1. Chapter Twenty-Seven America at Midcentury, 1952–1963

2. Chapter Focus Questions 1.What characterized post-World War II prosperity? 2.What was the ideal of suburban life? What was the reality? 3.What characterized the emergence of youth culture? 4.What were the criticisms of television and mass culture? 5.What characterized foreign policy in the Eisenhower years? 6.Who was John F. Kennedy and what was the promise of a New Frontier?

3. American Communities: Popular Music in Memphis

4. Memphis Memphis was a rapidly growing segregated city with whites and blacks of various classes. Elvis Presley listened to both “white” and “black” music. Sam Phillips, a white producer, recognized that Elvis could sing with the emotional intensity and power of black performers. Elvis blended black styles of music with white styles to help create a new style of music. Rock ‘n’ roll united teenagers and gave them the feeling that it was their music (and misunderstood by adults).

5. 27.1: American Society at Midcentury

6. A. The Eisenhower Presidency 1.President Dwight D. Eisenhower inspired confidence and adopted a middle-of-the-road style. 2.He ran the government in a businesslike, cooperative manner, pursuing policies that helped private companies and allowing practices that harmed on the environment. 3.He also rejected calls from conservatives to dismantle the welfare state. 4.Although his presidency included two brief recessions, he presided over an extensive increase in real wages.

7. Presidential contender Dwight D. Eisenhower hosts a group of Republican National Committee women at his campaign headquarters in 1952. Ike’s status as America’s biggest war hero, along with his genial public persona, made him an extremely popular candidate with voters across party lines. SOURCE:© Bettmann//CORBIS (BEO36973).

8. B. Subsidizing Prosperity 1.The federal government helped subsidize this prosperity by providing loans for homes and assisting the growth of suburbs. 2.One of the first planned communities was built by William Levitt and encompassed 17,000 homes, without a single African-American resident. 3.The federal government: a.paid for veterans’ college education b.built an interstate highway system c.following the Russian launch of a satellite spent millions on education

9. An aerial view of 1950s tract houses in the suburban development of Levittown, New York. Mass production techniques were key to providing affordable housing in the new postwar suburbs—but they required a “cookie cutter” approach to architecture, with little or no variation among the houses. SOURCE:Getty Images,Inc/Hulton Archive Photos.

10. C. Suburban Life 1.Suburban life: a.strengthened the domestic ideal b.provided a model of the efficient, patient suburban wife for television 2.Suburban growth corresponded with an increase in church attendance. 3.Popular religious figures stressed the importance of fitting in.

11. FIGURE 27.1 The Growth of the Suburbs, 1950–70 Suburban growth, at the expense of older inner cities, was one of the key social trends in the twenty-five years following World War II. By 1970, more Americans lived in suburbs than in either inner cities or rural areas. SOURCE:Adapted from U.S.Bureau of the Census,Current Censuses, 1930 –1970 (Washington DC:U.S.Government Printing Office,1975).

12. D. California and Suburban Life California came to embody postwar suburban life, with the cars connecting its components.

13. FIGURE 27.2 L. A. County Population 1920–80

14. E. Organized Labor and the AFL-CIO 1.In the mid-1950s, trade unions reached a peak of membership and influence, especially in the Democratic Party. 2.The merger of the AFL and the CIO marked the zenith of the unions. 3.Total membership numbers declined after 1955 but new inroads were made in the public sector.

15. F. Lonely Crowds and Organizational Men 1.Critics found the suburbs as dull and conformist— points that obscured the real class and ethnic differences found in many suburbs. 2.David Reisman said that Americans had become overly conforming, less individualistic, and more peer-oriented. 3.C. Wright Mills wrote how people sold not only their time and energy but their personalities.

16. A crowded commuter train in Philadelphia, ca. 1955. The rapid growth of suburbs in the postwar era made commuting to work, either by mass transit or auto, a routine part of life for millions of Americans. SOURCE:Getty Images Inc./Hulton Archive.

17. G. The Expansion of Higher Education 1.The postwar baby boom was paralleled by a tremendous expansion of higher education, assisted by extensive federal aid. 2.Colleges accepted the values of corporate culture with 20 percent of all graduates majoring in business. 3.Students tried to conform to the corporate values.

18. H. Health and Medicine 1.Immunization begun during the war continued after peace. 2.New medicines, like antibiotics, and new vaccines against diseases like polio allowed many Americans to live healthier lives. 3.Doctor shortages, however, meant that poor and elderly Americans and those in rural areas lacked access to these improvements. 4.The AMA did nothing to increase the flow of new doctors and discouraged any national health insurance.

19. 27.2: Youth Culture

20. A. The Youth Market 1.The word “teenager” became common in the American language after WWII. 2.Young people’s numbers grew and their purchasing power increased. 3.The marketplace, schools, and mass media reinforced the notion of teenagers as a special community.

