Adjustment of the 1950’s
1950-1960
Patterns of living
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Move from city to suburb:
city-center of population larger
than a town
suburb-residential area on or
near the outskirts of a city
Reasons for growth-farmers to
suburbs, people from cities,
affordable housing
Changes in lifestyle-daily
commute, need for automobile,
lawn and home maintenance
CONFORMITY-similar homes,
age and marital status, war
experience, incomes
Levittown
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1944-<William J. Levitt buys
1500 acre potato farm 30
miles east of New York City
mass produce the same
house-one story ranch-2
tone or a cape cod
built-1. Bulldozers, 2. Street
pavers, 3. Electricians,
(signs) 4. Lots marked, 5.
Put up houses
by 1951-17,500 houses
Levittown homes
Suburban Sprawl
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Auto is only way- no public
transportation
drive to everything-6.7 million cars
sold each year in the 1950’s
40m Americans owned cars in
1940-60m by 1960
America encouraged conformitylifestyle-friendliness and informalitybuffet style casserole dinners-no
formal dining room
living room is dining room
men wore open necked sport shirts
(weekends)
women-went to the grocery store w/
curlers in her hair
more 50’s stuff
Lifestyle and the neighborhood
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Almost everyone was on 1st
name basis-even youngsters to
adults
you were expected to keep up
property and have an active part
in your community affairs
pressure to conform-children
outnumbered adults 2 to 1-Baby
Boom
P.T.A., Little League
<Education-boys and girlspopular and well-adjustedSchools are on the Corporate
structure-1956-white collar
workers
Consumerism and rebellion
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High standard of livingconsumer goods are purchased
on credit-1952-1956 from $27b
to $43 B
Beatniks-means 2 things(beaten down) or beatitudes
(mystics)
centered at a bookstore in San
Francisco called City Lights(Lawrence Ferlinghetti)
produced beat writers-Allen
Ginsburg (poet) and <Jack
Kerouac-novelist
Kerouac’s On the Road sold 1/2
M copies
Beatniks links page
Pop Culture
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Informal Survey:
1. How many hours do you spend listening to the
radio each day?
2. How many hours do you spend watching the TV?
3. How much time do you spend on the computer?
4. How much of an impact do these have on you?
Pop Culture-The ideas, habits, beliefs and institutions
that are supported by the public
Television
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By 1950-9 of 10 homes-52m
sets
a high school grad spent
more time watching TV than
in school
TV inspires fads
also, develops videotapegood technical quality
without live broadcasts
1950’s pop culture
Movies
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Admission to movies drop
sharply
studios terminate contracts
and sold their land
number of films dropped
gimmicks rise-3-D or special
effect films lure them back
each film made to influence
a particular age group or
audience
Drive-ins become popular
3-D glasses
Music
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Progressive Jazz
replaced Jazz
Rock and Rollcombined country and
western, rhythm and
blues and black gospel
<Elvis
Civil Rights
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Minority consciousness-awareness
of the culture and heritage of
minority groups
elements that contribute to thisincreased education, social
awareness, migration of minority
groups, acceptance of minority
workers during wartime
Names to know:
Lloyd Gaines-black law student at
the University of Missouri-sued to
enter the white law school-since no
black law school exists, must be
entered into the white law school
<Linda Brown-8 year old student in
Topeka, Kansas-”separate but
Equal” has no place in education
Civil Rights
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Thurgood Marshall-attorney for
NAACP-represented Linda Brown in
lawsuit-later Supreme Court Justice
Earl Warren-Chief Justice of the
US-delivered opinion on Brown
Case
Orval Faubus-Governor of
Arkansas-tried to block integration
at Central High School in Little Rock
Dwight Eisenhower-President-sent
Federal Troops to Little Rock to
ensure desegregation
Rosa Parks-seamstressMontgomery Alabama-triggered the
bus boycott when she refused to
move off to the back of the bus
<Thurgood Marshall© after winning
Brown Case
Civil Rights
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<Martin Luther King Jr.minister; believed in
nonviolent protest against
injustice-led protest in
Montgomery
Ignacio Lopez-Mexican
American worker-founded
the Unity League of
California to register
Mexican Americans to vote
and promote candidates who
would represent them
Civil Rights-Separate but Equal
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Plessy v. Ferguson (1898)allowed for Separate but equal
<Sweatt v. Painter- Herman N.
