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
8 America in the 1950s and 1960s In the United States the House Un American Activities Committee HUAC held hearings on suspected Communist subversives people trying to destroy the government and spies Led by Republican senator Joseph McCarthy Red-hunters Red being a common term for Communist accused hundreds of Americans of being Communist sympathizers The careers of many innocent people were ruined when they were accused of having links to the Communist Party often with little or no proof to back the charges Joseph McCarthy served as United States senator from Wisconsin from 1947 until his death in 1957 Some Americans responded to this Red Scare by building bomb shelters to hide in if the Communists attacked the United States Most Americans however just wanted to enjoy the good life of the 1950s moving to the suburbs to build a house and raise children They also watched a lot of television As a consequence of television’s growing influence the most popular programs soon inspired a number of fads By the end of the decade for example there were few middle-class American children who did not own a Davy Crockett coonskin cap or a Mickey Mouse watch Not all Americans were eligible to participate in this life of fun and prosperity however In most places in the South segregation the legalized separation of the races was enforced In the North unwritten gentleman’s agreements and other practices kept African Americans out of white neighborhoods and schools and out of the best jobs Finally in 1954 a landmark Supreme Court decision known as Brown v Board of Education of Topeka ruled that segregation in schools was unconstitutional This paved the way for the nonviolent protest movement that emerged in the years to come This civil rights movement led by the Reverend Dr Martin Luther King Jr sought to end all forms of segregation and to make real America’s promises of justice and equality The civil rights movement led to other social movements in the 1960s including the peace movement the ecology movement and the women’s rights movement In the midst of all this social upheaval some Americans chose to turn on tune in and drop out
America in the 1950s and 1960s 9 A new counterculture of hippies developed its own clothes its own language and music and its own belief system including an advocacy of drug use Long hair acid rock marijuana and LSD long flowing skirts and tattered jeans all were the emblems of the hippies They were young adults who rejected all that their parents generation stood for Among the many changes occurring during this time period were the advances in space exploration This included Neil Armstrong's historic walk on the moon on July 21 1969 Hippies believed in the free expression of peace love and non-conformance Meanwhile there were astounding strides in science and technology ranging from the polio vaccine to the rocket ship The race to the moon spurred advancements in many related fields including computers telecommunications and plastics And running throughout this period was the ever-increasing political tension between the United States and Communist-centered countries such as East Germany Cuba and Vietnam Words to Know subversives sub-VURS-ivs People who try to overthrow or undermine the government segregation seg-ruh-GAY-shuhn The practice of keeping separate Historically the United States has had some laws requiring segregation or separation of the races gentleman’s agreements JEN-tuhl-muhns uh GREE-muhnts Practices in which people agree verbally or with a handshake as opposed to in writing counterculture KOUN-tur-KUHL-chur A group of people whose values are different from and generally opposed to those of a larger group In the 1960s there was a counterculture of young adults who lived in ways very different from the main body of society telecommunications tel-uh-kuh-myoo-nuh-KAY shuhns The methods of using electronic impulses to communicate words pictures and sound such as radio television and telegraph
