America in the 1950s

Society & Culture

Warm Up

• Which US president pulled-off the biggest upset in presidential election history when he won in 1948?

• A = Truman

• Which president used the CIA to overthrow left-leaning governments in Guatemala and Iran?

• A = Eisenhower

MO

• What was the U2 incident?

Post-War Prosperity• Stark departure from Depression

& War

• People want to enjoy the good life.

• Main-Stream Cultural Image of Good life:– Owning a House w/ a lawn and a

white picket fence.– Married w/ 2.5-kids.– Women are supposed to be

homemakers– (Retreat from “Rosie the Riveter” &

return to the Cult of Domesticity).

Economic Boom

• 1945-1970s = Time of greatest economic prosperity in the nation’s history

• Peaked in the 1960s.

• Americans had the most wealth of any people in the history of the world.

GI Bill

• Servicemen’s Readjustment Act.

• $ for returning vets. To get vocational training, go to college, buy homes, etc.

• Helps send more Americans to college than ever before.

• Helps more Americans own homes than ever before.

A Time of Conformity• Many historians tend to stress the

amount of conformity that existed in the 1950s.

• Many people sought to be like the main stream cultural ideal.

• This leads to an emphasis on materialism “Keeping up with the Joneses” = If your neighbors own something, you need to have it too.

Moving to the Suburbs

• New prosperity means that more people can afford to own homes.

• Many whites begin moving out of the city to the suburbs—housing communities outside of cities.

• Levittowns (suburb communities of pre-made homes) are the epitome of this new suburban life.

TV

• 1950s are when TV’s burst on to the scene.

• Households that own TVs– 1950 = 3.9%

1960 = 86.7%

Instrumental in spreading main-stream cultural ideals.

Consumer Culture• Prosperity of the 1950s and 1960s is

consumer driven (rather than investment driven).

• Increased prosperity (& more goods available) led new levels of middle-class mass consumption.

• TV helps to fuel this.

• Mickey Mouse Club—kids bought MMC merchandise.

• Modern kitchens and appliances.

Increased Highways

• 1950s saw unprecedented building of highways.

• Federal Highway Act of 1956 = $25-millon for new highways.

• More people had cars

• More people lived in suburbs.

The H-Bomb

• Hydrogen Bomb (The “Super”)

• Edward Teller

• 1952

Bomb Shelters

• Fear of Nuclear War during the Cold War led many Americans to build Bomb Shelters.

Baby Boom

• 1945-1962

• Increased Prosperity

• More people can afford to have kids.

Dr. Benjamin Spock

• Wrote influential book on child care: Baby and Child Care.

• Said that a woman’s chief responsibility is to be a mother.

• Must put the child’s needs before her own.

• Lots of pressure on women.

Dr. Kinsey

• Biologist at Indiana University

• Wrote best-selling books about sexual behavior.

• Were extremely controversial

Playboy Magazine

• Hugh Hefner--1953

Review• What was the “GI Bill”?

• What were the most famous suburban developments called?

• Who wrote the best-selling book on child rearing and what did it say good mothers should do?

• What was the U.S. population explosion that occurred after WWII and lasted into the 1960s called?

More Review• Who was the most prominent figure o the 2nd Red Scare?

• A = Senator Joseph McCarthy

• What was the name of the best selling book about the discontent sufferd by many middle-class house wives during the 1950s that helped give rise to modern feminism?

• A = The Feminine Mystique

• Who wrote the above mentioned book?

• A = Betty Friedan

• What was the name of the authors and poets who wrote in a modernist style and rejected the social norms of the 1950s?

• A = The Beats

Alienation

• Despite many Americans buying-in to main stream cultural ideals of the 1950s, many felt alienated.

• People feel unfulfilled by emphasis on conformity and material possessions.

– Women & Many Minorities

– Some Youths

– BeatsTheme of alienation and disillusionment is present in much of the

art of the 1950s (literature, poetry, paintings, plays, etc.)

Women

• While society held that women should be homemakers, the reality was that more women were entering the workforce than ever before.

• Mainly clerical and service jobs.

• Many people needed 2-income households to buy the material goods they felt that they should have.

• Many women who remained at home felt stifled by their roles.

• The sale of tranquilizers skyrocketed (“Mother’s Little Helper”).

• Betty Freidan in the Feminine Mystique maintained that the lack of fulfillment experienced by many housewives was the genesis of he women’s movement in the 1960s.

• Friedan became a major figure in the burgeoning feminist movement.

Women in the Workforce

• While popular culture portrayed a women’s role as a homemaker, the 1950s saw a great increase in the number of women entering the workplace.

• More 2-income families than ever before due to pressures of consumer culture.

• Conversely, Dr. Benjamin Spock, Baby and Child Care held that a mother should be at home giving her full attention to her children.

• This contrast between social norms and economic realities caused tension.

Youth Culture

• Many youth sought to emulate the stereotypes of the main stream.

• They wore poodle skirts and sweaters.

• Hung out at the soda shop, etc.

Youth Rebellion

• Other youths, however, rebelled against the cultural norms of the time.

• The most popular images of youth rebellion were the leather jacketed greaser and the brooding young man.

The Beats

• Poets and Writers who rejected contemporary American society.

• Alan Ginsburg— “Howl.”

• Jack Kerouac– On The Road

• William Burroughs—Naked Lunch

Ginsburg and Kerouac

Beatniks

Main Stream Lit./Theatre• J.D. Salinger– Catcher in the

Rye.

• John Updike – Rabbit, Run.

• Grace Metalious – Peyton Place

• Arthur Miller – Death of a Salesman

• All deal with themes of alienation.

Film

• Marlon Brando and James Dean are the actors most emblematic of the Youth Rebellion.

• Marilyn Monroe is at her height.

• Doris Day is the archetype of the main-stream persona.

Music• With advent of TV, radio begins to rely more on music.

• Term “Disc Jockey” conceived.

• Rock and Roll is born.

• Is an amalgamation of styles—mainly blues and country.

• White performers like Elvis Presley and Jerry Lee Lewis rise to prominence by emulating the style of black musicians.

• Elvis is the biggest star, he is known as “The King.”

• Other big-names are: Chuck Berry, Little Richard, the Big Bopper, and Ritchie Valens.

• Embraced mainly by teens and young adults so is thus form of youth rebellion.

Art in the 50s

• Abstract Expressionism is the dominant style of painting.

• Centered in NYC.

• Main Artists are: Jackson Pollock, Alan Rothko, Robert Motherwell, Willem DeKooning.

• Edward Hopper is more a traditionalist. His paintings show isolated, anonymous individuals.

Jackson Pollock

Edward Hopper

Mark Rothko

• Color Field

Post War Inventions and Breakthroughs

• Salk Vaccine—1954, Prevents Polio.

• DDT—Chemical Pesticide that protected crops from pests and prevented diseases caused by insects such as Typhus and malaria. Only later was it found to be toxic to humans and animals.

• UNIVAC—Universal Automatic Computer. Developed by Remington Rand Company.

Fast Food

• More cars and highways lead to Fast Food Restaurants.

• McDonald’s is the leading “franchise” restaurant.

1950s: Good Times for Everybody?

• The economic boom applied mainly to middle-class whites.

• African Americans and Latinos generally did not share in the good times.

• The 1950s have often been described as a time of social and cultural conformity. To what degree is this statement true?