The 1950s

Baby Boom

It seems to me that every other young housewife I see is pregnant.

-- British visitor to America, 1958 1957

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1 baby born every 7 seconds

Dr. Benjamin Spock and the Anderson Quintuplets

Baby Boom

The GI Bill

Social Climate after WWII

• After the war, unions began to seek the increases in wages that were limited during the war.

• The number of strikes rose sharply.

Racial Minorities

• Truman issued Executive Order 9981, which ended segregation in the U.S. armed forces.

• Hispanic veterans joined together in the American GI Forum.

The Second Red Scare

•In September 1949 Truman announced that the Soviet Union had detonated an atomic bomb.

•This was a shock to the nation.

•Truman began to strengthen the nation’s military against a possible Soviet nuclear threat.

•Communists in China had gained nearly full control of the country.

•China was in the hands of the Communist Party under the •Americans worried that China to the United States.

HUAC

• The House Un-American

Activities Committee

investigated the full range of radical groups in the United States, including Fascists, Communists, and members of Hollywood

The Hollywood Ten

• The Hollywood Ten refused to answer HUAC questions about their beliefs or those of their colleagues.

• Many others in Hollywood did testify, for if they didn’t their names were placed on a blacklist.

Spy Cases

• Alger Hiss—convicted of being a spy for the Soviets • Klaus Fuchs—a Manhattan Project scientist who gave atomic bomb information to the Soviets • Ethel and Julius Rosenberg— convicted of passing secrets to the Soviets and executed

Joseph McCarthy

• Joseph McCarthy was a senator who claimed that there were 205 known Communists working for the U.S. Department of State.

• McCarthy’s claims were rarely backed up with any evidence.

• McCarthyism spread beyond the Senate into other branches of government, into universities, into labor unions, and into private businesses.

• In 1952 he began to go after fellow Republicans.

• In 1954 he attacked the U.S. Army, claiming that it was protecting Communists.

Suburban Living

Levittown, L. I.: “The American Dream” 1949

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William Levitt produced 150 houses per week.

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

Suburban Living:

The New “American Dream”

1 story high 12’x19’ living room 2 bedrooms tiled bathroom garage small backyard front lawn By 1960

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

Suburban Living

SHIFTS IN POPULATION DISTRIBUTION, 1940-1970 Central Cities Suburbs Rural Areas/ Small Towns 1940 1950 31.6% 32.3% 19.5% 23.8% 48.9% 43.9% 1960 1970 32.6% 32.0% 30.7% 41.6% 36.7% 26.4% U. S. Bureau of the Census.

Suburban Living:

The Typical TV Suburban Families

The Donna Reed Show

1958-1966

Leave It to Beaver

1957-1963

Father Knows Best

1954-1958

The Ozzie & Harriet Show

1952-1966

1950

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Consumerism

Introduction of the Diner’s Card

All babies were potential consumers who spearheaded a brand-new market for food, clothing, and shelter.

-- Life Magazine (May, 1958)

Consumerism

A Changing Workplace

Automation: 1947-1957

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factory workers decreased by 4.3%, eliminating 1.5 million blue-collar jobs.

By 1956

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more white-collar than blue-collar jobs in the U. S.

Computers

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Mark I (1944). First IBM mainframe computer (1951).

Corporate Consolidation: By 1960

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600 corporations (1/2% of all U. S. companies) accounted for 53% of total corporate income.

WHY??

Cold War military buildup.

A Changing Workplace

New Corporate Culture: “The Company Man” 1956

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Sloan Wilson’s

The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit

The Culture of the Car

Car registrations: 1945

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1960

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25,000,000 60,000,000 2-family cars doubles from 1951-1958 1958 Pink Cadillac 1956

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1959 Chevy Corvette Interstate Highway Act history!

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largest public works project in American

Å

Cost $32 billion.

Å

41,000 miles of new highways built.

The Culture of the Car

America became a more homogeneous nation because of the automobile.

First McDonald’s (1955) Howard Johnson’s Drive-In Movies

The Culture of the Car

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

NE & Mid-W

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S & SW (“Sunbelt” states) 1955

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Disneyland opened in Southern California.

(40% of the guests came from outside California, most by car.) Frontier Land Main Street Tomorrow Land

Television

1946

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1950

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7,000 TV sets in the U. S.

