“Conservatism, Complacency, and Contentment” “Anxiety, Alienation, and Do Now! What was the impact of postwar economic, demographic, and technological changes on American culture [Defend your response with examples] (1994) “Conservatism, Complacency, and Contentment” “Anxiety, Alienation, and Social Unrest” ?? OR

AN AFFLUENT SOCIETY The 1950s Mr. Winchell APUSH Period 8 Cast of classic 1950s television show The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet

Economic Boom: 1950-1970 America’s Golden Age Income shot up 6% of world’s population and 40% of world’s wealth 40 million new jobs in the 1950’s Shift from blue collar to white collar jobs Middle Class expanded Cars TV’s: 90% had a TV by the end of the decade Women entered the work force Service industry Cheap oil fed the boom Europeans controlled the oil of the Middle East 90% of American children are in school Farm productivity skyrockets Only 2% of the nation are farmers Permanent War Economy Aerospace, plastics, and electronics High tech innovations result from military spending Passenger jets & Computers

AN AFFLUENT SOCIETY Post-WWII Recession (1946) Some economic conditions affecting the U.S. Economy Reduced spending by the U.S. federal government High inflation [prices of goods and services rose] pent-up demand, available savings & income was limited to non-existent elimination of government rationing & price controls Labor unrest [low wages, poor working conditions] triggered desire by many workers to create labor unions.

AN AFFLUENT SOCIETY: Economic Prosperity General economic expansion occurred from 1945-1972 GNP grew 250% between 1945 and 1960: From $200B to over $500B Low Unemployment - 5% or less throughout the 1950s Low inflation – during Eisenhower admin, averaged 1.5% per year Rapid Growth of Incomes – more than tripled 1945-1960 Average family in 1955 had double the income of comparable family during 1920s [this was a good thing!] Highest standard of living in world was in the U.S. The U.S. possessed the Dominant economy in the world Unemployment: Martin 5e Inflation - Nash, The American People: Creating a Nation (6th ed); http://wps.ablongman.com/long_nash_ap_6/0,7361,592970-,00.html Inflation, 1940-1980 Unemployment, 1950-1970

AN AFFLUENT SOCIETY: Economic Prosperity Reasons for Prosperity: Pent-up [stored] savings Lack of foreign competition Government spending military (Korean War, Cold War) G.I. Bill Expansion of suburbs – grew 47% during decade stimulated demand for cars and homes

AN AFFLUENT SOCIETY: Economic Prosperity G.I. Bill of Rights (Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944) Education job training college Loans for homes and businesses J. Jones, P. Wood, et al, CREATED EQUAL: A Social and Political History of the US, http://wps.ablongman.com/long_jones_ce_1/0,7283,494555-,00.html G.I. Bill & College Enrollment

AN AFFLUENT SOCIETY: Economic Prosperity Regional Growth: The Sunbelt Warmer climate, lower taxes, lower labor costs Military spending Population Change, 1950-1960 Kennedy, American Pageant 13e [History Companion CD]

Metropolitan Growth, 1950-1980 Henretta, America’s History 4e from http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/mapcentral Henretta, America’s History 4e

CHANGES IN SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY & MEDICINE 1951 -- First IBM (commercial) Mainframe Computer 1952 -- Hydrogen Bomb Test 1953 -- DNA Structure Discovered 1954 -- Polio Vaccine Tested – Jonas Salk 1957 -- First Commercial U. S. Nuclear Power Plant 1958 -- NASA Created ENIAC, first mainframe computer, 1945 Text – Pojer ENIAC - Tindall & Shi, America: A Narrative History (6th ed); http://wwnorton.com/america6/resources/ Automation: 1947-1957 - factory workers decreased by 4.3%, eliminating 1.5 million blue-collar jobs.

CONSENSUS & CONFORMITY SUBURBIA AND MIDDLE-CLASS AMERICA IN THE 1950s

CONSENSUS AND CONFORMITY: Politics Election of 1952: Dwight D. Eisenhower vs. Adlai Stevenson Ike won: 34 million to 27 million popular votes; 442 to 89 electoral votes. “Modern Republicanism” Fiscal Conservative: sound business principles, Reduce federal spending, balance budget and cut taxes Social Moderate: maintain existing social and economic legislation Tried to avoid partisan conflicts Federal Highway Act (1956) President Eisenhower (Courtesy Dwight D. Eisenhower Library) Interstate - http://www.wadsworth.com/history_d/templates/student_resources/0534593550_carroll/maps/carrollmaps.html Ike with VP Nixon on the Links.

