The U.S.A.

1
The U.S.A. A History1953 1960
2
1952 Election

• In 1951, the U.S. ratified the 22nd Amendment,
  making a president ineligible to be elected for a
  third time, or to be elected for a second time
  after having served more than two years of a
  previous president's term. The latter clause
  would have applied to Truman in 1952, except that
  a grandfather clause in the amendment explicitly
  excluded the current president from this
  provision. However, Truman decided not to run for
  reelection.

3
1952 Election

• At the time of the 1952 New Hampshire primary, no
  candidate had won Truman's backing. His first
  choice, Chief Justice Fred M. Vinson, had
  declined to run Illinois Governor Adlai
  Stevenson had also turned Truman down Vice
  President Barkley was considered too old and
  Truman distrusted and disliked Senator Estes
  Kefauver, whom he privately called "Cowfever."

4
1952 Election

• Truman's name was on the New Hampshire primary
  ballot but Kefauver won. On March 29 Truman
  announced his decision not to run for
  re-election. Stevenson, having reconsidered his
  presidential ambitions, received Truman's backing
  and won the Democratic nomination.

5
1952 Election

• Dwight D. Eisenhower, now a Republican and the
  nominee of his party, campaigned against what he
  denounced as Truman's failures regarding "Korea,
  Communism and Corruption" and the "mess in
  Washington, and promised to "go to
  Korea."Eisenhower defeated Stevenson decisively
  in the general election, ending 20 years of
  Democratic rule. While Truman and Eisenhower had
  previously been good friends, Truman felt
  betrayed that Eisenhower did not denounce Joseph
  McCarthy during the campaign.

6
Eisenhower Era

• In American memory, the postwar 1950s have
  acquired an idyllic luster. Reruns of 1950s TV
  shows such as Leave It to Beaver and Father Knows
  Best leave today's viewers with an impression of
  unadulterated family bliss. The baby boomers look
  back nostalgically to these years that marked
  their early childhood experiences.

7
Eisenhower Era

• The president for many of these years was war
  hero Dwight Eisenhower. Ike, as he was nicknamed,
  walked a middle road between the two major
  parties. This strategy, called Modern
  Republicanism, simultaneously restrained
  Democrats from expanding the New Deal while
  stopping conservative Republicans from reversing
  popular programs such as Social Security. As a
  result, no major reform initiatives emerged from
  a decade many would describe as politically dead.
  Perhaps freedom from controversy was the prize
  most American voters were seeking after World War
  II and the Korean War.

8
Eisenhower Era

• A booming economy helped shape the blissful
  retrospective view of the 1950s. A rebuilding
  Europe was hungry for American goods, fueling the
  consumer-oriented sector of the American economy.
  Conveniences that had been toys for the upper
  classes such as fancy refrigerators, range-top
  ovens, convertible automobiles, and televisions
  became middle-class staples.

9
Eisenhower Era

• The pent-up demand for consumer goods unleashed
  after the Great Depression and World War II
  sustained itself through the 1950s. Homes became
  affordable to many apartment dwellers for the
  first time. Consequently, the population of the
  suburbs exploded. The huge youth market had a
  music all of its own called rock and roll,
  complete with parent-detested icons such as Elvis
  Presley.

10
Levittown

• Levittown is the name of some large suburban
  developments created in the United States of
  America by William Levitt and his company Levitt
  Sons. They featured large numbers of similar
  houses that could be built easily and quickly,
  allowing rapid recovery of costs. This is the
  beginning of the suburbs and the decline of
  urban centers.

11
Eisenhower Era

• Of course, not everything was as rosy as it
  seemed. Beneath the pristine exterior, a small
  group of critics and nonconformists pointed out
  the flaws in a suburbia they believed had no
  soul, a government they believed was growing
  dangerously powerful, and a lifestyle they
  believed was fundamentally repressed. And much of
  America was still segregated.

12
McCarthyism

• "Are you now, or have you ever been, a member of
  the Communist party?"
• In the 1950s, thousands of Americans who toiled
  in the government, served in the army, worked in
  the movie industry, or came from various walks of
  life had to answer that question before a
  congressional panel.

13
McCarthyism

• Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin rose to
  national prominence by initiating a probe to
  ferret out communists holding prominent
  positions. During his investigations, safeguards
  promised by the Constitution were trampled.

14
McCarthyism

• In 1947, President Truman had ordered background
  checks of every civilian in service to the
  government. When Alger Hiss, a high-ranking State
  Department official was convicted on espionage
  charges, fear of communists intensified.

15
McCarthyism

• McCarthy capitalized on national paranoia by
  proclaiming that communist spies were omnipresent
  and that he was America's only salvation.
• An atmosphere of fear of world domination by
  communists hung over America in the postwar
  years.

