ᴄᴏɴғᴏʀᴍɪᴛʏ ᴀɴᴅ ᴅɪsᴄᴏɴᴛᴇɴᴛ

         10 - 15

new consumer culture of American suburbs felt

like long delayed reward

access to benefits of middle class life had been

goal of labor unions and promise of Roosevelt

administration in 1930s

seemed to represent American freedom

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        The Vital Center

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social critics lamented uniformity of suburban life and

cultural monotony as everyone had similar lives

looked for vain cultural achievements that symbolized 

nation's engagement with not only prosperity, but

also ongoing inequality and justice

political climate of 1950s relatively uniform

anti communist rhetoric from Cold War escalate into

hysteria in 1949

Soviet Unison detonate its own nuclear bomb, Mao

Zedong create People's Repubic, North Korea invade

South Korea

accusations of communist sympathies and charges of

espionage and treason mark 1st half of 1950s

McCarthyism - got name from Senator Joseoh

McCarthy of Wisconsin

did nothing to protect US from actual spies, stifled political

dissent and diversity in political debate

Democratic party moved closer to political center 

because many of its members had worked in organizations

alongside communists in 1930s, fearful of being dismissed

as soft on communism

labor unions, clubs, civic organizations purge ranks of

communists and sympathetic people

states, fed gov, universities demand loyalty oaths

Democratic party leaders kept policy agendas and proposals

clear from red baiting, accusations of being soft on communism

anything other than promise of tough became political

dead end

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    Suburban Womanhood

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White, middle class women face dilemmas, urged by gov,

husbands, employers to leave careers to nurture husbands

and raise children

those who rejected motherhood receive negative attention

psychologists claim career women harmed themselves

notion that unhappy women could find happiness only in

marriage and motherhood

housewives working in suburban home is isolating experience

activist Betty Friedan explained many women believed 

they were the only ones who were unhappy

married women and mothers working outside of home

suffered guilt of compromising role of homemaker

discrimination and judgement in workplace, no protection

against sexual harassment, abuse, or lesser pay

more American women in workforce in 1955 than in

WWII 

by end of 1950s, only earned 60% of men's incomes

white men also lament social and economic pressures

of middle class life

theme reinforced in popular fiction and nonfiction:

Authur Miller - Death of a Salesman

William Whyte - Organization Man

Sloan Wilson - The Man in thr Gray Flannel Suit

veterans struggled with readjustment into civilian life

responsibilities of fatherhood , homeownership, combined

with lack of purpose in corporate beauracracies led many

to alcoholism and adultery

others rebel with Hugh Hefner's Playboy (1953)

young writers and poets known as Beatniks defy

mainstream expectations, refusing careers, family life,

homeownership, and fatherhood

lived in neighborhoods like NY's Greenwich Village

sharply criticized conformity of 1950s

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           Youth Culture

           and Sexuality

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comic books with violence and sexual innuendos

Rock n Roll violated 1950s adult norms 

African American singers challenge colour line

growing entry level jobs made teens highly contested

market segment for records, movies, magazines

with GI bill and expansion of middle class, college

system expanded within economic reach

Juvenile delinquency a permanent theme of reform, while

youth sexuality remained in the shadows

teenage birthrates reached high in 1957 

pregnancies often concealed through adoption or abortion

teenage pregnancies led to teenage marriages

similar to broader patterns of denial of sexual diversity

Alfred Kinsey publish research on male and female

sexual behaviors in 1948 and 1953, claimed homosexuality

adultery, sexual experimentation not uncommon

Kinsey Reports highlight contrast between sexual 

conformity on surface and hidden sexual identities

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        African Americans,

     Latinos, and the Poor

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Americans of Euro descent offered opportunity to

