Lecture 1

Major Cultural and Political Directions in the 1950s

Political Background

Harry S. Truman (Democrat, 1945 – 1953)

o  atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki: August 6 and 9, 1945

o  the Korean War (part of the Cold War: mid-1940s to the early 1990s): 1950 -1953

o  McCarthyism (Republican senator Joseph Raymond McCarthy, 1908-1957):

activities associated with the period in the United States known as the Second Red

Scare (First Red Scare: shortly after the end of World War I and the Bolshevik

Revolution in Russia, fear of anarchism: 1917 – 1920)

roughly from the late 1940s to the late 1950s

characterized by heightened fears of Communist influence on American

institutions and espionage by Soviet agents

term coined by Washington Post cartoonist Herbert Block, he and others used the

word as a synonym for demagoguery, baseless defamation, and mudslinging

later, embraced by McCarthy and some of his supporters. "McCarthyism is

Americanism with its sleeves rolled,“ (McCarthy, a 1952 speech; later that

year he published a book titled McCarthyism: The Fight For America)

Dwight D. Eisenhower (Republican, 1953 – 1961)

o commanding general of the Allied forces in Europe during World War II

o truce in Korea

o moderate policies

o continued most of the New Deal and Fair Deal programs; balanced budget

New Deal was the name that United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt gave to a

sequence of central economic planning and economic stimulus programs he initiated

between 1933 and 1938 with the goal of giving aid to the unemployed, reform of

business and financial practices, and recovery of the economy during The Great

Depression. The enactment of New Deal policies lasted from 1933 through 1939. The

Fair Deal was U.S. President Harry S. Truman's catchphrase for a series of social and

economic reforms, outlined in his 1949 State of the Union Address to Congress on

January 5, 1949. Truman stated that "Every segment of our population, and every

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individual, has a right to expect from his government a fair deal." Despite a mixed

record of contemporary legislative success, the Fair Deal remains significant in

establishing a call for universal health care as a rallying cry for the Democratic Party

o reinforced desegregation of schools

o "atoms for peace" program - the loan of American uranium to "have not" nations for

peaceful purposes

o tried to ease Cold War tensions

o ordered the complete desegregation of the Armed Forces.

1950s Everyday Lifestyle

At the opening of the decade, the United States was the most powerful nation on earth. Its

industrial base, undamaged and strengthened by World War II, manufactured over half of

all the world's products, along with producing raw materials like steel and oil in

prodigious quantities.

Presidents of the decade: Harry S. Truman (1945 – 1953); Dwight D. Eisenhower (1953 –

1961)

America: the biggest single consumer of this outpouring. Citizens rushed to buy

everything that appeared on the new peacetime market. This orgy of self-indulgence

created a level of prosperity unseen since the heady days just before the stock market

crash of 1929, resulting in a period of unparalleled growth and economic expansion that

lasted through the decade.

1950s Everyday Lifestyle - The Economy

1950 – 1960: the gross national product (GNP) grew by over $200 billion, escalating

from $285 billion to $500 billion in ten years, a remarkable increase by any measure

Worker productivity doubled

Much of the growth stemmed from the changing demographics of the nation: the mid- to

late 1940s heralded a nonstop population surge that carried through the 1950s.

In 1940, the U.S. census counted 132 million Americans, a figure that rose to 150 million

in 1950, and then leaped to 179 million in 1960.

More people meant more of everything: jobs, workers, goods, services - all the

ingredients for a boom economy that eagerly accepted the challenge.

Heralded an onslaught of personal consumption the likes of which the world has never

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seen. This display shows the wealth of disposable products that flooded the market during

the decade, proof that American prosperity was such “that people could throw away much

of what they used.”

World perception as material: consume and dispose. (Protest: the Beats - e.g. “Howl”)

seen. This display shows the wealth of disposable products that flooded the market during

the decade, proof that American prosperity was such that people could throw away much

of what they used.

World perception as material: consume and dispose. (Protest: the Beats, e.g. “Howl”)

Family and its Prosperity as major Eisenhower values of the American middle class: the

job and economic success for the family channeled human mental and physical energy as

well as human relations.

