chapter 14: postwar america, 1945-1960images.pcmac.org/sisfiles/schools/ca/smjuhsd/... · postwar...

662 CHAPTER 12 Becoming a World Power662662

Postwar America1945–1960

. The Big Ideas ,SECTION 1: Truman and Eisenhower

The fate of nations is forever changed by monumental world events. After World War II, the Truman and Eisenhower administrations set out to help the nation adjust to peacetime.

SECTION 2: The Affluent SocietySocieties change over time. The postwar economic boom brought great changes to society,

including the ways many Americans worked and lived.

SECTION 3: Popular Culture of the 1950sSocieties change over time. During the carefree and prosperous 1950s, Americans turned to

television, new forms of music, cinema, and literature for entertainment.

SECTION 4: The Other Side of American LifeSocieties change over time. Not everyone in the United States prospered during the nation’s

postwar boom, as millions of minorities and rural whites struggled daily with poverty.

The American Vision: Modern Times Video The Chapter 14 video,“America Takes to the Roads,” describes the cultural impact of the automobile and its importance to the growing baby boom generation.

1944• GI Bill enacted

1946• Series of work strikes

plagues country

1946• Juan Perón elected

president ofArgentina

1948• South Africa

introduces apartheid

1952• Scientists led by Edward

Teller develop hydrogenbomb

▲ ▲ ▲ ▲

▼▼

1947• Levittown

constructionbegins

1948• Truman elected

president

▼

1944 1948 1952

Truman1945–1953

(l)Picture Research Consultants, (c)White House Historical Association, (r)CORBIS/Bettmann

663663

These confident newlyweds capture the prosperous attitudeof postwar America.

HISTORY

Chapter OverviewVisit the American Vision:Modern Times Web site at

andclick on Chapter Overviews—Chapter 14 to preview chapterinformation.

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1956• Elvis Presley

appears on TheEd Sullivan Show

• Federal HighwayAct passed

1958• Galbraith’s The Affluent

Society published

1954• Gamal Abdel

Nasser takespower in Egypt

1956• Suez Canal

crisis erupts

1955• Salk polio vaccine

becomes widelyavailable

▲

▲

▲ ▲ ▲

▼ ▼ ▼

1953• Lucille Ball gives birth

in real life and on hertelevision show

1957• Estimated 40 million television

sets in use in United States

1957• USSR launches

Sputnik I andSputnik II satellites

1956 1960

Eisenhower1953–1961

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664 CHAPTER 14 Postwar America664 CHAPTER 14 Postwar America

In the last chapter, we looked at questions that require answers directlyfrom the book. There are other questions that ask you to use information

based on your experiences and opinions. These questions ask you toanalyze and interpret information in your textbook. It is important torecognize the difference between the different types of questions so thatyou know where to find the answers—in the book or in your head.

One type of question is called “author and you” because you need to useinformation from the book and from your own experiences to supply theanswer. Another type is called “on your own” because it comes from yourprior knowledge and experiences. In both cases, the information in the bookmay influence your answer, but it is not the primary source. Some peoplecall these types of questions text-implicit. This means that the answer issomewhat hidden and may require that you use information from othersources, such as your own experiences.

Read the following paragraph about the role ofwomen during the 1950s. Then read the questionsbelow and discuss the answers with a partner.

Many women focused on their traditional role of homemaker during the 1950s. . . . ManyAmericans assumed that a good mother shouldstay home to take care of her children.

“Let’s face it, girls,” declared one female writerin Better Homes and Gardens in April 1955, “thatwonderful guy in your house—and in mine—is building your house, your happiness and theopportunities that will come to your children.” The magazine advised stay-at-home wives to “set their sights on a happy home, a host of friendsand a bright future through success in HIS job.” (page 677)

Question: How did society view women during the 1950s?

This is an “author and you” question because you need to use informationfrom the text as well as your own knowledge to provide the answer.

Question: How would readers interpret this article today?

This is an “on your own” question because it requires you to think aboutyour own knowledge, opinions, and experiences.

Look closely at the questions in each section assessment and in the chapterassessment. Many of those are examples of either “author and you” or “onyour own” questions. As you answer these questions, determine for eachwhat type of question it is.

664 CHAPTER 14 Postwar America

Question-Answer Relationships

QUESTION–ANSWERRELATIONSHIPS

Remember to use evidencefrom the text as well as youropinions and experiences toanswer text-implicit questions.

CHAPTER 14 Postwar America 665CHAPTER 14 Postwar America 665665

Chronological and Spatial Thinking You should learn to analyze how change happensat different rates at different times. You should also understand that some aspects canchange while others remain the same, and that change is complicated and affects not onlytechnology and politics but also values and beliefs.

Analyzing and Understanding Change

Do you remember a time when everyone in your family was sick? Maybe itwas a cold that was passed around your house. Did you notice that everyone

who became sick recovered from their illnesses at different rates? The economiesof countries are similar in that they expand and contract at different rates atdifferent times. In fact, the same language used in the health field is often used todescribe the economy of a country.

Historians understand that change in a nation’s history is complex and canoccur at different rates at different times. Like your families, economies may bequick or slow to recover from a recession, depression, or war.

Read the following passage about the concerns of Americans about the postwar economy of the United States.

After the war many Americans feared the return to a peacetime economy. They worried that after military production halted and millions of former soldiers glutted the labor market, unemployment and recession might sweep the country. (page 667)

You learned in the previous chapter that when World War II ended, theeconomies of Germany, Japan, and Great Britain were in ruins. As the nations ofEurope and Asia set out to rebuild, they relied upon the United States to providethe manufactured goods necessary for reconstruction.

What effects do you think the reconstruction efforts had upon the U.S. econ-omy? Do you think these effects would have an impact on the lives of Americans?Can you think of other events that would affect the economy of the United States?

Before you read, make a prediction about the economy of the United States in the1950s. As you read the chapter, write downthe individual events and issues that playeda role in the postwar economy, and how theybrought about change. Make sure you out-line the impact of politics, technology, andvalues and beliefs each had on the economy.After reading the chapter, review your pre-diction. Identify and analyze the differencesbetween your prediction and actual events.

Analysis Skill Standard CS2


Guide to Reading

ConnectionIn the previous chapter, you learnedabout the beginning of the Cold War. Inthis section, you will discover how transi-tioning to a peacetime economy afterWorld War II changed the nation.

• Despite inflation and labor strikes, theUnited States successfully transitionedto a peacetime economy. (p. 667)

• Throughout his administration,President Truman had an uneasy work-ing relationship with Congress. (p. 668)

• Eisenhower considered his politicalbeliefs middle of the road and tried to balance activism and economic conservatism. (p. 670)

Content Vocabularyclosed shop, right-to-work law, unionshop, featherbedding, dynamicconservatism

Academic Vocabularyrestrain, subsidy, transition

Terms to IdentifyGI Bill, “Do-Nothing Congress,” Fair Deal,Federal Highway Act

Reading Objectives• Explain the Truman administration’s

efforts on the domestic front.• Describe President Eisenhower’s

domestic agenda.

Reading StrategyCategorizing As you read about theTruman and Eisenhower administrations,complete a graphic organizer similar tothe one below by listing the characteris-tics of the postwar economy of theUnited States.

Preview of Events

Truman andEisenhower


Characteristicsof a Postwar Economy

1944Congress passesGI Bill

✦1947 ✦1953✦1950

1946Strikes take placeacross the country

1948Harry S. Truman winspresidential election

1952Dwight D. Eisenhower winspresidential election

✦1944

. The Big Idea ,The fate of nations is forever changed by monumental world events.Labor strikes for better wages led the new conservative Congress to pass legislation limiting the power of unions. Many of Truman’s legislative proposalswere defeated in Congress. With backing from laborers, African Americans,and farmers, Truman was able to win reelection in 1948. Congress eventuallypassed several of Truman’s Fair Deal proposals. After winning the election of 1952, President Dwight Eisenhower worked to balance activism and economicconservatism.

The following are the mainHistory–Social Science Standardscovered in this section.

11.8.3 Examine Truman’s labor pol-icy and congressional reaction to it.

11.8.4 Analyze new federal govern-ment spending on defense, welfare,interest on the national debt, and fed-eral and state spending on education,including the California Master Plan.

11.10.1 Explain how demands of AfricanAmericans helped produce a stimulus forcivil rights, including President Roosevelt’sban on racial discrimination in defense indus-tries in 1941, and how African Americans’service in World War II produced a stimulusfor President Truman’s decision to end segre-gation in the armed forces in 1948.

11.11.2 Discuss the significant domestic policyspeeches of Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy,Johnson, Nixon, Carter, Reagan, Bush, andClinton (e.g., with regard to education, civilrights, economic policy, environmental policy).

Return to a Peacetime Economy

Despite inflation and labor strikes, the UnitedStates successfully transitioned to a peacetime economy.

Reading Connection Would you consider going onstrike to obtain certain rights and privileges? Read on to learnhow Truman dealt with mining and railroad strikers.

After the war, many Americans feared the returnto a peacetime economy. They worried that after mil-itary production halted and millions of former sol-diers glutted the labor market, unemployment andrecession might sweep the country. Despite such wor-ries, the economy continued to grow. Consumerspending, which had been limited during the war,helped ward off a recession.

As World War II ended, Robert Eubanks was worriedas he prepared for his discharge from the army. Hehad joined the army because, as an African American,it was hard for him to find a job that paid well. Then he heard about something known as the GI Bill, a gov-ernment program that paid veterans’ tuition for collegeand provided a living allowance. Eubanks took advan-tage of the program and enrolled at the IllinoisInstitute of Technology. He earned three degrees onthe GI Bill and eventually became a professor at theUniversity of Illinois.

Years later Eubanks recalled how his life waschanged by the bill. “It’s very hard to explain howthings were during the 1940s,“ he said. “The restrictionson blacks then were rough. The GI Bill gave me my starton being a professional instead of a stock clerk.”

—adapted from When Dreams Came True

The Servicemen’s Readjustment Act, popularlycalled the GI Bill, further boosted the economy. Theact provided generous loans to veterans to help themestablish businesses, buy homes, and attend college.

Inflation and Strikes The postwar economy wasnot without its problems. A greater demand forgoods led to higher prices, and this rising inflationsoon triggered labor unrest. As the cost of living rose,workers across the country went on strike for betterpay. Work stoppages soon affected the automobile,electrical, steel, and mining industries.

Afraid that the nation’s energy supply would bedrastically reduced, President Truman forced strikingminers to return to work. Truman ordered govern-ment seizure of the mines while pressuring mineowners to grant the union most of its demands. Thepresident also halted a strike that shut down thenation’s railroads by threatening to draft the strikingworkers into the army.

Republican Victory Labor unrest and high pricesprompted many Americans to call for a change. TheRepublicans seized upon these sentiments during the1946 congressional elections, winning control of bothhouses of Congress for the first time since 1930.

The new conservative Congress quickly set out tocurb the power of organized labor. Legislators pro-posed a measure known as the Taft-Hartley Act,which outlawed the closed shop, or the practice offorcing business owners to hire only union members.Under the law, states could pass right-to-work laws,which outlawed union shops (shops in which newworkers were required to join the union). The meas-ure also prohibited featherbedding, the practice oflimiting work output in order to create more jobs.When the bill reached Truman he vetoed it, arguing:

“ . . . [It would] reverse the basic direction of ournational labor policy, inject the government into pri-vate economic affairs on an unprecedented scale, andconflict with important principles of our democraticsociety. Its provisions would cause more strikes, notfewer.”

