1. The American Dream of the Fifties or the pop culture notes

2. The GI Bill of Rights Formal name: Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944 Paid part of college tuition Provided a year’s worth of unemployment benefits Low interest loans made available

3. Daily Life in the Fifties

4. Levittown Mass-produced houses- “build a house in sixteen minutes” Less than $7,000 (about $62,000 today) Located on New York’s Long Island Suburbs encouraged conformity

6. Gender Roles Male = work, financial decisions, authority figure Female = house, children, support husband The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan (1963)

8. Baby Boom Late 1940s through early 1960s Largest generation in nation’s history

9. Leisure Labor saving devices, 40 hour work week = leisure time Bowling, golf, boating, sporting events Books, Reader’s Digest, Sports Illustrated, Life, comic books Television Rock and roll –Roots of rock and roll –Elvis Presley

10. Automobile Culture 40 million cars in 1950, 60 million in 1960 Suburbs made them necessary Interstate Highway System –Eisenhower authorizes 41,000 miles of expressway in 1956 –Towns die or prosper Impact on society –Drive-in movies, restaurants, malls, cruising –Noise and exhaust, stress of traffic –Middle & upper classes leave cities-cities decline- economic gap widens

11. Consumerism Buying stuff = success Appliances & electronics “Planned obsolescence” Credit cards introduced- “buy now pay later” Advertising –Newspapers, magazines, radio, TV, billboards –Psychology

12. Nationwide Business Major corporations like AT&T, General Electric, etc. Holiday Inn McDonald’s Things in different parts of country start to become more similar