Ms. Stacey M. HoyeCaprock HS Amarillo, TX

Ms. Stacey M. HoyeCaprock HS Amarillo, TX

THE 1950s:THE 1950s:

“Anxiety, Alienation, and Social Unrest” ??

“Conservatism, Complacency, and Contentment”

OROR

•Nickname: "Ike" •Born: Oct. 14, 1890, in Texas•Died: March 28, 1969, in Washington, D.C. •Education: Graduate of West Point•WWII: Supreme Allied Commander during WWII

•Nickname: "Ike" •Born: Oct. 14, 1890, in Texas•Died: March 28, 1969, in Washington, D.C. •Education: Graduate of West Point•WWII: Supreme Allied Commander during WWII

•34th President: Republican, 1953 to 1961•VP: Richard Nixon

•34th President: Republican, 1953 to 1961•VP: Richard Nixon

Baby BoomersBaby Boomers• It seems to me that every other

young housewife I see

is pregnant.

• British visitor to America, 1958.

• It seems to me that every other

young housewife I see

is pregnant.

• British visitor to America, 1958.

1957 1 baby born every 7 seconds

Baby BoomersBaby Boomers

• During Great Depression, birthrate

and population decreased.

• Post WWII, both increase

• During Great Depression, birthrate

and population decreased.

• Post WWII, both increase

School Enrollment of children

AN AFFLUENT SOCIETY: Economic Prosperity

• Regional Growth: The Sunbelt– Warmer climate, lower taxes, lower labor costs– Military spending

Population Change, 1950-1960

The Culture of the Car

• The U. S. population was on the move in the 1950s.

• NE & Mid-W ---> S & SW (“Sunbelt” states)

On June 22, 1944, President

Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the "Servicemen's Readjustment Act

of 1944" “GI Bill of Rights”

AN AFFLUENT SOCIETY: Economic Prosperity• G.I. Bill of Rights (Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of

1944)

– Education• job training • college

– Loans for homes and businesses

G.I. Bill & College Enrollment

• Help veterans adjust to civilian life after

separation from service •Gain higher education if you couldn’t afford one

• Restore lost educational

opportunities because of military service.

• Enhance our nation through a more highly

educated and productive work force

• FDR signing the GI Bill of Rights into law.

•This was a correction of our mistake after WWI.

GI Bill provided 6 benefits•education and training •Loans for a home, farm, or business •unemployment pay of $20 a week for 52 weeks •job-finding assistance

Eligible for GI Bill BenefitsWWII veteran, served 90 days or more after September

16, 1940 and a honorable discharge.

Program ended July 25, 1956•Of the 15,440,000 veterans, some 7.8 million were trained. •2,230,000 in college •3,480,000 in other schools •1,400,000 in on-job training •690,000 in farm training Total cost of

the World War II

education program was $14.5 billion.

Suburban LivingSuburban Living

$7,990 or $60/month with no down payment.

Levittown, L. I.: “The American Dream”

1949 William Levitt produced 150 houses per week.

Suburban Living:The New “American Dream”Suburban Living:The New “American Dream”

1 story high

12’x19’ living room

2 bedrooms

tiled bathroom

garage

small backyard

front lawn

By 1960 1/3 of the U. S. population in the suburbs.

Suburban LivingSuburban Living

SHIFTS IN POPULATION DISTRIBUTION,

1940-1970

1940 1950 1960 1970Central Cities 31.6% 32.3% 32.6% 32.0%Suburbs 19.5% 23.8% 30.7% 41.6%Rural Areas/ 48.9% 43.9% 36.7% 26.4%Small Towns

U. S. Bureau of the Census.

Suburban LivingSuburban Living

SHIFTS IN POPULATION DISTRIBUTION,

1940-1970

1940 1950 1960 1970

Central Cities 31.6% 32.3% 32.6% 32.0%Suburbs 19.5% 23.8% 30.7% 41.6%Rural Areas/ 48.9% 43.9% 36.7% 26.4%Small Towns

