VD

The 1950s

The 1950s

Essential Questions

  • What aspects of post–World War II America shaped the issues that arose in the 1950s?
  • How did the Cold War affect American foreign policy during the decade?
  • How did changing aspects of culture affect the upbringing of children and adolescents?
  • Why did rock ‘n’ roll engender wildly different reactions from various segments of society?
  • How did the modern civil rights movement evolve in the mid- and late 1950s?
  • What impact did television have on society, economics, and politics during the 1950s?
  • How did events and issues in the 1950s help lead to the cultural and social revolutions of the 1960s?

Returning Veterans “Readjust”

  • GI Bill of Rights (Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944)
    • Provided veterans with education, training, and low-cost loans for businesses and homes.
    • Millions took advantage of these benefits.
    • College enrollment skyrocketed.
    • The GI Bill helped create the “baby boom” of the 1950s and 1960s.

President Truman

  • Became president upon the death of FDR in 1945.
  • Faced Soviet aggression in Europe.
  • Encountered several domestic challenges.
  • Won the election to his own term in 1948.
  • The Korean War began in 1950.

Truman and Civil Rights

  • Congress rejected his civil rights legislation.
  • He formed the President’s Committee on Civil Rights.
  • Desegregated federal employees and the armed forces.
  • “Dixiecrats” split from the Democrats in 1948 due to Truman’s policies.

The Korean War: Outbreak

  • June 1950: Truman sent troops to Korea.
  • U.S. forces were part of a larger UN force.
  • U.S. and UN forces suffered major setbacks at first.
  • The Inchon landing helped turn the tide.

The Korean War: Stalemate

  • UN forces pushed communists to the Yalu River.
  • MacArthur clashed with Truman over the scope of the war.
  • China entered the conflict, and the war became a stalemate.
  • MacArthur was fired.
  • A truce was signed in 1953.

The Election of 1952

  • Truman decided not to run again.
  • Democrats nominated Stevenson; Republicans ran Eisenhower.
  • Eisenhower promised to “go to Korea” if elected.
  • Eisenhower won handily.

Dwight D. Eisenhower

  • Nicknamed “Ike.”
  • Led troops in North Africa and planned and ran the D-Day invasion.
  • President of Columbia University.
  • NATO commander.
  • Elected president in 1952 and 1956.
  • Died in 1969.

Adlai Stevenson

  • Grandfather had been Cleveland’s VP.
  • Governor of Illinois.
  • Lost to Eisenhower in 1952 and 1956.
  • UN Ambassador under JFK and LBJ.
  • Died in 1965.

The Rise of Richard Nixon

  • Congressman (later Senator) from CA.
  • Became famous for prosecuting Alger Hiss.
  • Eisenhower’s VP, 1953–1961.
  • Lost a close presidential election to JFK in 1960.
  • Elected president in 1968.

Nixon’s “Checkers Speech”

  • Reports of a secret campaign “slush fund.”
  • Calls for Ike to drop Nixon.
  • Nixon brought his case to voters on TV.
  • Refused to give up his kids’ dog, Checkers.
  • Popular opinion kept him on the ticket.
  • The passage from the speech is:

I should say this, that Pat [Nixon’s wife] doesn't have a mink coat. But she does have a respectable Republican cloth coat, and I always tell her she would look good in anything. One other thing I probably should tell you, because if I don’t they will probably be saying this about me, too. We did get something, a gift, after the election. A man down in Texas heard Pat on the radio mention the fact that our two youngsters would like to have a dog, and, believe it or not, the day before we left on this campaign trip we got a message from Union Station in Baltimore, saying they had a package for us. We went down to get it. You know what it was? It was a little cocker spaniel dog, in a crate that he had sent all the way from Texas, black and white, spotted, and our little girl Tricia, the six year old, named it “Checkers.” And you know, the kids, like all kids, loved the dog, and I just want to say this, right now, that regardless of what they say about it, we are going to keep it.

The “Second Red Scare”

  • Sen. Joseph McCarthy.
  • House Un-American Activities Committee.
  • Accusations of communist ties in the film industry.
  • Alger Hiss. The Rosenbergs.