21. B. “Hail! Hail! Rock ‘n’ Roll” 1.Structural changes in the media transformed radio into a music- dominated medium. 2.In addition, small independent record labels promoted black rhythm-and-blues artists, many of whom “crossed over” to white audiences. 3.Established record companies offered toned-down white “cover” versions that frequently outsold the originals. 4.Alan Freed, a white Cleveland disc jockey, promoted black artists and set the stage for the first major white performer who could play rock ‘n’ roll: Elvis Presley. 5.Black singer-guitarist Chuck Berry was probably the most influential artist after Elvis.

22. This photo of Elvis Presley singing at a 1956 state fair in Memphis captured his dramatic stage presence. Performing with only a trio, his sound was spare but hard driving. Both the music and Presley’s stage moves owed a great deal to African American rhythm and blues artists. SOURCE:Getty Images,Inc.(C422).

23. Rock pioneer Chuck Berry and one of his many younger disciples, Bruce Springsteen, played together at the grand opening of the Hall in September 1995. Berry was among the inaugural class of inductees in 1986. Terry Knerem/Corbis/Sygma.

24. The 1950s “rockabilly” sound from Sun Records in Memphis epitomized the cultural melding of African American blues and white country music that was the foundation for rock and roll. Sun producer Sam Phillips and singer Elvis Presley were key figures in creating these breakthrough recordings. Brooks Kraft,CORBIS-NY.

25. This view of the pyramid side of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland, Ohio. Brownie Harris,CORBIS-NY.

26. C. Almost Grown 1.Rock ‘n’ roll united teenagers, giving them a feeling it was their music and focused on the trials and tribulations of teenage life. 2.Ironically, teenagers were torn between their identification with youth culture and the desire to become adults as quickly as possible. 3.Many adult observers saw rock ‘n’ roll as unleashing youthful passions in a dangerous way. 4.Rock ‘n’ roll was closely linked to juvenile delinquency. 5.Popular films like The Wild One and Rebel Without a Cause showed the different reactions of youth and adults to the growing generation gap.

27. 27.3: Mass Culture and Its Discontents

28. A. Television: Tube of Plenty 1.Television’s development as a mass medium was eased by the prior existence of radio. 2.The high cost of TV changed advertising as sponsors left production to others. 3.Early TV replicated radio formats including situation comedies set among urban ethnic families. 4.By the late 1950s, situation comedies featured idealized, white suburban families. 5.As revenues declined, movie studios sold off old films and began to produce westerns and cop shows for TV. 6.Television also created overnight fads and sensations.

29. FIGURE 27.3 Radio and Television Ownership, 1940– 60 By 1960 nearly 90 percent of American households owned at least one television set, as TV replaced radio as the nation’s dominant mass medium of entertainment. Radio ownership rose as well, but Americans increasingly listened to radio as an accompaniment to other activities, such as driving.

30. A 1950s family watching “I Love Lucy,” one of the most popular situation comedies in the early days of television. Manufacturers designed and marketed TV sets as living room furniture and emphasized their role in fostering family togetherness.

31. Fess Parker, the actor who starred as Davy Crockett in Walt Disney’s popular television series, greets young fans at New York’s Idlewild Airport in 1955. The series generated enormous sales of coonskin caps and other Crockett inspired merchandise, demonstrating the extraordinary selling power of the new medium of television. SOURCE:© Bettmann//Corbis.

32. B. Television and Politics 1.Prime-time shows made no references to contemporary political issues and avoided being tainted with communist influence. 2.Television did bring important congressional hearings before mass audiences and by 1952, slick ads began to shape presidential campaigns.

33. C. Culture Critics 1.The new mass culture prompted a growing chorus of critics. 2.Intellectual critics bemoaned the great “Middlebrow Culture” that was driving out high culture. 3.The Beats articulated some of the sharpest dissents from conformity, celebrating spontaneity, jazz, open sexuality, drug use, and American outcasts. 4.The Beats foreshadowed the mass youth rebellion of the 1960s.

34. Jack Kerouac, founding voice of the Beat literary movement, in front of a neon lit bar, ca. 1950. Kerouac’s public readings, often to the accompaniment of live jazz music, created a performance atmosphere underlining the connections between his writing style and the rhythms and sensibility of contemporary jazz musicians. SOURCE:Globe Photos,Inc.(YULSMAN).

35. 27.4: The Cold War Continued

36. A. The “New Look” in Foreign Affairs 1.Eisenhower favored a reliance on American nuclear superiority in favor of more expensive conventional forces. 2.Secretary of State John Foster Dulles called for a policy of rollback to reverse communist gains. 3.This “new look” for American foreign policy was in conflict with Eisenhower’s cautious approach.

37. B. Foreign Affairs 1.Ike refused to intervene to aid anticommunist uprisings in East Berlin and Hungary. After Stalin died, new Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev raised hopes for a warming of relations. 2.Following some steps toward a more peaceful coexistence, the thaw quickly froze when the Soviets shot down an American spy plane.

