Themes of the 1950s & The Cold War

ProsperityAmerican consumers, after being held in check by the Great Depression and wartime scarcities, finally had the chance to indulge their suppressed appetites for material goods.

The Cold War provided the additional stimulus the economy needed when postwar expansion slowed. The Marshall Plan and the Korean War ensured continued prosperity as the government spent massive amount on guns, planes, and munitions.

Life in the Suburbs; Baby Boom; Teenage

CultureAs families prospered and cars and highways made people mobile, many moved to the suburbs. From 1950 – 1960, there was a 19% growth in the US population as couples began to have up to five children, compared to two in the 1930s. This was called the Baby Boom.

As families became more affluent, teenagers began to become an important consumer class. The creation of Rock music in the 50s led to a separate teenage culture. Adults were shocked at some music, such as Elvis Presley, and the dancing that went with it.

Cold War; Fear of Communism

In 1949, the USSR exploded their first atomic bomb. By 1949, Chinese Communists under Mao Zedong governed China. Americans were afraid of communism and the Soviets were seen as the greatest enemy of the American way of life.

Americans began to build bomb shelters in their backyards. The terms “duck and cover” came into being, and to prove allegiance to their country, American schoolchildren began to recite “ . . .one nation under God . . .” in the pledge of allegiance.

Traditional Gender RolesLife in the suburbs did nothing to encourage the development of feminism. Women who had been in the workplace during WWII returned home to fulfill the 50s ideal of a woman as wife and mother. “Women could do much more in the living room with a baby in her lap or in the kitchen with a can opener in her hand.”

Still, by the end of the 1950s, 40% of American women, including one-third of married women had jobs outside the home. This would lead to the women’s rights movement of the 1960s & 1970s.