us history 1950

Origins & the Truman Doctrine

George Kennan proposed containment in 1947 — stop communism from spreading, not roll it back. The Truman Doctrine (1947) put it into action, pledging U.S. support to nations resisting communist takeover, starting with Greece and Turkey during the Greek Civil War. NSC-68 (1950) formalized this into a top-secret policy calling for massive military spending, covert operations, and psychological warfare.

McCarthyism

The Red Scare & McCarthy's rise

McCarthyism was a symptom of pre-existing anti-communist hysteria, not its cause. Key government measures included Truman's Executive Order 9835 (1947) requiring FBI loyalty reviews of all federal employees, HUAC's 100+ investigations, and the McCarran Act (1950) requiring communist orgs to register with the government. On Feb. 9, 1950, McCarthy gave his Wheeling, WV speech claiming 205 communists were in the State Department — a number that kept shifting and was never proven.

Espionage Cases

Rosenbergs & Alger Hiss

Alger Hiss — senior State Dept. official accused of being in a communist underground; convicted of perjury; case championed by Richard Nixon. Julius and Ethel Rosenberg — accused of passing nuclear secrets to the Soviets; executed June 19, 1953. Judge Kaufman called their crimes "worse than murder," blaming them for Korean War casualties. Julius argued the execution was politically motivated to intensify hysteria.

Hollywood & Culture

Blacklisting & cultural conformity

HUAC held Hollywood hearings from Fall 1947. The Hollywood Ten refused to testify, were held in contempt, and sparked a blacklist that barred hundreds from the industry for ~10 years. The Waldorf Statement (1947) was when 48 Hollywood executives secretly agreed to fire or suspend anyone cited for contempt. Cold War conformity suppressed civil rights, gay rights, and feminist movements. The "lavender scare" targeted gay Americans. Religion surged — "under God" added to the Pledge (1954); "In God We Trust" adopted as national motto (1956).

McCarthy's Downfall

Army-McCarthy Hearings (1954)

When McCarthy targeted the U.S. Army, the televised Army-McCarthy Hearings (36 days, 20 million viewers) exposed his bullying to the nation. Army counsel Joseph Welch's line: "Have you no sense of decency, sir?" CBS anchor Edward R. Murrow reported on March 9, 1954 that McCarthy "merely exploited" a culture of fear. The Senate censured McCarthy 67–22 on Dec. 2, 1954. He died in May 1957, age 48.

Truman & MacArthur

The firing & public reaction

Truman fired General MacArthur on April 11, 1951 for insubordination during the Korean War. Initial public reaction was heavily against Truman — but opposition softened over time (by May 7, PRO mail overtook CON). The AMVETS organization supported Truman, citing constitutional civilian control of the military. Critics like citizen Elizabeth Wood accused Truman of favoring communism. The episode shows how Cold War fears shaped political debate.

Global Cold War

Eisenhower's foreign policy

Eisenhower kept containment but resisted Dulles's push to "roll back" communism — he didn't intervene when Soviets crushed uprisings in East Germany (1953) or Hungary (1956). Key events: CIA overthrew Iran's pro-Communist leader (1953); CIA overthrew Guatemala's government (1954); Suez Crisis (1956) — Eisenhower forced Britain/France to withdraw; Eisenhower Doctrine (1957) pledged force against Communist aggression in the Middle East; Cuba — Castro overthrew Batista (1959), Eisenhower cut ties, Cuba turned to USSR.

Arms Race & Space

Nuclear anxiety & Sputnik

USSR tested its H-bomb in August 1953 — less than a year after the U.S. The 1954 Bikini Atoll test was 750× more powerful than the Nagasaki bomb; Japanese fishermen 90 miles away suffered radiation burns. Dulles's brinkmanship policy risked war to protect U.S. interests. Sputnik (1957) — first satellite in orbit, launched by Soviets — shocked Americans. The U.S.'s own rocket failed on the launchpad. The Soviets shot down a U-2 spy plane in 1960. Eisenhower's farewell address (Jan. 17, 1961) warned against the military-industrial complex.

CIVIL RIGHTS BASICS

Early Steps

Sports integration & military desegregation

Jackie Robinson broke baseball's color line in 1947 with the Brooklyn Dodgers — he had already refused to move to the back of a military bus in 1944 and nearly faced court-martial. Football integrated in 1946; NBA accepted first Black players in 1950. Isaac Woodard — a Black army veteran beaten and permanently blinded by police in 1946 while traveling by bus — his case directly motivated Truman to act. Executive Order 9981 (July 26, 1948) ordered equality of treatment in the armed forces regardless of race.

Legal Strategy

NAACP & Brown v. Board

Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) allowed "separate but equal." From the 1930s, NAACP lawyers (Houston, Clark, Thurgood Marshall) systematically attacked it through court cases. Brown v. Board (May 17, 1954) — unanimous 9–0 decision by Chief Justice Earl Warren — consolidated 5 cases. Briggs v. Elliott showed SC spent $179/white student vs. $43/Black student. The ruling: "Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal." Brown II (1955) ordered desegregation "with all deliberate speed" — largely ignored until the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Key Events

Emmett Till, Rosa Parks & Montgomery

Emmett Till (1955) — 14-year-old from Chicago murdered in Mississippi; open-casket funeral made national news; all-white jury acquitted his killers who later bragged in Look magazine; galvanized a generation of activists. Rosa Parks' arrest (Dec. 1955) sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Joanne Robinson printed 50,000 boycott handbills overnight. The MIA (Montgomery Improvement Association) coordinated the 381-day boycott. Supreme Court ordered bus integration; established MLK's national leadership.