—quoted in The Growth of the American Republic


The GI Bill African American soldiers review the benefits of the GI Bill, which included loans to attend college and to buy homes.

CORBIS

The president’s concerns, however, did little tosway Congress, which passed the Taft-Hartley Actin 1947 despite President Truman’s veto. Its sup-porters claimed the law held irresponsible unions incheck just as the Wagner Act of 1935 had restrainedantiunion activities and employers. Labor leaderscalled the act a “slave labor” law and insisted that iterased many of the gains that unions had madesince 1933.

Explaining Why did Truman vetothe Taft-Hartley Act?

Truman’s Domestic Program

Throughout his administration, PresidentTruman had an uneasy working relationship withCongress.

Reading Connection Why is it important thatCongress and the president work together in crafting legisla-tion? Read on to discover the relationship between Trumanand federal legislators.

The Democratic Party’s loss of members in the1946 elections did not dampen President Truman’sspirits or his plans. Shortly after taking office,Truman had proposed a series of domestic measuresthat sought to continue the work done as part of

Reading Check

Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal. During his tenurein office, Truman worked to push this agendathrough Congress.

Truman’s Legislative Agenda To continue theefforts of the New Deal, Truman proposed severallegislative measures. The president’s proposals in-cluded the expansion of Social Security benefits; theraising of the legal minimum wage from 40¢ to 75¢an hour; a program to ensure full employmentthrough aggressive use of federal spending andinvestment; public housing and slum clearance; long-range environmental and public works planning;and a system of national health insurance.

Truman also boldly asked Congress in February1948 to pass a broad civil rights bill that would pro-tect African Americans’ right to vote, abolish polltaxes, and make lynching a federal crime. He alsoissued an executive order barring discrimination infederal employment, and he ended segregation in thearmed forces.

Most of Truman’s legislative efforts, however, metwith little success in Congress. A coalition of Re-publicans and conservative Southern Democratsdefeated many of his proposals. While these defeatsangered Truman, with the upcoming election of 1948 the president soon had to worry about othermatters.

The Election of 1948 As the presidential electionof 1948 approached, most observers gave Truman lit-tle chance of winning. Some Americans still believedthat he lacked the stature for the job, and they viewedhis administration as weak and inept.

Divisions within the Democratic Party also seemedto spell disaster for Truman. At the DemocraticConvention that summer, two factions abandoned theparty altogether. Reacting angrily to Truman’s supportof civil rights, a group of Southern Democrats walkedout of the Democratic Convention. They formed theStates’ Rights, or Dixiecrat, Party and nominated SouthCarolina governor Strom Thurmond as their presiden-tial candidate. At the same time, the party’s more lib-eral members were frustrated by Truman’s ineffectivedomestic policies and critical of his anti-Soviet foreignpolicy. They formed a new Progressive Party, withHenry A. Wallace as their presidential candidate.

The president’s Republican opponent was NewYork governor Thomas Dewey, a dignified and popu-lar candidate who seemed unbeatable. After polling50 political writers, Newsweek magazine declaredthree weeks before the election, “The landslide forDewey will sweep the country.”


African Americans Rally for Truman During the 1948 election, PresidentTruman spoke at many rallies similar to this one in New York City. What legisla-tive proposals by President Truman built African American political support?

History

Cornell Capa/TimePix

Perhaps the only one who gave Truman a chanceto win was Truman himself. “I know every one ofthose 50 fellows,” he declared about the writerspolled in Newsweek. “There isn’t one of them hasenough sense to pound sand in a rat hole.” Ignoringthe polls, the feisty president poured his efforts intoan energetic campaign. He traveled more than 20,000miles by train and made more than 350 speeches.Along the way, Truman attacked the majorityRepublican Congress as “do-nothing, good-for-noth-ing” for refusing to enact his legislative agenda.

Truman’s attacks on the “Do-Nothing Congress”did not mention that both he and Congress had beenvery busy dealing with foreign policy matters.Congress had passed the Truman Doctrine’s aid pro-gram to Greece and Turkey, as well as the MarshallPlan. It had also created the Department of Defenseand the CIA and established the Joint Chiefs of Staffas a permanent organization. The 80th Congress,therefore, did not “do nothing” as Truman charged,but its accomplishments were in areas that did notaffect most Americans directly. As a result, Truman’scharges began to stick, and to the surprise of almosteveryone, his efforts paid off.

With a great deal of support from laborers,African Americans, and farmers, Truman won a

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A victorious Truman holds a paper thatincorrectly predicted a Dewey victory.

Republican

States´ Rights

Progressive

21,991,291

1,176,125

1,157,326

189

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CandidateElectoral

VotePopular

VotePolitical

Party

Dewey

Thurmond

Wallace

Presidential Election, 1948

Truman 303 24,179,345 Democrat1. Interpreting Maps How many electoral votes did

President Truman receive?2. Applying Geography Skills Where did Strom

Thurmond enjoy strong political support?

narrow but stunning victoryover Dewey. Perhaps just asremarkable as the president’svictory was the resurgence ofthe Democratic Party. Whenthe dust had cleared afterElection Day, Democrats hadregained control of bothhouses of Congress.

The Fair Deal Truman’sState of the Union message tothe new Congress repeatedthe domestic agenda he hadput forth previously. “Every segment of our popula-tion and every individual,” he declared, “has a rightto expect from . . . government a fair deal.” Whetherintentional or not, the president had coined aname—the Fair Deal—to set his program apart fromthe New Deal.

The 81st Congress did not completely embraceTruman’s Fair Deal. Legislators did raise the legalminimum wage to 75¢ an hour. They also approvedan important expansion of the Social Security system,increasing benefits by 77 percent and extending themto 10 million additional people. Congress also

The Election of 1948

Student WebActivity Visit theAmerican Vision:Modern Times Web siteatand click on StudentWeb Activities—Chapter 14 for anactivity on postwarAmerica.

HISTORY

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passed the National Housing Act of 1949, which pro-vided for the construction of over 800,000 units oflow-income housing and long-term rent subsidies.

Congress refused, however, to pass national healthinsurance or to provide subsidies for farmers or fed-eral aid for schools. In addition, legislators opposedTruman’s efforts to enact civil rights legislation.

Describing What was the impact ofthe election of 1948?

The Eisenhower Years

Eisenhower considered his political beliefsmiddle of the road and tried to balance activism andeconomic conservatism.

Reading Connection Would a candidate running on a“middle of the road” platform appeal to you as a voter? Readon to learn about Eisenhower’s accomplishments as president.

In 1950 the United States went to war in Korea. Thewar consumed the nation’s attention and resourcesand basically ended Truman’s Fair Deal. By 1952,with the war a bloody stalemate and his approval rat-ing dropping quickly, Truman declined to run againfor the presidency. With no Democratic incumbent toface, Republicans pinned their hopes of regaining theWhite House on a popular World War II hero.

The Election of 1952 Dwight Eisenhower decidedto run as the Republican nominee for president in1952. His running mate was a young California sena-tor, Richard Nixon. The Democrats nominated

Reading Check

Illinois governor Adlai Stevenson, a witty and elo-quent speaker who had the support of leading liber-als and organized labor.

The Republicans adopted the slogan: “It’s time fora change!” The warm and friendly Eisenhower,known as “Ike,” promised to end the war in Korea. “Ilike Ike” became the Republican rallying cry.

Eisenhower’s campaign soon came under fire asreports surfaced that Richard Nixon had receivedgifts from California business leaders totaling$18,000 while he was a senator. For a while, it lookedas if Nixon might be dropped from the ticket. In anationwide speech broadcast on radio and television,Nixon insisted the funds had been used for legiti-mate political purposes. He did admit that his familyhad kept one gift, a cocker spaniel puppy named“Checkers.” He declared, “The kids love the dog,[and] regardless about what they say about it, we’regoing to keep it.” This so-called “Checkers speech”won praise from much of the public and kept Nixonon the ticket.

Eisenhower won the election by a landslide, carry-ing the Electoral College 442 votes to 89. TheRepublicans also gained an eight-seat majority in theHouse, while the Senate became evenly dividedbetween Democrats and Republicans.

Ike as President President Eisenhower had twofavorite phrases. “Middle of the road” described hispolitical beliefs, which fell midway between conser-vative and liberal. He also referred to the notion of“dynamic conservatism,” which meant balancingeconomic conservatism with some activism.

Eisenhower wasted little time in showing his con-servative side. The new president’s cabinet appoint-ments included several business leaders. Under their


President Eisenhower waves to a crowd during his election campaign➤

Getty Images, (inset)Time Life Pictures/Getty Images

guidance, Eisenhower ended government price andrent controls, which many conservatives had viewedas unnecessary federal control over the businesscommunity. The Eisenhower administration viewedbusiness growth as vital to the nation. The presi-dent’s secretary of defense, formerly the president ofGeneral Motors, declared to the Senate that “what isgood for our country is good for General Motors,and vice versa.”

Eisenhower’s conservatism showed itself in otherways as well. In an attempt to curb the federalbudget, the president vetoed a school constructionbill and agreed to slash government aid to publichousing. Along with these cuts, he supported somemodest tax reductions.

Eisenhower also targeted the federal govern-ment’s continuing aid to businesses, or what hetermed “creeping socialism.” Shortly after takingoffice, the president abolished the ReconstructionFinance Corporation (RFC), which since 1932 hadlent money to banks, railroads, and other large insti-tutions in financial trouble. Another Depression-eraagency, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), alsocame under Eisenhower’s economic scrutiny. Duringhis presidency, appropriations for the TVA fell from$185 million to $12 million.

In some areas, President Eisenhower took anactivist role. For example, he advocated the passage oftwo large government projects. During the 1950s, asthe number of Americans who owned cars increased,so too did the need for greater and more efficienttravel routes. In 1956 Congress responded to thisgrowing need by passing the Federal Highway Act,the largest public works program in American his-tory. The act appropriated $25 billion for a 10-yeareffort to construct more than 40,000 miles (64,400 km)

of interstate highways. Congress also authorizedconstruction of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Seawayto connect the Great Lakes with the Atlantic Oceanthrough a series of locks on the St. Lawrence River.Three previous presidents had been unable to reachagreements with Canada to build this waterway toaid international shipping. Through Eisenhower’sefforts, the two nations finally agreed on a plan tocomplete the project.

Extending the New Deal Although PresidentEisenhower cut federal spending and worked to limitthe federal government’s role in the nation’s econ-omy, he also agreed to extend the Social Security sys-tem to an additional 10 million people. He alsoextended unemployment compensation to an addi-tional 4 million citizens and agreed to increase theminimum hourly wage from 75¢ to $1 and to con-tinue to provide some government aid to farmers.

By the time Eisenhower ran for a second term in1956—a race he won easily—the nation had success-fully completed the transition from a wartime to apeacetime economy. The battles between liberals andconservatives over whether to continue New Dealpolicies would continue. In the meantime, however,most Americans focused their energy on enjoyingwhat had become a decade of tremendous prosperity.

Evaluating What conservative andactivist measures did Eisenhower take during his administration?

Reading Check


Checking for Understanding1. Vocabulary Define: closed shop, right-

to-work law, union shop, featherbed-ding, restrain, subsidy, dynamicconservatism, transition.

2. People and Terms Identify: GI Bill,“Do-Nothing Congress,” Fair Deal,Federal Highway Act.

Reviewing Big Ideas3. Examining What programs did

Congress pass from Truman’s Fair Deal?What programs did Congress refuse?

Critical Thinking4. Interpreting In

what ways did the Taft-Hartley Act hurtlabor unions?

