2. Origins of the Cold War
U.S. unease over communism in the ―From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in
1920s and 1930srise of organized the Adriatic, an iron curtain has
labor in the 30s) descended across the Continent.
Behind that line lie all the capitals of
the ancient states of Central and
Potsdam conference (July, 1945) Eastern Europe. Warsaw, Berlin,
Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Belgrade,
control over Germany vs. creation of Bucharest and Sofia, all these famous
the Eastern Bloc cities and the populations around
them lie in what I must call the Soviet
sphere, and all are subject in one
―The Long Telegram‖ & ―The Sources form or another, not only to Soviet
of Soviet Conduct‖ (George F. influence but to a very high and, in
Kennan) many cases, increasing measure of
control from Moscow.‖ –Winston
containment& domino theories Churchill
creation of NATO
competing atomic weapons testing
programs
3. The Evolving Pledge of Allegiance
1892: ―I Pledge Allegiance to my Flag
and the Republic for which it stands;
one nation indivisible, with liberty and
justice for all.‖
1923: ―I pledge allegiance to the flag
of the United States of America and
to the Republic for which it stands;
one nation indivisible, with liberty and
justice for all.‖
1954: ―I pledge allegiance to the flag
of the United States of America and
to the Republic for which it stands;
one nation, under God, indivisible,
with liberty and justice for all.‖
4. Suburbia
Postwar housing crisis
Greater access to home loans for veterans
Upward mobility for middle classes
Growth of car culture: Interstate highway
system built (―See the USA in your
Chevrolet‖)
Focus on the nuclear family unit (Less
emphasis on extended family/local
community)
―Little Boxes‖ (conformity)
Levittown aerial photo, 1948
5. suburban geography both mimics
and shapes post-war cultural values
Insularity, reified gender roles,
consumerism, anti-communism
6. Consumerism
―After total war can come total living‖
(housing as consumable good; selling a new
American lifestyle)
Proliferation of shopping centers increases
access to goods; reorients consumer away
from Main Street
Mass consumption: middle class starts to have
access to the same goods cross-country
Private space replaces public space
Television becomes a common feature in
most American homes (rise of mass media)
Nixon & Khrushchev‘s ―Kitchen Debate, 1959
7. Nuclear Ambivalence (+ / -)
Emphasis on Increased
science education weapons testing
Space race and Actual nuclear
moon landing near-misses
―Our Friend The ―Duck and Cover‖
Atom‖
Nuclear power Growth of the
plants ―military-industrial
complex‖
―Atoms for Peace‖ Anti-communist
rhetoric
8. ―Atoms for Peace‖
―It is not enough to take this weapon out of the hands of the soldiers. It must be put into the hands of
those who will know how to strip its military casing and adapt it to the arts of peace. ―
―The United States would be more than willing--it would be proud to take up with others ‗principally
involved‘ the development of plans whereby such peaceful use of atomic energy would be
expedited.‖
President Eisenhower addresses the U.N. General Assembly, December 1953
9. ―the atomic Genie‖
―Deep in the tiny atom lies hidden a
tremendous force. This force has
entered the scene of our modern
world as a most frightening power of
destruction… We all know of the story
of the military atom, and we all wish
that it weren‘t true. … But, fortunately,
the story is not yet finished. So far, the
atom is a superb villain. Its power of
destruction is foremost in our minds.
But the same power can be put to
use…for the welfare of all mankind.
…It is up to us to give the story a
happy ending. If we use atomic
energy wisely, we can make a hero
out of a villain.‖ –The Walt Disney Story
of Our Friend the Atom, 1956
10. scientific progress shaped the lives of
every day families
"In the 1950s Americans reaped the benefits of an unprecedented
number of new 'wonder drugs.' During World War II pharmaceutical
companies had enlarged their research and production facilities to
meet the military demand for the new antibiotic, penicillin. Even
before the war's end, enough penicillin was available to begin
distribution to civilians in 1945. Streptomycin, tetracycline,
aureomycin, and other new antibiotics soon followed. By 1958
antibiotics had saved an estimated 1.5 million American lives.‖
―Another major advance of this era was the elimination of polio
from the United States. By 1950 nearly 40,000 polio cases every year
were leaving thousands of children and young adults permanently
paralyzed. Early attempts at immunization using a live polio virus
failed, but a breakthrough came in 1953 when Jonas Salk first
tested a vaccine using an inactivated form of the virus. In 1961
Albert B. Sabin developed a successful live oral polio vaccine. With
these two vaccines, the menace of polio all but disappeared.‖
11. The Lavender Scare
D.C. as an early gay
community Commies and Queers
WWII ―accelerated the urbanization‖ Government workers thought to
of D.C., brings in 1000s of government be homosexual were regularly
workers. targets of Sen. McCarthy‘s
infamous hearings of the
Local ―anything goes‖ mentality: bar supposed communist infiltration
culture, men cruise for sex in of the U.S. government.
Lafayette Park across from WHouse Homosexuality was seen as a
mental illness or a contagion—a
Postwar fears of American ―moral ―communicable disease,‖ akin
decline‖ to Communism. Susceptibility to
one “proved” susceptibility to
Kinsey reports of 1948 and 1953 the other. Homosexuals and
(Sexual Behavior in the Human Male; Communists were often
Sexual Behavior in the Human conflated in popular media.
Female) ramp up this fear Both ―hidden‖ subcultures were
considered immoral or Godless
Congress and D.C. police crack at a time when morality and
down on emerging gay communities. religion were key features of
American public life.
12. Youth Culture
Greater attention paid to adolescence and
young adulthood
Fear of sexual promiscuity among youth,
exacerbated by rock-and-roll: Elvis Presley on the
Milton Berle Show, the Beatles on American
Bandstand
Beginning of the ―teen consumer‖: emphasis on
individualism (within conformist framework)
1950s: First generation of teenagers with regular
access to automobiles
―Beat‖ poets emerge on the West Coast in the
early 50s. Explicitly reacting against conformity;
questioning authority. Interested in Eastern
religions, hallucinogenic drugs. Precursors to
larger, more organized movements for social
change (but with different values)
13. civil rights movement & the 60s:
timeline
1954: Brown v Board of 1964-65: Civil Rights Acts passed
Education
1964-67: urban violence/race
1955: Montgomery bus boycotts riots (Watts, LA, 1964)
1960: Woolworth‘s lunch counter 1964: Gulf of Tonkin resolution
sit-in
1965: Malcolm X assassinated;
1961: freedom rides begin over 100,000 U.S. troops in
Vietnam
1963: demonstrations in
Birmingham (―Letter from a 1968: Tet Offensive causes great
Birmingham Jail‖), church increase in antiwar sentiment,
bombing, murder of Medgar assassinations of Martin Luther
Evers, march on Washington (―I King, Jr. and RFK, Democratic
Have a Dream‖), assassination Convention riots in Chicago,
of JFK
