What is one thing you learned about last class?

1. What is one thing you learned about last class?

2. BELL RINGER: INTERPRETING GRAPHSAVERAGE CHILDREN PER WOMAN 1927- 2007

3. BABY BOOM • Complete reversal of really long term trends • Birth rate peaks in 1957 • Had been dropping for a century when it began to increase in 1946 • Mid- 50s – 4 kids on average per family • Age of 1st Marriage • In 1950 2/3 of women over 15 were married • Spacing of Children • Doorsteps instead of 3 years apart • Have early in marriage • Nuclear family was ideal

4. WELCOME TO THE FIFTIES A Decade Set Apart

5. LIFE MOVES OUTSIDE THE CITY • Suburbs – small residential communities surrounding cities • assembly-line methods to mass produce houses. • Levittown – first standardized neighborhood; New York’s Long Island • Americans loved the openness and small-town feel to the planned suburbs

8. Air Conditioning • The mass production of air conditioning allows people to move to warmer climates. • By the 1950’s over 50,000 AC wall units have been sold in the United States.

9. INTERSTATE HIGHWAY SYSTEM • Interstate Highway Act (1956) – 41,000 miles of expressway • Created in order to be able to efficiently transport troops across the nation. • Suburbs made owning a car a necessity • High-speed, long-haul trucking made possible • Connected the nation – families start vacationing everywhere

10. Little Boxes

14. THE AUTOMOBILECULTURE • Drive-Ins • Drive-Thrus • Cars Ads – cars as status symbols • Cruising Teens • Consequences??

15. THINK, PAIR, SHARE:WHY DID RADICAL CHANGES HAPPEN? Start: • War had put people behind; pent up need to get married and have kids Sustained by: • Cold War – idealized nuclear family in order to prove that America was different and better than Russia

16. COLD WAR STATE OF MIND • Attempt to be better than Russia: Stay-At Home Moms, Kitchen Wars, Consumerism • Scary Time – Duck and cover drills, bomb shelters • Strong families = Strong communities

17. CIVIL DEFENSE AND EXPERTS • Federal Agencies are working to reassure that a nuclear attack won’t be a catastrophe • Duck and Cover Drills • Fed. Mandated drills in major cities • Sputnik – Russian Satellite – Fall 1957 • Means Russians have rockets that reach outer space • People decide our scientist just lost • Push to create more EXPERTS • National Defense Education Act of ’58 – 1st time Fed. Govt. gives money to K-12 education

18. TEENAGERS • Identified as a consumer group • Pimple creams, comic books, soft drinks • Rock-n-Roll Debate

19. CULTURE • Era known for conformity • Identical houses, musical tastes, cars, television shows • Fear of people who were different from middle class lifestyle • Draws boundaries of what is and isn’t “normal” • High rates of joining • Bowling leagues • Clubs • Church – way to be different and BETTER than Russia • Joining = Togetherness

20. FIFTIES FAMILIES • Fathers - Work in the cities, live in the suburbs • Mothers - ideal was the stay-at-home mother • New emphasis placed on family togetherness • Building soapbox car • Throwing party for neighborhood • Home-centered recreation

21. “THE KEY FIGURE IN ALL SUBURBIA, THE THREAD THAT WEAVES BETWEEN FAMILY AND COMMUNITY, THE KEEPER OF THE SUBURBAN DREAM.” – TIME MAGAZINE

22. MASS MEDIA • Television • Movies • Comic Books • Music

23. The Kennedy/Nixon Debate • This was the first televised debate in American history. • The first debate for the 1960 election drew over 66 million viewers out of a population of 179 million, making it one of the most-watched broadcasts in U.S. television history. • Kennedy is generally considered to have won the debate. Nixon appeared worse than Kennedy on television, with poor makeup, a haggard appearance. • The televised debates were thought to be the difference in what was an extremely close election.

24. The Civil Rights Movement • Television brought the violence of Southern police against peaceful African American protesters into the living rooms of America. • These visuals helped motivate White America to stop segregation and work towards racial equality.

25. CONSUMERISM • “buying material goods” • = success • Also, makes us better than Russia

26. Edward Scissorhands

27. WAS LIFE JUST ALL ABOUT SUCCESS AND SUBURBS?

28. THE OTHER AMERICA • By 1962 – ¼ of Americans lived below the poverty line • Who were the poor? • Elderly • Single women and their children • Members of minority groups • White flight

29. Someone born in 1948 would be considered a • GI • Baby Boomer • Sputnik • Member of the space race

30. The 1956 National Interstate and Defense Highway Act reads in part, “It hereby declared to be essential to the national interest…” What was an important concern of this legislation? • To enhance rural life • To add to the economy of the cities • To provide good roads for suburban living • To create a system of roads for the efficient transport of military troops

31. What was the significance of Levittown? • It showed the need for a working GI Bill. • It sparked the growth of American suburbs. • It was the center of American industry. • It was the site of the Kennedy-Nixon debates.

32. What had a major impact on the outcome of the 1960 Kennedy-Nixon debates? • Political platforms • Radio • Computers • Television

33. What effect did news coverage of the civil rights movement have? • It resulted in new Jim Crow legislation in the South. • It forced the federal government to place restrictions on the media. • It increased pressure on the federal government to pass civil rights legislation. • It reduced the momentum of the civil rights movement.

34. It signaled the beginning of a new era in US politics. For the first time, candidates for president had to pay attention to how they looked on television in addition to the words they spoke and the programs they supported. What was it? • Franklin Roosevelt’s campaign in 1932 • The first televised campaign between Harry Truman and Thomas Dewey • The presidential debate between Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford • The Kennedy-Nixon debate of 1960

35. The launch of Sputnik • Thrilled people in the US because it finally put a satellite in space. • Boosted NASA’s morale because it meant that the US had answered President Kennedy’s challenge. • Concerned US leaders who feared falling behind the Soviets in nuclear technology. • Concerned the Soviets because it revealed that the US had been spying on them.

36. Sputnik concerned leaders in the US because • It was an agreement between the USSR and Cuba that placed nuclear missiles within ninety miles of the US. • It was a Soviet satellite that signaled that the US was far behind the Soviets in the space race. • It was a submarine that US ships were defenseless against. • It was a bomb ten times more powerful than the atomic bomb dropped on Japan.