The 1950s

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The 1950s
Looking for work or houses

• Perception vs. Reality

The Fun Fifties
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Perception vs. Reality

• People have the perception of the fifties as the
  perfect and carefree era of U.S. history. The
  perfect and loving families, kids playing
  outside, and no crime.
• The flip side, which is not normally portrayed,
  is the hidden fear in people.
• Today, we fear crime and terrorists. People in
  the fifties feared communism.
• The major difference between today and the
  fifties is the perception that the fifties were
  the good old days. This covered up the terror and
  desires that lived in many Americans.

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Let the Good Times Roll

• Everyone wanted to achieve the American Dream.
• A house, a car, a family, a life to call your
  own.

These men are enjoying their prosperity. They are
standing in front of their cars and with their
buddies.
The perfect house was uniform and quaint.
TV families created an ideal family for the
American people.
Elvis was the ultimate rebel of the times
against the perfect family.
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The Picture Perfect Family

• The mother, father, and kids was the ideal
  family.
• The mother stayed home, vacuumed in pearls, and
  had dinner ready when her husband came home.
• TV shows accentuated the unrealistic ideas that
  people had in the fifties and the idea that
  people have of the fifties today.

The perfect family had a dog.
-Notice how the fifties wife was not only a
great cook but looked great while doing it.
-Leave It To Beaver showed the way you should
react to your kids and their crazy endeavors.
-I Love Lucy created the idea that everything
works out if you love each other.
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The Birth of Rock n Roll

• Behind the perfect exterior, people wanted to
  dance, rock n roll, and wiggle their hips.
• People blamed the corruption of the kids on bad
  music.
• People believed that what the kids were doing
• was amoral.

Teenagers flocked to see the King of Rock n
Roll. Americans had been restrained during the
war and now they were free.
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Symbols of Status and the Times

• Since the beginning of time, material things have
  symbolized a persons status in society.

The first Playboy was published and was a sign
of the dark desires of Americans starting to
emerge.
Cars are symbols of money and power, two things
everybody wants more of.
Barbie fit the ideal that Americans dreamed of.
Batman was a symbol of Americas want for a hero.
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Deep Rooted Fears

• Communism was the dark evil lurking in the wings,
  ready to devour the perfect, American way of
  life.

-Everyone was afraid of the communists or the
people who accused people of being communists.
Book, people, and organizations were all black
listed during the McCarthy Era. You were always
ready and looking over your shoulder.
-The government taught Americans how to prepare
Duck and Cover and build a bomb shelter and
stop the communists. What they didnt teach was
how to save us from rock n roll.
Americans feared that we would go to war again
and the solution was a military build-up.
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The Great Balancing Act

• Americans had to try to find a balance
• between the old and the new.
• - Civil Rights
• - Womens Rights
• - Communism
• - Post-War Life

-Do not forget the fun and patriotic thing to
do is vote for the anti- communism candidate.
-Social unrest and protests started to happen in
the fifties.
-Communism could be seen as a monster that can
control your life.
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Transitioning Into a New Era

• Life changes and so do the times. A mix of
• the old and the new create a balance for the
• coming ages. The fifties began with the
• traditional life and family and ended with a
• hint of what today
• is like.

The baby boomer families just wanted to get
married. After the war, it was impossible to stop
the excitement or a couples excitement to see
each other.
Pin-ups like these show the changes in
conservativeness and the American publics desire
for something not so wholesome but
still tasteful. People wanted to breakaway and
free themselves from the stresses of the world
at the time.