Chapter 25: America at Midcentury: 1945-1960

• Post war social policies shaped: 

  • Sent millions of veterans to college using the GI Bill

  • Linked US to high speed interstate highways

  • Growth of suburbs & Sunbelt

  • Disrupted regional isolation

  • Emerging national middle-class culture

    • Attend college, marry young, have a large family, live in suburbs, start a business 

  • American dream

    • Centered on family, comfort, consumption, & common culture

      • Critics called it “conforminism” 

  • Rural poverty

    • Cities became impoverished bc of rich Americans moving to Suburbs & black & white southerners, Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, & Native Americans moving to cities

  • Race divisions

    • African Americans face racism & discrimination still

  • Civil Rights movement

    • 1955 Montgomery bus boycott launched it

    • Fed gov protected civil rights of American Americans

      • Desegregation: Brown v. Board of Education

  • Domestic achievements: Truman

    • Modest; Restricted from expanding new deal bc of conservative congress; focus on foreign policy 

  • Domestic Achievements: Dwight D. Eisenhower 1952

    • First republican in 20 years

    • Seeking balanced budget, reduced taxes, & lower levels of gov spending; foreign policy 

  • Economic boom (lasted 20 years after war) brought prosperity

25-1 Shaping Postwar America

• Goals

  • Reintegrate veterans, homes for young families, transform wartime economy to peacetime, deal with new global balance of power, 

A. The Veterans Return

• 1945-1947: Nearly 15 million servicemen returned home after WWII on an individual basis, with priority given based on service scores

• Homecomings were joyful but also caused anxiety abt how veterans would adjust to civilian life & the jobs available (civilians feared entitlement) 

  • Time magazine 1945: reassured readers that the veterans are not civilian haters who will become violent if they don’t get everything they want 

• Concerns included veterans' mental health issues like PTSD and possible crime linked to their reintegration.

  • National Mental Health Act 1946

  • Movie The Best Years of Our Lives: Depiction of 3 veterans struggling to adjust 

• Economic impact of demobilization: War machines slowed; factories lay off workers; (so how would returning veterans get jobs?)

B. The GI Bill (Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944)

• Aimed to save economy with unemployment benefits; stop veterans from needing jobs 

• Signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, it provided veterans benefits like college tuition, job training, unemployment benefits, and low-interest home loans.

• About 2.2 million veterans attended college due to this bill, increasing the educated workforce.

• Discrimination: Implementation by local & state agencies allowed for discrimination against racial & ethnic minorities & homosexuals; AA faced it especially in the south

• Inclusivity: Admission quotas limiting Jewish students disappeared; Black Colleges grew; Americans become more well-educated improving economy

  • Ex. Syracuse University

• Educated Americans: Social mobility; less provincial; middle-class culture

C. Economic Growth

• After initial layoffs post-war, the economy quickly boomed thanks to increased consumer spending.

• More demand for cars and household goods helped drive recovery and innovation & growth of corporations global dominance (ex. General motors) 

• Technology improved farming with new crop types and fertilizers; farm size increased 

D. Suburbanization

• Many white families moved to suburbs for affordable housing and better living conditions (ex. Levittown)

• Housing mass production: (1947) William Levitt used assembly line methods for homebuilding (Only 1 in 28 houses identical by shifting exterior designs & colors)

• Easier to move bc of:

  • Federal Housing Administration (FHA): gave loans and highways that let families commute to city jobs easier 

  • Highway Act: interstate highway system

    • Help commerce & military mobilize quickly

    • Helped workers commute from far away to jobs in central cities 

• “White flight”: Families left integrated neighborhoods, hurting urban diversity 

E. Baby Boom

• The post-war period saw rising marriage and birth rates, peaking in 1957, leading to the “Baby Boom.”

• This increased demand for goods and services, boosting the economy.

• The era also highlighted lifestyle competition between the U.S. and the USSR during the “kitchen debate.”

F. Inequality in Benefits

• Inequality from: Selective Service Act & white families’ investments grew on homes but not for AA (bc of discriminatory policies)

• The GI Bill favored white male veterans, leaving women and minorities with fewer benefits.

