The Good Wife’s Guide

1. Have dinner ready. Plan ahead, even the night before, to have a delicious meal ready on time

for his return. This is a way of letting him know that you have be thinking about him and are

concerned about his needs. Most men are hungry when they get home and the prospect of a

good meal is part of the warm welcome needed.

2. Prepare yourself. Take 15 minutes to rest so you'll be refreshed when he arrives. Touch up

your make-up, put a ribbon in your hair and be fresh-looking. He has just been with a lot of

work-weary people.

3. Be a little happy and a little more interesting for him. His boring day may need a lift and one of

your duties is to provide it.

4. Clear away the clutter. Make one last trip through the main part of the house just before your

husband arrives. Run a dustcloth over the tables.

5. During the cooler months of the year you should prepare and light a fire for him to unwind by.

Your husband will feel he has reached a haven of rest and order, and it will give you a lift too.

After all, catering to his comfort will provide you with immense personal satisfaction.

6. Minimize all noise. At the time of his arrival, eliminate all noise of the washer, dryer or vacuum.

Encourage the children to be quiet.

7. Be happy to see him.

8. Greet him with a warm smile and show sincerity in your desire to please him.

9. Listen to him. You may have a dozen important things to tell him, but the moment of his arrival

is not the time. Let him talk first - remember, his topics of conversation are more important than

yours.

10.Don't greet him with complaints and problems.

11.Don't complain if he's late for dinner or even if he stays out all night. Count this as minor

compared to what he might have gone through at work.

12.Make him comfortable. Have him lean back in a comfortable chair or lie him down in the

bedroom. Have a cool or warm drink ready for him.

13.Arrange his pillow and offer to take off his shoes. Speak in a low, soothing and pleasant voice.

14.Don't ask him questions about his actions or question his judgment or integrity. Remember, he

is the master of the house and as such will always exercise his will with fairness and

truthfulness. You have no right to question him.

15.A good wife always knows her place.

The Feminine Mystiqueby Betty Friedan

(Modified)

The problem . . . was a strange stirring, a sense of dissatisfaction, a yearning that women suffered

in the middle of the twentieth century in the United States. Each suburban wife struggled with it

alone. As she made the beds, shopped for groceries, matched slipcover material, ate peanut

butter sandwiches with her children, . . . lay beside her husband at night she was afraid to ask

even of herself the silent question--"Is this all?" . . .

In the fifteen years after World War II, this mystique of feminine fulfillment became the

cherished . . . core of contemporary American culture. Millions of women lived their lives in the

image of those pretty pictures of the American suburban housewife, kissing their husbands

goodbye in front of the picture window, depositing their station wagons full of children at school,

and smiling as they ran the new electric waxer over the spotless kitchen floor. They baked their

own bread, sewed their own and their children's clothes, kept their new washing machines and

dryers running all day. . . . Their only dream was to be perfect wives and mothers; their highest

ambition to have five children and a beautiful house, their only fight to get and keep their

husbands. They had no thought for the unfeminine problems of the world outside the home; they

wanted the men to make the major decisions. . .

Source: Betty Friedan was one of the early leaders of the Women’s Rights movement that

developed in the 1960s and 1970s. She published The Feminine Mystique in 1963. In the book,

Friedan discusses how stifled and unsatisfied many suburban women were in the 1950s

The 1950’s Family

Family life changed dramatically in the years after World War II. Marriages occurred at younger ages and in greater numbers than in earlier and later generations. Women bore more children and at a faster rate. Couples stayed together to an extraordinary degree. The result was perhaps the most significant social phenomenon of the century: the baby boom, with 75 million babies born from 1946 to 1964. This accompanied what some refer to as the invention of the "traditional family," with the father as breadwinner, the mother as homemaker, and three or more children completing the household. The baby boom amid postwar prosperity stimulated migrations to "suburbia". Levittown, a community of 17,000 almost-identical homes on Long Island, N.Y., provided the model for developments that appeared across the country.

The growth of suburbia brought increased dependence on the automobile and required construction of new and better roads, including those built as part of the Interstate Highway System, the largest public-works project to date. While the population increased by 50 percent between 1950 and 1980, the number of automobiles increased by 200 percent. Shopping malls, supermarkets, fast-food restaurants such as McDonald's (1955), and discount megastores such as Wal-Mart (1962) were natural corollaries of automobile dependence, as were increased environmental pollution, the decline of central cities, and a lost chance to build a system of mass transportation.

