american history 1950's

[domcamm]

Often, in contemporary popular culture, the 1950s are portrayed as a wholesome decade in which all was peaceful and harmonious in the United States. Explain how this does and does not match up with the realities of what occurred in the United States in the 1950s. In your response, address the following topics: -o- What specific features of American society in the 1950s provide the basis for John Kenneth Galbraith and others characterizing it as the “affluent society” (762) -o- How “for many, this period appeared to promise the possibility of living the American dream” (759) -o- Why the affluence of the 1950s produced, as the course textbook characterizes the period, “consensus and conformity” (771), including discussion of the ramifications and drawbacks of that consensus and conformity -o- How “even as the nation prospered, it experienced serious social and economic divisions” (759), with reference to specific examples -o - What “signs of discontent” (788) existed below the calm surface of the 1950s, with reference to specific examples
Answer Below:

[boxtops]

Four versions of this post http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/History/Question1191353.html

[dotty.]

ice boxes the size of small garden sheds and the vaccuum cleaner mainly

[jno]

racial inequality would be a good place to start looking for signs of discontent. And you could try reading Betty Friedan too.

[atalanta]

I suggest you read up the history of Billie Holliday's song " Strange Fruit".
In the 1950's there was still a most shameful discrimination against African-Americans, who were treated as animals by whites. Actually, they were probably treated worse than animals in many cases. And the whites got away with it .

[Clanad]

Besides the significant issues mentioned by jno and atalanta, there was that troublsome conflict on the Korean Peninsula...and the acquisition of nuclear weapons by the USSR... (followed by China in1963)

[factor-fiction]

It says 'Answer below', domcamm, but you seem to have pressed SUBMIT too early as I can't see it

[sandyRoe]

And the 'Reds under the bed' scare whipped up by the FBI