AN AFFLUENT SOCIETY: Society baby boom population grew 20% 1950s (150M  180M) Birthrate - Divine America Past and Present Birthrate 1900-1980- Faragher, Out of Many, 3rd Ed.; http://wps.prenhall.com/hss_faragher_outofmany_ap/ School Enrollment - Pojer U.S. Birth Rate, 1900–1980 Birthrate, 1940-1970

The Baby Boom in Historical Context J. Jones, P. Wood, et al, CREATED EQUAL: A Social and Political History of the US, http://wps.ablongman.com/long_jones_ce_1/0,7283,494555-,00.html

AN AFFLUENT SOCIETY: Growth of Suburbs SHIFTS IN POPULATION DISTRIBUTION, 1940-1970 1940 1950 1960 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. Pojer (table); Graph - Nash, The American People 6e; http://wps.ablongman.com/long_nash_ap_6/0,7361,592970-,00.html Nash, The American People 6e

AN AFFLUENT SOCIETY: Growth of Suburbs REASONS FOR THE GROWTH OF SUBURBS Growth of American families (“baby boom”) was largely due to higher standards of living and fathers employed “bread winners” could afford to financially support larger families. Home-ownership became more affordable Low-interest mortgage loans government-backed & interest tax-deductable Mass-produced subdivisions Expressways – facilitated commuting Decline in inner city housing stock Also: congestion, pollution Race – “white flight” working class whites left cities to avoid blacks, crimes, dense populations, and noise to the suburbs.

AN AFFLUENT SOCIETY: Suburbia Mass-produced housing on the edge of cities Levittown – 17,000 mass-produced, low-priced homes 1949  William Levitt produced 150 houses per week. $7,990 or $60/month with no down payment [very affordable] in the 1950s but in the 2010s they sell for well over $500,000 in the first Levittown L.I., N.Y. “The American Dream” Effect on inner cities: increasingly poor and racially divided http://teachpol.tcnj.edu/amer_pol_hist/_browse2000.htm Description: Aerial view of Levittown, Pennsylvania. ed Latcham, ca. 1959. Credit: National Archives and Records Administration Typical homes had two bedrooms, one bathroom, a living room and a front and back yard.

CONSENSUS AND CONFORMITY: SUBURBIA Car culture Car registrations: 1945 - 25,000,000; 1960 - 60,000,000 2-car families double from 1951-1958 [more women owned & drove] Federal Highway Act (1956) (National Defense and) Interstate Highway System [expanded access to easier travel across wider distances] Result: a more homogeneous nation [less racially diverse] 1957 Chevy was the classic 1950s automobile.

CONSENSUS AND CONFORMITY: Car Culture America became a more homogeneous nation because of the automobile. Drive-In Movies Pojer First McDonald’s (1955) Howard Johnson’s

CONSENSUS AND CONFORMITY: Television Television “arrived” in the ‘50s 1946 - 7,000 TV sets in U.S.; 1960- 46,000,000 (1 per 3.3 persons) “Vast wasteland” [Click on link] speech by F.C.C. chairman criticizing overall quality of television programming. Common mass culture Suburban white middle class Graph TV Ownership - Faragher, Out of Many, 3rd Ed.; http://wps.prenhall.com/hss_faragher_outofmany_ap/ http://teachpol.tcnj.edu/amer_pol_hist/_browse2000.htm Description: Family watching television. Evert F. Baumgardner, ca. 1958. Credit: National Archives and Records Administration. RADIO AND TELEVISION OWNERSHIP, 1940–1960

Suburban Living: The Typical TV Suburban Families The Donna Reed Show 1958-1966 Leave It to Beaver 1957-1963 Pojer Father Knows Best 1954-1958 The Ozzie & Harriet Show 1952-1966

CONSENSUS AND CONFORMITY: Consumer Culture Advertising (t.v., radio, magazines) name brand became well known Suburban shopping centers made availability of households more accessible to housewives Credit Cards extended credit to households without need for immediate cash Rise of Franchises (McDonalds) many now iconic businesses were able to succeed due to increased consumer demand. Consumer Credit - Pojer

CONSENSUS AND CONFORMITY: Corporate America Consolidation 1960- 600 corporations (1/2% of all U.S. corporations.) 53% of corporate income Conglomerates (food processing, hotels, transportation, insurance, banking) More Americans in white collar [management/high wage] than blue collar jobs [manual/lower wage]. Corporate culture - “The Company Man” Nash, The American People 6e; http://wps.ablongman.com/long_nash_ap_6/0,7361,592970-,00.html Man in Gray Flannel Suit - Pojer Sloan Wilson’s The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit

CONSENSUS AND CONFORMITY: Organized Labor Taft-Hartley Act (Labor Management Relations Act of 1947) Unions – big, powerful and more conservative Merger AFL and CIO in 1955 blue collar workers - enjoying middle-class incomes and benefits Goal: preserve and extend compensation Brinkley 10e Labor Union Membership, 1920-1992

