A.P. U.S. History, The Suburban Era 1945~1963, Study Guide
The “opening of America” 1816-1860 was attended by social changes in class, family relations, gender
relations, living space, etcetera, as was the “roaring twenties.” Both of those eras were after generally
dramatic events (wars that established American hegemony). The Suburban Era, contemporary to the
cold war after WWII, follows a similar pattern.
The Rise of the Suburbs
When was the baby boom?
How did that effect the U.S. population growth rate?
_____ Hempstead is built
Developer / builder:
1)
_____ The Interstate
Highway Act
Define it:
2)
3)
What are three ways “Levittowns”
demonstrated conformity?
1)
2)
3)
Declining Cities – the auto affected the cities by …
1)
2)
3)
4) City tax bases:
5) For African Americans, by 1960:
- Economic impact on them:
For discussion: A car, a house, a baby (or three) – how do these lead to “the rise of the suburbs”?
The Culture of Suburbia
“We see eye to eye on
Who said this?
most things … about
raising kids, doing things What reality does it reflect?
together with your
husband … we have
Why would Davidson, et al., use this statement – what does it show about
practically the same
suburban culture tastes?
identical background.”
Pay attention to the impact, if any, that religious belief had on suburbia; the percentage of Americans who
had religious affiliation; and the intersection of media and religious belief.
For discussion: Billy Graham, Charles Finney, George Whitefield – what is the relationship, if any, between
them?
What was the contradiction in the lives of middle-class women?
Suburban families lived farther from relatives, so:
Middle-class married women went to work as often as lower-class wives, showing that:
The number of women going to college:
For discussion: What’s the point of Davidson, et al., telling us about the heroine Junior in Redbook, 1957
who crooned “I’m glad I’m just a housewife”?
Daily Lives: The New Suburbia – How does the picture window capture three features of “The Rise of
the Suburbs”? How does the split-level house reflect an economic reality? Why do kitchens get bigger
and how does that involve a “woman’s place”??
_____ Sexual Behavior in
Kinsey’s book provoked controversy
the Human Female is
1) Survey quality was:
published.
Author:
2) Large majority of Americans:
For discussion: does Kinsey’s
Suburban life meant more
______ ______;
TV provided _________ and
a way to:
book reinforce consensus and conformity or does it undermine them?
Television viewership
Three transformations:
boomed after World War II.
1)
By _____, Americans had
bought __________.
2)
3) Politically:
For discussion: Suburban life was fertile ground for selling and using the “flickering gray screen”??
For discussion: If the culture of Jacksonian America was that of the “common man”, what was the “Culture
of Suburbia”?
The Politics of Calm
“a conservative when it
comes to money and a
liberal when it comes to
human beings.”
Who said that?
What point is Davidson, et al., making by showing us that evidence?
For discussion: Davidson uses the term “pragmatic” – the same term used to describe
Progressives. What does this mean?
Wait. What? “Die-hard conservative like … Herbert Hoover.” (837). Said no one ever.
Ways Eisenhower was like a Democrat
Ways Eisenhower acted as a Republican
For discussion: In what ways was Ike like President Coolidge? In what ways was Ike like FDR? Is there
another executive who attempted to use “calm” as a presiding attitude? What other President was
launched into national political fame by his military experience?
Pay attention to Ike’s reelection; and
___________________________________ led to Democrats taking a commanding congressional
majority.
Was the “suburban era” good for Labor? How do you know?
Was it good for Capital?
Corporations used the strategy of:
Three examples:
1)
2)
3)
Note the use of computerization in corporations broadens in this era.
For discussion: What was “modern Republicanism”?
Cracks in the Consensus
Many intellectuals worried openly about:
Example (who, what, message) from the text of such worry:
Other critics charged:
Example (who, what, message) from the text of this charge:
______ “_____________________________” is published by William Whyte showed the connection to
the:
Notice the trouble you teenagers and delinquents (but I repeat myself) cause us mature adults.
The Wild One, 1954, starring Marlon Brando is a cultural expression of this trouble. ‘course, he’s dead
now, so … let that be a lesson to you about the dangers of delinquency.
The Rise of Rock and Roll – this is important
For discussion: Rock n’ Roll is at the nexus of three important trends of the Suburban Era. What are
they?
By the mid-1950s, three styles of music began to merge
1) Tutti-Frutti is an example of:
2) Bill Haley and the Comets in 1954 with “_________________” showed that the music now:
3)
Elvis. What was his impact?
Pay attention to what the beatniks believed (if anything). They are the forerunners of the counterculture
of the 1960s, the hippies. Who are now your Grandparents.
I wonder if they read Howl; which was written by _______________ in ____ or Jack Kerouac’s
______________ in _____.
“[they had become] angelheaded
hipsters … who in poverty and
tatters and hollow-eyed and high
sat up smoking in the
supernatural darkness of coldwater flats floating across the
tops of cities contemplating
jazz.”
Who wrote that? When? In what?
What or who was he writing about?
Another example in ______ was Jack Kerouac’s ___________________.
The ______________ were looking for “IT”—the ultimate:
For discussion: What was the consensus of the 1950s and what was the rebellion against it?
Discussion: Consider the lyrics for “Little
Boxes” from Malvina Reynolds, 1960 and
the Time cover of William Levitt on July 3,
1950. What is the relationship between
these two documents? Is Reynolds a
critic, conformist, or commentator?
Little boxes on the hillside,
Little boxes made of ticky tacky,
Little boxes on the hillside,
Little boxes all the same.
