Lecture # 19: The Fifties I. Nixon and Khrushchev A. 1959, Vice President Richard Nixon led Soviet primier Nikita Khrushchev through the American National Exhibition in Moscow. B. Walked through a exhibit of a six room ranch style house. Nixon claimed that all people in America can afford to buy one of these. C. Showed off the washer machines and all the modern conveniences of in the kitchen to make life easier for women. D. Soviet leader Khrushchev countered with his own statements of how the Soviets did not need such gadgets to be happy and they did not view their women as domestic servants E. Became known as the kitchen debates as to which economic style was better Nuclear Arms race A. Stalin died in 1953 and Khrushkev was more moderate B. Both Krushkev and Eisenhower wanted to come to nuclear arms agreement, and by 1960 both sides were close to agreeing to a ban on nuclear testing. Two sides agreed to meet in Paris in May of 1960 C. To avoid jeopardizing the summit, Eisenhower canceled all espionage flights over the Soviet Union. Order came one day too late. D. May 1, 1960 the Soviets shot down a U2 spy plane over Soviet territory ruined hopes of a nuclear arms agreement E. By 1961, when Eisenhower left office, the US had 72 ICBM's in the U.S. and Britain and were going to put more in Italy and Turkey. F. First submarine to carry nuclear weapons in 1960 G. Soviets launched Sputnick in 1957 and beat the U.S. into space. Spurred Cold War fright by suggesting they were ahead in the arms race also. Consumer Culture A. Work ethic still remained, but a new sense of happiness with what you owned B. Consumer culture rested on a material base C. GNP and average income increased by 25% in the decade D. Even though there was a 20% poverty rate still bad 60% of Americans enjoyed middle class status. E. By late 1950's 4/5 families owned a T.V., and washing machines. Nearly all had refrigerators and many had at least one car. F. Several forces created this economic boom 1. population surge 152 million in 1950 to 180 million in 1960 expanded demand for new products 2. Consumer credit houses, cars and appliances on installment plans 3. Diner's Club issued first credit card in 1951 followed by American Express in 1958 4. Personal debt doubled during the decade 5. Number of shopping centers quadrupled from 1957-1963 6. Corporations tripled the amount spent on advertising during the decade Domesticity A. Women's highest calling is the home: Life Magazine: &quot;Of all the accomplishments of the American Women, the one she brings off with the most spectacular success is having babies.&quot; B. American birthrate soared between 1945-1956, known as the baby boomers C. Reached a peak in 1957 with 4.3 million births D. 1963 Betty Friedan wrote the Feminine Mystique in which she said that advertisers, social scientists, educators, women's magazines, and public officials pressured women to seek fulfillment in serving others rather than finding their own identity E. These institutions claimed that biological differences fitted men and women for different roles. The ideal woman kept a spotless house, raised perfect children, served her husband's career and provided him with emotional and sexual satisfaction. F. Strong men and subservient women were vital to the survival of the western family. Religion A. By 1960, 63% of Americans belonged to churches and synagogues, up from 50% in 1940. II. III. IV. V. VI. VII. B. Polls reported that 95% of Americans believed in God C. Billy Graham's crusades added many to that number and labeled the cold war to a holy war calling communism &quot;a great sinister anti-Christian movement masterminded by Satan.&quot; D. 1954 congress added &quot;Under God&quot; to the pledge of allegiance. E. 1955 &quot;In God We Trust&quot; was printed on all currency. F. Many questioned the level of religious commitment, believing it to just be social conformism. 53% of Americans could not name any book in the New Testament. Suburbs A. 1950's 11 million of 13 million new homes were built in the suburbs B. By 1960, 1 in 4 Americans lived in Suburbs C. Nixon boasted to Khrushkev that suburbs were available to families with a modest income D. Production of mass produced identical houses E. Government subsidized home ownership with low interest loans F. By government sanction, banks did not have to give loans to African Americans, and realtors would not show homes to blacks in the suburbs. G. Population in the cities increased by 50% for blacks. H. Jobs moved out the city's residents could not afford to, creating poverty within America's largest cities. The Beats A. Alan Ginsberg 1. October 7, 1955 Allen Ginsberg read, what would become the most famous Beat poem, Howl. While a young <a href="/keyword/jack-kerouac/" >jack kerouac</a> worked his way through the audience making sure everyone had plenty of alcohol. 1. Howl 2. America 3. Kicked out of Columbia for racists remarks against Jews. 4. Struggled with his homosexuality 5. Combined art with social issues and politics of his day 6. Lawrence Ferlinghetti , Coney Island of the Mind, &quot;I am Waiting.&quot; B. William Burroughs, in 1951, shot and killed his wife in a William Tell shooting. 1. Wrote Naked Lunch, Junkie, Queer. 2. He was a life long bi-sexual, drug addict, and writer. C. <a href="/keyword/jack-kerouac/" >jack kerouac</a> 1. 1957 he published his most famous book On the Road, which he claimed he had written in three weeks. 2. Defined the era as a restless postwar generation that wanted to find a new spirituality through experience. 3. Emphasized a. Art: primarily poetry, that was set to Jazz b. Experience: Drugs, alcohol, sexuality were simply the media through which they chose to experience the immediate, the now of life. c. Spirituality: Many Beats were Buddhists. Kerouac was a Buddhist, and never considered himself anything but a good Catholic looking for God. His writings are a constant search for the divine. d. The Beat Generation, that was a vision that we had, in the late Forties, of a generation of crazy, illuminated hipsters suddenly rising and roaming America, serious, bumming and hitchhiking everywhere, ragged, beatific, beautiful in an ugly graceful new way--a vision gleaned from the way we had heard the word &quot;beat&quot; spoken on street corners on Times Square and in the Village, in other cities in the downtown city night of postwar America--beat, meaning down and out but full of intense conviction. We'd even heard old 1910 Daddy Hipsters of the streets speak the word that way, with a melancholy sneer. It never meant juvenile delinquents, it meant characters of a special spirituality who didn't gang up but were solitary Bartlebies staring out the dead wall window of our civilization.