Download The Cold War and the 1950s: The Affluent Society

The Cold War and the 1950s: The Affluent Society
The Cold War and the spread of Communism in Eastern
Europe, China, and Korea in the late 1940s and early
1950s prompted the United States to dramatically
increase its defense spending. As more and more
companies came to rely on defense contracts, the power
of the military-industrial complex grew. One domestic
result of this was a wave of prosperity and the growth
of the middle class in the United States. This lecture
examines America's foreign policy in the 1950s and the
effect of that policy on the American people.
Some questions to keep in mind:
1 How did American leaders respond to the perceived
threat of Communist aggression during the 1950s?
2 How did Americans define "The American Dream"
during the 1950s?
3 Describe the impact of the "Military-Industrial
Complex" on the American economy.
4 Compare the migration patterns (i.e., where did
people live?) of Americans during the 1950s to those of
the 1940s.
5 How did Americans view the role of the capitalist
economy in world affairs?
Foreign Affairs
President Truman and "Mr. X"
The Truman Doctrine, put forth by President Harry
Truman when he addressed Congress on March 12, 1947,
essentially stated:
"The United States will defend free people and their
free institutions at any place at any point in the
world where outside communist aggression threatens that
nation's internal stability."
In keeping with the Truman Doctrine, the United States
followed a policy of "containment" when dealing with
the spread of Communist regimes. At about the same time
Truman was announcing the Truman Doctrine, George
Kennan published an article under the pseudonym "Mr. X"
in the Foreign Affairs Quarterly. Kennan made the
following three points:
1 The history of Russia has been one of hostile
neighbors and a constant fear of attack; it's
inevitable that Russia will try to take over its
neighbor states to provide a buffer zone.
2 The U.S. has a duty to confront Soviet aggression
with "unalterable counterforce."
3 The U.S. must maintain a policy of long-term
containment of Soviet aggression.
Critics of this policy pointed out that it is often
difficult to determine when "containment" is required.
When is revolution the self-determination of a free
people and when is it Communist aggression,
orchestrated by the Kremlin?
The policy of containment required the U.S. to take a
defensive posture. The U.S. had to wait for the Soviets
to take the initiative, and then react to that
initiative. In addition, this policy gave the President
greater power. The need to respond quickly to foreign
crises did not allow the President the luxury of
waiting for Congress to approve military action. Recall
that after the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor in
1941, President Roosevelt appeared before Congress to
request a declaration of war. Since the Truman
Doctrine, many U.S. military actions, including those
in Korea, Vietnam, and Somalia, have been undertaken by
presidential order.
The Marshall Plan and the Berlin Airlift
The United States was now actively committed to
opposing the spread of Soviet-style Communism. The
first plan that put this policy to use on a large scale
was the Economic Recovery Plan of 1947, known popularly
as the Marshall Plan. In a commencement speech at
Harvard University on June 5, 1947, George C. Marshall,
former general and now Truman's secretary of state,
proposed that American economic aid be used to rebuild
the war-torn nations of Europe. His objective was to
"restore the confidence of the European people in the
economic future of their own countries and of Europe as
a whole." Marshall defended this point, saying that the
American economy depended on open markets. Thus,
rebuilding the economies of Europe would guarantee
American prosperity by providing an outlet for surplus
goods. Marshall also believed that economic stability
in Europe would translate into political stability,
that Communism would have no appeal to the well-fed and
well-employed.
Between 1948-1951 $13 billion in aid was sent to
Western European nations. West Germany benefitted
greatly from the plan. Between 1947-1951, a period
referred to as the "German miracle," its economic
output increased 312%. However, when Communism in the
U.S.S.R. did not show signs of weakening, military aid
replaced economic aid.
America's drift toward military power in fighting
Communism can be seen in the 1948 blockade of Berlin.
After the end of World War II, the city of Berlin, like
the country of Germany as a whole, was divided into a
Soviet- controlled zone and those controlled by Great
Britain, France, and the U.S. In response to American
involvement in Western Europe, the Soviet Union cut off
western links to Berlin, which was located in the East,
inside the Soviet-occupied zone. President Truman
ordered a massive, year-long airlift of medical
supplies, food and clothing for West Berliners.
Eventually, the Soviets lifted the blockade.
