CW - 1950s American Culture Lesson

1950s American Culture

Economic Growth

After World War II, soldiers returned home to America and settled back into the lives they had left behind. One effect of this was a huge growth in population called the Baby Boom. From the mid-1940s to the mid-1960s the birthrate quickly increased, reaching its high point in 1957, a year when over four million babies were born. The generation referred to as Baby Boomers is the largest generation in American history.

Another effect of the soldiers' return was a housing shortage. The veterans' new and growing families needed homes to live in. In response, housing developers such as William Levitt created methods of building houses faster, cheaper, and more efficiently. 

These methods led to the creation of the first suburbs - communities outside of a city and mostly made up of single-family houses for people whose family members worked in the city. The first example of a suburb was on New York's Long Island, where William Levitt's Levittown was the first master-planned community in America. Because the new suburbs were outside the limits of large cities, there was little public transportation available for the suburban residents. They needed cars and increased car ownership meant more roads were needed, so Congress passed the Interstate Highway Act, authorizing the construction of a national network of highways to connect every major city in America. In all, 41,000 miles of new expressways, or freeways, were built. It was a record-size public works project. Support for the construction of the interstates was not only due to increasing the speed and ease of travel. It related to the Cold War in that interstates were limited-access highways that could be used to evacuate cities more rapidly in the case of a nuclear threat, be used to transport troops and supplies in event of a communist invasion, and serve as landing strips for aircraft.

While northern cities were expanding into the suburbs, much of the population growth since World War II has been in the South and West. This region is known as the "Sunbelt" as many people moved to these regions as industry relocated there, often in search of non-unionized labor. Additionally, as air conditioning became more common the hot climate of these regions was less of a factor in discouraging people from northern areas migrating there. Today states such as California, Texas, Florida, and Georgia are among the most populated states in the Union.

Television Changes

The first regular television broadcasts began in 1949, providing just two hours a week of news and entertainment to a very small area on the East Coast. By 1956, over 500 stations were broadcasting all over America, bringing news and entertainment into the living rooms of most Americans.

In the 1960 national election campaign, the Kennedy/Nixon presidential debates were the first ones ever shown on TV. Seventy million people tuned in. Although Nixon was more knowledgeable about foreign policy and other topics, Kennedy looked and spoke more forcefully because he had been coached by television producers. Kennedy's performance in the debate helped him win the presidency. The Kennedy/Nixon debates changed the shape of American politics.

Sputnik I and the Cold War

In 1957, the Soviet Union launched the first artificial satellite - Sputnik I - a feat that caused many Americans to believe the United States had fallen behind the Soviet Union in terms of understanding science and the uses of technology. The success of the Soviet satellite launch led to increased U.S. government spending on education, especially in mathematics and science, and on national military defense programs. Additionally, Sputnik I increased Cold War tensions by heightening U.S. fears that the Soviet Union might use rockets to launch nuclear weapons against the United States and its allied nations.

 

 

 

 

What does Sputnik look like?

Image Credit: U.S. Air Force photo

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

View the following presentation on the culture of the 1950s and early 1960s.

 

RESOURCES IN THIS MODULE ARE OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES (OER) OR CREATED BY GAVS UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED. SOME IMAGES USED UNDER SUBSCRIPTION.