Post-war baby-boom, cash crisis

1947 - Post-war baby boom

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QioLCTRO3NE

"No More Babies!" - Expert Calls For Ban on Childbirth (1947)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChCjgYGTL4Y

Post-war cash crisis

This film short is trying to relay the message that only five pounds in notes could be taken abroad in the late 1940s. Although the message offers little or no explanation for the restrictions it is almost certainly to avoid a 'balance of payments' crisis.

Before war broke out in 1939 Britain was saddled with debts totalling £496million, which by 1945 debt had risen to £3.5billion. Britain was in effect, an economic dependant of the United States.

With industry run down or converted to the war effort, and traditional world markets disrupted, Britain was near bankruptcy during the Second World War. In March 1941 the United States offered much needed economic support for the British to continue the fight against the Axis Powers through the Lend-Lease agreement.

Britain 'borrowed' over £5 billion worth of goods through Lend-Lease. But the extent to which the British economy had become dependent upon the American support became clear after the war.

American Lend-Lease abruptly ended within days of the unconditional surrender of Japan on 15 August 1945. The post-war negotiated loan repayments left Britain near to economic collapse less than two years later.

In the summer of 1947 Britain faced a huge balance of payments deficit. More money was flowing out of the country than flowing in. The crisis was exacerbated by a fuel shortage the previous winter that led to a 25 per cent loss of exports. Also the conditions of repayment for the wartime loans imposed by America placed further pressure on the balance of payments and the value of sterling.

The crisis proved to be a major setback for Attlee's administration, denting public confidence and forcing reductions in public spending. It also demonstrated the fragility of post-war economies throughout Europe. The subsequent introduction by the United States of Marshall Aid in 1948 assisted the rebuilding of European nations ravaged by the war with American dollars. Britain was the largest beneficiary.

Post-war bankruptcy blues

Britain's wartime enthusiasm and self-confidence had become seriously eroded by the crisis-laden year of 1947. Domestically, the continuation of rationing, including for the first time bread (between 1946-48) and the fuel and economic crises, together with Indian independence, 1947 was largely a year that dented the immediate post war assurances.

Although the wartime Lend-Lease agreement had enabled Britain to continue its struggle against the Axis Powers alone [to America's great benefit], it gave the misleading appearance of the nation as a first-rank power. In the immediate post war years it gradually became hard to understand how as a winning power, head of a great empire, second only to USA in influence [now deep in debt to America, which had stayed out as long as possible], became so austere and destitute.

Prohibition, USA - 1920 - 1933

.Repeal Day - 33-12-5 - HiGu > .

1933-12-15: 21st Amendment to the US Constitution repeals prohibition - HiPo > .

Prohibition in the United States was a nationwide constitutional ban on the production, importation, transportation, and sale of alcoholic beverages from 1920 to 1933.

Prohibitionists first attempted to end the trade in alcoholic drinks during the 19th century. Led by pietistic Protestants, they aimed to heal what they saw as an ill society beset by alcohol-related problems such as alcoholism, family violence and saloon-based political corruption. Many communities introduced alcohol bans in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and enforcement of these new prohibition laws became a topic of debate. Prohibition supporters, called "drys", presented it as a battle for public morals and health. The movement was taken up by progressives in the Prohibition, Democratic and Republican parties, and gained a national grassroots base through the Woman's Christian Temperance Union. After 1900, it was coordinated by the Anti-Saloon League. Opposition from the beer industry mobilized "wet" supporters from the wealthy Catholic and German Lutheran communities, but the influence of these groups receded from 1917 following the entry of the US into the First World War against Germany.

The alcohol industry was curtailed by a succession of state legislatures, and finally ended nationwide under the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, ratified by the requisite number of states on January 16, 1919, which passed "with a 68 percent supermajority in the House of Representatives and 76 percent support in the Senate" as well as ratification by 46 out of 48 states. Enabling legislation, known as the Volstead Act (October 28, 1919), set down the rules for enforcing the federal ban and defined the types of alcoholic beverages that were prohibited. 

On October 28, 1919, Congress passed the Volstead Act, the popular name for the National Prohibition Act, over President Woodrow Wilson's veto. The act established the legal definition of intoxicating liquors as well as penalties for producing them.[19] Although the Volstead Act prohibited the sale of alcohol, the federal government lacked resources to enforce it.

Not all alcohol was banned; for example, religious use of wine was permitted. Private ownership and consumption of alcohol were not made illegal under federal law, but local laws were stricter in many areas, with some states banning possession outright.

Following the ban, criminal gangs gained control of the beer and liquor supply in many cities. By the late 1920s, a new opposition to prohibition emerged nationwide. Critics attacked the policy as causing crime, lowering local revenues, and imposing "rural" Protestant religious values on "urban" America. Prohibition ended with the ratification of the Twenty-first Amendment, which repealed the Eighteenth Amendment on December 5, 1933, though prohibition continued in some states. To date, this is the only time in American history in which a constitutional amendment was passed for the purpose of repealing another.

Some research indicates that alcohol consumption declined substantially due to Prohibition. Rates of liver cirrhosis, alcoholic psychosis, and infant mortality also declined. Prohibition's effect on rates of crime and violence is disputed. Despite this, it lost supporters every year it was in action, and lowered government tax revenues at a critical time before and during the Great Depression.

On March 22, 1933, President Franklin Roosevelt signed into law the Cullen–Harrison Act, legalizing beer with an alcohol content of 3.2% (by weight) and wine of a similarly low alcohol content. On December 5, 1933, ratification of the Twenty-first Amendment repealed the Eighteenth Amendment. However, United States federal law still prohibits the manufacture of distilled spirits without meeting numerous licensing requirements that make it impractical to produce spirits for personal beverage use.

Psychedelic Art Nouveau - 1960s

Where the 1960s "psychedelic" look came from > . 

Queer Club Culture

.Out in the City: Queer Club Culture in London, 1918-1967 - naUK > .

London - Clubs, Cabarets, Dance, Halls - Brit >> .

Rise & Fall of Lesbian Bars (USA) ..

Despite the risks involved, the 20th century saw a thriving underground queer community develop. National Archive records show a wonderful defiance to live and love despite the law. Using unique archive items, this talk seeks to tell the important story of some of the clandestine LGBTQ+ spaces that were raided and closed by police and the covert methods of communication that had to be relied upon. The talk explores a number of spaces, from the Caravan Club – known as ‘London’s greatest bohemian rendezvous’ – to the lively Shim Sham Club, so named after the Harlem tap dance. Through photographs, court reports, witness statements and even tantalising love letters that were never meant for our eyes, this talk provides an insight into these little-known underground venues and the powerful voices of individuals inside them.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maud_Allan .

Rise & Fall of Lesbian Bars

.Rise & Fall of Lesbian Bars (USA) > .

Lesbian bars are a mainstay of American queer culture. But with only 21 left in the entire country, lesbian bar owners are fighting to keep these safe spaces open.

Queer Club Culture ..