16
McCarthyism

• There were fears of a nuclear holocaust based on
  the knowledge that the Soviet Union exploded its
  first A-bomb in 1949. That same year, China, the
  world's most populous nation, became communist.
  Half of Europe was under Joseph Stalin's
  influence, and every time Americans read their
  newspapers there seemed to be a new atomic threat.

17
McCarthyism

• At a speech in Wheeling, West Virginia, on
  February 9, 1950, McCarthy launched his first
  salvo. He proclaimed that he was aware of 205
  card-carrying members of the Communist Party who
  worked for the United States Department of State.
  A few days later, he repeated the charges at a
  speech in Salt Lake City. McCarthy soon began to
  attract headlines, and the Senate asked him to
  make his case.

18
McCarthyism

• On February 20, 1950, McCarthy addressed the
  Senate and made a list of dubious claims against
  suspected communists. He cited 81 cases that day.
  He skipped several numbers, and for some cases
  repeated the same flimsy information. He proved
  nothing, but the Senate called for a full
  investigation. McCarthy was in the national
  spotlight.

19
McCarthyism

• Staying in the headlines was a full-time job.
  After accusing low-level officials, McCarthy went
  for the big guns, even questioning the loyalty of
  Dean Acheson and George Marshall. Some
  Republicans in the Senate were aghast and
  disavowed McCarthy.
• Others such as Robert Taft and Richard Nixon, saw
  him as an asset. The public rewarded the
  witch-hunters by sending red-baiters (communist
  accusers) before the Senate and the House in 1950.

20
McCarthyism

• When Dwight Eisenhower became president, he had
  no love for McCarthy. Ike was reluctant to
  condemn McCarthy for fear of splitting the
  Republican Party. McCarthy's accusations went on
  into 1954, when the Wisconsin senator focused on
  the United States Army. For eight weeks, in
  televised hearings, McCarthy interrogated army
  officials, including many decorated war heroes.

21
McCarthyism

• But this was his tragic mistake. Television
  illustrated the mean-spiritedness of McCarthy's
  campaign. The army then went on the attack,
  questioning McCarthy's methods and credibility.
  In one memorable fusillade, the Council for the
  Army simply asked McCarthy, "At long last, have
  you no sense of decency left?"

22
McCarthyism

• The final downfall occurred when CBS News
  Reporter Edward R. Murrow spent an entire episode
  of his show See It Now on McCarthy. By using
  mostly recordings of McCarthy himself in action
  interrogating witnesses and making speeches,
  Murrow displayed what he felt was the key danger
  to the democracy not suspected Communists, but
  McCarthy's actions themselves. As Murrow said in
  his tailpiece
• No one familiar with the history of his country
  can deny that Congressional committees are
  useful. It is necessary to investigate before
  legislating. But the line between investigating
  and persecuting is a very fine one, and the
  junior senator from Wisconsin has stepped over it
  repeatedly.

23
McCarthyism

• Poll after poll showed the American people
  thought McCarthy unscrupulous in his attack of
  the army.
• Fed up, McCarthy's colleagues censured him for
  dishonoring the Senate, and the hearings came to
  a close. Plagued with poor health and alcoholism,
  McCarthy himself died three years later.

24
McCarthyism

• McCarthy was not the only individual to seek out
  potential communists.
• The House Committee on Un-American Activities
  (HUAC) targeted the Hollywood film industry.
  Actors, writers, and producers alike were
  summoned to appear before the committee and
  provide names of colleagues who may have been
  members of the Communist Party.

25
McCarthyism

• Those who repented and named names of suspected
  communists were allowed to return to business as
  usual. Those who refused to address the committee
  were cited for contempt. Uncooperative artists
  were blacklisted from jobs in the entertainment
  industry. Years passed until many had their
  reputations restored.

26
McCarthyism

• Were there in fact communists in America?
• The answer is undoubtedly yes. But many of the
  accused had attended party rallies 15 or more
  years before the hearings it had been
  fashionable to do so in the 1930s.

27
McCarthyism

• Although the Soviet spy ring did penetrate the
  highest levels of the American government, the
  vast majority of the accused were innocent
  victims. All across America, state legislatures
  and school boards mimicked McCarthy and HUAC.
  Thousands of people lost their jobs and had their
  reputations tarnished.

28
McCarthyism

• Unions were special target of communist hunters.
  Sensing an unfavorable environment, the AFL
  (American Federation of Labor) and the CIO
  (Congress of Industrial Organizations) merged in
  1955 to close ranks. Books were pulled from
  library shelves, including Robin Hood, which was
  deemed communist-like for suggesting stealing
  from the rich to give to the poor.

29
McCarthyism

• No politician could consider opening trade with
  China or withdrawing from Southeast Asia without
  being branded a communist. Although McCarthyism
  was dead by the mid-1950s, its effects lasted for
  decades.
• Above all, several messages became crystal clear
  to the average American Don't criticize the
  United States. Don't be different. Just conform.