For the first time, industry employed more white-collar (office) employees than blue-

collar (factory) workers. The mechanization and automation of traditional occupations led

to the creation of many more office positions.

Further, in 1957, the service sector overtook and surpassed the manufacturing portion as

the leading component of the national economy. Both industry and service grew

increasingly impersonal, as little family businesses became components of large

corporations.

This led to the growth of the American middle class and its values.

o See The Adventures of Augie March as rebelling attitude towards the imposition of

social clichés of the decade, rejection of patterns / roles other characters offer to Augie

as trimmers of his individualism (perceived in Whitmanesque, pre-industrial manner).

o Read Allen Ginsberg’s “A Supermarket in California” (1956) for poetical perception

of American 1950s materiality and consumerism vs. 19th century spiritual values

In the area of durable goods, Americans went on a buying spree in the 1950s, bringing

about the birth of huge, warehouse-like stores to cater to their wants.

The small-town face of America had begun to be supplanted by an urbanized and

corporate one.

Most people were enmeshed in a consumer frenzy to buy and accumulate.

Despite rising inflation spurred by rising government expenditures, Americans as a whole

directed increasing amounts of their money to whatever they wished, enjoying a level of

goods and services never dreamed of earlier.

Median family income almost doubled: between 1950 and 1960, it went from $3,083 per

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year to $5,976 per year.

Even factoring in inflation, real wages increased 30 percent, so that food, clothing, and

shelter no longer took away so much of each paycheck.

New cars (instead of used models), televisions, high-fidelity units, improved telephones,

alcoholic beverages, and endless entertainment saw sharply rising sales.

Pockets of poverty persisted in postwar America. Many black Americans still toiled in

underpaid, low-status jobs and lived in substandard housing.

Neither did a majority of farmers and factory workers immediately share the fruits of

rising prosperity.

Single women, already laboring in low-paying positions, continued to lag behind their

male counterparts.

1950s Everyday Lifestyle - Family Life

More and more couples opted for more offspring, making the 1950s one of the most

youthful decades on record.

By 1958, almost a third of all Americans were 15 years old or younger.

The parents of all these children – anxious to buy houses, cars, and all the other material

goods needed to set up a household and join the ranks of the swelling middle class –

emerged as a primary factor in the rambunctious economy.

Divorce rates rose somewhat during the decade, and marriage rates fell slightly.

The rush to marry during and immediately following World War II had subsided, and

some couples that had wed with the pressures of war reexamined their decisions, a partial

explanation of growing divorce figures.

Read John Updike’s Rabbit Run (1960) to better understand the domestic atmosphere and

problems of the American 1950s.

Despite the declining marriage totals, surging birth rates more than made up for any

differences. “Baby boom” evolved as the term used to describe the skyrocketing numbers

of new additions to families…This astonishing rise proved an economic bonanza for

retailers, but schools and recreational facilities found themselves stretched to their very

limits.

Having children was touted as the highest form of happiness; a woman fulfilled herself

by bearing children. And, despite a swelling population, the baby boom continued

unabated.

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Popular television situation comedy, I Love Lucy, (1951 – 1957):

o Desi and Lucy Ricardo, husband and wife, find that Lucy is “expecting.” In those

more innocent days of TV, network censors considered the word “pregnant” taboo,

although they embraced the concept of approaching motherhood.

o In reality, Lucille Ball, the star of the show, had become pregnant, and so her

condition got written into the series. It proved a wise move; audiences followed her

progress in one episode after another, culminating in the birth of little Ricky in early

1953 (filming took place in November of 1952).

o It became one of the most watched events in the history of American television.

In a similar way, shows like Father Knows Best, The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet,

Leave It to Beaver, Make Room for Daddy, and The Donna Reed Show espoused strong

family values.

The picture painted of the decade might be unrealistic and rose-colored, but it has

persisted as a nostalgic perception of the 1950s.

“Togetherness” and “Do It Yourself”

Focus on the nuclear family as major social and psychological life unit.

