the american pageant chapter 37, the eisenhower era copyright © houghton mifflin company. all...
TRANSCRIPT
The American Pageant
Chapter 37,
The Eisenhower Era
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Adapted from Ms. Susan M. Pojer
Horace Greeley HS Chappaqua, NY
Adapted from Ms. Susan M. Pojer
Horace Greeley HS Chappaqua, NY
THE 1950s:
THE 1950s:
“Anxiety, Alienation, and Social Unrest” ??
“Conservatism, Complacency, and
Contentment”OROR
Warm-up
1. What do you see in this picture?2. What do you know about life
during the 1950s because of this picture?
3. Who might have been excluded from this lifestyle?
1A. Baby Boom
1A. Baby BoomIt seems to me that every other
young housewife I see is pregnant.
-- British visitor to America, 1958
1957 1 baby born every 7 seconds
1B. Baby Boom
1B. Baby Boom
Dr. Benjamin Spock
and the Anderson Quintuplets
2A. Suburban Living
2A. Suburban Living
$7,990 or $60/month with no down payment.
Levittown, L. I.: “The American Dream”
1949 William Levitt produced 150 houses per week.
2A. Suburban Living:
The New “American Dream”
2A. Suburban Living:
The New “American Dream”k 1 story high
k 12’x19’ living room
k 2 bedrooms
k tiled bathroom
k garage
k small backyard
k front lawn
By 1960 1/3 of the U. S. population in
the suburbs.
And the children go to summer camp and then to the universityWhere they are put in boxes and they come out all the same.
And the boys go into business and marry and raise a familyIn boxes made of ticky tacky and they all look just the same.
• And there's doctors and there's lawyers, and business executivesAnd they're all made out of ticky tacky and they all look just the same.
• And they all play on the golf course and drink their martinis dry,And they all have pretty children and the children go to school
Little boxes on the hillside, Little boxes made of tickytackyLittle boxes on the hillside, little boxes all the sameThere's a green one and a pink one and a blue one and a yellow oneAnd they're all made out of ticky tacky and they all look just the same.
And the people in the houses all went to the universityWhere they were put in boxes and they came out all the same,
Little Boxes by Malvina Reynolds
2B. Suburban Living
2B. Suburban Living
SHIFTS IN POPULATION DISTRIBUTION,
1940-1970
1940 1950 1960 1970Central Cities 31.6% 32.3% 32.6% 32.0%Suburbs 19.5% 23.8% 30.7% 41.6%Rural Areas/ 48.9% 43.9% 36.7% 26.4%Small Towns
U. S. Bureau of the Census.
2c. Suburban Living:
The Typical TV Suburban Families
2c. Suburban Living:
The Typical TV Suburban FamiliesThe
Donna Reed Show1958-1966
Leave It to Beaver1957-1963
Father Knows Best
1954-1958
The Ozzie & Harriet Show
1952-1966
Leave it to Beaver
4. What do you know about life during the 1950s because of this clip? Do you think it is an accurate portrayal?
3a. Consumerism
3a. Consumerism1950 Introduction of the Diner’s
Card
All babies were potential consumers who spearheaded a brand-new market for food, clothing, and shelter. -- Life Magazine (May, 1958)
3B. Consumerism3B. Consumerism
4A. A Changing Workplace
4A. A Changing Workplace Automation:
1947-1957 factory workers decreased by 4.3%, eliminating 1.5 million blue-collar jobs.
By 1956 more white-collar than blue-collar jobs in the U. S.
Computers Mark I (1944). First IBM mainframe computer (1951).
Corporate Consolidation:
By 1960 600 corporations (1/2% of all U. S. companies) accounted for 53% of total corporate income.
WHY?? Cold War military buildup.
4B. A Changing Workplace
4B. A Changing WorkplaceNew Corporate Culture:
“The Company Man”
1956 Sloan Wilson’s The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit
5A. The Culture of the Car
5A. The Culture of the Car Car registrations: 1945 25,000,000
1960 60,000,000
2-family cars doubles from 1951-1958
1956 Interstate Highway Act largest public works project in American history!
Å Cost $32 billion.
