The 1950s was a decade of prosperity as well as a time of anxiety from the many major events that took place. The United States was the world’s strongest military power after World War II, which had positive effects for America, but would cause some rivalry later on between the US and the USSR. People were in a time of rejoice from soldiers returning from war and obtaining a great amount of money from rationing during war time. This initiated great economic prosperity, which led to much technological advancement and many new consumer goods became available to more people than ever before. However, the 1950s was also a time of great conflict mainly from the battle against communism at home and abroad in the USSR, causing an array of feelings …show more content…
People during this time wanted to leave crowded dirty cities and move to a calmer and smaller area. This was made possible by a man who constructed a majority of these houses, William Levitt. He constructed over 140,000 houses quickly and sold it cheap to the buyer, just what young couples who recently had a baby were looking for. It has been said that “the baby boom and the suburban boom went hand in hand” (History.com) because most families could not afford to live in an apartment and pay for their baby as well. Other reasons for moving were that “they came to own their own home, cook with their own appliances, mow their own lawn. They had GI loans in hand, babies on the way, and a ‘50s brand of pioneering spirit” (Blackwell). GI loans gave low-cost mortgages to returning soldiers; therefore it was cheaper to buy a suburban house than to rent an apartment. This movement “urged women to leave the workforce and embrace their roles as wives and mothers. The idea that a woman’s most important job was to bear and rear children” (History.com), started to reappear again. This trend is still very common present day as many women become housewives, especially when they have a baby they need to take care of. New technology was made to accommodate for newly built suburbs still used today, such as refrigerators and television, which advertised many household appliances. The construction of …show more content…
Most people had an accumulation of money from saving during the war time so they spent it on everything they wanted. Technological discoveries led to mass production of cars, groundbreaking designs, and great profits. “Air conditioning, powering steering, power breaks, and car radios were all introduced for safety measures and to appeal to the buyers” (Kallen 103). Automakers kept up with their competition by adding new gadgets to their cars so they would sell more, such as different styles and colors. Owning a car was not as much as a luxury anymore since, “rising incomes and easy credit brought late-model automobiles within reach, and by the end of the decade four out of five American households had a car” (Time-Life Books 95). Everyone was looking for the new appliance to own just to show it off and say they had it. No one really cared about safety measures with cars or traveling to far places in it, they just owned one for show. However, since “by 1958, almost 68 million cars and trucks were in use” (Kallen 103), more roads needed to be built and laws needed to be implemented. The need for an easier way to travel across the country was needed now more than ever with the sparked increase of automobiles. The government had been trying to pass acts to build highways, but some of them failed and others did not provide sufficient
The 1950s was the decade that saw the birth of the 'suburban dream'. It was an era dominated by
The sixties was a decade filled with major political debates that affected the entire country. By the time the sixties came around we were in the most turbulent part of the Cold War, an era of military and political tension between the United States and the Soviet Union. As Dwight Eisenhower brought the fifties to a close it was time for a new president to take hold of the reigns. As the country closed in on one of the closest elections in history it was up to Democratic candidate, John F. Kennedy to compete agains...
In general, our world as we know it changed for the better and worse. The 1940s did the most to influence contemporary America. Because the U.S. culture and society had changed a lot, especially the role of women, many families were greatly impacted. The aspect of technology is completely revolutionized. During the decade the wealth rebounded from despair; big business improved its flawed public status; income and wages reached new heights; and dominant sectors of the economy urbanized, particularly in the fabrication of buyer goods and armed forces hardware.
A family has always been expected to be a loving and caring environment with support and communication, but this sometimes does not come naturally to soon to be parents. Some get caught up specifically in bad things, perhaps their upbringings are to blame or maybe the individual could take all of the responsibility. When a society chooses what is to be socially acceptable, that limits relatives to only one kind of family and the object becomes destroying all other kinds. The 1950s was a time when technology wasn’t a big distraction from loved ones. Joyin Shih feels her true self being targeted by others, even her own family, in attempt to destroy her true self in her article, “Chyna and Me”. Alex Williams may also be missing the 1950s an article by Stephanie Coontz called “What We Really Miss About The 1950s” because he finds that families may not be as caring as they used to be in fact he argues that families are becoming more isolated than ever in his article “Quality Time, Redefined”. Good gives people a lot of frustration, more the division than the “good” because not all families coming from different cultures, different religions, and different ideas can fit into one mold that is called “acceptable”. The more connected individuals are to the Internet the fewer individuals are connected to each other. Technology should not be the biggest tool of communication in a family.
The country is no longer in the midst of a depression nor involved in a brutal global conflict. Wartime production had helped pull the American economy out of the depression it was in, and from the late 1940s on, young adults saw a rise in their spending power (PBS). At this time, jobs were abundant, wages were higher, and Americans had money to spend. During this time, modern American consumerism started. Consumer spending no longer means just satisfying an indulgent material desire (PBS).
