The Postwar Boom 847
One American's Story
The American Dream
in the Fifties
Settled into her brand new house near San Diego, California,
Carol Freeman felt very fortunate. Her husband Mark had his
own law practice, and when their first baby was born, she
became a full-time homemaker. She was living the American
dream, yet Carol felt dissatisfied—as if there were “something
wrong” with her because she was not happy.
A PERSONAL
VOICE CAROL FREEMAN
As dissatisfied as I was, and as restless, I remember so well
this feeling [we] had at the time that the world was going to
be your oyster. You were going to make money, your kids were
going to go to good schools, everything was possible if you just
did what you were supposed to do. The future was rosy. There
was a tremendous feeling of optimism. . . . Much as I say it
was hateful, it was also hopeful. It was an innocent time.
quoted in The Fifties: A Women’s Oral History
After World War II ended, Americans turned their attention to their families
and jobs. The economy prospered. New technologies and business ideas created
fresh opportunities for many, and by the end of the decade Americans were
enjoying the highest standard of living in the world. The American dream of a
happy and successful life seemed within the reach of many people.
The Organization and the Organization Man
During the 1950s, businesses expanded rapidly. By 1956, the majority of
Americans no longer held blue-collar, or industrial, jobs. Instead, more people
worked in higher-paid, white-collar positions—clerical, managerial, or profes-
sional occupations. Unlike blue-collar workers, who manufactured goods for sale,
white-collar workers tended to perform services in fields like sales, advertising,
insurance, and communications.
Terms & Names
Terms & Names
MAIN IDEA
MAIN IDEA
conglomerate
franchise
baby boom
Dr. Jonas Salk
consumerism
planned
obsolescence
During the 1950s, the
economy boomed, and many
Americans enjoyed material
comfort.
The “American dream,” a notion
that was largely shaped by the
1950s, is still pursued today.
WHY IT MATTERS NOW
WHY IT MATTERS NOW
The dream
woman of the
1950s was
depicted in
advertising and
on TV as doing
constant
housework, but
always with
a smile.
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Page 1 of 9
CONGLOMERATES
Many white-collar workers performed their services in large
corporations or government agencies. Some of these corporations continued
expanding by forming conglomerates. (A conglomerate is a major corporation
that includes a number of smaller companies in unrelated industries.) For exam-
ple, one conglomerate, International Telephone and
Telegraph (ITT), whose original business was communica-
tions, bought car-rental companies, insurance companies,
and hotel and motel chains. Through this diversification,
or investment in various areas of the economy, ITT tried
to protect itself from declines in individual industries.
Other huge parent companies included American
Telephone and Telegraph, Xerox, and General Electric.
FRANCHISES
In addition to diversifying, another strat-
egy for business expansion—franchising—developed at
this time. A franchise is a company that offers similar
products or services in many locations. (Franchise is also
used to refer to the right, sold to an individual, to do busi-
ness using the parent company’s name and the system
that the parent company developed.)
Fast-food restaurants developed some of the first and
most successful franchises. McDonald’s, for example, had
its start when the McDonald brothers developed unusual-
ly efficient service, based on assembly-line methods, at
their small drive-in restaurant in San Bernardino,
California. They simplified the menu, featured 15-cent
hamburgers, and mechanized their kitchen.
Salesman Ray Kroc paid the McDonalds $2.7 million
for the franchise rights to their hamburger drive-in. In
April 1955, he opened his first McDonald’s in Des
Plaines, Illinois, where he further improved the assem-
bly-line process and introduced the golden arches that
are now familiar all over the world.
A PERSONAL VOICE RAY KROC
It requires a certain kind of
mind to see the beauty in a ham-
burger bun. Yet is it any more
unusual to find grace in the tex-
ture and softly curved silhouette
of a bun than to reflect lovingly
on the . . . arrangements and
textures and colors in a butter-
fly’s wings? . . . Not if you view
the bun as an essential material
in the art of serving a great
many meals fast.
quoted in The Fifties
SOCIAL CONFORMITY
While franchises like McDonald’s helped standardize
what people ate, some American workers found themselves becoming standard-
ized as well. Employees who were well paid and held secure jobs in thriving com-
panies sometimes paid a price for economic advancement: a loss of their individ-
uality. In general, businesses did not want creative thinkers, rebels, or anyone
who would rock the corporate boat.
