Introduction

American culture went mobile in the years after World War II. Stylish cars and new interstate highways made it easier and more desirable for Americans to travel. The "baby boom" (see graph below) made families desire more space and cheap housing in places like Levittown made a move out of the cities and into the suburbs affordable. As the middle class grew larger, discussions of a consensus in America culture hid continuing divisions caused by religion and especially race. Suburban living isolated people, particularly women, many of whom stayed home with their children. Televisions brought even more entertainment into the home, making some Americans start to wonder whether their culture had grown too sterile. Members of the younger generation, such as Elvis Presley and the Beat writers, started to revolt against suburban mores, often by adopting the music and fashion of black culture. The antagonism drawn by these protests may have derived in part from a lingering fear of communism. This fear became accentuated with the Russians' successful launching of Sputnik in 1957 and subsequent events including the U-2 incident and the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. By the time of this last event, Americans had put their faith in a dashing young president, John F. Kennedy, who tried to ease tensions with the Russians in the aftermath of the confrontation over Cuba.

The Web activities and additional research links for this chapter investigate the factors that facilitated the development of suburban living in the United States and the elements of discontent that began to arise against such a lifestyle during the 1950s.

Web Activities 

1.  Interstate highways transformed the American landscape in the 1950s and 1960s. Creating the Interstate System chronicle the development of this network of roads. Who first perceived the need for these highways? Why did the nation need such extensive roads? When was the first legislation passed? What was Eisenhower's contribution that finally made the construction begin? When did he first realize the importance of highways?

2.  Take a photographic tour of Alfred Kinsey's sexuality research project. What methods did Kinsey use in his research? How many people did they interview between 1938 and 1956? What methods did Kinsey prefer to use to gather information? Why? How did he protect confidentiality? Why do you think the study gained such wide popularity upon its release? What problems did the Institute have with U.S. Customs?

3.  Why did young Americans criticize American suburban life so strongly? What did their role models find so restrictive about American culture in the 1950s? What did adults find so threatening about teen culture?

• If Marlon Brando's character in The Wild One was the model for juvenile delinquents of the 1950s, we may begin our analysis by reading this analysis of the movie. What made the film so controversial? Against what did Brando's character rebel?
• Now go to the History of Rock website's biography of Elvis Presley. As you scroll through this biography, consider what made Elvis so popular. What did he do that no one before him had done? How did the attitude he exuded compare to Brando's?
• Now go to the article called "How Beat Happened". How does this author explain the emergence of the Beat Generation of writers during the 1950s? Who were their cultural influences? Why did they call themselves Beats? Looking at all three of these sites, what different forms did rebellion take among young people?

4.  For an in-depth examination of the Cuban Missile Crisis, go to Fourteen Days in October. Start in the Crisis Center. Read the Introduction and the Causes sections. What does the author of the site see as the two major causes of the conflict? What kinds of posturing occurred between Kennedy and Khrushchev? Now go to the Briefing Room and listen to the audio narration of the crisis. What caused the tension between Kennedy and Castro? Now go the Recon Room. What role did aerial reconnaissance play in this episode? Why was this event so different from other military standoffs before it? Finally, go to the Situation Room and listen to the excerpts from the tapes of the Executive Committee from the crisis meetings. What can you learn from these tapes that you cannot from a printed text?

Additional Research Links

Cracks in the Consensus

• The Organization Man. Read the Introduction to William H Whyte's The Organization Man. Who are these men? What binds them together?

Nationalism in An Age of Superpowers

• John Foster Dulles. What was Dulles' contribution to the foreign policy of the Eisenhower administration? Why did Time name him their 1954 Man of the Year?
• Read how Nikita Khrushchev, Time's 1957 Man of the Year, altered the relationship between the U.S. and U.S.S.R. after the death of Stalin.
• Sputnik. Read this summary of its 1957 launch. Why was this event seen as so calamitous in the U.S.?

The Cold War Along a New Frontier

• Browse through the transcripts of the Kennedy-Nixon Debates (scroll down to 1960 transcripts). What were the prominent issues of conflict between Kennedy and Nixon? What were each of the candidates' apparent strengths and weaknesses?