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1950’s America
An Affluent SocietyConsolidation & Conflict
Changing Economy
• Last industrial age decade
• Fewer farmers
Postwar Baby Boom & ConsumerismAdded 50 million babies by end of 1950s
(*1957) toys & baby products, schools, clothes –
“youth culture”Increased power & influence of middle class
People of Plenty Increase in consumer credit Prosperity was consumer not investment
driven
Consumer Freedom
• Luxuries become necessities• Freedom now measured by ability to
purchase• Personal life freedom replaces
workplace freedom• Cold War weapon
Suburban LifeEasy access loans, tax deductions & new
highways all incentives for movingBy 1960 - 25% suburban living Levittown & tract developments White flight by homeowners & businessesBirth of “the mall”Perceived homogeneity but diverse
Ethnically, socioeconomically, occupationally lower-middle class & affluent suburbs
Supported emphasis on family lifeAssumption/expectation: women only
worked if they had to Domestic freedoms for womenDr. Benjamin Spock – Baby and Child Care Conflicted with consumer reality of
increasingly needing 2nd income Creates conditions for women’s rights
movement of 1960s
Television Revolution in electronics inspired by
transistorSponsorship key to content decision makingadded to sense of conformity Conflicting images (Honeymooners, Amos N
Andy, I Love Lucy) portrayed as nonthreatening
Excludes real social issues & controversies
Car CultureNecessity of suburban lifestyle & status
symbol Drive-ins, drive-thrusMotel industry Fast food + drive-in + franchise =
McDonald’sMcDonaldization of America begins
Segregated Landscape/divided society
“Consensus”
Free Enterprise & Capitalism
Libertarian & New Conservatives
Dwight D. EisenhowerSeen as political outsider – very little experienceClaim to fame: military career – made Amers. feel safe b/c he was in chargeDomestic policies conservative & major changes were “brought” upon himForeign policies extension of opposition to communism“In those things which deal with people, be liberal, be human…but in those things which deal with people’s money or their economy, or in their form of government, be conservative”
Eisenhower Republicanism1st Repub. president in more than 20 yearsCabinet filled w/businessmen & admin
focused on business needs again (saw them differently now)
Supported tempered New Deal ideals Upset farmers in cuts to supports
Believed private not federal investments in development
Strove for balanced budget
“Should any political party attempt to abolish Social Security, unemployment insurance and eliminate labor and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history.”
Reversed bracero program – Operation Wetback – more than 1 million Mexicans sent home by 1954
Federal Highway Act of 1956 – bigger than any New Deal public works project - $27 billion, 42,000 milesrr not happy – especially passenger business
trainsCities feel sting of drawn off shoppers for
downtown areasAir quality & energy consumption issues
McCarthyism ContinuesWith Repub. victory, accusations grew
bolderPolls showed majority of Amers approved
crusadeEisenhower avoided conflict w/him “I will
not get in the gutter with that guy” – controlled personnel policy @ St. Dept – banned books
Army-McCarthy hearings Senate formally condemns – “conduct
unbecoming a member”
McCarthyism’s legacyHurt foreign service – International
reputation hurt When demanded
exec. files Eisenhower successfully denied turning them over so strengthened “executive privilege”
Eisenhower’s Second TermElection of 1956: Eisenhower & Stevenson again
Republican win for White House but neither house in Congress
Criticized for more recreation activities than governing
Slow to move on labor problems (7.5% unemp)Consolidation of industry and farming to few
large corporationsSerious corruption in unions
Gangsterism,strong-arming, fraud –Teamsters/HoffaLandrum-Griffin Act (1959)
Science & Technology
Medical – widespread penicillin use – TB, influenza & polio vaccinations
Decline in infant & young child mortality ratesLife expectancy increases to 71
Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane – WW2 godsend becomes household product
ComputersComputers become smaller & more
practical business toolsUNIVAC – involved in census data & predicting
pres. election (fantastic publicity) Computer tech. related to space techFocus on teaching math & science Role of German scientists ICBMs
Space ProgramSputnik (1957)NASA (1958)Gagarin 1st - Shepard 1st American (Mercury
