2b.1 Affluence and conformity, 1955-63

Identify reasons why cities developed rapidly in the period 1955 to 1963.

• Affluence - the 'white flight' as more well-off whites moved to suburbia
• New life - plentiful consumerables, higher standard of living
• Northern cities - chance to escape rural poverty/ racial discrimination of the Old South
• FHA/ restrictive covenants - prevented black/jewish families from living in the suburbs
• Failure to provide adequate public housing - 'the projects'
• Suburbia - affordable from FHA loans/ private (e.g. Levittowns in Pennsylvania and New York State)
• Move to the 'Sun Belt' - Dallas, San Diego, Los Angeles, Houston and Miami

How important was car ownership and highway construction to the growth of suburbs?

• People could move to the suburbs but still work in the inner city
• National Interstate and Defence Highways Act (1956) - 10 year programme of $25bn to construct 42,500 miles of highway (state: government 10:90) 
• Car-based culture - 1956 - 3,000 drive-in movie theatres, multilevel carparks and motels
• 1,800 out-of-town shopping malls (mid-1950s) - decline of inner-cities
• 1954 - McDonalds in San Bernadino, LA
• Teenage culture - mobile, rock'n'roll in 'hot rod' cars
• Tourism - accessibility of national parks 
• Need for most up-to-date consumerables - latest models, built-in obselesence 

Why did the number of white-collar jobs increase in the USA in the years 1955 to 1963?

• Consumerism - service industries tapped new wealth (motels, malls, drive-in movie theatres, internal tourism)
• Cuts in defence spending (1945-8) increased again from 1950 -  'hot war' of Korea created more jobs as contractors (Lockheed, Boeing and McDonnell Douglas) provided aircraft/ missiles.
• Stimulus of WW2 - job opportunities for women 
• Military-industrial complex - link between federal government and defence corporations

Identify ways in which could the USA could be regarded as a consumer society by 1963

• Avaliability of credit - Diner's Club credit card (1950), American Express (1958) 
• Range of consumerables - cars, TVs, fridges, dishwashers, radios, vinyl
• Rise of the out-of-town shopping mall and shopping as recreation - > 4,000 in 1960
• Space technology on the domestic consumer market - non-stick pots, transistors, home computers and electronics
• Teenagers - spending power fuelled pop - Elvis, rock'n'roll on the radio
• Quality of life/ leisure time from labour-saving devices - TV, sports, cars

In what ways was suburban conformity portrayed on television?

• The 'sitcom':
  • I love Lucy (1951-7) - the life of Lucille Ball and her husband Desi Arnaz
  • Father Knows Best (1953) - the Anderson family in the 'Springfield' suburb with Jim Anderson (Robert Young) and his wife Jane Wyatt portrayed suburban bliss
  • the **** Van Dyke Show - happy married life in the suburb of New Rochelle, near New York City.

How did the subject matter of popular films in the years 1955-63 differ from what was popular on US television?

• Films about suburbia flopped - e.g. No Down Payment (1957)
• Escapist, blockbuster films about war/adventure were successful - e.g. Around the World in 80 Days (1957), The Bridge on the River Kwai (1958), Lawrence of Arabia (1963) and West Side Story (1961)
• Any films about 'everyday' life focussed on youth disallusionment - e.g. Rebel without a Cause (1955)
• Few reflected black American experience - e.g. Lilies of the Field (1963) with Sidney Poitier was an exception

culture in the years 1955-63, including beatnik culture?

• Disposable income (c. post-war boom) - from parents, part-time jobs in service
• Rebellion - 'juvenile delinquents' in the media e.g.The Wild One (1953) with Marlon Brando, Rebel without a Cause (1955) with James Dean. Explained in Margaret Mead's The School in American Culture (1951) and Time's 'Teenagers on the Rampage' cover (1955)
• Sexual promiscuity - shown in Alfred Kinsey's Sexual Behaviour books (1948/53) and the popularity of Elvis Presley ('Elvis the Pelvis')
• Independence - by parents who experienced the Depression/WW2, cars, fast-food, drive-in movie theatres, fashion, separate programming/films
• Music - rock'n'roll contrasted their parent's swing music/ Frank Sinatra. The money to listen to jukeboxes with Big Joe Turner's 'Shake Rattle and Roll' in Missouri, 1954. 

