American Social Fabric in the Fifties

1
American Social Fabric in the Fifties

• John Power
• CM 401A

2
Overview of the Fifties

• In the Fifties, the culture of America reflected
  the influences of forces old and new. Throughout
  the decade, the U.S. enjoyed a swelling
  prosperity, in marked contrast with the hardships
  of World War II.
• The baby boom was in full roar, and Americans
  settled down to raise families, build stable
  homes, and pursue respectable careers.
  
• The population of the inner cities dwindled as
  Americans fled to the suburbs and the comfort of
  backyards, driveways and tree-lined streets.
  
• The rising power of the Soviet Union created the
  impression that the American way of life was
  under siege. Americans developed a nervousness
  about international events and a fierce national
  pride.
• These feelings were reflected in the
  anti-Communist movement in the United States that
  came to be known as McCarthyism, and in a return
  to traditional lifestyles and the idea of common
  decency.
• Church attendance rose, and any behavior that
  could be considered subversive was repressed by
  social censure and, occasionally, by the courts.

3
Overview of the Fifties

• The spread of basic technologies transformed the
  country. Automobiles became commonplace as the
  country grew prosperous, and highways, tunnels
  and bridges sprang up across the United States,
  making far-flung travel possible for middle-class
  Americans.
• Labor-saving appliances went from luxuries to
  everyday items.
  
• Perhaps the greatest changes in American life,
  however, resulted from the growth of television
  as a national medium.
  
• Political events were televised, popular
  programming entertained the country, and perhaps
  most influentially, advertisers piped their
  alluring images into thousands of American homes.

4
Overview of the Fifties

• The idealized image of the American family
  promoted by advertising and popular entertainment
  produced tensions as well as daydreams.
  
• Working women, more numerous than ever after
  World War II, had no place in the traditional
  nuclear family.
  
• Working men chafed at the strict lifestyle of the
  "career man."
  
• Teenagers made role models of disaffected movie
  stars and rock-and-roll icons.
  
• Rebellion against sexual and social restrictions
  became increasingly common as the Fifties wound
  to a close.

5
Social Divisions in the Fifties

• The character of American culture during the
  Fifties was remarkably divided. As public figures
  endorsed and advertisers promoted the images and
  ideals of mainstream God-fearing decency, popular
  music and literature gave voice to more
  rebellious strains and exposed the underlying
  rifts in American culture. In the early 1950s,
  the songs dominating American radio were
  harmonious love songs like "Unforgettable" and
  "Little Things Mean a Lot," and cheerful jazz
  tunes like "Ragg Mopp," "Mockin' Bird Hill," and
  "Lullabye of Birdland." Comical novelty songs
  were in vogue. Offerings like "Doggie in the
  Window," "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus," and
  "The Naughty Lady of Shady Lane" enjoyed broad
  popularity. The fundamental decency of American
  popular culture permeated popular music almost
  completely. Sex, violence, and darker themes were
  dealt with humorously or not at all.
• Outside of the musical mainstream, however, less
  innocent currents were gaining in strength. The
  rhythm-and-blues style born in black American
  communities gave voice to longing, anguish and
  mischief in a way unheard-of in more conventional
  music. This expressive music increasingly
  attracted white artists and listeners, and as
  rhythm-and-blues gained the attention of
  mainstream audiences it spawned a new form of
  music that borrowed from RB, folk music and
  jazz. The new style was named rock 'n' roll.

6
Social Divisions in the Fifties

• In quick succession, Chuck Berry, Elvis Presley
  and Buddy Holly exploded into stardom. The
  popularity of Elvis was unprecedented, and
  concerned parents and community figures worried
  about the perceived corrupting power of this new
  music. The regular, driving beat of rock 'n' roll
  was labeled "primitive" and "primal" by cultural
  conservatives shocked parents averted their
  daughters' eyes from the strutting dances of
  Chuck Berry and Elvis's "lewd" gyrations. The
  generation gap was born as young Americans
  forsook the standards and mores of the previous
  generation to create their own.

7
Social Divisions in the Fifties

• A parallel rebellion, quieter but no less
  influential, was occurring in popular literature.
  Ralph Ellison's wrenching novel Invisible Man
  laid bare the grave racial injustice that
  persisted in the U.S.. Aldous Huxley's The Doors
  of Perception challenged the conventional
  understanding of human thought. In her trenchant
  novel Peyton Place, Grace Metalious lampooned the
  hypocrisy of American small towns, and Jack
  Kerouac's On the Road questioned accepted notions
  of success and value, giving a name to the
  spiritual and disaffected "Beat" generation.
• As the decade rolled to a close, the popular arts
  mounted ever-greater assaults on the established
  cultural order, setting the stage for the even
  broader protests and rebellions of the Sixties.
  More and more Americans began to reexamine the
  political, cultural, and sexual tenets that had
  come to define a decade.

