The Nifty Fifties

         Baby Boomers, Dwight Eisenhower, full employment, poodle skirts and Leave it To Beaver. These are some of the hallmarks of the 1950s, a decade which saw the rapid growth of the US economy that has since left it as, how many a politician will articulate it, "the greatest country on Earth". Following the Second World War, the United States was the only nation which had emerged with its economy, borders, and population intact. The decades of depression and war, which had seen the unemployment rate jump to a high of 24%, were over. A growing middle class was moving from the cities into the suburbs, having lots of children, and achieving their aspirational dreams of home ownership.

This was the decade of American prosperity, and this was reflected in the culture. TV shows such as Leave it To Beaver helped to emphasize “education, occupation, marriage and family … as requisites for a happy and productive life.” A young truck driver from Tennessee named Elvis Presley was discovered recording a song for his mother at a studio and became on overnight sensation. A movie star named Marilyn Monroe became one of America’s first, and easily most recognizable, sex symbol. Authors such as Jack Kerouac and William S. Burroughs experimented with literature to create new forms, now known as beat poetry.

In terms of foreign affairs, America had pivoted from worries about her former enemies in Japan and Germany to the Soviet Union. Inside of the United States, a senator from Wisconsin named Joe McCarthy fueled tensions by claiming that members of the State Department, the Truman administration, and the film industry were communists, causing what became known as the “Red Scare”. Many people unfairly lost their jobs after having to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee. McCarthy was ultimately censured by the Senate in 1954 and died of alcoholism in 1957, but his name has since been synonymous with witch hunting in American politics. The Russians, for their part, scared the American populace more than McCarthy ever could by launching Sputnik, the first satellite that made it into space, in 1957.

The 1950s were also the decade that America had to come to stark terms with the problems of segregation and racial violence. A young Baptist preacher named Martin Luther King began to organize bus boycotts and marches in 1955.  Later that year, a young secretary named Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus, leading to a publicized arrest which drew American attention to civil rights issues. Most important was the unanimous Supreme Court decision for Brown Vs Board of Education of Topeka Kansas of the year before that stated that Separate but Equal was unconstitutional, and that schools would have to integrate. President Eisenhower was forced to call in the National Guard to Arkansas when the governor refused to end segregation in this state.

The 1950s were a turning point for America; as British power was waning, the title of World Super Power was transferred to the United States, with only the Soviet Union able to contest this. Inside the borders, Americans were working more, having more children, and building long term wealth. The issues of civil rights, long ignored, were finally coming to the forefront. This changing of the guard was reflected in the music, film, and literature of the time, giving rise to the dominance of American culture more globally. 

           
Assignment: Watch this episode of Leave it To Beaver, and write two paragraphs describing what 1950s values the episode is reflecting. Due in class Monday.