Fear: Nuclear Arms

 Nhan Dinh, Stephanie King, and Van Chu 

          The 1950s is painted through a rose-colored glass portrait to depict a decade of optimism and development of an alternate social, political, cultural, and economical lifestyle from the status quo.  However, the 1950s was not a still painting of affluence and prosperity but a decade plagued with great political anxiety due to fear of nuclear arms threatened by foreign countries.  Although today’s perspective on the pivotal decade of the 50s emphasizes on the positive and constructive lifestyles of the generation, the critical fears that placed a burden on society in the 50s was gruesome and more traumatic than fixated.  The panoramic scrutiny of the 1950s was, in reality, a time of conflict and dramatic fears of nuclear arms created to destroy a revolutionary American life.

            The entire Cold War grew out of the fear of other countries and their increasing powers.  Although the Cold War is notoriously known as the war between communists and nuclear as well as American weapons, it grew from America’s fear of the increasing influence of the German Nazis in Europe.  In 1939, reports reached the United States through the Italian physician Enrico Fermi and the German mathematician Albert Einstein, that the Nazi scientists were developing technology on how to produce atomic fission in uranium taking the first step toward the most powerful weapon that has ever been developed: the atomic bomb. When Roosevelt was presented with this news, he immediately began the development of atomic technology in weapons.  From 1941 on, the government secretly paid almost $2 billion into the “Manhattan Project,” an enormous scientific effort conducted at hidden laboratories in numerous of sites located throughout the United States.  On July 16, 1945, New Mexico scientists witnessed the first atomic explosion in the history of the world.  With USSR’s growing presence in Europe, the US hoped to intimidate Stalin with their new technology at Potsdam.  During the meeting that was called to decide what was going to be done with the war, Roosevelt revealed to Stalin their possession of atomic bombs.  Instead of astonishment, Stalin had a look of solitude on his face for he already knew of the covert information.  Through spies and the fear of America, Stalin had already begun the production of his own atomic arms.  From his point on, both the USSR and the United States began an “arms race” to try to develop more superior and powerful weapons than their counterparts.  Through this fear of one another, society, as well as the world, grew this sudden panic of fear as technology continued to increase in efficiency. 

            From 1945 to the present, the nuclear bomb has been seen in four types or classes.  In 1945 the Trinity bomb was the first nuclear bomb to be detonated and was seen as a tremendous and fearful weapon.  However, there were two types of bombs present in the United States: the uranium gun used in “Little Boy” and the bomb used at Nagasaki.  The uranium gun bomb used in “Little Boy” was dropped on Hiroshima, which had a yield of 15 kilotons (15,000 tons) of dynamite.  The latter nuclear arm was the reliable implosion bomb used at Nagasaki in “Fat Man” had a yield of about 22 kilotons.  Both of these bombs were tested frequently after World War II to further improve and develop successful weapons used to attack the enemy.  A result of these numerous testing was the detonation of a fusion bomb in 1951 on Enwetak Atoll; however, the Enwetak Atoll was not a real bomb but experimented with a yield of about 225 kilotons.  In only 7 years, the United States had developed a new type of nuclear bomb greater than 10 times that of the first three.  However, the country was still continuing and

            Increasing the yield similar to that of the USSR who detonated a bomb of about 22 kilotons.  The next evolution in the nuclear bomb was the hydrogen bomb, also known as the H-bomb for short.  The H-bomb was first detonated in 1952 on Enewetak Atoll and had a yield of 10.4 megatons (100,400,000 tons) of dynamite; nonetheless, the H-bomb was the greatest of its time and was enormously destructive.  By 1953, there have been nearly twenty six different operations to test nuclear bombs and detonating 316 separate nuclear weapons in four categories: atmospheric, surface, sea, and underground conditions.  However, such tests proved to have a profound effect on the ecosystem and on the physical health of the American people.