848 C
HAPTER 27
A
N
O
W
N
O
W
T
H
E
N
T
H
E
N
FRANCHISES
In the decades since Ray Kroc
opened his first McDonald’s
(shown below), franchising has
become all but a way of life in
the United States. Today, there
are nearly 3,000 franchised
companies operating over
500,000 businesses throughout
the country. Officials estimate
that franchises account for nearly
one-third of all U.S. retail sales.
American franchises today pro-
vide a wide array of goods and
services, from car maintenance,
to tax services, to hair care.
In an attempt to tap into the
international market, hundreds of
U.S. companies have established
overseas franchises. The fran-
chise with perhaps the greatest
global reach is the one that start-
ed it all. In addition to its more
than 10,000 U.S. franchises,
McDonald’s now operates over
14,000 franchises in dozens of
countries around the world.
A. Answer Both
were successful
business enti-
ties that grew
rapidly. The con-
glomerate grew
by diversifying;
franchises grew
by opening iden-
tical stores in
new locations.
MAIN IDEA
MAIN IDEA
A
Comparing
How were
conglomerates
and franchises
alike and how
were they
different?
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Page 2 of 9
In The Organization Man, a book based on a classic 1956 study of subur-
ban Park Forest, Illinois, and other communities, William H. Whyte
described how the new, large organizations created “company people.”
Companies would give personality tests to people applying for jobs to
make sure they would “fit in” the corporate culture. Companies
rewarded employees for teamwork, cooperation, and loyalty and so
contributed to the growth of conformity, which Whyte called
“belongingness.” Despite their success, a number
of workers questioned whether pursuing the
American dream exacted too high a price, as con-
formity replaced individuality.
The Suburban Lifestyle
Though achieving job security did take a psychological toll on some Americans
who resented having to repress their own personalities, it also enabled people to
provide their families with the so-called good things in life. Most Americans
worked in cities, but fewer and fewer of them lived there. New highways and the
availability and affordability of automobiles and gasoline made commuting pos-
sible. By the early 1960s, every large city in the United States was surrounded by
suburbs. Of the 13 million new homes built in the 1950s, 85 percent were built
in the suburbs. For many people, the suburbs embodied the American dream of
an affordable single-family house, good schools, a safe, healthy environment for
children, and congenial neighbors just like themselves.
THE BABY BOOM
As soldiers
returned from World War II and
settled into family life, they con-
tributed to an unprecedented
population explosion known as
the baby boom. During the late
1940s and through the early
1960s, the birthrate (number of
live births per 1,000 people) in
the United States soared. At the
height of the baby boom, in 1957,
one American infant was born
every seven seconds—a total of
4,308,000 that year. The result
was the largest generation in the
nation’s history.
The Postwar Boom 849
B
The “organization
man” had to step
lively to keep up
with the Joneses.
Some of the 40 million
new Americans who
were born during the
baby boom.
*First year for which figures include Alaska and Hawaii.
Source: Historical Statistics of the United States, Colonial Times to 1970
American Birthrate, 1940–1970
Live Births (per 1,000 people)
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
1940 1945 1950 1955 1960* 1965 1970
SKILLBUILDER
Interpreting Graphs
1.
What was the overall trend in the birthrate at the start
of World War II, and after the war ended?
2.
What was the difference in the bir thrate between 1960
and 1970?
Skillbuilder
Answer
1. The birthrate
remained almost
the same from
the beginning of
the war until the
war ended. Then
it increased.
2. It dropped
from 24 per 1000
to 19 per 1000.
B. Answer
Some became
dissatisfied with
the emphasis on
conformity and
the impersonal
corporate
atmosphere.
MAIN IDEA
MAIN IDEA
B
Analyzing
Effects
What effects
did the climate in
many corporations
have on some
workers?
