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At the end of the Second World War many Americans feared there would be a subsequent drop in military spending that would bring back the hard times of the Great Depression. But instead, pent-up consumer demand fueled remarkably strong economic growth in the postwar period. The automobile industry successfully converted back to producing cars, and new industries such as electronics and household appliances grew. A housing boom, encouraged in part by easily affordable mortgages for returning members of the military, added to the expansion. The nation's gross national product rose from about $200,000 million in 1940 to $300,000 million in 1950 and to more than $500,000 million in 1960. At the same time, the jump in postwar births, known as the "baby boom,” which increased the number of consumers.
One of the first necessities sought after by Americans after the war was housing. By late 1945 and early 1946 the housing crisis was acute. Veterans and other Americans demobilized from wartime production desired housing but were met with a lack of supply. To stimulate the growth of the housing market and reduce the financial constraints such as ten year mortgages, and the need for eighty percent down payments, the federal government instructed the Federal Housing Authority to allow thirty year mortgages and approve mortgages with only ten percent down. With greater access to loans, the possibility of affording housing increased and a great number of Americans moved from the cities and rural areas to the suburbs, exacerbating a process that had its antecedents in the pre-war world but found its greatest expression in the post-war climate of demobilization and economic growth that followed V-E and V-J Days. In fact "eighteen of the nation's top twenty-five cities suffered a net loss of population between 1950 and 1970," with suburban population "doubling from 37 to 74 million people" during the same time period. These new population centers came to...