APUSH – Unit 8, Lecture 4(covers Chapter 30)

Ms. Kraysome slides taken from Susan Pojer

APUSH – Unit 8, Lecture 4(covers Chapter 30)

Ms. Kraysome slides taken from Susan Pojer

THE 1950s:

THE 1950s:

“Anxiety, Alienation, and Social Unrest” ??

“Conservatism, Complacency, and

Contentment”OROR

Characteristics of the 50s

Characteristics of the 50s

1950s Prosperity

1950s Prosperity

• Economy enjoyed steady growth rate and minimal inflation

• Highest standard of living in the world!

The Baby Boom

The Baby Boom“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

The Baby Boom Cont.The Baby

Boom Cont.

Dr. Benjamin Spock

and the Anderson Quintuplets

Sign of the basic confidence of the power war era 50 million babies born between 1945-1960

Had a profound and lasting affect on the nation’s social institutions and economic life in the last half of the 20th C.

Suburban Growth

Suburban Growth

$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.

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.

Cities were left “black, brown, and broke!”

Suburban Living

Suburban Living

Suburban Living:

The Typical TV Suburban Families

Suburban Living:

The Typical TV Suburban Families

The Donna Reed Show1958-1966

Leave It to Beaver1957-1963

Father Knows Best

1954-1958

The Ozzie & Harriet Show

1952-1966

Rise of Consumerism

Rise of Consumerism1950 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)

ConsumerismConsumerism

• Aggressive advertising by name brands along with the introduction of suburban shopping malls & credit cards promoted this consumerism

ConsumerismConsumerism

• McDonald’s – one measure of how successful the new marketing techniques and standardized products were!

• See a shift away from “mom & pop” stores to franchise operations

Automation:

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

By 1956 more white-collar than blue-collar jobs in the U. S.

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

Corporate Consolidation:

By 1960 600 corporations (1/2% of all U. S. companies) accounted for 53% of total corporate income.

WHY?? Cold War military buildup.

A Changing Workplace

A Changing Workplace

New Corporate Culture: “The Company Man”

1956 Sloan Wilson’s The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit

A Changing Workplace:

The Importance of Conformity

A Changing Workplace:

The Importance of Conformity

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

2-family cars doubles from 1951-1958

1956 Interstate Highway Act largest public works project in American history!

Å Cost $32 billion.

Å 41,000 miles of new highways built.

1959 Chevy Corvette

1958 Pink Cadillac

The Culture of the Car

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

The Culture of the Car

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

NE & Mid-W S & SW (“Sunbelt” states)

1955 Disneyland opened in Southern California. (40% of the guests came from outside California, most by car.)

Frontier Land

Main Street Tomorrow Land

The Culture of the Car

The Culture of the Car

• Warmer climate, lower taxes, and economic opportunities attracted many GI’s and their families

• Military spending during the Cold War also helped finance the shift of industry, people, & ultimately political power to this region.

Rise of the Sunbelt

Rise of the Sunbelt

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

Mass Audience TV celebrated traditionalAmerican values.

“Television is a vast wasteland.” --Newton Minnow, Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, 1961

Truth, Justice, and the American way!

The Age of Television

The Age of Television

Davy CrockettKing of the Wild

Frontier

The Lone Ranger(and his faithfulsidekick, Tonto): Who is that masked man??

Sheriff Matt Dillon,

Gunsmoke

TV WesternsTV Westerns

I Love Lucy

The Honeymooners

Glossy view of mostly middle-class suburban life.

But...

Social Winners?... AND… Losers?

Television – Family Shows

Television – Family Shows

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

By 1956 13 mil. teens with $7 bil. to spend a year.1951 “race music” “ROCK ‘N ROLL”

Elvis Presley “The King”

Teen CultureTeen Culture

Behavioral Rules of the 1950s:U Obey Authority.

U Control Your Emotions.

U Don’t Make Waves Fit in

with the Group.

U Don’t Even Think About Sex!!!

Teen CultureTeen Culture

Teen CultureTeen Culture“Juvenile

Delinquency” ???