Consequently, in 1948-49, the Soviet Union sponsored
Communist revolutions in Eastern-bloc countries such as
Czechoslovakia, Rumania, and Hungary. In April 1949,
twelve nations of Western Europe and North America
signed the North Atlantic Treaty, creating the North
Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The prime goal of
NATO was to coordinate the defense of Western Europe.
An attack on any one of the member nations was equal to
an attack on all, with each nation obliged to provide
military support. Primary support, both militarily and
monetarily, came from the United States.
The Chinese Civil War
Besides Europe, events in other parts of the globe also
seemed to point to the spread of Communism. In China,
the ongoing civil war between the Nationalists, led by
Chiang Kai-Shek and the Communists, led by Mao Tse-tung
(also spelled "Zedong") was brought to conclusion in
1949, when Chiang Kai-shek and some of his army took
refuge on the island of Formosa (Taiwan). The
Nationalists on Taiwan established the Republic of
China. Meanwhile, Chairman Mao proclaimed mainland
China the People's Republic of China. The United States
recognized Chiang's Nationalist government as the
rightful and official China, a policy maintained until
1979, when the U.S. established relations with the
People's Republic of China.
Secret Security
All of these events called for a full review of
American foreign policy. The National Security Council
was first created in 1947. In 1950, it drew up a policy
statement: NSC-68. NSC-68 would remain a secret
document for twenty years, but it dictated American
foreign policy for decades. This policy statement
viewed conflict between East and West as inevitable,
but in the gravest of terms: any such conflict
threatened not just the United States, but also all of
civilization. The paper advocated an increase in
defense spending from 5% of the federal budget to 20%,
as well as an increase in American aid to foreign
nations.
Domestic Affairs
America's foreign policies of the Cold War had an
enormous impact domestically, influencing the Red Scare
and McCarthyism. But this era was marked by other
things on the home front. Features of the 1950s
included:
 The Cold War
 Rising income and affluence
 Older Americans were weary of the years of
depression and war. Younger Americans were
apolitical.
The 1950s are often represented by symbols: the
"American Dream" meant a home in the suburbs, job
security in a large corporation, and a new car every
few years. Other symbols marked cultural success:
Muzak, Marilyn Monroe, and television. Americans of
both generations were eager to pursue the politics of
tranquility, best represented by the President, Dwight
D. Eisenhower.
"Swords into Frisbees:" The Military-Industrial Complex
In large part, the "American Dream" was supported by
the rapidly-expanding military-industrial complex.
Defense spending was increased as a means of standing
up to Communism after the "fall" of China and the
Korean War. Companies that had never been involved in
the military came to see the Department of Defense as
their best customer. By the mid-1950s, there were over
40,000 defense contractors working for the government.
By the 1960s. more than half of all government
expenditures would go to the military. By the 1970s,
the Department of Defense had more economic assets than
the 75 largest corporations in America. With so many
people depending directly on companies supported by the
Department of Defense, a number of social critics
charged that the U.S. was geared up to be a permanent
wartime economy. Indeed, when an economic recession
struck in 1956-57, President Eisenhower responded by
allocating more money to defense, not by supporting
public works projects as Roosevelt had done. At the end
of his term, Eisenhower himself warned that the growing
relationship between defense contractors and the
federal government actually posed a threat. In this
1961 farewell address, he coined the term "militaryindustrial complex." However, the warnings of the
outgoing President were lost on many.
After all, why worry when the economy was going full
blast? Americans made up only 6% of the world
population, yet produced and consumed 1/3 of the
world's goods and services. During the decade of the
1950s, America's Gross National Product (GNP) increased
51%. This growth was caused in part by defense
spending, but also because of a much larger home market
for consumer goods. GIs returning from World War II and
then Korea were eager to spend money and have children.
During the decade of the 1950s, 29 million new
Americans were born. The birth rate of the U.S. was
comparable to that of a country like India. To meet the
consumer demands of this increasing population,
American industry expanded at an amazing pace, turning
out new cars, clothing, frisbees, and a host of other
consumer items.
Meeting the Demand
Nothing did more to increase productivity than
"automation" -- the use of self-regulating electronic
mechanisms to run complex industrial operations.
