“ANXIETY, ALIENATION, AND SOCIAL UNREST” ??

Ms. ClarkeMs. Clarke

THE 1950s:

THE 1950s:

“Conservatism, Complacency, and

Contentment”OROR

DURING THE COLD WAR, AMERICANS WERE FORCED TO COPE WITH THE DAILY THREAT OF NUCLEAR DESTRUCTION. IN AN ATMOSPHERE OF AIR RAID DRILLS AND BOMB SHELTER CONSTRUCTION, AMERICANS CONFUSED THE REAL THREAT OF THE SOVIET UNION WITH AN UNREASONING, ANTI-COMMUNIST HYSTERIA AT HOME.

Cold War on the home front

Progress Through ScienceProgress Through Science

1951 -- First IBM Mainframe Computer

1952 -- Hydrogen Bomb Test

1953 -- DNA Structure Discovered

1954 -- Salk Vaccine Tested for Polio

1957 -- First Commercial U. S. Nuclear Power Plant

1958 -- NASA Created

1959 -- Press Conference of the First 7 American Astronauts

Progress Through ScienceProgress Through Science

1957 Russians launch SPUTNIK I

1958 National Defense Education Act

Progress Through ScienceProgress Through ScienceUFO Sightings skyrocketed in the

1950s.

War of the Worlds

Hollywood used aliens as a metaphor for whom ??

Progress Through ScienceProgress Through Science

Atomic Anxieties:

à “Duck-and-Cover Generation”

Atomic Testing:

à 1946-1962 U. S. exploded 217 nuclear weapons over the Pacific and in Nevada.

BOMB SHELTER CRAZEWHAT WOULD YOU BRING WITH YOU?

A fallout shelter is designed to allow its occupants to minimize exposure to harmful fallout until radioactivity has decayed to a safer level.

Countries built fallout shelters for high-ranking government officials and crucial military facilities. Plans were made, however, to use existing buildings with sturdy below-ground-level basements as makeshift fallout shelters.

THE BOMB SHELTER CRAZE

DUCK AND COVER DRILLS

http://www.archive.org/details/DuckandC1951

THE DUCK AND COVER DRILLS (VIDEO) Duck and Cover was a suggested method of

personal protection against the effects of a nuclear detonation which the United States government taught to generations of United States school children from the late 1940s into the 1980s.

This was “supposed” to protect them in the event of an unexpected nuclear attack which, they were told, could come at any time without warning.

Immediately after they saw a flash they had to stop what they were doing and get on the ground under some cover—such as a table, or at least next to a wall—and assume the fetal position, lying face-down and covering their heads with their hands.

THE SECOND RED SCARE

Smith Act of 1940-made it illegal to advocate or teach the overthrow of the government by force or to belong to an organization with this objective

Dennis et al. v United States (1951)-Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the Smith Act of 1940

1947, Truman Admin. under pressure from the Republicans set up a Loyalty Review Board to investigate the background of more than 3 million federal employees. 1000s either resigned or lost their jobs as a result of the probe that lasted nearly four years.

MCCARRAN INTERNAL SECURITY ACT

1. Unlawful to advocate or support the est. of a totalitarian government

2. Restricted the employment and travel of those joining Communist-front organizations

3. Authorized the creation of detention camps for subversives

1950-Truman had vetoed this act, but Congress passed it anyway

THE HOUSE COMMITTEE ON UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES (HUAC) Originally est. in 1939 to seek out Nazis

was reactivated in the postwar years to find Communists

Investigated government officials and looked for Communists influence in organizations such as: Boy Scouts Hollywood film industry Writers (ACLU argued that 1st Amendment protects the

free expression of unpopular political views and membership in political Groups such as the Communist Party.)

THE HOUSE COMMITTEE ON UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES (HUAC) In 1947, the committee held nine days of

hearings into alleged communist propaganda and influence in the Hollywood motion picture industry.

After conviction on contempt of Congress charges for refusal to answer some questions posed by committee members, the "Hollywood Ten" were blacklisted by the industry.

Eventually, more than 300 artists—including directors, radio commentators, actors and particularly screenwriters—were boycotted by the studios.

THE HOUSE COMMITTEE ON UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES (HUAC)

Reagan Walt Disney Paul Robeson

THE HOLLYWOOD TEN Alvah Bessie, screenwriter Herbert Biberman,

screenwriter and director Lester Cole, screenwriter Edward Dmytryk, director Ring Lardner Jr.,

screenwriter John Howard Lawson,

screenwriter Albert Maltz, screenwriter Samuel Ornitz, screenwriter Adrian Scott, producer and

screenwriter Dalton Trumbo, screenwriter

(Wrote my favorite book, Johnny Got His Gun)

THE ESPIONAGE CASES: ALGER HISS CASEIs that future President Mr. Richard Nixon?

