The American Dream in the Fifties& Popular Culture

Essential Question:Between consumerism, medical

advancements, the baby boom, pop culture icons, and white flight, explain which two you think had the greatest

impact on American families in the 50s?

The Organization and the Organization Man

• The 1950s saw a great expansion in business• The majority of Americans went from having

Blue Collar jobs to having White Collar jobs– Sales, advertising, accounting, managers, bankers,

insurance, communication• Conglomerates – major corporation that

includes a number of smaller companies in unrelated industries

• Franchises – company that offers similar products or services in many locations• Standardized what people ate

McDonald’s

Social Conformity• The new work place was

said to create “company people”– Loss of individuality– People (men) were given

personality tests before they were hired to see if they “fit in”

– Employees rewarded for teamwork, cooperation, and loyalty

The Suburban Lifestyle• Most Americans worked in cities, but they no

longer lived there• New highways, affordable cars, accessible

gasoline• The most significant factor in suburban

growth was the expanding interstate system• 13 million new homes were built in the 1950s,

85% in suburbs• This was the definition of the American Dream

The Baby Boom• As soldiers settled back into homes after the

war, there was an unprecedented explosion in the amount of babies being born

• In 1957, one baby was being born every 7 seconds

10 million new students enrolled in elementary school in the 50s

There was a major need for educational resources

A new school opened every 7 days

Advances in Medicine & the Miracle Drugs

Drugs to fight and prevent childhood disease Dr. Jonas Salk developed a vaccine for the crippling

effects of polio MMR vaccines given to children

Parents were strongly encouraged to have their infants receive these shots to prevent these diseases

What would the increasing use and availability of these drugs have on a population? It would increase the population because people live

longer

Leisure in the 50s

• 40 hour work weeks with several weeks paid holidays/vacations

• New household appliances like the washing machine, and dish washer meant less time spent doing chores

• Americans had more leisure time than ever before– More than $30 million spent on leisure goods and

activities in the 50s

Leisure Activities of the 50s

Automania! The Automobile Culture

Because gas had been rationed during the war, there was a plentiful amount of petroleum making gas extremely cheap

In addition, easy credit terms and low interest loans encouraged people to buy cars

People had to travel to work in the cities from their suburbs

The Interstate Highway System Shopping Centers, schools, cities to suburbs, all had

to be linked together but how? The Interstate Highway System was signed by

Eisenhower in 1956 – 41,000 miles Made high-speed long haul trucking possible With money, cheap gas, new highways, more leisure

time, and available cars, it is no surprise that Americans took to the road in the 50s

What is one downside of increased cars and road activity, despite new miracle drugs?Accidents and deathsJobs move out of cities and into the suburbsSmaller towns were bypassed and cut off from consumers

Consumerism Unbounds• Consumerism – the increased spending in

consumer products• Any idea what the major new product that

everyone had to have was?– The TV!!!! – over 90% of homes had at least one tv by

1970– Also swimming pools, lawn mowers, grills, record

players– Planned obsolescence – when manufacturers purposely

designed products to become outdated in a short period of time

– New models of products every year – kept spending up– Turned American into a “throwaway society”

Popular Culture

• Mass Media – communication that reaches large audiences

• Television had reached 90% of American homes by 1960

• The Rise of Television – the Federal Communication Commission (gov’t agency that regulates and licenses tv, radio, and other broadcasts allowed 500 new stations to broadcast by 1956

Popular Television

Show like father knows best showed women in inferior roles

Rarely were any races other than white shown

And western shows were feared to increase violence in youth

Radio and Movies• Radio:

– Did not want to compete with tv– Turned to local programming of news, weather, music,

and community issues– Advertising rose by 35%

• Movies:– Had to compete with tv also– In 1948, 18,500 movie theaters drew in 90 mil

admissions per week– This number decreased by half because of tv– But this all changed with the introduction of COLOR!

• The first full length film to use three-strip Technicolor was “The Wizard of Oz” (1939)

Top Films of the 50s

1. The Ten Commandments2. The Greatest Show on

Earth3. Lady and the Tramp4. The High and Mighty5. Abbot and Costello Meet

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde6. High Noon7. Sunset Blvd.8. On the Water Front9. Dial M for Murder10. Mister Roberts

Top Songs of the 50s

1. ‘51 Mocking Hill – Patti Page2. ‘52 Unforgettable – Nat King Cole3. ‘53 That’s Amore – Dean Martin4. ‘54 Shake Rattle and Roll – Bill

Haley and The Comets5. ‘55 Cherry Pink And Apple

Blossom White – Perez Prado6. ‘56 Don’t Be Cruel – Elvis Presley7. ‘57 All Shook Up – Elvis Presley8. 58’ At the Hop – Danny and the

Juniors9. 59’ Mack the Knife – Bobby Darin

He’d just burst onto the stage from anywhere, and you wouldn’t be able to hear anything but the roar of the audience. He’d be on the stage, he’d be off the stage, he’d be jumping and yelling, screaming, whipping the audience on . . . Then when he did finally hit the piano and just went into di-di-di-di-di-di-di, you know, well nobody can do that as fast as _____. It just took everyone by surprise.

