Affluence and Anxiety in the 1950s

Affluence and Anxiety in the 1950sChapter 26

1959 Honeymoon in a Bomb Shelter

ContrastsMost prosperous period in U.S. HistoryIn 1959 two out of three Americans listed Atomic War as nations most urgent threatWhite Americans and prosperityBlack Americans fight for opportunityI Like Ike & Moderate Republicanism at homeCold War adventures abroad

Election of 1952

Dynamic ConservatismConservative when it comes to money and liberal when it comes to peopleEisenhowerExpanded Social Security to white collar professionals, domestic workers, farm workers and members of the armed forcesInterstate Highway Act & St. Lawrence SeawayIncreased minimum wageLow income housing projectsVP: Richard NixonEarly career: anti-Communist activism to expose left-wing subversivesContainment = appeasement

Economic Prosperity1953: U.S. = 6% of world population and produced 2/3 of worlds manufactured goodsConstruction of highways, bridges, airports and portsMilitary related research stimulated growth of chemical, electronics and aviation industriesOil boom in Texas, Wyoming and OklahomaLack of foreign competitionDemand for consumer goods driven by two decades of consumer conservation during the Great Depression and WWII1945; 40% of Americans owned homes1960: 60% of Americans owned homesBetween 1948 and 1952 the number of TV sets jumped from 172,000 to 15.3 million

GI Bill1944 Servicemans Readjustment Act of 1944 (GI Bill of Rights)Unemployment pay for 1 yearPreference for Federal government jobsLoans for home construction, starting a businessAccess to government hospitalsGenerous subsidies for education5 million veterans bought new homes1949: Veterans = 40% of college enrollmentsMost African Americans, though entitled to benefits could not take advantage of benefitsMajority of white colleges refused to admit blacksBlack veterans prevented from buying homes in white neighborhoods

1950s TV Sets

SuburbiaLevittown, PAHomes of exactly the same designAll cost $6,200Trees planted every 20 feetHomeowners must cut grass 1/weekNo sales to Blacks

The Great Migration Part 2After 1945 more than 5 million African Americans moved from the rural South to cities in the NorthAs blacks moved to urban cities, whites moved out to suburban developments where blacks were not permitted despite 1948 Supreme Court decision in Shelley v. Kraemer which held that racial restrictions in planned communities were unconstitutional.By 1960 more blacks lived in urban areas than rural areasSince blacks made less money than whites, the tax base in urban cities decreased making it more difficult for cities to fund infrastructure or support quality public schoolsAfter Brown v. Board of Education in 1952, which overturned Plessey v. Ferguson decision of separate but equal, many white school children went to private, usually Christian schools.

Mexican and Puerto Rican AmericansBracero program renewed by CongressBy 1960 Los Angeles had the largest Mexican American population in the U.S.Between 1940 and 1960 nearly a million Puerto Ricans moved to the U.S.Mexican American and Puerto Rican and other Latino veterans received the same benefits under the GI Bill.

WomenGo back home and take care of your man! House Beautiful 1945Your veteran, is head man againyour part in the remaking of this man is to fit his home to him, understanding why he wants itthis way, forgetting your own preferences. In 1956 of all white college women wed while still in school.Average age when women wed was between 16 and 19 years old

Youth CultureBaby Boomers 1945-1964: 76 million American babies bornIn 1957 1 baby was born every 7 secondsSurge in Consumer demandReinforced notion that womens place was in the home.

Literature and the BeatsRalph Ellison, The Invisible Man (1956)J.D. Salinger, Catcher in the Rye (1951)John Updike, Rabbit Run, (1961)John Cheever, short storiesJohn Keats, The Crack in the Picture Window (1956)miles of identical boxes are spreading like gangrene gimme kids.The Beats: Writers, poets, painters, musiciansJohn Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, William Burroughs and Neal CassidyRebellious, reckless, experimental, risk takers, drugs, sexuality and lifestyle

Rock n RollDistinctive teen sub-culture among the first group of baby boomers who became adolescents in the 1950s.Juvenile Delinquency CarsBooze and SexAlan Freed 1951: White teenagers buying black R&B artists rather than white covers of the same song, began playing black R7B artists and called the music Rock n RollElvis: Rockabilly- blend of gospel, country & western and R & BDancing

Civil Rights Movement: The Early yearsEisenhowerDesegregated public facilities in Washington DC and military bases in VA and South CarolinaAppointed 1st African American to an Executive officePreferred state/local action to federal involvementPassive attitude and lack of leadership in Congress led to Supreme Court taking a more active role as the NAACP continued to press for civil rights in the courtsAppointed Earl Warren and William J. Brennan to the courtBrown v. Board of Education of Topeka Kansas (1952). Separate is NOT equal1956: 101 members of Congress (Southern Democrats) signed the Southern Memo denouncing Supreme Court decision as clear abuse of judicial power 3 Southern Democrats refused to sign, including Lyndon B. Johnson

Montgomery Bus BoycottDecember 1, 1955 Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat for white passengers when asked to do so by the bus driverShe was arrestedShe was secretary of the local NAACP chapterThe next night, Black community leaders met in Dexter Avenue Baptist Church where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was the pastor75 of the riders of the Montgomery bus system were black. They were forced to move further to the back of the bus if the white section filled upso a white person would not stand while a black person was seated. Rev. Ralph Abernathy and Dr. King unless Montgomery bus system changes this law, blacks will not ride the bus.381 days; December 20, 1956 U.S. Supreme Court ruled that segregation on public facilities like busses could no longer be enforced.