 In the 1954 Easter issue of McCall's magazine, the term “togetherness” gained some

media legitimacy.

o It meant the family worked as a unit, that Mom and Dad and the kids undertook joint

activities. It meant families looked inward, that parents and children learned from one

another, and the home became the nexus of sharing.

“Do it your-self” – instead of letting outsiders do it for you - emerged as a catchphrase

eagerly embraced by suburban families everywhere.

o Fathers showed sons how to assemble a bookcase, and mothers demonstrated to

daughters how to prepare a proper meal. Everyone could work on a “paint-by-

numbers” kit in the family room, an area reserved in the modern suburban home for

just such activities.

As long as the family operated together, all was well with America.

Organized religion also celebrated this emphasis on the insular family. A popular slogan

of the time touted “the family that prays together stays together.”

Americans attended church in record numbers. About half the citizenry claimed church

membership or affiliation in 1950.

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On July 30, 1956, two years after pushing to have the phrase "under God" inserted into

the pledge of allegiance, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs a law officially declaring

"In God We Trust" to be the nation's official motto.

The law, P.L. 84-140, also mandated that the phrase be printed on all American paper

currency.

The phrase had been placed on U.S. coins since the Civil War when, according to the

historical association of the United States Treasury, religious sentiment reached a peak.

Eisenhower's treasury secretary, George Humphrey, had suggested adding the phrase to

paper currency as well.

The new Revised Standard Version (RSV) of the Bible spent an unprecedented three years

on the best-seller lists.

With the government proclaiming a Christian heritage, various evangelists found

themselves drawing record crowds into churches and other venues.

Chief among them was Billy Graham and his Crusades, but Bishop Fulton Sheen,

Norman Vincent Peale, and Oral Roberts also attracted large audiences.

Even with togetherness, evangelism, and record church attendance, the 1950s also

witnessed the development of tranquilizers, most of which sold in astronomical numbers.

By 1957, some 73 brands crowded the market, with Miltown and Equinal among the best

known. Although available only by prescription, it soon became obvious a lot of people

used them.

Beneath an outwardly calm surface, Americans had issues that needed attention, and

organized religion seemed unable to solve all of them. For some, masking reality with

drugs appeared a possible outlet.

The reality to be concealed: the role playing at home and at the office to conform with the

Protestant middle class norms of the decade, i.e. the hard working, competing, good

provider, dependable husband / father dedicated to the family; the thrifty domestically

minded housewife, whose happiness consisted in the material comfort of the family

home. Sexual / erotic life was an unmentionable. Women depended economically on their

husbands.

o Read Allen Ginsberg’s “Howl” (1955/1956) for youth using drugs to face the

Eisenhower age of endeavor to gain material comfort and middle class respectability

The collective spiritual messages of the day reflected moral complacency, not a call to

action.

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One's concern should be with individual salvation, not social problems.

In the nation's quest for some kind of spiritual certainty, writers like Catherine Marshall

(A Man Called Peter, 1952) and Jim Bishop (The Day Christ Died, 1957) obliged.

Not to be outdone in the spirituality department, Hollywood released an unprecedented

number of quasi-religious films: The Robe (1953), The Silver Chalice (1954), The Ten

Commandments (1956), and Ben-Hur (1959). These drew record crowds and prospered at

the box office.

Civil Rights Movement

Definition: plural noun (often initial capital letters)

o rights to personal liberty established by the 13th and 14th Amendments to the U.S.

constitution and certain Congressional acts, especially as applied to an individual or

a minority group.

o the rights to full legal, social, and economic equality extended to blacks.

o Origin: 1715–25

For much of the decade, white Americans remained blissfully ignorant about racism:

o suburbs were often almost one hundred percent white, and likewise their schools and

country clubs.

o network television series or the movies promoted the same whiteness.

o the era continued however to see lynchings in the South and increasing segregation in

the public realm.

In1954 civil rights developed into a widespread issue:

o The Supreme Court ruled against the Topeka Board of Education, saying that racially

segregated schools and facilities were not necessarily equal.

o In 1955, Rosa Parks refused to give up her bus seat to a white man. Bus boycotts

followed, accompanied by the elevation of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., into the

national limelight.