Å 41,000 miles of new highways built.
1959 Chevy Corvette
1958 Pink Cadillac
5B. The Culture of the Car
5B. The Culture of the Car
First McDonald’s (1955)
America became a more homogeneous nation because of the automobile.
Drive-In Movies
Howard Johnson’s
5C. The Culture of the Car
5C. The Culture of the Car
The U. S. population was on the move in the 1950s.
NE & Mid-W S & SW (“Sunbelt” states)
1955 Disneyland opened in Southern California. (40% of the guests came from outside California, most by car.)
Frontier Land
Main Street Tomorrow Land
6A. Television6A. Television 1946 7,000 TV sets in the U. S.
1950 50,000,000 TV sets in the U. S.
Mass Audience TV celebrated traditionalAmerican values.
Television is a vast wasteland. Newton Minnow, Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, 1961
Truth, Justice, and the American way!
6B. Television – The Western
6B. Television – The WesternDavy Crockett
King of the Wild Frontier
The Lone Ranger(and his faithfulsidekick, Tonto): Who is that masked man??
Sheriff Matt Dillon,
Gunsmoke
6C. Television - Family Shows
6C. Television - Family Shows
I Love Lucy
The Honeymooners
Glossy view of mostly middle-class suburban life.
But...
Social Winners?... AND… Loosers?
Lucy, the first pregnant woman
When Lucy became pregnant in 1952 with her 2nd child, CBS became nervous. The network worried about ratings & about sponsorship for the show. Women weren’t portrayed as pregnant on television. I Love Lucy broke this taboo by weaving Lucy’s pregnancy into the storyline of the series. As a result, 44 million viewers tuned in to the program in January 1953 to watch Lucy give birth to Little Ricky. An amazing 72% of all U.S. homes with TV watched this episode.
7A. Teen Culture
7A. Teen CultureIn the 1950s the word “teenager”
entered the American language.
By 1956 13 mil. teens with $7 bil. to spend a year.1951 “race music” “ROCK ‘N ROLL”
Elvis Presley “The King”
7B. Teen Culture
7B. Teen Culture“Juvenile
Delinquency” ???
Marlon Brando in
The Wild One (1953)
James Dean inRebel Without a
Cause (1955)
1951 J. D. Salinger’s A Catcher in the Rye
7C. Teen Culture
7C. Teen CultureThe “Beat” Generation:
f Jack Kerouac On The Road
f Allen Ginsberg poem, “Howl”
f Neal Cassady
f William S. Burroughs
“Beatnik”
“Clean” Teen
7D. Teen Culture
7D. Teen Culture
Behavioral Rules of the 1950s:U Obey Authority.
U Control Your Emotions.
U Don’t Make Waves Fit in
with the Group.
U Don’t Even Think About Sex!!!
8A. Religious Revival
8A. Religious Revival Today in the U. S., the Christian faith is
back in the center of things. -- Time magazine, 1954
Church membership: 1940 64,000,000 1960 114,000,000
Television Preachers:
1. Catholic Bishop Fulton J. Sheen “Life is Worth Living”
2. Methodist Minister Norman Vincent Peale The Power of Positive Thinking
3. Reverend Billy Graham ecumenical message; warned against the evils of Communism.
9A. Well-Defined Gender Roles
9A. Well-Defined Gender RolesThe ideal modern woman married, cooked
and cared for her family, and kept herself busy by joining the local PTA and leading a troop of Campfire Girls. She entertained guests in her family’s suburban house and worked out on the trampoline to keep her size 12 figure. -- Life magazine, 1956
MarilynMonroe
The ideal 1950s man was the provider, protector, and the boss of the house. -- Life magazine, 1955
1956 William H. Whyte, Jr. The Organization Man
A a middle-class, white suburban male is the ideal.
