The 1950

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The 1950s Pop Culture and Everyday Life
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Life in 1950's America

• The 1950's brought about a decade of phenomenal
  prosperity. John Kenneth Galbraith published The 
  Affluent Society which stated that the nations
  postwar prosperity was a new phenomenon . 
• The economy was booming mostly because there was
  new technology that allowed the nation to produce
  a vast amount of goods.
• There were also a lot of services given to people
  that had never been there before. So, this lead
  to a higher standard of living. 

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The G.I. Bill

• The G.I. Bill (officially titled Servicemen's
  Readjustment Act of 1944, was a bill that
  provided college or vocational education for
  returning World War II veterans (commonly
  referred to as GIs) as well as one year of
  unemployment compensation.
• It also provided many different types of loans
  for returning veterans to buy homes and start
  businesses.
• This lead to a totally different life in post
  WWII America.

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Money

• Between 1940 and 1955 the average income of a
  family almost tripled.
• 3,000 .75 Hour MW
• This was true for all classes poor, middle and
  rich
• This was also evident in the number of families
  that owned their own home as the rate went from
  41 to 61 There were also changes made to the
  work place

• Americans moved from a farming industry into
  White collar jobs jobs in sales and management
• In 1956 there were more people working white
  collar jobs than blue collar jobs jobs in
  physical labor
• There were also  multinational corporations
  these expanded overseas and were located closer
  to raw materials
• There were also franchises in which a person
  owned several stores of one item

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Money

• House 14,500Average income 3,216Ford
  car 1339-2262Philco model 1403 TV
  199Milk .82Gas .20 Bread
  .14 Postage stamp .03 Sirloin steak
  .95Movie Ticket .40
• Blue Jeans (Boys) 2.49

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Family Life in the 1950s

• Of course, all of these items looked lovely in
  the many advertisements that filled the air waves
  in the 1950s, as did all products
• 1950's Commercial
• a freezer became a promise of plenty, a second
  car became a symbol of status, and a mouthwash
  became the key to immediate success
• Chevrolet Commercial

• There was a lot of conformity in the 1950s
• This also fostered a belief that everyone would
  have the same items as their neighbors
  refrigerators, vacuum cleaners, washing machines,
  and air conditioners, coffee makers, blenders,
  lawn trimmers, etc

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More on the Family

• Many people started to live in Suburbia.
  (Suburbs)
• Levittown, NY was one of the earliest new
  suburbs.
• Bill Levitt mass produced a planned residential
  neighborhood with hundreds of simple, similar
  looking homes behind New York City.

• By the mid 1950s suburbs accounted for 85 of
  the new construction.
• People looked for better places to raise their
  children outside of cities
• The G.I. Bill offered low-interest housing which
  made house much more affordable in the post WWII
  era.
• Of course, there were always those who frowned
  upon conformity in general

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The Baby Boom

• From 1945-1961 more than 65 million children were
  born.
• This has become known as the baby boom.
• At its height, a child was born every 7 seconds.

• There were several reasons for the boom
• 1) young couples who wanted to get married and
  had waited because of the war finally got
  married.
• 2) the government encouraged marriage with
  benefits for home buyers.
• 3) In TV and magazines, pop culture encouraged
  pregnancy, parenthood, and large families.

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Women in the 1950s

• Women focused on the traditional role of
  homemaker during the 50s.
• Many women had gone to the factories during the
  40s and now the nation felt that women belonged
  in the home.
• Women were discouraged from looking for jobs.
• A popular magazine Better Homes and Gardens add
  an article that said, Lets face it, girls that
  wonderful guy in your house and in mine is
  building your house, your happiness and the
  opportunities that will come to your children.

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Women

• The magazine and society in general pushed women
  to stay home, have many babies and to have a lot
  of friends
• Despite these facts, many women continued on
  their journey towards a career, often dealing
  with frowns from society as a result.
• By 1960, nearly 1/3rd of all married women were
  part of the workforce.
• In 1950 there were 40,174,705 employed males and
  15,559,454 employed females.
• Mom was probably younger than today.
• People married younger in the 50s. 1950 median
  age for a first marriage was 22.8 years old for
  men and 20.3 for women. In 2000 the median age at
  first marriage Males 26.8 Females 25.1.
• Interestingly, however, teenage pregnancy was
  high in the 1950s. It reached its peak in 1957.
  Why do you suppose this was?

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Technology

• Several important technological advances were
  made in the 1950s for example, the transistor
  which could miniaturize radios and calculators.
• The computer was also discovered. The second
  model was called UNIVAC Universal Automatic
  Computer.
• It was used mostly to make military calculations.

• It weighed more than 30 tons and tool up 1,800
  square feet.
• There were also advances in transportation which
  allowed Americans to have more free time for
  leisure.