• For example, 50% of white veterans got home loans, while only 2% of Black veterans did due to discrimination.

• Efforts like the proposed Fair Housing Act in 1968 aimed to equalize these disparities but faced resistance.

25-2 Domestic Politics in the Cold War Era

A. Truman’s Domestic Challenges (approval rating (1945-46): 87%-32%)

• WW2 to Beginning of Cold War; major foriegn policy; attempted to mantain New Deal 

• 1944 Second Bill of Rights: Roosevelt promised right to employment, health care, education, food, and housing (welfare); Truman tried to mantain it

• Full Employment Act: aimed to increase minimum wage & aimed to guaranteed work to all who are able & willing thru public sector employment 

  • Only did (bc blocked by Congress):

  • Council of Economic Advisers: helps president prevent economic downturns

  • Gov active role in economy 

• Post-war inflation: dealt with it reaching over 20% in 1946, and labor strikes in coal and rail

• His attempts to uphold New Deal policies were challenged by a conservative Congress (ex. Full Employment Act) 

B. Taft-Hartley Act (1947)

• Strikes and demands for better wages created tension between workers and companies (bc of inflation from wartime price controls & struggles for food)

  • Unions shut down industries

  • Democratic party seen as responsible

  • Truman threatened to enlist strikers in the military

• Taft-Hartley Act A 1947 law: passed over Truman's veto; undermined some of the pro-labor provisions of the 1935 Wagner Act & restricted the power of labor unions.

  • Supporters: Pro-business Republicans & conservative Democrats

  • Outlawed "closed shops" (which required all to join the union if a majority of them favored a union shop).

  • Limited the power of labor unions, reversing many pro-labor laws.

  • Mandatory cooling-off periods before strikes, aimed at protecting national interests.

  • Restricted union political activities and certain practices, changing future labor dynamics.

C. 1948 Election

• Republican party candidate: Thomas Dewey

• Progressive Party: Henry A. Wallace 

  • friendly relations with the Soviet Union, racial desegregation, and nationalization of basic industries.

• Democratic Party: Truman

  • Pro-civil rights

• States' Rights Democratic Party (the Dixiecrats): segregationist Strom Thurmond 

• Truman unexpectedly won re-election, gaining support from African Americans for his civil rights stance.

  • Campaigned in Harlem & Northern AA voters

• His slogan, "The Buck Stops Here," showcased his commitment to tackling corruption.

• The election exposed conflicts within the Democratic Party, including challenges from conservative Dixiecrats.

D. Truman's Fair Deal

• Truman introduced the Fair Deal in 1949, promoting civil rights and social welfare to combat post-war inequalities for poor, elderly, & AA

• Anti-lynching bill, national healthcare, federal aid for education, housing assistance, and raising the minimum wage but faced strong opposition in Congress.

• National Housing Act (1949): for affordable housing.

• Met great resistance by southern conservatives in congress

  • Medical Association: denounced his health insurance plan as "socialized medicine,"

  • Roman Catholic Church: opposed aid to education because it would not include parochial schools.

• Response to troops in Korea:

  • Reservists & National guardsmen: didn’t want to go to duty

  • Americans stockpiling sugar, coffee, and canned goods-thus causing

  • Inflation

• 1951: approval rating 23%

E. Eisenhower's Dynamic Conservatism (1952)

• Eisenhower appealed to both democrats and republicans (was republican)

• Eisenhower’s Dynamic conservatism: reducing spending while also supporting human rights programs.

• His administration increased Social Security benefits and education funding, favoring scientific studies.

  • Education funding motivated by Cold War fears (Russian success with Sputnik)

• He aimed for balanced budgets while maintaining support for social welfare thu Cold War pressures 

F. Growth of the Military-Industrial Complex

• Bc of: Three recessions (in 1953-1954, 1957-1958, and 1960-1961) & the tremendous cost of America's global activities: the Republican administration turned to deficit spending

  • Eisenhower's presidency saw increased defense spending, leading to a military-industrial complex & too much on federal budget

• Military Industrial complex: In his exit speech, he warned abt continuing the trend of only investing in a strong military & called for balance between defense & social needs.