Automation made its greatest long-term impact with the
introduction of the computer. Many blue-collar workers
feared they would lose their jobs to machinery, to
robots, and they were right to be frightened. Whitecollar professionals, on the other hand, stood to gain
from automation. Job growth was chiefly for college
graduates, not for blue-collar workers, even skilled
labor.
Much of the new technology owed its rise to "R&D" -research and development departments. They existed not
only within big corporations like IBM, but increasingly
at universities. The connections of modern research
universities like the University of Wisconsin to the
military-industrial complex would make campuses a
strategic place of protest in the 1960s.
Growth of the Middle Class
During the 1950s, the real weekly earnings of factory
workers increased 50%. The traditional "pyramid" of
income distribution began to look more like a "diamond"
with the burgeoning middle class. Based on a purely
economic definition, if an annual income of $10,000 is
considered middle-class, then in the 1940s, 9% of
families fit that definition. By 1960, more than 30% of
the population was middle class.
The growth of the middle class could be seen in things
like education and housing. The year 1960 marked the
first time in U.S. history that a majority of highschool aged people actually graduated from high school.
Aided by the GI Bill, college enrollments also
increased. Owning one's own home also became a reality,
as the availability of housing increased and veterans
could secure low-interest mortgages. By 1960, 25% of
all housing available had been built in the prior
decade.
The "Kitchen Debate"
The American consumer economy became the focus of the
so-called "Kitchen Debate" between Vice President
Richard Nixon and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev. In
1959, an international exhibition was held in Moscow.
The U.S. delegation, led by Nixon, displayed a modern,
fully-stocked American kitchen in order to demonstrate
America's success in providing its people with consumer
goods. At this exhibition, Nixon and Khrushchev got
into a debate, with each side swearing that his form of
government would outlast the other's.
Overall, this economy could be defined as "ephemeral, "
meaning brief, fleeting, transitory. In the past,
Americans had longed for long-lasting things like
houses and cars. Now, there seemed to be an obsession
with collecting stuff. This is best demonstrated in the
growing youth culture, although older people also began
to emulate their teen-aged sons and daughters, trying
out jeans, hula hoops, and surfboards. For the first
time, teenagers became major consumers. They supported
the popular music industry, especially the new "rock
and roll." New industries were geared essentially at
youth, and not without reason. By 1960, America's
teenagers spent $22 billion a year on consumer items.
To put this in perspective, $22 billion a year was
twice the gross national product of Austria.
The Televised Society
The biggest consumer revolution was the growth of the
television industry. The technology for television had
existed since the late 1920s, but TVs weren't mass
produced until after World War II. In 1946, there were
17,000 television sets in the nation, mostly in the
East. By 1949, 250,000 sets were purchased every month.
By 1953, two-thirds of American homes had at least one
TV.
This new industry had a great influence on how
political campaigns were run. The presidential election
of 1952 was the first time that a candidate for
president made use of television advertising.
Eisenhower used 15- and 30-second spots produced by
BBD&O. You'll recall that Bruce Barton, a founder of
this firm, had earlier sold Jesus in his book The Man
Nobody Knows.
By the 1960 presidential campaign, television had
become so central to people's lives, that many would
blame Nixon's loss to John F. Kennedy on his poor
appearance in the televised presidential debates. JFK
looked cool, collected, presidential. Nixon, according
to one observer, resembled a "sinister chipmunk."
The growing impact of television and the rise of youth
culture would lead many critics to charge that America
was becoming "homogenized"--a conformist society. They
saw this homogenization in the growth of nondenominational churches. Even while "under God" was
added to the Pledge of Allegiance and "In God We Trust"
was put on currency, real spirituality seemed to be
disappearing from American society. By 1960, about
30.5% of Americans, or 55 million out of 180 million,
lived in suburbs. Stereotypical images of suburbia
supported the view that America was becoming
homogenized: Levittown, housewives, corporate slaves,
backyard barbecues.
If all this were true, than there was no more perfect
politician for this time than President Dwight D.
Eisenhower. He came to practice "the politics of
tranquility" -- a new style that was quite different
from the social activism of Roosevelt and Truman. This
decade of tranquility would be succeeded by the
presidency of John F. Kennedy, ushering in a decade of
confrontation.
Bibliography
Stanley K. Schultz, Professor of History – University
of Wisconsin