailew ithbothopport unities
and p roblems.Onebigpr o b lemIIItheirown
cou nt rywaspovert y,Althoughmost Ame ri cans
werewell-offm illion sofothersweretoopoor to
leadd ecen t lives.Somewerecrowdedto getherin
cit y slums.O th erslivedin places likeoldcoal-
p ro d ucing distric tswhere the mines had closed.Kenned y was a Dem ocrat. asRo o se velt had been. He
tr iedtohelp[he poorwith go vern nu ' mmoney and
food,H e alsow an tedto helpethergroups w ho were