Changes and paradoxes in the American society

Extract

[...] By the end of the WWII, price increases outpaced wages and the workers frustration boiled over in a wave of strikes that swept over the country. On 20 November automobile workers in General Motors plants went on strike, then the electrical and steel workers followed them. At no time in the past (except in 1919) had the US economy been so much rocked by labour militancy. However, corporate executives retained their grip over all functions of management, labour assuming the role of junior partner in the collective bargaining contracts. [...]

[...] It started investigating the presence of communist's sympathizers in American educational, religious and entertainment activities. The methods of the Committee included asking witnesses to give names. If the witness refused to refuse to answer, they were charged to contempt of Congress charges and to federal prosecutions. Many witnesses evoked the 5th amendment of the Constitution refusing to answer any questions on the ground that this would mean to incriminate others. Taking the 5th could protect their friends and associates, and it could avoid the tactics of guilt by association, but it quickly became synonymous with confessing complicity in subversive activities. [...]

[...] The early 2nd wave focus was on equality for women, in politics, in education, in the workforce, and on the question of sexuality and reproduction. The president Johnson in 1964 made discrimination illegal not only on the basis of race, religion and national origin, but also sex. The new federal agency created by the 1964 Act, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission received more complains from women than any other group. Women wanted equal pay for equal work. The next important step was taken in 1962, called Title which was part of a larger law known as the Educational Amendments Act. [...]

[...] The split between the AFL and the CIO occurred in 1937. They were to be united again as AFL-CIO in 1945. Liberal thinkers could imagine that labour leaders would become joint partners in corporate life, not simply defenders of traditional union interests (like higher wages and better working condition). After WWII, men like Walter Ruther of the United Automobile Workers, and his CIO colleagues continued to agitate for structural change wishing labour to become co-equal with management". The CIO created a Political Action Committee (PAC) with a view to institutionalise a form of social welfare, through the action of the Democratic Party. [...]

[...] The legislators were legally authorised to examine all subversive and anti- American propaganda, and Hollywood became the main target as it was considered as a bastion of radicals. In 1947, HUAC in California called in famous film makers and inquired about their activities. A number of artists refused to answer HUAC including Eliah Kazan, and screenwriter Dalton Trumbo, Walt Disney and Ronald Reagan, president of the Screen Actors Guild. They spoke against it. Ten individuals were finally charged in what was known as the Hollywood Ten Trial and more than 300 persons were officially blacklisted (no [...]