THE ALGER HISS CASE: ARE THE HIGHEST LEVELS OF GOVERNMENT INFILTRATED WITH COMMUNISTS?

Whittaker Chambers- a confessed Communist, became a star witness for HUAC in 1948

Richard Nixon-Calf. Congressman investigator for HUAC

Alger Hiss-State Department official who assisted FDR @ Yalta Conference

Chambers accused Hiss of being a Communist and giving secret documents to him. Hiss denied.

1950-Hiss is convicted of perjury and sent to prison

THE ESPIONAGE CASES: THE ROSENBERG TRIALS

Julius & Ethel Rosenberg

THE ROSENBERG CASE: ARE COMMUNIST SPIES AMONG US? The Soviets have an A-Bomb…they must have

been spying on us Klaus Fuchs-British Scientist who worked on the

Manhattan Project admitted giving A-Bomb secrets to Russians. This led to additional anticommunist fears

An FBI investigation traced another spy ring to Julius and Ethel Rosenberg in NY

1951-Controversial Trial, they were found guilty of Treason and executed for the crime in 1953.

Civil Rights groups raised questions about whether anti-communist hysteria had played a role in the conviction and punishment of the Rosenbergs

JOSEPH MCCARTHY

JOSEPH MCCARTHY Republican Senator from Wisconsin Used anti-communist hysteria in his reelection

campaign 1950 speech: charged that 205 Communists were

still working for the State Department Became one of the most powerful men in America

which was based entirely on the people’s fear of the damage that McCarthy could do it his accusing finger pointed their way.

Tactics: Unsupported accusations about Communists in government to keep the media focus on himself and to discredit the Truman Administration

Popular among working-class Americans because of his hard-hitting remarks that were often aimed at the wealthy and privileged in society

RED BAITING

the act of accusing, denouncing, attacking or persecuting an individual or group as communist, socialist, or anarchist, or sympathetic toward communism.

Originated during the Palmer Raids Most often associated with McCarthyism

THE ARMY MCCARTHY HEARINGS (RECORDING)

THE ARMY MCCARTHY HEARINGS

1954 McCarthy’s “reckless cruelty” was

exposed on television Senate committee held televised

hearings on Communist infiltration in the Army

December-Republicans and Democrats in the Senate saw him as a bully and moved to censure McCarthy

The “Witchhunt” for Communists (McCarthyism) had ended

McCarthy died 3 years later, a broken man

“ANXIETY, ALIENATION, AND SOCIAL UNREST” ??

Ms. ClarkeMs. Clarke

THE 1950s:

THE 1950s:

“Conservatism, Complacency, and

Contentment”OROR

The postwar era witnessed tremendous economic growth and rising social contentment and conformity. Yet in the midst of such increasing affluence and comfortable domesticity, social critics expressed a growing sense of unease with American culture in the 1950s.

Assess the validity of the above statement and explain how the decade of the 1950s laid the groundwork for the social and political turbulence of the 1960s.

Class Discussion Topic:

Class Discussion Topic:

FEATURES OF POST-WAR US

15 Million American Soldiers, sailors, and marines returning to civilian life in 1945-1946 faced the problem of finding jobs and housing.

Theses: What many thought would be economic uncertainty, was actually a post-war boom in which pent-up consumer demand for autos and hosing combined with government road-building projects helped to usher in an era of unprecedented prosperity and growth; 1950s Americans enjoyed the highest standard of living by any society in history.

GI BILL OF RIGHTS(SERVICEMEN’S READJUSTMENT ACT (1944)

‘44 Could get a college 15 million veteran, over 2 million attended

college, which started a post-war boom in higher education

Veterans received $16 billion in low-interest, government-backed loans to buy homes and farms and to start businesses

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

1957 1 baby born every 7 seconds

• Younger marriages and larger families resulted in 50 million babies entering the US population between 1945-1960

• Had a huge effect on economic life /schools

• As baby boom generation comes of age, it will have a profound impact on the nations social institutions

Baby BoomBaby Boom

Dr. Benjamin Spock

and the Anderson Quintuplets

• Large cultural focus on raising children and homemaking

• Women still worked MORE!• 1/3 of married women worked outside the home.

