American Society in Post

WWII

1950’s – 1960’s

The 1950’sA Time for Innocence

The perfect life, the consumer life??? Conformity

Polio Vaccine• deadly children’s

disease• destruction of nervous

system (paralysis)• FDR – wheel chair bound• virus nearly ended in

1950’s because of vaccine

• now, very rare in U.S.

The Red Scare

• fear of communism due to Cold War (competition with the Soviet Union)

Arizona• growth in the “Sunbelt”

– states in the SW• population increasing - why?

– AIR CONDITIONER– COPPER = king of Arizona economy

•jobs– Army = largest source of revenue for AZ

•industrial development– inland protection from aerial attacks (the nukes)

• movement to the suburbs • AZ’s economy post WWII GOOD

the Automobile

• changed America’s living patterns never be without your car– Drive in movies– Suburbs – could travel back & forth– Motor hotels – stay the night before hitting

the road• Route 66

The Suburbs• Highways made it possible to live outside the city

& commute quickly to work• Housing developments increase

– offer larger homes, new appliances, lower prices– consumer culture (cars, TVS, washer/dryer, etc.)

• Because of the move, BABY BOOM– increase in babies born after WWII

• Suburban mothers stayed home– full time mother

Leave it to Beaver Culture

“Beatniks”• young generation of writers who

criticized American life through their unusual writing and their rebellious behavior

• Jack Kerouac (author)– encouraged people to reject

American traditional society & find your own path

• Beat writings inspired young people to question the rules of mainstream America

• Not a huge movement (suburban children were mainstream)

Rock ‘N Roll

• mainstream teenagers challenging society

• drew heavily from African American rhythm & blues

• Elvis Presley – most defined singer for the new white teenage culture

• Rock & Roll juvenile delinquency???

• concern over musical integration (black & white kids mingling) mirrored civil rights struggle

Jackie Robinson

• 1st black baseball player in the majors; began a new era in sports & society (blacks are just as good as whites)

• ended 80 years of baseball segregation

• civil rights activist

1960’sFor a times, they are a changing

Counterculture = Hippies (a way of life that differed from

mainstream America)

Pop Art

Music

• British Pop Music– the Beatles, the Rolling Stones

• Folk Music– Bob Dylan, Simon & Garfunkel

• Soul Music– Motown: Stevie Wonder, Aretha

Franklin, the Jackson 5• Rock Music

– Woodstock: Jimmy Hendrix, Janis Joplin

Civil Rights

• Segregated but equal???• struggle for minorities to get same

rights as white male Americans– work at same place, go to same

movie theater, sit in same area in church, bus, etc.

– women, Hispanics, Natives, & African Americans

Reforms

• Kennedy’s New Frontier• Johnson’s Great Society

– Medicare, Medicaid, Peace Corps

Peace Corps• Kennedy takes office in 1960

– New Frontier – a set of proposals asking Americans to look beyond themselves and to work for freedom & justice throughout the world

– Peace Corps (part of New Frontier plan)•a program to send American volunteers

to developing countries to work on a wide variety of improvement projects

•basic purpose: aid people in underdeveloped areas

The Great Society• President Lyndon Johnson’s reform & aid for

Americans living in poverty• WAR ON POVERTY!

– aimed to provide the poor with education & job training

• Medicare – helps people over 65 meet medical expenses by including them in a govt. health plan

• Medicaid – provides health insurance for people with low incomes