8
Darker Side of the Fifties

• The number of pregnant brides more than doubled
  in the 1950s.
  
• In 1957, there were more than twice as many
  births to girls aged fifteen to nineteen than in
  1983.
  
• The number of illegitimate babies put up for
  adoption rose 80 from 1944 to 1955.
  
• By the end of the 1950s, when Redbook asked
  readers to supply examples for an upcoming
  article, "Why Young Mothers Feel Trapped," they
  received 24,000 replies

9
Darker Side of the Fifties

• Wife-beating was not really considered a crime.
  Many psychologists explained that battered wives
  were masochists who provoked their husbands into
  beating them.
• A husband raping his wife was not a crime at all,
  but a sign that the woman was deficient in
  fulfilling her marital obligations.
  
• One half of the marriages that began in the 1950s
  ended in divorce.
  
• During the 1950s, more than 2,000,000 legally
  married people lived separately.
  
• More couples reported their marriage "happy" in
  1977 than did in 1957. (The "happy marriage"
  index dropped slightly by the late 1980s, but
  still remained higher than it was in 1957.)

10
Darker Side of the Fifties

• A 1947 bestselling book, The Modern Woman, called
  feminism a "deep illness," labeled the idea of an
  independent woman a "contradiction in terms," and
  explained that women who wanted equal pay and
  equal educational opportunities were engaged in a
  "ritualistic castration" of men.
• A woman over thirty-five has a better chance of
  marrying today than she did in the 1950s.
  
• Men who failed to marry were considered immature,
  selfish, or homosexual. A man without a wife
  found it difficult finding work or getting
  promoted.
• Unmarried men and women were routinely paid less
  than married men and women because, it was
  explained, their needs were less.
  
• The McCarthy-era hunts against communists
  extended to homosexuals and other political and
  social "deviants." During the 1950s, 2,611 civil
  servants were fired as "security risks" 4,315
  resigned while being "investigated."

11
Darker Side of the Fifties

• In the 1950s, racism was deeply
  institutionalized. 50 of black families lived
  below the poverty line migrant workers suffered
  appalling working and living conditions people
  of color were not permitted to take part in the
  American dream.
• Women were often denied the right to serve on
  juries, convey property, make contracts
  (including leases on apartments), and establish
  credit in their own names (including mortgages
  and credit cards).
• Fewer than half the students who entered high
  school in the late 1940s ever finished.

12
Darker Side of the Fifties

• Congress discussed nearly two hundred bills to
  deal with the problem of "juvenile delinquency"
  in 1955-the year "Rebel Without a Cause" was
  released.
• The United States has had the highest homicide
  rate in the industrial world for almost 150
  years.
  
• In the mid-1950s, 25 of the population lived
  below the poverty line. In 1958, 60 of the
  population over sixty-five had incomes below
  1,000.

13
Darker Side of the Fifties

• Alcoholism soared in the 1950s.
• In 1958, 462,000 pounds of tranquilizers were
  consumed in the United States. A year later,
  consumption had more than tripled to 1.5 million
  pounds.

14
Gay Rights in the Fifties

• 1950- The National Federation for Sexual Equality
  is organized in Scandinavia.
  
• April 1, 1950- The Civil Service Commission
  intensifies its search for gays and lesbians in
  government positions. 382 will be fired in the
  next 6 months.
• June 1950- Knights of the Clock, a support group
  for interracial gay, lesbian, and straight
  couples is formed.
  
• June 14, 1950- US Senate authorizes an
  investigation of homosexuals and "other moral
  perverts" working in national government.
  
• 1952- Canada makes "homosexualism" (sic) an
  impediment to immigration.The American
  Psychiatric Association gives its first list of
  mental disorders, including homosexuality as a
  "sociopathic personality disturbance".

15
Gay Rights in the Fifties

• June 27, 1952- The US bars immigrants "afflicted
  with psychopathic personality", interpreted to
  include all homosexuals.
  
• April 1953- President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs
  executive order 10450, which mandates the
  dismissal of all federal employees found guilty
  of "sexual perversion". Over 640 federal
  employees lose their jobs over the next year and
  a half. Much more are allowed to resign quietly.
• 1954- Local police, believing that there are
  over 6,000 homosexuals in Miami, begin a campaign
  against gay men and arrest hundreds on beaches
  and in bars.
• January 7, 1957- The American Civil Liberties
  Union approves a policy statement stating that
  the federal restrictions on employment of gays
  and lesbians are constitutional.