5. Categorizing Use a graphic organizerto compare the agendas of the Trumanand Eisenhower administrations.

Analyzing Visuals6. Analyzing Maps Study the map on

page 669. Which parts of the countrydid Dewey win? Why do you think hedid so well in these areas?

CA HI1; HI2

Writing About History7. Persuasive Writing Take on the role

of a member of Congress during theTruman administration. Write a speechin which you try to persuade the 81st

Congress to either pass or defeatTruman’s Fair Deal measures.

CA 11WS1.1; 11WA2.3b

Agendas

Truman Eisenhower

For help with the concepts in this section of AmericanVision: Modern Times go to andclick on Study Central.

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Study CentralHISTORY



InterstateHighways

As Cold War tensions rose, American officials realized that the ability to movetroops and military equipment across thecountry quickly and efficiently could very welldetermine whether the nationcould survive attack. Since thehaphazard system of two-lanehighways that crisscrossedAmerica could not handle sucha task, the Eisenhower adminis-tration proposed a 41,000-milenetwork of multi-lane interstatehighways. The interstate system changedAmerican life in several significant ways.

Suburbanization and Urban SprawlThe interstate system contributed to the growth ofsuburban communities and the eventual geographicspread of centerless cities. Using the interstates, sub-urbanites could commute to their jobs miles away.

➤

The Interstate System, 2000

Interstatehighways (free)Interstatehighways (toll)

More Efficient Distribution of Goods ➤ The interstates made the distribution of goods faster and moreefficient. In the 1990s, trucks moved more than 6 billion tons ofgoods each year, nearly half of all commercial transports in theUnited States. Most of these trucks used interstates.

672 CHAPTER 14 Postwar America(t)CORBIS, (c)Getty Images, (b)J R Eyerman/TimePix/Getty Images


ANALYZING THE IMPACT

Check for Understanding

1. Identify How was the initial purpose of the inter-state highway system related to the Cold War?

Critical Thinking

2. Evaluate Explain the value of the interstate highwaysystem in your area. Is the system an important partor your area’s economy and culture?

The interstate highways drastically decreased the time it took to travelacross the continent. In 1919 a young Dwight D. Eisenhower joined 294other members of the army to travel the 2,800 miles from Washington, D.C.,to San Francisco. They made the trip in 62 days, averaging 5 miles per hour.During World War II, General Eisenhower was impressed with the moderndesign of Germany’s freeway system, the Autobahn. “The old convoy,” hesaid, “had started me thinking about good, two-lane highways, butGermany had made me see the wisdom of broader ribbons across theland.” Wide lanes and controlled entrance and exit points allowed cars totravel at much higher speeds. Using the interstate highways, Eisenhower’strip would now take 41⁄2 days.

Travel Times:Washington, D.C., to San Francisco

2,800 mile trip took 62 days in 1919

2,800 mile trip takes 4 1/2 days today

A New Road Culture ➤The interstates created an automobile society. In 1997 $687 billion were spent on private automobiles compared to $22.8 billion for public transit. Additionally, chains of fast food restaurants and motels replaced independentoperators across the country.

(t)Courtesy Wig Wam Motel, (b)CORBIS


Guide to Reading

ConnectionIn the previous section, you learnedabout the transition of the United Statesto a peacetime economy. In this section,you will discover the great changes apostwar economic boom brought toAmerican society.

• An increase in service sector and pro-fessional jobs led to a great increase in American income from 1940 to 1955. (p. 675)

• Despite a baby boom and cultural pres-sure, the number of women in theworkforce increased. (p. 677)

• Technological changes included thedevelopment of early computers,advances in medicine, and new con-quests of outer space. (p. 678)

Content Vocabularywhite-collar, blue-collar, multinationalcorporation, franchise, baby boom

Academic Vocabularyaccompany, benefit, generate

People and Terms to IdentifyJohn Kenneth Galbraith, David Riesman,Levittown, Jonas Salk

Reading Objectives• Explain the reasons for and the effects

of the nation’s economic boom.

• Describe changes to the American fam-ily that took place during the 1950s.

• Discuss the technological and medicaldiscoveries of the 1950s.

Reading StrategySequencing As you read aboutAmerican society in the 1950s, completea time line similar to the one below byrecording the scientific and technologicalbreakthroughs of the time.

Preview of Events

The Affluent Society

1946 1958

1947Construction ofLevittown begins

✦1946 ✦1954

1950David Riesman’s TheLonely Crowd published

1955Salk polio vaccinebecomes widely available

1958John Kenneth Galbraith’s TheAffluent Society published

✦1950 ✦1958

11.11.7 Explain how the federal, state, and local gov-ernments have responded to demographic and socialchanges such as population shifts to the suburbs, racial

concentrations in the cities, Frostbelt-to-Sunbelt migra-tion, international migration, decline of family farms,increases in out-of-wedlock births, and drug abuse.

. The Big Idea ,Societies change over time. Between 1940 and 1955, the income of Americanworkers increased as the number of white-collar jobs grew. People began to pur-chase more luxury items and buy homes in the suburbs. During this time, thecountry also experienced a baby boom. Despite an emphasis on women’s rolesas homemakers, the number of women in the workplace increased. Advances intechnology and medicine brought about the development of early computers,new medicines, and the world’s first space satellite.


11.8.1 Trace the growth of servicesector, white collar, and professionalsector jobs in business andgovernment.

11.8.7 Describe the effects on societyand the economy of technologicaldevelopments since 1945, including the computer revolution, changes incommunication, advances in medicine,and improvements in agriculturaltechnology.

11.10.7 Analyze the women’s rights move-ment from the era of Elizabeth Stanton and Susan Anthony and the passage of theNineteenth Amendment to the movementlaunched in the 1960s, including differing perspectives on the roles of women.

11.11.3 Describe the changing roles of womenin society as reflected in the entry of morewomen into the labor force and the changingfamily structure.

American Abundance

An increase in service sector and profes-sional jobs led to a great increase in American incomefrom 1940 to 1955.

Reading Connection Did you shop or eat at a franchisethis week? Read on to find out about the growth of franchisesand multinational corporations during the 1950s.

In 1958 economist John Kenneth Galbraith pub-lished The Affluent Society, in which he claimed thatthe nation’s postwar prosperity was a new phenome-non. In the past, Galbraith said, all societies had an “economy of scarcity,” meaning that a lack ofresources and overpopulation had limited economicproductivity. Now, the United States and a few otherindustrialized nations had created what Galbraithcalled an “economy of abundance.” An abundance ofgoods and services allowed many people to enjoy astandard of living they never before thought possi-ble. Kemmons Wilson was one example of how thestandard of living was changing.

In the summer of 1951, Kemmons Wilson traveledwith his family from Memphis, Tennessee, toWashington, D.C. He noticed that some of the motelsthey stayed in were terrible. Each added a $2 chargeper child to the standard room price, and many werelocated far from restaurants, forcing travelers backinto their cars to search for meals.

Frustrated, Wilson decided to build a motel chainthat would provide interstate travelers with comfort-able lodgings. They would be located near good familyrestaurants and allow kids to stay free. Together with agroup of investors, Wilson began building the HolidayInn motel chain. Families loved his motels, and soonHoliday Inns were sprouting up all over the country.

Wilson said he never doubted the success of hisendeavor. “I like to think that I’m so . . . normal thatanything I like, everybody else is going to like too,” hesaid. “The idea that my instincts are out of line justdoesn’t occur to me.” His prosperity mirrored a grow-ing affluence in the nation. This time of prosperitymade the shortages of the Great Depression andWorld War II a distant memory.

—adapted from Watching TV: Four Decades of American Television

Kemmons Wilson’s motel chain proved successfullargely because the 1950s was a decade of incredibleprosperity.

The Spread of Wealth Some critics accusedGalbraith of overstating the situation, but the factsand figures seemed to support his theory. Between1940 and 1960, the average income of American fam-ilies roughly tripled. Americans in all income brack-ets—poor, middle-class, and wealthy—experiencedthis rapid rise in income. The dramatic rise in homeownership also showed that the income of averagefamilies had risen significantly. Between 1940 and1960, the number of Americans owning their ownhomes rose from about 43 to about 62 percent.

Accompanying the country’s economic growthwere dramatic changes in work environments.Mechanization in farms and factories meant thatfewer farmers and laborers were needed to providethe public with food and goods. As a result, moreAmericans began working in what are called white-collar jobs, such as those in sales and management.In 1956, for the first time, white-collar workers out-numbered blue-collar workers, or people who per-form physical labor in industry.

Multinationals and Franchises Many white-collar employees worked for large corporations. Asthese businesses competed with each other, someexpanded overseas. These multinational corporationslocated themselves closer to important raw materialsand benefited from a cheaper labor pool, which madethem more competitive.


Kemmons Wilson on magazine cover

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TimePix/Getty Images

personality is viewed with overwhelming suspicion,”and the person with ideas is considered “a threat.”

In the 1950s, more and more people worked inwhite-collar corporate jobs. Some social critics worriedthat this development emphasized conformity. In whatother ways did society encourage people to conform?

The New Consumerism The conformity of the1950s included people’s desires to own the same newproducts as their neighbors. With more disposableincome, Americans bought more luxury items, suchas refrigerators, washing machines, vacuum cleaners,and air conditioners. Americans also bought a vari-ety of labor-saving machines. As House and Gardenmagazine boasted in a 1954 article, coffeemakers,blenders, and lawn trimmers “[replaced] the talentsof caretaker, gardener, cook, [and] maid.”

Accompanying the nation’s spending spree was thegrowth of more sophisticated advertising. Advertisingbecame the fastest-growing industry in the UnitedStates, as manufacturers employed new marketingtechniques to sell their products. These techniqueswere carefully planned to whet the consumer’sappetite. The purpose of these advertisers was to influ-ence choices among brands of goods that were essen-tially the same. According to the elaborate advertisingcampaigns of the time, a freezer became a promise ofplenty, a second car became a symbol of status, and amouthwash became the key to immediate success.

The Growth of Suburbia Advertisers targetedtheir ads to consumers who had money to spend.Many of these consumers lived in the nation’s grow-ing suburbs that grew up around cities.

Levittown, New York, was one of the earliest ofthe new suburbs. The driving force behind thisplanned residential community was Bill Levitt, whomass-produced hundreds of simple and similar look-ing homes in a potato field 10 miles east of New YorkCity. Between 1947 and 1951, thousands of familiesrushed to buy the inexpensive homes, and soon othercommunities similar to Levittown sprang upthroughout the United States.

Suburbs became increasingly popular throughoutthe 1950s, accounting for about 85 percent of newhome construction. The number of suburban dwell-ers doubled, while the population of cities them-selves rose only 10 percent. Reasons for the rapidgrowth of suburbia varied. Some people wanted toescape the crime and congestion of city neighbor-hoods. Others viewed life in the suburbs as a moveup to a better life for themselves and their children.In contrast to city life, suburbia offered a more


The Organization Man In the 1950s, more and more people worked inwhite-collar corporate jobs. Some social critics worried that this develop-ment emphasized conformity. In what other ways did society encouragepeople to conform?

Analyzing Political Cartoons

The 1950s also witnessed the rise of franchises, inwhich a person owns and runs one or several storesof a chain operation. Because many business leadersbelieved that consumers valued dependability andfamiliarity, the owners of chain operations oftendemanded that their franchises present a uniformlook and style.

The Organization Man Like franchise owners,many corporate leaders also expected their employeesto conform to company standards. In general, corpora-tions did not desire free-thinking individuals or peo-ple who might speak out or criticize the company.Some social observers recognized this phenomenonand disapproved of it. In his 1950 book, The LonelyCrowd, sociologist David Riesman argued that thisconformity was changing people. Formerly, heclaimed, people were “inner-directed,” judging them-selves on the basis of their own values and the esteemof their families. Now, however, people were becom-ing “other-directed,” concerning themselves with win-ning the approval of the corporation or community.