8B. Religious Revival
8B. Religious RevivalHollywood: apex of the biblical
epics.
It’s un-American to be un-religious! -- The Christian Century, 1954
The Robe The Ten Commandments Ben Hur 1953 1956 1959
9B. Well-Defined Gender Roles
9B. Well-Defined Gender RolesChanging Sexual Behavior:
Alfred Kinsey: 1948 Sexual Behavior in the Human Male 1953 Sexual Behavior in the Human Female
v Premarital sex was common.
v Extramarital affairs were frequent among married couples.
Kinsey’s results are an assault on the family as a basic unit of society, a negation of moral law, and a celebration of licentiousness. -- Life magazine, early 1950s
10A. Progress Through Science10A. Progress Through Science1951 -- First IBM Mainframe
Computer
1952 -- Hydrogen Bomb Test
1953 -- DNA Structure Discovered
1954 -- Salk Vaccine Tested for Polio
1957 -- First Commercial U. S. Nuclear Power Plant
1958 -- NASA Created
1959 -- Press Conference of the First 7 American Astronauts
10B. Progress Through Science10B. Progress
Through Science1957 Russians launch SPUTNIK
I
1958 National Defense Education Act
10C. Progress Through Science10C. Progress
Through ScienceUFO Sightings skyrocketed in the 1950s.
War of the Worlds
Hollywood used aliens as a metaphor
for whom ??
10D. Progress Through Science10D. Progress
Through ScienceAtomic Anxieties:
à “Duck-and-Cover Generation”
Atomic Testing:
à 1946-1962 U. S. exploded 217 nuclear weapons over the Pacific and in Nevada.
Duck and Cover
The 50s Come to a Close
The 50s Come to a Close1959 Nixon-
Khrushchev “Kitchen Debate”
Cold War -----> Tensions
<----- Technology
& Affluence
The postwar era witnessed tremendous economic growth and rising social contentment and conformity. Yet in the midst of such increasing affluence and comfortable domesticity, social critics expressed a growing sense of unease with American culture in the 1950s.
Assess the validity of the above statement and explain how the decade of the 1950s laid the groundwork for the social and political turbulence of the 1960s.
Class Discussion Topic:
Class Discussion Topic:
• Economy grew during the 50s– the invention of the transistor
exploded the electronics field• especially in computers• companies such as International Business
Machines (IBM) expand & prosper.
• Aerospace industries progressed, – Boeing company made the
1st passenger-jet airplane (adapted from the superbombers of theStrategic Air Command), the 707.
Affluence & Anxiety
Affluence & Anxiety
• 1956: for the 1st time “white-collar” workers outnumbered “blue collar” workers – meaning that the industrial era was passing on.
• labor unions peaked in 1954 then started a steady decline.– Women appeared more & more in the workplace
• despite the stereotypical role of women as housewives portrayed on TV shows such as “Ozzie and Harriet” and “Leave It to Beaver.”
• More than 40 million new jobs were created.
Affluence & AnxietyAffluence & Anxiety
Affluence & AnxietyAffluence & Anxiety• Betty Friedan’s 1963
book The Feminine Mystique– A best-seller and a
classic of modern feminine protest literature.
– She’s the godmother of the feminist movement.
Consumer Culture in the 50s
Consumer Culture in the 50s• Credit cards• opening of McDonald’s• the debut of Disneyland• explosion in the # of
television stations• Advertisers used television
to sell products • “televangelists” like Billy
Graham, Oral Roberts, and Fulton J. Sheen – used TV to preach the gospel
& encourage religion.
• Sports shifted west– Brooklyn Dodgers & New York
Giants moved to Los Angeles and San Francisco in 1958
• Elvis Presley– a white singer of the new “rock and
roll”– made girls swoon – sexually suggestive gyrations– redefined popular music.– died from drugs in 1977, at age 42.
Consumer Culture in the 50s
Consumer Culture in the 50s
• Traditionalists were shocked by – Elvis’s shockingly open sexuality– Marilyn Monroe (in her Playboy magazine
spread) – redefinition of the new sensuous sexuality.