Sweatt-University of Texas sets
up Black school for him alonenot the same
McLaurin v. Oklahoma State
Regents-can’t separate a black
student in a white school
Brown v. Board of Education of
Topeka, Kansas-Marshall
argues 14th Amendment-equal
protection under the lawunanamous decision
Civil Rights-incidences
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Little Rock Crisis-Gov. Orval
Faubus-needed an issue to be
reelected
Little Rock had carefully worked out
a plan for integration-7 years
1957-9 black students would be
enrolled at Central High School
<Faubus calls out the National
Guard-fixed bayonets-turn the 9
away
Federal Court orders 9 be admittedwhite mob stops them this time
Eisenhower-”Mob rule cannot be
allowed to override the decisions of
the our courts.” sent in the 101st
Airborne Division-1000
paratroopers, federalized the
National guard
Little Rock
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<The Little Rock
Nine Arrive
40th anniversary of
the Little Rock
Incident
Montgomery Bus Boycott
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<Rosa Parks-said no to
moving to the back of the
bus-arrested and fined $10
within 48 hours-25,000
blacks made up 75% of
business
boycott continued for more
than a year
blacks walked, rode bicycles,
car pooled,
Supreme Court rules that
segregation of public
transportation is against the
14th amendment
Martin Luther King
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Philosophy:
1. Henry David Thoreaurefuse to obey unjust lawswent to jail rather than pay
taxes on an unjust war
2. Mohandas Ghandi-helped
India become independent
through nonviolent
resistance to the British
3. A. Phillip Randolph-urged
blacks to hold mass
demonstrations
King-Soul Force-keep
protests entirely nonviolent
Mexican-Americans and Native
Americans
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Mexican-Americans (Chicano)shocked into action
<Felix Longoria, war hero killed in
the Philippines-only funeral home in
his hometown would not let the
family use it.
Ignacio Lopez forms the Unity
League of California
Indian Affairs-1953-termination
policy-federal government
reservation system terminated
Bureau of Indian Affairs-relocation
program-move to the city, jobtraining, failure
1963 termination program
abandoned
Foreign Policy
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Massive Retaliation-M.A.D.Mutual Assured Destruction
Policy of Brinksmanship-<John
Foster Dulles-Secretary of State
built up air force-let navy and
army decline-no longer could
we fight limited objective wars
like Korea
Soviets take Hungary-1956-for
a little while-looked like the
Hungarians freed themselves
Soviet tanks roll into Budapestwe only send food and aid
US just protests invasion
The Cold War deepens
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U-2 spy plane shot down
CIA operates high altitude flights over
Soviet territory
mission used U-2 spy planes, designed to
fly higher than Soviet fighters and beyond
the reach of antiaircraft fire
May 1, 1960-U-2 pilot Gary Francis
Powers is shot down over Soviet territory
US issues a false story about incident
Soviet Premier Kruschev announces
capture of Powers and demands an
apology
President Eisenhower takes full
responsibility
<Powers is tried for espionage and is
later traded for a captured Soviet spy
U-2 Spy Plane
Eisenhower and the Cold War
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Suez Canal Crisis:(1954)
Great Britain agrees to
withdraw troops from canal
Suez is financed by both
Great Britain and French
stockholders
1955-US and GB agree to
finance Aswan Dam project
<Gamal Abdel Nasser-tried
to get help from USSR
July, 1956-US and GB
withdraw offer for help
Suez Canal Crisis
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Nasser nationalizes and seizes the
Suez-tolls will be used to build
Aswan Dam
British and French are annoyed2/3rds of their oil comes through
there
Egyptians make terrorist raids into
Israel-didn’t allow Israel to ship
through the canal
October, 1956-GB, France and
Israel-join forces v. Egypt
British and French get canal-Israel
gets Gaza Strip, Sinai Peninsula
attack shocks Eisenhower-asks UN
for a cease-fire, withdrawal of
British, French and Israeli troops
April, 1957-canal reopens to traffic
Eisenhower Doctrine
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January, 1957-US would
defend the Middle East v.
Soviet attack
Congress gave Eisenhower
the power to defend at his
discretion
6th fleet goes to Lebanonabout 14,000 marines
Counters moves by the
Soviets in Syria
Cold War and the little battles
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Indochina-Asia-France loses
at Dien Bien Phu
Now a Civil War raged
between anti-colonial
Nationalists and anti-colonial
Communist
How do we tell the
difference?
In 1959-Hawaii and Alaska is
added to the Union
Sputnik and the Space Race
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Soviets launch <Sputnik,
October 4, 1957
ICBM-unmanned space rocket
(Satellite) can circle the earth at
18,000 MPH and in about 96.2
minutes
At 200 pounds-can lift and
deliver a nuclear warhead
Americans react by:
emphasizing education,
especially science, math and
foreign language
Kennedy challenges to put man
on the moon by end of decade