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Curtice was aware that the U.S., with its growing population, growing bank accounts, growing suburbs and decentralized industry, could well afford to buy more new cars than it ever had before—if everyone had confidence that the boom would continue. As head of G.M., with more income and more resources at his command than most sovereign nations, he was in the best position to do something about confidence. As a result of his billion-dollar bet, confidence spread throughout G.M.'s own sizable world. The 514,000 employees in 119 plants in 65 cities in 19 states quit hoarding for layoffs and began buying—among other things, autos. By midyear most of the 17,000 Chevrolet, Pontiac, Buick, Oldsmobile and Cadillac dealers in the U.S. were selling more new and used cars than they ever had before. Some 21,000 independent G.M. suppliers had to step up their buying of steel, copper, aluminum and other materials. Ford Motor Co., with $500 million already ticketed for expansion, added $625 million last spring to expand its plants. Then Chrysler added another billion. Meanwhile, Curtice had upped his own expansion spending to $2 billion. On all sides, other businessmen also raised their own sights, putting more dollars into pockets to spend, and sending the economy booming through 1955's record year. Says Curtice: "People had money and credit. I think I pushed them off the fence to the right side."
Time for Decisions. The Russians, of course, did not like Curtice's kind of confidence, but they finally gave up their repeated predictions of an early collapse of the U.S. economy and, for a brief period, even showed signs of thawing the cold war. Because that brief thaw took place while U.S. military and economic strength remained steadfast, 1955 was not—as many thought it might be—a Year of Decision. It was, rather, a Year of Decisions, as the U.S. turned from preoccupation with crisis to get on with the business of making America work. Items:
¶ In literature. Novelist Herman Wouk upset the clichés by letting Marjorie Morningstar discover the difference between modernist sophistry and durable values like home, faith and family. Marjorie Morningstar was no masterpiece, but she indicated that American intellectuals could find their voices after years of what the late Russell Davenport called "this inability to explain to others our most cherished goals."
¶ In giving, Henry Ford II announced the Ford Foundation's grant of $500 million to privately supported colleges, universities (for increases in teachers' salaries), nonprofit hospitals and medical schools; including Ford's record-breaker, private foundations, prospering with business, passed along nearly a billion dollars in grants during 1955.
¶ In labor, George Meany, the plumber who has never been on strike, became president of the new, 15-million-member American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations. Among his first acts: a friendly speech to the National Association of Manufacturers, and a suggestion that unions invest their millions in housing projects. Among his reasons: union members are now in such high income brackets that they can no longer qualify for Government-subsidized low-rent housing.