In his 1956 book The Organization Man, writerWilliam H. Whyte, Jr., criticized the similarity manybusiness organizations in the United States culti-vated in order to keep any individual from dominat-ing. “In group doctrine,” Whyte wrote, “the strong

B. Wiseman/ from Hey, Can't You Forget Business? by Charles Preston, ©1953, E.P. Dutton & Co., Inc.

picturesque environment. As developers in earlierperiods had done, the developers of the 1950sattracted home buyers with promises of fresh air,green lawns, and trees.

Affordability became a key factor in attractinghome buyers to the suburbs. Because the GI Billoffered low-interest loans, new housing was moreaffordable during the postwar period than at anyother time in American history. Equally attractivewas the government’s offer of income tax deductionsfor home mortgage interest payments and propertytaxes. For millions of Americans, the suburbs came tosymbolize the American dream. They owned theirhomes, sent their children to good schools, lived insafe communities, and enjoyed economic security.

Nevertheless, some social commentators, such asarchitect Lewis Mumford and writer John Keats,viewed such plain and identical-looking communi-ties as another sign of conformity. “You too can find abox of your own,” wrote Keats, “inhabited by peoplewhose age, income, number of children, problems,habits, conversations, dress, possessions, perhapseven blood types are almost precisely like yours.”

Interpreting What were twocauses and effects of the economic boom of the 1950s?

The 1950s Family

Despite a baby boom and cultural pressure,the number of women in the workforce increased.

Reading Connection Do most of the women you knowwork outside the home? Read on to learn about the number ofwomen who held jobs and raised families in the 1950s.

In addition to all the other transformations takingplace in the nation during the 1950s, the Americanfamily also was changing. Across the country, manyfamilies grew larger, and more married womenentered the workforce.

The Baby Boom The American birthrate explodedafter World War II. From 1945 to 1961, a period knownas the baby boom, more than 65 million children wereborn in the United States. At the height of the babyboom, a child was born every seven seconds.

Several factors contributed to the baby boom.First, young couples who had delayed marriage dur-ing World War II and the Korean War could nowmarry, buy homes, and begin their families. In addi-tion, the government encouraged the growth of fami-

Reading Check


The Baby Boom

Source: Historical Statistics of the United States: Colonial Times to 1970.

Live

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peo

ple)

1940 1945 1950 1955 1960 1965 1970

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1. Interpreting Graphs When did therapid rise in population shown herereach its peak?

2. Analyzing Cause and Effect Whatfactors contributed to this rapid rise inbirths?

lies by offering generous GI benefits for home pur-chases. Finally, on television and in magazines, pop-ular culture celebrated pregnancy, parenthood, andlarge families.

Women in the Fifties Many women focused ontheir traditional role of homemaker during the 1950s.Even though 8 million American women had gone towork during the war, the new postwar emphasis onhaving babies and establishing families now discour-aged women from seeking employment. ManyAmericans assumed that a good mother should stayhome to take care of her children.

“Let’s face it, girls,” declared one female writer inBetter Homes and Gardens in April 1955, “that wonder-ful guy in your house—and in mine—is buildingyour house, your happiness and the opportunitiesthat will come to your children.” The magazineadvised stay-at-home wives to “set their sights on ahappy home, a host of friends and a bright futurethrough success in HIS job.”

Despite the popular emphasis on homemaking,however, the number of women who held jobs


i n H i s t o r y

The age of computers also dawned in the postwarera. In 1946 scientists working under a U.S. Armycontract developed one of the nation’s earliest com-puters—known as ENIAC (Electronic NumericalIntegrator and Computer)—to make military calcula-tions. Several years later, a newer model called UNI-VAC (Universal Automatic Computer) would handlebusiness data and launch the computer revolution.The computer, along with changes and improve-ments in communication and transportation systems,allowed many Americans to work more quickly andefficiently. As a result, families in the 1950s had morefree time, and new forms of leisure activity becamepopular.

Medical Miracles The medical breakthroughs ofthe 1950s included the development of powerfulantibiotics to fight infection; the introduction of newdrugs to combat arthritis, diabetes, cancer, and heartdisease; and groundbreaking advances in surgicaltechniques. Polio, however, continued to baffle themedical profession.

Periodic polio epidemics had been occurring inthe United States since 1916. Franklin Roosevelt con-tracted the disease as a young man and used a wheel-chair for the remainder of his life. In the 1940s and1950s, however, polio struck the nation in epidemicproportions. Officially known as infantile paralysisbecause it generally targeted the young, the diseasebrought a wave of terror to the country. No one knewwhere or when polio would strike, but an epidemicbroke out in some area of the country each summer,sometimes paralyzing or killing its victims. People

outside the home actually increased during the1950s. Most women who went to work did so inorder to help their families maintain their comfort-able lifestyles. By 1960 nearly one-third of all marriedwomen were part of the paid workforce.

Evaluating What were three factorsthat contributed to the baby boom?

Technological Breakthroughs

Technological changes included the develop-ment of early computers, advances in medicine, and newconquests of outer space.

Reading Connection What recent advances have beenmade in the study of outer space? Read on to discover the earlysatellite launch from Cape Canaveral.

As the United States underwent many socialchanges during the postwar era, the nation also wit-nessed several important scientific advances. In med-icine, space exploration, and electronics, Americanscientists broke new ground during the 1950s.

Advances in Electronics The electronics industrymade rapid advances after World War II. In 1947three American physicists—John Bardeen, Walter H.Brattain, and William Shockley—developed the tran-sistor, a tiny device that generated electric signalsand made it possible to miniaturize radios andcalculators.

Reading Check

Dr. Jonas Salk1914–1995

The man who developed the vaccine for oneof the nation’s most feared diseases almost didnot go into medicine. Jonas Salk enrolled in col-lege as a pre-law student but soon changed hismind. “My mother didn’t think I would make avery good lawyer,” Salk said, “probably becauseI could never win an argument with her.” Salkswitched his major to pre-med and went on tobecome a research scientist.

Salk initially directed the search for a cure tothe dreaded ailment of polio at the University ofPittsburgh’s Virus Research Laboratory. Every sooften, Salk would make rounds in the over-

crowded polio wards of nearby MunicipalHospital, where nurses described their feelingsof pity and helpless rage as paralyzed childrencried for water. As one nurse said, “I canremember how the staff used to kid Dr. Salk—kidding in earnest—telling him to hurry up anddo something.”

Salk became famous for his breakthroughvaccine. The shy doctor, however, did not desirefame. About his becoming a celebrity, Salkobserved that it was “a transitory thing and youwait till it blows over. Eventually people will startthinking, ‘That poor guy,’ and leave me alone.Then I’ll be able to get back to my laboratory.”

CORBIS

watched helplessly while neighbors fell sick. Somedied or needed an iron lung as part of their treat-ment. Iron lungs were large metal tanks with pumpsthat helped patients breathe.

Because no one knew what caused the disease,parents searched for ways to safeguard their familieseach summer. Some sent their children to the countryto avoid excessive contact with others. Public swim-ming pools and beaches were closed. Parks andplaygrounds across the country stood deserted.Nevertheless, the disease continued to strike. In 1952a record 58,000 new cases were reported.

Finally, a research scientist named Jonas Salkdeveloped an injectable vaccine that prevented polio.Salk first tested the vaccine on himself, his wife, andhis three sons. It was then tested on 2 million school-children. In 1955 the vaccine was declared safe andeffective and became available to the general public.The results were spectacular. New cases of polio fellto 5,700 in 1958 and then to 3,277 in 1960. Americanscientist Albert Sabin then developed an oral vaccinefor polio. Because it was safer and more convenientthan Salk’s injection vaccine, the Sabin vaccinebecame the most common form of treatment againstthe disease. In the years to come, the threat of polio in the United States would almost completelydisappear.

Conquering Space After the Soviet Union launchedSputnik, the world’s first space satellite, in October1957, the United States hastened to catch up with itsCold War rival. Less than four months later, on Jan-uary 31, 1958, the United States launched its own satel-lite from Cape Canaveral, Florida. Reporter MiltonBracker described the jubilant scene:

“As the firing command neared, a deadly silencefell on those who were watching. In the glare of thesearchlights, a stream of liquid oxygen could be seenventing like a lavender cloud from the side of theseventy-foot rocket. . . . At fourteen and one-halfseconds after time zero, after the priming fuel hadignited almost invisibly, the main stage engine cameto life with an immeasurable thrust of flame in alldirections. . . . With thousands of eyes following it, therocket dug into the night and accelerated as its soundloudened. Spectators on near-by beaches pointedand craned their necks and cried, ‘There it is!’ andbegan to cheer.”

—quoted in Voices from America’s Past

Meanwhile, engineers were building smootherand faster commercial planes. Poet Carl Sandburgwrote about taking the first American jet flight fromNew York to Los Angeles. The trip took only five anda half hours. “You search for words to describe thespeed of this flight,” wrote an amazed Sandburg.“You are whisked . . . from an ocean on one side ofthe continent to an ocean on the opposite side in lesstime than it takes the sun to trace a 90-degree arcacross the sky.”

Examining What medical andtechnological advances met specific needs in the late 1940s and 1950s?

Reading Check


Checking for Understanding1. Vocabulary Define: accompany,

white-collar, blue-collar, multinationalcorporation, benefit, franchise, babyboom, generate.

2. People and Terms Identify: JohnKenneth Galbraith, David Riesman,Levittown, Jonas Salk.

3. Describe how and why the suburbsbecame popular places to live.

Reviewing Big Ideas4. Explaining How was the affluent soci-

ety of the United States in the 1950s dif-ferent from previous decades?

Critical Thinking5. Interpreting

What caused the advertising industryboom in the 1950s?

6. Organizing Use a graphic organizersimilar to the one below to list thecauses and effects of the economicboom of the 1950s.

Analyzing Visuals7. Analyzing Photographs Study the pho-

tograph of Kemmons Wilson on thecover of TIME magazine on page 675.Using the information in this section,who or what would you put on the coverof a magazine if you were the editor?Sketch your cover on a sheet of paper.

CA HI1

Writing About History8. Descriptive Writing Write an article

for a magazine such as Better Homesand Gardens describing changes theAmerican family underwent during the1950s. CA 11WA2.3c

Boom

EffectsCauses


tav.mt.glencoe.com




Guide to Reading

ConnectionIn the previous section, you learnedabout the changes an economic boombrought to American society. In this sec-tion, you will discover how Americansentertained themselves in the 1950s.

• Technological enhancements increasedthe popularity of television and movies.(p. 681)

• Rock ‘n’ roll music and the literature of the beat movement defined youthculture. (p. 683)

• Although few African Americans per-formed on television, many had aprofound impact on early rock ‘n’ roll. (p. 685)

Content Vocabularygeneration gap

Academic Vocabularydevice, controversial

People to IdentifyEd Sullivan, Alan Freed, Elvis Presley, JackKerouac, Nat King Cole

Reading Objectives• Explain the characteristics of the new

youth culture.

• Discuss the contributions of AfricanAmericans to 1950s culture.

Reading StrategyCategorizing As you read about thepopular culture of the 1950s, complete agraphic organizer similar to the onebelow comparing new forms of massmedia during the 1950s.

