1. March 31, 2014 Pencil/Pen 1950’s Chart GFTD: What you need:
“Father Knows Best”
The Post-War World:
How does the Epic Movie paint the 1950s?
The “new” American Dream
Prosperity
Culture of Conformity
HW: None
Pencil/Pen
1950’s Chart

2. Big Picture: The 1950s are similar to the 1920s and the Gilded Age
On the surface things look great
Dig deeper, things are more complex
We will start by looking at what was good, the surface…

3. 1950s: The Good Stuff…
American Dream seemed more accessible than ever.
How did you achieve it in the 1950s?
Own land in the new suburbs
Have a “perfect” American nuclear family
Mass Media
Conform to 1950s culture
Consumer Culture – own a car, own newest appliances
What made this possible?

4. 1950s: Time of Prosperity Booming economy
Rebuilding Europe hungry for American goods
Economy grew by 37% in 1950s
By 1959, average American family had 30% more purchasing power than when decade began. Means more spending.
4.5% unemployment
Standard of Living in U.S. is unthinkable in other parts of world

5. Booming Economy: Consumerism
After years of doing without, Americans wanted goods. In addition, people had jobs (and therefore the money) to buy new goods.
The auto industry produced 2 million cars in 1946 and almost two times that in 1955.
By % of American households had at least one car.

6. Booming Economy: Consumerism
In 1948 Americans bought 975,000 TV sets. By two years later, they had purchased 7.5 million sets.
By % of all American households had a television

7. 1950s TV Commercials:
The increase in products like television and radio increased the mass media and conformity.
Commercials reached more people and gave them “the ideal” to strive toward
Westinghouse TV Commercial
Kool Aid Commercial
Coca-Cola Commercial

8. How to Achieve the American Dream: Mass Media Images of Americans
Shows called “sitcoms" like The Honeymooners, Lassie, Leave it to Beaver and I Love Lucy were popular.

9. How to Live the American Dream: Music
Rock ‘n roll became popular. Developed from a blend of Southern blues and gospel music with an added strong back beat, this type of music was popular with teenagers who were trying to break out of the mainstream conservative American middle class mold. Popular artists included Billy Haley, Elvis Presley and Jerry Lee Lewis.

10. How to Achieve the American Dream: 1950s style
The GI Bill helped people achieve the AD….
Purpose:
Gave veterans affordable access to college education. More education = higher salary
Gave low-interest mortgages so more people could buy homes.

11. How to Achieve the American Dream: 1950s style
One developer, William Levitt had the idea to build a community of homes.

12. How to Achieve the American Dream: 1950s style
He took 1,200 acres of potato farmland…

13. How to Achieve the American Dream: 1950s style
And built communities in Long Island and Pennsylvania. (The picture to the right is of the concrete slabs for the floors of the homes. The picture above is an aerial view.)

14. How to Achieve the American Dream: 1950s style
Each house was almost identical. The area included shopping centers, pools, parks and more.
Each home in Long Island cost $7,900. Levittown became a white middle class dream…