American Stories:American Stories:A History of the United States

Second Edition

Chapter

American Stories: A History of the United States, Second EditionBrands • Breen • Williams • Gross

Affluence and Anxiety1945–1960

29

The houses of Levittown spread over 1,200 acres of The houses of Levittown spread over 1,200 acres of former potato fields on Long Island, New York.former potato fields on Long Island, New York.

Affluence and AnxietyAffluence and Anxiety1945–19601945–1960

• The Postwar Boom• The Good Life?• The Struggle Over Civil Rights

Levittown:Levittown:The Flight to the SuburbsThe Flight to the Suburbs

• Residential areas surrounding cities nearly doubled in 1950s

• Baby boom accompanied massive shift away from cities; economy boomed

• Obsession with affluence causes concern as did nuclear bomb, Red Scare

• Civil rights movement shows change at work

Figure 29.1 Birthrate, 1940–1970 Figure 29.1 Birthrate, 1940–1970 SourceSource: : Compiled from U.S. Bureau of the Census, Compiled from U.S. Bureau of the Census, Historical Historical

Statistics of the United States, Colonial Times to Statistics of the United States, Colonial Times to 19701970, Bicentennial Edition, Washington, DC, 1975., Bicentennial Edition, Washington, DC, 1975.

The Postwar BoomThe Postwar Boom

The Postwar BoomThe Postwar Boom

• 1945–1960: Rapid economic growth• 1960: Fear of another depression

wanes

Postwar ProsperityPostwar Prosperity

• Stimuli to consumer goods industry Baby boom Population shift to suburbia

• Increased defense spending; capital investments

• Employment expands

Postwar Prosperity (cont’d)Postwar Prosperity (cont’d)

• Problems with agricultural overproduction, low prices

• Older industrial areas declined• 1957–1958: Recession slowed decade's

economic growth

Life in the SuburbsLife in the Suburbs

• Suburbia inhabited by middle class • Characteristics of suburbs

Dependence on the automobile Family togetherness

• Traditional feminism discouraged• Entrance of more women into

workplace stimulated new feminism

The Good Life?The Good Life?

The Good Life?The Good Life?

• Consumerism the dominant social theme of the 1950s

• Quality of life left Americans anxious and dissatisfied

Areas of Greatest GrowthAreas of Greatest Growth

• Church membership • School attendance• Television watching

One of the most popular television programs of the One of the most popular television programs of the 1950s was 1950s was I Love LucyI Love Lucy, a situation comedy , a situation comedy

featuring the real-life husband-and-wife team of featuring the real-life husband-and-wife team of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz portraying the fictional Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz portraying the fictional

couple Lucy and Ricky Ricardo.couple Lucy and Ricky Ricardo.

Critics of the Consumer SocietyCritics of the Consumer Society

• Social critics of suburban culture John Keats William Whyte David Riesman

• C. Wright Mills criticized corporations• Jack Kerouac, “Beat” artists promote

counterculture

The Struggle Over Civil RightsThe Struggle Over Civil Rights

The Struggle Over Civil RightsThe Struggle Over Civil Rights

• Cold War prompted quest for American moral superiority

• Legal discrimination against African Americans challenged U.S. self-image

• African-Americans expected more in postwar America

Civil Rights as a Political IssueCivil Rights as a Political Issue

• Truman's civil-rights legislation failed• 1948: African American vote gave

Truman his margin of victory• Civil rights made part of the liberal

Democratic agenda• Truman integrated the armed forces

Desegregating the SchoolsDesegregating the Schools

• 1954: Brown v. Board of Education Segregated schools unconstitutional Desegregate "with all deliberate speed"

• Massive resistance in Deep South• 1957: Eisenhower's actions

Federal troops sent to Little Rock, Arkansas Commission on Civil Rights established

Demonstrators supporting the Supreme Court’s Demonstrators supporting the Supreme Court’s 1954 1954 Brown v. Board of Education Brown v. Board of Education ruling to ruling to

desegregate the nation’s schools. The ruling also desegregate the nation’s schools. The ruling also sparked protests, many of them violent and sparked protests, many of them violent and

destructive, by opponents of integration.destructive, by opponents of integration.

The Beginnings of Black ActivismThe Beginnings of Black Activism

• NAACP: Pressed for civil rights in courts• 1955: Martin Luther King, Jr. led

Montgomery bus boycott• 1956: Southern Christian Leadership

Conference directed anti-segregation• Sit-ins protested segregation laws• 1960: Student Nonviolent Coordinating

Committee

Rosa Parks’s refusal to surrender her seat to a white Rosa Parks’s refusal to surrender her seat to a white man on a Montgomery, Alabama, bus led to a man on a Montgomery, Alabama, bus led to a citywide bus boycott that brought Rev. Martin citywide bus boycott that brought Rev. Martin

Luther King, Jr., to prominence as a leader of the Luther King, Jr., to prominence as a leader of the civil rights movement. Parks is shown here being civil rights movement. Parks is shown here being fingerprinted in February 1956 after her arrest for fingerprinted in February 1956 after her arrest for

violating an anti-boycott law.violating an anti-boycott law.

In February 1960, black students from North In February 1960, black students from North Carolina A&T College staged a sit-in at a “whites Carolina A&T College staged a sit-in at a “whites

only” lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina. only” lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina. Their nonviolent protest spurred similar Their nonviolent protest spurred similar

demonstrations in public spaces across the South.demonstrations in public spaces across the South.

Conclusion:Conclusion:Restoring National ConfidenceRestoring National Confidence

Conclusion:Conclusion:Restoring National ConfidenceRestoring National Confidence

• American people more optimistic in 1960 than in 1950

• Fear of economic depression waned• Fear of Cold War continued• Growing recognition of incompatibility

of racial injustice with American ideals

TimelineTimeline