GI Bill of GI Bill of RightsRights

• As the men came home the As the men came home the Congress approved the Congress approved the Serviceman’s Readjustment Serviceman’s Readjustment ActAct– Low-cost mortgages, low-interest Low-cost mortgages, low-interest

loans to start a business, cash loans to start a business, cash payments of tuition and living payments of tuition and living expenses to attend college, high expenses to attend college, high school or vocational education, as school or vocational education, as well as one year of unemployment well as one year of unemployment compensation. compensation.

• Available to every veteran who Available to every veteran who had been on active duty during had been on active duty during the war years for at least ninety the war years for at least ninety days and had not been days and had not been dishonorably discharged; combat dishonorably discharged; combat was not required.was not required.

• By 1956, roughly 2.2 million By 1956, roughly 2.2 million veterans attend colleges or veterans attend colleges or universities, and an additional 6.6 universities, and an additional 6.6 million used these benefits for million used these benefits for some kind of training programsome kind of training program

Car Culture-post-war boom period

•More families with cars

-growth of suburbia

•People commute to cities

-Interstate Highway System

•To connect cities; easy military access

-trucking industry

•Long-haul delivery

•Railroads decline

-social effects

•People move from cities

•Life of teenager

Women in the workforce (or Women in the workforce (or not)not)

• Women’s roles in 1950s Women’s roles in 1950s would change from the would change from the 1940s1940s– Women would move out of Women would move out of

factoriesfactories– The idea of the “stay at The idea of the “stay at

home mom” became more home mom” became more common and actually was common and actually was pushed by famous child pushed by famous child psychologist Dr. Spockpsychologist Dr. Spock

– College attendance by College attendance by women would drop as women would drop as women would skip college women would skip college or leave college early to or leave college early to start a familystart a family

Suburbia

-most new homes were in the suburbs

-baby boom generation

•1945-1961: 65 million babies

•Largest generation in history

-Medical breakthroughs

•More children survived

Jonas Salk – polio vaccine

•Prevent childhood disease

-Childrearing

Dr. Spock’s influence

•No spanking, talk with children

•Women stay at home

Of the 13 million new homes built in the 1950s, 85% were built in the suburbs. For many people, the suburbs embodied the American dream of an affordable single-

family house, good schools, a safe, healthy environment for children, and congenial

neighbors just like themselves.

“Suburban areas … inhabited by people in the same class, the same income, the same age group, witnessing the same television performances, eating the same tasteless… foods from the same freezers, conforming in every outward and inward respect to a

common mold.”

Lewis Mumford

Contributing to the size of the baby boom generation were many factors, including: reunion of

husbands and wives after the war, decreasing marriage age,

desirability of large families, confidence in continued economic

prosperity, and advances in medicine.

The baby boom had a tremendous impact no only on child care but

also on the American economy and the educational system. In 1958,

toy sales alone reached $1.25 billion. During the decade, 10

million new students entered the elementary schools. The sharp increase in enrollment caused

overcrowding and teacher shortages in many parts of the

country. In California, a new school opened every seven days.

Many parents raised their children according to guidelines devised by the author and pediatrician Dr. Benjamin Spock. His Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care, published in 1946, sold nearly 10 million copies during the 1950s. In it, he advised parents not to spank or scold their

children. He also encouraged families to hold meetings in which children

could express themselves. He considered it so important that mothers be at home with their

children, that he proposed having the government pay mothers to stay

home.

Most Americans of the 1950s had more leisure time than ever before. Employees worked a 40-hour week and earned several weeks’ vacation per year. People owned more labor-saving devices, such as washing

machines, clothes dryers, dishwashers, and power lawn mowers, which allowed more time for leisure activities. Fortune magazine reported

that, in 1953, Americans spent more than $30 billion on leisure goods and activities.

Television

-Widely available in 1948

•90% had TV by 1955

-FCC strongly controls the industry

-Golden Age of Television

•Especially comedies

Milton Berle

Lucille Ball

Edward R. Murrow

Quiz Shows

-spurred other industries

•Refrigerators

•Frozen dinners

Effects of T.V.

-women often appears as perfect homemakers

•Stereotypical roles

-more males represented

-few minorities seen

-portrayed ideal America

•No poverty, diversity, or real-life conflicts

-programming concerns

•Some shows called too violent

quiz show scandals

•Cheating; all of America felt cheated

Not everyone was thrilled with TV. Critics objected to its effects on children and its

stereotypical portrayal of women and minorities. Women did, in fact, appear in

stereotypical roles, such as the ideal mothers of Father Knows Best and The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet. Male

characters outnumbered women three to one. African Americans and Latinos rarely

appeared in television programs at all. Many Americans were concerned about the levels of violence on such shows as

Gunsmoke and the effects of such shows on their children.