Beatnik culture 

• Alternative lifestyle - drugs (marijuana), Asian religions (Hinduism), pacifism, sexual liberation, new music/literature, clothing
• Rejection of consumerism - suburbia

What do you regard as the most important change in US culture in the period 1955-63? Explain your answer.

• The car, which enabled the growth of suburbia, and subsequently deepened racial rension through the changing nature of cities. Also its impact on consumerism and teenagers.

Do you agree that the main characteristic of American life in the period 1955-63 was the stability of suburban life?

• Whilst the image of stability in family life was evident, through the increase of suburbia and depiction on film and tv; it is clear that an emerging subculture was evident through a growing teenage culture and beatniks.

In what ways did white Americans attempt to resist the improvement of black American civil rights in the years 1955-63?

• Restrictive covenants - disguised as 'racial cohesion'
• De jure segregation (1877-1900) - separate schools, benches, public toilets, drinking fountains and seats on public transport reinforced in Plessy v Ferguson (1896) as 'separate but equal' (aka Jim Crow Laws)
• Voting - poll taxes and literacy tests disproportionately affected blacks
• De facto segregation - housing and jobs
• 'The Southern Manifesto' (3/1964) - pledged to support segregation
• Made sure that any civil rights act would have little impact - amending the proposal so that it would be difficult to enforce
• KKK - terror attacks e.g. Emmett Till
• White Citizens' councils/committees - forced souther politicians to oppose segregation

What role did Martin Luther King play in the attempt to increase the civil rights of black Americans in the years 1955-63?

• Rosa Parke's Montgomery Bus Boycott - religious minister, helped to create the SCLC
• Birmingham, Alabama (1963) - led a campaign by Reverend Fred Shuttleworth (formed the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights) which targeted the desegregation of department store facilities, more black Americans in business and a multiracial committee to desegregate Birmingham. His actions led to his arrest, which made national press with the violence of police chief Eugene 'Bull' Connor. 
• Civil Rights Bill - Kennedy influenced by the events in Birmingham
• March on Washington (8/1963) - elevated black American civil rights into an international issue
• Nobel Peace Prize (1966)/ cover of Time magazine - " "

Write down the different methods black Americans used to campaign for equality in civil rights in the period 1955-63? 

• De jure change (often pursued by the NAACP) - Brown v Board of Topeka (1954)
• Committees - SNCC, SCLC
• **NVDA** - pursued by King e.g. Birmingham (1963), the march on Washington (1963)
• Protest - Montgomery bus boycott (1955)
• Freedom Rides (1961) - by CORE, to test Boynton v Virginia (1960)

Write down five areas where Kennedy attempted to bring reform to the USA as part of his New Frontier programme.

• Poverty/unemployment - Minimum Wage Act, Housing Act, Area Development Act
• Foreign aid - Peace Corps, Manpower Development and Training Act
• Space - man on the moon
• Environment - Clean Air Act
• Civil Rights - Equal Pay Act

What problems did JFK face in implementing his programme?

• Weak mandate - marginal victory
• Congressional opposition - blocked by Republicans/Southern Democrats (conservative coalition)
• Southern Democrats - e.g. exclusion of workers from the minimum wage
• House Ways and Means Committee (chaired by Dixiecrat Wilbur Mills) killed off social security rising to pay for Medicare
• Education - Schools Assistance bill (1963) defeated in the House of Representatives 
• Complacency - only took action with the civil rights movement when it was absolutely necessary

What was JFK's greatest achievement during his administration?

• Expansion of the National Park Service - appointed Stewart Udall as Secretary of the Interior, who wrote The Quiet Crisis (1963) and helped acquire 3.85 million acre of land for the National Park Service. Point Reyes National Seashore, California was added to the service. Udall also layed the groundwork for Canyonlands, Redwood, North Cascades and Guadalupe Mountains. 
• The Peace Corps - Cold War 'Yankee Imperialism' sent 5,000 Americans to developing countries
• The space programme - 'space race' was a part of the Cold War, and led to the missions of Alan Shepard and Virgil Grissom, and John Glenn (20/2/1962) orbiting Earth
• 6/69 - first man on the moon, driven by Kennedy