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A DATE WITH THE FAMILY: Postwar Prosperity in America

A DATE WITH THE FAMILY: Postwar Prosperity in America. History 17B Lecture 16. Ideal vs. Reality. TV's prosperous white middle-class family as the model. Have we lost those “traditional values?” 1950s one of the most prosperous decades. Consensus

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A DATE WITH THE FAMILY: Postwar Prosperity in America

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  1. A DATE WITH THE FAMILY:Postwar Prosperity in America History 17B Lecture 16

  2. Ideal vs. Reality • TV's prosperous white middle-class family as the model. • Have we lost those “traditional values?” • 1950s one of the most prosperous decades. • Consensus • a general agreement in American culture based on values of the broad middle-class. • Underside to the 1950s • Racism • Sexism • Stifling of individuality • Things looked so good, but were they?

  3. Economic Prosperity • Boom Economy • 1948-1958: industrial profits double • Unemployment remains around 5%. • Consumer spending • $140 billion in savings during war. • Abundance of goods after the war.

  4. Foreign Trade • U.S. becomes a major world trading power. • Fuels economic growth. • Bretton Woods System • World Bank, IMF, and GATT • Gross National Product (GNP) grows from $213 billion in 1945 to $500+ billion in 1960.

  5. Government Spending • Health Care and Education spending • Federal Highway Act of 1956 • $32 billion over 13 years • Half the Budget feeds Military Industrial Complex

  6. Returning Soldiers • Hopes and fears of returning soldiers. • GI Bill (1944) • Low interest home and business loans • A year’s unemployment compensation • Money for three years of training school or college • 2 million veterans take advantage of law

  7. Significance of GI Bill • Extremely important law. • Shifting work force from blue collar to white collar. • Accelerated America’s transformation into a prosperous, heavily-middle class suburban nation. • White males favored. • Provided for returning soldiers, so most women excluded. • Minorities benefit less due to segregation in universities and employment. • Unemployment rate at 10% throughout 1950s.

  8. Suburbia • “Levittowns” • No frills, $8,000 affordable house • Suburbs were primarily white, middle-class, and Christian. • Housing covenants and loan restrictions discriminated against minorities.

  9. Decline of the Cities • White middle class professionals flee to suburbs. • Jobs, manufacturing, and upscale shopping centers follow. • City coffers suffer due to lower taxes. • Poor suffer through lower public services.

  10. Family and the Search for Security • Domestic Containment • Return to “Traditional Values” • Americans wanted stability in post-Depression/World War II decades

  11. Religion • Search for security through religion. • Church attendance rose to over 50% for first time. • 96% of Americans cited a specific religion in surveys. • Government encouragement • “Under God” added to Pledge of Allegiance (1954) and “In God We Trust” stamped on currency (1955). Billy Graham

  12. The “Traditional” Family • Security through the family unit • Nothing “traditional” about 1950s family when compared to previous century. • Couples married earlier • Had more kids • Got fewer divorces • Established single-family homes earlier and faster. • Starting a family key to self-identity. • If not, you had gone astray.

  13. Women • Most women eager to marry and be wife/mother. • Encouraged to fulfill feminine duties. • Hollywood role models • Risks of too much education. • Mills College for women

  14. Children • Social Guidance films • Learn how to become productive American citizens • Respect for elders • Good grooming and hygiene • Responsible behavior • Films showed life not as it was but as adults wanted life to be: • Peaceful, conforming, guided by consensus. • A Date With the Family

  15. Cracks in the Consensus • Millions of married women were working • 25% of middle-class women employed by 1960 • Majority of women in poverty had to work. • Unhappy housewives • “4 Bs” • Booze, bowling, bridge, boredom • Increase in tranquilizer usage • 25% of middle-class married women had affairs.

  16. Cracks in the Consensus • Men growing disenchanted with breadwinner/father figure roles. • Playboy’s Hugh Heffner • Alfred Kinsey research finds 10% of middle-class population homosexual.

  17. Cracks in the Consensus • Consensus producing homogenized lifestyle created by mass consumption, conformity, and mass media. • “Go along to get along.” • “Beatniks” drop out of society. • Jack Kerouac goes On the Road in search of meaning outside of stifling conformity.

  18. Cracks in the Consensus • Youth not swayed by parent’s dream of abundance and conformity. • Found excitement in music, dancing, clothing, sex, rock music. • Rebel Without a Cause

  19. Sum-Up

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