• Nobody dared to criticize the gov: Americans glorified America as perfect & expressed anxiety against the threat of Communism bc of the Cold War 

25-3 Cold War Fears and Anticommunis

• Fear abt the war & communism enabled trampling on civil liberties, suppression of dissent, & persecution of Americans

• Communism Red Scare: Americans violently feared communism & believed US was being too soft on Soviet Union  

A. Espionage and Nuclear Fears

• Fears of the USSR led to concerns about spying and nuclear war, especially after the hydrogen bomb and Korean War (1950-1953).

  • Ex. Top secret project Venona found Soviet telegraph cables

  • Gov kept evidence of persecution for spies secret; made gov seem unreasonable & excessive

• Fear of nuclear war: events like the launch of Sputnik, Rosenberg trial, & new Soviet nuclear bomb heightened fears of communist infiltration

• People prepared for potential nuclear attacks with civil defense drills and bomb shelters (even in schools)

  • Life magazine: featured backyard fallout shelters.

B. Politics of Anticommunism

• The House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) investigated alleged communist threats, leading to fear and accusations, particularly in Hollywood.

• These events created a culture of mistrust affecting many sectors of society.

• Anticommunism united both political parties, exemplified by the McCarran Internal Security Act of 1950, which imposed controls on subversive activities.

C. McCarthyism (1949)

• Red Panic 

• HUAC targeted university professors for communism

  • Demanded lists of textbooks, loyalty oaths for faculty

    • Professors reduced controversial material, protested, & CIO expelled unions for communism

• Senator Joseph McCarthy’s claims about communists in the government fueled political hysteria and fear 

  • His accusations led to civil rights abuses and a culture of paranoia.

• Followers: labor union officials, religious leaders, media, politicians 

  • Ex. (bootlack at Pentagon questioned by FBI bc he gave $10 to a defense fund for the Scottsboro boys who had a communist attorney)

  • Women in New York: called communists by New York World Telegram for wanting to continue wartime daycare programs 

• The backlash against his tactics led to his censure by the Senate in 1954, showing the limits of McCarthyism.

D. Anticommunism in Congress

• Most public figures thought it was risky to resist Mcarthyism & Democrats supported it

• Internal Security (McCarran) Act (1950) - required members of “Communist-front” organizations to register with the g ov & prohibited them from holding gov jobs or traveling abroad; bipartisan support

• Communist Control Act - made membership in the communist party illegal

  • Democrat Hubert H. Humphrey: chief supporter

• Anticommunism was fueled by controversial trials of Americans accused of being Soviet spies

• Congressman Richard Nixon: HUAC member; accused former state Dep official Alger Hiss of espionage; convicted for lying abt contracts with Soviets

• Ethel & Julius Rosenburg: arrested for passing atomic secrets

  • There was evidence abt Rosenburg but it wasn’t revealed & used in the trial until Cllinton

E. Waning of the Red Scare

• McCarthy used headline sensational accusations before deadlines to prevent reporters from verifying his claims

  • Despite unreliability, newspapers widely feature him

• Mcarthy condemned for sullying the dignity of the state after accusing the US army of protecting communists & being exposed for falsehood; ending his career as a communist hunter 

  • Joseph Welch intervened & exposed him of being wrong

25-4 The Struggle for Civil Rights

• US social movements against discrimination were motivated by wanting support from AFrican & Asian third world neutral countries

• Opponents of civil rights movement: called it communistic

  • FBI & local law enforcement agencies: used Cold War fears to claim legitimacy as they investigated civil rights activists 

A. Black Political Power

• Truman: supported civil rights for political & moral reasons; against racial riots by KKK; 

  • Executive order: Established President’s Committee on Civil Rights

  • Executive orders: End discrimination in fed gov 

    • 1: “Fair employment” policy in fed jobs

    • 2:  End segregation in military quickly without affecting morale

      • Military finally complied later by Korean War 

• Media & public opinion became less negative abt civil rights 

• The mid-20th century saw increased activism among African Americans for civil rights, led by organizations like the NAACP, SNCC, and CORE promoting voting rights and fighting segregation.

• Leaders like W.E.B. Du Bois and Martin Luther King Jr. gained national visibility for their advocacy.

