ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines the American sociohistorical context of the post-World War II period into the mid-1960s, paying specific attention to immigration, wars and significant foreign affairs, the economy, and important social movements of the period. The Great Society and the War on Poverty were among the last major efforts by an American president to use the government out loud to support those in financial need via redistributive policy until the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in 2010. The Great Depression not only increased the social responsibilities of government, it also opened the political process to millions of 'forgotten Americans', who exercised power by joining labor unions, switching political parties, and migrating to places where they could vote and be represented. Thurgood Marshall Plan was a terrific success on both sides of the Atlantic, economically and politically. It also created more distance between the West and the Soviets.
