mass transit

Examples of mass transit in the following topics:

• The Rise of the City

  • Skyscrapers were being built in the cities and the idea of mass transit had begun to take root.
  • Mass-transit systems allowed people to commute to work from farther distances.

• The Environmental Impact of Cities

  • Skyscrapers were being built in the cities and the idea of mass transit had started.
  • Mass transit allowed people to commute to work from further distances.

• Automobiles, Airplanes, Mass Production, and Assembly-Line Progress

  • This was largely due to the adoption by industry of the technique of mass production, the system under which identical products were churned out quickly and inexpensively using assembly lines.
  • Before the war, cars were a luxury, but in the 1920s mass-produced vehicles became common throughout the country.
  • State government contracts to build highways and roads in rural areas increased as new housing sprung up outside the range of mass transit.
  • Radio became the first mass broadcasting medium during the 1920s.
  • Radio advertising became the grandstand for mass marketing and its economic importance led to the mass culture that has dominated society since.

• Peacetime Politics

  • The end of World War II was followed by an uneasy transition from war to a peacetime economy.
  • With the war's sudden end and an immediate clamor for demobilization, little work had been done to plan how best to transition to peacetime production of goods while avoiding mass unemployment for returning veterans.

• The Transition to Peacetime

  • Wartime rationing was officially lifted in September 1945, but prosperity did not immediately return as the next three years would witness the difficult transition back to a peacetime economy. 12 million returning veterans were in need of work and in many cases could not find it.
  • The result was a mass consumer spending spree, with a huge and voracious demand for new homes, cars, and housewares.
  • The initial quest for cars, appliances, and new furniture after the end of World War II quickly expanded into the mass consumption of goods, services, and recreational materials during the Fifties.
  • By 1960, per capita income was 35% higher than in 1945, and America had entered what the economist Walt Rostow referred to as the "high mass consumption" stage of economic development.
  • Luxury makes such as Cadillac, which had been largely hand-built vehicles only available to the rich, now became a mass-produced car within the price range of the upper middle-class.

• Montgomery and Protests

  • The Montgomery Bus Boycott was a protest campaign against the policy of racial segregation on the public transit system of Montgomery, Alabama.
  • The Montgomery Bus Boycott, a seminal episode in the U.S. civil rights movement, was a political and social protest campaign against the policy of racial segregation on the public transit system of Montgomery, Alabama.
  • That night a mass meeting was held to determine if the protest would continue, and attendees enthusiastically agreed.
  • The boycott proved extremely effective, with enough riders lost to the city transit system to cause serious economic distress.
  • The National City Lines bus, No. 2857, on which Rosa Parks was riding before she was arrested (a GM "old-look" transit bus, serial number 1132), is now a museum exhibit at the Henry Ford Museum.

• Popular Culture

  • The 1930s witnessed development of mass cultural trends fueled by contemporary technological advances, including radio and sound film.
  • The mass popularization of culture was also linked to important technological advances.
  • Analogously, American folk music, created and performed by both white performers and musicians of color, attracted mass audiences across the country.
  • The pioneer of jazz music, Louis Armstrong, continued to inspire both mass audiences and fellow musicians.
  • Charlie Chaplin, the greatest star of the silent era, successfully transitioned into the sound film.

• Conclusion: WWII and the U.S.

  • The post-World War II period in the United States witnessed unprecedented economic prosperity and important social developments, including critical shifts on the labor market, rise of mass consumerism, "baby boom," and the rapid growth of civil rights movement.
  • Wartime rationing was officially lifted in September 1945, but prosperity did not immediately return as the next three years would witness the difficult transition back to a peacetime economy. 12 million returning veterans were in need of work and in many cases could not find it.
  • The result was a mass consumer spending spree, with a huge and voracious demand for new homes, cars, and housewares.

• Culture in the Thirties

  • The public funding was also used to make theater productions easily available to mass audiences.
  • A number of popular genres, including gangster films, musicals, comedies, or monster movies, attracted mass audiences, regardless of the economic crisis.
  • Charlie Chaplin, the greatest star of the silent era, successfully transitioned into the sound film.

• A New Direction for Unions

  • This model excluded the so-called unskilled workers, employed most commonly in mass production.
  • After the defeat at the 1935 convention, Lewis gathered AFL's pro-industrial unionism  leaders and organized the Committee for Industrial Organization (CIO) to "encourage and promote organization of workers in the mass production industries."
  • The CIO transitioned into a rival federation of unions under the new name of the Congress of Industrial Organizations.