16
Gay Rights in the Fifties

• World War II served as a critical divide in the
  social history of homosexuality. Large numbers of
  the young left families, small towns, and closely
  knit ethnic neighborhoods to enter a
  sex-segregated military or to migrate to larger
  cities for wartime employment. . . .
• After the war, many of them made choices designed
  to support their gay identities. Pat Bond, a
  woman from Iowa who first met other lesbians
  while in the military, decided to stay in San
  Francisco after her discharge. Donald Vining
  remained in New York City rather than return to
  his small hometown in New Jersey. They, along
  with countless others, sustained a vibrant gay
  subculture that revolved around bars and
  friendship networks. Many cities saw their first
  gay bars during the 1940s. . . .

17
Gay Rights in the Fifties

• President Dwight D. Eisenhower issued an
  executive order in 1953 barring gay men and
  lesbians from all federal jobs. Many state and
  local governments and private corporations
  followed suit. The FBI began a surveillance
  program against homosexuals.
• The lead taken by the federal government
  encouraged local police forces to harass gay
  citizens. Vice officers regularly raided gay
  bars, sometimes arresting dozens of men and women
  on a single night.
• Under these conditions, some gays began to
  organize politically. In November 1950 in Los
  Angeles, a small group of men led by Harry Hay
  and Chuck Rowland met to form what would become
  the Mattachine Society.
• It was joined in 1955 by a lesbian organization
  in San Francisco, the Daughters of Bilitis,
  founded by Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon.
  
• In the 1950s these organizations remained small,
  but they established chapters in several cities
  and published magazines that were a beacon of
  hope to the readers.

18
Interstate Highway System
19
Interstate Highway System

• When President Dwight D. Eisenhower took office
  in January 1953, the states had completed 10,327
  km of system improvements at a cost of 955
  million - half of which came from the federal
  government. According to BPR, as it was again
  called, only 24 percent of interstate roadway was
  adequate for present traffic that is, very
  little of the distance had been reconstructed to
  meet traffic expected 20 years hence. Long before
  taking office, Eisenhower recognized the
  importance of highways.
• His first realization of the value of good
  highways occurred in 1919, when he participated
  in the U.S. Army's first transcontinental motor
  convoy from Washington, D.C., to San Francisco.
  
• When Eisenhower and a friend heard about the
  convoy, they volunteered to go along as
  observers, "partly for a lark and partly to
  learn," as he later recalled. On the way west,
  the convoy experienced all the woes known to
  motorists and then some - an endless series of
  mechanical difficulties vehicles stuck in mud or
  sand trucks and other equipment crashing through
  wooden bridges roads as slippery as ice or dusty
  or the consistency of "gumbo" extremes of
  weather from desert heat to Rocky Mountain
  freezing and, for the soldiers, worst of all,
  speeches, speeches, and more speeches in every
  town along the way.

20
Interstate Highway System

• On Sept. 5, 1919, after 62 days on the road, the
  convoy reached San Francisco, where it was
  greeted with medals, a parade, and more speeches.
  
• During World War II, Gen. Eisenhower saw the
  advantages Germany enjoyed because of the
  autobahn network.
  
• He also noted the enhanced mobility of the Allies
  when they fought their way into Germany. These
  experiences shaped Eisenhower's views on
  highways. "The old convoy," he said, "had started
  me thinking about good, two-lane highways, but
  Germany had made me see the wisdom of broader
  ribbons across the land."
• In 1953, the first year of the Eisenhower
  administration, the president had little time for
  highways. He was preoccupied with bringing an end
  to the war in Korea and helping the country get
  through the economic disruption of the post-war
  period.
• However, 1954 was a year in which a new
  federal-aid highway act would be needed.

21
Impact on the Economy

• By increasing speed and expanding access, freight
  costs have been reduced substantially.
  Tractor-trailer operating costs have been
  estimated at 17 percent lower on interstate
  highways than other highways.
• The interstate highway system made less expensive
  land more accessible to the nation's
  transportation system and encouraged development.
  The travel time reliability of shipment by
  interstate highway has made "just in time"
  delivery more feasible, reducing warehousing
  costs and adding to manufacturing efficiency.
• By broadening the geographical range and options
  of shoppers, the interstate highway system has
  increased retail competition, resulting in larger
  selections and lower consumer prices.
• By improving inter-regional access, the
  interstate highway system has helped to create a
  genuinely national domestic market with companies
  able to supply their products to much larger
  geographical areas, and less expensively.
• Each of these cost reducing impacts have made
  both labor and capital more efficient and this
  has encouraged business expansion
  

