America in the 1950s Society & Culture. Warm Up Which US president pulled-off the biggest upset in...
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Transcript of America in the 1950s Society & Culture. Warm Up Which US president pulled-off the biggest upset in...
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?