- anonymousWho is this person referring to???

Little Richard!

A Subculture Emerges The beat movement was a counterculture that

existed from the 40s-60s and expressed the social and literary nonconformity of artists, poets, and writers

The word “beat” originally meant “weary” but came to refer as well to a musical beat

Followers of this movement were called beatniks and they shunned regular work and sought guidance through music and Zen Buddhism

Many mainstream Americans found this lifestyle annoying and defiant

African Americans & Rock ‘n’ Roll African music was only played on the African radio

stations It took the interest of both gospel and jazz by some white

men to blend and introduce a new style of music to the American people.

Elvis Presley lived in Memphis and was exposed at an early age to gospel, he attended a black church. He also would follow some of the members of the congregation to bars at night where he fell in love with jazz and rhythm and blues.

These influences all blended to form a type of music no one had ever heard – and he would be known as the King of Rock & Roll

Elvis’s Influence on American Pop Culture

• Read through the article about Elvis’s influence on American History

• This was his first tv appearance and resulted in a frenzy of girls

• His return appearance was conditional – only shot from chest-up.

• Aloha from Hawaii is a music concert that was headlined by Elvis Presley, and was broadcast live via satellite on January 14, 1973.

WSM Radio and Memphis Sun Records

Exposure of National Event from TV

• Not only did tvs and radios influence American popular culture, it also influenced politics and exposed major media events that changed the world– Ex: Some blame the televised debate between

Nixon and Kennedy for Nixon’s loss– Ex: “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap

for mankind” (who said this and what is it in reference too?

• Neil Armstrong in 1960, landing on the moon

Billy Graham’s Influence in Popular Culture During the 50s and 60s

• We all know that Elvis was from Memphis• But there was another person who became the

father of evangelicals from Tennessee and his name was . . .– Billy Graham– His revival meetings drew in hundreds of thousands to

make “decisions for Christ”

The Other AmericaJust as some people were prospering

in America, it did not mean that there was an absence of poverty and

struggle for some.

The Urban Poor• For many people, despite what pop culture may

display on the outside, life did not live up to the “American Dream”

• In 1962 – nearly one in every four Americans were living in poverty– Mainly elderly, single women and their children, and

members of minority groups• White Flight – the process of middle class whites

migrating to the suburbs taking with them part of the economy, and isolating minority groups in the inner cities– At the same time, African Americans filled the void

migrating to the inner cities

The Inner Cities• Each year, the federal government calculates the

minimum amount of income it takes to raise a family of four – the poverty line is below this amount

• In 2000 it was $17,601• Can anyone guess what it was in 1959?

– $2,973• Urban Renewal – Was passed in 1949 to provide

a “descent home and a suitable living environment for every American family”– Tear down rundown poverty stricken areas and

redevelop them– As good as this may sound, the redevelopment was

for shopping centers and other businesses and usually left families displaced

Poverty Leads to Activism• Mexicans Seek Employment

– During WWII, there was a need for Agriculture workers, congress establishes a program in 1942 that allowed Mexicans into the US to help harvest crops

The Longoria Incident

– Felix Longoria was a WWII hero – but he was Mexican-American

– When his body was returned, the only undertaker in his hometown refused to provide funeral services

Native Americans Continue Their Struggle

• In 1944, Native Americans established the National Congress of American Indians

• Had two main goals:1. Ensure the same civil rights that whites had2. Enable them to retain their own customs

• In WWII over 65,000 Native Americans joined the service, and how were they repaid?

– They stopped receiving family allotments and wages

– Land that was taken while they were gone was not given back

The Termination Policy

• In 1953, the federal government announced that it would give up its responsibility for Native American tribes – termination policy– Eliminated federal economic support, discontinued

the reservation system, and distributed tribal lands among individual Native Americans, and helped them settle in cities

– Despite this, many Native Americans were discriminated against and were not given any jobs, medical care

– In the end, the Termination Policy was terminated

The American Dream in the Fifties& Popular Culture

Answer the Essential Question:Between consumerism, medical

advancements, the baby boom, pop culture icons, and white flight, explain which two you think had the greatest

impact on American families in the 50s?