Source: Scholastic Magazine, “Post War Life and the Baby Boom”

Levittown, NY and the beginning of Suburbia

Some economists feared that the ending of World War II would lead to economic recession. Instead, the American economy enjoyed tremendous growth in the period between 1945 and 1960. In 1945, the American Gross National Product (GNP) stood at just over $200 billion; by 1960, the GNP had grown to over $500 billion.

Consumers had accumulated significant amounts of cash during World War II, but had little to spend it on, as the production of consumer goods was not emphasized in the war era. With the war over, consumers wanted to spend. Credit cards were available to consumers for the first time; Diner's Club cards were issued for the first time in 1950. Two industries that benefited from this were the automobile industry and the housing industry.

Many American households had never owned a new automobile since the 1920s, and in the postwar era, demand for cars was at a record high. If consumers needed assistance in deciding on which automobile to buy, they could receive assistance from the advertisers who were working for the various automobile companies (advertising reached levels in the 1950s equal to the 1920s). As the 1950s wore on, consumers could buy cars with bigger and bigger fins and fancier and fancier interiors. President Eisenhower and Congress encouraged America's reliance on the automobile when they enacted legislation authorizing the massive buildup of the interstate highway system (at the expense of the construction of an effective mass transit system). The highway system was a by-product of national defense plans of the Cold War; planners thought they would be ideal for troop movements and that airplanes could easily land on the straight sections of them.

The other industry that experienced significant growth in the postwar era was the housing construction business. There was a dire shortage of available housing in the immediate postwar era; in many cities, two families living in an apartment designed for one was commonplace. Housing was rapidly built in the postwar era, and the demand was insatiable. The GI Bill of 1944 authorized low-interest mortgage loans for ex-servicemen (as well as subsidies for education).

William Levitt helped ease the housing crises when he built his initial group of dwellings in Levittown, New York. Several other Levittowns were constructed; homes were prefabricated, were built using virtual assembly line practices, and all looked remarkably the same. Nevertheless, William Levitt and developers like him began the move to the suburbs, the most significant population shift of the postwar era.

Teenage Life in the 1950’s The word Teenager was created in the 1950’s due to the tremendous population of those in this age category and because teenagers started gaining more independence and freedoms. Teenagers were able to buy more things like food, clothes and music because of an increase in spending money. Teenagers were also becoming more independent in the type of music they preferred to listen to, no more listening to what their parents liked, teens flocked to the new music of the decade, which was rock and roll.

Growing up as a teenager prior to World War II, teenagers were expected to take life seriously. Males were expected to join the military or go out and get a job in order to help bring in money for their family or to take care of their future family. Females were taught how to take care of the household and prepare themselves to be a dutiful wife and take care of children. Marriage and preparing for a family, more than education or a career, was seen as a definite in the lives of teenagers. Also, teens had very little economic freedom, independence, and input into decision making prior to WWII.

However, in the 1950’s, expectations changed for the teenager. The economy started booming and families experienced a great deal of economic power, freedom and independence, including teenagers. New medians were created like television and AM radio that attracted teenagers. Also they were able to attend high school dances, create clothing trends, dance fads, and hairstyles to name a few. Things were starting to change.

In the 1950’s, teenagers where more inclined and encouraged to attend college, find a skill, and seek a successful career. Their parents had more than likely gone through the depression and a number of wars, and now wanted something more for their children. This resulted in teenagers receiving spending money and having more time to socialize with other teenagers. Of course, this newly found independence would often result in conflict between the parents and the child.

Before the 1950’s, teenagers listened to the music of their parents, but when rock and roll came on the scene teens swarmed to it. Even though teens were able to purchase rock and roll records because they were receiving extra spending money, their parents were opposed to rock and roll music, they despised it, and thought of it as corrupting

their children. This sometimes caused friction, it seemed as if teenagers were becoming more rebellious, defensive, and at times, disrespectful, and that listening to rock and roll was the root cause of all this rebellion.

However, this belief was often exaggerated because parents didn’t understand the newfound independence and freedom that they never experienced. Yet, rock and roll was something new and parents thought it was shocking and terrible. They felt if their children were listening to this dreadful music that the end must be right around the corner.

Although, this wasn’t the case in every household it was in a large number of them. Because parents had never experienced this they thought their children were doomed never realizing it was just a phase and it would be over with once the teen reached adulthood.

Later on this clash became known as the generation gap. Nevertheless, with the help of adults, radio, rock shows, concerts, and TV shows like American Bandstand opened doors for teens in the 1950’s to experience things teenagers of the past never experienced. Despite all of the uproar, teenagers in the 1950’s have played a huge part in the rise of rock and roll music.

