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THE MAKING OF A NATION - August 15, 2002: The 1950s
By Jerilyn Watson
VOICE 1:
This is Phil Murray.
VOICE 2:
And this is Rich Kleinfeldt with THE MAKING OF A NATION, a VOA Special English program about the
history of the United States.
(Theme)
Today, we tell what life was like in America during the nineteen -fifties.
VOICE 1:
Imagine that you are visiting the United States. What would you expect to see?
In the nineteen-fifties, America was a nation that believed it was on the edge of nuclear
war. It was a nation where the popular culture of television was gaining strength. It was
a nation whose population was growing as never before.
((Music)
)
VOICE 2:
After the terrible suffering of World War Two, Americans thought the world would be
peaceful for awhile. By nineteen -fifty, however, political tensions were high again. The
United States and the Soviet Union, allies in war, had become enemies.
The communists had taken control of one east European nation after another. And Soviet
leader Josef Stalin made it clear that he wanted communists to rule the world.
The Soviet Union had strengthened its armed forces after the war. The United States had taken many steps to
disarm. Yet it still possessed the atomic bomb. America thought it, alone, had this terrible weapon.
VOICE 1:
In nineteen -forty-nine, a United States Air Force plane discovered strange conditions in the atmosphere. What
was causing them. The answer came quickly: the Soviet Union had exploded an atomic bomb.
The race was on. The two nations competed to build weapons of mass destruction. Would these weapons ever be
used.
The American publication, The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, always showed a picture of a clock. By
nineteen-forty-nine, the time on the clock was three minutes before midnight. That meant the world was on the
edge of nuclear destruction. The atomic scientists were afraid of what science had produced. They were even
more afraid of what science could produce.
VOICE 2:
In nineteen -fifty, north Korea invaded south Korea. The Korean conflict increased efforts in the United States to
develop a weapon more deadly than an atomic bomb. That was the hydrogen bomb. The Soviets were developing
Survival supplies
such a weapon, too.
Many Americans were afraid. Some built what they hoped would be safe rooms in or near their homes. They
planned to hide in these bomb shelters during a nuclear attack.
VOICE 1:
Other Americans, however, grew tired of being afraid. In nineteen-fifty-two, the
military hero of World War Two, Dwight Eisenhower, was elected president. The
economy improved. Americans looked to the future with hope.
One sign of hope was the Baby Boom. This was the big
increase in the number of babies born after the war. The
number of young children in America jumped from
twenty-four million to thirty-five million between nineteen-fifty and nineteen-sixty.
The bigger families needed houses. In nineteen-fifty alone, one-million four-
hundred-thousand houses were built in America.
Most new houses were in the suburbs, the areas around cities. People moved to the
suburbs because they thought the schools there were better. They also liked having
more space for their children to play.
VOICE 2:
Many Americans remember the nineteen-fifties as the fad years. A fad is something that is extremely popular for
a very short time one fad from the nineteen-fifties was the Hula Hoop. The Hula Hoop was a colorful plastic tube
joined to form a big circle. To play with it, you moved your hips in a circular motion. This kept it spinning
around your body. The motion was like one used by Polynesian people in their native dance, the hula.
Other fads in the nineteen-fifties involved clothes or hair. Some women, for example, cut and fixed their hair to
look like the fur of a poodle dog. Actress Mary Martin made the poodle cut famous when she appeared in the
Broadway play, "South Pacific. "
VOICE 1:
In motion pictures, Marilyn Monroe was becoming famous. Not everyone thought she was a
great actress. But she had shining golden hair. And she had what was considered a perfect body.
Marilyn Monroe's success did not make her happy. She killed herself in the nineteen-sixties,
when she was thirty-six years old.
Another famous actor of those days was James Dean. To many Americans, he was the living
representation of the rebellious spirit of the young. In fact, one of his films was called, "Rebel
Without a Cause. " James Dean died in a car accident in nineteen-fifty-five. He was twenty-four.
VOICE 2:
The nineteen-fifties saw a rebellion in American literature. As part of society lived new lives in the suburbs,
another part criticized this life. These were the writers and poets of the Beat generation, including Gregory Corso,
Jack Kerouac, and Allen Ginsberg. They said life was empty in nineteen-fifties America. They described the
people as dead in brain and spirit.
Jackson Pollock represented the rebellion in art. Pollock did not paint things the way they looked. Instead, he
dropped paint onto his pictures in any way he pleased. He was asked again and again: "What do your paintings
mean? " He answered: "Do not worry about what they mean. They are just there . . . like flowers. "
VOICE 1:
In music, the rebel was Elvis Presley. He was the king of rock-and-roll.
((MUSIC: "Blue Suede Shoes"))
Elvis Presley was a twenty-one-year-old truck driver when he sang on television for the first time. He moved his
body to the music in a way that many people thought was too sexual.
Parents and religious leaders criticized him. Young people screamed for more. They could not get enough rock-
and-roll. They played it on records. They heard it on the radio. And they listened to it on the television program
"American Bandstand.
"
((TAPE: "American Bandstand")
)
This program became the most popular dance party in America. Every week, young men and women danced to
the latest songs in front of the television cameras.
VOICE 2:
During the nineteen-forties, there were only a few television receivers in American homes. Some called
television an invention for stupid people to watch. By the end of the nineteen-fifties, however, television was
here to stay. The average family watched six hours a day.
Americans especially liked games shows and funny shows with comedians such as Milton Berle and Lucille Ball.
They also liked shows that offered a mix of entertainment, such as those presented by Arthur Godfrey and Ed
Sullivan.
VOICE 1:
People from other countries watching American television in the nineteen -fifties might have thought that all
Americans were white Christians. At that time, television failed to recognize that America was a great mix of
races and religions.
Few members of racial or religious minorities were represented on television. Those who appeared usually were
shown working for white people.
A movement for civil rights for black Americans was beginning to gather strength in the nineteen-fifties. Many
legal battles were fought to end racial separation, especially in America's schools. By the nineteen-sixties, the
civil rights movement would shake the nation.
((Music)
)
VOICE 2:
Dwight Eisenhower was president for most of the nineteen-fifties. He faced the problems of communism, the
threat of nuclear war, and racial tensions. He had a calm way of speaking. And he always seemed to deal with
problems in the same calm way. Some citizens felt he was like a father to the nation.
With Mister Eisenhower in the White House, they believed that even in a dark and dangerous world, everything
would be all right.
(Theme)
VOICE 1:
This program of THE MAKING OF A NATION was written by Jeri Watson and produced by Paul Thompson.
This is Phil Murray.
VOICE 2:
And this is Rich Kleinfeldt. Join us again next week for another VOA Special English program about the history
of the United States.
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