CONSENSUS AND CONFORMITY: Gender Roles & Women Traditional gender roles reaffirmed baby boom home in suburbs mass media Dr. Benjamin Spock’s best-selling book Baby and Child Care (1946) J. Jones, P. Wood, et al, CREATED EQUAL: A Social and Political History of the US, http://wps.ablongman.com/long_jones_ce_1/0,7283,494555-,00.html

CONSENSUS AND CONFORMITY: Gender Roles & Women At end of WWII, many women left the “man’s” work force “pink collar” jobs [clerical, wait staff, hostess, cashiers] Paid less - seen primarily as wives and mothers Yet by end of decade 33% of women held jobs More married women joined workforce, especially as they reached middle age

CONSENSUS AND CONFORMITY: Religion Organized religion expanded dramatically after WW2 church/synagogue memberships reached highest level in US history 1940  64,000,000; 1960  114,000,000 thousands of new churches and synagogues built in suburbs Why?? more of a means of socialization and belonging than evidence of interest in religious doctrine? atmosphere of tolerance Stage of life? Guilt? Image?

Other “Americas”

Cold War Tensions & Society "Fallout shelter built by Louis Severance adjacent to his home near Akron, Mich., includes a special ventilation and escape hatch, an entrance to his basement, tiny kitchen, running water, sanitary facilities, and a sleeping and living area for the family of four. The shelter cost about $1,000. It has a 10-inch reinforced concrete ceiling with thick earth cover and concrete walls." Duck and Cover "Fallout shelter built by Louis Severance adjacent to his home near Akron, Mich., includes a special ventilation and escape hatch, an entrance to his basement, tiny kitchen, running water, sanitary facilities, and a sleeping and living area for the family of four. The shelter cost about $1,000. It has a 10-inch reinforced concrete ceiling with thick earth cover and concrete walls. Severance says, 'Ever since I was convinced what damage H-Bombs can do, I've wanted to build the shelter. Just as with my chicken farm, when there's a need I build it." By an unknown photographer, ca. 1960 National Archives and Records Administration, Records of the Defense Civil Preparedness Agency (397-MA-2s-160) Duck and Cover. Unknown photographer. AM J Online Such movies often focused on bodies being taken over by outside forces; otherwise-normal people were actually alien beings bent on destruction, forcing average Americans to flee for their lives, as in this scene from Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) [American Journey Online] Invasion of the Body Snatchers

OTHER “AMERICAS”: SOCIAL CRITICS William H. Whyte, Jr., The Organization Man (1956) conformity David Riesman, The Lonely Crowd (1958) “inner-directed” individuals → “other-directed” conformists. John Kenneth Galbraith, The Affluent Society (1958) failure to address significant social issues and common good (would influence JFK and LBJ) Michael Harrington, The Other America rural poverty, inner cities

Other Americas “The entire invisible land of the other Americans became a ghetto, a modern poor farm for the rejects of society and the economy.” --Michael Harrington

Bell County, Kentucky, August 31, 1946 "Mrs. John Whitehead, wife of miner, and two of her children (or grandchildren) in the kitchen of her three room house. Mr. and Mrs. John Whitehead and their six children and six grandchildren live here. This house, built on company owned land, was built by Mrs. Whitehead's half brother at no expense for materials or labor to the company; the builder (half brother) was to receive the use of the house rent-free for three years and at the end of this period the ownership of the house would revert to the company. The brother moved away at the end of one year, receiving no cash settlement from the company. The house now rents for $6 monthly. It has no running water, no electricity, access is over a mountain trail; there are three rooms." By Russell Lee, Field, Bell County, Kentucky, August 31, 1946 Bell County, Kentucky, August 31, 1946

OTHER AMERICAS: NONCONFORMISTS & CULTURAL REBELS Teen Culture developed (free time, spending money) “teenager” consumerism By 1956, 13 million teens with $7 billion to spend a year. Rock and Roll Elvis Presley James Dean, “Rebel without a Cause” “juvenile delinquency” J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye

Beginnings of Rock Music Alan Freed The Dominoes http://history-of-rock.com/vocal_groups.htm#The %20Dominoes http://history-of-rock.com/freed.htm http://www.billhaley.com/ Elvis (Michael Barson Collection/Past Perfect) Bill Haley & the Comets

OTHER AMERICAS: NONCONFORMISTS & CULTURAL REBELS “Beats” – “Beatniks” Allen Ginsberg – “Howl” (1956) controversial for its time this performance poem was perhaps the best example of a non-conformist piece of American literature. Jack Kerouac, On the Road (1957) also very controversial for its time mostly due to its divorce and drug references as well as its message of a care-free lifestyle. Ginsberg - http://www.rooknet.com/beatpage/gallery/gallery_1.html Alan Ginsburg, 1953 Jack Kerouac with his cat

Re-examining the Clarifying Question What was the impact of postwar economic, demographic, and technological changes on American culture (1994) “Conservatism, Complacency, and Contentment” “Anxiety, Alienation, and Social Unrest” ?? OR