Preview of Events

Popular Culture of the 1950s


New Forms of Mass Media Description

1955The quiz show The $64,000Question debuts

1956Elvis Presley appears on the Ed SullivanShow; Allen Ginsberg’s “Howl” published

195740 million television sets inuse in the United States

1958TV quiz show scandalsbegin to surface

✦1955 ✦1956 ✦1957 ✦1958

. The Big Idea ,Societies change over time. With more money and time available, Americansbought more televisions. Comedies, action and adventure shows, variety programs,and game shows captivated viewers. Hollywood tried to regain audiences with 3-Dfilms and new panoramic screens. A new youth culture that developed during thistime embraced rock ’n’ roll and the literature of the beat movement. While fewAfrican Americans were able to perform on television, many still had a profoundimpact on rock ’n’ roll.


11.8.8 Discuss forms of popular cul-ture, with emphasis on their origins

and geographic diffusion (e.g., jazzand other forms of popular music,

professional sports, architectural andartistic styles).

CHAPTER 14 Postwar America 681

The New Mass Media

Technological enhancements increased thepopularity of television and movies.

Reading Connection What television shows do you like to watch? Read on to learn about the early television shows and stars.

Although regular television broadcasts had begunin the early 1940s, there were few stations, and setswere expensive. By the end of the 1950s, however, thesmall, black-and-white-screened sets sat in livingrooms across the country. One of the shows of thetime that captivated audiences was I Love Lucy.

In 1953 Lucille Ball and her real-life husband, DesiArnaz, were starring in one of the most popular showson American television, I Love Lucy. In January, Ballhad a baby—both in real life and on her show. Herpregnancy and the birth of her baby became anational event that captivated her audience. A pre-filmed segment of the show showed Lucy and herhusband going to the hospital to have the baby, andthe show was broadcast only a few hours after thereal birth. More than two-thirds of the nation’s televi-sion sets tuned in, an audience of around 44 millionviewers. Far fewer people watched the next day whentelevision broadcast a presidential inauguration.

I Love Lucy was so popular that some people actu-ally set up their work schedules around the show.Marshall Field’s, which had previously held sales onthe same night the show was on, eventually switchedits sales to a different night. A sign on its shop windowexplained, “We love Lucy too, so we’re closing onMonday nights.” A relatively new medium, televisionhad swept the nation by the mid-1950s.

—adapted from Watching TV: Four Decades of American Television

Television’s popularity forced the other forms ofmass media—namely motion pictures and radio—toinnovate in order to keep their audiences.

The Rise of Television Popularity During WorldWar II, televisions became more affordable for con-sumers. In 1946 it is estimated there were between7,000 and 8,000 sets in the entire United States. By

1957 there were 40 million television sets in use. Over80 percent of households had televisions.

By the late 1950s, television news had become animportant vehicle for information. Television advertis-ing spawned a growing market for many new prod-ucts. Advertising, after all, provided television withthe money that allowed it to flourish. As one critic con-cluded, “Programs on television are simply a deviceto keep the advertisements and commercials frombumping loudly together.” Televised athletic eventsgradually made professional and college sports one ofthe most prominent sources of entertainment.

Comedy, Action, and Games Early televisionprograms fell into several main categories includingcomedy, action and adventure, and variety-styleentertainment. Laughter proved popular in other for-mats besides the half-hour situation comedy. Manyof the early television comedy shows, such as thosestarring Bob Hope and Jack Benny, were adaptedfrom popular old radio shows. Benny enjoyed con-siderable television success with his routines of badviolin playing and stingy behavior.

Television watchers in the 1950s also relishedaction shows. Westerns such as Hopalong Cassidy, TheLone Ranger, and Gunsmoke grew quickly in popu-larity. Viewers also enjoyed police programs such asDragnet, a hugely successful show featuring JoeFriday and his partner hunting down a new criminaleach week.


Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz

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PhotoFest

Variety shows such as Ed Sullivan’s Toast of theTown provided a mix of comedy, opera, popular song,dance, acrobatics, and juggling. Quiz shows attractedlarge audiences, too, after the 1955 debut of The$64,000 Question. In this show and its many imitators,two contestants tried to answer questions from sepa-rate glass-encased booths. The questions, storedbetween shows in a bank vault, arrived at the studioat airtime in the hands of a stern faced bank executiveflanked by two armed guards. The contestants com-peted head-to-head, with the winner returning thefollowing week to face a new challenger.

In 1956 the quiz show Twenty-One caused anuproar across the nation after Charles Van Doren, ayoung assistant professor with a modest income,won $129,000 during his weeks on the program. Theviewing public soon learned, however, that VanDoren and many of the other contestants hadreceived the answers to the questions in advance.Before a congressional committee in 1959, Van Dorenadmitted his role in the scandal and apologized to hismany fans, saying, “I was involved, deeply involved,in a deception.” In the wake of the Twenty-One fraud,many quiz shows went off the air.

Hollywood Adapts to the Times As the popu-larity of television grew, movies lost viewers.“Hollywood’s like Egypt,” lamented producer DavidSelznick in 1951. “Full of crumbling pyramids.”While the film business may not have been collaps-ing, it certainly did suffer after the war. Attendancedropped from 82 million in 1946 to 36 million by1950. By 1960, when some 50 million Americansowned a television, one-fifth of the nation’s movietheaters had closed.

Throughout the decade, Hollywood struggledmightily to recapture its audience. “Don’t be a ‘LivingRoom Captive,’” one industry ad pleaded. “Step outand see a great movie!” When contests, door prizes,and an advertising campaign announcing that“Movies Are Better Than Ever” failed to lure peopleout of their homes, Hollywood began to try to makefilms more exciting. Between 1952 and 1954, audi-ences of 3-D films received special glasses that gavethe impression that a monster or a knife was lungingdirectly at them from off the screen. Viewers, how-ever, soon tired of both the glasses and the oftenridiculous plots of 3-D movies.

Cinemascope, movies shown on large, panoramicscreens, finally gave Hollywood a reliable lure. Wide-screen spectacles like The Robe, The Ten Commandments,and Around the World in 80 Days cost a great deal ofmoney to produce. These blockbusters, however,made up for their cost by attracting huge audiencesand netting large profits. The movie industry alsomade progress by taking the “if you can’t beat ’em,join ’em” approach. Hollywood eventually began tofilm programs especially for television and also soldold movies, which could be rebroadcast cheaply, to the networks.

Like television, the films of the fifties for the mostpart adhered to the conformity of the times. Roles forsingle women who did not want families were fewand far between. For example, each of MarilynMonroe’s film roles featured the blond movie star asmarried, soon to be married, or unhappy that shewas not married.

Movies routinely portrayed African Americans in stereotypical roles, such as maids, servants, orsidekicks for white heroes. Even when AfricanAmericans took leading roles, they were often one-dimensional characters who rarely showed humanemotions or characteristics. African American actorSidney Poitier resented having to play such parts:

“The black characters usually come out on thescreen as saints, as the other-cheek-turners, as peo-ple who are not really people: who are so nice andgood. . . . As a matter of fact, I’m just dying to playvillains.”

—quoted in The Fifties: The Way We Really Were

Radio Draws Them In Television also lured awayradio listeners and forced the radio industry, likeHollywood, to develop new ways to win backaudiences. After television took over many of radio’s concepts, radio stations began to specialize in


Charles Van Doren with quiz show host Jack Berry

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Hulton Archive/Getty Images

presenting recorded music, news, public-service pro-gramming, and shows for specific audiences.

As a result of this targeted programming, radiostations survived and even flourished. Their num-bers more than doubled between 1948, when 1,680stations were broadcasting to the nation, and 1957,when more than 3,600 stations filled the airwaves.

Identifying How did the televisionindustry affect the U.S. economy?

The New Youth Culture

Rock ‘n’ roll music and the literature of thebeat movement defined youth culture.

Reading Connection How does the music and litera-ture of your generation differ from that of the 1950s? Read onto find out about the beginnings of a unique youth culture.

While Americans of all ages embraced the newmass media, some of the nation’s youth rebelledagainst such a message. During the 1950s, a number

Reading Check

of young Americans turned their backs on the con-formist ideals adult society promoted. Althoughthese youths were a small minority, their actionsbrought them widespread attention. In general, theseyoung people longed for greater excitement and free-dom, and they found an outlet for such feelings ofrestlessness in new and controversial styles of musicand literature.

Rock ’n’ Roll In the early 1950s, rock ’n’ rollemerged as the distinctive music of the new genera-tion. In 1951 at a record store in downtown Cleveland,Ohio, radio disc jockey Alan Freed noticed whiteteenagers buying African American rhythm and bluesrecords and dancing to the music in the store. Freedlater recalled, “I wondered for about a week. Then Iwent to the station manager talked him into permit-ting me to follow my classical program with a rock ’n’roll party.” Calling himself “Moondog,” Freed airedhis first program on July 11, 1951. Just as the discjockey had suspected, the listeners went crazy for it.Soon, white artists began making music that stemmedfrom these African American rhythms and sounds,and a new form of music, rock ’n’ roll, had been born.


THE KING OF ROCK Elvis Presley, shown here sign-ing autographs after a per-formance in Houston, tookAmerican youth in the 1950sby storm. Parents, on the other hand, were less thanthrilled with his music—a blend of African American-inspired rhythm and blues and early rock ’n’ roll—and his hip-swiveling gyrations on stage. For Presley’s firstappearance on The Ed SullivanShow, the host insisted thatcameras show him only fromthe waist up. Elvis added to hisfame by starring in a string offilms that audiences loved butcritics panned.

MOMENTinHISTORY

Globe Photos

With a loud and heavy beat that made it ideal fordancing along with lyrics about romance, cars, andother themes that spoke to young people, rock ’n’ rollgrew wildly popular among the nation’s teens.Before long boys and girls around the country wererushing out to buy the latest hits from such artists asBuddy Holly, Chuck Berry, and Bill Haley and theComets. In 1956 teenagers found their first rock ’n’roll hero in Elvis Presley. Presley, who had been bornin rural Mississippi and grown up poor in Memphis,Tennessee, eventually claimed the title of “King ofRock ’n’ Roll.”

While in high school, Presley had learned to playguitar and sing by imitating the rhythm and bluesmusic he heard on the radio. By 1956 Elvis had arecord deal with RCA Victor, a movie contract, andpublic appearances on several television shows. Atfirst the popular television variety show host EdSullivan refused to invite Presley on, insisting that therock ’n’ roll music was not fit for a family orientedshow. When a competing show featuring Presleyupset his own high ratings, however, Sullivanrelented. He ended up paying Presley $50,000 perperformance for three appearances, more than triplethe amount he had paid any other performer.

The dark-haired and handsome Presley owed hiswild popularity as much to his moves as to his music.During his performances he would gyrate his hipsand dance in other suggestive ways that shockedmany in the audience. Presley himself admitted theimportance of this part of his act:

“I’m not kidding myself. My voice alone is just anordinary voice. What people come to see is how I useit. If I stand still while I’m singing, I’m dead, man. Imight as well go back to driving a truck.”

—quoted in God’s Country: America in the Fifties

Not surprisingly, parents—many of whom lis-tened to Frank Sinatra and other more mellow andmainstream artists—condemned rock ’n’ roll as loud,mindless, and dangerous. The city council of SanAntonio, Texas, actually banned rock ’n’ roll from thejukeboxes at public swimming pools. The music, thecouncil declared, “attracted undesirable elementsgiven to practicing their gyrations in abbreviatedbathing suits.” A minister in Boston complained that“rock and roll inflames and excites youth.”

The rock ’n’ roll hits that teens bought in recordnumbers united them in a world their parents did notshare. Thus in the 1950s rock ’n’ roll helped to createwhat became known as the generation gap, or the cul-tural separation between children and their parents.

