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 

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