Spanning Two Decade's: the 50's to the 60's

According to Stephanie Coontz in “What We Really Miss About The 1950’s”, the 1950’s were symbolic in terms of the nuclear American family. The “typical” nuclear American family structure consisted of an unemployed stay-at-home mom, working dad, a child or two, and a suburban home. In her article, she refers to the 1950’s as being the optimal time period for family’s where the ideology in television shows such as “Father Knows Best” and “Leave It To Beaver” was not just a depiction of how life was supposed to be lived, but an accurate portrayal of how life actually was back then. Today, the once commonly known family structure has been modified and tweaked and the standard image of a modern day family is no

In the 1950’s family’s usually stayed together. Today a very big percentage of marriages end in divorce. In the fifties families ate dinner around the table together. Today people have such busy, hectic schedules that family meals are rare and often eaten in front of the TV. In the fifties jobs were easy to come by.

However, in the 1960s, prosperity was becoming too far out of reach. The Cold War and the Korean War were very costly in military spending. It had taken its toll on the economy. Even with more people buying, the economy was growing at a very slow rate. There were also millions of Americans who were still living in poverty, and the economy had gone into recession quite a few times in the 60s. Then, the stock market fell dramatically, the worst it had been since the Depression. Kennedy addressed this by making tax cuts for larger business, which helped the economy develop and grow more prosperous in the years to come. However, inflation made a reappearance

During the post WWII period in America, the face of the nation changed greatly under the presidency of Truman and Eisenhower. America underwent another era of good feelings as they thought themselves undefeatable and superior over the rest of the world. Communism was the American enemy and American sought to rid the world of it. Because of the extreme paranoia caused by Communism, conformity became an ideal way to distinguish American Culture from the rest. Conformity became a part of every American Life to a large extent. It became evident through the medium of culture, society and politics throughout the era of the 50s.

With the overwhelming amount of Levittown houses, the obsession to obtain the perfect American “ideal family” as seen on TV and the unspoken agreement to fear any and all foreign ideas and values, the 1950s were revealed to be a decade of prosperity, conformity and consensus. Just ten years later the atmosphere in America was shockingly different; the 1960s were a decade of turbulence, protest and disillusionment due to the ongoing struggle for civil rights, arising feminism, and the Vietnam War.

The economy around the time of the 1950 's was a boring period of time. The economy didn’t experience any major problems.The growth of the U.S. during this time led the economy to its peak in the 60 's. One of the major issues during this time was high inflation. Also two major waves of inflation had swept the country at this time. The first was after WW2, and the second was at the beginning of the Korean War in 1950. During this time there was a slow growth of productivity in the U.S. economy, especially in the service sector. The service sector experienced the biggest price increases due to lapses following the removal of price controls following WW2. The Federal Reserve Bank set policies that was used to regulate and maintain the economy and from prevention of diving into large economic declines. The Federal Reserve Board played an important role on the inflation of the 1950 's. Huge increases in the indirect business taxes and social security taxes also played a key role as they nearly doubled throughout the decade. Also a mild recession reached its peak in January 1954 with unemployment rates topping out a little

World War Two shook America to its core and in The 1950s many people were eager to return to what they saw as their “normal” lives. The decades prior brought times of high tension and stress, evident in such occurrences as the Cold War and The Red Scare. Communist and nuclear threat kept America in fear and even caused some to turn on each other. In this time of tension, people were dying to achieve normalcy. While many tried to keep the façade of the American dream alive, it is incorrect to say that the 1950s was an era of complete conformity in regards to culture, politics, and society.

“Popular myth has it that the 1950’s were the ideal decade for the American family.” (Coontz) Unfortunately it wasn’t. The 50’s was a stressful time where racism and sexism clouded the judgement of many. Not to mention the fear of nuclear war looming over the heads of our citizens. However, this was a fairly successful time for American citizens with high employment rates and a stable economy.

When it concerns America throughout the 20th century, we face decades of both advancements and regression, but two stand out as the decades I would consider to be the best suitor for my personality, lifestyle, and views. With that, I would label the 1950s and the 1980s to hold the optimal environment for myself with some features of both decades to contain higher qualities than what we may see today, specifically within the economy, entertainment, and social perspectives. With both decades holding a generally positive outcome with a mixture of drops when it comes to the economy, we must look harder into the numbers of the economics. With the 1950s, the economy overall grew by 37 percent, the family unit have around a 30 percent increase at the end of the decade than in the beginning, and lastly we see a decrease in unemployment, around 4.5%, and inflation, which was a big problem after WWII, balanced out by Eisenhower’s efforts to control federal spending, but with the rise of consumerism in the 1950s, we will notice a family unit that is more is debt, due to their “buy now, pay

In the 50's television and films were very popular because it was a relaxing thing for people to do in their leisure time. During the period that followed WWII most of the movies were traditional representations of men and women, while younger people yearned for a modern and exhilarating representation of rebellion. The 50's were popular for multiple things, such as: activities that people spent doing in their leisure time, post war affluence, fast food restaurants and drive-ins.

During the 1950’s there was a period of postwar economic growth. After World War II, America secured its title as the world's richest country. The Gross Domestic Product of the America was $2.184 trillion dollars in 1950 and grew to $3.109 trillion dollars in 1960. Many Americans believe the 1950’s was the first decade of the “golden age of capitalism. The American middle class was built in the 1950’s. During the economic expansion the United States was beginning to go through tension with the USSR known as the Cold War. The Cold War spurred economic growth in the 1950’s because it called for strategic government intervening in the economy.

The 1950s had a couple of huge financial pinnacles and valleys. A slight subsidence in 1954, high swelling and joblessness rates as much as 6 percent spoke to troublesome circumstances. Relentless development in the second 50% of the century yielded a spending surplus in 1956, a drop in joblessness and a blast in buyer spending. Abroad interest for American merchandise offered an extra lift to the American economy. White collar class Americans could purchase apparatuses, autos and TVs, once saved for the high society. A drop in the cost of single-family homes implied an ascent in home

The decade of the 1960’s in the United States was very different from previous years. Before the 1960’s, everyone conformed to everything of importance; the role of women, the status of African Americans, and the support of the US Military. This all changed when the 1960’s began. The concept of conformity vanished and in came the act of rebellion. Rebellion as a whole completely reshaped the United States of America and the morals that had. Starr successfully reflects the 1960’s by incorporating a rebellious tone throughout his song, elaborating on what people thought about the war, and by including what the effects of the Vietnam War were.

How do artists decide what they are going to write a song about? Artists today write about sex, drugs, alcohol, and other abusive things. The artist Paramore wrote a song called “Ain’t it fun”. The song talks about being a little kid then growing up, then the kid asks “Ain’t it fun being in the real world?” Is it fun living in the real world? The 60’s were fun for a lot of reasons: drugs, sex, alcohol and other things. That effected how musicians were writing music.

Victories during World War II brought both political and economic prosperity to American society. While many other countries at the time struggled with rebuilding their countries after the war, America found themselves more prosperous than ever. With the introduction of credit, Americans were now able to buy somewhat outside of their means, and contributed to economic growth by purchasing homes, cars and consumer goods. This is where the images of the typical fifties Soylent Green suburban-housewife stem from. Society at this time, furthered itself from the thriftier traditions of the past in favor of consumerism and developed a “keeping up with the Joneses” type attitude where their possessions defined them. The unstable Ideology of the Liberal Consensus also rose during this time period. The Liberal Consensus was composed of two major elements. In one hand, America enjoyed the domestic bliss that its country possessed. With democracy and the rise of blue collar workers, many Americans,