World War II had ended, and American soldiers were finally returning home with their chance at living out the American Dream after enduring the hardships of war. With the prosperity of the post-war economy, young soldiers and other Americans alike could comfortably afford to raise children, unlike before in the time of the war or the Great Depression (Elliott). Millions of couples settled down in the rapidly-growing suburbs and had their children there, owed to the flourishing economy at the time. These factors combined led to the “baby boom,” in which the United States experienced a spike in the birth rate, with an average of over 4 million babies being born annually from 1946-1964 (Elliott). As any generation, the people born during this …show more content…
As suburbs were being developed on the outskirts of urban areas, Americans started to live further away from places like grocery stores and movie theaters that they were once fairly close to. Because of this, cars became an absolute necessity as Americans would have to drive several miles to go downtown for their shopping. Real estate developers took note and followed the money of the new suburban families; the developers would locate shopping centers strategically around newly built highway intersections or along busy thoroughfares (Kennedy and Cohen). Many families were now a lot closer to places such as malls that baby boomers would soon make a major impact on with the growing consumerism at the …show more content…
With cars, they could escape the conformity of the suburbs and do as they please wherever they please. With the new, young wave of drivers, sprang up a car culture with new automobile-based establishments like drive-thru restaurants and drive-in movies (Kennedy and Cohen). With shopping centers alongside them, car-owning teenagers further built onto the idea that the boomers were the first consumerist generation. Adolescents were driving in the period where society was becoming dependent on cars; having an independence like no other generation had before, they had the opportunity to spend money in the time of economic prosperity off of the affluence of their