When all these soldiers returned home to their sweethearts and started families, there was a huge housing crisis because no new houses had been built in 20 years or so. The economy was on an upswing and the job market was booming, but there was no where to live. In the cities, the apartment situation was lacking, so people began pushing out to the edges of the cities, forming communities called suburbs. Thanks to the G.I. Bill, veterans could get cheap mortgages. The suburbs appealed to nearly all types of families, catering to everyone through the lower-middle class to the upper class. In fact, by 1960, there were over 10 million new homeowners. This was due, in part, to the fact that there were houses for everybody, from mansions in Greenwich, CT going at $62,000 and then little boxes for $6,000 in Daly City, CA (Edey 156).
The first suburban pioneer was William Levitt who built the first towns.
He constructed Levittown, on Long Island, which used the idea of mass production
techniques in homebuilding. Since he was building hundreds of nearly the
same house, it cost less and was much, much, faster. Before WWII, a builder
might construct 2 or 3 houses a year, but by the 1950’s, William Levitt,
with his production line mentality, was finishing off 36 houses a day.
This rapid rate of production and assembly was one reason why suburbs spread
as quickly as they did. In 1950 alone, for example, there were 1.396 million
brand new houses (Edey 156). Over the course of the decade, the number
of homeowners increased from 23. 6 million to 32.8 million (Edey 160).
Living in the suburbs was attractive to many people for many reasons. You got out of the city, but you were still in close range of the job opportunities, while escaping the crowds. You got an actual house (synonymous with “home” for many people), a yard, and real community sense. The suburbs created a social dynamic unto itself. In the beginning, there was no community. Each family had been transported to this little town individually, and there was a desire for a sense of community. The families created branches of nation institutions like Little League, the Girl Scouts, the PTA, and so on. On the party circuit, there were backyard “neighborly” barbecues, and cocktail parties too. In fact, hotdog production rose from 750 million lbs in 1950 to 1050 million lbs by 1960 (Edey 163). Cocktail parties were also popular, and though they were often derided, to be invited was a sign of social acceptance, the main motivating factor for people living in the suburbs. This coincided with the idea that one who lived in the suburbs had “climbed out of” the city, and had risen above it. While the other benefits of the suburbs were freely discussed, this social climbing was not openly admitted. Husbands, however, might hope for powerful neighbors and wives sought to be more sophisticated than ever before.
The development of suburbia also benefited another industry: the automobile business. Suburban houses were far from jobs, schools, businesses, and so on. The trains couldn’t be relied upon fully-in 1955, 40% of all trains were from New York, New Haven, and Hartford were at least five minutes late (Edey 158). People needed a way to get from one place to another reliably, and cars because the transportation mode of choice. With the need for cars on the rise, General Motors and other car companies produced roughly 8 million new cars per year during the 1950’s. With the car so popular, it became a status symbol. Shapes and styles changed regularly, and the companies and advertisers updated the trends constantly, encouraging people to buy new cars in order to look good. As the popularity of suburbs rose, business owners realized that these thriving communities were. Stores and businesses began moving close to where people were living, and found that a location right off a highway made them very accessible. Stores would group together with a huge parking lot, and these became known as shopping centers. The first enclosed shopping center, a mall, was actually built in 1957 (see Economics).
Within these new houses, the American family structure developed and evolved from the pre-war years. Known as the “nuclear family” (a reference to the current scientific studies, see Science and Technology), these families were insular and mobile, but gender-specific roles were a large part of the 950’s (see Gender Issues).
In the post-war years, with families settling down and making lives for themselves, there was a population explosion. In 1950, there were 24.3 million children between the ages of 5 and 14, and by 1960, there were 35.5 million (Edey 167). The dramatic increase, commonly known as the baby boom, had ramifications throughout country, some good, some bad. Family life in the 1950’s was focused on the children, and giving them the best possibilities. Schools had to be built at an enormous rate, and parents were expected to give their children any opportunity they could. Encyclopedia sales, for example, rose to approximately $300 million a year. These baby boom children were a major social force when they were young, and continued to be as they aged, leading the 1960’s and now dominating our county’s politics and business.
On the older end of the spectrum, there were the teenagers. By early 1956, there were 13 million teenagers in the country (Halberstam 473). These teens were the new generation, breaking away from their parents and defining itself in new ways (see Music). The teenagers of the 1950’s were more self sufficient then their parents had been-they did not remember the Depression or WWII, and had no inclination to save money. Before, any money made by children went towards long-term goals, like a college fund or a bike. Now, as this new middle class emerged in America, it created a whole new group of consumers: the young. The teens had an average weekly income of $10.55, about the same as a whole family’s disposable income 15 years before (Halberstam 473). Their purchases leaned towards the music-related industry, anything from records to radios (see Music). These teenagers affected the nation as well?they were the beginning of the youth culture, the first young people to really have an impact on the nation as a whole.
One of the major social changes of the 1950’s was the “coming of age” of television and its effect on people’s leisure habits and family life. While the first regular commercial broadcast had been in 1939, television broadcasting had been suspended during the war and did not take off until the 1950’s. At first, television was only available on the East Coast between Boston and Washington, D.C., but by 1951 television could be viewed throughout the country. Before the war, there had only been approximately 10,000 sets throughout the country, but buy 1960, there were more than 60 million. Americans were instantly attracted, and fell in love with television and its wide range of offerings. There was everything from light sitcoms such as “I Love Lucy” to things like game shows, sporting events, and news broadcasts.
Television had three major effects: on the family, on the entertainment industry, and on the nation’s politics. Television, in essence, changed the structure of the American family.
Instead
of gathering around to discuss the day’s events, the family would huddle
around their television set, tuned to such shows as “Gunsmoke” or “The
Texaco Star Theater”. By 1959, the typical American family was watching
six hours of television a day, seven days a week (Edey 250). Television
united the family and shattered it at the same time. No longer did they
meet and talk, they watched television. On the other hand, television gave
them a common interest, binding them together.
As for the entertainment industry, television had a major effect on the movie world. Families would now stay in at night, instead of going to the movies. They had more options for less money, right in the comfort of their own home. The movie industry didn’t know how to react to this, so throughout the 1950’s, television and movies waged war on each other (see Movies).
Along with the family and the entertainment industry, television had an impact on politics. The first nation-wide broadcast was of President Truman opening the Japanese Peace Treaty Conference in San Francisco in 1951. Television allowed the public to be a part of the political structure, and to become more involved and aware of what was happening in their country. Television forever changed the relationship of the nation with it’s politicians. The people now felt an immediacy with their president and other politicians. This “close range” contact dispelled much of the elitist aura previously surrounding the government’s business. Many of the most important political proceedings of the decade were broadcast on television, including the McCarthy hearings and Nixon/Kennedy debate, in which many said television gave the charismatic Kennedy the advantage (see Foreign Affairs/Politics).
Overall, the 1950’s were a decade of transition and new beginnings. It was the time between the end of World War II and the political and social uprisings of the 1960’s. During this period, the returning war veterans experienced an era of prosperity and development that changed the entire nation.
