OUTLINE

Texas Transformed, 1940-1970

I. The era of abundance in urban Texas

A. How it is achieved

1. availability of capital

a) from big oil companies

b) from big national chemical companies

c) from Texas-owned oil tool companies

d) from federal government defense contracts

(1) wartime (WWII) defense contracts

(2) postwar (Cold War) defense contracts

2. other federal-government sources

a) military installations

b) the G.I. Bill

c) the Interstate Highway system

3. the growth of consumer industries

B. Its consequences

1. the growth of cities

2. increase in per capita income

3. growth of “high tech” industries

II. The era of abundance in rural Texas

A. How it is achieved

1. New Deal farm programs

2. World War II

3. mechanization and new technologies

B. Its consequences

1. farm size up

2. efficiency up

3. production up

4. opening of the High Plains and Rio Grande Valley to agriculture

5. new crops and products

6. agriculture becomes agribusiness

III. Modernization: The end of Texas distinctiveness?

A. the image(s)

B. the realities