• Critics, such as David Riesman in The Lonely Crowd, William H. Whyte, Jr. in The Organization Man, and Sloan Wilson in The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit, lamented this new consumerist style.
Consumer Culture in the 50s
Consumer Culture in the 50s
• Election of 1952– Democrats chose Adlai E.
Stevenson, governor of Illinois, – Republicans chose Dwight D.
Eisenhower and anticommunist Richard M. Nixon to be his VP
– Grandfatherly Eisenhower =• war hero • liked by everyone• rough part of campaigning to Nixon,
who attacked Stevenson as soft against communists, corrupt, and weak in the Korean situation.
The Advent of Eisenhower
The Advent of Eisenhower
• Nixon then almost got caught with a secretly financed “slush fund,” – he delivered his famous and touching
“Checkers Speech.”• he denied wrongdoing• spoke of his family and specifically, his
daughter’s cute little cocker spaniel, Checkers
• was forgiven in the public arena and stayed on as V.P.
• showed the awesome power of television
The Advent of Eisenhower
The Advent of Eisenhower
• Ike won easily (442 to 89)• true to his campaign promise, he
flew to Korea to help move along peace negotiations, yet failed
• seven months later, after Ike threatened to use nuclear weapons, an armistice was finally signed (but was later violated often).
• In Korea– 54,000 Americans had died– tens of billions of dollars had been wasted in the effort, – Americans took a little comfort in knowing that
communism had been “contained.”
The Advent of Eisenhower
The Advent of Eisenhower
• Blacks in the South– bound by the severe Jim Crow laws
that segregated every aspect of society, from schools to restrooms torestaurants and beyond.
– Only about 20% of the eligible blacks could vote, due to intimidation, discrimination, poll taxes, and other schemes meant to keep black suffrage down.
Desegregating American SocietyDesegregating
American Society
• Jackie Robinson cracked the racial barrier by signing with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947
• Rosa Parks– December 1955, refused to give up
a bus seat in the “whites only” section• Martin Luther King, Jr.,
– believed in peaceful methodsof civil rights protests, blacks were making their suffering &discrimination known to the public.
Desegregating American SocietyDesegregating
American Society
• After he heard about the 1946 lynchings of black soldiers seekingrights for which they fought overseas– Truman seeks to improve black
rights by desegregating the armed forces
– Eisenhower failed to continue this trend by failing to support laws.
Seeds of the Civil Rights Revolution
Seeds of the Civil Rights Revolution
• Earl Warren– appointed Chief Justice of the
Supreme Court– Shocked his conservative backers by
actively assailing black injustice &ruling in favor of African-Americans.
Seeds of the Civil Rights Revolution
Seeds of the Civil Rights Revolution
• 1954 landmark case of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas– reversed the previous 1896 ruling
of Plessy v. Ferguson– Brown case said that “separate but
equal” facilities were inherently unequal
– Under the Brown case, schools were ordered integrated.
Seeds of the Civil Rights Revolution
Seeds of the Civil Rights Revolution
• Border States usually obeyed this new ruling• states in the Deep South did everything they
could to delay it and disobey it, – diverting funds to private schools– signing a “Declaration of Constitutional Principles”
• promised not to desegregate, and physically preventing blacks to integrate.
• 10 years after the ruling, fewer than 2% of eligible black students sat in the same classrooms as whites.
• Real integration of schools in the Deep South occurred around 1970.
Seeds of the Civil Rights Revolution
Seeds of the Civil Rights Revolution
• decreased government spending – by decreasing military spending,
• Secretary of Health, Education, & Welfare – condemned free distribution of the Salk
anti-polio vaccine as being socialist• cracked down on illegal Mexican
immigration – cut down on the success of the bracero
program, by rounding up 1 million Mexicans and returning them to their native country in 1954.