Rock and Roll Lyrics

Yakety-Yak by Coasters

Take out the papers and the trashOr you don't get no spendin' cashIf you don't scrub that kitchen floorYou ain't gonna rock and roll no moreYakety yak (don't talk back)

Just finish cleanin' up your roomLet's see that dust fly with that broomGet all that garbage out of sightOr you don't go out Friday nightYakety yak (don't talk back)

You just put on your coat and hatAnd walk yourself to the laundromatAnd when you finish doin' thatBring in the dog and put out the catYakety yak (don't talk back)

Don't you give me no dirty looksYour father's hip; he knows what cooksJust tell your hoodlum friend outsideYou ain't got time to take a rideYakety yak (don't talk back)

Yakety yak, yakety yakYakety yak, yakety yakYakety yak, yakety yak

"Maybellene" by Chuck Berry

Maybellene, why can't you be trueOh Maybellene , why can't you be trueYou've started back doin' the things you used to do

As I was motivatin' over the hillI saw Mabellene in a Coup de VilleA Cadillac arollin' on the open roadNothin' will outrun my V8 FordThe Cadillac doin' about ninety-fiveShe's bumper to bumper, rollin' side by sideMaybellene

The Cadillac pulled up ahead of the FordThe Ford got hot and wouldn't do no moreIt then got cloudy and started to rainI tooted my horn for a passin' laneThe rainwater blowin' all under my hoodI know that I was doin' my motor goodMaybellene

The motor cooled down the heat went downAnd that's when I heard that highway soundThe Cadillac asittin' like a ton of leadA hundred and ten half a mile aheadv The Cadillac lookin' like it's sittin' stillAnd I caught Mabellene at the top of the hillMaybellene

Maybellene, why can't you be trueOh Mabellene, why can't you be trueYou've started back doin' the things you used to do

As I was motivatin' over the hillI saw Mabellene in a Coup de VilleA Cadillac arollin' on the open roadNothin' will outrun my V8 FordThe Cadillac doin' about ninety-five.

American Consumerism in the 1950’s

At the end of World War II, American soldiers returned home to a country quite different from the one they had left four years earlier. Wartime production had helped pull America's economy out of depression, and from the late 1940s on, young adults saw a remarkable rise in their spending power. Jobs were plentiful, wages were higher, and because of the lack of consumer goods during the war, Americans were eager to spend. During the same years, young couples were marrying and having children at unprecedented rates. New and expanded federal programs, including the G.I. Bill of Rights, allowed many young families to purchase their own homes, often located in rapidly expanding suburbs.

More, Newer, Better

After World War II, consumer spending no longer meant just satisfying an indulgent material desire. In fact, the American consumer was praised as a patriotic citizen in the 1950s, contributing to the ultimate success of the American way of life. "The good purchaser devoted to 'more, newer and better' was the good citizen," historian Lizabeth Cohen explained, "since economic recovery after a decade and a half of depression and war depended on a dynamic mass consumption economy."

Pragmatic Spending

Americans invested in items based around home and family life. At war's end, the items people most desired included televisions, cars, washing machines, refrigerators, toasters, and vacuum cleaners: the machines that would help them modernize their lives. Between 1945 and 1949, Americans purchased 20 million refrigerators, 21.4 million cars, and 5.5 million stoves, a trend that continued well into the 1950s. Historian Elaine Tyler May noted, "The values associated with domestic spending upheld traditional American concerns with pragmatism and morality, rather than opulence and luxury. Purchasing for the home helped alleviate traditional American uneasiness with consumption: the fear that spending would lead to decadence."

Cars and TVs

Television and automobile sales skyrocketed in the 1950s.

Library of Congress

Americans spent their money on cars, televisions and other modern appliances

With the massive growth in suburban populations, automobiles were needed more than ever, and were within reach for many first-time buyers. Families of all income brackets were buying televisions at a rate of five million a year. Some TV shows, like The Goldbergs and The Honeymooners, catered to working- and middle-class viewers with storylines about ethnic families. In addition, television provided a potent medium for advertisers to reach inside American homes, creating desires for other products.

"The Good Life"

Historian Elaine Tyler May believes that the federal government and the American people saw the new consumerism as a way to deemphasize class differences while stressing traditional gender roles. With the things that defined "the good life" within economic reach, working-class people could achieve the upward mobility they craved.