Marlon Brando in

The Wild One (1953)

James Dean inRebel Without a

Cause (1955)

1951 J. D. Salinger’s A Catcher in the Rye

The “Beat” Generation:

f aka “The Beatniks”

f Jack Kerouac On The Road

f Allen Ginsberg poem, “Howl”

f Neal Cassady

f William S. Burroughs

“Beatnik”

“Clean” Teen

Social Criticism

Social Criticism

Religious Revival

Religious Revival Today in the U. S., the Christian faith is

back in the center of things. -- Time magazine, 1954

Church membership: 1940 64,000,000 1960 114,000,000

Television Preachers:

1. Catholic Bishop Fulton J. Sheen “Life is Worth Living”

2. Methodist Minister Norman Vincent Peale The Power of Positive Thinking

3. Reverend Billy Graham ecumenical message; warned against the evils of Communism.

Religious RevivalReligious RevivalHollywood: apex of the biblical

epics.

It’s un-American to be un-religious! -- The Christian Century, 1954

The Robe The Ten Commandments Ben Hur 1953 1956 1959

Well-Defined Gender RolesWell-Defined Gender RolesThe 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, 1955

1956 William H. Whyte, Jr. The Organization Man

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

Well-Defined Gender Roles

Well-Defined Gender RolesChanging Sexual Behavior:

Alfred Kinsey: 1948 Sexual Behavior in the Human Male 1953 Sexual Behavior in the Human Female

v 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

• Wins Election of 1952– Chose Richard Nixon

as his VP

• Americans wanted relief from Korean War and an end to “the mess in Washington”

Eisenhower Takes Command

Eisenhower Takes Command

• Eisenhower adopted a leadership style that emphasized the delegation of authority

• Fiscal conservative but a moderate on domestic issues– Top priority: balancing the budget– Accepted most New Deal programs and

extended some (Social Security, minimum wage, public housing)

– But opposed federal health care insurance & federal aid to education

• 1953 – Created Dept. of Health, Education and Welfare

Ike’s Modern RepublicanismIke’s Modern

Republicanism

Eisenhower and the Cold War

Eisenhower and the Cold War

• Developed by Sec. of State John Foster Dulles– Felt Truman’s containment

policy was too passive– Advocated a foreign policy

that took the initiative in challenging the Soviets• Ex: liberating “captive nations;” encouraging

Tawain to assert itself

• Placed greater reliance on nuclear weapons and air power than conventional forces– Massive retaliation

BrinkmanshipBrinkmanship

Decolonization was an important phenomenon in the post-war era– Dozens of colonies in Africa & Asia gained independence– Often lacked stable political & economic institutions & needed

foreign aid

Became pawns in the Cold War

Unrest in the 3rd World

Unrest in the 3rd World

• Part of Eisenhower’s new look in conducting U.S. foreign policy– Seemed less objectionable than employing U.S. troops

and less expensive

• 1953 Iran– CIA helped overthrow popular PM Mohammed

Mossadeq who had tried to nationalize foreign oil companies

– Reinstated corrupt but pro-U.S. Shah Reza Pahlavi

• 1954 Guatemala– CIA overthrew a leftist government that threatened

American business interests

• This tendency produced growing anti-American feeling– 1958 – VP Nixon’s motorcade attacked by angry

crowds in Venezuela

Cover Actions of the CIA

Cover Actions of the CIA

• 1953 Korean War ends– Eisenhower signed armistice

• 1954 Fall of Indochina– French tried to reclaim colonial possessions in

Asia after WWII– Vietnamese wanted independence– French defeated at Dien Bien Phu

• 1954-55 Geneva Conference– Leader of Vietnamese resistance, Ho

Chi Minh, was a Communist– Vietnam divided at 17th parallel

• 1954 SEATO formed

The Cold War in Asia

“The Domino Theory”

The Cold War in Asia

“The Domino Theory”

• U.S. had the difficulty of

trying to maintain

friendly ties with the oil-

rich Arab states while at the same

time supporting

the new state of Israel

The Problem of Israel

The Problem of Israel

• Gen. Gamal Nasser of Egypt seized and nationalized the British and French owned Suez Canal

• Britain, France, and Israel launch surprise attack of Egypt and retook canal (U.S. not informed in advance)

The Suez Crisis, 1956

The Suez Crisis, 1956

• Eisenhower sponsored U.N. resolution condemning the invasion– Under pressure from the U.S. and world opinion

they withdrew– Ended Britain’s & France’s roles a major power

in world affairs– U.S. replaced Br. & Fr. As leading Western

influence in Middle East

• 1957 Eisenhower Doctrine– Growing Soviet influence in Egypt & Syria– Pledged economic and military aid to any

Middle Eastern country threatened by communism

• 1958 U.S. troops sent to Lebanon to prevent Civil War

The Suez Crisis Cont.