50,000,000 TV sets in the U. S.

Television is a vast wasteland.

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Minnow, Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, 1961 Newton Mass Audience

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TV celebrated traditional American values.

Truth, Justice, and the American way!

Television – The Western

Davy Crockett

King of the Wild Frontier

Sheriff Matt Dillon, Gunsmoke The Lone Ranger (and his faithful sidekick, Tonto):

Who is that masked man??

Television - Family Shows

Glossy view of mostly middle-class suburban life.

But...

I Love Lucy The Honeymooners Social Winners?... AND… Losers?

Teen Culture

In the 1950s By 1956

 

the word “teenager” entered the American language.

13 mil. teens with $7 bil. to spend a year.

1951

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“race music”

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“ROCK ‘N ROLL” Elvis Presley

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“The King”

Teen Culture

“Juvenile Delinquency” ???

1951

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J. D. Salinger’s

A Catcher in the Rye

Marlon Brando

The Wild One

(1953) in James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause (1955)

Teen Culture

The “Beat” Generation : Jack Kerouac

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On The Road

Allen Ginsberg

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poem, “Howl” Neal Cassady William S. Burroughs “Beatnik” “Clean” Teen

Teen Culture

Behavioral Rules of the 1950s: Obey Authority.

Control Your Emotions.

Don’t Make Waves

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with the Group.

Fit in Don’t Even Think About Sex!!!

Religious Revival

Today in the U. S., the Christian faith is back in the center of things.

-- Time magazine, 1954 Church membership: 1940

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Television Preachers:

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64,000,000 114,000,000 1. Catholic Bishop Fulton J. Sheen Worth Living”

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“Life is 2. Methodist Minister Norman Vincent Peale

The Power of Positive Thinking

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3. Reverend Billy Graham

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ecumenical message; warned against the evils of Communism.

Religious Revival

Hollywood: apex of the biblical epics.

The Robe The Ten Commandments Ben Hur

1953 1956 1959

It’s un-American to be un-religious!

- The Christian Century, 1954

Well-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

The ideal 1950s man was the provider, protector,

and the boss of the house. -- Life magazine, 1955 1956

 A

William H. Whyte, Jr.



Organization Man The

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

Marilyn Monroe

Well-Defined Gender Roles

v

Changing Sexual Behavior: Alfred Kinsey: 1948

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Sexual Behavior in the Human Male

1953

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Sexual Behavior in the Human Female

Premarital sex was common.

v

Extramarital affairs were frequent among married couples.

Kinsey’s results are an assault on the family as a basic unit of society, a negation of moral law, and a celebration of licentiousness.

-- Life magazine, early 1950s

Progress Through Science

1951 - First IBM Mainframe Computer 1952 - Hydrogen Bomb Test 1953 - DNA Structure Discovered 1954 - Salk Vaccine Tested for Polio 1957 -- First Commercial U. S. Nuclear Power Plant 1958 - NASA Created 1959 -- Press Conference of the First 7 American Astronauts

Progress Through Science

1957

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Russians launch SPUTNIK I 1958

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National Defense Education Act

Progress Through Science

UFO Sightings skyrocketed in the 1950s.

War of the Worlds

Hollywood used aliens as a metaphor for whom ??

Progress Through Science

Atomic Anxieties :

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“Duck-and-Cover Generation” Atomic Testing :

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1946-1962

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U. S. exploded 217 nuclear weapons over the Pacific and in Nevada.

Politics and War

• The Cold War: • The tension and rivalry between the USA and the USSR was described as the Cold War (1945 1990).

• There was never a real war between the two sides between 1945 and 1990, but they were often very close to war (Hotspots). Both sides got involved in other conflicts in the world to either stop the spread of communism (USA) or help the spread (USSR).

• The USA and the USSR were the two world Superpowers.

• The USA was a capitalist society with a democracy.

• The USSR was a communist country with a dictatorship.

• Both wanted to be the most powerful nation in the world.

Nuclear Tensions

• The USA had shown its atomic power when it exploded the A bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of World War 2.

• The USSR was also developing atomic weapons/bombs.

• The USA and the USSR were in competition with each other to have the best, most powerful weapons in the world – this was called the Arms Race .

