by Krystle Hernandez

Created on: May 01, 2007   Last Updated: May 08, 2007

After World War II, many social, economic, and political changes began taking place in the United States, changing the dynamic of many social facets for generations to come. The inception of suburbs as we know them today began in the post-war era and particularly from the mid 1940s to the 1960s primarily due to the passing of certain pieces of federal legislation including the Montgomery G.I. Bill and The Federal Highway Act of 1956. The birth of suburbia coincided with the birth of the characteristically capitalist American.

Wartime industrial production, including the unprecedented amount of research and funding associated with the new defense strategies used by Americans throughout the war such as the atom-bomb, fueled an economic boom that was caused as a result of the 1944 Montgomery G.I. Bill. The bill was developed to help returning veterans have the opportunity to complete higher education through a return to college. Additionally this legislation also provided veterans with loans for new homes or business and boosted the overall economy by helping people gain new skills and improve overall work productivity.

The higher percentage of educated people introduced a new "middle class" in the United States with families that were "comfortable" financially with advanced educational backgrounds, procured property, and successful businesses. Middle class, educated individuals sought out "white collar" jobs which were removed from agriculture and manufacturing and more geared toward business and intellectually related spheres. By the sixties, family homesteads were taken over by corporations which used large machinery to produce more efficiently than human counterparts resulting in a decline in the need for manual labor.

Eisenhower's investment in transportation improvement in the fifties led to the passing of the 1956 Federal Highway Act. This legislation increased the number of roads and highways built throughout the country, connecting communities nationwide. Another major investment the Eisenhower administration contributed to was the inception of commercial airlines which facilitated coast-to-coast national travel.

Improved transportation systems allowed for the mobilizations and redistribution of the American population geographically. African-Americans moved from rural southern regions to urban inner-cities in search of factory jobs that were formed to assist production during the war. This migration to the city is widely recognized among scholars as the

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