1. Life in the 1950s

2. Baby Boom “Ideal family”  nuclear family w/ mom @ home
Dr. Benjamin Spock’s Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care (1946)
Be nurturing/ permissive
Proposed having gov’t pay for mothers to stay home

3. Suburbs

4. Car Culture
Ownership doubled between 1945 & 1960

5. Eisenhower’s Interstate Highway System
1956
Originally used for defense (fast mobilization)
41k miles of new highways

6. Nation on the Move Population shifts to “Sun Belt” in S & SW
Disneyland! Opens 1955 (S. Cali)

7. Consumerism Median family income rose Credit!
TELEVISION 1946: 7k sets; : 6 million; 1960: 52 million

8. Religion Increased church attendance 1954: “Under God” to Pledge
1956: “In God We Trust” to $ bill

9. Improved Healthcare Polio vaccine: 1955 (Jonas Salk)
Widespread use of antibiotics
Better understanding of imptnce of healthy diet
Increased life expect.

10. Teen Culture Word “teenager” enters language “Rebellious”
New segment for advertisers
Rock-n-roll!
From R&B
Elvis Presley!
“Subversive” nature

11. Dissent & Discontent Beat Movement (“Beatniks”) Writers, artists
Disliked conformity/ materialism
Ex: Jack Kerouac, On the Road
“The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes 'Awww!‘”

12. Poverty & Racial Tensions
“White Flight”– white ppl leave inner city for suburbs
Cities lose middle class  declining pol/econ. power
Many radio stations won’t play music by black artists  white artists re-record hits
SCOTUS case: Brown v. Board of Education (1954)
“Separate but equal” unconstitutional
Desegregate public schools