THE SUBURBAN ERA, 1945-1963

Chapter 28

Main Points and Issues

Rise of the Suburbs The Culture of Suburbia The Politics of Calm Cracks in the Consensus Nationalism in an Age of

Superpowers The Cold War on a New Frontier Kennedy’s Cold War

Contending Themes in the US

Atomic attacks Atomic science Fear and

insecurity Cold War

competition Conformity Suspicion

Post-War economic growth

Consumerism Suburbia Convenience Education,

prosperity, liberty

Atomic Anxiety Affluence & Convenience

Economic Growth The Baby Boom

WW II-1960, highest birth rates in US

Greater consumption, post-War generation without Great Depression and War

Impacted housing, education

Suburbs “White Flight”

Suburbia in a Nutshell

Baby-boom and wealth increases

G.I. Bill & FHA Suburbanization Highways and

transportation Single-track

homes Property tax bases Strip malls

Suburbia, continued

Suburban Sprawl Vehicle pollution Social, racial, and

ethnic balkanization

Decline of public Housing

Covenants Gendered

divisions Consumerism

Consumerism and Gender

>Advertisements targeting women as home-makers

>Made domestic work “easier”

>Corporate brand loyalty

>Easier to serve the husband

Where is Rosie the Riveter?

Popular Culture: Television

American Consensus “End of ideology” Pax Americana Happy Days and the

Age of Prosperity Calm fears Divert attention

An American Obsession

Leave it to Beaver Mickey Mouse Club

Nostalgia: The Frontier and Western

Bonanza Gunsmoke

Movies

The Great Escape: Disneyland

California, 1955 Make believe, constructed fantasy De-politicized Escapism and consumerism Disneyland Studios, TV, Hollywood White America, middle class tourism

Frontier, Magic, Future, Cartoons

Cold War Movies

I Married a Communist

Manchurian Candidate

The Day the Earth Stood Still ’51

North By Northwest

James Bond Atomic animals

Cold War Culture

“Juvenile Delinquency”

Teen age delinquency

Adolescence Mental Hygiene Sexual identity Mobility & Freedom Rock n Roll The Beat

Generation

Nationalism and the Cold War

Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1952-1960

WWII General Pres. of Columbia University Highly respected by both

parties Failures in CRM Economic Growth Expanded New Deal

Programs

Eisenhower and the Cold War

Sputnik, 1957 Arms Race NASA National Defense

Education Act 1958

“New Look” Technology Air power Nuclear weapons

Eisenhower Interstate Highway and Defense Act

1956: $27 billion initially

Connect East and West

Easy evacuation in case of nuclear attack

Transport of military people and goods

Possible landing for planes

U.S. & U.S.S.R.

Kruschev, 1954 Peace Summits 1960: U.S. spy

plane crashed Struggle over

“Third World” Countries

Interventions and “anti-communism”

Distrust of neutral countries Overthrow governments that did not

align with U.S. Liberal & progressive regimes CIA helped overthrow elected

Iranian government Inserted pro-West dictatorial Shah

of Iran

Cold War, Part II

Containment Communism as disease: contain and

circle it Domino Theory Massive Retaliation Mutual Assured Destruction Brinksmanship Open-ended eternal war against an

enemy that will never rest, hates our freedoms, is godless, evil, and may be among us (sound familiar?)

Guatemala, 1954

CIA and United Fruit Company

Overthrew Jacobo Arbenz, elected Pres.

Installed pro-U.S. dictator

Cuban Revolution, 1959

Popular revolution Overthrew Batista Fidel Castro Approached U.S. Rebutted him Nationalized

Industries 12 assassination

attempts on Castro

A New Era? John F. Kennedy Wealthy family Catholic WWII veteran Young, energetic Lyndon Johnson, V.P. Robert Kennedy,

Attorney General Conservative

Kennedy’s Cold War Increased military spending Expanded Cold War Bay of Pigs, April 1961 Alliance for Progress Peace Corps

Cuban Missile Crisis 1962 Soviet Missiles

in Cuba Invade, bomb,

naval blockade, negotiate?

U.S. Missiles in Turkey

Pulled out all missiles

Conclusions

Post-War demilitarization & return to “normalcy”

Rise of “Consumer Nation” and equating consumption with democracy and freedom

Suburbanization and mass culture: restaurants, cars, radio, TV

Atomic Anxieties & Cold War Contradictions

Continued

Open-ended war and endless vigilance

Domesticating atomic technology, or “How I learned to stop worrying and love the bomb” (Dr. Strangelove)

Rhetoric of Communist infiltration Free speech & dissent called

subversion and unpatriotic