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Page 3 of 9
C
Contributing to the size of the baby-boom generation
were many factors, including: reunion of husbands and
wives after the war, decreasing marriage age, desirability of
large families, confidence in continued economic prosper-
ity, and advances in medicine.
ADVANCES IN MEDICINE AND CHILDCARE
Among the
medical advances that saved hundreds of thousands of
children’s lives was the discovery of drugs to fight and pre-
vent childhood diseases, such as typhoid fever. Another
breakthrough came when Dr. Jonas Salk developed a vac-
cine for the crippling disease poliomyelitis—polio.
Many parents raised their children according to guide-
lines devised by the author and pediatrician Dr. Benjamin
Spock. His Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care,
published in 1946, sold nearly 10 million copies during
the 1950s. In it, he advised parents not to spank or scold
their children. He also encouraged families to hold
meetings in which children could express themselves. He
considered it so important for mothers to be at home with
their children that he proposed having the government pay
mothers to stay home.
The baby boom had a tremendous impact not only on
child care but on the American economy and the educa-
tional system as well. In 1958, toy sales alone reached $1.25
billion. During the decade, 10 million new students entered
the elementary schools. The sharp increase in enrollment
caused overcrowding and teacher shortages in many parts
of the country. In California, a new school opened every
seven days.
WOMEN’S ROLES
During the 1950s, the role of home-
maker and mother was glorified in popular magazines,
movies, and TV programs such as Father Knows Best and The
Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet. Time magazine described the
homemaker as “the key figure in all suburbia, the thread
that weaves between family and community—the keeper of
the suburban dream.” In contrast to the ideal portrayed in
the media, however, some women, like Carol Freeman,
who spoke of her discontentment, were not happy with
their roles; they felt isolated, bored, and unfulfilled.
According to one survey in the 1950s, more than one-fifth
of suburban wives were dissatisfied with their lives. Betty Friedan, author of the
groundbreaking 1963 book about women and society, The Feminine Mystique,
described the problem.
A PERSONAL VOICE BETTY FRIEDAN
For the first time in their history, women are becoming aware of an identity
crisis in their own lives, a crisis which . . . has grown worse with each succeeding
generation. . . . I think this is the crisis of women growing up—a turning point
from an immaturity that has been called femininity to full human identity.
—The Feminine Mystique
The number of women working outside the home rose steadily during the
decade. By 1960, almost 40 percent of mothers with children between ages 6 and
17 held paying jobs.
K
E
Y
P
L
A
Y
E
R
K
E
Y
P
L
A
Y
E
R
JONAS SALK 1914–1995
One of the most feared diseases
in the 1950s was polio, the dis-
ease that had partially paralyzed
President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Polio afflicted 58,000 American
children in 1952, killing some
and making others reliant on
crutches, wheelchairs, or iron
lungs (machines that helped
people with paralyzed chest
muscles to breathe).
In the early 1950s, Dr. Jonas
Salk (at right in photo above)
developed an effective vaccine to
prevent the disease, and the gov-
ernment sponsored a free inocu-
lation program for children. The
vaccine was extremely effective.
By 1974, thanks to Salk’s vac-
cine and a new oral vaccine
developed by Dr. Albert Sabin,
only seven new polio cases were
reported in the country.
Background
The percentage of
women college
students in the
1950s was smaller
than in the 1920s.
850 C
HAPTER 27
MAIN IDEA
MAIN IDEA
C
Analyzing
Effects
How did the
baby boom affect
American life in
the 1950s?
C. Answer
Creation of
youth-centered
culture;
increased
demand for con-
sumer goods and
jobs related to
rearing and edu-
cating children.
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Page 4 of 9
But having a job didn’t necessarily contribute to a
woman’s happiness. A woman’s career opportunities tended
to be limited to fields such as nursing, teaching, and office
support, which paid less than other professional and busi-
ness positions did. Women also earned less than men for
comparable work. Although increasing numbers of women
attended four-year colleges, they generally received little
financial, academic, or psychological encouragement to
pursue their goals.