B. Legal Victories

• Northern state legislatures: prohibited employment discrimination 

• NAACP Legal Defense & Educational fund: national success; Thurgood Marshall; resisted “separate but equal” using literal interpretation

  • Gave AA admission to formerly segregation schools

  • Smith V. Allwright (1944): Outlawed whites-only primaries held by Democratic party in southern states 

  • Morgan v. Virginia (1946) - struck down segregation in interstate bus transportation

  • Shelly v. Kraemer (1948) Court held racially restrictive covenants (private agreements with white homeowners not to sell to blacks) illegal to be enforced

• Landmark Supreme Court cases like Brown v. Board of Education (1954) deemed school segregation unconstitutional, weakening Jim Crow laws.

  • Desegregation was ruled that it had to be gradual 

• Legislative victories such as the Voting Rights Act (1965) energized and unified civil rights efforts.

• But segregation still remained (ex. 1951 bombing murder of NAACP Florida state director & his wife) 

• Despite rulings, local resistance often obstructed progress, as seen in events like the Little Rock Nine in 1957, requiring federal intervention for desegregation.

C. Montgomery Bus Boycott

• Civil rights in both North & South but mostly South 

• Rosa Parks: The Montgomery Bus Boycott (black women & civil rights organizations sparked by her arrest) began after her arrest in 1955 for not giving up her seat.

• Martin Luther King Jr. became a leading figure advocating for nonviolent protest & civil disobedience, mobilizing support through this boycott.

• Montgomery bus boycott: AA rallied in churches, sang hymns, & prayed the nation would overcome segregation & discrimination; persistent despite city officials harassment tactics

• The boycott's success led to a Supreme Court ruling against bus segregation, inspiring further activism.

D. White Resistance

• Communities in border states: quietly implemented school desegregation

• Southern moderates: gradual rollback of segregation

• KKK: White violence increased (ex. Emmett Till: took offense to the way he spoke to a white women & murdered him) 

• White Citizens’ Councils: Resisting desegregation; From Business & Professional ppl; called “uptown KKK”; used economic power to resist

  • Ex. State laws taht paid private-scshool tuitiion fro white children who left public schools to avoid integration & refused funding integrated schools

• FBI director Edgar Hoover: Warned of communism among civil rights

• Northern cities: persistence grew; AA in cities increased drastically 

  • Stores & factories refused to hire AA 

  • Race riots against AA moving to neighborhoods (ex. Cicero, Chicago 1951) 

  • Chicago: very racially divided (U.S. Commission on Civil Rights 1959 proclaimed it as segregated)

E. Federal Authority vs States' Rights

• Eisenhower: avoided civil rights actions but disapproved of segregation

  • Wanted local desegregation; against compulsory by law & to maintain Southern relations

• “The Southern “C: Manifesto”: condemned Brown Decision as above court’s power & violating states rights & condemned states that resisted forced integration lawfully 

• Federal efforts to enforce civil rights often faced resistance from Southern states, notably during the University of Alabama's integration crisis in 1963 involving George Wallace

• Events such as the Little Rock (The high school rejected integration & attacked black students) integration highlighted tensions between federal and state authority

• Federal power against segregation

  • President Eisenhower responded with federal troops to uphold court decisions, showcasing the federal government's commitment to civil rights.

    • The following year Faubus closed all public high schools

  • Civil Rights Act: Created US Commission on Civil Rights to investigate a voting rights act passed three years later (was not fully effective)

• 1957 Christian Leadership Conference: Martin Luther King Jr. became the first pres of it 

25-5 Creating a Middle-Class Nation

• American society more inclusive (broad middle-class & suburban culture

  • Class, ethnicity, religion, & regional divisions less important

  • Least economic inequality between wealthy & middle class in past 100 years 

  • New suburbs: Diverse ppl cooperated to build communities, schools, churches

  • Spread of knowledge: Middle-class Americans used national media rather than regional or ethnic traditions for advice on matters for life 

  • Consumption opportunities: teenage culture, suburban ranch-lifestyle

A. Prosperity for More Americans

• Economic boom caused by consumer spending; production increased to meet demand 

• Gov spent money into defense industries making jobs 

  • Tax rates: High on rich Americans (91%); funded defense industry 

  • Weapon dev & airforce spending: required educated scientists, engineer, & white collar workers; expanded professional middle class 

• Transistor Invention 1950s: Computer revolution & transistor radio; affected youth culture; caused by gov funded research 

• Both gross national product and per capita income soared during the economic boom from 1946 to 1962.

