1950s DBQ – Outside Information

1. 1950s DBQ – Outside Information • Federal Highway Act of 1956 • FHA & VA loans • “Bedroom Communities” • “Liberal Consensus” • Segregationist background of Social Security exclusions • Rural black southerners migrate to northern cities • “Cult of Domesticity” • Little Rock integration (Eisenhower sends federal troops to Little Rock; Governor OrvalFaubus; Southern reaction to integrated schools = close many public schools) • Church bombing in Birmingham, Ala. • Ole Miss integration & James Meredith • ? Betty Friedan & Feminine Mystique (1963) • ? Rachel Carson & Silent Spring (1962) • Industry & Labor Pacts • McCarthyism & related details • Loyalty oaths • Rock & Roll • Beats & counterculture • Civil Rights Movement (Brown v Board, Rosa Parks & Montgomery Bus Boycott; NAACP; Jackie Robinson) • Thurgood Marshall & The Warren (Supreme) Court • Company Man • Man in the Grey Flannel Suit • Nuclear family • Growth of national media • Hollywood Ten & blacklists • Growth of National consumer culture • National advertising; increased use of psychology in advertising • John Kenneth Galbraith – “The Affluent Society” • Sputnik & education spending • Urban decay and poverty

2. 1950s DBQ Documents Document A: • Do more than JUST talk about a few teachers being fired/investigated • Low-level analysis; this is a typical symbol of McCarthyism • Shows restlessness & fearfulness • Fear = conformity/order • Loss of political & social freedom (no room for messy dissent) • Majority rule without minority rights Document B: • Do more than just say what the benefit was or who the new beneficiaries are • Indicator of the “liberal consensus” around gov’t means there was more political unity, especially on the ideas of economic security • Expansion to previously excluded groups shows a growth in support for economic security (could describe the history of exclusded groups in S.S. policy) • Mostly still reinforcing the status quo here

3. 1950s DBQ Documents Document C: • Avoid lengthy restatement of exact numbers from graphs; • Better to talk more of the trends (“steady suburbanization growth”; “population of suburbs increases by 50%) • City pop remains steady; but are becoming more diverse (with nonwhites, esp. blacks moving from South) • All the movement creates change & disruption • “White flight” = avoiding change -> orderly suburbs • Cities are more diverse and thus inherently more disorderly (but this disorder is increasing not declining) and is a BIG part of America at this time as well. Document D: • Poor interpretation: LOTS of women going into work; Proof of women’s equality; (NOT yet true) • Economic & orderly: the reason for many women to work is to pursue MORE material wealth • Proof of domestic order: these working decisions are discretionary – most women could choose to work or not because their basic household wealth was good • Cult of Domesticity hasn’t gone away but is fading • ANALYSIS DANGER: Feminine Mystique (not yet); but this is a great opportunity to suggest hidden discontent and FORESHADOW the seeds of change

4. 1950s DBQ Documents Document E • This one is tough. I might have written comments but I didn’t hold many mistakes against you on this one b/c you may not know enough about the show. • National comedy show. Orderly in that we’re all watching the SAME stuff. • CBS: National television network • Is the rapid growth of TV showing that life is so tranquil & orderly that we need to escape? • Pretty. Eventually subservient. • Disorder: Lucy constantly seeking personal celebrity and fulfillment; undermines her husband often for the sake of her own ambition Document F • Limited analysis: only identifying the civil rights struggle or focusing merely on the Little Rock Nine • Integration creates disorder! • White backlash against civil rights is DISORDERLY (bombings, threats, harassment, “unladylike” behavior here) • Blacks clamoring for change is embracing the order & economic opportunity that whites enjoyed (could be used to show support for Halberstam); but their struggle creates considerable disorder • This is a BIG social & political matter that defines the era (contradicts economic emphasis) • Eisenhower is enforcing order (respect for rule of law & authority of courts) despite his personal reluctance • OR… considering the intensity of white resistance, ultimate compliance is evidence of exactly how orderly Americans were • “White flight” & closing of southern public schools creates chaos, but also shows a desperate striving by white to keep the old social order

5. 1950s DBQ Documents Document G • Traditional family model in a typical family activity reinforced • Emphasis on consumer culture • Advertising increases and promotes more consumerism and conformity • Typical American living room • Television promoting standardized cultural entertainment (orderly) • Isolates folks socially (individual/household entertainment vs. community activity) Document H • BASIC ANALYSIS BUT GOOD: Very regimented & predictable (orderly) • BASIC ANALYSIS BUT GOOD: New, well furnished (economic) • Sameness of houses = more sameness/conformity in people’s lifestyles • “Bedroom communities” means segregation of genders during the day (limits social change) and even people’s routines of living were standardized • Separates from politically & socially active cities