LEISURE IN THE FIFTIES
Most Americans of the 1950s
had more leisure time than ever before. Employees worked
a 40-hour week and earned several weeks’ vacation per year.
People owned more labor-
saving devices, such as wash-
ing machines, clothes dryers,
dishwashers, and power lawn
mowers, which allowed more
time for leisure activities.
Fortune magazine reported
that, in 1953, Americans spent
more than $30 billion on
leisure goods and activities.
Americans also enjoyed a
wide variety of recreational
pursuits—both active and
passive. Millions of people
participated in such sports as
fishing, bowling, hunting,
boating, and golf. More fans
than ever attended baseball,
basketball, and football games;
others watched professional
sports on television.
Americans also became
avid readers. They devoured
books about cooking, reli-
gion, do-it-yourself projects,
and homemaking. They also
read mysteries, romance nov-
els, and fiction by popular
writers such as Ernest Hemingway, John Steinbeck,
Daphne du Maurier, and J. D. Salinger. Book sales
doubled, due in part to a thriving paperback mar-
ket. The circulation of popular magazines like
Reader’s Digest and Sports Illustrated steadily rose,
from about 148 million to more than 190 mil-
lion readers. Sales of comic books also reached
a peak in the mid-1950s.
History Through
History Through
AFTER THE PROM (1957)
The artist, Norman Rockwell,
chose an innocent junior-high
couple to illustrate the easy
emotions and the ordinary
events of postwar America.
What does this painting con-
vey about life in the 1950s?
3-D comics and 3-D movies were two
of the many fads that mesmerized
the nation in the 1950s.
D. Answer Most
1950s women
were homemak-
ers and had
fewer educa-
tional and
career opportu-
nities than
women have
today.
MAIN IDEA
MAIN IDEA
D
D
Contrasting
How did
women’s roles and
opportunities in
the 1950s differ
from women’s
roles today?
Image not available
for use on CD-ROM.
Please refer to the
image in the textbook.
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Page 5 of 9
The Automobile Culture
During World War II, the U.S. government had rationed
gasoline to curb inflation and conserve supplies. After the
war, however, an abundance of both imported and domesti-
cally produced petroleum—the raw material from which
gasoline is made—led to inexpensive, plentiful fuel for con-
sumers. Easy credit terms and extensive advertising persuad-
ed Americans to buy cars in record numbers. In response,
new car sales rose from 6.7 million in 1950 to 7.9 million in
1955. The total number of private cars on the road jumped
from 40 million in 1950 to over 60 million in 1960.
AUTOMANIA
Suburban living made owning a car a neces-
sity. Most of the new suburbs, built in formerly rural areas,
did not offer public transportation, and people had to
drive to their jobs in the cities. In addition, many of the
schools, stores, synagogues, churches, and doctors’ and
dentists’ offices were not within walking distance of subur-
ban homes.
THE INTERSTATE HIGHWAY SYSTEM
The more cars there
were, the more roads were needed. “Automania” spurred
local and state governments to construct roads linking the
major cities while connecting schools, shopping centers, and
workplaces to residential suburbs. The Interstate Highway
Act, which President Eisenhower signed in 1956, authorized
the building of a nationwide highway network—41,000
miles of expressways. The new roads, in turn, encouraged
the development of new suburbs farther from the cities.
Interstate highways also made high-speed, long-haul
trucking possible, which contributed to a decline in the
commercial use of railroads. Towns along the new highways
prospered, while towns along the older, smaller roads expe-
rienced hard times. The system of highways also helped
unify and homogenize the nation. As John Keats observed
in his 1958 book, The Insolent Chariots, “Our new roads, with their ancillaries, the
motels, filling stations, and restaurants advertising Eats, have made it possible for
you to drive from Brooklyn to Los Angeles without a change of diet, scenery, or
culture.” With access to cars, affordable gas, and new highways, more and more
Americans hit the road. They flocked to mountains, lakes, national parks, historic
sites, and amusement parks for family vacations. Disneyland, which opened in
California in July 1955, attracted 3 million visitors the next year.