30
The American Dream

• For millions of Americans in the 1950s, the
  American Dream became a reality. Within their
  reach was the chance to have a house on their own
  land, a car, a dog, and 2.3 kids.
• Postwar affluence redefined the American Dream.
  Gone was the poverty borne of the Great
  Depression, and the years of wartime sacrifice
  were over.

31
The American Dream

• Automobiles once again rolled off the assembly
  lines of the Big Three Ford, General Motors, and
  Chrysler. The Interstate Highway Act authorized
  the construction of thousands of miles of
  high-speed roads that made living farther from
  work a possibility.
• Families that had delayed having additional
  children for years no longer waited, and the
  nation enjoyed a postwar baby boom.

32
Suburbia

• With the ability to own a detached home,
  thousands of Americans soon surpassed the
  standard of living enjoyed by their parents.
  Homeowners struggled to keep their communities
  looking uniform. Residents had to pledge to mow
  their lawns on a weekly basis. African Americans
  were excluded by practice. The irrational need to
  "keep up with the Joneses" was born in the
  American suburb.

33
Suburbia

• A generation of Americans loved the chance to
  avoid rent and the dirtiness of the city to live
  in their own homes on their own land. Soon,
  shopping centers and fast food restaurants added
  to the convenience of suburban life. Thousands
  and thousands migrated to suburbia.
• America and the American Dream would never be the
  same.

34
The Golden Age of Television

• Perhaps no phenomenon shaped American life in the
  1950s more than television. At the end of World
  War II, the television was a toy for only a few
  thousand wealthy Americans. Just 10 years later,
  nearly two-thirds of American households had a
  television.
• The biggest-selling periodical of the decade was
  TV Guide. In a nation once marked by strong
  regional differences, network television
  programming blurred these distinctions and helped
  forge a national popular culture.

35
The Golden Age of Television

• Television forever changed changed politics. The
  first president to be televised was Harry Truman.
  When Estes Kefauver prosecuted mob boss Frank
  Costello on television, the Tennessee senator
  became a national hero and a vice presidential
  candidate.
• It did not take long for political advertisers to
  understand the power of the new medium. Dwight
  Eisenhower's campaign staff generated sound bites
  short, powerful statements from a candidate
  rather than air an entire speech.

36
The Golden Age of Television

• Americans loved situation comedies sitcoms. In
  the 1950s, I Love Lucy topped the ratings charts.
  The show broke new ground by including a Cuban
  American character (Ricky Ricardo, played by
  bandleader Desi Arnaz) and dealing with Lucille
  Ball's pregnancy, though Lucy was never filmed
  from the waist down while she was pregnant.
  Forty-four million Americans tuned in to welcome
  her newborn son to the show.

37
The Golden Age of Television

• Through shows such as Leave It to Beaver, The
  Donna Reed Show, and Father Knows Best,
  television created an idyllic view of what the
  perfect family life should look like, though few
  actual families could live up to the ideal.
• Television's idea of a perfect family was a
  briefcase-toting professional father who left
  daily for work, and a pearls-wearing, nurturing
  housewife who raised their mischievous boys and
  obedient girls.
• With rare exceptions (such as Desi Arnaz) members
  of minorities rarely appeared on television in
  the 1950s.

38
The Golden Age of Television

• America's fascination with the Wild West was
  nothing new, but television brought Western
  heroes into American homes and turned that
  fascination into a love affair. Cowboys and
  lawmen such as Hopalong Cassidy, Wyatt Earp, and
  the Cisco Kid galloped across televisions every
  night.

39
The Golden Age of Television

• The Roy Rogers Show and Rin Tin Tin brought the
  West to children on Saturday mornings, and Davy
  Crockett coonskin caps became popular fashion
  items. Long running horse operas, such as Bonanza
  and Rawhide, attracted viewers week after week.

40
The Golden Age of Television

• One Western, Gunsmoke, ran for 20 years longer
  than any other prime-time drama in television
  history. At the decade's close, 30 Westerns aired
  on prime time each week, and Westerns occupied 7
  spots in the Nielsen Top-10.

41
The Golden Age of Television

• Like The Lone Ranger or Zorro, most programs of
  the early 1950s drew a clear line between the
  good guys and the bad guys. There was very little
  danger of injury or death, and good always
  triumphed in the end.
• By the late '50s, though, the genre had become
  more complicated and the lines between good and
  evil was blurred. America entered the more
  turbulent '60s with heroes such as the black-clad
  mercenary Paladin and the gambling Maverick
  brothers who would do anything to earn a buck.

