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THE 1950s:

THE 1950s:. Do the developments of the 1950s constitute a social and economic revolution? or Are the 1950s a resumption of the 1920s?. Note: 1950s = 1947-1963. Economic Prosperity. Most prosperous period in American History: “Let the Good Times Roll”

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THE 1950s:

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  1. THE 1950s: Do the developments of the 1950s constitute a social and economic revolution? or Are the 1950s a resumption of the 1920s? Note: 1950s = 1947-1963
  2. Economic Prosperity Most prosperous period in American History: “Let the Good Times Roll” GNP: $210 billion in 1946: $504 billion in 1960; $1 trillion in 1970 Personal Income: rose 250% College students: 1.5 million in 1940 to 7.4 million in 1970 (500%) Middle class doubles Home ownership: 64% 90% own a television Industrial production doubles Agricultural production triples 30 million people move The New Suburbs
  3. Causes Federal Government Legislation Servicemen’s Readjustment act (GI Bill) Cold War military spending NSC-68 Arms Race Space Race Federal Interstate Highway Act (1956) National Defense Education Act (1958) Pent-up demand and savings from WWII Radio and Television Baby Boom Cheap energy: oil Cold War Intercontinental Bomber
  4. Demographic Changes: 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
  5. Demographic Changes: Baby Boom Dr. Benjamin Spock and the Anderson Quintuplets More schools, hospitals, playgrounds, etc.
  6. Demographic Changes: Suburbanization 1949 --> William Levitt produced 150 houses per week. Levittown, L. I. 1 story high 12’x19’ living room 2 bedrooms tiled bathroom garage small backyard front lawn $7,990 or $60/month with no down payment. By 1960 --> 1/3 of the U. S. population in the suburbs.
  7. Suburbanization SHIFTS IN POPULATION DISTRIBUTION, 1940-1970 194019501960 1970 Central 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. 3:00
  8. Suburban Living:The Typical TV Suburban Families The Donna Reed Show1958-1966 Leave It to Beaver1957-1963 Father Knows Best1954-1958 The Ozzie & Harriet Show1952-1966
  9. Rise of the Sunbelt Population shift from the Northeast and Rust belt Causes: Defense and space industries located in the Sunbelt Development of air conditioning “white flight” from the cities Sunbelt
  10. Technology and Innovation Television Mainframe computers DNA helix discovered Nuclear power Jet airliners Communications Satellites Credit card: Diner’s Club Fast food outlets Disneyland Birth control pill
  11. Federal Interstate Highway Act (1956) 1956 : largest public works project in American history! Cost $32 billion: 41,000 miles of new highways built Based on the German autobahn system Designed to move the military quickly
  12. Consumerism All babies were potential consumers who spearheaded a brand-new market for food, clothing, and shelter. -- Life Magazine (May, 1958) 1950 --> Introduction of the Diner’s Card
  13. Consumerism
  14. The Culture of the Car Car registrations: 1945: 25,000,000 1960: 60,000,000 2-family cars doubles from 1951-1958 1958 Pink Cadillac 1957 Chevy Bel Air 1958 Corvette
  15. The Culture of the Car America became a more homogeneous nation because of the automobile. First McDonald’s (1955) Drive-In Movies Howard Johnson’s Disneyland (1955)
  16. Television 1946 --> 7,000 TV sets in the U. S. 1960 --> 50,000,000 TV sets in the U. S. Mass Audience --> TV celebrated traditional American values: Superman --> Truth, Justice, and the American way! Idyllic families and traditional gender roles Superman Lone Ranger I Love Lucy Bonanza
  17. Well-Defined Gender Roles The ideal modern womanmarried, 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 Mouseketeer “Annette” The 50s Housewife MarilynMonroe
  18. Well-Defined Gender Roles 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 middle-class, white suburban male is the ideal. Young Gentleman Family Man The Provider
  19. Well-Defined Gender Roles Changing Sexual Behavior: Alfred Kinsey --> 1948 --> Sexual Behavior in the Human Male1953 --> Sexual Behavior in the Human Female * premarital sex was common. * 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
  20. 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 Powerof Positive Thinking 3. Reverand Billy Graham --> ecumenical message; warned against the evils of Communism.
  21. Religious Revival Hollywood: apex of the biblical epics. The Robe The Ten Commandments Ben Hur1953 1956 1959 It’s unAmerican to be unreligious! -- The Christian Century, 1954
  22. Behavioral Rules of the 1950s Obey Authority Don’t make waves: fit-in and conform Don’t think about sex Control your emotions Cleancut look Don’t read banned books
  23. Fear, Insecurity, and Rebellion Beatniks Real Fears: Nuclear Destruction Communist aggression Economic insecurity Communist Subversion Red Scares: McCarthyism Civil Rights Movement Rebellion: Rise of the Teenager: youth culture New Sexuality Beatniks Standardization Conformity James Dean Marlon Brando 5:20
  24. Youth Culture 13 million teenagers Cars Dating Clothing Sexual Innuendo Rock n Roll: “devil’s music” or race music or a Communist plot American Bandstand Advertising Marilyn Monroe: Playboy‘s First Cover Girl
  25. Progress Through Science UFO Sightings skyrocketed in the 1950s.Hollywood used aliens as an allegory for whom ?? War of the Worlds
  26. Progress Through Science Atomic Anxieties: * “Duck-and-Cover Generation” Atomic Testing: * 1946-1962 --> U. S. exploded 217 nuclear weapons over the Pacific and in Nevada.
  27. Progress Through Science Hollywood: * Reflected the growing fear of atomic energy.
  28. Summary In your estimation, what are the enduring social and cultural themes of the 1950’s? How would you rank them? Did the tendencies toward social and cultural conformity and consensus mask latent anxieties and fears? If so, what were these fears and anxieties?
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