22
Advantages

• The U.S. advantage in super-highways and the
  significance of the estimated 25 percent highway
  contribution to productivity is illustrated by
  the fact that U.S. gross domestic product per
  capita leads the next most affluent nation,
  Switzerland, by only 5 percent, Japan by 17
  percent and Canada by 20 percent.
• Four of the United Kingdom's largest urban areas
  ---Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and
  Newcastle-on-Tyne --- remain unconnected to the
  rest of the nation by super-highways.
• Five western European national capitals ---
  Lisbon, Madrid, Oslo, Stockholm and Helsinki ---
  are not connected to the European network.
  
• A major gap remains between Paris and the closest
  large urban area in Italy, Turin.
  
• There is no direct connection between Canada's
  largest urban area --- Toronto --- and the
  federal capital of Ottawa despite a distance that
  is little more than from America's largest urban
  area (New York) to the federal capital
  (Washington, DC). The major ports of Vancouver
  and Halifax, together with Winnipeg, are
  connected to no other major Canadian urban areas.
  

23

• Urban interstate fatality rates are more than 50
  percent lower than that of other roads, while the
  injury rate is more than 70 percent lower.
  
• Urban interstate fatality rates are 65 percent
  lower than urban rail, while injury rates are 50
  percent lower.
  

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• Democratization of mobility The interstate
  highway system has facilitated an unprecedented
  expansion of mobility and in a democratic manner
  --- no nation on earth can equal the mobility
  that is available to the overwhelming majority of
  Americans. More than 90 percent of the nation's
  households have access to automobiles, and by
  extension to the nations' highway system. More
  than any component of that system, the interstate
  highway system has expanded the options of people
  to travel within and between their communities.
  The interstate highway system provides the
  crucial express links that make it possible for
  people to reach virtually any point in their
  communities for employment or shopping, at
  whatever time they desire.
• Expanded employment freedom The interstate
  highway system has made it possible for people to
  pursue employment across far larger areas than
  before. People in previously isolated rural areas
  are now able to use the interstates to reach
  employment centers. Within urban areas, where
  interstate highways have reduced travel times up
  to 60 percent, the interstates make it possible
  for workers to travel relatively quickly to
  virtually any location for employment.
• Expanded residential freedom The interstate
  highway system has played a significant role in
  producing the American dream of the single family
  house in the suburbs. As the interstate highway
  system reduced travel time, people had broader
  options in residential location. At the same
  time, lower land prices and increasing affluence
  made larger dwellings possible, and the size of
  the average new house has increased by 40 percent
  over the last quarter century.

25

• NOTE Statistical Abstract of the United States
  1995 (Washington, DC United States Department of
  Commerce, Economics and Statistics
  Administration, Bureau of the Census, 1995).
• Multi-purpose trips The improved mobility
  provided by the interstates has supported a
  significant increase in multi-purpose trips,
  especially with respect to work trips. People
  regularly combine child care, shopping, and other
  trips with work trips, making valuable time
  available for preferred activities. Indeed,
  without the interstate highway system, the
  barriers to mobility would prevent some people
  from earning a living, and require others to
  accept less lucrative employment.
• Empowerment of the poor The combination of
  market priced (lower priced) gasoline and the
  interstate highway system have truly democratized
  mobility in the United States. The large majority
  of households, including households below the
  poverty line, have automobiles available and are
  thus able to access a broader range of
  employment, shopping, and other opportunities.
  Indeed, the poor in America generally have
  greater personal mobility by virtue of the
  automobile and the interstate highway system than
  many middle income households in developed
  nations where quality roadways are less
  extensive.
• Lower retail prices America's democratized
  mobility has lowered retail prices, thus
  benefitting consumers. As freedom of movement has
  expanded, people have been able to travel further
  to shop. At the same time, large discount
  retailers have been established, placing further
  competitive pressure on prices. To compete,
  smaller local retailers have had to become more
  efficient.
• One of the most important reasons that people get
  more for their retail dollar today is that they
  have more options --- they are able to travel
  wherever they like for bargains or larger
  selections that would not be available if they
  were restricted to shopping opportunities in
  their own immediate areas. And, because they rely
  on their own personal transportation, they are
  able to shop at whatever time they desire. This
  has encouraged longer store hours, more efficient
  utilization of retail facilities, and created
  additional jobs. The interstate highway system
  has been a major contributor to this advance.