42
The Golden Age of Television

• Because most early television was live, the
  producers of major networks found their talent
  among people already had experience with live
  performance vaudeville. Television and
  vaudeville combined to created the form of
  entertainment known as the variety show. Variety
  shows were made up of short acts musical
  numbers, comedy sketches, animal tricks, etc.
  usually centered around an engaging host. Former
  vaudevillians Bob Hope, Milton Berle, and Ed Wynn
  all hosted popular programs. The influence of
  vaudeville on television was so strong that
  television critics called the shows "Vaudeo."

43
The Golden Age of Television

• Sid Caesar had two popular variety programs in
  '50s, Your Show of Shows and Caesar's Hour. These
  shows featured the writing talents of Carl
  Reiner, Mel Brooks, Larry Gelbart, and Woody
  Allen. Nat "King" Cole became the first African
  American host of a television series when his
  variety show appeared in 1956.

44
The Golden Age of Television

• But perhaps no variety program had a greater
  effect on American culture than The Ed Sullivan
  Show, which ran for 23 years beginning in 1948
  and was for a while America's most popular show.
  Combining highbrow and popular entertainment,
  Sullivan's "really big shew" became a major stop
  for both established performers and young,
  up-and-coming artists.

45
The Golden Age of Television

• Although Elvis Presley had appeared on other
  shows in the past, it was his performance on The
  Ed Sullivan Show that grabbed the headlines. By
  securing rock-and-roll acts, Sullivan won the
  adolescent market, truly making the variety show
  a whole-family event.

46
The Golden Age of Television

• With more and more American families owning
  televisions, manufacturers now had a new way to
  sell their products, and the television
  commercial was born. By late 1948, over 900
  companies had bought television broadcast time
  for advertising. By 1950, sponsors were leaving
  radio for television at an unstoppable rate.

47
The Golden Age of Television

• Television sponsors ranged from greeting cards to
  automobiles, but perhaps the most advertised
  product was tobacco. TV Guide voted Lucky
  Strike's "Be Happy, Go Lucky" ad commercial of
  the year for 1950, and Phillip Morris sponsored I
  Love Lucy for years, inserting cartoon cigarette
  packs in the show's opening animation. Cartoon
  characters were common in '50s commercials,
  representing everything from lightbulbs to beer.
  In 1950, Coca-Cola launched its first television
  ad campaign using a combination of animation and
  celebrity endorsement.

48
The Golden Age of Television

• Most Americans still got their news from
  newspapers in the 1950s, but the foundations for
  the modern television newscast were established
  as early as 1951 with Edward R. Murrow's See it
  Now, the first coast-to-coast live show. Many
  consider Murrow's 1953 Person to Person interview
  with Joseph McCarthy to be a major step toward
  McCarthy's downfall.

49
The Golden Age of Television

• Two major developments in the 1950s that set up
  television as the news medium of the future were
  the establishment of coaxial cable linking the
  East and West coasts, which enabled footage to be
  moved electronically instead of physically, and
  the invention of videotape, which allowed the use
  of prerecorded footage (such as studio
  interviews).

50
The Golden Age of Television

• Understanding that the population of children was
  in greater numbers than in previous generations,
  television producers developed a host of
  children's programs. Shows such as The Mickey
  Mouse Club and Howdy Doody, entertained millions
  of American kids.
• During the 1950s, few households owned more than
  one television, so viewing became a shared family
  event. Even the American diet was transformed
  with the advent of the TV dinner, first
  introduced in 1954.

51
Top TV Shows
Year Show Network
1950-51 Texaco Star Theater NBC
1951-52 Arthur Godfreys Talent Scouts CBS
1952-55 I Love Lucy CBS
1955-56 The 64,000.00 Question CBS
1956 - 57 I Love Lucy CBS
1958-60 Gunsmoke CBS
52
Rock and Roll

• Rock and roll was everything the suburban 1950s
  were not. While parents of the decade were
  listening to Frank Sinatra, Perry Como, and big
  bands, their children were moving to a new beat.
• In fact, to the horror of the older generation,
  their children were twisting, thrusting, bumping,
  and grinding to the sounds of rock and roll.

53
Rock and Roll

• This generation of youth was much larger than any
  in recent memory, and the prosperity of the era
  gave them money to spend on records and
  phonographs. By the end of the decade, the
  phenomenon of rock and roll helped define the
  difference between youth and adulthood.

54
Rock and Roll

• Disc jockey Alan Freed began a rhythm-and-blues
  (RB) show on a Cleveland radio station. Soon the
  audience grew and grew, and Freed coined the term
  "rock and roll."
• Early attempts by white artists to cover RB
  songs resulted in weaker renditions that bled the
  heart and soul out of the originals. Record
  producers saw the market potential and began to
  search for a white artist who could capture the
  African American sound.

55
Rock and Roll

• Sam Phillips, a Memphis record producer, found
  the answer in Elvis Presley. With a deep Southern
  sound, pouty lips, and gyrating hips, Elvis took
  an old style and made it his own.
• From Memphis, the sound spread to other cities,
  and demand for Elvis records skyrocketed. Within
  two years, Elvis was the most popular name in the
  entertainment business.

