Nation of Nations Concise 2/e Davidson, Gienapp, Heyrman, Lytle, & Stoff
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The automobile and the culture of the highway were in many ways the ties that bound Americans to one another in the 1950s. Automobiles reflected the increasing abundance of the era, with newly designed models being presented yearly, graced in this decade by ever more upswept tail fins. The culture of mobility related to society as well. Prosperity was reinforced by a common commitment to democratic principles and middle-class aspirations, though some worried that such a consensus in support of anticommunism and middle-of-the-road suburban values might be breeding a suffocating conformity.

The Rise of the Suburbs

Two factors shaped suburban growth in the postwar era: the baby boom and prosperity. More children created a need for more housing, as well as for other goods and services. Rapid economic growth and government policies like the G.I. Bill made home ownership practical for far more people. Developers like William Levitt used mass production techniques to build housing rapidly at affordable prices.

Levittown, begun in 1947, typified the new auto-dependent suburbs. The interstate highway system begun during the period symbolized a continuation of moderate New Deal-style involvement in the economy, in the guise of Eisenhower's "modern Republicanism." And the new highways encouraged suburban growth. But as highways paved the exodus to suburbs, cities began to decline. They were unable to provide recent African American migrants from the South and Hispanics in the Southwest the opportunities that earlier immigrants had found.

The Culture of Suburbia

Suburban culture was increasingly homogeneous. The new suburbs blurred ethnic and class distinctions and celebrated the single-family dwelling. Although religious distinctions remained, "civil religion"-a consensus that civic-minded Americans ought to hold some core of religious belief, regardless of the particular creed-gained in popularity. For most Americans, increased income and more free time meant more opportunity to gather in front of the television, as the new medium became the center of family entertainment.

At the center of this idealized world stood the mother of the family. Although more women than ever worked outside the home, the public image of the ideal mother promoted the value of housework and family. Though more women earned a college education, median wages held at less than half of men's.

The Politics of Calm

Former General Eisenhower brought an aura of calm and a gift for organization to the White House. His placid public profile masked a strong decision-maker behind the scenes. Reflecting a pragmatic middle ground, what he called modern Republicanism, he resisted the demands of conservative Republicans to dismantle New Deal programs. Similarly, he rejected more far-reaching proposals of liberal Democrats while supporting some modest social welfare programs and such initiatives as the Interstate Highway Act and the construction of the St. Lawrence Seaway.

Still, partisan politics flourished. Issues about corrupt officials and the President's health dogged the administration. Recessions hurt the Republicans in Congressional elections in 1954 and 1958. Eisenhower's personal popularity remained so high, however, that he again easily defeated Adlai Stevenson in 1956.

The Eisenhower administration reflected pro-business leanings. Business, in turn, innovated in several ways to blunt the impact of those recessions. Diversification was one strategy. This produced ever larger, complex corporations; such large multinational and conglomerate firms managed much of the private sector of the economy. New technologies such as computers made it easier to manage complex corporate empires.

Nationalism in an Age of Superpowers

Eisenhower shared responsibility for foreign policy with his experienced but somewhat belligerent secretary of state, John Foster Dulles. Under Dulles, U.S. anti-Soviet rhetoric became more confrontational, with a "new look"--an expressed willingness to push to the "brink" of nuclear war in order to counteract Soviet influence. As many peoples worldwide clamored for independence and an end to the old colonial remnants of imperialism, both superpowers competed for the allegiance of former colonies and nonaligned nations. Regional conflicts in Southeast Asia, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Latin America all demonstrated how the cold war struggle inflamed international tensions.

The death of Stalin eased some cold war hostility. Yet while Eisenhower made moves toward conciliation (the Geneva Summit and his "Open Skies" proposal), they were offset by renewed rivalry (the U-2 incident, the race into space). Nationalism, especially in the Middle East, Eastern Europe, and Latin America, posed special problems. A brief war between Egypt and Israel, France, and Britain closed the Suez Canal. A simultaneous uprising in Hungary found the U.S. unprepared to act. Sometimes Eisenhower and Dulles supported covert action, as in Iran and Guatemala, when they wanted to topple popular governments that seemed to have a pro-Communist tilt. To discourage Soviet gains in the Middle East, the administration won approval for the Eisenhower doctrine and briefly sent troops to Lebanon. The launching of the Soviet space satellite Sputnik in 1957 made Americans fear they had lost their edge in defense technology. In his farewell address, Eisenhower warned against allowing such unrealistic fears to lead to over-spending on the military-industrial complex.

Civil Rights and the New South

After World War II, the southern economy began to grow and diversify. One by-product was a loss of low-wage, low-skill jobs. An outflow of poor workers, especially black, accelerated. For those who remained, the Jim Crow system kept them in second-class status.

Black reformers began concentrating on ways to end legal segregation. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People succeeded in challenging the Supreme Court to overturn, in Brown v. Board of Education, the prevailing doctrine of allowing separate but equal facilities. That victory inspired civil rights leaders to adopt more assertive approaches. In Montgomery, Alabama, Martin Luther King, Jr. led a campaign to desegregate the city's bus system, while public school desegregation sparked conflict at Little Rock, Arkansas. President Eisenhower was forced to send in federal troops to preserve order and federal authority.

Cracks in the Consensus

Thus, for all the "consensus" in the 1950s, the budding civil rights movement showed that the United States had not eliminated striking differences between racial or ethnic groups or economic classes and regions. Culturally, as well, American society often seemed split. "Highbrow" intellectuals condemned mass culture, fearing that mass media, suburbia and corporate culture produced mass conformity.

Another group of social critics arose among the nation's adolescents. The high school became a melting pot, with a faintly rebellious culture, exemplified by the new rhythms of rock and roll. Many conventional adults were alarmed by what they saw as "juvenile delinquency." Farther from the suburban consensus were the "beatniks," an urban intellectual group that rejected mainstream values. From the growing civil rights movement to the increasingly strident and independent teen culture, turbulence beneath the calm heralded a new cultural idiom that paved the way for cultural and political ferment in the 1960s.

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