House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC)

  • Investigated KKK and Nazi activity in the 1940s.
  • Investigated Alger Hiss.
  • Made Nixon a major figure.
  • Looked for communist infiltration of the film industry.
  • Lost clout after McCarthy’s downfall.

Joseph McCarthy

  • Junior senator from Wisconsin.
  • Claimed to have names of communists in the U.S. State Department.
  • Army–McCarthy hearings.
  • Censured by the Senate for his tactics.

“McCarthyism”

  • Refers to unfounded accusations of treason or disloyalty.
  • McCarthy had little or no evidence to back up accusations.
  • Murrow exposed McCarthy’s tactics.
  • McCarthy stumbled in appearance on Murrow’s See It Now.

The Army–McCarthy Hearings

  • The Army accused McCarthy and Cohn of seeking “favorable treatment” for a former staffer.
  • McCarthy was challenged by the army’s chief counsel, Welch.
  • Televised hearings that ruined McCarthy.

Levittown and the Suburbs

  • Levittown first developed on Long Island in 1947.
  • Offered affordable, mass-produced housing.
  • Highways spurred shift to suburbs, and from Rust Belt to Sun Belt.

“White Flight”

  • Refers to a movement of whites from cities to suburbs.
  • Populations of inner-city areas remained constant or declined.
  • Suburbs remained largely white.
  • Differing theories as to this phenomenon.

Urban Renewal

  • Federal Housing Act of 1949.
  • Pittsburgh was an early example of renewal.
  • 1954 Housing Act popularized term “urban renewal.”
  • The results of urban renewal were mixed.

The Interstate Highway System

  • Created by Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956.
  • Championed by Eisenhower.
  • Initial planning had begun in the 1920s.
  • Cost 114 billion to complete.
  • Named the “Eisenhower Interstate System.”

The “Baby Boom”

  • The term “baby boom” was first coined by columnist Sylvia Porter.
  • The postwar boom ran from 1946–1964.
  • An estimated 78 million Americans were born during the boom.
  • Veterans used GI Bill benefits for mortgages and businesses.
  • There was a return to typical gender roles.
  • The boom leveled off by 1958.

Dr. Benjamin Spock

  • Noted author and pediatrician.
  • Authored The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care (1946).
  • Revolutionized how parents raised their children.
  • Later became an activist against the Vietnam War.

Defeating the Polio Menace

  • The Salk vaccination was tested in 1952.
  • It injected an inactive form of the virus into subjects.
  • The Sabin oral vaccine began testing in 1957.
  • Polio was nearly eradicated worldwide.

Social Conformity in the 1950s

  • People were “too timid to be individuals.”
  • Women were encouraged to be obedient housewives.
  • Popular culture defined “typical” family roles.
  • This likely helped spur later countercultural movements.

Asch’s Experiments in Conformity

  • Asch asked a group to visually compare the lengths of lines on cards.
  • All but one (the subject) were in on the experiment.
  • When the group gave an incorrect answer, the subject tended to go along, though obviously wrong.
  • When at least one other gave the correct answer, the subject would agree.

The Organization Man

  • Authored by William H. Whyte (1956).
  • It was an indictment of the impact of conformity on American society.
  • Individuality was seen as a handicap; conformity was needed for success in business.
  • The Organization Man must not only accept being controlled but must “accept it as if he liked it.”

The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit

  • Authored by Sloan Wilson (1955).
  • A fictional indictment of the Organization Man.
  • Showed career men having dysfunctional family lives.
  • The book (and film) stressed the importance of family over advancement.

The Affluent Society

  • Written by John Kenneth Galbraith in 1958.
  • Held that America had great “private sector” wealth but little in the “public sector.”
  • Advocated putting federal money into public works.
  • Helped shape U.S. economic policy into the 1960s.
  • Coined the phrase “conventional wisdom.”

Rise of the “Affluent Society”

  • Increase in the availability of consumer goods.
  • Gross national product and median family income grew.
  • A majority of Americans were considered “middle class.”
  • There was a rise in consumer borrowing.
  • More two-income households.