The country slowly realized that racial segregation could not remain a part of the fabric of

American life.

A few facts (source: Library of Congress Website)

o The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and its

legal offspring, the Legal Defense and Educational Fund, developed a systematic

attack against the doctrine of “separate but equal.”

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o The campaign started at the graduate and professional educational levels.

o The attack culminated in five separate cases gathered together under the name of one

of them—Oliver Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas.

o Aware of the gravity of the issue and concerned with the possible political and social

repercussions, the U.S. Supreme Court heard the case argued on three separate

occasions in as many years.  

o The Supreme Court announced its unanimous decision on May 17, 1954. It held that

school segregation violated the Equal Protection and Due Process clauses of the

Fourteenth Amendment. The following year the Court ordered desegregation “with all

deliberate speed.”

In 1957, Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus refused to protect black students attempting to

integrate Little Rock High School, compelling President Eisenhower to call out federal

troops.

Television cameras had already arrived on the scene, and the national nightly news

detailed the unfolding stories of rage and repression. American mass media had become a

witness.

Dr. Martin Luther King (1929 – 1968) emerged as a spokesman for expanding civil rights,

and also became the conscience of the country.

Technological Change

The 1950s witnessed significant technological change.

In order to accomplish high-speed computations, a machine called UNIVAC (Universal

Automatic Computer, 1951) succeeded a previous calculator called ENIAC (Electronic

Numerical Integrator and Computer, 1946).

The ENIAC and its variations (about 20 different models) might be called the first real

computers, but UNIVAC, because it could store memory, came on the scene as a marked

improvement.

Remington Rand, which owned the rights to UNIVAC, convinced the U.S. Census Bureau

that its computer was the best for calculations and tabulating.

Put into service in 1951 in Philadelphia, UNIVAC ushered in the Information Age,

although no one at the time foresaw the dimensions of change computers would have on

everyday life.

For American computer technology evolution and the Cold War from the 1950s to the

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first half of the 1960s, read John Barth’s metafictional novel Giles Goat-Boy (1966)

Women and the Imagery of Housework

Throughout the fifties, popular media portrayed American women as possibly the best-

dressed housekeepers ever seen.

In television situation comedies and countless advertisements, women don elegant

dresses, high heels, jewelry (the pearl necklace seems almost de rigueur), and smile as

they dust and vacuum.

Three leading TV examples would be Donna Reed as “Donna Stone” in The Donna Reed

Show, Jane Wyatt as “Margaret Anderson” in Father Knows Best, and Barbara Billingsley

as “June Cleaver” in Leave It to Beaver.

In the ads, some even wear crowns—women as queens of domesticity.

It mattered little that many American women chose employment and careers over

homemaking; the image perpetuated throughout the 1950s was one of inequality: a

woman's role consisted of making her family happy by serving them, providing them all

the best consumer goods, and then taking her pleasure in their happiness.

Working Women

The media image of the American woman had her staying at home and raising a family.

Widely accepted in the popular mind, this comforting and stereotypical picture got

challenged in real life as the fifties moved along.

Also, while numerous television shows featured stay-at-home moms in their plots, large-

circulation magazines countered with articles that extolled the extra earning power of a

second income.

Statistics suggest that increasing numbers of women chose a paying job over being full-

time housewives.

The 1950s female college student was more likely to marry, start a family, and put an end

to her educational aspirations.

As a result, although an unexpectedly large proportion of American women worked, they

were conspicuously absent from high-level jobs.

They instead settled for the traditional employment outlets: secretarial, clerical, nursing,

teaching, assembly lines, and domestic service.

Just over ten percent of working women entered a profession, and a minuscule six percent

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had management positions.

Read Vladimir Nabokov,’s Lolita (1955), John Barth’s The Floating Opera (1956) and

The End of the Road (1958) for the ironical, critical perception of the rebellious artist of

middle class America misconceptions about erotic life via clichés about women roles and

family values.