Eisenhower Republicanism at Home
Eisenhower Republicanism at Home
• Indians: proposed ending the lenient FDR-style treatment toward Indians– Wanted to revert to a Dawes Severalty Act-
style policy toward Native Americans– due to protest and resistance, this
was disbanded• Backed the Interstate Highway Act, (1956)
– built 42,000 miles of interstate freeways• only balanced the budget 3Xs in his 8 years of office• in 1959, he incurred the biggest peacetime deficit in
U.S. history up to that point.
Eisenhower Republicanism at Home
Eisenhower Republicanism at Home
• Slow to move:– refused to issue a statement
acknowledging the Supreme Court’s ruling on integration (Brown)
• Little Rock Nine: (September 1957)– Orval Faubus: governor of AK
• mobilized the National Guard to prevent nine black students from enrolling in Little Rock’sCentral High School,
– Ike sent federal troops to escort the children to their classes.
Eisenhower Republicanism at
Home:On Civil Rights
Eisenhower Republicanism at
Home:On Civil Rights
• 1957 Civil Rights Act:– first Civil Rights Act since the
Reconstruction days– set up a permanent Civil Rights
Commission• investigate violations of civil rights • authorized federal injunctions to protect
voting rights.
Eisenhower Republicanism at
Home:On Civil Rights
Eisenhower Republicanism at
Home:On Civil Rights
• Meanwhile, MLK:– formed the Southern Christian
Leadership Conference• aimed to mobilize the vast power of black
churches on behalf of black rights—a shrewd strategy, since churches were a huge source of leadership in the black community.
• Greensboro North Carolina Sit-in– February 1, 1960
• four black college freshmen launched a “sit-in” movement in Greensboro, North Carolina, demanding service at a whites-only Woolworth’s lunch counter, thus sparking the sit-in movement.
Eisenhower Republicanism at
Home:On Civil Rights
Eisenhower Republicanism at
Home:On Civil Rights
• Background:– Secretary of State John Foster Dulles
• stated that the policy of containment was not enough
• U.S. was going to push back communism & liberate the peoples under it
• became known as “rollback.” • All-the-while he advocated toning down
defense spending by building a fleet of superbombers
– called Strategic Air Command, which could drop massive nuclear bombs in any retaliation.
A New Look Foreign Policy
A New Look Foreign Policy
• Eisenhower had a "new look" on a policy of Massive Relatiation.– = the building up of our forces in the
sky to scare the enemys.– created the Strategic Air Command
(SAC)• = airfleet of superbombers equipped with
city-flattening nuclear bombs• fearsome weapons would inflict "Massive
Retaliation" on the enemy• also a great bang for the buck
A New Look Foreign Policy
A New Look Foreign Policy
• 1955 Geneva Conference:– Ike tried to thaw the Cold War by
appealing for peace to new SovietPremier Nikita Khrushchev • Krushchev rejected such proposals, along
with one for “open skies.”
• hypocritically, when the Hungarians revolted against the U.S.S.R. and appealed to the U.S. for help…– America did nothing
• earning the scorn of bitter freedom fighters.
A New Look Foreign Policy
A New Look Foreign Policy
• Background: – revolutionary Ho Chi Minh had tried
to encourage Woodrow Wilson to help the Vietnamese against the French• gained some support from Wilson• as Ho became increasingly communist,
the U.S. began to oppose him.
The Vietnam NightmareThe Vietnam Nightmare
• March 1954– French became trapped at Dienbienphu– Eisenhower’s aides wanted to bomb the
Viet Minh guerilla forces– Ike held back
• fearing plunging the U.S. into another Asian war so soon after Korea
– After the Vietnamese won at Dienbienphu• Vietnam was split at the 17th parallel,
supposedly temporarily.
The Vietnam NightmareThe Vietnam Nightmare
• Ho Chi Minh was supposed to allow free elections, BUT…– Vietnam became clearly split
• communist north• pro-Western south.
• Dienbienphu marks the start of American interest in Vietnam.