Credit Cards

  • Used on a small scale in the 1920s.
  • Diners Club formed in 1949.
  • Technically a charge card; could not carry a balance.
  • American Express and Bank of America cards (later called “Visa”) appeared in 1958.

The Creation of Franchises

  • Roots in the Singer Company in the 1850s.
  • Coca-Cola soon followed with a bottling franchise.
  • Franchisees paid a fee to sell a company’s product.
  • This provided instant name recognition and consumer confidence.
  • Franchising boomed after WWII.
  • Ray Kroc and McDonald’s.

“Planned Obsolescence”

  • Coined by industrial designer Brooks Stevens.
  • Commonly describes products that quickly break or go out of style.
  • Further developed by Vance Packard:
    • Obsolescence of desirability
    • Obsolescence of function

The Ford Edsel

  • The car hit the market in 1957.
  • Named after Henry Ford’s son, Edsel.
  • Failed miserably:
    • The public hated its styling.
    • It was released during a recession.
    • Ford management was divided.
    • There was poor workmanship.
  • It was scrapped in 1960.

Television in the 1950s

  • Television ownership boomed.
  • It was in 90 percent of homes by 1961.
  • Radio networks bought TV stations.
  • Iconic pitchmen emerged.
  • TV encouraged fads.
  • TV reinforced gender and racial stereotypes.
  • It was called a “vast wasteland” by the FCC chairman.
  • It negatively affected movies and magazines.
  • It greatly affected politics.

The Beat Generation

  • A group of American writers.
  • Included Ginsberg, Burroughs, Kerouac.
  • Rejected much of American values and culture.
  • Started in New York; later San Francisco.
  • Gave way to the 1960s counterculture.

Rock ‘n’ Roll

  • Elements of gospel, country, blues, and other music forms.
  • Considered subversive.
  • DJ Alan Freed.
  • White artists made rock acceptable to a wider audience.
  • The Blackboard Jungle featured Bill Haley and His Comets.

Rock ‘n’ Roll: Cultural Backlash

  • Strong African American influences.
  • Said to encourage race mixing and immoral behavior.
  • It was variously called:
    • the devil’s music
    • a communist plot
    • a communicable disease

Elvis Presley

  • Born in 1935, in MS.
  • First recordings for Sun Records in 1953.
  • Became famous for songs such as “Hound Dog,” “Jailhouse Rock,” and “Heartbreak Hotel.”
  • Died in 1977.

“Elvis the Pelvis”

  • Elvis made TV appearances (including Ed Sullivan).
  • Some saw his dancing as lewd behavior.
  • Seen as a symbol of ‘50s “teenage rebellion.”
  • Religious and political leaders were critical of his performances.

Women in the 1950s

  • Roles began to evolve.
  • The number of women entering the workforce increased.
  • Wages were about half of male counterparts’.
  • Schools and media reinforced traditional roles.
  • Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique questioned these roles.

Hispanics in the 1950s

  • Discrimination was common.
  • Puerto Ricans:
    • Migrated to New York
    • Their culture faded with assimilation
  • Mexican Americans:
    • Bracero program
    • Deportations by Eisenhower
  • Some gains by Hispanics.

Native Americans in the 1950s

  • Among the poorest minorities.
  • High death rates.
  • U.S. policy changed from preserving tribal identities to assimilation.
  • Several treaties were terminated.
  • The voluntary relocation policy was a failure.

The Civil Rights Movement: Origins

  • Became more organized and vocal in the 1950s.
  • Employed a strategy of nonviolent civil disobedience.
  • Brown decision (1954) integrated public schools.
  • Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955).
  • Leaders included Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
  • Southern Christian Leadership Council.

The Brown Decision (1954)

  • The U.S. Supreme Court ruled “separate but equal” schools inherently unequal.
  • Public school segregation was declared unconstitutional.
  • A second decision ordered schools desegregated “with all deliberate speed.”

The “Little Rock Nine”

  • An early attempt at integration after the Brown decision.
  • Little Rock schools selected nine black students.
  • Gov. Faubus had the National Guard block their entry.
  • Eisenhower sent federal troops to restore order.
  • The school district was integrated after the next year.