Nuclear Anxiety and the Space Race

In August of 1949, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics exploded its first atomic

bomb.

This blast would cast a pall over the entire upcoming decade.

A fear of nuclear annihilation, an underlying anxiety that ran counter to the rampant

consumerism that many equate with the time, became a part of the American scene.

Popular culture, always sensitive to the many moods of the nation, quickly picked up on

this uneasiness, and capitalized on it in a variety of ways.

With the news that Russia also had “the Bomb,” President Truman announced in January

of 1950 that the United States would continue to develop a hydrogen bomb, a much more

destructive version of the atomic bomb.

Shortly thereafter, the Russians also commenced working on such a weapon.

By 1953, both nations possessed H-bombs, and the threat of total war and mutual

annihilation loomed ever larger.

Throughout the decade, the United States and Russia frequently tested their stockpiles of

nuclear weapons, and news of growing amounts of radioactive materials in the air became

more common.

By mid-decade, ominous reports of huge Russian intercontinental missiles circulated, and

it all came to a head when the USSR launched Sputnik in October of 1957.

The Russian name means “little traveling companion, ” and Sputnik shook the U.S. out of

any technological complacency.

No one had expected the Soviets to be the first into space; it served as a disquieting

moment for any lingering notions of inherent American superiority.

Part of the American response to Sputnik involved spending vast sums of government

money to catch up.

In the spring of 1958, a reluctant President Eisenhower asked Congress to create the

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and a new component to the

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ongoing arms race – the space race – was officially on.

Instead of having their fears alleviated by these moves, Americans found their anxieties

compounded by other steps taken by the government.

Officials put into place a civil defense system that included aircraft spotters and buildings

designated as fallout shelters for protection from deadly radiation.

Bright yellow-and-black triangular signs were attached to the entrances of stout public

buildings, with the instructions to “take shelter in the event of an attack.”

Even the public schools had their “Duck and Cover” drills. At the news of approaching

planes, students were to “duck” (under whatever is close by) and “cover” (arms over the

head for additional protection).

A generation of 1950s students practiced the exercise – an exercise in futility had there

been an actual attack.

The government also printed many pamphlets and posters that purported to show how to

survive a nuclear explosion.

They encouraged building backyard bomb shelters, but suggested a reinforced basement

room, suitably stocked with emergency items, might suffice.

For those unfortunate to be caught outdoors when disaster struck, the instructions were

succinct: because most men wore hats when outdoors in those days, they urged tilting the

head so the brim will shield the eyes from “heat flash”; for women, they advised wearing

hosiery and long sleeves at all times for a similar level of protection.

Lacking a hat or hose, jumping face first into nearby ditches and gutters might also

provide a modicum of security.

In a series of movies that ranged from the trite Invasion, U.S.A. (1952), to the modest

Magnetic Monster (1953), to the terrifying Them! (1954), Hollywood played on fears of

mutations, atomic war, domestic spying, and Communist infiltration.

The Korean War

On June 25, 1950, North Korean forces attacked South Korea, prompting an immediate

military response from both the United Nations and the United States.

Many U.N. member nations shipped troops to the distant peninsula, all under a unified

command. By far the largest contingent came from the United States.

For the next few years, a bloody war raged throughout Korea, and the government

employed the disingenuous term “police action” to describe the free world's attempt to

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hold back Communism.

In 1953, the parties agreed to an armistice, and peace negotiations dragged on for years

thereafter.

This war boasted neither victors nor losers, an unsettling fact for Americans used to

winning all their encounters with foreign adversaries.

During the decade, over 1.8 million U.S. troops saw service in Korea, with more than

33,600 losing their lives in combat and some 103,000 sustaining wounds.

McCarthynism

For many TV fans, the various Congressional hearings that marked the decade served as

some of the most engrossing series on the air.

They had all the stuff of good popular culture: drama, heroes and villains, sensationalism,

and even a few surprises.

Most prominent were the McCarthy hearings into Communist infiltration in the national

government.

In February 1950, Joseph McCarthy, the junior senator from Wisconsin, loudly

proclaimed that he had evidence that 205 active Communist agents had been employed at

the State Department.