Program)
Foreign Policy John Foster Dulles –
Sect. of St – believed containment was weak
Promised policy of “boldness” Focus on air fleet of nuclear
superbombers – cut budget but increase warheads
Strategic Air Command (SAC)“Massive retaliation” if communists over step“Brinkmanship” – art of bringing us to brink of
war as policy of winning w/out engagingCreated alliances w/non-comms (SEATO, CENTO)
Hot Spots - EuropeNikita Khrushchev –”secret speech” (1956)Hungarian Revolt (1956)Conflict over “Open skies” –mutual inspection“Berlin Crisis” (1958)“Kitchen Debate” w/Nixon (1959)Plans for Camp David meetingParis Summit fiasco
U2 spy plane (1960) Francis Gary Powers
Third World
Hot Spots – Middle East Israel relationship Iran (1953) - Mohammed Mossadegh – Reza
PahleviEgypt (1956) – Gamal Abdel Nasser (OPEC
1960)Eisenhower Doctrine (1957)Lebanon (1958) – Christians & Muslims
Hot Spots – Latin AmericaNo more Good Neighbor PolicyGuatemala (1954) – United Fruit
Company/Jacobo Arbenz Guzman Cuba (1959) Fulgencio Batista – Fidel
Castro
Hot Spots – Far EastKorean armistice (1953)Vietnam-
Nationalism v colonialismDien Bien Phu Geneva Accords
Ho Chi Minh/Vietminh & Ngo Dinh Diem
CIA – Allen Dulles – very active extension of foreign policy – The Good Shepherd
Threats not always clearly “communist” in nature – sometimes nationalism was the danger
“Both sides increasingly saw local conflicts in global terms, political conflicts in moral terms, and relative differences as absolute differences”
Not everyone was happySerious concerns over conformity &
materialismThe Lonely CrowdThe Man in the Grey Flannel SuitThe Catcher in the Rye
About 20% of nation in constant state of poverty
Rural population shrinking & many of those in agriculture economically vulnerable
Concern over urban decay
Rock &Roll
Grew out of rhythm & bluesSuggestive lyrics created even more controversy“American Bandstand” help spread moves & sounds- Dick Clark
Elvis Little RichardBuddy Holly Bill Haley
Youth CultureBeatniks – highly critical of mainstream
society’s promise of fulfillment Jack Kerouac – On the RoadAllen Ginsberg - Howl
To greater extent - solidified angst-ridden teenager
Law breaking, living fast, sexuallydriven, anti-authority
Desegregating America In 1950: 15 million black Americans (more
than 2/3 still living in South) Jim Crow laws dictate lifeOnly 20% of eligible citizens registered -fewer
than 5% in Deep South(MS & AL)Emmitt Till (1955) Robeson & Baker performing in Europe & LA publicized ugliness of segregated AmericaInternational pressure for US to live up to reputation
Rosa Parks (1955) – Montgomery bus boycott
Segregation & The Court
Vinson Court (‘46-’53) – working w/inconstraints of “Plessy”
Sweatt v Painter- black professionalschools were not equal so integrate
Warren Court (‘53-’69) – new leadership in civil rights
Brown v BOE of Topeka, Kansas- (1954) – public school segregation is “inherently unequal” – “with all deliberate speed”
Little RockEisenhower unwilling to publically support
Brown decisionOrval Faubus – Sept ‘57 - Ark. governor –
used Nat’l Guard to block 9 black students from Little Rock’s Central HS
Eisenhower couldn’t allow disregard of federal authority – 101st Airborne sent inThe “Lost Year”
Civil Rights Act of 1957 – permanent Civil Rights Commission investigating violations & allowed for federal injunctions to protect voting rights
Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) -1957- Martin Luther King, Jr (involve black churches - best organized institutions allowed to flourish under segregation)
Lunch counter sit-ins – (1960)Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee
(SNCC) Young movement – frustrated by “stately tactics” of
SCLC & “deliberate legalisms” of NAACPCivil Rights Act of 1960 – federal supervision
to guarantee no being denied right to register or vote
Brown ruling being expanded to other public facilities but de facto segregationstill in place
End of the EraElection of 1960 – Nixon/Henry Cabot Lodge
(Repub) & Kennedy/Lyndon Johnson (Dem)Amer. influence abroad waning & econ
strugglingDems represented a “New Frontier”
highlighted by new innovation – tv debateJFK’s win – closest since 1888Not a mandate!
Eisenhower’s farewell speech warns against “military industrial complex”
Legacy: solidified New Deal hold as a realityDid little to address social problems of
civil rights, urban struggles, poverty, energy
Foreign policy: empowered CIA, wavering of US role in world policy