The Beat Movement If rock ’n’ roll helped to cre-ate a generation gap, a group of mostly white artistswho called themselves the beats highlighted a valuesgap in the 1950s United States. The term beat mayhave come from the feeling among group membersof being “beaten down” by American culture, orfrom jazz musicians who would say, “I’m beat rightdown to my socks.”

The beats sought to live unconventional lives asfugitives from a culture they despised. Beat poets,writers, and artists harshly criticized what they con-sidered the sterility and conformity of American life,the meaninglessness of American politics, and theemptiness of popular culture.

In 1956, 29-year-old beat poet Allen Ginsberg pub-lished a long poem called “Howl,” which blastedmodern American life. Another beat member, JackKerouac, published On the Road in 1957. AlthoughKerouac’s book about his freewheeling adventureswith a car thief and con artist shocked some readers,the book went on to become a classic in modernAmerican literature.

Summarizing How did rock ’n’ rollhelp create the generation gap?

Reading Check


Jack Kerouac

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Elliot Erwitt/Magnum Photos, (inset)Picture Research Consultants

African American Entertainers

Although few African Americans performedon television, many had a profound impact on earlyrock ‘n’ roll.

Reading Connection What African American entertain-ers currently have shows on television? Read on to discover thediscrimination nonwhite performers faced during the 1950s.

While artists such as Jack Kerouac rejectedAmerican culture, African American entertainersstruggled to find acceptance in a country that oftentreated them as second-class citizens. With a fewnotable exceptions, television tended to shut outAfrican Americans. In 1956, NBC gave a popularAfrican American singer named Nat King Cole hisown 15-minute musical variety show. In 1958, after64 episodes, NBC canceled the show after failing tosecure a national sponsor for a show hosted by anAfrican American.

African American rock ’n’ roll singers had moreluck gaining acceptance. The talented AfricanAmerican singers and groups who recorded hitsongs in the fifties included Chuck Berry, RayCharles, Little Richard, and the Drifters. The latteryears of the 1950s also saw the rise of several AfricanAmerican women’s groups, including the Crystals,the Chiffons, the Shirelles, and the Ronettes. Withtheir catchy, popular sound, these groups became themusical ancestors of the famous late 1960s groupsMartha and the Vandellas and the Supremes.

Over time, the music of the early rock ’n’ rollartists had a profound influence on music through-

out the world. Little Richard and Chuck Berry, forexample, provided inspiration for the Beatles, whosemusic swept Britain and the world in the 1960s.Elvis’s music transformed generations of rock ’n’ rollbands that were to follow him and other pioneers ofrock. Despite the innovations in music and the eco-nomic boom of the 1950s, not all Americans were partof the affluent society. For much of the country’sminorities and rural poor, the American dreamremained well out of reach.

Evaluating What impact didAmerican rock ‘n’ roll artists have on the rest of the world?

Reading Check


Checking for Understanding1. Vocabulary Define: device, controver-

sial, generation gap.2. People and Terms Identify: Ed

Sullivan, Alan Freed, Elvis Presley, JackKerouac, Nat King Cole.

3. Explain what happened to motion pic-tures and radio when television becamepopular.

Reviewing Big Ideas4. Describing What roles did African

Americans play in television and rock’n’ roll?

Critical Thinking5. Comparing How did the themes of

television shows of the 1950s differfrom the themes of the literature of thebeat movement?

6. Organizing Use a graphic organizersimilar to the one below to list thestyles of music and literature that madeup the new youth culture of the 1950s.

Analyzing Visuals7. Analyzing Photographs Study the

photograph on page 682. In the 1950stelevision game shows were a trend inprogramming. What new trends exist intelevision programming today? Do youthink television is as popular today as itwas in the 1950s? Explain your answer.

Writing About History8. Expository Writing Imagine you are a

beat writer in the 1950s. Explain to yourreaders how the themes you writeabout are universal themes that couldapply to everyone. CA 11WA2.4a

African American Entertainers Rhythm and blues music provided the rootsof the 1950s rock ’n’ roll sound. Did African American rock ’n’ roll artists expe-rience the same acceptance as artists like Elvis Presley? Why or why not?

History

New YouthCulture


tav.mt.glencoe.com


Photofest


N O T E B O O K

V E R B A T I MV E R B A T I M

ProfileProfile

THE DUCKTAILBanned in several Massachusetts schools in 1957

COLLIER’SThe respected magazine loses circulation, publishes its final edition on January 4, 1957

LEONARDO DA VINCI’S

THE LAST SUPPERNow everyone can paint their own copy to hang in their homes

W I N N E R S & L O S E R SW I N N E R S & L O S E R S

The Ducktail

JAMES DEAN had a brief but spectacular career as a film star. His role in Rebel Without a Cause made him an icon for American youth in the mid-50s. In 1955 Dean was killed in a car crash. He was 24.

“I guess I have as good an insight into this rising generation as anyother young man my age. Therefore, when I do play a youth, I try to imitate life. Rebel Without a Cause deals with the problems of modern youth. . . . If you want the kids to come and see the picture,you’ve got to try to reach them on their own grounds. If a picture is psychologically motivated, if there is truth in the relationships in it, then I think that picture will do good.”

—from an interview for Rebel Without a Cause

“It will make a wonderful place

for the children to play in, and it

will be a good storehouse, too.”MRS. RUTH CALHOUN,mother of three, on her backyard

fallout shelter, 1951

“Riddle: What’s college?

That’s where girls who are above

cooking and sewing go to meet

a man they can spend their lives

cooking and sewing for.”ad for Gimbel’s department store campus clothes, 1952

“Radioactive poisoning

of the atmosphere and hence

annihilation of any life on Earth

has been brought within the range

of technical possibilities.”ALBERT EINSTEIN,physicist, 1950

“If the television craze

continues with the present level

of programs, we are destined to

have a nation of morons.”DANIEL MARSH,President of Boston University, 1950

“Every time the Russians throw

an American in jail, the House

Un-American Activities Committee

throws an American in jail to

get even.” MORT SAHL,comedian, 1950s

POODLE CUTSShort, curly hairstyle gains wide

popularity and acceptance

TV GUIDENew weekly magazine achieves

circulation of 6.5 million by 1959

PALMER PAINT COMPANY

OF DETROITSells 12 million paint-by-number kits

ranging from simple landscapes and portraits to Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last SupperPoodle Cut

SU

PE

R S

TOC

K

BE

TTMA

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RB

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686 CHAPTER 14 Postwar America686 CHAPTER 14 Postwar America(t)CORBIS/Bettmann, (bl)Archive Photos, (br)SuperStock

3¢ Cost of first-class postage stamp

19¢ Cost of loaf of bread

25¢ Cost of issue ofSports Illustrated

35¢ Cost of movie ticket

50¢ Cost of gallon of milk (delivered)

$2.05 Average hourly wage

$2,845 Cost of new car

$5,234 Median incomefor a family of four

$19,500Median price to buy a home

Be Prepared“Know the Bomb’s True Dangers.Know the Steps You Can Take toEscape Them!—You Can Survive.”Government pamphlet, 1950

DIGGING YOUR OWN BOMB SHELTER?Better go shopping. Below is a list of items included with the $3,000Mark I Kidde Kokoon, designed toaccommodate a family of five for athree- to five-day underground stay.

� air blower� radiation detector� protective apparel

suit� face respirator� radiation charts (4)� hand shovel combi-

nation (for diggingout after the blast)

� gasoline driven generator

� gasoline (10 gallons)

� chemical toilet� toilet chemicals

(2 gallons)� bunks (5)� mattresses and

blankets (5)� air pump (for

blowing up mattresses)

� incandescent bulbs (2) 40 watts

� fuses (2) 5 amperes� clock—non-electric

� first aid kit� waterless hand

cleaner� sterno stove� canned water

(10 gallons)� canned food (meat,

powdered milk,cereal, sugar, etc.)

� paper products

American Scene, 1950–1960(MILLIONS)

N U M B E R S 1 9 5 7N U M B E R S 1 9 5 7

answers: 1. b; 2. d; 3. c; 4. a

Bomb Shelter

Children 5–14

24.3

35.5

1950 1960Girl Scouts & Brownies

1.8

4.0

1950 1960Bicycle Production

2.0

3.8

1950 1960National Forest Campers

1.5

6.6

1950 1960Outboard Motors in Use

2.8

5.8

1950 1960

A N A G E O F P R O S P E R I T Y : 1 9 4 5 – 1 9 6 0

1950s WORD PLAY

Translation, Please!Match the word to its meaning.Teen-Age Lingo1. cool a. a dull person, an outsider2. hang loose b. worthy of approval3. hairy c. formidable4. yo-yo d. don’t worry

BE

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CHAPTER 14 Postwar America 687CHAPTER 14 Postwar America 687(l)CORBIS/Bettmann, (r)PopperFoto


Guide to Reading

ConnectionIn the previous section, you learnedabout new forms of entertainment. In this section, you will discover howsome Americans were left out of the new prosperity.

• Despite the growing affluence of muchof the nation, many groups still lived in poverty. (p. 689)

• Concerns about rising juvenile delin-quency and failing educational systemssurfaced during the late 1950s. (p. 692)

Content Vocabularypoverty line, urban renewal, terminationpolicy, juvenile delinquency

Academic Vocabularyabstraction, conformity, technical

People and Terms to IdentifyMichael Harrington, Bracero program

Reading Objectives• Identify those groups that found them-

selves left out of the American eco-nomic boom following World War II.

• Explain the factors that contributed tothe poverty among various groups.

Reading StrategyTaking Notes As you read about socialproblems in the United States in the1950s, use the major headings of thesection to create an outline similar to the one below.

Preview of Events

The Other Side of American Life


1953Federal government institutestermination policy directed atNative Americans

✦1956

1955Rudolf Flesch’s Why JohnnyCan’t Read published

1962Michael Harrington’s TheOther America published

1959A Raisin in the Sunopens on Broadway

✦1953 ✦1959 ✦1962

The Other Side of American LifeI. Poverty Amidst Prosperity

A.B.C.D.E.

II.

. The Big Idea ,Societies change over time. Despite the increasing prosperity in the UnitedStates, many minorities and rural whites continued to struggle with poverty.When people and businesses moved from the cities to the suburbs, the innercities began to decline. Many of the people left behind were African Americanswho faced racial discrimination when searching for employment. Hispanics andNative Americans often faced similar problems. During the 1950s, as people leftAppalachia to search for better lives in the cities, they left behind the elderly andthose who could not travel. The result was extreme poverty, along with poor nutri-tion and insufficient healthcare, for those who remained. Americans paid moreattention to a rise in juvenile delinquency and inadequate educational systems.


11.8.2 Describe the significance of Mexican immigration and its rela-

tionship to the agricultural economy,especially in California.

11.8.4 Analyze new federal govern-ment spending on defense, welfare,

interest on the national debt, and federaland state spending on education, includ-

ing the California Master Plan.

11.10.1 Explain how demands of AfricanAmericans helped produce a stimulus for

civil rights, including President Roosevelt’sban on racial discrimination in defense

industries in 1941, and how AfricanAmericans’ service in World War II produced

a stimulus for President Truman’s decision toend segregation in the armed forces in 1948.

Poverty Amidst Prosperity

Despite the growing affluence of much of the nation, many groups still lived in poverty.

Reading Connection Are the pockets of poverty inAmerica today the same as they were in the 1950s? Read on to discover groups who were left out of the general economicboom of the 1950s.