MOBILITY TAKES ITS TOLL
As the automobile industry boomed, it stimulated
production and provided jobs in other areas, such as drive-in movies, restaurants,
and shopping malls. Yet cars also created new problems for both society and the
environment. Noise and exhaust polluted the air. Automobile accidents claimed
more lives every year. Traffic jams raised people’s stress levels, and heavy use dam-
aged the roads. Because cars made it possible for Americans to live in suburbs,
many upper-class and middle-class whites left the crowded cities. Jobs and busi-
nesses eventually followed them to the suburbs. Public transportation declined,
and poor people in the inner cities were often left without jobs and vital services.
As a result, the economic gulf between suburban and urban dwellers and between
the middle class and the poor widened.
852 C
HAPTER 27
E
Vocabulary
homogenize: to
make the same or
similar
F
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
AND THE AUTOMOBILE
No state has exemplified auto-
mania in the U.S. more than
California. By the late 1990s,
Californians owned more cars,
held more driver’s licenses, and
traveled more miles on their
roads than the people of any
other state. The center of this
automobile culture is the metro-
politan area of Los Angeles.
Contributing to the importance
of the automobile is Southern
California’s suburban lifestyle.
This dependence on cars has
contributed to problems of air
pollution and traffic jams. But,
California is addressing these
problems by reviving public trans-
portation systems and promoting
the use of electric cars that pro-
duce no pollution.
N
O
W
N
O
W
T
H
E
N
T
H
E
N
E. Answer Cars
were necessary
for life in the
suburbs,
Americans
loved cars, and
the positive eco-
nomic factors
allowed
Americans to
buy cars.
MAIN IDEA
MAIN IDEA
E
Analyzing
Causes
Why did auto
sales surge in the
1950s?
MAIN IDEA
MAIN IDEA
F
Analyzing
Effects
What positive
and negative
effects did the
mass availability
of the automobile
have on American
life in the 1950s?
F. Answer
Positive—
growth of sub-
urbs, increased
mobility.
Negative—pol-
lution, deteriora-
tion of public
transportation.
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The Postwar Boom 853
Americans Hit the Road
Cruising Teens
Often teenagers drove around
familiar neighborhoods ending
up at popular teen meeting
places to see and be seen.
The Drive-Thru
Fast-food restaurants catered to
the car culture by offering drive-up
service. Waitresses wearing fancy
uniforms or roller skates added to
the fun of front-seat dining.
In the 1950s Americans loved their cars—big, powerful,
and flashy. Some car owners spent their leisure time
maintaining their automobiles for the daily commute to
work or for the annual family vacation on any one of the
nation’s 22 new interstate highways.
Car Ads
Not just for transport,
cars were marketed for
fashion and fun. Car
ads used words like
"fresh" and "frisky."
The Drive-In
Young suburban families piled into their cars
to see a movie at one of the country’s 5,000
or so drive-in theaters.
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Consumerism Unbound
By the mid-1950s, nearly 60 percent of Americans were members of the middle
class, about twice as many as before World War II. They wanted, and had the
money to buy, increasing numbers of products. Consumerism, buying material
goods, came to be equated with success.
NEW PRODUCTS
One new product after another
appeared in the marketplace, as various industries
responded to consumer demand. Newsweek maga-
zine reported in 1956 that “hundreds of brand-
new goods have become commonplace
overnight.” Consumers purchased electric house-
hold appliances—such as washing machines,
dryers, blenders, freezers, and dishwashers—in
record numbers.
With more and more leisure time to fill,
people invested in recreational items. They
bought televisions, tape recorders, and the new
hi-fi (high-fidelity) record players. They
bought casual clothing to suit their suburban
lifestyles and power lawn mowers, barbecue
grills, swimming pools, and lawn decora-
tions for their suburban homes.
