1951  “race music”  “ROCK ‘N ROLL” Elvis Presley  “The King” Teen Culture In the 1950s  the word “teenager” entered the American language. By 1956  13 mil. teens with $7 bil. to spend a year. 1951  “race music”  “ROCK ‘N ROLL” Elvis Presley  “The King”

Rock-and-Roll Based on black rhythm and blues, became popular among teenagers in the 1950s. Many adults disliked rock-and-roll music, claiming that it encouraged immorality. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rf55gHK48VQ

*Rock-and-Roll Legends* Rock ‘n’ Roll gave teenagers a music they could call their own. Elvis, Buddy Holly, Little Richard, and Chuck Berry were among the pioneers of Rock. Biggest impact= creating a culture of individuality

Teen Culture “Juvenile Delinquency” ??? 1951  J. D. Salinger’s A Catcher in the Rye Marlon Brando in The Wild One (1953) James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause (1955)

Behavioral Rules of the 1950s: *Teen Culture* Behavioral Rules of the 1950s: Obey Authority. Control Your Emotions. Don’t Make Waves  Fit in with the Group. Don’t Even Think About Sex!!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnAyr0kWRGE

Teen Culture The “Beat” Generation: “Beatnik” “Clean” Teen Jack Kerouac  On The Road Allen Ginsberg  poem, “Howl” Neal Cassady William S. Burroughs “Beatnik” “Clean” Teen

*Beatniks* Beatniks, many of whom were artists and writers, launched a movement that stressed spontaneity and rejected money and power. They rebelled against conformity and tradition. Beatniks shocked people with their open sexuality and use of illegal drugs.

Jack Kerouac “The beat generation, which had its genesis in New York City in the mid-1940s, has been most thoroughly chronicled by Jack Kerouac, a lusty, restless, spontaneous, ‘crazy dumbsaint of the mind’. Beginning respectably enough with a non-beat first novel that took 3 years of writing and rewriting, he soon abandoned such tedium for what he calls the “bookmovie”, the visual American form” that was first employed in On the Road, a novel that he typed in three weeks on rolls of pasted-together art paper. This novel, and those that followed, have utilized the experiences of Kerouac and his friends.” Barbara Harte and Carolyn Riley, 1969

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 Power of Positive Thinking 3. Reverend Billy Graham  ecumenical message; warned against the evils of Communism.

Religious Revival Hollywood: apex of the biblical epics. The Robe The Ten Commandments Ben Hur 1953 1956 1959 It’s un-American to be un-religious! -- The Christian Century, 1954

“*In God We Trust” Add this to notes In 1864 this motto appeared for the first time on the U.S 2-cent coin *In 1955, in order to differentiate from communism and its promotion of Atheism, President Dwight D. Eisenhower ordered this motto to appear on all currency

Progress Through Science 1951 -- First IBM Mainframe Computer 1952 -- Hydrogen Bomb test 1953 -- DNA Structure discovered 1954 -- Salk Vaccine tested for Polio 1957 -- First Commercial U. S. Nuclear Power Plant 1958 -- NASA Created 1959 -- Press Conference of the First 7 American Astronauts

*Technology Transforms Life* Military research during WWII made computers much more powerful than before. The invention of the transistor made computers and radios much smaller and faster.

*Technology Transforms Life* Advances in Medicine — Dr. Jonas Salk developed a vaccine against polio.

*Progress Through Science* 1957  Russians launch SPUTNIK I 1958  National Defense Education Act

Education as Defense To meet the scientific and technical challenge from the Soviet Union, the National Defense Education Act was passed in 1958. This act provided low-cost loans to college students, incentives for teaching math and science, and money for building science and foreign language facilities in schools.

*Meeting the Technology Challenge *In response to fears that Soviet technology was superior, the U.S. formed the National Aeronautics and Space Administration in 1958. NASA was dedicated to space exploration.

Progress Through Science UFO Sightings skyrocketed in the 1950s. War of the Worlds Hollywood used aliens as a metaphor for whom ??

Progress Through Science & Technology Atomic Anxieties: “Duck-and-Cover Generation” Atomic Testing: 1946-1962  U. S. exploded 217 nuclear weapons over the Pacific and in Nevada.

*What did Americans worry about in the 1950s?* Year Challenge 1953 Korean War 1954 Threat of War 1955 Working out peace 1956 1957 Keeping out of war 1958 Economic conditions 1959 Keeping peace

The 50s Come to a Close 1959  Nixon-Khrushchev “Kitchen Debate” Cold War -----> Tensions <----- Technology & Affluence

1. Name two music artists who were early pioneers in Rock ‘n’ Roll. Review 1. Name two music artists who were early pioneers in Rock ‘n’ Roll. 2. What were the traditional behavior rules of the 1950s? 3. Who were the Beatniks, and what did they represent? 4. What new medium did the ministers of the 1950s use to reach their audiences? 5. Name 3 scientific advances made during the 1950s. 6. What happened at the “Kitchen Debate”?