HIST 2112 Lecture 16 Outline of Last Lecture I Los Angeles Late 1940s II The Second Red Scare as Overreaction A How bad were the Soviets B The Soviet Union and Communism III The Second Red Scare as a reaction against the New Deal legacy A Anticommunism and conservation critics of FDR and the New Deal B New Dealers unions academics activists as popular targets IV Political Manifestations of the New Deal A The House Un American Activities Committee HUAC 1945 1952 B The Alger Hiss spy case 1948 1950 C The Rosenberg Case 1950 1953 D McCarthyism 1950 1954 a Senator Tailgunner Joe McCarthy b Searching for a hot issue c The infamous McCarthy lists and the McCarthy hearings d The army McCarthy hearings and the end of McCarthyism 1 Key role of TV V The Second Red Scare in Popular Culture A HUAC and the Hollywood Ten a The infamous black list B The sanitizing of Film and TV a No morally complex or ambiguous subjects b No conflict c No criticism of the American way of life d No sympathetic communist characters VI The Scare and the whitebread mainstream middle class culture of the 1950s Outline of Current Lecture I Welcome to Levittown II Economic Growth in the 1950s A Growt B What made all this growth happen III IV V VI a Cold War Military Spending 1 The creation of military industrial complex 2 The interstate highway system b Deliberate Government Policy 1 The continuing influence of the New Deal idea of activist government 2 1950s corporate liberalism 3 The Liberal Consensus Example Dwight Eisenhower JFK 1950s Corporate Liberalism in Action A Highway construction and Federally backed mortgages a Goal b Mortgages and racial discrimination Hyperconsumerism A Consumerism as Freedom a The kitchen debate 1959 Cultural Critics of Corporations Consumerism and Suburbia A Sloan Wilson Man in the Grey Flannel Suit 1955 B C Wright Mill White Color 1951 C David Riesman The Lonely Crowd 1951 D William Whyte The Organization Man 1956 E Betty Friedan The Feminine Mystique 1963 Consumerism and the Teenager Current Lecture I Welcome to Levittown Home ownership Suburbia To own a house is the most American thing you can do 1945 1955 more houses build than any other decade 1960 year when home ownership becomes the norm 2 3 of all Americans grow up in suburbs now Long Island is the origin of all Suburbs Levittown Builder William Levitt and sons WWII built cheap housing for US navy Assembly line version of home building Bring in a bulldozer and level everything out punch some roads in lay down 60 ft cement pads next to cement pads a truck dumps wood for house throw up house quickly with nails etc 750 sq ft cape cod style houses two bedrooms kitchen living room and one bathroom 6 900 ticky tacky houses 800 000 people live in Levittown come with appliances many of the latest conveniences II Economic Growth in the 1950s and beyond A Growth The backdrop for US history 1950s 1970s 1945 1970s Unprecedented economic growth in America economy quadruples in size Grows for so long we take it as normal Working class people and all sorts of people with money that they didn t have before B What made all this growth happen a Cold War Military Spending 50 of spending in 50s especially in SW 1 The creation of military industrial complex o Centers of defense spending 2 The interstate highway system o Stimulate economy o Allows people to evacuate city if you were nuked theoretically not realistically b Deliberate Government Policy 1 The continuing influence of the New Deal idea of activist government i e Liberalism o Government programs that stimulate the economy left over from the New Deal still continue o Depression is over FDR is dead New Deal still alive NEW DEALERS believe that it is the governments duty to create conditions for economic growth o Government needs to encourage consumerism produce prosperity 2 1950s corporate liberalism anti communist corporate friendly o Government needs to work with businesses voluntary cooperation o 1950s liberals think businesses can be America s best crusade they should be our partners in prosperity o Liberalist Anticommunist corporate friendly 3 The Liberal Consensus the bipartisan popularity of moderate corporate liberalism in the 1950s 1960s o Example Dwight Eisenhower JFK III IV V o Moderate republican o What you see in the 50s is that CL makes it where someone like the President of Ford Motor Co is also secretary of defense you can just back and forth from government to businesses 1950s Corporate Liberalism in Action A Highway construction and Federally backed mortgages key to getting economy going again supplies so many jobs and money etc a Goal stimulate housing industry automobile industry and thus much of the economy resulting in better wages and more consumer spending b Mortgages and racial discrimination o Blue mortgage at the end of the five year mortgage you have to pay the rest in full o Government makes FHA federal housing admin if you want to buy a house you can get a loan from the FHA 30 year mortgage o Bank can pay money to essentially be ensured by the FHA in turn back up mortgages bank starts loaning money housing economy o HOA SUCKS Hyperconsumerism A Consumerism as Freedom Cold war consumerism are linked a The kitchen debate 1959 canary yellow o Model suburban homes send messages about being an American o Proves superiority of American system with all of our luxuries freedom o Russians argue that they can beat us at our own game Cultural Critics of Corporations Consumerism and Suburbia A Sloan Wilson Man in the Grey Flannel Suit 1955 corporate employees in big cooperation in the 1950s he was in the coast guard did the most important work for America he comes back and gets a great job lives the American dream hates it turns him into conformist shallow butt kissing yes man corporations were more strict than military B C Wright Mill White Color 1951 argues that the rise of corporate liberalism is staffed by white collar workers and is creating a new kind of person not really an individual anymore shallow not good C David Riesman The Lonely Crowd 1951 pretty much the same as White Color D William Whyte The Organization Man 1956 VI E Betty Friedan The Feminine Mystique 1963 women will be at home and the fathers will be the bread winners should be perfect many women begin to feel trapped by this especially if early in their lives they had possibilities o Betty 1930 1940s left leading activist type gets married has three kids loved being a housewife mother she gets an