1950s Society and Education

1. 1950s Society and Education Chapter 3 Alternative Views Bonnie Pazin ILEAD 5 October 12, 2006

2. Overview • Managing Fear and Panic • Government Role • Protestors and women’s activist movement • Psychological aspects and effects on society and children in general

3. Moral Panic • The atomic bomb and Sputnik both created moral panics that bisected US history (Ungar, 1990) • Moral panic was a threat to both national security and the American way of life • Panic was seen as its own fearful phenomenon • People might choose to ignore the threat and be too lackadaisical about it • People may cause mass problems like rioting

4. FCDA warns of Panic • Val Peterson, chief of the Federal Civil Defense Administration (FCDA) issued a warning to Americans in 1953 that the greatest danger after a nuclear attach would be not the effects of the bomb but the reactions of the bombed: panic. • Peterson said that women were more prone to panic; less practice than men in conquering fear • Panic would cause great and needless bloodshed; recommended “panic stoppers” which were civil defense preparations • drills at home • first-aid kits • personal fallout shelters • scorning gossip • By preparing for disaster, one can avert it (Zarlengo, 1999)

5. Suppressing anxiety • The government and its agencies like the FCDA gave information to public, but really shielded true effects of nuclear bombs, survivability, birth defects, environment, etc. • They claimed you could survive an atomic blast in a fallout shelter, but perhaps the air quality within the shelter was not enough for you to survive • Agriculture and Farming would be affected for years to come • Children would be born with physical and mental defects for years to come

6. Government spin… • When criticism arose from public, they shifted course only when pressure became intense, and more often devised ways to shift attention from nuclear fears (Winkler, 1993) • Used PR to manipulate national response, like when Eisenhower launched a campaign to discredit the end-of-the-world scenario in On the Beach

7. Nuclear TestingScientists Speak Out • Scientists in the 50s were quick to highlight the growing dangers of radiation • AH Sturtevant, prominent geneticist at California Institute of Tech – radiation harmed both exposed individual and descendents. • Linus Pauling (chemist), winner of Nobel Prize, estimated that 10,000 persons dying or dead of leukemia caused by nuclear tests, predicted birth of 200,000 physically or mentally defective children • Physicist Ralph Lapp declared radiation from fallout was terror of the unknown; compared it to Bubonic Plague Linus Pauling

8. Nuclear TestingGoverment spins more… • Even though the American testing program suggested the harm of present and future generations, created unacceptable human risk • Eisenhower administration – argued that fallout was harmless • Any possible danger was offset by knowledge gained by the tests • Promoted and reassured Americans that detonations were safe while at the same time persuaded that nothing was to fear from taking reasonable risks

9. Critics and Activists abound… • SANE (Committee for a Sane Nuclear Policy) • Norman Cousins (Saturday Review editor) • Clarence Pickett (secretary emeritus of the American Friends Service Committee) • Attracted pacificists and non pacifists both “to bring the voice of sanity to the people” • Published many anti-testing advertisements including one with prominent pediatrician Benjamin Spock – “as the tests multiply so will the danger to children here and around the world”

10. Women rise up… • A subset of women from SANE grew restless at the male-led organization’s stress on political lobbying rather than direct action • Met in homes to focus on mothers’ issues like radioactive contamination of milk • Called for women all of the US to suspend normal activities for a day and strike for peace • Nov 1, 1961 – estimated 50,000 women marched and mobilized in 60 communities around the country • Slogans included • “Let the Children Grow” • “End the Arms Race – Not the Human Race”

11. Defense Spending • DOD spends $19 billion in 1951 alone • Eisenhower tried to reduce the amount spent to reduce deficit; still a great deal of $ spent on building up arms • Felt it more important to bulk up military than to prepare citizens as civil defense budgets still responsibility of state / local goverments