There's a green one and a pink one
And a blue one and a yellow one,
And they're all made out of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same.
And the people in the houses
All went to the university,
Where they were put in boxes
And they came out all the same,
And there's doctors and lawyers,
And business executives,
And they're all made out of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same.
And they all play on the golf course
And drink their martinis 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 are put in boxes
And they come out all the same.
Nationalism in an Age of Superpowers
Americans believed the globe was:
Who said this?
“If we demand too much in taxes in order
to build planes and ships … we will tend to
dry up the accumulations of capital that
are necessary to provide jobs to the
million or more new workers that we must
absorb each year.”
What did he mean / what did he want to do?
This led to the New Look – define it:
It was called:
How did President Eisenhower respond to each of these crises?
1955 China threatens to invade Taiwan (Formosa):
French FL fighting Ho Chi Minh in Vietnam:
_____ Ike warns of the domino theory in Southeast Asia.
French are getting whupped at Dien Bien Phu and plead for help:
Vietnam divided at 17th parallel in 1954, Ho & Commies to north and Ngo Dinh Diem to the south:
… and on the Covert Side …
______ Mohammed Mossadeq in Iran seizes British oil assets:
Colonel Arbenz Guzman in Guatemala seizes 400,000 acres from United Fruit Co.:
(Note: the results for VP Nixon during his tour of Latin America.)
(Note: Stalin dies, Nikita Kruschev becomes Soviet Premier – remember him – and begins to moderate
Soviet control of Eastern Europe)
1956 Soviet military crushes Hungarian revolt:
1956 Gamal Abdel Nasser forms Arab alliance against Israel:
1956 British, French, Israel seize Suez Canal from Egypt:
Eisenhower Doctrine:
1959 Fidel Castro topples pro-U.S. Batista in Cuba, aligns with communists, confiscates American
properties:
For discussion: Select four different ways that Eisenhower reacted to Nationalist events in the developing
world. What do they show you about Ike’s foreign policy? Was he consistent with “brinksmanship?” How
did the fact that the U.S. and the USSR were nuclear superpowers seem to impact U.S. foreign policy?
Cause:
_______ National Defense Education Act
Define it:
(continue with how did Ike respond to crises)
Khrushchev says “we will bury you!” (allegedly, K said later he meant “Your working class will bury you.”)
Ike’s response in 1956 to that:
1960 Soviets shoot down a U.S. U-2 spyplane:
“In the councils of government, we
must guard against the acquisition
of unwarranted influence, whether
sought or unsought, by the
military-industrial complex. The
potential for the disastrous rise of
misplaced power exists and will
persist.”
Who warned us about “unwarranted influence” of the military and
industry working together? When?
For discussion: Paging Dr. Irony, Paging Dr. Irony.
For discussion: Use 4 adjectives to characterize President Eisenhower’s foreign policy, 1953-1961 –
remember to consider that he led the U.S. to a cease-fire of the Korean War in 1953.
For discussion: Is Ike more like Truman or Teddy Roosevelt in his foreign policy? Is he, in any way, like
Lincoln?
Consider the following images. What is the real history behind each opinion?
“Don’t worry, I can always pull
you back.” (1956)
(1957)
The Cold War along a New Frontier
Election of 1960
Democrat Candidate:
Republican Candidate:
Platform on Cold War:
Platform on Cold War:
Major hurdle:
Major hurdle:
What made the difference?
For discussion: Why would any advantage at all have mattered?
Pay attention to the “Camelot” myth and what it showed.
Here’s something odd: as a Senator, Kennedy had supported:
How did Kennedy attract liberals?
How did Robert McNamara intend to conduct the Cold War?
New Frontier: What appears to be Kennedy’s economic policies? Like Coolidge on Government size or
FDR? Pro-Labor? Pro-business?
Discussion: Davidson writes that the direction Kennedy took the nation was “far from clear.” Oh really?
Anything in this section that demonstrates that?
Kennedy’s Cold War
Discussion: “Kennedy argued that the cold war contest had shifted to the developing nations.” (849)
What 4 conflicts that Ike dealt with demonstrate that to Kennedy?
Define Alliance for Progress:
Define the Peace Corps:
New Pentagon training:
For discussion: If Kennedy “pledged to fight the cold war with new vigor,” do these two do that?
What does this artist think of Kennedy’s tactics? How do you know?
Define Bay of Pigs operation:
Result:
Kennedy’s response:
The ongoing war in South Vietnam
continues
The U.S.-Soviet summit in Vienna
(meeting) in 1961
Define M.A.D.:
Results for Diem:
Results in Berlin:
President Kennedy and
Sec. of Defense Robert
McNamara develop
“flexible response
doctrine”
Results
1)
2)
3)
Discussion: Why might Ike say ‘I told you so’?
“Now the Americans would
learn just what it feels like to
have enemy missiles pointing
at you.”
Who said that and when?
What was he talking about?
The result of this:
October, 1962: U.S. Navy
blockades Cuba to
October 25th:
intercept:
October 26th:
In Cuba, on October 27th:
Over Cuba, on October 27th:
What is the compromise that ends this crisis?
1)
2)
3)
4) And ultimately, two things are agreed to:
For discussion: How does the Bay of Pigs and the Missile Crisis demonstrate the importance of the
developing world in the Cold War?
Consider the following images. What is the real history behind each opinion?
(1961)
… and this is going on, too …
Mauldin, Bill. “What’s so funny?” 1964.
(1962)