1950's+-+Happy+Days?



That's a great question, don't you think? We will answer it in class on Thursday in a (hopefully) fun activity, but to prepare, we should do a little background reading and watching. **Watch the videos below, read over the ABC-CLIO links posted below, and read "The Fifties" in __Creating America__ (28-3, pp. 800-803).** 
 * FOR HOMEWORK, CREATE A LIST (EITHER IN PRINT OR ONLINE) OF POSITIVES AND NEGATIVES CONCERNING LIFE IN THE FIFTIES FOR CLASS ON THURSDAY!**

[|The Cold War at Home] / [|The Economy Booms] / [|The Sky is the Limit] / [|Boom-Time for Babies and Houses]


 * = **__GOOD__** ||= **__BAD__** ||
 * -Car sales exploded and public transportation became almost unheard of because it was rarely needed || -Everyone was afraid of communism spreading to the US (Red Scare) ||
 * -Eisenhower was elected and ended up pleasing people because he compromised to fit everyone's needs || -People were frightened of McCarthyism ||
 * -Many people were getting married and there was a huge baby boom. || -People were scared the the Soviet Union was going to drop an A-Bomb on the US ||
 * -People moved from north to south and east to west, populating more of the emptier states || -Schools and propaganda taught children that the Soviet Union was the bad guy ||
 * -Suburbs grew || -About 1/5 of the American population lived in poverty ||
 * -The "American dream" became a reality for well off families, mostly those living in suburbs || -Illegal immigration from Mexico was an issue and the immigrants were poorly treated ||
 * -The economy boomed || -Critics believed Americans were being forced to fit in with suburban lifestyles ||
 * -American industry was making absolutely everything and because of the economy boom, people were buying || -Women were being tagged as houseworkers in propaganda, which many of them didn't like one bit ||
 * -Rock and Roll music too over the entertainment lives of most teenagers in the 1950s (Elvis) || -People didn't attend movies; they stayed home and watched television ||
 * -JFK wins the election of 1960 (could be good or bad--POV) || -Poets and writers protested what they thought was shallowness of American society ||