The booming 1950s saw a tremendous expansionof the middle class. In 1950, about 1 in 3 Americanswere poor. By 1959, only 1 in 5 were poor. Despitethese dramatic gains, about 30 million people stilllived below the poverty line, a figure set by the gov-ernment to reflect the minimum income required tosupport a family. Such poverty remained invisible tomost Americans, who assumed that the country’sgeneral prosperity had provided everyone with acomfortable existence.

In 1959 Lorraine Hansberry’s play, A Raisin in theSun, opened on Broadway. The play told the story of a working-class African American family strugglingagainst poverty and racism. The title referred to aLangston Hughes poem that wonders what happens toan unrealized dream: “Does it dry up like a raisin inthe sun?” Hansberry’s play won the New York DramaCritics Circle Award for the best play of the year.Reflecting later upon the play’s theme, she wrote:

“Vulgarity, blind conformity, and mass lethargyneed not triumph in the land of Lincoln and FrederickDouglass. . . . There is simply no reason why dreamsshould dry up like raisins or prunes or anything else in the United States. . . . I believe that we can imposebeauty on our future.”

—adapted from To Be Young, Gifted, and Black

Michael Harrington was another writer concernedwith poverty in the United States. In his book, TheOther America, published in 1962, he alerted those inthe mainstream to what he saw in the run-down andhidden communities of the country:

“Tens of millions of Americans are, at this verymoment, maimed in body and spirit, existing at levelsbeneath those necessary for human decency. If these

people are not starving, they are hungry, and some-times fat with hunger, for that is what cheap foodsdo. They are without adequate housing and educa-tion and medical care.”

—from The Other America

The poor included single mothers and the elderly;minority immigrants such as Puerto Ricans andMexicans; rural Americans, black and white; peoplewith disabilities; and inner city residents, whoremained stuck in crowded slums as wealthier citi-zens fled to the suburbs. Poverty also gripped manyAmericans in the nation’s Appalachian region, whichstretches from Pennsylvania to Georgia, as well asNative Americans, many of whom endured grindingpoverty whether they stayed on reservations ormigrated to cities.

The Decline of the Inner City The poverty in the1950s was most apparent in the nation’s urban cen-ters. As white families moved to the suburbs, manyinner cities became home to poorer, less educatedminority groups. The centers of many cities deterio-rated, because as the middle class moved out, theirtax money went with them. This deprived inner citiesof the tax dollars necessary to provide adequate pub-lic transportation, housing, and other services.

When government tried to help inner city resi-dents, it often made matters worse. During the 1950s,for example, urban renewal programs tried to


Lorraine Hansberry

➤

CORBIS/Bettmann


eliminate poverty by tearing down slums and erect-ing new high-rise buildings for poor residents. Thecrowded, anonymous conditions of these high-riseprojects, however, often created an atmosphere ofviolence. The government also unwittingly encour-aged the residents of public housing to remain poorby evicting them as soon as they began to earn anymoney. In the end, urban renewal programs actuallydestroyed more housing space than they created. Toooften in the name of urban improvement, the wreck-ing ball destroyed poor people’s homes to make wayfor roadways, parks, universities, tree lined boule-vards, or shopping centers.

African Americans Many of the citizens leftbehind in the cities as families fled to the suburbswere African American. The large number of AfricanAmerican inner city residents resulted largely fromthe migration of more than 3 million AfricanAmericans from the South to the North between1940 and 1960.

Many African Americans had migrated in hopesof finding greater economic opportunity andescaping violence and racial intimidation. Formany of these migrants, however, life proved to belittle better in Northern cities. Fewer and fewerjobs were available as numerous factories andmills left the cities for suburbs and smaller townsin order to cut their costs. Long-standing patternsof racial discrimination in schools, housing, hiring,and salaries in the North kept inner-city AfricanAmericans poor. The last hired and the first fired for good jobs, they often remained stuck inthe worst-paying occupations. In 1958 AfricanAmerican salaries, on average, equaled only 51 per-cent of what whites earned.

Poverty and racial discrimination also deprivedmany African Americans of other benefits, such asdecent medical care. Responding to a correspondentwho had seen A Raisin in the Sun, Lorraine Hansberrywrote, “The ghettos are killing us; not only ourdreams . . . but our very bodies. It is not an abstractionto us that the average [African American] has a lifeexpectancy of five to ten years less than the averagewhite.” Several African American groups, such as theNAACP and the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE),pressed for greater economic opportunity for AfricanAmericans. In general, however, these organizationsmet with little success.

Hispanics African Americans were not the onlyminority group that struggled with poverty. Much ofthe nation’s Hispanic population faced the sameproblems. During the 1950s and early 1960s, theBracero program brought nearly 5 million Mexicansto the United States to work on farms and ranches inthe Southwest. The Braceros were temporary con-tract workers, and many later returned home. Somecame with their families, however, and about 350,000settled permanently in the United States.

These laborers, who worked on large farmsthroughout the country, lived a life of extremepoverty and hardship. They toiled long hours for lit-tle pay in conditions that were often unbearable. AsMichael Harrington noted, “[The nation’s migrantlaborers] work ten-eleven-twelve hour days in tem-peratures over one hundred degrees. Sometimesthere is no drinking water. . . . Women and childrenwork on ladders and with hazardous machinery.Babies are brought to the field and are placed in ‘cra-dles’ of wood boxes.”

Away from the fields, many Mexican familieslived in small, crudely built shacks, while some didnot even have a roof over their heads. “They sleep

Inner-City Poverty This young African American girl in Chicago’s inner citystruggles to fill a bowl with water that has frozen due to lack of heat. Why didthe numbers of poor in the country’s inner cities grow in the 1950s?

History

Chicago Historical Society

where they can, some in the open,” Harrington notedabout one group of migrant workers. “They eat whenthey can (and sometimes what they can).” The nationwould pay little attention to the plight of Mexicanfarm laborers until the 1960s, when the workersbegan to organize for greater rights.

Native Americans Native Americans also facedchallenges throughout the postwar era of prosperity.By the middle of the 1900s, Native Americans—whomade up less than one percent of the population—were the poorest group in the nation. Average annualfamily income for Native American families, forexample, was $1,000 less than that for AfricanAmericans.

After World War II, during which many NativeAmerican soldiers had served with distinction, theU.S. government launched a program to bring NativeAmericans into mainstream society—whether theywanted to assimilate or not. Under the plan, whichbecame known as the termination policy, the federalgovernment withdrew all official recognition of theNative American groups as legal entities and madethem subject to the same laws as white citizens. Atthe same time, the government encouraged NativeAmericans to blend in to larger society by helpingthem move off the reservations to cities such asMinneapolis, Minnesota.

Although the idea of integrating Native Americansinto mainstream society began with good intentions,some of its supporters had more selfish goals.Speculators and developers sometimes gained richfarmland at the expense of destitute Native Americangroups.

Most Native Americans found termination a dis-astrous policy that only deepened their poverty. Inthe mid-1950s, for example, the Welfare Council ofMinneapolis described Native American living con-ditions in that city as miserable. “One Indian familyof five or six, living in two rooms, will take in rela-tives and friends who come from the reservationsseeking jobs until perhaps fifteen people will becrowded into the space,” the council reported.During the 1950s, Native Americans in Minneapoliscould expect to live only 37 years, compared to46 years for all Minnesota Native Americans and

68 years for other Minneapolis residents. BenjaminReifel, a Sioux, described the widespread despairthat the termination policy produced:

“The Indians believed that when the dark clouds ofwar passed from the skies overhead, their rising tideof expectations, though temporarily stalled, wouldagain reappear. Instead they were threatened by ter-mination . . . Soaring expectations began to plunge.Termination took on the connotation of exterminationfor many.”

—quoted in The Earth Shall Weep

Appalachia The nation’s minorities were not theonly people dealing with poverty. The picturesquestreams and mountains of Appalachia hid the ruinedmines, scarred hills, and abandoned farms of impov-erished families who had dwelled in these hills forgenerations.

During the 1950s, 1.5 million people abandonedAppalachia to seek a better life in the nation’s cities.They left behind elderly and other less mobile resi-dents. “Whole counties,” wrote one reporter whovisited the region, “are precariously held togetherby a flour-and-dried-milk paste of surplus foods. . . . The men who are no longer needed in the minesand the farmers who cannot compete . . . havethemselves become surplus commodities in themountains.”

A host of statistics spoke to Appalachia’s misery.Studies revealed high rates of nutritional deficiencyand infant mortality. Appalachia had fewer doctorsper thousand people than the rest of the country,


Vocational Training Native American Franklin Beaver learns to become astone mason at this vocational school sponsored by the U.S. Indian Bureau.Why was the government trying to bring Native Americans into mainstreamsociety?

History

AP/Wide World Photos

and the doctors it did have were older than those inother areas. In addition, schooling in the region wasconsidered even worse than in inner city slums.

Identifying Which groups of peo-ple were left out of the country’s economic boom of the 1950s?

Juvenile Delinquency

Concerns about rising juvenile delinquencyand failing educational systems surfaced during the late 1950s.

Reading Connection Describe the differences andsimilarities between juveniles in the 1950s and juveniles today.Read on to discover the growing rate of juvenile delinquencyduring the 1950s.

During the 1950s, many middle-class whiteAmericans found it easy to ignore the poverty andracism that afflicted many of the nation’s minorities,

Reading Check

since they themselves were removed from it. Somesocial problems, however, became impossible toignore.

One problem at this time was a rise in, or at least arise in the reporting of, juvenile delinquency—anti-social or criminal behavior of young people. Between1948 and 1953, the United States saw a 45 percent risein juvenile crime rates. A popular 1954 book titled1,000,000 Delinquents correctly calculated that in thefollowing year, about 1 million young people wouldget into some kind of criminal trouble. Car theftstopped the list of juvenile crimes, but people werealso alarmed at the behavior of young people whobelonged to gangs and committed muggings, rape,and even murder.

Americans could not agree on what had triggeredthe rise in delinquency. Experts blamed it on a host ofreasons, including poverty, lack of religion, television,movies, comic books, racism, busy parents, a risingdivorce rate, and anxiety over the military draft. Somecultural critics claimed that young people wererebelling against the hypocrisy and conformity oftheir parents. Conservative commentators pinned the


Poverty in Appalachia This mining family lived in the kind of extreme poverty that was often overlooked in the 1950s.Eight people lived in this three-room house lined with newspaper. Why was infant mortality so high in Appalachia?

History

National Archives

blame on a lack of discipline. Dotingparents, complained Bishop Fulton J.Sheen, had raised bored childrenwho sought new thrills, such as“alcohol, marijuana, even murder.”Liberal observers preferred to pin-point social causes, blaming teenviolence on poverty and feelings ofhopelessness among underprivi-leged youths. Delinquency in the1950s, however, cut across class andracial lines—the majority of carthieves, for example, had grown upin middle-class homes.

Most teens, of course, steeredclear of gangs, drugs, and crime.Nonetheless, the public tended tostereotype young people as juvenile delinquents,especially those teens who favored unconventionalclothing, long hair, or street slang.

Many parents were also growing concerned overthe nation’s educational system. As baby boomersbegan entering the school system, they ignited aspurt in school construction. During the 1950s, schoolenrollments increased by 13 million. School districtsstruggled to erect new buildings and hire new teach-ers. Nevertheless, shortages sprang up in both build-ings and the people to staff them.

Americans’ education worries only intensified in1957 after the Soviet Union launched the world’s first space satellites, Sputnik I and Sputnik II. ManyAmericans felt they had fallen behind their Cold War enemy and blamed what they felt was a lack of technical education in the nation’s schools. Lifemagazine proclaimed a “Crisis in Education,” and

offered a grim warning: “What has long been anignored national problem, Sputnik has made a recog-nized crisis.” In the wake of the Sputnik launches,efforts began to improve math and science educationin the schools. Profound fears about the country’syoung people, it seemed, dominated the end of adecade that had brought great progress for manyAmericans.

