Essay On The 1950s

In American memory, the image of the 1950s is characterized by clean cut, all American families living in suburban neighborhoods without a worry in the world. Because Europe needed American goods to help rebuild their losses from war, the American economy boomed and began to shape into a material world. Homes became affordable to apartment residents, which exploded the suburb population, and new toys, such as televisions, convertible automobiles, and fancy kitchen appliance became well known in the American household. Furthermore old television shows such as I Love Lucy and The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet portray the 1950s family life style as pure bliss and suggest that this decade is filled with leisure activities and cherished moments.

There is other internal issues as well such as the Jim Crow laws, which provokes racial segregation in the South. Compared to the past, the 1950s is seen as a time of conformity; however, due to not only the fear of the nuclear warfare of the Cold War and the rapid spread of the communism, but also discrimination that many African Americans felt from the South’s strict segregation laws, the 1950s is better remembered as a time of turmoil .

America is under a great deal of tension during the 1950s and it all ties to a 45 year long struggle between the United States and the Soviet Union, called the Cold War. The war consisted of political and military strain, but “There were no direct military campaigns between the two main antagonists;” however, “billions of dollars and millions of lives were lost in the fight.” One reason for this conflict is clear: “Western democracies had always been hostile to the idea of a communist state,” suggesting that fears of communism created a mistrust between the two. America tried to keep the Soviet Union from expanding because they feared that if one country fell to communist power it would lead to other countries in the same area to fall as well. Dwight D. Eisenhower