Leading the Senate Investigations Subcommittee, McCarthy launched a campaign based

on fears, innuendo, and smears to track down Communists in government.

An outright witch-hunt, the subcommittee often used guilt by accusation to besmirch its

victims.

By 1957, some six million individuals had been investigated by various related agencies

and committees because of alleged sympathies to the Communist cause.

Out of those six million, only a small handful ever got convicted.

McCarthy likewise offered no hard evidence for his ceaseless claims, but many people

nevertheless took them at their face value.

Reelected in 1952, McCarthy began a full-scale assault on anyone and everyone he

deemed subversive.

In March of 1954, the esteemed Columbia Broadcasting System newsman Edward R.

Murrow aired a special program on his series, See It Now. He titled the special “A Report

on Senator Joseph P. McCarthy.”

The senator’s crude, intimidating attacks on individuals and institutions smacked of a

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tyrant, a browbeater, a thug. In 1956, the Senate took away his chairmanship of the

investigative committee. The Senate eventually censured him and any remaining

influence ended.

Blacklisting and Censorship

With a distant war in Korea being waged against Communist adversaries, and McCarthy's

claims of Communist infiltration at all levels of government, a climate of fear and

suspicion descended on the nation.

As McCarthy grew more shrill in his accusations, few would challenge him. He was aided

and abetted by an organization calling itself AWARE, which in 1950 commenced

publishing a newsletter titled Red Channels; it purported to identify 151 individuals from

the performing arts that the organization found “subversive.”

No one - from networks to studios to sponsors - offered to stand up and challenge these

vicious attacks, and innocent people found themselves blacklisted, unable to work in

radio, film, or television.

For many, the stigma of the blacklist lingered until well into the 1960s, and the damage

proved permanent.

This divisive atmosphere struck Hollywood particularly hard.

The House Un-American Activities Committee (or HUAC, for short), an investigative

arm of Congress, seized on the issue of dangerous influences corrupting the nation's

entertainment center.

A number of congressmen, convinced the content of movies had been colored by

subversive elements intent upon spreading Communist lies and innuendo, enthusiastically

joined the fray.

The media have always been suspect in the eyes of some government agencies and

elected representatives, and the chance to denounce what they perceived as treasonous

activity proved irresistible.

Hearings were held, and many Hollywood personalities received calls to testify. Actors,

producers, directors, and writers faced a dilemma: whether or not to inform on their

colleagues about possible Communist ties.

See Elia Kazin's movie On the Waterfront (1954). Kazin had been deeply involved in the

hearings and did indeed offer evidence that proved detrimental to some of his colleagues,

and the film indirectly comments on the whole process and its impacts on belief systems.

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The Rise of Television

Eisenhower, a seasoned military leader, had been elected to the presidency in 1952, and

his conservative, patriarchal approach to a dangerous world reassured nervous citizens.

He was “everybody's grandfather.”

His golf game, his weekend painting, and even his health problems elicited more popular

attention than did his abilities as a leader. For most Americans, he presented an image of

calm authority.

The decade marked, in fact, the increasing use of public relations and advertising

techniques in the political arena.

That Eisenhower could project such a picture of fatherly confidence overshadowed the

difficulties he had articulating issues, and Americans voted their preference for imagery

over content in both the 1952 and 1956 presidential elections.

The importance of strong media ties could be seen in the Republican and Democratic

national conventions held in July 1952.

The first such political conventions to be televised, delegates were aware of cameras and

microphones everywhere, and their presence had a clear effect. Little deal making could

take place outside the range of the omnipresent cameras, a decided change from the

smoke-filled rooms of the past.

As Republican enthusiasm for Eisenhower grew, the unblinking gaze of national media

helped him win on the first ballot. On the Democratic side, it took three ballots to

nominate Adlai Stevenson, but the party did not wish to appear divided to a national

television audience.

In the midst of the 1952 campaign, Eisenhower's running mate, California Senator

Richard M. Nixon, was accused of improperly using funds and accepting gifts.