The Suez Crisis Cont.

Creation of OPEC, 1960Creation of OPEC, 1960

• Fluctuated between periods of relative calm to periods of extreme tension

• 1953 Stalin dies– 1953-55, Nikolai Bulganin Soviet Premier

• 1955 Geneva Summit– Eisenhower & Bulganin discuss “open skies” but

Soviets reject policy– “spirit of Geneva” – Cold War thaw

• 1956 Nikita Khrushchev becomes Soviet Premier– Process of De-Stalinization begins

• 1956 Hungarian Revolt– Khrushchev sent in Soviet tanks– U.S. took no action (where’s the Eisenhower

Doctrine?)– Ends the Cold War thaw

U.S. - Soviet Relations

U.S. - Soviet Relations

Russia Wins the Race to Space

Russia Wins the Race to Space

1957 Russians launch SPUTNIK I

1958 National Defense Education Act

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

America’s Solution:

Progress Through Science

America’s Solution:

Progress Through Science

Progress Through Science

Progress Through ScienceUFO Sightings skyrocketed in the

1950s.

War of the Worlds

Hollywood used aliens as a metaphor

for whom ??

Progress Through Science

Progress Through ScienceAtomic Anxieties:

à “Duck-and-Cover Generation”

Atomic Testing:

à 1946-1962 U. S. exploded 217 nuclear weapons over the Pacific and in Nevada.

• 1958 Soviets had new confidence & pride based on Sputnik – gave the West 6 mos.

to pull troops out of W. Berlin

• 1959 Camp David Meeting– Eisenhower &

Khrushchev met– “spirit of Camp David”– Scheduled another

summit in Paris for 1960

2nd Berlin Crisis2nd Berlin Crisis

“I will bury capitalism”

– Nikita Khrushchev

Col. Francis Gary Powers’ plane was shot down over Soviet airspace.

Showed a secret U.S. tactic for gaining information

Paris Summit called off

U-2 Spy IncidentU-2 Spy Incident

Cuba Turns Communist, 1959

Cuba Turns Communist, 1959

Eisenhower’s Legacy

Eisenhower’s Legacy

“…guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence…by the military-

industrial complex.”

Civil Rights Issues During

the 1950s

Civil Rights Issues During

the 1950s

Origins of the Civil Rights Movement

Origins of the Civil Rights Movement• New Deal and AAA

– Pushed blacks off rural farms

– Part of New Deal Coalition

• World War II– Double V, Four Freedoms– War industries jobs

increased urbanization• 50s Prosperity

– The Other America by Michael Harrington

• Cold War rhetoric

1959 Nixon-Khrushchev “Kitchen Debate”

Cold War -----> Tensions

<----- Technology

& Affluence

The Cold War PR War

The Cold War PR War

• Brown v. Board of Education (1954)– separate is unequal– use of courts and role

of NAACP– Southern resistance

• Little Rock Nine (1957)– Central High– Gov. Orval Faubus

sends in the National Guard to prevent integration

– Eisenhower sent in federal troops to enforce the law

The Movement Begins

The Movement Begins

• Starts with the arrest of Rosa Parks

• The importance of black churches

• 1956 Supreme Court ruled that segregation laws were unconstitutional

The Emergence of MLK: The Montgomery Bus

Boycott, 1955

The Emergence of MLK: The Montgomery Bus

Boycott, 1955

The postwar era witnessed tremendous economic growth and rising social contentment and conformity. Yet in the midst of such increasing affluence and comfortable domesticity, social critics expressed a growing sense of unease with American culture in the 1950s.

Assess the validity of the above statement and explain how the decade of the 1950s laid the groundwork for the social and political turbulence of the 1960s.

Class Discussion Topic:

Class Discussion Topic: