4 America in the 1950s and 1960s America in the 1950s and 1960s When President Dwight D Eisenhower won the presidential election the 1950s were just getting underway When President Lyndon B Johnson left office the 1960s were just ending These were two exceptionally lively decades for the United States Battles over Communism raged at home and abroad and American society underwent great upheavals The changes in world governments that followed World War II which ended in 1945 shaped the world of the 1950s Tensions developed between the Soviet Union and its satellite republics those formerly independent countries over which it now had at least some if not complete political control on the one side and the United States and Western European democracies on the other The situation became known as the Cold War When the U S discovered in 1949 that the Soviet Union had atomic capabilities these tensions increased dramatically The Soviet Union was dissolved on December 8 1991 Norwegian Sea Arctic Ocean Barents Sea Laptev Sea Kara Sea Republics Satellite Black Sea Union of Soviet Socialist Republics U S S R Sea of Yellow Sea President Lyndon Johnson at right listens as Soviet Premier Aleksei Kosygin speaks at the Glassboro Summit Conference in 1967 The two leaders met to discuss Arab-Israeli tensions in the Middle East and U S Soviet arms limitations
6 America in the 1950s and 1960s Soviets take over the United States The fact that Communist leaders around the world were gaining control of additional countries bolstered these fears In 1949 the Chinese Communists led by Mao Zedong used military force to gain control of China The next year the Communists of North Korea invaded U S supported South Korea The United States and other democratic nations contributed troops to a United Nations force that was sent to defend South Korea The mushroom cloud from the atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki Japan rose 11 miles 18 kilometers into the atmosphere The dropping of atom bombs on Japan by the United States in 1945 helped to end World War II and ushered in the atomic age In 1952 the United States test-exploded a hydrogen bomb or H-bomb capable of even greater destruction than the awesome atom bombs In 1953 word came that the Soviets too had developed such a weapon Americans asked how the Soviets had been able to develop an atomic weapons program so quickly Many believed that spies were to blame and that Communists in America in particular in the U S government were trying to help the Mao Zedong
America in the 1950s and 1960s 7 A TV Culture In 1948 there were fewer than 17,000 television sets in the United States In 1950 there were about 3 million and by the end of the decade about 50 million American homes had television sets As the average American tuned in more and more concerns over the increasing use of television became more widespread Some people warned that television violence would corrupt the morals of the young Others feared that it would mean the end of books and the fine arts I Love Lucy was one of the most-watched series with other favorites including Dragnet The Honeymooners and Leave It To Beaver Quiz shows became extremely popular with What’s My Line being among the most watched Kids could watch Lassie The Mickey Mouse Club and Disneyland And for those who wanted fine dramatic art there were such programs as the 1953 televised version of Hamlet Politicians now used television for their own gain too In 1950 Senator Estes Kefauver of Tennessee televised his Special Investigations of Organized Crime which gave him national fame The 1952 presidential nominating conventions were the first such events nationally televised Here Americans watched the activities of politicians with amazement and amusement In his famous Checkers speech vice-presidential candidate Richard Nixon successfully used television to appeal to the American people He asked that the people keep him on the Republican ticket despite charges of accepting illegal funds Although the television medium worked in his favor in 1952 television would be partly responsible for Nixon’s failed presidential campaign in 1960 A poor appearance during televised debates with presidential hopeful Senator John F Kennedy made him look sinister and sickly Many believe it was this appearance that lost the election for Nixon When America’s military involvement in Vietnam increased in 1965 TV crews went with the troops On the nightly news Americans watched the burning of Vietnamese villages and the transporting of body bags carrying the remains of U S servicemen It was the first war in which non-participants could actually see what was happening on the front lines By and large Americans did not like what they were seeing As the use of television grew it had a tremendous impact on American life The fact that Americans across the country watched the same shows the same news and the same commercials contributed greatly to the spread of a common culture