intermarry by suburb communities, brand new white identitiy

95% of suburbs were white, by 1960s more than half the 

nation's black population lived in urban areas

barred from white neighborhoods by racial convenants

loan applications rejected by nation's banks, which used

1930s gov map that identified non white and mix race urban

centers as poor credit risks

deliberate disinvestment in urban centers, suburb investments

African Americans had to fight for equal access to primary

and secondary public education

in 1954, NCAAP won when Supreme Court ruled unanimously

against segregation in Brown vs. Board of Education of 

Topeka, Kansas

3 years later, troops had to force state of Arkansas to let

9 students enter Central High School in Little Rock

in 1956, Montgomery, desegregate bus system

by 1960, 900,000 Puerto Ricans move to mainland, 2/3

settled in East Harlem of NYC

in Southwest, fed policy encourage immigration of 

Mexican farmers (braceros) during WWII labor shortage

farmer lobbies secure extension until 1964

sojourn to CA, TX, FL routine for 5 mil  Mexican workers

aggressive sweeps of migrant communities, repatriation

of 4 mil immigrants to Mexico well into 1950s

by 1960, 3.5 mil of Mexican ancestry lived in US

in 1953, Congress terminate American Indians' special

legal status as sovereign groups

one in five took part in Voluntary Participation Programs,

which offer assistance with relocation to cities

250,000 Native Americans continue to endure poverty

millions of poor whites in rural regions, Appalachian and South

Michael Harrington estimate in The Other America (1962),

40-50mil/185 mil Americans lived in poverty

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            Eisenhower's 

              Cold War

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in 1952 Americans voted for Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower,

celebrated WWII General and mastermind of D-Day landing

experience reassuring during Korean War in 1952

by 1960s, many Americans ready for change in leadership

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      Massive Retaliation

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predecessor Harry S. Truman practiced containment with 

Soviet Union, believed postwar takeovers would continue to expand

announced Truman Doctrine in 1947, US would provide

assistance to any democratic country against authoritatans

changes US foreign policy, tie US military to allies even if not 

attacked, esp with NATO (Canada, Western Europe)

gave aid to Greece and Turkey, where takeover was likely,

intervened in South Korea

Eisenhower committed to policy of containment but worried

about escalating budget, used 3 methods to fight Cold War:

soft power - foreign aid, cultural ambassadors, propaganda

make US appear superior to Soviet Union, demoralize Soviets

CIA - conduct clandestine operations and espionage to affect

regime change in places like Iran and Guatemala

nuclear deterrence - rather than spend on huge military, him

and Secretary of State John Foster Dulles viewed nation's

nuclear program as fiscally responsible tool for containment

named nation's official policy 'massive retaliation"

US announced to world any attack on US allies could 

result in massive nuclear response by US

more cost effective, gamble because of few options

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           Stalling in the 

            Arms Race?

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Einsenhower's fiscally conservative military strategy

vulnerable to criticism on Oct 4, 1957, when Soviet Union

launched the first satellite, Sputnik

limited consequences on actual defense technologies, but

shook domestic politics and rattle public opinion

tv news and satellite sightings instill fear of invasion

Pundits and political opponents argued US was falling behind

Congress establish NASA (National Aeronautics and Space

Administration) and passed National Defense Education Act

to boost education in math and science

Massachusetts Senator John F. Kennedy claimed US

was loosing satellite-missile race

inflated counts and uncritical acceptance of Soviet Union about

mass production of vast ICMB (intercontinental ballistic missle)

arsenal made missile gap an effective campaign

Eisenhower could not correct claims publicly without revealing

CIA's airborne intelligence in form of U2 spy planes

Kennedy used missile gap as one of key campaign points, 

with vice president mate Texas Senator Lyndon Johnson

even after he was briefed on actual numbers

ICMB capabilities minimal, US has significant lead

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            The Military

          Industrial State

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moderate recession from 1959 to 1960 add fodder to

Kennedy's criticism that Eisenhower administration was

tired and lacked innovation

president gave farewell address on Jan 17,1961, warned

against building nation's institutions on shoulders of

permanent defense and military preparedness

3.5 mil men and women directly engaged in defense

establishment, spend more on military security alone 

than net income of all US corporations

military-industrial complex - alliance between government

and large companies producing military weapons

worried financial interests of these companies would influence

policy makers, make sure Americans stay vigilant

opponents of Vietnam War and critics of arms race invoke

Eisenhower's warning against influence of military industrial

complex repeatedly over course of 1960s