56
Rock and Roll

• After the door to rock and roll acceptance was
  opened, African American performers such as Chuck
  Berry, Fats Domino, and Little Richard began to
  enjoy broad success, as well. White performers
  such as Buddy Holly and Jerry Lee Lewis also
  found artistic freedom and commercial success.

57
Rock and Roll

• Rock and roll sent shockwaves across America. A
  generation of young teenagers collectively
  rebelled against the music their parents loved.
  In general, the older generation loathed rock and
  roll. Appalled by the new styles of dance the
  movement evoked, churches proclaimed it Satan's
  music.

58
Rock and Roll

• Because rock and roll originated among the lower
  classes and a segregated ethnic group, many
  middle-class whites thought it was tasteless.
  Rock and roll records were banned from many radio
  stations and hundreds of schools.
• But the masses spoke louder. When Elvis appeared
  on TV's The Ed Sullivan Show, the show's ratings
  soared.

59
Rock and Roll

• The commercial possibilities were limitless. As a
  generation of young adults finished military
  service, bought houses in suburbia, and longed
  for stability and conformity, their children
  seemed to take comfort for granted. They wanted
  to release the tensions that bubbled beneath the
  smooth surface of postwar America.
• Above all, they wanted to shake, rattle, and roll
  and rock around the clock.

60
Rock and Roll
Most requested songs 1945 - 1959
Year Song Artist
1945 Sentimental Journey Les Brown
1946 Christmas Song Nat "King" Cole
1947 Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah Doris Day
1948 I'm Looking Over a Four Leaf Clover Art Mooney
1949 (Ghost) Riders In The Sky Vaughn Monroe
1950 Daddy's Little Girl Mills Brothers
1951 Too Young Nat King Cole
61
Rock and Roll
Most requested songs 1945 - 1959
Year Song Artist
1952 Unforgettable Nat King Cole
1953 Dragnet Ray Anthony His Orchestra
1954 Shake Rattle and Roll Bill Haley and The Comets
1955 Rock Around The Clock Bill Haley The Comets
1956 Love Me Tender Elvis Presley
1957 Jailhouse Rock Elvis Presley
1958 Tequila The Champs
1959 Mack The Knife Bobby Darin
62
Best Picture Winners 1945 - 1959
Year Title
1945 The Lost Weekend
1946 The Best Years of Our Lives
1947 Gentleman's Agreement
1948 Hamlet
1949 All the King's Men
1950 All About Eve
1951 An American in Paris
1952 The Greatest Show on Earth
1953 From Here to Eternity
1954 On the Waterfront
1955 Marty
1956 Around the World in 80 Days
1957 The Bridge on the River Kwai
1958 Gigi
1959 Ben-Hur
63
Pro Sport Champions of the 1950s
Year Baseball Football Basketball Hockey
1950 New York Yankees Cleveland Browns Minneapolis Lakers Detroit Red Wings
1951 New York Yankees Los Angeles Rams Rochester Royals Toronto Maple Leafs
1952 New York Yankees Detroit Lions Minneapolis Lakers Detroit Red Wings
1953 New York Yankees Detroit Lions Minneapolis Lakers Montreal Canadiens
1954 New York Giants Cleveland Browns Minneapolis Lakers Detroit Red Wings
1955 Brooklyn Dodgers Cleveland Browns Syracuse Nationals Detroit Red Wings
1956 New York Yankees New York Giants Philadelphia Warriors Montreal Canadiens
1957 Milwaukee Braves Detroit Lions Boston Celtics Montreal Canadiens
1958 New York Yankees Baltimore Colts St. Louis Hawks Montreal Canadiens
1959 Los Angeles Dodgers Baltimore Colts Boston Celtics Montreal Canadiens
64
The Cold War Heats Up

• The end of the Korean War in 1953 by no means
  brought an end to global hostilities.
• As the British and French Empires slowly yielded
  to independence movements, a new Third World
  emerged. This became the major battleground of
  the Cold War as the United States and the Soviet
  Union struggled to bring new nations into their
  respective orbits. Across the Third World, the
  two superpowers squared off through proxy armies.

65
The Cold War Heats Up

• The United States' recognition of Israel in 1948
  created a strong new ally, but created many
  enemies. Arab nations, enraged by American
  support for the new Jewish state, found
  supportive ears in the Soviet Union.
• When Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser sought
  to strengthen ties with the Soviet bloc, the
  United States withdrew its pledge to help Nasser
  construct the all-important Aswan Dam. Nasser
  responded by nationalizing the Suez Canal, an
  action that compelled British, French, and
  Israeli armies to invade Egypt.

