Tuesday, 14 July 2015
Welcome to
Induction week
What was America like in the 1950s?
Decade of contrast
•Fear of Nuclear War
•Segregation/KKK
•Race riots
•Limited enforcement of
Civil Rights Legislation
•Korean War
•McCarthyism
•Post war affluence
•New products
•Marilyn Monroe/James
Dean
•Some Legal success for
Civil Rights Campaigners
Source sheet 1 – The Cold War
Many Americans, fearful of nuclear war, still looked for
ways to prepare for survival. Civil defence pamphlets
gave instructions on stocking basements with water,
canned goods, and flashlights. In the suburbs, some
families built backyard bomb shelters — underground
bunkers in which they could take shelter from a blast
and wait out the worst effects of radiation.
In October 1957, the world was introduced to the
fear of a missile attack when Sputnik was launched.
This was to lead to ICBM’s : Inter-continental ballistic
missiles. As a result, America built the DEW line
around the Artic – Defence and Early Warning
system.
At the end of the 1950’s, American Intelligence
estimated that in a Russian missile attack, 20 million
Americans would die and 22 million would be
injured.
Source sheet 2 - McCarthyism
HUAC’s targets included left-wingers in Hollywood and
liberals in the State Department. In 1950, Congress
passed the McCarran Internal Security Act, which
required that all “subversives” in the United States
submit to government supervision. (President Truman
vetoed the Act—he said it “would make a mockery of
our Bill of Rights”—but a Congressional majority
overrode his veto.)
“McCarthyism,” as the hunt for communists in the
United States came to be known during the 1950s,
did untold damage to many people’s lives and
careers, had a muzzling effect on domestic debate on
Cold War issues, and managed to scare millions of
Americans. McCarthy, however, located no
communists and his personal power collapsed in
1954 when he accused the Army of coddling known
communists. Televised hearings of his investigation
into the U.S. Army let the American people see his
bullying tactics and lack of credibility in full view for
the first time, and he quickly lost support. The U.S.
Senate censured him shortly thereafter and he died
in 1957.
"Are you now, or have you ever been, a member of
the Communist party?"
In the 1950s, thousands of Americans who toiled in
the government, served in the army, worked in the
movie industry, or came from various walks of life
had to answer that question before a congressional
panel.
Source sheet 3 – The Korean War
On June 25, 1950, the Korean War
began when some 75,000 soldiers
from the North Korean People’s
Army poured across the 38th
parallel, the boundary between the
Soviet-backed Democratic People’s
Republic of Korea to the north and
the pro-Western Republic of Korea
to the south. This invasion was the
first military action of the Cold War.
By July, American troops had
entered the war on South Korea’s
behalf. As far as American officials
were concerned, it was a war
against the forces of international
communism itself. Finally, in July
1953, the Korean War came to an
end. In all, some 5 million soldiers
and civilians lost their lives during
the war. The Korean peninsula is
still divided today.
The Korean War was a war between North and South Korea, in
which a United Nations force led by the United States of
America fought for the South, and China fought for the North,
which was also assisted by the Soviet Union
Source sheet 4 – Civil Rights
The governor of Arkansas, Orval Faubus, obstructs the integration
of Little Rock High School, using the National Guard to block the
entry of nine students. President Eisenhower orders federal troops
to integrate the school.
1956
Violence erupted in scattered
regions throughout the South
as black children began to
enrol in public schools. In
April, singer Nat “King” Cole
was attacked while performing
before a white audience in
Birmingham, Alabama.
On August 28 1955, Emmett Till, a
14-year-old African-American boy
from Chicago, is killed near
Money, Mississippi, for allegedly
whistling at a white woman.
In January and February 1956,
whites angry about the
Montgomery Bus Boycott
bomb four African-American
churches and the homes of
civil rights leaders Martin
Luther King and E.D. Nixon.
Use the source sheets to add to your planning grid.
Which was the biggest problem affecting US society in the
1950s? Explain your answer carefully within a paragraph.
1950s novels and films
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The Catcher in the Rye – J.D. Salinger (1951)
On the Road – Jack Kerouac (1957)
Naked Lunch – William S. Burroughs (1959)
On the Waterfront (1954) Starring Marlon Brando
Rebel without a cause (1955) starring James Dean
The day the earth stood still (original 1951)
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)