• Southeast Asian Treaty Organization (SEATO) – Secretary Dulles created the to emulate
NATO, but this provided little help.
The Vietnam NightmareThe Vietnam Nightmare
• Warsaw Pact (1955)– Formed by the USSR to counteract NATO– Cold War did seem to be thawing a bit
• Eisenhower pressed for reduction of arms• Soviets were surprisingly cooperative, • Khrushchev publicly denounced Stalin’s brutality.
• Hungarian Revolt agst USSR (1956) – Soviets crushed them with brutality & massive
bloodshed.– Our response?
• U.S. did change some of its immigration laws to let 30,000 Hungarians into U.S. as immigrants.
Cold War Crisis in Europe and the Middle
East
Cold War Crisis in Europe and the Middle
East
• In 1953, to protect oil supplies in the Middle East– CIA engineered a coup in Iran that
installed the youthful shah Mohammed Reza Pahlevi, as ruler
– protecting the oil for the time being– earned the wrath of Arabs that would
be repaid in the 70s.
Cold War Crisis in Europe and the Middle
East
Cold War Crisis in Europe and the Middle
East
• Abdul Nasser, Suez Crisis• pledged to lead the entire Middle East away from their
colonial relationships. • Gained economic assistance from the Soviets.
• They offered to help him build the Aswan Dam• Dulles offered to assist the Egyptians, but he refused to
distance himself from the Soviets. Declared Egypt neutral• Dulles pulled his offer of assistance. • Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal (had been controlled
by the British) 1956• Nasser said he’d use the tolls to build the dam himself
• Months of negotiations led nowhere and GB & FR allied w/ Israel re-took the canal.
• The U.S. intervened on behalf of Egypt. • Damaged Britain and France's standing as world powers
.
Cold War Crisis in Europe and the Middle
East
Cold War Crisis in Europe and the Middle
East
• Labor:– Teamster chief “Dave” Beck was sent to
prison for embezzlement– his successor, James R. Hoffa’s
appointment got the Teamsters expelled out of the AF of L-CIO.• later jailed for jury tampering • disappeared in prison, allegedly murdered by
some gangsters that he had crossed.
Round Two for “Ike”Round Two for “Ike”
• “space-race” began in 1957– On October 4, 1957, the Russians
launched Sputnik I into space– a month later, they sent Sputnik II into
orbit as well,– demoralized Americans,
• seemed to prove communist superiority in the sciences at least.
• Soviets might fire missiles at the U.S. from space.
Round Two for “Ike”Round Two for “Ike”
• Critics said:– Truman had not spent enough $$ on missile
programs – America had used its science for other things, like
television.
• Four months after Sputnik I, the U.S. sent its own satellite (weighing only 2.5 lbs) into space– the apparent U.S. lack of technology sent concerns
over U.S. education– American children seemed to be learning less
advanced information than Soviet kids.
• *The 1958 National Defense and Education Act (NDEA) gave $887 million in loans to needy college students and grants for the improvement of schools.
Round Two for “Ike”Round Two for “Ike”
• Humanity-minded scientists called for an end to atmospheric nuclear testing, lest future generations be deformed and mutated.– Beginning October 1958, Washington
did halt “dirty” testing, as did the U.S.S.R., but attempts to regularize such suspensions were unsuccessful.
The Continuing Cold WarThe Continuing Cold War
• 1959, Khrushchev invited by Ike to U.S. for talks– he spoke of disarmament
• gave no means of how to do it.
– Later, at Camp David, talks did show upward signs,
• Paris conference, Khrushchev came in angry– U.S. had flown a U-2 spy plane over Soviet
territory (in this U-2 incident, the plane had been shot down and Eisenhower embarrassingly took personal responsibility)
– tensions immediately tightened again.
The Continuing Cold WarThe Continuing Cold War
• Background:– Latin American nations resented the
United States’ giving billions of dollars to Europe • compared to millions to Latin America,
– Also resented U.S.’s constant intervention • (Guatemala, 1954)
– Also resented our support of cold dictators who claimed to be fighting communism.
