American+Family+Life

Ben Nelson Sophia Chillé Emma Peterson Julianne Salmon Grace O'Donnell Maddy Maierhofer

-Suburbs were built just outside the city so that families could have houses with lawns and space and then drive to work in the city -Cars were used to get from home to work and back -Highways were built for fast and easy transportation while using an automobile -One of the purposes of them is that workers would not have enough time to join unions and make trouble if they had to go to work and then come home and then work on their house (kept the men and women busy maintaining their homes) -Families now owned cars and had luxuries like TV's washing machines and microwaves. The luxuries weren't just for the rich. -Bill Levitt expanded the suburbs, and people began to separate from the cities and live in the houses that Levitt rapidly created - American family life changed with invention of T.V. and other inventions. - As the suburbs grew there was a need for cars. This lead to the building of fancy cars that look like "Planes" with fins and fronts to look like jet engines.
 * Suburbs-**


 * William Levitt Time Line-**
 * 1947 he built a Levittown in New York
 * 1952 he built a Levittown in Pennsylvania
 * 1955 he built a development in Willingboro, New Jersey
 * 1965 he built a Levittown in Puerto Rico
 * 1966 he built a development in Somerset New Jersey

-The King of Rock n’ Roll– Evlis Presley brought many teenagers and young-adults entertainment in the homes -TV shows* and films were being viewed in black and white all around America -The number of actors, actresses, and producers were growing every week -There were also advances in other technology, fashion, medical research and -Teenagers were having more fun than ever driving to the drive-through movie theaters, listening to their records and hanging out with their friends being care-free New inventions changed American family life tremendously. One invention that really hit the spot was television. Television affected families in the 30s as well, but in 1946, 7,000 black-and-white small TV sets were sold. More and more families found this entertainment and wanted to buy these new videotaped televisions. This was when shows could be edited before showing it on the big screen. In 1960, almost 90 percent of Americans owned a TV in their homes. Every watched it, so it didn’t matter if you were rich or poor. This affected many families with children because the TV basically became a babysitter. This meant that the children were focused on the television screen while the parents could just sit back, relax, read and enjoy the quiet for a while. Although it had many benefits to teens and children, it did make less family time for everyone meaning that families ate in front of the TV set and didn’t talk to each other much. Also, families could sit at home and watch political campaigns, with Harry Truman, in their living room.
 * Family Entertainment-**
 * American Family TVs**

-The economy was rich -Most teenagers were allowed spend money on things they wanted -Parents could afford more because there were better paying jobs
 * Economy for the Typical American Family-**

After World War II, families were starting new lives. They were beginning to branch out of cities and start lives outside of these busy places. Starting new families for some ment having children, and this was the case for many families. These children were called “war babies” because during the war parents weren’t able to have kids, but now they were making up for lost time. The G.I Bill of Rights and some help from the government paid for many peoples tuition for college, helping men and women get appropriate jobs to support their family. Many middle-class women didn’t work, and left all the working business to their husbands, as they helped tend to their growing family.
 * Baby B****o****om**[[image:http://www.businessweek.com/the_thread/hotproperty/archives/aging%20baby%20boomers.jpg width="171" height="171" caption="Baby Boom"]]



**Fast Food-** •Wives were the ones that cooked for the family so not many American families went out to eat. Restaurants were expensive and “sleazy” •Dick and Mac McDonald, from California wanted to create a restaurant that was clean, affordable and fast •When their drive in restaurant “car hops” was such a success they wanted to boost it up and create a faster system. Decided to cut down menu choices and put condiments on food so it would take less time •Used Henry Ford’s assembly line for hamburgers •Used plastic utensils instead of silver •First MD’s in San Bernardino, California •Ray Kroc- wondered why his milk shake maker business was doing so well when selling to McDonalds, went to check it out •Hamburgers cost 15 cents •McDonalds wanted to sell franchise; Kroc bought MD’s •Opened more and more stores all over America •Made rules for workers- couldn’t have beards or mustaches •Thought women workers would flirt with customers so he didn’t hire them •Worked for pride and accomplishment; didn’t care so much about money •Families took advantage of his fast food places started to eat out more •Women were able to get jobs since they weren’t always expected to cook every night now

Since several families now had cars and oil was cheap, many of them took trips around the country to see places that they couldn’t before. This lead to the need for fast food restaurants and hotels. But, many of the hotels were very disappointing and dissatisfactory. So, Kemmons Wilson decided to make motels for families that were clean and similar to each other so that people would know what to expect. Wilson named his motels Holiday Inn, after a movie that was made by Bing Crosby. Also, one thing that Wilson thought was unfair was that in other hotels you would have to pay for every extra child in the room, even if they brought everything they needed to sleep in the room, like a sleeping bag. So, he made sure that all kids would stay for free in his Holiday Inns. **
 * Holiday Inn-