            As the testing proceeded into the 1950s and 1960s, the scientists discovered the side effects of nuclear weapons and the fear it impacted on the American society.  After the explosions of nuclear weapons, it was unknown of what was to become of the waste products.  Unfortunately, the waste would be delivered by air and wind to the people of a 5-50 miles radius of the explosion.  Nonetheless, this fallout would result in birth defects and harmful health conditions.  After further examinations, scientists concurred that the blast areas of the nuclear bombs was not as dangerous as the fallout areas.  Furthermore, another fear that plagued the Americans was the number and range of these powerful nuclear arms.  After the introduction of the ICBM (Intercontinental Ballistic Missile) as a nuclear delivery device, the threat was closer than ever to homes in America.  Because the fear of an attack was ever so present to those that resided in the United States, many people concocted bomb shelters and bunkers under

            Their homes not knowing that the heat of a bomb would bake them in such shelters.  The fear of nuclear arms created such a frenzy that the majority of people paid to obtain any knowledge of survival of a nuclear attack; however, regardless of any further survival information, the fallout would harm the safety of the people.  Fear of nuclear arms was a predominant feature in the 1950s with the decade filled with nuclear bomb tests and assumption that America will sooner or later be attacked by nuclear weapons.  From a small experiment at Trinity to a bomb that could eliminate a city in a flash was the central fear that plagued American lifestyles in the 1950s.

            The 1950s was an age of contradictions from the optimistic perspective of liberated developments to fears of communism and nuclear arms threats from foreign countries.  Although nostalgia leads modern mentality to relate the 50s as a decade full of “happy days,” the 50s was a time period plagued with trepidation of nuclear arms that had the ability to destroy the optimism surrounding the 50s culture.  In reality, the decade so well known as the “happy days” was a decade of apprehension toward foreign powers and their ability to create nuclear arms that have the capacity to demolish all that that represented the notorious generation of the 1950s.

Works Cited

Brinkley, Alan American History: A Survey  Chapter 28 McGraw-Hill College  1999

“Gallery of U.S. Nuclear Test”  Membrane Domain  http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/Usa/Tests/ June 15, 2004

“Nuclear Weapons: Nuclear Calendar”  http://www.zvis.com/nuclear/nukcal.shtml

June 15, 2004

“What are Different types of Nuclear weapons?”  AusSurvivalist http://www.aussurvivalist.com/nuclear/weapontypes.htm June 15, 2004

Fear: Communism

Ngoc Pham, Thao Nguyen, Vy Le, and Susan Mai

The 1950s was a time of fear. The greatest and most prevalent source of fear came from the threat or perceived threat of communism. This fear infiltrated every facet of American life—from international politics to domestic policies to the press and media. The driving force of this fear and its effects and ramifications help define the society--the history of the 1950s.

Fear of communism in the 1950s was impacted by America’s involvement in foreign affairs. The United States first major participation in the Cold War began on June 24, 1950 when “the armies of communist North Korea swept across their southern border in an invasion of the pro- Western half of the Korean peninsula to the south” (Brinkley 979). With the assistance of a soviet-equipped army, the North Koreans went passed the 38th parallel, which separated them from the South, and invaded South Korea. Although the Americans were able to send the North Korean communists back across the 38th parallel, the fear of communism was still evident in America. Many Americans still dreaded the invasion of communism and the Soviet Union in the United States. The fear of the Soviet Union and communism intensified when the “Soviet Union announced in 1957 that it had launched a satellite- Sputnik- which was orbiting the earth in outer space” (1005). Americans were distressed about the launch of Sputnik because the Soviet Union was able to establish a successful space program while the American’s efforts were ineffective. Americans believed that the Soviet Union’s ability to advance in technology posed as a threat because if Americans were unable to stop Sputnik then they were unable to prevent any bombs that the Soviets sent over. In effect to the fear of communism amongst Americans in the 1950s, Eisenhower’s secretary of state, John Foster Dulles, established a policy of “massive retaliation.” Dulles explained “the United States would respond to communist threats to its allies not by using conventional forces in local conflicts but by relying on the deterrent of massive retaliatory power (1021).” Dulles believed that Eisenhower’s containment policies had been unpromising and that the threat of massive retaliation would weaken communism. Although the policy was formed to stop communism, the real reason behind its efforts was the economy. The 1950s proved to be a decade of fear as foreign affairs, such as the Korean War and the launching of Sputnik, influenced the panic in America.

A few years prior to the 1950s, President Truman had launched a program to examine and ensure the loyalty of government employees, known as the Federal Loyalty Program. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) under J. Edgar Hoover, who investigated and hassled thousands of alleged communists and radicals, enforced the program. By 1951, thousands had resigned and hundreds were dismissed (Brinkley 982). The investigations were a clear indication of the uneasiness and even panic of Americans to the prospect of communists at home.

            The trial of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg more definitely confirmed the atmosphere of fear and alarm. In 1951, a New York couple, Ethel and Julius Rosenberg were accused of passing on classified atomic information to the Soviets. After a long trial and several appeals, both were charged with espionage and died on the electric chair on June 19, 1953, leaving behind two orphaned children (Bailey 880). These events paved the way for the arrival of a man who would play on these American fears of communist infiltration and American disloyalty.

                The 1950’s was a time of fear, especially the fear of communism and this fear led to the rise of one of the most unbecoming senator in the history of America.  The fear of communism led to a “four year spree of accusations, charges, and threats” hat was known as McCarthyism after it’s advocator, Senator Joseph McCarthy (Halberstam 52).  McCarthy, to better his own political career claimed that he has the list with the names of the people who were affiliated with communists.  This caused a nation wide fear and triggered the search of anyone who acted like a communist.  However, those hearings done by the House of Un-American Activities Committee to search of subversives in the government caused many great political leaders their job.  Even though many people loathe McCarthy, they did not speak out against him for fear of being accused themselves. McCarthyism is very similar to the witch-hunt of the Puritan era.  The decline of McCarthyism came when McCarthy accused Secretary of Army Robert Stevens.  The nation finally saw McCarthy for what he really was, an insecure power-hungry alcoholic.  His insecurities as a senator changed the lives of many people and three years after the end of McCarthyism, Joseph McCarthy died a victim of his alcohol.

        With the madness of communism, movies develop to depict the irrational fear that communism will take over America.  In 1956, a low budget film called Invasion of the Body Snatchers tells a doctor‘s journey of encountering giant seedpods.  Inside the seedpods, a human figure grows to replicate an existing human being, and then the so called Aliens takes the place of that human being but expresses no emotions, while the real human becomes nonexistent.  The giant seed pods represent the paranoia that Americans have about communism that allowed McCarthyism to accuse and blacklist hundreds of innocent victims.  Toward the end, the main character, Dr. Miles Benney, thought his fiancée was real until he kissed and found out the body snatchers replaced her.  Toward the end, he exclaims: "Look, you fools. You're in danger. Can't you see? They're after you. They're after all of us, our wives, our children, everyone. They're here already. You’re next!” (Dirk 1)  Miles further elaborates the fear by giving the illusion that any person can be a communism, but since they look like regular Americans, it is hard to distinguish who is really a communists.  Another science fiction movie that similarly develops the theme of communism is “The Blob,” which depicts a blob from outer space swallowing anything in its path in a American town.  With the fear of communism, movies illustrates the mass hysteria in America.

            The fear of communism created a mass hysteria among the American nation and these threats touched something deep in America’s politics and people.  The fear of the spread of communism and living under the wrath of conformity without freedom sent American’s on a witch-hunt known as McCarthyism in search of communists.  This fear bonded American’s together in a fight against communism but separated the nation because it brought distrust among neighbors and false accusations in order to gain power or land.  The 1950’s was an era of fear.

 Works Cited

 Bailey, Thomas A. The American Pageant 12th Ed. Houghton Mifflin: Boston. 2002

 Brinkley, Alan. American History: A Survey, Tenth Edition. Boston: McGraw-Hill College, 1999. 

Dirks, Tim. “Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956). Rev. of “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” by Walter Wanger.  The Greatest Films 1996-2004. 12 June 1998
<http://www.filmsite.org/inva.html>.

Halberstam, David.  The Fifties.  Villard Books: New York.  1993

Consumption: Homes and Television

http://kclibrary.nhmccd.edu/decade50.html#tv

http://www.leaderu.com/orgs/probe/docs/tv.html

Consumption: Autos

Katherine Lam, Steven Troung, and Youstina Aziz

            The prosperity of the 1950’s sparked the increase of consumption in America.  People started renovating everything from homes to toasters; and thus, it led to the increase of consumption in all areas, especially with cars. 

This consumption world all started with the development of Levittown, a uniform community in the suburbs that provided affordable homes.  People needed cars in order to have independent transportation (Hawley).  Levittown consisted over “seven thousand homes that were being sold for les than eight thousand dollars each” (Hawley).  Therefore, Levittown quickly became popular as it pulled people away from the cities and into the suburbs.  Moreover, the second greatest cause for this high “consumption rate of cars is due to the television” (Hawley).  During the 1950’s, “ten million sets were sold in America” (Hawley).  Times were changing and the television reflected it, hence, portraying America as a society that needed cars, not wanted them.  Fathers needed cars to go to work and to take the family out on Sundays.  Women needed the cars to take their kids to extracurricular activities and to go to the market.  These were all valid reasons that made the car a necessity.

            Causes of the cars’ consumption that mostly relate to the postwar chaos of Levittown led to an interest in various designs and structure of typical 1950s’ automobile where many citizens wanted.  The famous American company, General Motors, of the 1950s spurred the craziness of car consumption with numerous brands, such as Buick, Cadillac, and Chevrolet (“General Motors” 1).  General Motors’ cars of the 1950s took shape of a contemporary style taken by structures of American war planes during World War II that depict an outlook for the future (“Style Wars” 1).  The General Motors Company created a modern style for cars that seem to appeal an image of the future as if drivers were driving “into the future” that led to unnecessary additional parts on a 1950s car for a modern look giving more engine power but also more connection to consumption as more money is necessary to pay for the car.  Furthermore, American consumers especially loved the craftwork of the 1959 Cadillac model that became popular in which was created after the creation of other earlier famous 1950s cars, such as the 1950 Chevrolet, the 1953 Chevrolet Corvette, and the 1950 Cadillac (“The Fifties”).  The consumption craze of modern-looking automobiles during the 50s caused a change in living standard where “incomes have stagnated and the robust 3 percent growth rates of the 1950s are long gone” (Schor 1).  Because of the numerous advertisements, especially GM’s introduction of various brands of cars, American consumers showed an interest in what they wanted than what they actually needed that only caused problems of perhaps too much consumption.  Although 1950s cars had many fantastic designs that grasp any American consumer’s attention, the effects of the 1950s car consumption were only effects that demonstrated two opposite perspectives of a society run by automobiles.

            Just as different changes in society caused the emergence of cars, the automobiles produced many other outcomes affecting politics, economy, and also structure of the United States. Charles Wilson, the director of General Motors in 1953, explained the effect of cars on the country’s politics when he stated that “what is good for America is good for GM” and vise versa (Hawley). In the 1950s, the United Auto Workers was the strongest union in the country (Hawley). The political effect of the automobiles showed through the strength it had on both the American workers and leaders. In 1953, GM had 45% of the market (Halbertan 129). Consequently in 1956, it had 51% of the market of cars (129). The increasing authority of the single car company in the market offered a clear view of the economic dominance and influence of the automobile industry. In 1956, the Eisenhower administration enacted the Interstate Highway Act which offered 40,000 miles of roads built throughout the United States (Hawley). In addition, McDonald’s became the first chain drive-in  restaurant in the country (Hawley). The passage of the Highway Act demonstrated the effect of cars on the structure of the country while the structure of the drive-through showed the country’s new style and way of life that depended on cars. The act showed a clear influence of the cars on the structure and design of the roads of transportation and their extent. Because of the emergence of cars as a major method of transportation, the different cars offered a change in the relations and styles of the American life.  

