50s Pop Culture
I.
The Postwar Booming Economy
“Never again shall we allow a depression in the United States.” – These were the
words of President Dwight Eisenhower
The economy was booming due to various factors:
1. Massive _________________spending
a. this also helped spawn industries such as chemicals, electronics,
and aviation
2. American manufacturers basically had a monopoly on
_______________________________because other industrialized
nations had been devastated by ____________
i. ______________________made the workplace more
efficient
 More tasks were automated and production
increased greatly.
3. People had been putting off purchasing big items such as _________and
_______________ due to the war and were now buying them
And they were buying them in the ___________________
4. G.I. Bill of Rights
a. This led to the creation of a new government agency called the
__________________________________
b. Veterans could receive unemployment, preference for civil service
jobs, _______________________, access to hospitals, and
money for _________________ or professional training.
c. Many veterans used this to go to _________________and get an
education
5. An Expanding Consumer Culture
a. People were living in excess and buying more than they ever had
before
b. The most popular household product was by far the
_________________ with America going from 7,000 black and
white TVs in 1946 to __________________ high quality TV sets
in 1960
i. The TV changed American life forever as watching TV
became an ______________________part of
everyday life
ii. People started to get away from eating dinner at ____
_________and used _______________ and
_________________ to make eating more
c. The advertising industry takes off, and advertising expenditures
increased _________________ in the 1950’s
d. The president of NBC said in 1956 that “advertising has created
an American frame of mind that makes people want
________________________________________________
e. _________________________ were also now available so
purchasing many of the things people wanted was no problem
II. Life in the American Home
 The work day was shrunk from five and a half days to _________
 There was more ______________ time than before

Manual labor was giving way to mental labor and many people were working for
corporations
 60% of the population was ________________________
 Many people moved into white middle class___________________
 In 1956 the ideal woman according to Life magazine was 32 years old, mother of 4,
pretty and popular, suburban housewife that was married at age 16
o She was a ______________________________
o Women were supposed to stay at home and look after the children
 People joined many clubs such as civic clubs, bridge clubs, carpools, and babysitting
groups
 People also joined _____________________and synagogues in record numbers
 Communists were ___________________ so we needed to be actively involved in the
church
 Sales of Bibles and religious books and tapes also soared
 The belief in God was encouraged so much that Dwight Eisenhower made it
mandatory that ___________________________be printed on every piece of
currency
 _______________________ was added to the Pledge of Allegiance
III. Youth Culture – a teen subculture emerges
a.
The young people in the United States had more _____________ and ______
_________ than any other generation
b.
__________ gave teenagers mobility that they’d never had before.
c.
_____________________became increasingly important and led to the
development of new markets such as transistor radios, hula hoops, and rock and
roll records.
d.
Some parents were pessimistic. One social critic said that the American family
was ___________________________________
e.
_______________________________ emerges as a cultural phenomenon
i.
The term was coined by Alan Freed, a disc jockey in Cleveland, Ohio in 1951
ii.
This kind of music was considered ________________ music but found its
way into the mainstream in the 1950’s
iii.
Big _______________________________ artists in rock and roll were Chuck
Berry, Little Richard, and Ray Charles.
iv.
ELIVIS
i. The biggest white artist was ______________________________
1. Elvis wowed the ___________________________ and
____________________the older crowd with his songs and
hip movements
2. Elvis was the first mainstream white artist to perform the
predominantly “black” rock and roll music
a. He was a _____________________ doing “black
people’s” music and it drove mainstream America
_____________
3. He had to be filmed from his waist up on the
_____________________ show in order to be allowed to
perform