consumer spending
household spending on goods and services; this increased dramatically as
people bought on credit and led to an economic boom
in the US after WWII
mass media
Means of communication that are reaching the public, including newspapers and magazines, radio, television , films, recordings, books; these helped advertise, which helped increase the postwar economic boom
housing shortage
Not enough adequate places for people to live with proper sewage, sanitation and other amenities. Levittown solved this
Levittowns
Planned suburban communities of
cheap, mass-produced houses
built by William Levitt all over the country during the 1950's; houses looked nearly identical
suburbs
residential
neighborhoods outside of city areas;
grew in the 1950s as white flight increased
price controls
government-imposed limits on the prices that producers may charge in the market; these ended after WWII, leading to increases in prices
boom
A time of fast economic growth; this was the US economy in the 1950s after WWII
Fair Deal
An economic
extension of the New Deal proposed by Harry Truman
that called for higher minimum wage, housing and full employment.
labor strife
conflict between owners and labor unions
Taft Hartley Act
effort by congressional Republicans to
limit the power of US labor unions
executive order
A rule issued by the president that has the force of law; Truman used this to desegregate the armed forces
desegregate
to end segregation or separation of the races; Truman did this to the armed forces
Jackie Robinson
He was the first African-American baseball player to play professionally in 1947. He was able to break the color barrier, integrating baseball.
Dixiecrat
southern Democrats
who opposed Truman's position on civil rights. They
caused a split in the Democratic party and Thomas Dewey nearly won the election
.
interstate highway system
Created during the Eisenhower Administration which led to a boom in the automobile industry. It also helped to encourage more suburbs.
white collar
someone in a professional or clerical job who usually earns a salary; increased in the 1950s
blue collar
member of the
working class
who performs manual labor and earns an hourly wage; decreased in the 1950s as
jobs were eliminated by automation
automation
The replacement of workers with machines to perform task in production; 1950s saw a decrease in blue collar factory jobs
computer
a machine for performing calculations automatically;
IBM invented the first mainframe in the era of automation
baby boom
Term that refers to the
high birthrate following WWII
and the
generation born 1946-1964
television
Part of 1950s social change; became the center of family entertainment and information;
called a "vast wasteland" by the head of the FCC (regulate public media)
stereotypes
Oversimplified beliefs about whole groups
of people with certain traits; television shows portrayed groups of Americans this way
ex: The perfect American family was shown on Leave it to Beaver
beatnik
small group of
counterculture writers and artists
who criticized what they viewed as the materialism and conformity of the American middle class;
non-conformist, opposite of 'clean teen'
Jack Kerouac
A key
author of the Beat movement
whose best selling
novel, On the Road
that stressed an unrestricted (spontaneous) lifestyle of freedom on the road
Allen Ginsberg
He was a beatnik American poet. He wrote in his
Poem "Howl"
about life outside "normal" /50s lifestyle and the destructive forces of conformity in the United States.
rock 'n' roll
became a
popular music
genre in the fifties with the introduction of Elvis Presley;
transformed from "race music" as youth culture embraced black pop music
;now a
distinctly American
music
Elvis Presley
The King"
:a 1950s symbol of the rock-and-roll movement when teenagers began to form their own subculture, upsetting conservative parents,
celebrated sexuality and spontaneity;
foreshadowed the coming counterculture of the 1960s
prosperity
wealth or success; postwar US had this but millions still lived in poverty, especially Hispanics, African Americans, and Native Americans
poverty
Inability to meet basic needs for food, clothing, and shelter; this still existed in the 1950s despite national prosperity
white flight
Tendency of wealthy and middle-class whites to migrate to suburban areas outside of cities in order to escape the poverty, pollution, and crime of minority-dominant inner-city areas
migrant workers
people who travel from place to place to do seasonal work on farms
Dr. Spock
child raising expert who
wrote a book about parenthood
in the 1950s
car culture/automania
The fascination and love of the automobile in the 1950s. Led to homogenous culture.
Disneyland
first theme park,
developed by Walt Disney. It was designated as a place for family entertainment. With the new car culture, it was a
place to drive to for vacation.
Howard Johnson
a chain of hotels, motels and restaurants located throughout the United States; with the new car culture, it was a
place to drive to for a meal and overnight stay
McDonalds
first
fast food
franchise in the US
drive in
type of theater that became popular in the 1950s, a result of the new
car culture--place to drive to for a date
Sputnik
The world's
first space satellite.
This meant the Soviet Union had a missile powerful enough to reach the US. The US responded by investing in education and research
Jonas Salk
doctor who
developed the polio vaccine
in 1952
Superman
The most recognized
superhero
in pop culture; Discovering his enormous powers, they instilled in him strong moral values�
"Truth, justice, and the American way
The Lone Ranger
masked
character who, with his sidekick Tonto, fights injustice in the American Old West.
The character has become an enduring icon of American culture.
I Love Lucy
most watched TV show in the 1950's;
"social winners"
: middle class, suburban life
The Honeymooners
A popular television program of the 1950s that
depicted American working-class lives ("social losers")
juvenile delinquency
criminal or
antisocial behavior of young people
; teen culture celebrated this is the
book A Catcher in the Rye
and the
movie A Rebel Without a Cause with bad boy James Dean
teen culture
teens in the '50s they were
expected to obey authority, avoid sex, control their emotions, conform to the group;
by the '60s they had become teenagers who did not trust anyone over 30 and was looking to change outdated traditions
religious revival
increase in the importance of family religion
in the 1950s: increase in church membership, tv preachers became popular, Hollywood movies like
The 10 Commandments
and Ben Hur depicted Biblical epics
Ideal '50s woman
married, cooked and cared for her family,
entertained guests in her family's suburban house and had an hour-glass figure, like
Marilyn Monroe
Ideal '50s man
the provider, protector, and the boss of the house; he is middle class, suburban, and white
Alfred Kinsey
researched and wrote books that
documented Americans' changing sexual behavior--described premarital sex and extramarital affairs as common
--Life magazine called the books an
assault on the family
DNA
A double-stranded, molecule that
contains genetic information;
the
structure was discovered in the 1950s
aliens
beings from other planets; in the 1950s, their threats were a
metaphor for communists in Hollywood movies
atomic anxiety
Duck - and - cover" Generation learned how to survive a nuclear attack
it was having fear of a nuclear attack; the US performed
217 nuclear tests
between 1946 and 1962
Kitchen Debate
Cold War debate between Nixon (anti-communist vice president) and Khrushchev (Soviet Union leader)
over the economic theories of
capitalism vs. communism
dynamic conservatism
Eisenhower's philosophy to maintain previous New Deal programs (welfare and infrastructure) combined with lower taxes and smaller government
Commission of Civil Rights
created by
Truman
, tried to pass anti-lynching laws, ban poll taxes; eventually led to an
end to public sector [government agency] segregation
Betty Friedan
author of The
Feminine Mystique;
advocated for women's equality with men in US society; would later become the 1st president of NOW
termination policy
failed policy
that
ended federal responsibility
for the health and welfare of
Native Americans