New Communist Countries

• Many countries became communist after World War 2 including: - Czechoslovakia (1948) - Poland (1947) - Hungary (1947) - China (1949) - Cuba (1959) - North Korea (1945)

Germany Divided

• Germany, which had been ruled by the Hitler and the Nazis until their defeat in 1945 was split in two.

• The western side became West Germany and the eastern side became East Germany.

• East Germany became another communist country

The Domino Effect

• The USA did not want communism to spread any further – they were worried about the domino effect (one country becomes communist, then another, then another etc)

The Iron Curtain

• The Iron Curtain was a term used to show that communism had created a sharp division in Europe.

America Responds

• The U.S. adopted the policy of containment and decided to do whatever it took to contain or stop communism.

• Truman Doctrine: Provided aid to Turkey and Greece in order to stop communism in those countries.

The Marshall Plan

A massive program of aid to help Europe rebuild and get back on its economic feet.

The Crisis in Berlin

• With the start of the Cold War, it became clear that the Soviets planned to keep their German zone under Communist control.

• The British, Americans, and French began to take steps to set up a free, democratic government within their German zones.

–The western zone eventually became known as the Federal Republic of Germany, or West Germany.

• The British, Americans, and French also tried to set up a democratic government in West Berlin.

–The Soviets were not happy with the idea of a Western-style government and economy in the middle of the Soviet zone of occupation.

The Soviets Block Traffic

•In June 1948 the Soviets announced that they would block any road, rail, or river traffic into West Berlin.

•West Berlin’s residents were cut off from food, coal, and other products.

•West Berlin was not completely cutoff because it had airstrips.

The Berlin Airlift

•British and American planes began making deliveries to West Berlin.

•The Berlin Airlift continued for months and months.

•Finally, the Soviet Union lifted its blockade on May 12, 1949.

       

United States Belgium Britain Canada Denmark France Iceland Italy

North Atlantic Treaty Organization (1949)       

Luxemburg Netherlands Norway Portugal 1952: Greece & Turkey 1955: West Germany 1983: Spain

Berlin Blockade & Airlift (1948-49)

The Korean War 1950-1953

The Korean War

• North Korea invaded South Korea on June 25, 1950.

• Most leaders in the United States were surprised by this attack.

• Truman decided that the United States would take a stand against Communist aggression in Korea and sent in ground troops.

Combat in the Korean War

• UN forces made an amphibious landing behind North Korean lines at the port city of Inchon.

• The September 1950 invasion at Inchon was a key victory for UN forces.

• By October 1950 all of South Korea was back in UN hands.

• UN forces had begun to move into North Korea, but the when 260,000 Chinese troops joined the North Koreans the UN began to retreat.

• UN forces retreated all the way back to Seoul. It was the longest fallback in U.S. military history.

MacArthur is Fired

• MacArthur said that the UN faced a choice between defeat by the Chinese or a major war with them. • He wanted to expand the war by bombing the Chinese mainland, perhaps even with atomic weapons.

• Lieutenant General Matthew Ridgway stopped the Chinese onslaught and pushed them back to the 38 th parallel— without needing to expand the war or use atomic weapons.

• MacArthur disagreed with President Truman about the direction of the fighting and challenged the authority of the president.

Fighting ends in Korea

• In July 1951 peace talks began.

• One major obstacle was the location of the boundary between the Koreas.

• In October 1951 peace talks stalled over prisoners of war.

• Negotiators in Panmunjom continued to argue over the details of a peace agreement throughout 1952.

• In 1952 Dwight D. Eisenhower—who promised to end the war—was elected president.

•An armistice agreement was finally reached on July 27, 1953.

•The Korean War left the map of Korea looking much as it had in 1950.

Trying to Build a Better World

–50 nations met in June 1945 to create the UN Charter.

–The Charter committed its members to respect fundamental human rights, respect treaties and agreements, and to promote the progress and freedom of all people.

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

• It declared that all human beings are born free and equal.

• It called for an end to slavery, torture, and inhumane punishment.

• It demanded a variety of civil rights, including the right to assembly and the right to access the courts.

• It stated that elementary education should be free and available to all.

The 50s Come to a Close

1959

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Nixon-Khrushchev “Kitchen Debate” Cold War -----> Tensions <----- Technology & Affluence