The 1950’s was a time in history when America began to flourish, through its advancements in music, technology, and its emphasis on the individual. The emergence of Rock and Roll contributed to the birth of the ‘rebel’ by giving teenagers an excuse to disobey their parents through the expression of music. Adults of the 1950’s insisted that Rock and Roll corrupted the minds of the youth. This revolution in music not only affected the decade from an entertainment standpoint, but also from a fashion perspective. Teenagers wore leather jackets, poodle skirts, slicked back hair, and beehive hairdos. Through sports and the civil rights act, blacks began to be more accepted into the 1950’s society. Although segregation was still alive, many blacks swore they could see freedom in the near future. Black athletes, like Jackie Robinson, proved that talent outweighed skin color. Existentialism became a popular philosophy during the 1950’s, which emphasized the individual. The true meaning of this movement was vague, but followers believed that society was trying to control their every action. Many authors and philosophers of this decade wrote on the subject of existentialism, including Flannery O’Connor. Flannery O’Connor’s short story, “Good Country People,” was published in 1955 and demonstrates the 1950’s view of existentialism through the use of symbolism and irony.
Some historians have argued that 1950s America marked a step back for the advancement that women made during WWII. What contributed to this “return to domesticity” and do you believe that the the decade was good or bad for women? The end of World War II was the main contributing factor to the “return to domesticity”. During the war, women played a vital role in the workforce because all of the men had to go fight overseas and leave their jobs. This forced women to work in factories and volunteer for wartime measures.
Actually the blasts of the 1950s highly affected various ladies; books and magazine articles ("Don't Be Afraid to Marry Young," "Cooking To Me Is Poetry," " Femininity Begins At Home ") encouraged ladies to leave the workforce and spotlight on their parts as spouses and moms. The possibility that a ladies' most imperative role was to hold up under and back kids wasn't new yet it began to create a considerable measure of disillusionment among ladies who yearned for a better life. (In her 1963 book "The Feminine Mystique," ladies' rights promoter Betty Friedan contended that suburbia were "covering ladies alive."). This discontent, in this way, added to the restart of the feminist movement in the
From the outside, the 1950’s was a great time for America. Society revolved around the idea of America being a middle-class nation. Americans worshipped conformity, and materialism satisfied the need to conform. However, the prosperity of materialistic America hid the growing, numerous problems. Dissent in any way was not tolerated; all injustice was stifled by a fear of difference. In “Fifties Society,” Alan Brinkley discusses the truth of the era; that the fear of nonconformity was hidden by the seemingly prosperous middle-class nation. Brinkley argues the Beat movement and “feminine mystique” show that the people who did not fit in reveal the true colors of 1950’s society.
The 1950s seemed like a perfect decade. The rise of suburbs outside cities led to an expansion of the middle class, thus allowing more Americans to enjoy the luxuries of life. The rise of these suburbs also allowed the middle class to buy houses with land that used to only be owned by more wealthy inhabitants. Towns like Levittown-one of the first suburbs- were divided in such a way that every house looked the same (“Family Structures”). Any imperfections were looked upon as unfavorable to the community as a whole. Due to these values, people today think of the 1950s as a clean cut and model decade. This is a simplistic perception because underneath the surface, events that took place outside the United States actually had a direct effect on our own country’s history. The rise of Communism in Russia struck fear into the hearts of the American people because it seemed to challenge their supposedly superior way of life.
Stephanie Coontz's essay `What we really miss about the 1950's' is an essay that talks about a poll taken in 1996 by the Knight-Ridder news agency that more Americans preferred 1950's as the best decade for children to grow up. Coontz doesn't believe that it is a decade for people to remember fondly about, except for financial reasons and better communication within families. Coontz doesn't believe in it as the best decade because of the votes, the 50's only won by nine percent, and especially not by African Americans. Examples from family and financial issues in the 50's that makes it better than other decades from 20's to 80's. She doesn't believe that the 50's should be taken `literally' because from 50's there were changes in values that caused racism, sexism discrimination against women. Even though the 50's were good, it didn't lead to a better 60, 70, and 80.
Out of some of the most turbulent times in history have come the greatest ages of success and prosperity. The 1920’s and 1950’s are two eras that exemplify the spirit of triumph and wealth. In both decades, a nation thrilled by the victorious conclusion of war and the return of their loved ones from war entered into an age of capitalism and materialism, bolstering the economy and with it national pride. Some of the features most common to the 20’s and 50’s were consumerism and the accompanying optimistic mindset, the extent to which new ideas entered society, and discrimination in terms of both sexism and racism. On the heels of war, new technology caused a decrease in prices of goods in the 1920’s and in the 1950’s the GI Bill increased income.
During the years between 1920 and 1960, America saw change in many aspects of life. The United States was a part of two major wars and a crash of the banking system that crippled the economy greater than ever seen in this country’s history. Also the country had new insecurities to tackle such as immigration and poor treatment of workers. These events led to the change of America lives socially, economically, and politically. The people of America changed their ideas of what the country’s place in the world should be. The issues challenging America led the country to change from isolation to war, depression to prosperity, and social change. The threats to American way of life, foreign and domestic, were the changing forces to the country in the twenties to the sixties.
During the post WWII period in America, the face of the nation changed greatly under the presidency of Truman and Eisenhower. America underwent another era of good feelings as they thought themselves undefeatable and superior over the rest of the world. Communism was the American enemy and American sought to rid the world of it. Because of the extreme paranoia caused by Communism, conformity became an ideal way to distinguish American Culture from the rest. Conformity became a part of every American Life to a large extent. It became evident through the medium of culture, society and politics throughout the era of the 50s.
The 1950s was a time when conformity held supreme in the culture at large. Issues such as women 's rights were thrown to the back as people tried to remain in the popular form of a family. These issues being put off only caused the prolonging of the tumultuous 1960s that would soon