Works Cited

“The Fifties.” A and E Entertainment. 24 February 1998. 17 May 2004.

“General Motors.” Ruv.net. 2004. 1. Infovoyager. 13 June 2004 <http://infopedia.ruv.net/ge/General_Motors.html>.

Halberstan, David. The Fifties. 1st ed. New York: Villard Books, 1993

Hawley, William. "Car Influence." Advanced Placement for United States History. L building, Fountain Valley. 20 May 2004.

Schor, Juliet. “The New Politics of Consumption.” Boston Review. 1993-2004. 1. 13 June 2004 <http://www.bostonreview.net/BR24.3/schor.html>.

“Style Wars of the 1950s.” American Car Culture. 1. Colby College. 13 June 2004 <http://www.colby.edu/personal/z/zssager/style.html>.

Struggle with Conformity

Kim Nguyen, Chris Nguyen, and David Pham

            America in the 1950s appears to be a society characterized with the doom of its own post war triumph and economic prosperity. Coinciding with these deceptively auspicious traits is the undeniable demise of individualism. What makes this an even more ironic time period is the startling, but palpable emptiness of the soul and spiritual restlessness that seem to simultaneously exist with the prosperity of this most paradoxical era. For many war weary veterans and their domesticated wives, unconscious conformity was an effect of this unprecedented social affluence. However, a gradual sense of rebellion and disillusionment also began to reach eager ears, provoking these conformists to protest against falling victim to the same droning lifestyle and its exalted expectations. The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit written by Sloan Wilson and The Feminine Mystique written by Betty Friedan are the two most definitive and celebrated literary works produced during this era. The novels truly capture the sense of spiritual and personal loss for the individual in the somber roles set up by their rigid society.

            Another literary piece of work that exemplifies the theme of conformity in the 1950s is Sloan Wilson's The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit.  The main character of the novel is a representative of all the men in the 1950s who became conformists by putting on a suit every day and going to work in large corporations.  Their life became devoted this mundane routine known as the rat race (Halberstam).  The lives of the men of the 1950s were limited in their ability and potential because they were victims of suburbanization.  The trend of the era was for a man to be married and to maintain job in order to support his family and its consumption.  This did not allow a man to have any sense of freedom or enjoyment, even though throughout the era the people had been more prosperous than ever before.  The men of the 50s who wore their gray flannel suits and went to work everyday lived "through their ordinary lives with gritted teeth and sometimes fixed smiles" (Meador).  The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit was a representation of the discontent of the men of the time.  A great number of men were discontent because they were forced to enter their dull jobs right after leaving the world of war.  They were not used to unexciting world of work, and wanted to experience the thrill they had during World War II. 

            The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan changed and greatly altered the role of the woman. The traditional value of a woman was stretched to a point never seen by people of the period before. The socialistic character of a female person was altered in the book to show a challenge to the conformity world around them. While the Flannel Suit explained the working man, the Feminine Mystique showed the rebellion of the woman. Both booked exemplified the change of the era and the beginning of a different value system. The role of the American man and woman was changed forever as a result.

            The 50s was a time of change and development, but also a period of rebellion. Traditional values were constantly questioned and individualism became a growing idea. Writers like Sloan and Friedan placed the values of the struggle against conformity into their stories, which told the basic views of the fifties. With  booming economy, America assumed world power, but with great powers created much turmoil and change within itself. The 50s became the playground of change that created new values for modern day America that changed the role of the entire nation long after the era was over.