Alarmists urged Eisenhower to drop Nixon from the ticket. In response, Nixon turned to

television and delivered his famous “Checkers” speech, a moment in television history

that illustrates the enormous power the medium could wield.

An audience estimated at 58 million heard and saw his denials. “Checkers” was a cute

cocker spaniel, a gift Nixon challenged anyone to take from his daughters.

His somewhat melodramatic defense played well; audiences viewed the charges against

him as hamhanded attempts by overzealous Democrats to discredit him. In short, popular

imagery overrode any reasoned investigation.

Eisenhower retained Nixon in his campaign, and the two savored a strong victory.

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The Cultural Ferment of the 1950s

For many American intellectuals, the specter of an undifferentiated mass culture that

could lead public opinion seemed far more frightening than any Russian warheads.

They saw the nation falling into a kind of mindless conformity, accepting, without

question, the nightly offerings of network television, along with Top 40 radio

programming and big box-office movies.

Those elements, coupled with the paternalistic philosophy of the Eisenhower

administration, created undercurrents of dissent and revolt that simmered throughout the

decade.

Read Ken Kesey, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1962) / watch the eponymous movie

directed by Milos Forman.

The Cultural Ferment of the 1950s

Jack Kerouac set out to rewrite the American novel

Jackson Pollock challenged his fellow artists with abstract “drip paintings”

the ‘suspect insolence’ of Elvis Presley and James Dean bothered many.

Marlon Brando sweated and grunted to the delight of adolescents everywhere, and

Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie took jazz places it had never been before.

For a literary representation of this outlook on the everyday life in the 1950s also read:

Jack Kerouac, On the Road (1957); William S. Burroughs, Naked Lunch (1959)

Still, Ernest Hemingway's heroes still adhered to a manly code of behavior, Norman

Rockwell's Saturday Evening Post covers continued to captivate millions, Gary Cooper

represented all that was good in the Western myth, Perry Como crooned in a reassuring

baritone, and good, old traditional Dixieland Jazz enjoyed something of a revival.

Depending on one's focus during the fifties, the decade could seem complacent and

conformist, or it could be filled with threatening change and shrill individuals who turned

their backs on anything held dear by generations of Americans.

For the average American, however, the intellectual debates of the era occurred offstage,

unseen and unheard.

With the reality of the Cold War intruding into daily lives, the thought of a cultural

consensus sounded reassuring, not threatening.

Rock 'n' roll seemed far more challenging to worried parents than discussions of cultural

hegemony.

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Added to that were the changes brought about by civil rights legislation, by school

integration, and by a sense of rebellion on the part of youth across the nation. Nothing

was as it used to be.

In the popular mind, people conformed during the 1950s. T

The sprawling suburbs of ranch and split-level homes (on different levels: describes a

house or room built on two levels with steps between them) exemplified this social

conformity.

The typical suburbanite earned slightly more than his city-dwelling counterpart and

differing lifestyles reflected this inequality.

The suburbs also quietly exploited other, more unfortunate, kinds of conformity: racial,

ethnic, and social. Blacks, Hispanics, Asians, Jews, and a host of “others” were kept out

of most developments.

The “men in the gray flannel suits” were white and Christian, heads of nuclear families,

and proudly middle class.

Their clothing, their architecture, their jobs, and their leisure all supported this kind of

sameness.

Hollywood, ever observant of social trends, exploited the move to suburbia in No Down

Payment (1957), a melodramatic tale of several families and their problems living in what

had been promised to be paradise.

1950s in Brief

Social critics identified conformity as the main characteristics of the 1950s and a

dedication to the active pursuit of economic and financial success accompanied by an

increasing concern with material comfort

Increasing number of people attending higher education due to the GI Bill: 50% of

population was college educated

Graduates targeted and worked for more sophisticated companies (e.g. IBM)

College education ensured higher incomes which gradually triggered the creation of the

suburbs - satellite towns at the outskirts of the cities in which middle-class and upper-

middle class families lived.

By the early 1960s, an American family moved to a new place of residence once every

five years.

The working class benefited from the economic boom, organized better into unions.

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