U. S. Bureau of the Census.

SHIFTS IN POPULATION DISTRIBUTION,

1940-1970

1940 1950 1960 1970

Central Cities 31.6% 32.3% 32.6% 32.0%Suburbs 19.5% 23.8% 30.7% 41.6%Rural Areas/ 48.9% 43.9% 36.7% 26.4%Small Towns

U. S. Bureau of the Census.

AN AFFLUENT SOCIETY: Growth of Suburbs

REASONS FOR THE GROWTH OF SUBURBS • Growth of families (“baby boom”)• Home-ownership became more affordable– Low-interest mortgage loans • gov’t-backed & interest tax-deductable

– Mass-produced subdivisions • Expressways – facilitated commuting• Decline in inner city housing stock

• Also: congestion, pollution

• Race – “white flight”

Suburban LivingThe Typical TV Suburban Families

Suburban LivingThe Typical TV Suburban Families

The Donna Reed Show1958-1966

The Donna Reed Show1958-1966

Leave It to Beaver

1957-1963

Father Knows Best1954-1958

Father Knows Best1954-1958

The Ozzie & Harriet Show1952-1966

The Ozzie & Harriet Show1952-1966

Highway Act of 1956

42,000 miles of interstate highways linking major citiesImprove national defenseGood for jobs, truckingBad for the poor, public transportation

The Culture of the Car

First McDonald’s (1955)

America became a more homogeneous nation because of the automobile.

Drive-In Movies

Howard Johnson’s

The Culture of the Car

Car registrations: 1945 --> 25,000,000 1960 --> 60,000,000

2-family cars doubles from 1951-1958

Car registrations: 1945 --> 25,000,000 1960 --> 60,000,000

2-family cars doubles from 1951-1958

1956 --> Federal Interstate Highway Act --> largest public works project in American

history!

* Cost $32 billion * 41,000 miles of new highways built

1956 --> Federal Interstate Highway Act --> largest public works project in American

history!

* Cost $32 billion * 41,000 miles of new highways built

The Culture of the Car

1959 Chevy Corvette

1958 Pink Cadillac

The Culture of the Car

1955 --> Disneyland opened in Southern California. (40% of the guests came

from outside California, most by car.)

Frontier Land Main Street Tomorrow Land

Truman’s “Fair Deal” programcalled for improved housingfull employment a higher minimum wage better farm price supports

Truman’s “Fair Deal” programcalled for improved housingfull employment a higher minimum wage better farm price supports

New Tennessee Valley Administrations extension of Social Security.

“Point Four Program”financial support of poor, underdeveloped lands

keep underprivileged peoples from becoming communists.

New Tennessee Valley Administrations extension of Social Security.

“Point Four Program”financial support of poor, underdeveloped lands

keep underprivileged peoples from becoming communists.

CONSENSUS AND CONFORMITY: Organized Labor • Taft-Hartley Act (Labor Management Relations Act of 1947)

• Unions – big, powerful and more conservative– Merger AFL and CIO in 1955– blue collar workers - enjoying middle-class incomes and benefits

– Goal: preserve and extend compensation

Labor Union Membership, 1920-1992

ConsumerismConsumerism

1950 --> Introduction of the Diner’s Card

Americans were caught up in the “economic boom” that took place after WWII

Americans were caught up in the “economic boom” that took place after WWII

ConsumerismConsumerismAmericans were becoming a consumer

society…..Buying whatever new product that came out that would make their lives comfortable.

Americans were becoming a consumer society…..Buying whatever new product that came

out that would make their lives comfortable.

TelevisionTelevision

1946 --> 7,000 TV sets in the U. S. 1950 --> 50,000,000 TV sets in the U. S. 1946 --> 7,000 TV sets in the U. S. 1950 --> 50,000,000 TV sets in the U. S.

Mass Audience

• TV celebrated traditional American values:

• Superman-----Truth, Justice, and the American way!

Mass Audience

• TV celebrated traditional American values:

• Superman-----Truth, Justice, and the American way!