• Labor relations & management increased economic prosperity

  • United Auto Workers & General motors: provided workers health insurance, pension plans, & guaranteed cost-of-living adjustments

  • COLAs: protect wages from inflation 

  • 1950 agreement “The Treaty of Detroit” (named by Fortune magazine) gave GM workers a contract with regular wage increases for productivity 

• Unions became less demanding for benefits

• Union families became middle class

B. Sunbelt & Economic Growth

• Sunbelt & southern growth

  • WWII defense industry plants & military training camps channelled federal money to the South (South’s economy was weak)

  • Postwar: Defense spending (aerospace) shifted economic dev from Northeast & Midwest to South & southwest Sunbelt

  • Gov actions: tax breaks from oil companies, siting military bases, awarding of defense & aerospace contracts Agribusiness, Oil industry, real estate, recreation

  • Foreign investment

  • Industry attraction: right-to-work laws (outlawed closed shops), low taxes, low bills

    • Populations in Sunbelt cities increased & ppl migrated

C. A New Middle-Class Culture

• Middle class white collar workers increased drastically (bc of union workers getting middle-class incomes & veterans doing manager & professional jobs)

• Majority of families incomes were middle class 

• Working class culture decreased & became assimilated into middle class

• AA weren’t represented in middle-class prosperity 

• Middle-income AA, Latinos, & Asians participated in middle-class culture

D. Whiteness & National Culture

• National middle class culture enabled by:

  • More homogenous American population 

    • Immigration restrictions in 1920s reduced diversity in 1950s

      • Asia, Africa, & Latin America (allowed Europeans)

    • Europeans became American-washed after generations

  • Suburbs

    • Migrants of diff backgrounds came together  & mixed cultures & communities

• Alaska & Hawaii: Brought diverse Native, Asian, & Pacific ppl to US population

• America small towns & urban ethnic enclaves: homogenous & intolerant of cultural innovation; ppl moved from there to suburbs

E. Television 

• Taught Americans how to be middle class & their behaviors:

• National mass media

  • Ex. Women magazines: Gave American recipes from national brand name products to replace ethnic dishes 

• Television

  • Almost half of Americans had TV’s by 1953 & 90% by 1960

  • Suburban families on TV: showed middle class family behaviors, roles, & solving crisises with wisdom & humor (nobody yelled or hit)

    • Ex. Andersons (Father Knows Best) &  Cleavers (Leave it to Beaver) 

  • Most ppl watched the same networks (ABC, CBS, NBC)

• TV economics: Corporations that bought advertising avoided offending consumers & losing sales 

  • AA were underrepresented in TV bc of their little population percentage & weak economic influence

    • Black musician Nat King Cole was popular on NBC TV but not sponsored

• TV enabled a homogenous, white, middle class culture

 Suburban Expansion and Economic Growth

• The post-war economic boom fostered a middle-class lifestyle, marked by home ownership and consumer spending.

• Suburban communities like Levittown reshaped American life by providing families with space and comfort.

• Housing and infrastructure development supported this shift toward suburban living, altering societal norms.

F. Consumer Culture

• Ppl used consumer choices to express themselves & to connect with other middle-class Americans

  • Cars: Americans spent a bunch of money on cars; Consumer debt rose

• A rise in goods like appliances & cars drove economic growth fueled by mass consumption and advertising

F. Religion

• Membership in Christian churches doubled between WWII & 1960s

  • Americans seeking comfort from war with religion 

  • Mass media: Preachers (ex. Billy Graham) made national congregations from TV audiences & preached promising salvation with Cold War patriotism

• Churches community: Welcomed newcomers, celebrated life rituals, supported sick & old communities 

25-6 Men, Women, and Youth at Midcentury

• Homes & families: Offered good life & comfort

  • Ppl got comfort from private life instead of public engagement

  • Family & home commitment increased

• Social Pressures emphasized gender roles & limited men & women

A. Marriage & Famlies

• Media representations reinforced the nuclear family model, emphasizing conformity and familial stability