Works Cited

 Bishop, Jill. "The Feminine Mystique."        

     http://www.bishopfamily.info/Essays/feminine_mystique.htm . 11 Jun 2004 <>.

 Halberstam, David. The Fifties. Villard Books: New York, 1994.

 Meador, Sarah. "Sloan Wilson, The Man In The Gray Flannel Suit." Rambles 22 Feb

           2003. 11 June 2003. <http://www.rambles.net/wilson_grayflannel.html>

Civil Rights Struggle

Leslie Ramirez, Annie Hoang, and Janice Le

        “Give me Liberty or give me death,” Thomas Jefferson stated in his speech, which would prove to be a slogan for the rest of the Americans. African Americans, who were fed up with not having equal liberties as their white counterpart, begin their national civil rights movement in the 1950s.

            The Civil Rights Movement stemmed from the 1950s as challenges came to the court on public segregation. Supreme Justice Earl Warren had to deal with the laws that were set forth with Jim Crow. Segregated public schooling would envelope all-white schools and inferior black schools, as set forth in the court decision of Plessy v. Ferguson. Angered blacks around the country would soon begin their campaign against such injustice. Thurgood Marshall and the NAACP begin to challenge the courts at the elementary school level with minor cases and moved their way up to the high court. Supreme Justice Earl Warren made the tough decision of giving the verdict to Marshall in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, which started to desegregate some schools. Opposition was met in the southern states as all-white schools would have to assimilate black students in. Arising from the Brown decision, leaders and activists would begin to fight for their rights.

Nearly fifteen million blacks were living in the 1950s and two thirds of them were living in the south. They spend their lives in a peculiar arrangement of separate social arrays that kept them isolated from whites economically and politically. The NAACP, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, tried persistently to dismantle the harsh rules of segregation and in the end received success. In 1950, the NAACP consists of leaders known as Thurgood Marshall, William Hastie, and James Nabrit who were all educated as lawyers by Charles Houston at Howard University in Washington. These lawyers dealt with the Brown decision and many others against school boards that dealt with integrating schools in such cases as Topeka and Kansas that became the basis of the Brown decision. These men accumulated examples to support their assault on their “separate buy equal” doctrine. Another organization that formed in the 1950s was the Southern Christian Leadership Conference by a well known leader, Martin Luther King Jr. His amazing oratorical skills, his devotion to biblical and constitutional concepts were the basis of this organization. The nonviolent principles of Mohandas Gandhi, the discipline from Civil Disobedience of Henry David Thoreau and as well as the Christian doctrine were all the forefront of the black revolution that would soon spread throughout the nation. King approached to solve the racial struggle and urged African Americans to only engage in peaceful demonstrations, whereas, to be prepared to get arrested, to receive beatings, and to respond to hate with love.

Other African Americans who contributed to the Civil Rights movement in the 1950s, is Rosa Parks. She is an active civil rights leader in the community and when was told to be seated in the back of the bus, she refused. This then ignited other black leaders in Montgomery to use this to challenge the segregation of buses. Her arrest led many African Americans in the community to help other local leaders to organize an effective boycott of the bus system to end segregation in public transportation. Later in the mid 1950s African Americans establishes themselves as important athletes in professional sports. One athlete is Jack Roosevelt “Jackie” Robinson, a baseball player for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947. Robinson was able to crack part of the racial barrier in sports. With that in mind, President Eisenhower completes the integration of the armed forces and to desegregate the federal work force. Thus leading to the 1957 civil rights act providing a federal; protection for blacks who wanted to vote.