The Montgomery Bus Boycott

  • Rosa Parks was arrested on Dec. 1, 1955.
  • She refused to give up her seat on a city bus to a white woman.
  • Blacks planned a boycott of city buses until the ordinance was changed.
  • King led the Montgomery Improvement Association.
  • Courts ruled segregated busing unconstitutional.
  • The boycott ended after 385 days.

MLK’s Philosophy of Nonviolence

  • Influenced by Thoreau and Gandhi.
  • Nonviolent civil disobedience.
  • No fighting back, even if assaulted or arrested.
  • Explained in “Letter From Birmingham Jail.”

Southern Christian Leadership Conference

  • Founded in 1957 in Atlanta.
  • Included several prominent activists, including MLK and Ralph Abernathy.
  • Relied on the influence of black Southern religious leaders.
  • Led the 1963 protests in Birmingham as well as the March on Washington.

1950s Technology

  • The chemical industry created pesticides, fertilizers, fibers, and plastics.
  • Electronics and appliances became widespread.
  • Nuclear power began to be explored.
  • Computers and the transistor were developed.
  • Birth of Silicon Valley.

The H-Bomb and Brinksmanship

  • The USSR tested the A-bomb in 1949.
  • The U.S. made the first H-bomb test in 1953; the Soviets in 1955.
  • Dulles’s brinksmanship involved huge stocks of nuclear weapons.
  • This led to “mutually assured destruction.”

Fallout Shelters

  • Civil Defense encouraged citizens to build shelters.
  • It was unlikely they would have been effective.
  • The shelters’ impact was more psychological.
  • It made the public believe a nuclear war was survivable.

The Space Race

  • International Geophysical Year (1957–1958).
  • The USSR launched Sputnik I in 1957.
  • This was a blow to U.S. prestige.
  • It implied the superiority of Soviet missiles.
  • The U.S. sent up Explorer I in 1958.

The U-2 Incident

  • A U-2 was shot down over Soviet territory in 1960.
  • This was a major setback in U.S./USSR relations.
  • The incident forced summit cancellation.
  • Powers was convicted of espionage and released in 1962.

Early U.S. Involvement in Vietnam

  • The U.S. first supported Vietnamese independence from France.
  • Later backed the French against Ho’s Viet Minh.
  • The French were defeated at Dien Bien Phu.
  • The Geneva Accords partitioned the country.

Hostilities Begin in Vietnam

  • Diem seized power in the South.
  • Southern communists formed the Viet Cong.
  • The U.S. opposed elections to unify Vietnam.
  • The Viet Cong began a guerilla war in the South.

The Election of 1960

  • Vice President Richard M. Nixon (R).
  • Senator John F. Kennedy (D).
  • Nixon promised to continue Eisenhower’s peace and prosperity.
  • JFK sought to “get the country moving again” in the rivalry with the USSR.
  • JFK’s Roman Catholicism was an issue.

The First Debate

  • Nixon:
    • was an experienced debater
    • looked scruffy, ill, and sweaty
  • Kennedy:
    • looked and sounded “presidential”
    • made effective use of television
  • TV viewers tended to think that JFK won, but radio listeners said the opposite.

A Close Election

  • About 68 million votes were cast.
  • JFK won the popular vote by about 118,000.
  • Key states were Texas and Illinois.
  • There were rumors of voter fraud in IL.
  • Nixon lost by 84 electoral votes.
  • Byrd got 15 electoral votes.

JFK Takes Office

  • Kennedy promised a “New Frontier.”
  • Asked Americans to work to make the country great.
  • Idealism inspired many to help out in the U.S. and abroad.

The Legacy of the 1950s

  • The Cold War got “colder.”
  • The Civil rights movement led to the Civil Rights Act (1964) and Voting Rights Act (1965).
  • The women’s rights movement and NOW emerged.
  • Beats and other symbols of rebellion contributed to social activism.
  • The 1960s “British invasion” built on early rock ‘n’ roll.