Prof.

Michael Stafford Mercy College

THE 1950s:
The American Dream
And what did the desire of the veteran of World War II - to settle down, to have a home, a car and a family - tell us about this evolving Dream? James Truslow Adams

Vocabulary
1. Corporate: Business-oriented. When he went to work for Ford he became a corporate man 2. Mass Media The way to communicate to a a large mass of the population radio, t.v., magazines, newspapers, internet. 3. homogeneous: of the same, or similar kind. houses in some suburbs are very homogenous 4. Stereotypical: when something is stereotyped. Put into general categories. he is a stereotypical guy from Chicago, for example. 5. Consumerism: (from consume to use up). Idea is that consuming is a desirable thing, good for the economy. Promotes materialism or wanting more things.

Levittown, L. I.=

Suburban Living Homogenous Housing

1949 William Levitt produced 150 houses per week.

The American Dream

$7,990 or $60/month with no down payment.

Suburban Living:
The New American Dream
k 1 story high k 12x19 living room k 2 bedrooms k tiled bathroom k garage k small backyard k front lawn

By 1960 1/3 of the U. S. population in the suburbs.

Little Boxes By Malvina Reynolds

Little boxes on the hill side, little boxes made of ticky-tacky. Little boxes, little boxes, little boxes all the same. Theres a green one and a pink one and a blue one and a yellow one, And theyre all made out of ticky -tacky, and they all look just the same. And the people in the houses all go to the university Where they all get put in boxes, little boxes, all the same. And theres doctors and theres lawyers, and theres business executives And theyre all made out of ticky -tacky and they all look just the same. And they all play on the golf course and drink their martini dry And they all have pretty children and the children go to school And the children go to summer camp and then to the university Where they all get put in boxes and they all come out the same. And the boys go into business and marry and raise a family And they all get put in boxes, little boxes all the same. Theres a green one and a pink one and a blue one and a yellow one And theyre all made out of ticky -tacky and they all look just the same.

REDEFINING THE FAMILY

A return to traditional roles after the war was the norm Men were expected to work, while women were expected to stay home and care for the children Conflict emerged as many women wanted to stay in the workforce Divorce rates surged

Suburban Living:
The Typical TV Suburban Families
The Donna Reed Show Leave It to Beaver

1958-1966

1957-1963

Father Knows Best

1954-1958

The Ozzie & Harriet Show

1952-1966

Baby Boom
It seems to me that every other young housewife I see is pregnant.
-- British visitor to America, 1958

School Enrollments Increase

Consumerism
1950 Introduction of the Diners Card

Spending on credit becomes the foundation of the American economy

Consumerism

A Changing Workplace
1947-1957 factory workers decreased by 4.3%, eliminating 1.5 million blue-collar jobs

By 1956 more white-collar than bluecollar jobs in the workforce Computers Mark I (1944). First IBM mainframe computer (1951).

A Changing Workplace
New Corporate Culture: The Company Man
1956 Sloan Wilsons The Man in

the Gray Flannel Suit

Feminism
Backlash against 50s gender role conformity. Betty Friedan writes the groundbreaking book, The Feminine Mystique. She wrote about the unhappiness of young housewives with an education. Very middle class outlook. Sows seeds for Feminist movement of 60s.

The Culture of the Car

Car registrations: 1945 25,000,000 1960 60,000,000 2-family cars doubles from 1951-1958

1958 Pink Cadillac

1959 Chevy Corvette

1956 Interstate Highway Act largest public works project in American history!

Cost $32 billion.

41,000 miles of new highways built.

The Culture of the Car

America became a more homogeneous nation because of the automobile.

First McDonalds (1955) Howard Johnsons

Drive-In Movies

The Culture of the Car

The U. S. population was on the move in the 1950s. NE & Mid-W S & SW (Sunbelt states) 1955 Disneyland opened in Southern California. (40% of the guests came from outside California, most by car.)

Frontier Land

Main Street

Tomorrow Land

Television
1946 1950 7,000 TV sets in the U. S. 50,000,000 TV sets in the U. S.

Television is a vast wasteland. Newton

Minnow, Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, 1961

Mass Audience TV celebrated traditional American values.

Truth, Justice, and the American way!

Television - Family Shows

Glossy view of mostly middle-class suburban life.

But...

I Love Lucy

The Honeymooners

Social Winners?...

AND

Losers?

Television The Western

King of the Wild Frontier
Davy Crockett

Sheriff Matt Dillon, Gunsmoke

The Lone Ranger (and his faithful sidekick, Tonto):

Who is that masked man??

Well-Defined Gender Roles

The ideal modern woman married, cooked and cared for her family, and kept herself busy by joining the local PTA and leading a troop of Campfire Girls. She entertained guests in her familys suburban house and worked out on the trampoline to keep her size 12 figure. -- Life magazine, 1956

Marilyn Monroe

The ideal 1950s man was the provider, protector, and the boss of the house. -- Life magazine, 1955
A middle-class, white suburban male is the ideal presented in the media.

First Counter-Culture (Before the Hippies of the 60s)

The Beat Generation:
f
f f f

Jack Kerouac On The Road

Allen Ginsberg poem, Howl Neal Cassady William S. Burroughs

Beatnik
Maynard T. Krebs

Clean Teen
Dobie Gillis

Teen Culture
Juvenile Delinquency
1951 J. D. Salingers

A Catcher in the Rye

Marlon Brando in

The Wild One

(1953)

James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause (1955)

Teen Culture
In the 1950s the word teenager entered the American language. By 1956 13 mil. teens with $7 bil. to spend a year.

1951 race music ROCK N ROLL

Elvis Presley The King

The Other America

Not everyone sharing in prosperity. Jim Crow is still alive and well in the south. In the north, de-facto segregation and discrimination. Women are questioning traditional gender roles. Not everyone conforming (Counterculture) Poverty exists, but people ignore it. The Other America is written to expose poverty.

THE END