POSTWAR PROSPERITY

Americans were eager to produce and spend –6% of world’s population – made and consumed 1/3 of the world’s goods and services –America’s GNP increased 51% during the 1950s, partially due to defense spending –Baby boom – 29 million Americans were born in the 50’s –Increasing population meant increase in consumption –Automation helped meet demand for more goods

POPULATION PERCENTAGES WEALTHY MIDDLE POOR WEALTHY MIDDLE POOR

Growth of the middle class: earned income of factory workers  50% Americans became obsessed with collecting stuff –Teenagers became major consumers (jeans, rock & roll)

Television –Technology that had existed since the 1920s began to be mass produced after the war –By 1953, ⅔ of American homes owned a TV –Political campaigns 1952 – Eisenhower used televised ads for his campaign 1960 – First televised presidential debate between Nixon and Kennedy –Many observers blamed Nixon's loss to JFK on his poor appearance in the debates. JFK looked cool, collected, & presidential. Nixon, according to one observer, resembled a "sinister chipmunk."

Conformity Suburban life = Levittowns and “keeping up with the Jones’s” –Housewives; husbands climbing the corporate ladder, 2.4 kids Television added stereotypical views of suburban life – “Leave it to Beaver”

COUNTERCULTURE Youth rebelled against the conformity of tract housing, “Father Knows Best” and the nuclear family

–Abstract Expressionism – painting and sculpture (but not limited to an artistic style) characterized by a spirit of revolt and a belief in freedom of expression Jackson Pollack, Willem de Kooning, Mark Rothko

–Beat Generation – group of influential writers interested in experimenting and challenging the status quo Jack Kerouak, Allen Ginsberg, Neal Cassady, & William S. Burroughs Created slang and paved the way for the “mind expansion” and hippie generations that followed

–Bebop – innovative jazz style that that had an impact on the Beats Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, and Miles Davis