Cuba’s Castroism Spells Communism
Cuba’s Castroism Spells Communism
• In 1959, in Cuba, Fidel Castro overthrew U.S.-supported Fulgencio Batista– denounced the Yankee imperialists– began to take U.S. properties for a land-
distribution program– U.S. cut off heavy U.S. imports of
Cuban sugar– Castro confiscated more American
property.– In 1961, America broke diplomatic
relations with Cuba.
Cuba’s Castroism Spells Communism
Cuba’s Castroism Spells Communism
• Khrushchev threatened to launch missiles at the U.S. if it attackedCuba
• meanwhile, America induced the Organization of American States tocondemn communism in the Americas.– Finally, Eisenhower proposed a
“Marshall Plan” for Latin America, • gave $500 million to the area• many Latin Americans felt that it was too
little, too late.
Cuba’s Castroism Spells Communism
Cuba’s Castroism Spells Communism
• Election of 1960:– Republicans chose Richard Nixon
• Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. as running mate;
– Democrats choose John F. Kennedy • & Lyndon B. Johnson as his running mate
• Kennedy = attacked because he was a Catholic presidentialcandidate– defended himself & encouraged Catholics to vote
for him.– if he lost votes from the South due to his religion
• he got them back from the North due to the staunch Catholics there.
Kennedy Challenges Nixon for the Presidency
Kennedy Challenges Nixon for the Presidency
• 1960 Presidential Debates:– In four nationally televised debates,
JFK held his own – looked more charismatic, perhaps
helping him to win the election by acomfortable margin, becoming the youngest president elected (TR wasyounger after McKinley was assassinated).
Kennedy Challenges Nixon for the Presidency
Kennedy Challenges Nixon for the Presidency
• Eisenhower had his critics, but – he was appreciated more and more
• ending one war and keeping the U.S. out of others.
• Even though the 1951-passed 22nd Amendment – limited him to 2 terms as president,
Ike displayed more vigor & controlled Congress during his second term than his first.
An Old General Fades AwayAn Old General Fades Away
• 1959, Alaska and Hawaii became the 49th and 50th states to join the Union.
• Perhaps Eisenhower’s greatest weakness? – his ignorance of social problems of the
time, preferring to smile them away rather than deal with them, even though he was no bigot.
An Old General Fades AwayAn Old General Fades Away
• Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea and John Steinbeck’s East of Eden and Travels with Charlie showed that prewar writers could still be successful
• New writers, who, except for Norman Mailer’s The Naked and the Dead and James Jones’s From Here to Eternity, spurned realism, were successful as well.
Life and Mind in Postwar America
Life and Mind in Postwar America
Life and Mind in Postwar America
Life and Mind in Postwar America• Joseph Heller’s Catch-22 and Kurt
Vonnegut, Jr.’s Slaughter-House Five – fantastic and psychedelic prose, satirizing the
suffering of the war.
• Authors and books that explored problems created by the new mobility and affluence of American life: John Updike’s Rabbit, Run and Couples; John Cheever’s The Wapshot Chronicle and The Wapshot Scandal; Louis Auchincloss’s books, and GoreVidal’s Myra Breckinridge.
• Tennessee Williams’s A Streetcar Named Desire and Cat on aHot Tin Roof – two plays that searched for American values– as were Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman
and The Crucible.
• Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun – Portrayed African-American life
• Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? – revealed the underside of middle class life
Life and Mind in Postwar America
Life and Mind in Postwar America
• Books by black authors such as:– Richard Wright (Black Boy)– Ralph Ellison (Invisible Man) – James Baldwin made best-seller’s lists– Black playwrights like LeRoi Jones made
powerful plays (The Dutchman).
• The South had literary artists like William Faulkner (The Sound and the Fury, Light in August), Walker Percy, and Eudora Welty.
• Jewish authors also had famous books, such as J.D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye.
Life and Mind in Postwar America
Life and Mind in Postwar America