• Most Americans married young

  • From fears that Premarital sex would ruin the woman’s reputation, impregnate the woman, or psychologically damage her 

• Americacns formed families of three when they were young

• Birth control (condoms): widely used for couples who wanted to limit children

• Most married couples wanted a large family

• Like TV, most children had married parents; very little children born outside of marriage; divorce rates increased in 1960 then decreased in 1980s

B. Gender Roles in 1950s Families

• Traditional gender roles defined men as breadwinners and women as homemakers.

• Economic & social structure & cultural values determined what choices were available to men & women 

• White families lived in middle-class comfort on just the husband’s salary easily (not African American families) 

• Women urged to stay home to take care of children 

  • Childcare experts (ex. DR. Benjamin Spock 1956 Baby & Child Care): Articles insisted women’s roles

• Social pressures & discrimination limited women’s career and educational opportunities (hiring discrimination)

  • American schools & religious institutions benefited from womens’ volunteer labor 

  • Until movements like second-wave feminism emerged from critiques like Betty Friedan's "The Feminine Mystique" (1955).

C. Women in Work

• Women disillusionment from ideal family life

  • Women felt isolated from world experiences

  • Belief in finding emotional satisfaction in private life put pressure on marriages & family relationships

  • Women managed both job & family responsibilities & worked part 

  • Women worked part-time for family goals (not for independence)

• Number of women in workforce who were married increased

• Working woman discrimination

  • Hiring Ads were segregated on gender & wage gap was high 

  • Women were restricted to lower level (kinda domestic) jobs 

  • Talented women were suppressed

    • Modern Vfloman: The Lost Sex: Explained ambitious women & feminists were envied by men 

    • Textbooks & magezines warned women against competing with men & undermined career women as manly women 

    • Law & medical schools had barely any women 

D. Crisis of Masculinity

• Academics & media critics described masculinity crisis 

• Sociologist William H.Whyte: Explained postwar corporate employees became organization men, conformists, & non-individualists & non risk-takers

• Women’s desire for security blamed for restricting men’s adventurousness

• Cold War arguments: Nation’s future at risk if masculinity isn’t back

• Male condemnation in magazines for not conforming to husband, father, & breadwinner standards (despite those being blamed for masculinity crisis)

E. Sexuality

• Consequences for sexual misconduct was severe 

  • Pregnant women outside of marriage & homosexuals hated by friends & family, expelled from schools, & jailed

• Americans broke sexual rules

  • Director Aflfred Kinsey: Sex Research at Indiana Uni; half of womenwho rebuked premarital sex had it & 37% men had homosexual relations 

    • Sexual Behavior in the Human Male (1948) & Sexual Behavior in the Human Female (1953): 

    • Chicago Tribune: Called Kinsey a menace for insulting women

F. Youth Culture

• Caused by stability & prosperity

• Youth subcultures: 

  • White, Middle Class, Suburban youth, Black, Urban teens, White working class  

• Youth culture customs influenced from peer groups & national media teen magazines, movies, radio, advertising & music 

  • “Baby boom” youth communities populated schools

• American corporation & advertising

  • Teen targeted products were big industries (ex. Slinky, barbie, Disney)

  • Teen economic influence was strong (movies & hollywood especially)

    • The Cool and the Crazy, Senior Prom, James Dean's Rebel Without a Cause. 

    • Movies made teens copy delinquency, fads, & fashions

    • Movies showed theories of sexuality & masculinity 

• Music

  • Bill Haley and the Comets, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, and Buddy Holly, Elvis Presley

  • Rock and roll symbolized rebellion against traditional values.

    • Inspired by African American rhythms & blues

      • AA music replaced by whites for cover versions

  • Increased extra money led to unique styles and youth spending trends centered around figures like James Dean and Elvis Presley.