38. C. Covert Action and Intervention 1.Eisenhower favored covert action. 2.The CIA sponsored paramilitary operations in the Third World when newly emerging nations sought to recover resources from foreign investors. 3.American interventions in Iran overthrew the government and helped secure oil concessions. 4.Support for Israel was challenged when Ike rejected European appeals to help seize and return the Suez Canal to Britain.

39. D. Intervention in the Caribbean In just one of several actions, the CIA- sponsored coup overthrew the government of Jacobo Arbenz Guzman in Guatemala.

40. MAP 27.1 The U.S. in the Caribbean, 1948–66 U.S. military intervention and economic presence grew steadily in the Caribbean following World War II. After 1960, opposition to the Cuban Revolution dominated U.S. Caribbean policies.

41. E. Vietnam 1.The United States provided France with massive military aid in its struggle to hold on to Vietnam. 2.Ike rejected the use of American ground troops, but believed that if Vietnam fell the rest of Southeast Asia would fall like dominoes. 3.Vietnam was temporarily divided at the 17th parallel.

42. F. Ike’s Warning 1.A growing public anxiety over nuclear weapons led to small but well-publicized protests. 2.Ike expressed his own doubts when he warned the nation of the growing “military industrial complex.”

43. 27.5: John F. Kennedy and the New Frontier

44. A. The Election of 1960 1.JFK was a young man from a wealthy Irish- Catholic family in Massachusetts who became a senator. 2.After winning the Democratic nomination, Kennedy won a narrow victory over Republican vice-president Richard Nixon. 3.His inauguration brought out a bevy of intellectuals who heard him inspire a sense of sacrifice among young Americans.

45. Presidential candidates John F. Kennedy and Richard M. Nixon during the second of three televised debates held during the 1960 election. Moderator Frank McGee sits at a desk upstage, facing a panel of newsmen. Eighty-five million viewers watched at least one of the first-ever televised debates, which both reflected and increased the power of television in the electoral process. SOURCE:Bettmann.

46. MAP 27.2 The Election of 1960 Kennedy’s popular vote margin over Nixon was only a little over 100,000, making this one of the closest elections in American history.

47. B. New Frontier Liberalism 1.JFK proposed a liberal agenda but conservatives in Congress prevented much of it from passing. 2.JFK supported efforts to improve employment equality for women. 3.He used fiscal policy to stimulate the economy. 4.JFK committed the country to expanding its manned space program. 5.JFK’s greatest achievement may have been strengthening the executive branch of government.

48. C. Kennedy and the Cold War 1.In his three years as president, JFK’s foreign policy shifted from containment to easing tensions. 2.He expanded both nuclear and conventional weapons and created the Green Berets who fought unsuccessfully to stop communist movements in Laos and Vietnam. 3.JFK supported the Alliance for Progress, ostensibly a Marshall Plan for Latin America.

49. Venezuelan soldiers (right) tried to disperse rioters who attacked Vice President Richard M. Nixon’s car in Caracas during his 1958 “goodwill tour.” Demonstrations such as these revealed a reservoir of resentment in Latin America against the interventionist policies of the United States in the region. SOURCE:AP/Wide World Photos.

50. D. The Cuban Revolution and the Bay of Pigs 1.The Cuban Revolution brought Fidel Castro to power in 1959. 2.Ike cut off aid when Castro began a land reform program and later the United States severed diplomatic relations. 3.JFK implemented Ike’s plan for a CIA-backed invasion by Cuban exiles. 4.The plan failed, leading Castro to ask Khrushchev for help.

51. E. The Missile Crisis 1.The Soviets began shipping missiles to Cuba. 2.JFK rejected calls for an immediate attack but ordered a blockade on Cuba. 3.The Soviets backed down and withdrew the missiles and JFK pledged not to invade Cuba. 4.Kennedy tried to improve cooperation with the Soviets.

52. Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev enjoys a bite to eat during his tour of an Iowa farm in 1959. A colorful, earthy, and erratic man, Khrushchev loomed as the most visible human symbol of the USSR for Americans. On this trip he called for Soviet- American friendship, yet also boasted “We will bury you.” SOURCE:© Bettmann//CORBIS (BE031798).

53. F. Assassination The November 22, 1963, assassination of Kennedy made him a martyr and raised questions about what he would have achieved, had he lived.

54. Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson took the oath of office as president aboard Air Force One after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, November 22, 1963. Onlookers included the grief-stricken Jacqueline Kennedy (right) and Lady Bird Johnson (left). This haunting photo captured both the shock of Kennedy’s assassination and the orderly succession of power that followed. SOURCE:AP/Wide World Photos.

55. America at Midcentury America in 1963 still enjoyed the postwar economic boom, but Kennedy’s election had symbolized the changing of generations.