Television is a vast wasteland --> Newton Minnow, Chairman of Federal Communications

Commission, 1961

Television is a vast wasteland --> Newton Minnow, Chairman of Federal Communications

Commission, 1961RADIO AND TELEVISION OWNERSHIP, 1940–1960

Television

Davy Crockett--King of the Wild FrontierDavy Crockett--King of the Wild Frontier

The Lone Ranger (and his faithful sidekick, Tonto):

Who is that masked man??

The Lone Ranger (and his faithful sidekick, Tonto):

Who is that masked man??

Sheriff Matt Dillon, Gunsmoke

Sheriff Matt Dillon, Gunsmoke

TelevisionTelevision

I Love LucyI Love Lucy Alice Kramden, The Honeymooners

Wally and the Beav

Wally and the Beav

Family Shows --> glossy view of mostly middle-class suburban life.

Family Shows --> glossy view of mostly middle-class suburban life.

Popular Culture

• Consumer-driven mass economyTelevision• By 1961, 55 million TV sets• 3 national networks, bland sit-coms,

westerns, quiz shows, sports, • “vast wasteland” for children, cultureAdvertising• All media, aggressive• Shopping centers, credit cards• Change from “mom & pop” to

franchises

Popular Culture

Paperback books• Reading Increase despite

television—1 million copies a dayRecords• Mass-marketed, inexpensive LP’s

or 45’s• Rock and Roll music becomes

popular with teenagers

Teen CultureTeen Culture“Happy Days”

OR “Juvenile Delinquency”?

“Happy Days” OR

“Juvenile Delinquency”?

Marlon Brando inThe Wild One

(1953)

Marlon Brando inThe Wild One

(1953)

James Dean inRebel Without a

Cause (1955)

James Dean inRebel Without a

Cause (1955)

Dobie GillisDobie Gillis

• Teen Culture developed (free time, spending money)– “teenager”– consumerism

• By 1956, 13 million teens with $7 billion to spend a year.

• Rock and Roll – Elvis Presley

• James Dean, “Rebel without a Cause”

• “juvenile delinquency”

In the 1950s --> the word “teenager” entered the American language.

1956 --> 13 mil. teens with $7 billion to spend a year.

In the 1950s --> the word “teenager” entered the American language.

1956 --> 13 mil. teens with $7 billion to spend a year.

Teen CultureTeen CultureThe “Beatnik” Generation: * Jack Kerouac --> On The Road * Allen Ginsberg --> poem, “Howl” * Neal Cassady * William S. Burroughs

A man is beat whenever he goes for broke and wagers the sum of his resources on a single number; and the young generation has done that continually from early youth------------John Clellan Holms

•Jack Kerouac is said to have responded:We’re a beat generation!

•Against traditional values of the Great Depressions and WWII generation (their parents)

•Would influence the “counter-culture” of the 1960’s

Well-Defined Gender RolesWell-Defined Gender Roles

The ideal modern woman married, cooked and cared for her family, and kept herself busy by joining the local PTA and leading a troop of Campfire Girls. She entertained guests in her family’s suburban house and worked out on the trampoline to keep her size 12 figure. -- Life magazine, 1956

MarilynMonroe

The ideal 1950s man was the provider, protector,

and the boss of the house. -- Life magazine, 19551956 William H. Whyte, Jr.

The Organization Man

A a middle-class, white suburban male is the ideal.

Family Man

CONSENSUS AND CONFORMITY: Religion• Organized religion expanded dramatically

after WW2– church/synagogue memberships reached highest

level in US history• 1940 64,000,000; 1960 114,000,000

– thousands of new churches and synagogues built in suburbs

• Why??– more a means of socialization and belonging than

evidence of interest in doctrine?• atmosphere of tolerance

– stage of life?

Religious RevivalReligious Revival

1951 -- First IBM (commercial)

Mainframe Computer

1952 -- Hydrogen Bomb Test

1953 -- DNA Structure Discovered

1954 -- Polio Vaccine Tested – Jonas Salk

1957 -- First Commercial U. S. Nuclear Power Plant

1958 -- NASA Created

ENIAC, first mainframe computer, 1945

Automation: 1947-1957 - factory workers decreased by 4.3%, eliminating 1.5 million blue-collar jobs.

Progress Through Science