1. Angela Brown Chapter 17 Section 2
The Mood of the 1950s
Angela Brown
Chapter 17 Section 2

2. Comfort and Security Youth Culture
“Silent Generation” – little interest in the problems and crises of the world
More kids in school due to strong economy.
More leisure time to organize parties and pranks joining fraternities and sororities.

3. Businesses marketed products directly to youth.
Ads and movies helped build an image of what it means to be a teenager.
Girls bobby sox and poodle skirts – boys in letter sweaters = conformity

5. Resurgence in Religion
New interests in religion in response to Cold War struggles against “godless communism” – hope to face threat of nuclear war.
1954 Congress added words “under God” to Pledge of Allegiance.
1955 “In God We Trust” on all currency .

6. could call Dial-a-Prayer
Slogans “The family that prays together stays together”
Evangelists on TV and radio
End of 1950s – 95% Americans felt linked to some formal religious group

7. Billy Graham Billy Graham – Charlotte, North Carolina
1939 ordained as a Southern Baptist minister
Joined youth for Christ to minister to young soldiers during WWII
Gained widespread recognition at Crusades in Los Angeles (8 weeks); New York (16 weeks

9. Known as fundamentalism’s chief spokesperson
Televised crusades, published sermons, stated magazine Decision, wrote 18 books, frequent guest at White House
1996 awarded Congressional Gold Medal

10. Men’s and Women’s Roles
Men – school, job to support wife and kids – public sphere, judged by what they could buy
Women – play supporting role for husband, keep house, cook, raise children, PTA, campfire girls, charity causes, exercise twice a week to maintain size 12 figure
Pediatrician Dr. Benjamin Spock stated mothers should stay home with children.

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12. Many women of 1950s married with children held paying jobs
24% of all married women jobs to pay for “the good life”
By 1960 – 31% worked – married women with jobs outnumbered single women beginning in WWII

13. Challenges to Conformity
1955 – film Rebel without a Cause – captured feelings of alienation
James Dean became a teen idol and film legend.
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14. 1951 – The Catcher in the Rye – J. D
1951 – The Catcher in the Rye – J.D. Salinger- troubled by hypocrisy of “phonies” struggle against pressure to conform
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15. 1953, Alan Freed, a radio disc jockey in Cleveland, Ohio began playing rock and roll – Chuck Berry, Bill Haley, and the Comets, Little Richard, and Elvis Presley

16. Elvis Presley

17. Adults disliked the new music; feared a rise in immorality.
Made efforts to ban rock concerts and keep records out of stores.
“Beat Generation” – called beatniks stressed spontaneity and spirituality
Challenged traditional patterns of respectability, more open sexuality and use of illegal drugs, met in coffee houses.