         Through the efforts of many organizations and leaders a series of events in the 50’s began to pave the way for the rising civil rights movement. It would take the bravery of Rosa Parks on December 1, 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama refusing to give up her seat to a white person on the bus to ignite a series of events. With the aid of local leaders a boycott of public transportation began and finally ended when the Supreme Court ruled segregation on public transportation illegal in 1956. An organized approach to the Civil Rights struggle rising in the 50’s gave the movement a power which it had not formally known. Later in September of 1957 President Eisenhower would have to enforce federal when a black girl would not be admitted to enter school, this was known as the Little Rock incident. Eisenhower would also aid the movement that year bye signing a civil rights that completely integrated the armed forces. With the aid many people changes began to occur it would take deceive action for the movement for major action to begin occurring. The movement in the 1950’s would continue and progress greatly in the 1960’s with events, such as the sit-in- act F.W. Woolworth that occurred on February 1, 1960.

 Works Cited

Bailey, Thomas, Kennedy, David. The American Pageant. Lexington: D.C. Health Company. 1991.

Brinkley, Alan, American History: A Survey. Boston: McGraw-Hill. 1999. 1015 – 1018.

Nonconformity: Film and Music

Phong Dang, Christine Nguyen, Tina Pham, and Stephanie Vo

During the years following WWII, extreme societal pressures emerged from the media and from the people themselves to conform. However, those dissatisfied with the materialistic, affluent society searched for an escape from the confinements of the American dream. As a result, a counterculture led by the ‘beatniks’ emerged, as seen through the underlying messages of film and music. Films such as The Wild One and Rebel Without a Cause as well as music artists such as Elvis Presley all came to embody the non-conformist spirit of the 1950s.

In a film directed by Laszlo Benedek, The Wild One tells the tale of a group of young, insurgent motorcyclists who stumble upon a town named Wrightsville, and wreak havoc after being kicked out of other various places that did not welcome them. Johnny Strabler, the main character played by Marlon Brando, portrays the ringleader of the group who constitute The Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. Proceeding into this town, Johnny meets a young girl named Kathie Bleeker whose father is the local sheriff. “At first it appears that the two couldn’t be anymore different, he’s a rebellious free spirit and she’s lead quite a sheltered life going by rules and discipline. But it is through Kathie that we get to know the real Johnny as it is revealed that behind all the macho bravado he is quite a lost insecure soul unable to emotionally communicate with anyone, which explains why he behaves as he does” ( “Wild” 1). Meanwhile, Johnny’s old friend, Chino, finds Johnny in Wrightsville and ends up going to jail after picking a fight with an authoritative figure in town named Charlie Thomas. The Black Rebels throw Charlie into jail as well and disrupt the town’s peace by giving it a taste of their vivacity. The townspeople are caught in a parallel between their world that is predictable and organized and between a world that is chaotic and capricious, symbolizing the significant correlation between the traditional and counter cultures. Ultimately, Johnny and his club are forced to leave town and to never return, ending his unspoken romance with Kathie Bleeker and discovering the little part of himself that realizes the goodness in people who are not all out to get him.

Although The Wild One “might look quite tame compared to today’s standards at the time of its release,” it was “considered ground breaking stuff which upset its fair share of people. However, it helped inspire the era of rebellion which led to such classics as the James Dean epic Rebel Without a Cause” (“Wild” 1). Johnny’s characterization of an arrogant and obnoxious youth correlates with the counterculture at the time of the fifties that strived for a sense of individuality and freedom away from the authoritative constraints of having a house, car, and kids. 