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Medicine

• Medical personnel started to really focus on
  finding antibiotics to fight infection.
• They also looked for new drugs to help arthritis,
  diabetes, cancer, and heart disease.
• There were also breakthroughs in surgery.
• All of this allowed the life expectancy rate to
  rise
• Women 71.1,  men  65.6

• Polio was a huge problem in the 1950s
• It was an epidemic in the United States, having
  even struck FDR restricting him to a wheelchair
• The disease struck different parts of the country
  each summer, crippling and killing many.
• No one knew what caused the disease so no one
  knew where it would strike playgrounds and
  beaches were closed.
• In 1952, 58,00 cases were reported.
• Finally Jonas Salk developed a vaccine lowering
  the number of cases to 3,277 by 1960.
• Albert Sabin developed an oral vaccine and the
  disease is almost completely gone.

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Air and Space

• The Soviet Union developed the first space
  shuttle called Sputnik in 1957.
• This was problematic for the USA who desperately
  wanted to catch up with their Soviet rivals
• On January 31, 1958, the USA (only 4 months after
  the Soviets) launched their own satellite from
  Cape Canaveral, Florida
• First Launch
• At the same time, jet planes were being
  developed. This transformed travel cutting the
  time from east to west to 5 and ½ hours on a jet.

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Mass Media It all began with the TV

• By the 1950s TVs were everywhere in America
• In 1952 for the first time, television news was
  able to broadcast the Republican and Democratic
  conventions live from Philadelphia to the rest of
  the nation.
• The importance of that event for rural America
  went beyond the fact that rural residents knew in
  real time that Dwight D. Eisenhower and Adlai
  Stevenson were running for President against each
  other.

• TV signals that could reach into the most remote
  corners of the U.S. broke down the last vestiges
  of isolation in rural America.
• Common national carriage of popular TV shows,
  news and sports events meant that there was a
  shared national experience. The day after major
  televised events, researchers found that almost
  everyone was talking about the event. They
  weren't saying the same things, but there was a
  sense of national dialog.

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More on TV

• By 1957 there were 40 million television sets in
  use
• News had become important for communicating
  information. Advertisements were a way for
  creators of new products to use commercials to
  benefit sales and commercials allowed television
  programs to continue
• Television also began televising athletic events
  making professional and college sports very
  popular.
• 1st Championship football game

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Television shows

• Some of the first television shows were centered
  around laughter.
• Previous to TV, these shows were aired via the
  radio
• Jack Benny with Bob Hope
• Another form of popular TV were westerns and
  action/adventure like the Lone Ranger, Hopalong
  Cassidy and Gunsmoke.
• Dragnet was also one of the first police shows
  ever and it drew large audiences.

• Dragnet
• There were also Variety shows like Ed Sullivans
  Toast of the Town
• Toast of the Town
• Finally, quiz shows were very popular especially
  after the beginning of The 64,000 Question
• The 64,000 Question

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The New Youth Culture

• During the 1950s, a lot of young Americans
  decided that they didnt agree with conformity.
• In general these youth wanted freedom and and
  excitement, free from parental pressure.
• This lead to many new ideas. Perhaps the most
  memorable being rock n roll.
• Alan Freed noticed white teenagers buying African
  American rhythm and blues records and dancing to
  the music in the store.

• He asked for permission to begin playing the
  music on his radio.
• The teenagers went crazy over it.
• Soon, white musicians started making music that
  stemmed from these African American rhythms and a
  new form of music was born Rock N Roll

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Rock N Roll

• Most Rock N Roll centered around romances, cars,
  and other things important to teenagers.
• Some of the most famous artists were Buddy Holly,
  Chuck Berry, Bill Haley and the Comets, as well
  as Elvis Presley.
• Elvis Presley would eventually become the King
  of Rock n Roll
• I

• Jailhouse Rock
• Maybelline
• Johnny B. Goode
• Rock Around the Clock

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African American Artists

• African Americans worked hard to be accepted in
  the country that often treated them like second
  class citizens
• Television tended to shut them out
• In 1956 Nat King Cole was given his own program
  but it was eventually shut down because no one
  would sponsor a program hosted by an African
  American

• Rock N Roll Singers did better
• They were accepted and revered in some cases
• Some of the most popular were Ray Charles, The
  Supremes and Martha and the Vandellas
• Little Richard and Chuck Berry are thought to
  have given inspiration to groups like The Beatles
• The Supremes

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The Other Part of the Country

• In the 50s about 1 in 5 people lived below the
  poverty line, somewhere around 30 million people
• Many poor were single mothers, the elderly,
  immigrants, inner city residents, Native
  Americans, and those living between Georgia and
  Pennsylvania (Appalachian Region)

• When the rich and middle class moved out of
  cities tax dollars went with them which caused a
  decline for all cities
• Often times, government help made things worse
• Some of the worst hit were African Americans who
  had left the South to come North looking for a
  better life

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Education Increases?

• This was especially true after the launching of
  Sputnik
• Americans felt more pressure than ever to perform
  in the classroom to beat out their Russia enemies
• Some called this a Crisis in the Classroom and
  offered advice about what to do
• Education Statistics