“When television is bad, nothing is worse. I invite you to sit down in front of your television set when your station goes on the air…and keep your eyes glued to that set until the station signs off. I can assure you that you will

observe a vast wasteland.

- Newton Minow (Chairman of the FCC in 1961) -

“There’s a lot more integration in the actual life of the U.S. than you’ll find on T.V. But I notice that they always have integration in the prison scenes on

television.” - Nat Cole, black T.V. entertainer-

Radio and Movies

-radio continued to prosper

•News, weather, music, community issues

-movies struggled, but had several advantages

•Especially size and picture

stereo sound

•“Surround sound”

color

3-D movies

As more people stayed home to watch television, the number of moviegoers decreased. By 1960, one-fifth of the

nation’s movie theaters had been converted into bowling alleys,

supermarkets, or stood empty. In 1951, producer David O. Selznick worried that Hollywood “would never come back. It’ll just keep crumbling until finally the wind

blows the last studio prop across the sands.”

Yet, with its stars and its big-screen advantages, Hollywood survived the

golden age of television.

Beatniks

-beat movement

social and literary non-conformists

•Artists, poets, and writers who followed Buddhism, music, and drugs

-non-material lifestyle

•Did not want jobs, did not want money to buy “stuff”

-set precedent for the hippy generation

•Especially college students

-clashed with regular AmericaJack Kerouac, famous beatnik

writer, reading from his beatnik generation book, On the Road

Rock-n-Roll

-Alan Freed (aka Moondog)

•1950s disc-jockey advocating rock n roll

rock-n-roll

•Mixture of black and white music out of R&B and country

•Truly American style

-Little Richard, Chuck Berry, Bill Haley, Buddy Holly, Elvis Presley

•Loved by teens, hated by adults

-Ed Sullivan Show

-Dick Clark – American Bandstand

-reaction to rock music

•Adults saw music as too suggestive and racial

Buddy Holly was an American singer, songwriter, and a pioneer of rock n roll. In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine ranked him

#13 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. Although his career was cut

short by a plane crash, his body of work is considered among the most influential in

rock. His works and innovations were copied by his contemporaries and those who were to follow, including The Beatles and the Rolling

Stone, and had a profound influence on popular music.

Elvis Presley, the unofficial “King of Rock ‘n’ Roll,” first developed his

musical style by singing in church and listening to gospel, country, and

blues music on the radio in Memphis, Tennessee. When he was a young boy, his mother gave him a guitar,

and years later he paid four dollars of his own money to record two songs in

1953. Sam Phillips, a rhythm and blues producer, discovered Presley and produced his first records. In

1955, Phillips sold Presley’s contract to RCA for $35,000.

Presley’s live appearances were immensely popular, and 45 of his records sold over a million copies,

including “Heartbreak Hotel,” “Hound Dog,” “All Shook Up,” and “Don’t Be

Cruel.” Although Look magazine dismissed him a as a “wild

troubadour who wails rock ‘n’ roll tunes, flails erratically at a guitar,

and wriggles like a peep-show dancer,” Presley’s rebellious style captivated young audiences. Girls screamed when he performed, and

boys tried to imitate him.

Poverty

-1/4 of Americans were below poverty line

-”Other America”

•The elderly, single women and children, minorities

-White Flight

-millions of middle class whites moved to suburbs

-loss of tax dollars hurt city services

• cities could not afford services for people

-lots of rural poor move to cities

-breakdown of inner cities

-Urban Renewal

•Build new homes, businesses, etc. for cities

“The poor live in a culture of poverty…The poor get sick more than anyone else in society…When they become sick, they are sicker longer than any other group in the society. Because they are sick

more often and longer…they lose wages and work…and their prospect is to move

to an even lower level…toward even more suffering.”

-Michael Harrington, The Other America-

Women in America

-role of women

•Movies, television, magazines

-glorified role of the housewife

-boredom and unfulfilment

•Not happy with home life

-many working women were paid less and restricted to certain jobs

•Nursing, teaching, office support

-Betty Freidan

“Feminine Mystique”

-beginning of women’s liberation movement

•Breaking traditional roles of women

•More active in the 1960s

During the 1950s, women’s roles as homemaker and mother were

glorified in popular magazines, movies, and TV programs. Time

magazine described the homemaker as the “key figure in all suburbia, the thread that weaves between

family and community—the keeper of the suburban dream.” In contrast to the ideal, however, some women

were not happy with their roles; they felt isolated, bored, and

unfulfilled. According to one survey, 1/5 of women were dissatisfied with

their lives.

Minority Groups

-immigration from Mexico increases

•Come to work in America (Braceros Program)

-discrimination was faced by nearly all minorities

-Native Americans

•Citizenship, 1924

-Indian Reorganization Act

•Gave Native Americans more freedom and less pressure to assimilate