Trials Name: _________________________________ Shen

Video Questions for “The Fifties: The Fear and the Dream”

1. Changes in the American family: _____ million couples were married in the year after the war and ____ million babies were born by the end of 1950.

2. New families encountered a problem in the postwar years – a shortage in affordable ________________. Americans needed nearly 5 million low-cost homes.

A Gift From Heaven

1. William Levitt did for housing what Henry Ford did for automobile manufacturing. What did Levitt do and how did he revolutionize the building industry?

2. The average builder built ______ houses a year before the war as compared to Levitt who built _______________ houses a year (or 36 a day.)

3. For $_______ down payment, Americans could buy a home in Levittown.

4. What did the houses offer to middle-class Americans that people had not had before?

5. Levittown was for white families only. African-Americans were not permitted to buy these houses or live in these new suburbs. Why did this new neighborhood refuse African-Americans?

6. What was the appeal of Levittown homes to middle-class Americans?

7. Not all Americans embraced the uniformity of Levittown. For those who criticized them, why did they object?

The Quest for the Super

1. How did the Soviets getting the atomic bomb in August of 1949 affect Americans?

2. In October of 1949, President Truman found out that it was possible to develop the _______________.

3. How was U.S. foreign policy affected by the development of the atomic bomb?

4. Who was Edward Teller and what role did he play in the development of the hydrogen bomb?

5. Why did some of the scientists who worked on the original bomb refuse to aid in the creation of the

hydrogen bomb? (Consider their moral dilemma and questions raised about building the hydrogen bomb.)

6. In 1950, Truman authorized the H-bomb program. The “Super,” as it was nicknamed, once created, was ________ times more powerful than the Hiroshima bomb.

NOTE: 9 months late, the Soviets developed their own H-bomb.

Learning to Live with the Bomb

1. What coping mechanisms did Americans come up with to deal with life in an age of atomic weapons?

2. American children were trained by a snappy little turtle named Bert to ___________________________

________________ in the event of a nuclear attack. NOTE: The U.S. govt deliberately played down the destructiveness of atomic weapons to make people feel more safe. Made people feel like they

could survive an atomic blast if they were prepared.

3. List 2 of the ways that Americans responded to life in the atomic age:

a.

b.

4. In total, it is estimated that the arms race cost the U.S. nearly $________________, the equivalent of the U.S. national debt in 1994.

Spies Under the Bed

1. What did most Americans want in the postwar era and how did that affect their reaction to the communist threat at home?

2. How did popular culture play to American’s fears of the communist threat at home? (movies, govt. propaganda films, etc.)

3. In the late 1940s, the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) targeted communists in

Hollywood. How did Hollywood react to this barrage of accusations?

4. Who were Julius and Ethel Rosenberg and what were they accused of? The Witch-Finder General

1. Who was Joe McCarthy and how did he force himself into power in the late 1940s and early 1950s?

2. On February 9, 1950, what accusation did Senator Joe McCarthy make regarding the State Department in

his Wheeling, West Virginia speech? How did these accusations change over time?

3. Who was John Service and what did McCarthy do to him? How did McCarthy’s accusations affect his life?

4. McCarthyism shaped American politics by labeling Democrats and liberals as ____________________ because they tended to speak for the common man and encourage programs which protected workers and the poor.

5. By the mid-1950s, Joe McCarthy had fallen from grace and out of favor with the American public. What

was the reason for McCarthy’s downfall?

Post-film Discussion The Cold War of the 1950s and McCarthyism dramatically shaped social attitudes during the decade. Let’s consider how these events influenced how Americans thought and behaved in the postwar era.

1. If you were a young child in the 1950s and early 1960s, what impact would it have on you to be thinking about the constant fear of a nuclear war? Would you find it reassuring or terrifying? Explain.

_______________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________

2. Examine the two cartoons below. In the context of the film we just watched and what you now know about life in the 1950s, what is the message of the two cartoons?

_______________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________