Music in Tennessee
• Country Music– Nashville • Home of Country Music
– Grand Ole Opry• Weekly Country Music Variety Show in Nashville• Called the show that made Country Music Famous
– WSM• Radio network the Grand Ole Opry is carried on
Music in Tennessee
• Rock and Roll
–Sun Records• Famous Rock Recording Studio –Carl Perkins–Jerry Lee Lewis–Johnny Cash–Elvis Presley
Music in Tennessee
• Elvis Presley –Born in Tupelo, MS–King of Rock n’ Roll–Home in Memphis- Graceland
Media and Entertainment
• Television –Became a national sensation of
the 1950s –Sitcoms that portray only stable
families
1955
Education
• Education–National Defense Education Act•Produce more scientists and science
teachers–Baby Boomers• First generation to focus on
education
Housing
• Suburbia–Families moving to the
outskirts of cities–Because •Affordable housing•Lower crime rates
Counter-Culture
• Counterculture–Reaction against conservative social
norms of the 1950’s•Hippies–Movement based on free love and
peace•Bikers
American Society
• Generation gap–Lack of understanding and
communication between the older and younger generations–This will cause the Counter-
Culture movement of the 1960s
Communism
• Red Scare– Americans feared Communism’s spread in America • A Communist take over
• McCarthyism – Senator Joe McCarthy’s witch hunt for
communists in America– said he had a list consisting of• Hollywood Stars• Government Officials
Medical Advancements
• Polio vaccine– Polio was an airborne illness that led to paralysis– plagued the US for 50 years – Vaccine • Jonas Salk Invented the Polio vaccine • Ended Polio in America
• 1st open heart surgery• Cortisone
Infrastructure
• Interstate System –Built by President Eisenhower–Built to allow military supplies to
be shipped from coast to coast quickly–Vital part of our economy •transport of goods
Space Race
• Space Race– Called Space Race b/c it was a competition b/t us
and the Soviets– Soviet Union launches Sputnik – We respond by announcing we will go to the
moon 1st
Our Foreign Policy towards Communist
• Brinkmanship–practice of pushing a dangerous
situation on the verge of disaster in order to achieve the best outcome for the US
Bay of Pigs
• We did not want Cuba to be Communist–To close to US
• We carried out a mission to overthrow Cuba’s leader (Castro) –Failed miserably
Results of the Bay of Pigs
• Castro not happy• Castro Aligns himself with our enemy the
Soviets b/c of the Bay of Pigs• Soviets installed Nuke missiles in Cuba
Cuban Missile Crisis-1962
• The US felt threatened – A blockade of Cuba begins
• The US began a stand off against the Soviets– Any attack would result in a full scale Nuclear war– Lasted 13 days
• US agreed: not to interfere with Cuba. • USSR agreed: to withdraw nuclear weapons– After Missile Crisis US and Soviets returned to a
state of Peaceful Coexistence