12. Civil DefenseImportant but not enough for $$ • Civil Defense seen as necessary for future wars; becomes American “way of life” • FCDA created by Truman – huge role in Civil Defense • Truman req $1.5 billion for civil defense; Congress appropriated only $153 million • Eisenhower requests $564 million, Congress only authorized $296 million between 1954-58 • FCDA felt this was a “shoestring budget” and could barely meet all costs associated with stockpiling, educational materials, salaries, administrative costs (McEnaney, 2000)

13. Educators take advantage post-Sputnik • Seemed willing to participate in the patriotic effort to educate in the name of civil defense • Some saw it as an opportunity; used it as a key factor in the push for federal aid • Eisenhower did not want federal government involved in education; thought it was a local/state issue – but ended up as a massive aid to education after moral panic of Sputnik (Ungar, 1990)

14. Eisenhower’s views • Esienhower believed that the responsibility of home protection should lie with the state and local governments (a traditional Republican view) • He failed to stress the importance of civil defense to national security, so Congress never appropriated amount of money that FCDA needed • His reluctance gave high priority to women’s involvement which appealed to their patriotic duty and encouraged them to leave their homes to protect the nation

15. Women’s Role • Women were encouraged to participate and to lead the cause for civil defense – encouraged to imagine themselves as “warriors in training” (Zarlengo, 1999) • Government wanted participation without shifting gender roles of men & women • Women began to take on new role with dignity and felt they were contributing to national security • Some women were block wardens, who coordinated and trained over 500 people at a time • Prominent women began to emerge in the name of civil defense – ex. Katherine Graham Howard • In reality, gave women the opportunity to promote activism that would continue to grow over the decades

16. Women protest • “Operation Alert” • FCDA instituted this civil defense training exercise • Some women saw it as a chance to “practice” • One group of women in NY surprisingly launched public protests against it arguing “peace is only defense against nuclear war” • This began a series of protests; thus propelling women’s activism in the 50s • Perhaps can be described as the beginning of the advancement of women’s rights in America

17. The children… • What were the lasting effects on children? • Effects of drills, ID tags • Fear of devastation • Nuclear testing – fallout, radiation, birth defects, etc. • Teachers tried to balance fear and confidence and educate emotions • An anxious child may lead to a neurotic adult • Civil defense education was seen as a way of reassuring children, that adults had prepared for their safety (Brown, 1988)

18. References • Women Defend the Nation – article retrieved on October 10, 2006 from http://www.coldwar.org/articles/50s/women_civildefense.html • Brown, JoAnne. “A is for Atom, B is for Bomb”: Civil Defense In American Public Education, 1948-1963. The Journal of American History, 75, No. 1 (June 1988), pp. 68-90. Retrieved September 15, 2006 from http://www.jstor.org/cgi-bin/jstor/printpage/00218723/di952432/95p0006c/0.pdf? backcontext=page&dowhat=Acrobat&config=jstor&userID=c07c22c5@unt.edu/01cce4403700501c76dd1&0.pdf • Gutek, G. (2000). American Education 1945-2000: A history and commentary. Long Grove, IL: Waveland Press Inc. • McEnaney, Laura. (2000) Civil Defense Begins at Home: Militarization Meets Everyday Life in the Fifties. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ. • Ungar, Sheldon, Moral Panics, The Military-Industrial Complex, and the Arms Race, Sociological Quarterly, 31.2 (1990:Summer). Retrieved from Proquest. • Winkler, Allan M. The “Atom” and American Life. The History Teacher, Vol. 26, No. 3. (May 1993), pp. 317-337. Retrieved September 23, 2006 from www.jstor.org • Zarlengo, Kristina. Civilian Threat, the Suburban Citadel, and Atomic Age American Women. Signs, Vol 24, No.4, Institutions, Regulation, and Social Control. (Summer, 1999), pp. 925-958. Retrieved September 28, 2006 from www.jstor.org • Women’s Advisory Council for Civil Defense – General Session, June 29, 1961. Retrieved on September 26, 2006 from http://www.publicshelter.com/browser/woman.html • http://www.conelrad.com/index.php “All things Atomic” • Images retrieved from conelrad.com or from google images