Evaluating How did manyAmericans feel about the education system of the 1950s?

Reading Check


Checking for Understanding1. Vocabulary Define: poverty line,

urban renewal, abstraction, terminationpolicy, juvenile delinquency, conform-ity, technical.

2. People and Terms Identify: MichaelHarrington, Bracero program.

3. Evaluate how the federal government’stermination policy affected NativeAmericans.

Reviewing Big Ideas4. Explaining Why did urban renewal fail

the poor of the inner cities?

Critical Thinking5. Interpreting What were some possible

reasons for a dramatic rise in juveniledelinquency in the 1950s?

6. Organizing Use a graphic organizersimilar to the one below to list thegroups of Americans who were left outof the country’s postwar economicboom.

Analyzing Visuals7. Analyzing Photographs Study the

photograph on this page. What in thephotograph might attract young peopleto this type of life? Why would othersoppose such a life?

Writing About History8. Expository Writing Using library or

Internet resources, find informationabout juvenile delinquency in theUnited States today to write a report.Compare today’s problems with thoseof the 1950s. Share your report with theclass. CA 11WS1.6

Rebelling Against Conformity This biker, one of the Louisville “Outlaws,”fits the stereotype of the 1950s juvenile delinquent.

Groups ofLow-IncomeAmericans


tav.mt.glencoe.com


Danny Lyon/Magnum Photos, Inc.


SOURCE 1:Sociologist William H. Whyte,Jr., studied the lives and beliefsof men who worked in largebusinesses. In The Organiza-tion Man, published in 1956,he reported that rugged indi-vidualism had disappeared infavor of conformity.

Not in the materialism ofheroes but in their attitudetoward society is where thechange has taken place. Inolder fiction there was someelement of conflict betweenthe individual and his envi-ronment; no matter how much assisted by coinci-dence, the hero had to do something—or at least seemto do something—before he got his reward. Rarely now.Society is so benevolent1 that there is no conflict left init for anyone to be rebellious about. The hero onlythinks there is.

Stories must have at least the appearance of a con-flict if they are to be stories, but contemporary writersget around this by taking a chunk of environment andthen in some fashion disguising its true goodness fromthe hero. Since this means that the hero’s troublesstem from a false image of life, the climax is easilyresolved. The author simply tears the veil away. It wasreally okay all along only the hero didn’t know it.Relieved, the hero learns the wisdom of acceptingwhat probably would have happened anyway. . . .

But the general run of current self-improvementbooks shows a rather steep divergence from the oldtradition. On the surface they do not seem to, and

their titles promise the old fare. Essentially, however,what they tell you to do is to adjust to the situationrather than change it. . . . [T]he picture they present is one of an essentially benevolent society, and thepeace of mind or the positive thinking extolled2 isa kind of resignation to it.

SOURCE 2:William Levitt responded to the enormous demand forhousing after World War II by constructing entirely new neighborhoods in several states. A Time article from July 3, 1950, describes one of these neighborhoods.

Like its counterparts across the land, Levittown is anentirely new kind of community. Despite its size, it isnot incorporated, thus has no mayor, no police force,nor any of the other traditional city officers of its own.

The 1950s has been depicted as a period of prosperity and conformity. Retreating from the tur-moil of World War II and the threat of the Cold War, Americans tried to cling to the security ofhome and family.


A typical street in Levittown, Pennsylvania➤

➤1benevolent: kind

➤2extolled: highly praised

Time Lige Pictures/Getty Images

It has no movies, no nightclubs and only three bars (all in the community shopping centers).

And Levittown has very few old people. Few of itsmore than 40,000 residents are past 35; of some 8,000children, scarcely 900 are more than seven years old. Infront of almost every house along Levittown’s 100 milesof winding streets sits a tricycle or a baby carriage. InLevittown, all activity stops from 12 to 2 in the after-noon; that is nap time. Said one Levittowner last week,“Everyone is so young that sometimes it’s hard toremember how to get along with older people.”

The community has an almost antiseptic air.Levittown streets, which have such fanciful names asSatellite, Horizon, Haymaker, are bare and flat as hospi-tal corridors. Like a hospital, Levittown has rules all itsown. Fences are not allowed (though here and there a home-owner has broken the rule). The plot of grassaround each home must be cut at least once a week; if not, Bill Levitt’s men mow the grass and send thebill. Wash cannot be hung out to dry on an ordinaryclothesline; it must be arranged on rotary, removabledrying racks, and then not on weekends or holidays. . . .

SOURCE 3:Elvis Presley’s swiveling hips upset many people. Hebecame the target of those who believed that rock ’n’ rollwas too dangerous for American youth. In the July 16,1956, issue of Newsweek, John Lardner reviewedPresley’s appearance on The Steve Allen Show.

There is nothing to be said against Elvis—and manypeople have said it—except that when placed in front ofa microphone, he behaves like an outboard motor. . . .

Nonetheless, we all watched with interest last weekwhen one of our number, Steve Allen, made a publicattempt to neutralize, calm, or de-twitch Elvis Presley,the lively singer.

Allen did this, one assumes, in what he personallyconsiders the best interests of civilization. . . . Civilizationtoday is sharply divided into two schools which cannotstand the sight of each other. One school, Allen’s . . .believes in underplaying, or underbidding, or waiting ’emout. The other, Presley’s, is committed to the strategy ofopen defiance, of confusing ’em, of yelling ’em down.The hips and the Adam’s apple . . . must be quicker thanthe eye. . . .

When Allen made his move last week to mute andfrustrate Presley . . . [he] was nervous, like a man tryingto embalm a firecracker. Presley was distraught, likeHuckleberry Finn, when the widow put him in a storesuit and told him not to gap or scratch.

Allen’s ethics were questionable from the start. Hefouled Presley . . . by dressing him like a corpse, inwhite tie and tails.3 This is a costume often seen onstar performers at funerals, but only when thedeceased has specifically requested it in his will. Elvismade no such request—or for that matter, no will. . . .


Elvis Presley on The Steve Allen Show➤

Source 1: Why does Whyte believe that conflict has disappeared?

Source 2: How were the people in Levittown similar?

Source 3: According to Lardner, why did somepeople dislike Elvis?

Comparing and Contrasting SourcesHow is conformity addressed in each of theaccounts?

➤3tails: man’s tuxedo coat with long tapering ends

CA HR4; HI2

Bettmann/CORBIS

1. closed shop2. right-to-work law3. union shop4. featherbedding5. dynamic conservatism6. white-collar7. blue-collar8. multinational corporation

9. franchise10. baby boom11. generation gap12. poverty line13. urban renewal14. termination policy15. juvenile delinquency

16. restrain17. subsidy18. transition19. accompany

20. benefit21. generate22. device23. controversial

24. abstraction25. conformity26. technical

Reviewing Content VocabularyOn a sheet of paper, use each of these terms in a sentence.

Reviewing Academic VocabularyOn a sheet of paper, use each of these terms in a sentence thatreflects the term’s meaning in the chapter.

• The GI Bill provided loans to millions of war veterans.

• Consumer spending increased rapidly.• More Americans owned homes than ever before.

• Workers went on strike for higher wages.• Truman’s civil rights bill did not pass.• Eisenhower cut back New Deal programs.

• The U.S. population grew dramatically.• The number of working women increased.

• Financially able people moved from crowded cities to new suburbs.

• Many poor people remained in cities that now faced major economic and social problems.

• Medical breakthroughs included the polio vaccine, antibiotics, and treatments for heart disease, arthritis, cancer, and diabetes.

• Improvements in communication, transportation, and electronics allowed Americans to work more efficiently.

• Many poor people in inner cities and rural areas had limited access to health care.

• Popular culture included new forms of music, radio, cinema, and literature.

• Television replaced radio as the nation’s newest form of mass media.

• African Americans and other minorities were, for the most part, not depicted on television.

• Many television programs promoted stereotypical gender roles.

Science,Technology,

and Medicine

PopularCulture

PopulationPatterns

Economy

Signs of Prosperity Signs of Inequality

Section 228. What caused many Americans to move to the suburbs in

the 1950s?

Section 329. How did the radio industry win back audiences after televi-

sion developed?

Section 430. Which groups of Americans found themselves left out of the

postwar economic boom?

Critical Thinking31. Question-Answer Relationships

Review pages 678–679. Write and answer two questions ontechnological breakthroughs during the 1950s. Identify ques-tions as “author and you” or “on your own” relationships.

32. Civics Give examples of the expansion of executive powersduring the Truman and Eisenhower administrations inresponse to the Cold War.

33. Explaining How has mass media changed since the 1950s?

Reviewing the Main IdeasSection 127. How did the GI Bill boost the economy after World War II?

Standards 11.8, 11.8.1, 11.8.2, 11.8.3, 11.8.4, 11.8.7, 11.8.8, 11.10, 11.10.1, 11.10.7, 11.11.2, 11.11.3, 11.11.7


34. Evaluating What factors led to a rise in juvenile delinquencyin the United States during the 1950s?

35. Organizing Use a graphic organizer similar to the one belowto list the changes to the American family during the 1950s.

Writing About History36. Analyzing and Understanding

Change How did Truman aid the civil rights movement?Explain what changed for African Americans in the 1950s andwhy other aspects of society remained the same.

37. Write a letter to a friend describing how theAmerican economy changed following World War II. Your let-ter should describe the changes that impacted society botheconomically and culturally.

38. Interpreting Primary Sources George Gallup, one of thenation’s first pollsters, spoke at the University of Iowa in1953 about the importance of mass media in the UnitedStates. Read the excerpt and answer the questions that follow.

“One of the real threats to America’s future place inthe world is a citizenry which duly elects to be enter-tained and not informed. From the time the typical citi-zen arises and looks at his morning newspaper until heturns off his radio or television set before going to bed,he has unwittingly cast his vote a hundred times forentertainment or for education. Without his knowing it,he has helped to determine the very character of ourthree most important media of communication—thepress, radio, and television. . . .”

—quoted in Vital Speeches of the Day

a. According to Gallup, what is a threat to the future of theUnited States in the world?

b. How do American citizens determine what is read, seen,and heard in the mass media?

CA CS2

CA HI1

Geography and History39. The graph above shows the number of suburban dwellers in

the United States as a percentage of the total population.Study the data displayed in the graph and answer the ques-tions below.a. Interpreting Graphs What trend in the percentage of

suburban dwellers does this graph show?

b. Understanding Cause and Effect How might the trendof suburban dwellers shown on this graph have affectedlife in suburbs and cities?

Standards PracticeDirections: Choose the best answer to thefollowing question.

Which of the following was a technological break-through in the 1950s?

A the introduction of new vaccines to fight diabetes and cancer

B the invention of the radio

C the first vaccine that prevented polio

D the development of personal computers

40.

Changes to American Family

Perc

ent o

f Tot

al P

opul

atio

n

50454035302520151050

Year

Suburban Dwellers, 1910–1980

19801970196019501940193019201910

Source: The First Measured Century.

Self-Check QuizVisit the American Vision: Modern Times Web site at

and click on Self-Check Quizzes—Chapter 14 to assess your knowledge of chapter content.

HISTORY

tav.mt.glencoe.com

Standard 11.8.7: Describe the effects on society and theeconomy of technological developments since 1945, includ-ing the computer revolution, changes in communication,advances in medicine, and improvements in agriculturaltechnology.


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