Warm Up: Images Notes on 50’s and New Frontier Quotes

1. Warm Up: ImagesNotes on 50’s and New FrontierQuotes

10. Car Culture -post-war boom period Economic prosperity -growth of suburbia Levittown’s -Interstate Highway System New Highways to promote the development of suburbs – promoted through cars -trucking industry Transportation of goods on the highways -social effects Cars became the way to socialize – drive-in, drive-through, Sunday drives

11. Suburbia -most new homes were in the suburbs -baby boom generation Population explosion due to prosperity and the end of war -Medical breakthroughs Jonas Salk – Vaccine for Polio -Childrearing Dr. Spock’s influence “Common Sense Book of Baby and Children” – don’t scold or spank, meets to express feelings

12. Television -Widely available in 1948 50% - 1954; 90% - 1960 -FCC strongly controls the industry and other communication industries -Golden Age of Television Milton Berle– The Texaco Show - Comedian Lucille Ball – I Love Lucy - Comedian Edward R. Murrow – On-the-Scene News Quiz Shows -spurred other industries – refrigerators and frozen dinners – complete ready to eat meals w/o missing shows

13. Effects of T.V. -women often appears as perfect homemakers 1/5 suburban housewives are dissatisfied -more males represented 3:1 ratio (men:women) -few minorities seen stereotyped -portrayed ideal America “White America” -programming concerns quiz show scandals

14. Radio and Movies -radio continued to prosper Transitioned to local news, weather, music, and events -movies struggled, but had several advantages stereo sound – surround sound color – 1954 – color tv is out on market, won’t gain popularity until mid-1960’s 3-D movies HUGE HIT! Aroma-rama (Smell-o-Vision – not so much)

15. Beatniks -beat movement social and literary non-conformists Artists, poets, and writers – originally referred to being ‘weary’ -non-material lifestyle Buddhism – shun work – little structure in artistic works -set precedent for the hippy generation Drugs, Nomadic Lifestyle -clashed with regular America Not meeting “American Values”

16. Rock-n-Roll -Alan Freed – Cleveland, OH – one of the first to play the style rock-n-roll – mixture of rhythm and blues, country, and pop -Little Richard, Chuck Berry, Bill Haley, Buddy Holly, Elvis Presley– gained rock n’ roll it’s popularity – Elvis is the unofficial “King of Rock n’ Roll” -Ed Sullivan Show- Variety Show -Dick Clark -Host of American Bandstand -reaction to rock music – teens loved it; parents thought it was sinful

17. Poverty -1/4 of Americans were below poverty line -”Other America” - Michael Harrington – Exposed the widespread poverty going unnoticed -White Flight – to suburbs -million of middle class whites moved to suburbs -loss of tax dollars hurt city services -lots of rural poor move to cities -breakdown of inner cities -Urban Renewal – tear down dilapitated homes and rebuild with low income housing

18. Women in America -many working women were paid less and restricted to certain jobs -role of women -glorified role of the housewife -boredom and unfulfillment -Betty Freidan “Feminine Mystique” -beginning of women’s liberation movement Women forming their own identity

19. Minority Groups -immigration from Mexico Braceros – hired hands – come for short term stays to harvest crops -discrimination Begin to develop political awareness and gain their voice against discrimination -Indians citizenship, 1924 - granted -Indian Reorganization Act Moved away from assimilation and back to n. American autonomy

20. Camelot -”ask not what your country can do for you-ask what you can do for your country.” -special focus on American culture -Jackie Kennedy fashion – newspapers and magazines began to be filled w/ images and stories of the first family -The Best and the Brightest Group of Kennedy’s advisors – Professionals, Deans, Leaders of Industry -feelings of hope and prosperity

21. New Frontier -name of Kennedy’s legislative program -medical care for the poor, urban renewal, education - Platforms -Congress resisted his programs like Truman’s Couldn’t get enough votes from Republicans and Southern Democrats -Kennedy took very few political risks lacked a voter’s mandate – no clear indication voters approved of his plans did very little for poverty or civil rights in first years

22. New Frontier -deficit spending to boost economy Referencing back to the New Deal -increased defense spending 20% increase – and min. wage to $1.25/hr -Peace Corp created, 1961 volunteer program to help poverty stricken nations 35,000 in 60 nations by 1968 -Alliance for Progress- program designed to give aid to poverty stricken Latin American nations 1961 – 1969 – 12 billion – deter from Communism -1963 saw a new Kennedy that pushed for civil rights, end to poverty, lower taxes

23. Race to the Moon -Sputnik satellite started space race in 1957 Soviets prove to be ahead of the U.S. in technology -1961 USSR sends first man to space - Gagarin -Kennedy challenges national leaders to get us to the moon Takes seven years to attain the goal, but restores National pride -creation of NASA Alan Shepard-first in space John Glenn -first to orbit -program had several setbacks -goal of the moon reached July, 1969 Neil Armstrong- first on the moon

24. Tragedy -Nov. 22, 1963 Dallas -Kennedy assassinated while riding in a parade -Texas School Book Depository State building Kennedy was shot in front of -Lyndon B. Johnson became president Took the oath of office aboard the presidential airplane -Lee Harvey Oswald arrested for the crime rifle with fingerprints & palm print shady past – 24 y/o ex-Marine, dishonorable discharge, supported Castro, and lived in USSR for a short time -Jack Ruby kills Oswald just days after his arrest for Kennedy’s assassination night club owner – shot Oswald while he was transferring to a different jail

25. Unanswered Questions -Conspiracy theories lone assassin – on his own magic bullet theory – one bullet did all the damage to Kennedy and Connally Grassy Knoll – where a second gunman might have stood and shot Kennedy -Warren Commission investigated the event and pronounced Oswald the lone assassin -later Congressional investigation suggested other involvement by unknowns – says Kennedy was shot from the front, not the back (Commissions findings)

26. “Ask not what your country can do for you- ask what you can do for your country.” John F. Kennedy, Inaugural Speech • “I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to earth.” John F. Kennedy • “We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not only because they are easy, but because they are hard…” John F. Kennedy

27. “Poverty--grim, degrading, and ineluctable--is not remarkable in India. For few the fate is otherwise. But in the United States the survival of poverty is remarkable. We ignore it because we share with all societies at all times the capacity for not seeing what we do not wish to see.” Kenneth Galbraith • “The poor live in a culture of poverty,,,The poor get sick more than anyone else in society…When they become sick, they are sicker longer than any other group in the society. Because they are sick more often and longer…they lose wages and work…and their prospect is to move to an even lower level…toward even more suffering.” Michael Harrington, The Other America • “Suburban areas … inhabited by people in the same class, the same income, the same age group, witnessing the same television performances, eating the same tasteless… foods from the same freezers, conforming in every outward and inward respect to a common mold.” Lewis Mumford