66
The Cold War Heats Up

• The Western alliance was threatened as President
  Dwight Eisenhower called upon Britain and France
  to show restraint. With Soviet influence growing
  in the oil-rich region, Ike issued the Eisenhower
  Doctrine, which pledged American support to any
  governments fighting communist insurgencies in
  the Middle East. Making good on that promise, he
  sent over 5,000 marines to Lebanon to forestall
  an anti-Western takeover.

67
The Cold War Heats Up

• Asia provided more challenges for American
  containment policy. China was flexing its muscles
  on Taiwan by threatening the takeover of the
  Taiwanese islands of Quemoy and Matsu. United
  States Secretary of State John Foster Dulles
  chose to follow a strategy of brinkmanship. He
  told China that any aggressive actions toward the
  islands would be met by force from the United
  States.
• In a grown-up version of the children's game of
  chicken, Dulles hoped to avoid war by threatening
  war. The Chinese shelled the islands to save
  face, but no takeover occurred.

68
The Cold War Heats Up

• To the south, communist revolutionary Ho Chi Minh
  successfully defeated the French colonial army to
  create the new nation of Vietnam. American
  commitment to the containment of communism led to
  a protracted involvement that would become the
  Vietnam War.

69
The Cold War Heats Up

• One 1950s Cold War catalyst of fear was the
  capture and conviction of Ethel and Julius
  Rosenberg for selling nuclear secrets to the
  Soviet Union. Although the FBI advised sparing
  Ethel Rosenberg's life (she had two children),
  Judge Irving Kaufman refused to do so and
  sentenced her to death with her husband. The
  trial and sentencing were controversial, partly
  due to charges of anti-Semitism.

70
The Cold War Heats Up

• In the aftermath of World War II, the United
  States created a new weapon to assist in
  fighting the Cold War the Central
  Intelligence Agency. In addition to gathering
  information on Soviet plans and maneuvers, the
  CIA also involved itself in covert operations
  designed to prevent communist dictators from
  rising to power.
• The first such instance occurred in Iran, when
  Iranian Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh
  nationalized British Petroleum. Fearing Soviet
  influence in the powerful oil nation, the CIA
  recruited a phony mob to drive off Mossadegh and
  return the American-backed Shah Mohammad Reza
  Pahlavi to power.

71
The Cold War Heats Up

• When Jacobo Arbenz came to power in Guatemala, he
  promised to relieve the nation's impoverished
  farmers by seizing land held by the
  American-owned United Fruit Company and
  redistributing it to the peasants. With the
  support of American air power, a CIA-backed band
  of mercenaries overthrew Arbenz and established a
  military dictatorship.
• Throughout Latin America, the United States was
  seen as a brutal defender of thuggish autocrats
  at the expense of popularly elected leaders.
  Fidel Castro capitalized on this sentiment by
  overthrowing U.S.-backed dictator Fulgencio
  Batista from power in Cuba in January 1959.

72
The Cold War Heats Up

• Relations remained icy between the United States
  and the Soviet Union. Relying on the knowledge
  that the United States had a much larger nuclear
  arsenal than the Soviet Union, Eisenhower and
  Dulles announced a policy of massive retaliation.
  Any attack by the Soviets on the United States or
  its allies would be met with nuclear force.

73
The Cold War Heats Up

• The Soviet crackdown on the Hungarian Uprising of
  1956 further strained relations. In an effort to
  reduce tensions, Eisenhower offered an "open
  skies" proposal to Soviet leader Nikita
  Khrushchev. Planes from each nation would be
  permitted to fly over the other to inspect
  nuclear sites. But Khrushchev declined the offer.
  A summit conference between Eisenhower and
  Khrushchev was canceled in 1960 when the Soviets
  shot down an American U-2 spy plane piloted by
  Gary Powers.

74
The Cold War Heats Up

• Despite the passing of Joseph Stalin, Americans
  continued to view the Soviet Union as the Great
  Red Menace.
• When the USSR put Sputnik into orbit in 1957,
  panic struck the American heartland. Thousands
  rushed to Sears and Roebuck to purchase bomb
  shelter kits, and Congress responded by creating
  the National Aeronautical and Space
  Administration and by appropriating funds for
  science education.

75
Youth Culture

• In the artistic world, dozens of beat writers
  reviled middle-class materialism, racism, and
  uniformity. Other intellectuals were able to
  detach themselves enough from the American
  mainstream to review it critically.
• The writers of the Beat Generation refused to
  submit to the conformity of the 1950s. Greenwich
  Village in New York City was the center of the
  beat universe. Epitomized by such Columbia
  University students such Jack Kerouac and Allen
  Ginsberg, the beats lived a bohemian lifestyle.

76
Youth Culture

• In 1957, Kerouac published On the Road, the
  definitive Beat Generation novel. The beats were
  a subculture of young people dissatisfied with
  the blandness of American culture and its
  shallow, rampant consumerism.

