As World War Two came to a close, a new American culture was developing all across the United States. Families were moving away from crowded cities into spacious suburban towns to help create a better life for them during and after the baby boom of the post-war era. Teenagers were starting to become independent by listing to their own music and not wearing the same style of clothing as their parents. Aside from the progress of society that was made during this time period, many people still did not discuss controversial issues such as divorce and sexual relations between young people. While many historians regard the 1950s as a time of true conservatism at its finest, it could really be considered a time of true progression in the American way of life. Along with the Korean War, many Americans were also affected by the tensions between America and communist Russia. The Russian hydrogen bomb of 1953 had scared people into believing that Communist Russia could start an atomic war, ending life as most people had known it. Scholars of the time period were scared to teach anything about what Marxism (communism) was about. According to Daily Life in the United States, 1940-1959, Shifting Worlds (Kaldin, 2000). There were also very few communists teaching at universities such as Harvard during the 1950s because of the fear that Americans had of communists during this time. From the years 1951 to 1957, 300 teachers were fired from New York City public schools because they did not give the names of teachers who were supposedly communists. This shows how uneasy of a topic communism was for Americans to talk about, even when the culture had started to become more liberal towards the end of the decade, when the 1960s began. Many ... ... middle of paper ... ...ng the other senators to censor their behavior. In conclusion, the 1950s is considered to be a decade of progress by many historians, rather than a period of major conservatism. We can still find signs of progress from the 1950s in our world today, in everything from housing to appliances and popular culture. This period also introduced some new ideas to the American culture by the way of television shows, radios, and newspapers. Works Cited Kaldin, Eugenia . Daily Life in the United States, 1940-1959, Shifting Worlds. . Westport, CT : Greenwood Pres, 2000. Print. Kallen, Stuart . A Cultural History of the United States through the Decades: The 1950's . San Diego, CA: Lucent books, Inc. , 1999. Print. Powers , Richard . "1950s Teenagers." Social Dance at Stanford. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Mar. 2012. .
Elaine Tyler May's Homeward Bound weaves two traditional narratives of the fifties -- suburban domesticity and rampant anticommunism -- into one compelling historical argument. Aiming to ascertain why, unlike both their parents and children, postwar Americans turned to marriage and parenthood with such enthusiasm and commitment, May discovers that cold war ideology and the domestic revival [were] two sides of the same coin: postwar Americans' intense need to feel liberated from the past and secure in the future. (May, p. 5-6, 10) According to May, "domestic containment" was an outgrowth of the fears and aspirations unleashed after the war -- Within the home, potentially dangerous social forces of the new age might be tamed, where they could contribute to the secure and fulfilling life to which postwar women and men aspired.(May, p. 14) Moreover, the therapeutic emphases of fifties psychologists and intellectuals offered private and personal solutions to social problems. The family was the arena in which that adaptation was expected to occur; the home was the environment in which people could feel good about themselves. In this way, domestic containment and its therapeutic corollary undermined the potential for political activism and reinforced the chilling effects of anticommunism and the cold war consensus.(May, p.14)
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 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.
Lindop, Edmund, and Margaret J. Goldstein. America In The 1920s. Minneapolis: Lerner Publishing Group Inc., 2010. Print.
Sutton, Bettye. "1930-1939." American Cultural History. Lone Star College-Kingwood Library, 1999. Web. 7 Feb. 2011.
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.
"American Cultural History - 1960-1969." Lone Star College-Kingwood Library Home Page. Aug. 2009. Web. 28 May 2010. .
Farber, David, and Beth Bailey. The Columbia Guide to America in the 1960s. New York: Columbia University Press, 2001.
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.
All in all, teenagers and their defiance to the norm and the rules shaped into what teenage life and culture is today. The teenagers of the 1950’s are credited with changing dating as we know it, changing the expected attire of the youth, and making a great amount of interests today be accepted by society. While teenagers today and in the future will always be defiant to some degree, the defiance will only pale in comparison to what it accomplished in the 1950’s. The teenagers of the 1950 have shaped the lifestyle for teenagers for many centuries to come and they didn’t even have to try in order leave a big mark in the vast timeline of mankind.
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
The Fifties were a good time to be a white middle class American These years brought an UN-thought of prosperity and confidence to Americans who barely remembered the Great Depression. Popular music of the early fifties mirrored the life of mainstream America: bland predictable and reassuring. Which didn't seem bad after the depre...
... been possible without the numerous civil rights leaders, the baby boomer generation, and the new hippie culture. By the end of sixties, the United States culture could barely be compared to how it remained just ten years prior.
The later part of the twentieth century was marked by considerable changes. Changes were in music, art, thinking, technology, design, communication, politics and architecture. It was an era of free thinking and instant communication which fuelled new artistic concepts and a reassessment of values.
There are some important underlying problems of the 1950s. For instance, there were some notable individuals who raised their criticisms against the rising consumer society. According to some of these critics, the consumer society during the affluent decade was also characterized by the loss of individuality, conformity, and dehumanization. Foner argues that “In a sense, the 1950s represented the culmination of the long-term trend in which consumerism replaced economic independence and democratic participation as central definitions of American freedom” (946). In short, many people also became disenchanted with the promise of affluence during this time.