The Fifties – The Four A’s ANXIETY, ANTI-COMMUNISM, AFFLUENCE, ALIENATION
ANXIETY
Cold War
The Russian Bomb, ‘49
Civil Defense Bert the Turtle Says “Duck and Cover”
Our H-Bomb, ‘52
Their H-bomb, ‘53
“New Look”: Mutual Assured Destruction
October 4, 1957
This is Only A Test…
Push Button Age
Fallout
No Need to Worry
There Wouldn’t Be Such Anxiety if it wasn’t for those Godless Communists!
ANTI-COMMUNISM
International Communism is a Disease
CONTAINMENT STALEMATE more than VICTORY Truman Doctrine, ’47 Marshall Plan, ‘48 Berlin Blockade/Airlift, ’48-’49 NATO, ‘49 Korean War, ’50-’53
Domestic Anti-Communism
Fighting Commies at Home J. Edgar Hoover FBI Sen. Joe McCarthy 205 Names! Richard Nixon
Execute A Few P.S. They Were Guilty
Put A Few Behind Bars Hollywood Ten Alger Hiss
Ruin a Few Careers Dalton Trumbo – Blacklisted 13 years
Who You Can Trust? Loyalty Oaths, 1950
They Could Be Hiding Under Your Bed!
You Could Bowl with One on Tuesdays
Conformist Society: Don’t Stand Out in A Crowd
Whatever Communists Don’t Like, We Like: State vs. Family
Everyone is Getting Married
Even in the Comics
Post War Baby Boom
Woman’s Place But, Women work more as decade goes on
Gender Roles Very Clear
Return of the Full Figured Star
TV Tells us How to Behave Cult of Domesticity
Heroes and Villains
Atheism vs. Godliness Stalin Tears Down Moscow’s Cathedral To Build….
We Get More Religious
“Under God…”
Family, Religion, Gender Roles Separate Us from Communists But, Bottom Line, We’re Also Far Wealthier Highest Standard of Living in History
AFFLUENCE
U.S. Economic Dominance After World War II – U.S. Produces 45% of World Economy
G.I. Bill
Marshall Plan, 1947 $13 Billion in aid to Western Europe Especially France and Italy – why? Huge Success Home & Abroad
Consumption is Patriotic!
Suburbs $10,000 homes – FHA and VA Loans
Business and Labor Harmony Big Labor Prospers –Good Pay, 40 hour week –Factory Workers Buy Homes –60% Americans Are Home Owners Big Business Booms
Credit Cards Diners’ Club, 1950 Sears cards for the rest of us
Interstate Highway System
Vacation and Leisure
New Industries
ALIENATION Who are These Malcontents?
The Warren Court Brown v Board of Education, 1954
19 Million Blacks Are A Little Tired of This De Jure or De Facto, It Still Spells Segregation
Suburban American Dream?
Public Accomodations Rosa Parks, 1955 Martin Luther King – Why Ministers? Montgomery Bus Boycott, 1956
School Integration
Abstract Expressionism Jackson Pollock
Extreme Comics
BeBop Charlie Parker Dizzie Gillespie
Literature: Chaos, Spontaneity, Alienation Burroughs, Ginsburg, Kerouac The BEATS
SEX! -- Alfred Kinsey Sexual Behavior ’48 Males ’53 Females
Sex Which View Represented the 50’s? Playboy 1953
Youth culture and rebellion Anti-Materialism, Anti-Conformity Marlon Brando James Dean
POPULAR MUSIC First Teen Market 45’s and Radio Shows Elvis Presley changes everything
The Fifties – The Four A’s ANXIETY, ANTI-COMMUNISM, AFFLUENCE, ALIENATION