77
Youth Culture

• While mainstream America seemed to ignore African
  American culture, the beats celebrated it by
  frequenting jazz clubs and romanticizing their
  poverty. The use of alcohol and drugs
  foreshadowed the counterculture of the following
  decade. Believing that American society was
  unspeakably repressed, the beats experimented
  with new sexual lifestyles.

78
Youth Culture

• In On the Road, Kerouac's hero travels around
  the nation, delving into America's fast-living
  underside. In "Howl," Allen Ginsberg assails
  materialism and conformity and calls for the
  unleashing of basic human needs and desires.
• As the media helped create a single notion of an
  idyllic American lifestyle, a vocal minority of
  social critics registered their dissenting
  voices. The notion of the white-collar,
  executive-track, male employee was condemned in
  fiction in Sloan Wilson's The Man in the Gray
  Flannel Suit and in commentary in William Whyte's
  The Organization Man.

79
Youth Culture

• The booming postwar defense industry came under
  fire in C. Wright Mills' The Power Elite. Mills
  feared that an alliance between military leaders
  and munitions manufacturers held an unhealthy
  proportion of power that could ultimately
  endanger American democracy a sentiment echoed
  in President Eisenhower's Farewell Address.

80
Youth Culture

• While the 1950s silver screen lit up mostly with
  the typical Hollywood fare of Westerns and
  romances, a handful of films shocked audiences by
  uncovering the dark side of America's youth.
  Marlon Brando played the leather-clad leader of a
  motorcycle gang that ransacks a small town. In
  1953's The Wild One. The film terrified adults
  but fascinated kids, who emulated Brando's style.
  1955 saw the release of Blackboard Jungle, a film
  about juvenile delinquency in an urban high
  school. It was the first major release to use a
  rock-and-roll soundtrack and was banned in many
  areas both for its violent take on high school
  life and its use of multiracial cast of lead
  actors.

81
Youth Culture

• Perhaps the most controversial and influential of
  these films is 1955's Rebel without a Cause.
  Another film about teenage delinquency (the main
  characters meet at the police station) Rebel is
  not set amid urban decay, but rather in an
  affluent suburb. "And they both come from 'good'
  families!" the film's tagline screamed.

82
Youth Culture

• Ironically, the film made it clear that the
  failure of those very families was to blame for
  the main characters' troubles. Juvenile
  delinquency was no longer a problem for the lower
  classes it was lurking in the supposedly perfect
  suburbs. Once again parents were outraged, but
  the message could no longer be ignored. The film
  earned three Academy Award nominations and
  propelled James Dean to posthumous but eternal
  stardom.

83
The Civil Rights Movement

• Civil Rights During the 1950s

84
Rise of the Automobile
1950 CADILLAC
85
Rise of the Automobile
1950 Nash Statesman 2-door Sedan
86
Rise of the Automobile
1950 Ford Coupe
87
Rise of the Automobile
88
Rise of the Automobile
1957 Chevrolet Bel Air Convertible
89
Rise of the Automobile
1959 Oldsmobile Ninety Eight
90
Rise of the Automobile
Ford Edsel
91
Route 66
92
Route 66shown in red
93
Route 66

• Officially recognized as the birthplace of US
  Route 66, it was in Springfield, Missouri on
  April 30, 1926 that officials first proposed the
  name of the new Chicago-to-Los Angeles highway. A
  placard in Park Central Square was dedicated to
  the city by the Route 66 Association of Missouri,
  and traces of the "Mother Road" are still visible
  in downtown Springfield along Kearney Street,
  Glenstone Avenue, College and St. Louis streets
  and on Missouri 266 to Halltown.

94
Route 66

• After the new federal highway system was
  officially created, Clayton Avery called for the
  establishment of the U.S. Highway 66 Association
  to promote the complete paving of the highway
  from end to end and to promote travel down the
  highway. The association went on to serve as a
  voice for businesses along the highway until it
  disbanded in 1976.

95
Route 66

• Traffic grew on the highway because of the
  geography through which it passed. Much of the
  highway was essentially flat and this made the
  highway a popular truck route. The Dust Bowl of
  the 1930s saw many farming families (mainly from
  Oklahoma, Arkansas, Kansas, and Texas) heading
  west for agricultural jobs in California. Route
  66 became the main road of travel for these
  people, often derogatorily called "Okies" or
  "Arkies". And during the Depression, it gave some
  relief to communities located on the highway. The
  route passed through numerous small towns, and
  with the growing traffic on the highway, helped
  create the rise of mom-and-pop businesses, such
  as service stations, restaurants, and motor
  courts, all readily accessible to passing
  motorists.

