| The Affluent Society and the Other America in the 1950s (1944-1962) |
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Sections:- Franklin Roosevelt: Statement on Signing the G.I. Bill (June 22, 1944)
- 10 Amazing Years, 1947-1957: A Decade of Miracles (December 27, 1957)
- John Kenneth Galbraith: The Affluent Society (1958)
- Craig Thompson: Growing Pains of a Brand-New City (August 7, 1954)
- How To Be A Good Wife (1954)
- 1950s Advertisement
- 1950s Classic Television Advertisements
- Consumer Credit Debt, 1946 – 1960
- Knickerbocker Productions: Social Class In America (1957)
- Michael Harrington: The Other America: Poverty in the United States (1962)
- Herbert Block: Split-level Living (March 9, 1960)
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| Historical Context
The passage of the GI Bill of Rights helped ease veterans’ adjustment to civilian life by encouraging veterans to get an education and offering them low-interest loans. Millions of families used these benefits to buy homes or to establish businesses. FDR’s goal of a “sound postwar economy” became a reality.
Attached Document
Included is Roosevelt's statement upon signing the GI Bill.
Questions to Consider
1.What benefits were granted to veterans of the Second World War?
2.How did these benefits help spark an economic boom in the postwar years?
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| Historical Context
Attached Document
The attached article summarizes the economic boom of the 1950s and provides an optimistic view of the decade following the Great Depression and World War II.
Question to Consider
1.What positive changes take place in the 1950s?
2.Was everyone able to take advantage of these “miracles?”
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| Historical Context
Economist, John Kenneth Galbraith analyzes the Post World War II changes in the American economy and criticizes the lack of emphasis towards funding of public projects and services. His study did not address the deeply rooted inequalities that persisted in the decade.
Attached Document
Included is an excerpt from his book published in 1958 that topped the best-seller lists.
Question to Consider
1.What does Galbraith believe to be the greatest negative change in the American economy during the 1950s?
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| Historical Context
Journalist, Craig Thompson summarizes the growth of Levittown, Pennsylvania, one of the many suburban communities developed under businessman, William Levitt, and acknowledges the common practice of “restrictive covenants” which effectively created de facto segregation within these communities.
Attached Document
Excerpts from Thompson's "Growing Pains of a Brand-New City" are included here.
Questions to Consider
1.What was the appeal for living in communities like Levittown?
2.What reasons does Levitt give for not selling to African Americans?
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| Historical Context
With the war over and men needing jobs, there was a call for women to leave the factories and return to their roles as housewives. Young ladies were taught how to look attractive and be submissive to attract a man, and if they were thinking about higher education, they were to put aside their dreams and aspirations once they met and married a man.
Attached Document
The attached document is an excerpt from a high school textbook depicting how a good wife should act.
Question to consider
1. How does this excerpt show a shift in the role and expectations of women from WWII to the 1950s?
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| Historical Context
The advertisements of the 1950s reflected the image of what a woman should be. From beauty advertisements telling her how to look beautiful and attract a man, to kitchen and home advertisements selling the latest gadget or appliance, women got the message that there place was in the home.
Question to consider
1. Compare and contrast this advertisement to the WWII propaganda posters aimed at women. What message is being sent to women after the war?
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| Historical Context
The advertisements in this video collection illustrate how Americans were bombarded with the latest consumer products in the 1950s. Millions of viewers were persuaded to buy the items they saw on television commercials and businesses will prosper from their advertising strategies. One marketing strategy used in the 1950s was called planned obsolescence. Manufacturers purposely designed products to become obsolete.
Attached Documents
The attached movies are television commercials from the 1950's:
1. Band Aid
2. Gillette
3. Mud Cream Deodorant
4. Pepsodent
5. Remington
Questions to consider
1.Who do you think is the intended audience for these advertisements?
2.How do the propaganda techniques in these advertisements encourage consumers to spend more than they have?
3.What examples of the marketing strategy, planned obsolescence, can be seen in these ads?
4.How closely linked were happiness and material wealth in the minds of Americans in the 1950s?
5.Would everyone in the 1950s have been able to buy the items shown in these ads?
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| Historical Context
The following graph displays what happened to Consumer Credit Debt during the 1950's.
Questions to Consider
1.How did consumer credit become easier to obtain in the 1950s?
2.How does this chart demonstrate Americans’ confidence that prosperity would continue?
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| | | Citations: | | Historical Statistics of the United States: Colonial Times to 1970 |
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| Historical Context
Attached Document
The attached video is an educational film produced for a McGraw-Hill sociology textbook and illustrates three social classes evident in the 1950s. The film stresses a rigid class system in which there is little hope for movement between classes. There is no coverage of minorities and social class within this film but it gives an interesting look at how sociologists viewed the decade.
Questions to Consider
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| Historical Context
Attached Document
Included is an excerpt from Harrington’s book that provides a critical look at American society in the 1950s and summarizes the “invisible” poor within a society that glorified its “affluence.”
Questions to Consider
1.What is the “other America” in which Harrington speaks?
2.According to Harrington, how are the poor in America “invisible?”
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| Historical Context
Following World War II, construction of single-family housing exploded in suburbia, the "split-level" house being one of the more popular models. By 1960, the gross national product, the consumer price index, and personal income had reached all-time highs. At the same time, critics said President Dwight Eisenhower had failed to provide more spending needed for education, for economic and social programs, especially for those Americans left out of the general prosperity.
Questions to Consider
1.How does the artist use the analogy of the “split-level” house?
2.What is the message of the cartoon?
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