Spanning Two Decade?s:The 50?s to the 60?s

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Spanning Two Decade’s:
The 50’s to the 60’s
Similar? Or Distinctly different?
“The postwar years are remembered as a time of affluence, consumerism, conformity, and stability, a time when American enjoyed an optimistic faith in progress and technology.”(Heretta, pg.779) These words best describe the decade that Americas experienced in the 1950’s. It was age of dad’s always-right attitude and a culture that was family centered. The standard of living for American’s was the best in the world. The times just looked to perfect lives were lived to privately. This private enjoyment was centered on the family, leisure, and consumerism. Soon everyone tried to become to “Leave it to Beaver” type of family and culture exploded. The explosion is what everyone considers to be the 1960’s. Kids that grew up in the fifties were becoming teenagers. The pressures from their parents turned the sixties generation onto conceptual thoughts and radical behavior. This affected the ideals of politics, racial/gender discrimination, and family values. The differences between the fifties and the sixties are extremely evident but you must closely sort through the decade to find the definite similarities. The similarities and differences come in many political values, and behaviors.
What does the word “consensus” refers to? “It is the conformity to social norms, authority, and the status quo.” (Henretta, pg. 790) It best refers to the decade of the 1950’s, where families were attempting to escape into “old home grown” households, away from the Red Scare, and out of the corporate jungle. To do this, these families flocked to the suburban area. Early in the fifties a massive “Baby Boom” occurred. With the high birth rate the need for churches caused the ideas affluence, consumption and conformity to swell in importance.
With the war in the past, the fifties generation looked towards the church. Families started to make Sundays a priority in their lives. “Church membership rose from 49 percent of the population in 1940 to 69 percent in 1960”(Henretta,792). All denominations from Catholics to Jews rose in membership. Even separation between church and state became less define when in 1956 they added “In God We Trust” to coins and “Under God” in the pledge of allegiance. One of the major use of religion was not only to reach savior but also to help deal with th...

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...onfidence. From Washington's perspective, the principal threat to U.S. security and world peace was monolithic, dictatorial communism emanating from the Soviet Union. Any communist, at home or abroad, was, by definition, and enemy of the United States. Drawing an analogy with the unsuccessful appeasement of fascist dictators before World War II, the Truman administration believed that the United States and its allies must meet any sign of communist aggression quickly and forcefully. This reactive policy was known as containment. The idea of containment was very similar to the McCarthyism.
The fifties and sixties signified two decades of affluence, consumerism, and conformity while wading through the changing of society . Teenage counter-culture, religion, politics, communism, and social views became pivotal views of expression during this time. You must observe all these assets to draw a valid conclusion of your own, but to collected facts that have been presented have graciously swayed one way. The difference between is the fifties and the sixties are extremely evident, but you must closely sort through the decade to find the definite similarities.

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