96
Route 66

• Much of the early highway, like all the other
  early highways, was gravel or graded dirt. Due to
  the efforts of the US Highway 66 Association,
  Route 66 became the first highway to be
  completely paved in 1938. Several places were
  dangerous more than one part of the highway was
  nicknamed "Bloody 66" and gradually work was done
  to realign these segments to remove dangerous
  curves. However, one section just outside Oatman,
  Arizona (through the Black Mountains) was fraught
  with hairpin turns and was the steepest along the
  entire route, so much so that some early
  travelers, too frightened at the prospect of
  driving such a potentially dangerous road, hired
  locals to navigate the winding grade. The section
  remained as Route 66 until 1953, and is still
  open to traffic today as the Oatman
  HighwayDespite such hazards in some areas, Route
  66 continued to be a popular route.

97
Route 66

• Notable buildings include the art deco-styled
  U-Drop Inn, constructed in 1936 in Shamrock in
  Wheeler County east of Amarillo, Texas, listed on
  the National Register of Historic Places. A
  restored Magnolia fuel station is also located in
  Shamrock as well as Vega in Oldham County west of
  Amarillo.

98
Route 66

• In the 1950s, Route 66 became the main highway
  for vacationers heading to Los Angeles. The road
  passed through the Painted Desert and near the
  Grand Canyon. Meteor Crater in Arizona was
  another popular stop. This sharp increase in
  tourism in turn gave rise to a burgeoning trade
  in all manner of roadside attractions, including
  teepee-shaped motels, frozen custard stands,
  Indian curio shops, and reptile farms. Meramec
  Caverns near St. Louis began advertising on
  barns, billing itself as the "Jesse James
  hideout". The Big Texan advertised a free
  72-ounce (2 kg) steak dinner to anyone who could
  consume the entire meal in one hour. It also
  marked the birth of the fast-food industry Red's
  Giant Hamburgs in Springfield, Missouri, site of
  the first drive-through restaurant, and the first
  McDonald's in San Bernardino, California. Changes
  like these to the landscape further cemented 66's
  reputation as a near-perfect microcosm of the
  culture of America, now linked by the automobile.

99
Route 66

• The beginning of the end for Route 66 came in
  1956 with the signing of the Interstate Highway
  Act by President Dwight Eisenhower who was
  influenced by his experiences in 1919 as a young
  Army officer crossing the country in a truck
  convoy (following the route of the Lincoln
  Highway), and his appreciation of the German
  Autobahn network as a necessary component of a
  national defense system.

100
Interstate Highway System

• Eisenhower's support of the Federal-Aid Highway
  Act of 1956 can be directly attributed to his
  experiences in 1919 as a participant in the U.S.
  Army's first Transcontinental Motor Convoy across
  the United States on the historic Lincoln
  Highway, which was the first paved highway across
  America. The highly publicized 1919 convoy was
  intended, in part, to dramatize the need for
  better main highways and continued federal aid.
  The convoy left the Ellipse south of the White
  House in Washington D.C. on July 7, 1919, and
  headed for Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. From there,
  it followed the Lincoln Highway to San Francisco.
  Bridges cracked and were rebuilt, vehicles became
  stuck in mud, and equipment broke, but the convoy
  was greeted warmly by communities across the
  country. The convoy reached San Francisco on
  September 6, 1919.

101
Interstate Highway System

• The convoy was memorable enough for a young Army
  officer, Lt. Col. Dwight David Eisenhower, to
  include a chapter about the trip, titled "Through
  Darkest America With Truck and Tank," in his book
  At Ease Stories I Tell to Friends (Doubleday and
  Company, Inc., 1967). "The trip had been
  difficult, tiring, and fun," he said. That
  experience on the Lincoln Highway, plus his
  observations of the German autobahn network
  during World War II, convinced him to support
  construction of the Interstate System when he
  became President. "The old convoy had started me
  thinking about good, two-lane highways, but
  Germany had made me see the wisdom of broader
  ribbons across the land." His "Grand Plan" for
  highways, announced in 1954, led to the 1956
  legislative breakthrough that created the Highway
  Trust Fund to accelerate construction of the
  Interstate System.

102
Interstate Highway System

• Eisenhower argued for the highways for the
  purpose of national defense. In the event of an
  ground invasion by a foreign power, the U.S. Army
  would need good highways to be able to transport
  troops across the country efficiently. Following
  completion of the highways the cross-country
  journey that took the convoy two months in 1919
  was cut down to two weeks.

103
Interstate Highway System

• The Interstate Highway System was authorized by
  the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 popularly
  known as the National Interstate and Defense
  Highways Act of 1956 on June 29.

104
Interstate Highway System

• The opening of I-70 through Glenwood Canyon in
  1992 is often cited as the completion of the
  originally planned system. The initial cost
  estimate for the system was 25 billion over 12
  years it ended up costing 114 billion (adjusted
  for inflation, 425 billion in 2006 dollars) and
  took 35 years.