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Buy, Buy, Buy: A Consumer’s
Republic
1953-1960
The Golden Age
 After the war, the American economy enjoyed
remarkable growth
 Numerous innovations came into use that
transformed American lives.
 By 1960 majority Americans would be defined as
“middle class.”
Changing Economy
 The Cold War fueled industrial production,
promoted redistribution of nations population and
economic resources.
 West becomes center of military production
 Center of agriculture also shifts south and west.
US GDP
Suburban Warriors
 Main engines of economic growth were residential
construction and consumer goods.
 The dream of home ownership becomes reality for
millions in places like Levittown, LI.
 New suburbs were centered around malls, and new
decentralized cities were centered around use of
automobile.
Levittown NY
Westchester, CA
Consumer Culture
 Measure of freedom came to be measured by ability
to purchase goods.
 Americans become more comfortable w/living in
debt.
 Consumer patriotism: purchases help American
economy, high standard of living demonstrate
superiority of capitalism.
TV
 Replaces newspapers as source for information.
 Provides Americans with common cultural
experience.
 Generally avoids controversy
 Effective marketing medium for products and
politicians.
Cars
 Along w/home and tv, become part of “standard
consumer package” of 1950’s.
 Auto manufacturers and oil companies ascend
corporate hierarchy.
 When combined with federal highway system, cars
transform American landscape.
Women
 By mid-1950’s, women were working again, but the
nature and aims of the work had changed.
 Women still expected to get married, have kids, stay
at home (baby boom).
 The American family becomes a rhetorical weapon in
the Cold War.
Segregated Spaces
 The suburbs remain almost wholly white
 During postwar boom, federal agencies continued to
insure mortages that banned resale to non-whites
 Suburbanization hardens racial divide: 7 million
whites move to suburbs, 3 million blacks to cities.
 Federal housing projects in suburbs opposed by local
white communities
Part II
 The process of racial exclusion becomes a self-
perpetuating cycle.
 Suburban whites fear black presence will diminish
home values.
 “Blockbusting” real estate agents take advantage of
this fear.
 “Urban renewal” demolishes inner-city
neighborhoods.
Selling Free Enterprise
 More than political democracy or freedom of speech,
an economic system of free enterprise and private
ownership unites nation of free world.
 Appeals to nations in global Cold War.
 The selling of free enterprise becomes a major
industry
Right (or wrong?) Turn
 To libertarian conservatives, freedom meant
individual autonomy, limited gov. and unregulated
capitalism.
 Spread rapidly in areas like Southern California.
 Understood freedom as a moral condition.
 Two enemies: communism abroad, federal
government at home.
We Like Ike
 Eisenhower, a nominal Republican, runs with
Richard Nixon for president in 1952.
 Nixon had a reputation for opportunism and
dishonesty.
 1952 campaign: Nixon’s checkers speech rescues
political career; Eisenhower’s personal popularity
brings victory.
Modern Republicanism
 Wealthy businessmen dominate Ike’s cabinet.
 Aimed to sever Republican Party’s association
w/Hoover, Great Depression, and indifference to
economic conditions.
 Core New Deal programs expanded.
 Government spending was used to promote
productivity and boost employment .
 Interstate Highway Act, National Defense Education
Act.
The Social Contract
 The 1950’s witnessed an easing of labor conflict of
the two previous decades.
 AFL/CIO merge in 1955
 Social Contract: unions leave decisions about plant
location, capital investment, output, suppress
wildcat strike. Employers recognize unions, wage
increases, other benefits.
 Most unionized workers shared fully in the
prosperity of the 1950’s
Massive Retaliation
 Ike takes office when Cold War had entered
dangerous phase.
 Massive retaliation: any Soviet attack on American
ally would be met by nuclear assault of Soviet Union.
 Critics termed this brinksmanship, but in reality
mutually assured destruction made both US/USSR
more cautious
Red Alert
 Eisenhower came to believe the Soviets were
reasonable and could be dealt with in conventional
diplomatic terms.
 Khrushchev calls for peaceful coexistence raises
possibility of easing Cold War tensions.
 1958: agreement to limit testing on nuclear weapons.
 1960: American U2 spy plane shot down.
Emergence of the Third World
 The Bandung Conference was attended by 29 Asian
and African nations.
 Post-WWII sees the crumbling of European empires.
 Decolonization presents US with complex set of
foreign policy decisions. Cold War becomes
determining factor in US relations with these
countries (ex: Guatemala, Iran).
 Suez Crisis in 1956—leads to Eisenhower doctrine.
Embers of War: Vietnam
 Anticommunism led the US to deeper and deeper
involvement in Vietnam.
 Vietnam had been divided (like Korea) into North
and South at 17th parrallel.
 Events in Guatemala, Iran, and Vietnam, considered
great foreign policy successes at the time, would
ultimately cast long shadow over US foreign
relations.
Mass Society
 Some intellectuals wondered whether the celebration
of affluence and the either/or mentality of the Cold
War obscured the extent to which the US fell short of
ideals.
 One strand of thought posited Americans did not
enjoy genuine freedom—David Riesman's Lonely
Crowd.
 Some commentators feared that USSR demonstrated
a greater ability to sacrifice for common goals.
The Freedom Movement
 Separate and Unequal: few white Americans feel
urgency about confronting racial equality.
 Legal assault on segregation: for years, the NAACP,
under the leadership of Thurgood Marshall, presses
for challenge to Plessy.
 Earl Warren and the politics of the Supreme Court.
Brown
 Marshall brought the NAACP support to local causes
that had arisen when black parents challenged unfair
school policies.
 Marshall argued that segregation did lifelong
damage to black children.
 Earl Warren managed to create unanimity in a
divided court.
 Brown decision hailed as second Emancipation
Proclamation.
Montgomery
 Brown ensured that when the movement resumed
after waning in early 1950’s it would have backing of
federal courts.
 Montgomery Bus Boycott marked a turning point in
postwar American history.
 Demonstrated effectiveness of nonviolent resistance,
garnered northern support, vaulted MLK to national
leadership.
MLK
 Master at appealing to sense of injustice among
blacks and to conscience of white America. Merged
black experience with that of the nation.
 Echoes Christian themes derived from religious
background.
 Soaring oratory fused understandings of black
freedom into coherent whole.
Massive Resistance
 Southern states pass laws to block desegregation
 82/106 Southern congressman and senators signed
the Southern Manifesto, condemning Brown as an
abuse of judicial power and calling for resistance to
forced integration.
 Some states shut down their schools entirely rather
than desegregate.
Eisenhower and Civil Rights
 Federal government tried to stay uninvolved;
Eisenhower in particular displayed a lack of
will/moral leadership.
 1957, Gov. Orval Faubus of Arkansas used the
National Guard to prevent court ordered integration
of Little Rock Central High School.
 Eisenhower dispatches federal troops, but otherwise
does little to foster desegrgation.
Election of 1960
 Both Nixon and Kennedy were ardent Cold Warriors.
Kennedy was a Catholic and the youngest
presidential candidate in history.
 Issues of missile gap, and introduction of televised
debates play key role in campaign.
 Kennedy wins close election, possibly through fraud.
 Eisenhower’s farewell warns against military
industrial complex.