PLANNED OBSOLESCENCE
In addi-
tion to creating new products, manufac-
turers began using a marketing strategy
called planned obsolescence. In order to
encourage consumers to purchase more
goods, manufacturers purposely designed
products to become obsolete—that is, to
wear out or become outdated—in a short
period of time. Carmakers brought out new
models every year, urging consumers to stay
up-to-date. Because of planned obsolescence,
Americans came to expect new and better
products, and they began to discard items that
were sometimes barely used. Some observers
commented that American culture was on its
way to becoming a “throwaway society.”
BUY NOW, PAY LATER
Many consumers made
their purchases on credit and therefore did not
have to pay for them right away. The Diner’s Club
issued the first credit card in 1950, and the American
Express card was introduced in 1958. In addition,
people bought large items on the installment plan
and made regular payments over a fixed time. Home
mortgages (loans for buying a house) and automobile loans worked the same way.
During the decade, the total private debt grew from $73 billion to $179 billion.
Instead of saving money, Americans were spending it, confident that prosperity
would continue.
THE ADVERTISING AGE
The advertising industry capitalized on this runaway
consumerism by encouraging even more spending. Ads were everywhere—in
newspapers and magazines, on radio and television, and on billboards along the
854 C
HAPTER 27
G
G. Answer They
designed prod-
ucts to break
down, wear out,
and go out of
style.
MAIN IDEA
MAIN IDEA
G
Analyzing
Causes
How did
manufacturers
influence
Americans to
become a
“throwaway
society”?
In the 1950s,
advertisers made
"keeping up with
the Joneses" a
way of life for
consumers.
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Page 8 of 9
highways—prompting people to buy goods that ranged from cars to cereals to
cigarettes. Advertisers spent about $6 billion in 1950; by 1955, the figure was up
to $9 billion. Since most Americans had satisfied their basic needs, advertisers
tried to convince them to buy things they really didn’t need.
A PERSONAL VOICE VANCE PACKARD
On May 18, 1956, The New York Times printed a remarkable interview with a
young man named Gerald Stahl, executive vice-president of the Package
Designers Council. He stated: ‘Psychiatrists say that people have so much to
choose from that they want help—they will like the package that hypnotizes them
into picking it.’ He urged food packers to put more hypnosis into their package
designing, so that the housewife will stick out her hand for it rather than one of
many rivals.
Mr. Stahl has found that it takes the average woman exactly twenty sec-
onds to cover an aisle in a supermarket if she doesn’t tarry; so a good package
design should hypnotize the woman like a flashlight waved in front of her eyes.
—The Hidden Persuaders
More and more, ad executives and designers turned to psychology to create
new strategies for selling. Advertisers appealed to people’s desire for status and
“belongingness” and strived to associate their products with those values.
Television became a powerful new advertising tool. The first one-minute TV
commercial was produced in 1941 at a cost of $9. In 1960, advertisers spent a
total of $1.6 billion for television ads. By 2001, a 30-second commercial during
the Superbowl cost an advertiser $2.2 million. Television had become not only
the medium for mass transmission of cultural values, but a symbol of popular
culture itself.
The Postwar Boom 855
conglomerate
franchise
baby boom
Dr. Jonas Salk
consumerism
planned obsolescence
1. TERMS & NAMES For each term or name, write a sentence explaining its significance.
MAIN IDEA
2. TAKING NOTES
In a graphic organizer like the one
below, list examples of specific
goals that characterized the
American dream for suburbanites
in the 1950s.
What do you think the most
important goal was?
CRITICAL THINKING
3. ANALYZING EFFECTS
In what ways do you think current
environmental consciousness is
related to the “throwaway society”
of the 1950s? Support your answer.
Think About:
the purchasing habits of
1950s consumers
the effects of planned
obsolescence
today’s emphasis on recycling
4. EVALUATING
Do you think that the life of a typical
suburban homemaker during the
1950s was fulfilling or not? Support
your answer.
5. INTERPRETING VISUAL SOURCES
This ad is typical of how the
advertising industry portrayed
housewives in the 1950s. What
message about women is conveyed
by this ad?
Values
Examples Examples
Home/
Family
Work
The American Dream
Examples
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