Organizations

CORE, NAACP, SCLC, Urban League

CORE (founded Chicago, 1942) — nonviolent direct action; first protest at a segregated coffee shop (1943). NAACP (founded 1909) — Thurgood Marshall led its Legal Defense Fund from 1940 using the 14th Amendment's Equal Protection Clause. National Urban League — helped Black migrants in northern cities with jobs, counseling, and education. SCLC (1957) — King, Abernathy, Shuttlesworth, Ella Baker, Septima Clark — coordinated civil rights groups across the South.

Systemic Barriers

Jim Crow & voting suppression

Jim Crow enforced segregation in schools, restaurants, theaters, buses, bathrooms, and parks — especially the South. De jure (by law) vs. de facto (by practice) segregation. Restrictive covenants kept Black families out of white neighborhoods. Poll taxes, literacy tests, and the white primary (declared unconstitutional 1944) prevented Black Americans from voting. Gerrymandering diluted Black political power. The Civil Rights Act of 1957 was the first civil rights law since Reconstruction — heavily watered down but symbolically significant.

1950S CULTURE — TV, CONSUMERISM & SOCIETY

Television

The TV explosion

TV was first shown publicly at the 1939 World's Fair; commercial broadcasting began 1947. By 1955, 2/3 of households had one; by decade's end, 90%. Average viewer watched nearly 5 hours a day. NBC, CBS, and ABC dominated — the FCC froze new licenses from 1948–1955, locking in the big three. Popular shows: I Love Lucy, Father Knows Best, Leave It to Beaver, Gunsmoke. TV Guide launched 1953 and outsold all other magazines. TV advertising grew from $170M (1950) to nearly $2B (1960). Critic Newton Minow (FCC chairman) called TV "a vast wasteland" in 1961. Black and Latino Americans almost never appeared on screen.

The Economy

Affluence & its contradictions

By mid-1950s, 60% of Americans were middle class — twice the pre-WWII level. White-collar jobs surpassed blue-collar jobs by 1956. John Kenneth Galbraith's The Affluent Society (1958) argued the consumer economy created inequality and was unsustainable. Conglomerates emerged (e.g., ITT bought car rentals, hotels, insurance). Franchising developed — Ray Kroc bought McDonald's rights for $2.7 million in 1955. Planned obsolescence forced new purchases. Credit cards introduced: Diner's Club (1950), American Express (1958). Total private debt grew from $73B to $179B during the decade.

Suburbs & Cars

The suburban boom

85% of the 13 million new homes built in the 1950s were in suburbs. Interstate Highway Act (1956) authorized 41,000 miles of expressways. Cars on the road went from 40 million to 60 million. Suburbs caused "white flight" — middle-class whites left cities, taking tax revenue and causing urban school and service collapse. Drive-in theaters, drive-through restaurants, and shopping malls were all products of car culture. TV dinners introduced 1954.

Baby Boom

Demographics & the Spock generation

Baby boom: 1946–1964. Peak year 1957 — one baby born every 7 seconds, 4,308,000 total. Dr. Jonas Salk developed the polio vaccine in the early 1950s. Dr. Benjamin Spock's Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care (1946) sold 10 million copies in the 1950s. Baby boom caused school overcrowding — in California a new school opened every 7 days. Toy sales reached $1.25 billion in 1958.

Teen Culture & Rock 'n' Roll

A new generation

The word "teenager" was coined in the 1950s — the first time this life stage was recognized as distinct. Alan Freed was the Cleveland DJ who first promoted rock 'n' roll to white audiences in 1951. Key artists: Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Fats Domino, Buddy Holly. Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton recorded "Hound Dog" first (1953), received $500; Elvis's version made millions — a key example of racial inequality in the music industry. Elvis signed to RCA for $35,000 in 1955. Record sales grew from 189M (1950) to 600M (1960). American Bandstand hosted by Dick Clark. Rebel Without a Cause (1955) captured teen alienation.

Beats & Conformity

Counterculture & critique

The Beat Generation centered in San Francisco, LA, and NYC's Greenwich Village. Key works: Allen Ginsberg's Howl (1956), Jack Kerouac's On the Road (1957). Beats rejected TV, suburban life, regular work, and conformity. William H. Whyte's The Organization Man (1956) analyzed corporate conformity — the culture of "belongingness." Sloan Wilson's The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit (1955) became a symbol of suburban male conformity. Teen fashion divided into preppies (neat, middle class) vs. greasers (leather, denim, working class).

Women & Gender

The feminine mystique

The "feminine mystique" was cultural pressure on women to find fulfillment only as wives and mothers. Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique (1963) described women's hidden dissatisfaction — more than 1 in 5 suburban wives reported dissatisfaction in 1950s surveys. Women's workforce participation rose: wives earned wages in 21.6% of families (1950) → 30.5% (1960). By 1960, nearly 40% of mothers with school-age children held paying jobs — mostly nursing, teaching, and office work. Women's college enrollment was actually lower in the 1950s than in the 1920s.

Hidden Poverty

The other America

Michael Harrington's The Other America (1962) exposed widespread hidden poverty. By decade's end, 1 in 4 Americans lived below the poverty line — about 50 million people. The poverty line for a family of four in 1959 was $2,973. The poor were invisible because suburbs separated classes, cheap clothing hid poverty, and the poor had no political power. Urban renewal (Housing Act of 1949) often displaced the poor without building enough replacement housing — critics called it "urban removal." A Los Angeles barrio was torn down to build Dodger Stadium.