• Adult worries

  • Kids would go too far sexually

  • Juvenile delinquency (crime rates rose after WWII)

    • Courts blamed it on youth culture: comic books

• Youth consumer culture fit into adult consumer culture 

G. Challenges to Middle Class Culture 

• American counterculture: Beats 

• Beat writers rejected both middle-class social decorum and contemporary literary conventions

  • Jack Kerouac: author of On the Road

    • Beats supported freedom from life demands; sexual freedom & drug use

  • Allen Ginsberg: “Howl” 1956: Angry incantational poem; put on an obscenity trial; American publishing became broader 

• Mainstream press: made fun of beats; denounced their Americanness

25-7 The Limits of the Middle-Class Nation

• Critics condemned Middle-class culture as conforming, homogenous, & ugly consermism 

A. Critics of Conformity

• Books

  • John Keats's The Crack in the Picture Window (1957): Ppl abandoned individuality for consumerism

  • D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye 

  • Norman Mailer's The Naked and the Dead

  • Best sellers

    • David Riesman's The Lonely Crowd (l 950) & William H. Whyte's The Organization Man (1955) criticized the rise of conformity in American life

• Magazines (ex. Ladies’ Home Journal & Readers Digest) & Movies (Invasion of the Body Snatchers) criticized suburban conformity & homogeneity 

• Critiques were elitist & antidemocratic 

  • Complained distinctions among ethnic groups & socioeconomic classes declined in importance 

  • But Americans were healthier, happier, & richer 

• These critiques laid the groundwork for the counterculture movements of the 1960s, seeking broader societal change.

B. Environmental Degredation

• The mid-century consumer lifestyle led to environmental problems like pollution, degradation, & waste of out-of-date products .

  • Bc ppl commuted far most used cars causing pollution

  • Water taken from nature for Sunbelt cities (pools, golf courses)

  • Fast industrial growth (steel mills, generators, car engine caused pollution) raised concerns for long-term ecological viability, signaling future environmental movements.

  • Defense Contractors & farmers: Worst pollutors

    • Nuclear weapon facilities poisoned soil & water

    • Agriculture used pesticides & chemicals (ex. DDT) 

• Few ppl understood consequences of economictransformation

  • US post industrial economy where providing goods & services to consumers is more important than producing

    • Union membership grew bc most jobs created were not in heavy industries for blue collar workers but in union resistant white collar jobs 

• Productivity increased by technological advancements & automation

  • Pushed ppl out of blue collar jobs to growing & less paid service jobs

• Increased awareness of these issues set the stage for groups advocating for conservation, such as those inspired by Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring" (1962).

C. Ongoing Racism 

• Suburbs North & South racially segregated (Americans had little contact with other races) bc of segregation & unequal racial distribution in towns

• Americans disregarded race & didn’t see AA as middle class

• Poverty: ⅕ poor ppl were of non-white; ⅔ lived in uneducated households or ¼ with single women; ⅔ under 18 & ¼ over 65

• Social security payments helped elderly but many weren’t covered & medical costs increased poverty

D. Poverty in an Age of Abundance 

• Wealthy whites settled in suburbs; poor ppl in inner cities

• AA from south & Latin Americans moved to inner cities for better lives & opportunities

  • Strong economy & low employment rate increased their living standard

  • Discrimination: limited their advancements; crowded & bad housing; poor schools 

  • Fed Aid programs for middle class made poor lives worse

    • Ex. National Housing act of 1949: Made a decent home for every American family available; cleared slums making poor ppl lose their homes 

• Agribusiness Rural poverty: Pushed tenant farmers & owners of small farms off land

  • Farmer population declined bc of mechanization 

  • Former farmers moved to north & then got urban poverty

• West & Southwest: Mexicans as cheap labor under bracero program 

  • Mexicans legal & undocumented

• Native Americans

  • Super low income

  • Eisenhower termination fed policy: Reversed Indian Reorganization Act of 1934; allowed Natives to terminate their tribal status & remove reservation lands from fed protection that prohibited their sale 

  • (Ex. Klamaths lived on a reservation rich in ponderosa pine & accepted termination selling their shares); way of life collapsed

  • Native Americans left reservations to cities for jobs & new lives

• Most Americans after  Great Depression & WWII enjoyed prosperity, economic security, & middle class postwar & were unaware of struggles 

  • Their baby boom children would notice racism & poverty & fight it