GROWTH OF SUBURBS

“Little Boxes” by Malvina Reynolds (1962) song

Suburban LivingSuburban Living

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

Levittown, L. I.: “The American Dream”

1949 William Levitt produced 150 houses per week.

Suburban Living:The New “American Dream”

Suburban Living:The New “American Dream”

1 story high

12’x19’ living room

2 bedrooms

tiled bathroom

garage

small backyard

front lawn

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

Suburban LivingSuburban LivingSHIFTS IN POPULATION

DISTRIBUTION, 1940-1970

1940 1950 1960 1970Central Cities 31.6% 32.3% 32.6% 32.0%Suburbs 19.5% 23.8% 30.7% 41.6%Rural Areas/ 48.9% 43.9% 36.7% 26.4%Small Towns

U. S. Bureau of the Census.

Suburban Living:The Typical TV Suburban Families

Suburban Living:The Typical TV Suburban Families

The Donna Reed Show1958-1966

Leave It to Beaver1957-1963

Father Knows Best

1954-1958

The Ozzie & Harriet Show

1952-1966

RISE OF THE SUNBELT Milder winters, warmer climate, lower taxes, economic

opportunities in defense related industries, attracted GI’s and their families to the Sun-belt from Florida to California

Transfer tax dollars from Northeast and Midwest to South and West, military spending during the Cold War helped finance the shift of industry, people, and political power from one region to the other.

New cities sprung up: Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, New Orleans, Orlando and Phoenix.

The Sunbelt typically includes the states of Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, and California.

EMPLOYMENT ACT OF ‘46

Sept. 1945 Truman proposed National health insurance,

an increase in min. wage, a bill to commit the US Government to maintain full employment

A watered down version was enacted Created the Council of Economic Advisors to

counsel both President and Congress on means to promote national economic welfare

Due to the Cold War and a conservative congress, the next 7 years will prove to hinder the passage of most of Truman’s domestic programs

INFLATION AND STRIKES

Truman asked Congress to continue the price controls of wartime in order to hold inflation in check

Instead, southern Dem. Joined with Rep. in relaxing the controls of the Office of Price Administration

Result was an inflation rate of almost 25% in the first year of peace.

Workers and Unions wanted wages to catch up after years of wage controls

Over 4.5 Million workers went on strike in 1946

Truman seized mines and using soldiers to keep them operating until the United Mine Workers finally called off its strike

CIVIL RIGHTS Truman-first modern president to use the

powers of his office to challenge racial discrimination Used his executive powers to establish the

Committee on Civil Rights in 1946 Strengthened the civil rights div. in Justice

Department 1948 ordered the end of racial discrimination in

the fed. dept. and all three branches of the armed forces

Urged Congress to pass the Fair Employment Practices Commission that would prevent employers from discriminating against the hiring of Afr. Amer. Southern Dems blocked the legislation.

REPUBLICAN CONTROL-80TH CONGRESS:

Two-Term Limit (2-2-T-T) A reaction to the

fact FDR had been elected four times

Ratified by 1951 by the states

Probusiness Truman vetoed as a “slave-

labor” bill but Congress overrode his veto

Repub. Intent was to “check” on the growing power of unions

Significantly divided Democrats and Republicans

Unions could not get it repealed

22nd Amendment (1951) Taft-Hartley Act 1947

1946 election won Republican majority in both houses of Congress. They attempted to pass two tax cuts for upper-income Amer. But Truman Vetoed both measuresThey will also begin to roll back some New Deal gains for labor and amend the Constitution

ELECTION ‘48 Truman=Low popularity:

Dems were split, third parties emerged Liberals (Progressives/anti-Truman

foreign policy) chose new Progressive Party that Henry Wallace

States Rights Party/Dixiecrats (no civil rights) chose Strom Thurmond of SC

VSNYS Gov. Thomas E. Dewey, Republican candidate

The Moderate democrat Truman was the man without a chance, but he toured the nation by rail

Won a decisive victory by a 2 million majority in the popular vote and 303-189 electoral votes

Reunited FDR’s New Deal coalition with the exception of 4 southern states that went to Dixiecrats

CHANGING WORKPLACE: FAIR DEAL

Fair Deal was Truman’s plan for reform, 1949 National health care insurance Federal aid to education Civil rights legislation Funds for public housing New farm program(similar to New Deal programs)

Conservatives in Congress blocked most of the program1. Truman’s political conflict with Congress2. Pressing foreign policy concerns of the Cold War