26

• Improved access to health care The interstate
  highway system has improved the quality of health
  care. By making it possible to transport those in
  need of acute care to hospitals much more quickly
  and over greater distances, the interstates have
  reduced mortality. The interstate highway system
  also improves access to specialists and
  specialized medical equipment for chronic care
  patients.
• Improved Air Quality Interstate highways
  contribute materially to the reduction of air
  pollution and, thereby, to improved health by
  permitting more consistent speeds and smoother
  traffic flows.

27

• NOTE Committee for the Study of Impacts of
  Highway Capacity Improvements on Air Quality and
  Energy Consumption, Transportation Research
  Board, National Research Council (Washington
  National Academy Press, 1995). The "stop and go"
  traffic typical of non-interstate roadways,
  increases air pollution by up to three times that
  of smoothly operating traffic, which is typical
  of most interstate highways.

28

• Security There is considerable concern about
  personal security in the United States. During
  the period that the interstate highway system was
  constructed, violent crime rates increased by
  more than five times. People tend to feel safe
  from crime in their automobiles, and the
  interstate highway system has permitted people,
  especially women, to confidently travel longer
  distances at virtually any time of the day.
• Leisure activities and vacations The broadened
  mobility provided by the interstate highway
  system has made it possible for people to take
  longer trips on weekends and during vacations.
  This, in turn, has generated a significant
  increase in highway related businesses, such as
  lodging establishments, restaurants, service
  stations, etc.

29
Lenny Bruce

• Lenny Bruce (1925-1966) - Leonard Alfred
  Schneider  American stand-up comedian and
  brilliant satirist, who aroused much controversy
  in his time because of his use of so-called
  'dirty words' in his nightclub comedy act.
• The satire and black humor of Bruce's largely
  improvised shows often overstepped the bounds of
  what was considered in the 1950s and 1960s
  respectable. Bruce was one of the first
  performers to usher in the new, more honest, more
  permissive, and more indulgent brand of American
  art.

30
Lenny Bruce

• "I'm totally corrupted. I mean, really. My whole
  act, my whole economic success, whatever that is,
  is based solely on the existence of segregation,
  violence, despair, disease and injustice. And if
  by some miracle, the whole world would suddenly
  tranquilize, be pured, I would be standing in an
  unemployment line somewhere. So you see, I'm not
  a moralist."
• The fifties was the breakthrough decade for Bruce
  and such comedians as Mike Nichols, Elaine May,
  Mort Stahl, who were all Jewish, with their own
  vision of ethnicity. Their humor evoked a
  response among young Bohemians and
  college-educated people. Bruce appeared on the
  Arthur Godfrey Show and drew national attention
  with his daring style of satire, in which he
  probed taboo subjects such as racial fears,
  sexual fantasies, Jewish-Christian tensions, and
  presidents.

31
Lenny Bruce

• The fifties was the breakthrough decade for
  Bruce and such comedians as Mike Nichols, Elaine
  May, Mort Stahl, who were all Jewish, with their
  own vision of ethnicity. Their humor evoked a
  response among young Bohemians and
  college-educated people. Bruce appeared on the
  Arthur Godfrey Show and drew national attention
  with his daring style of satire, in which he
  probed taboo subjects such as racial fears,
  sexual fantasies, Jewish-Christian tensions, and
  presidents.
• The black sheep among salon tyros and young
  comics, such as Joe E. Lewis, Buddy Hackett, Alan
  King, Bruce played to intellectuals, wearing
  jeans, not tuxedo. His wit and inimitable
  frankness won him an admiring audience and made
  his act celebrated in liberal literary circles.
  "I really dig what they do with a homosexual in
  this country. They put him into a prison with a
  lot of other men. That's a really good
  punishment.

32
Lenny Bruce

• He was imprisoned in 1961 on obscenity charges
  and in 1963 he was refused permission to enter
  Britain. His show was banned both in England and
  in Australia. Nightclub owners started to avoid
  police trouble and rejected Bruce's show.
• He was also unable to perform some of his
  material, which would only have led to police
  arrest, and in 1962 the United States District
  Court in San Francisco, in support of a
  bankruptcy action, declared him a pauper.
• In spite of pressures, Bruce refused to clean up
  his language. When he was arrested by the police
  in April 1964, Norman Mailer, James Jones and
  other prominent writers and intellectuals
  defended him as a social satirist "in the
  tradition of Swift, Rabelais and Twain."
• In his later years Bruce became addicted to
  heroin. In 1963 he was found guilty of illegal
  possession of drugs.
  
• Bruce died of an overdose on August 3, 1966 in
  his home on Hollywood Boulevard. He was 40 years
  old.