The 1955 film Rebel Without A Cause epitomizes the rebelliousness evident in the fifties youth.  The screenplay by Stewart Stern was based on "an actual case study (in Dr. Robert Lindner's 1944 factual book titled Rebel Without A Cause) of a delinquent, imprisoned teenage psychopath in the post-war years” (Dirks 1). This classic film, originally titled The Blind Run, focuses on the character of Jim Stark (played by James Dean), a rebellious social outcast who searches for his meaning and identity through his familial neglect and his two fellow teenage misfits (Judy and Plato).  At “the age when nothing fits” as Judy’s mother puts it, these three teenagers, misfits themselves, must learn to deal with their dysfunctional lives—Jim whose parents refuse to face their own problems as well as his, Judy whose father is abusive and cannot cope with her womanhood, and Plato whose homosexuality leads his parents to abandon him to a maid.  These teenagers are incapable of understanding their parents’ actions as their parents are of their actions, which creates a rift not only within these families but within the community as well.  Plato, because of this lack of understanding, is killed, which goes to show that adults do not provide teenagers with solutions but rather provide them with mere suggestions. Throughout the film, the parent-child relationship is tense, but even at the end “there is no reconciliation between the teenagers and their parents, or between their parents and each other” (McKeen 2).  Between Plato’s death and the misunderstanding, there is no solution to the plight of these teenagers.  This pessimistic description of adolescent years in a cause and effect relationship refuses “to brush off teen years as inconsequential and offers no easy solutions” (3).  Rather than attempting to rationalize the counterculture of the 1950s, Rebel Without A Cause frankly reflects the plight of adolescence of teenagers like Jim Stark and draws a picture of the rebellious, misunderstood youth (counterculture) in the face of the static boring mainstream culture, juxtaposing counterculture rebelliousness seen in the character of Jim Stark with the conformist 1950s.

 In music artists like Elvis Presley, much of the same rebellious style was incorporated into his musical masterpieces as well.  During the fifties, the emerging Rock and Roll music of Elvis Presley epitomized the nonconformist spirit of the growing counter culture. Blues and country music from earlier decades combined to form a new sound. Elvis took this new sound to millions of homes across the nation, bringing him fame as well as devotion from fans in the fifties looking for new nonconformist music different from their parents.

    Although Elvis grew up in a small town, the discovery of Elvis Presley as a musical artist influenced and shocked the music world. As a nervous teen of eighteen years, Elvis walked into Sun recording studio to record what he claimed was a birthday gift for his mother. Sam Philips, impressed by the Elvis' ballad singing and his influence of what was then called race music, signed Elvis to his recording label, Sun Records (Presley, Elvis 1). Elvis embodied the perfect candidate to be the first big Rock and Roll star because he was a white man that could perform black music as well as the black artists due to his poor Southern upbringing. During the fifties, conformity pressures would not allow and accept black artists as readily as a white one. Thus, Sam Philips believed Elvis would launch this new sound because he contained the good-looking southern boy look, which was acceptable to the adults (Halberstam). As a result, Elvis' music acted as a spring board for other artists in Rock and Roll to rebel against conformist music since his looks allowed his music to be spread among the young teens of the counter culture.

Adults and the conformist culture were frightened and angered by the nonconformist music Elvis popularized. The term rock and roll originally refers to having sex (Halberstam). As a result, white parents were afraid of the association of Rock and Roll music with sex, Satan, and sin. In addition, many adults associated Rock and Roll music solely with African American music, and their racist views did not approve of this influence. Elvis' sang romantic ballads as well as faster Rock and Rolls songs. His controversial erotic style of gyrations on stage gained Elvis popularity among teens. However the same style of dance alienated adults and authority figures of the day (Presley, Elvis 1). Thus Elvis' music acts as another symbol for the non-conformist spirit among young people to rebel against their parents and their parent's conformist way of life.

            Although the fifties were typically known for conformity and societal pressures to imitate the American Dream, nonconformist music and film provided an outlet for those uncomfortable with the conservative society.  These emerging nonconformists developed a counterculture to illustrate their alienated feelings and rebellious urges.  Characters from The Wild One and Rebel Without A Cause roamed about towns looking for trouble and freedom against societal confinements while millions of fanatic fans listened into the new African American influenced sounds of Rock and Roll led by Elvis Presley.   Rebellious films and music of the fifties spoke the voice of the beatniks to a generation to cultivate the youth counterculture.

Works Cited

Dirks, Tim. “Rebel Without A Cause (1955).” Film site. 2004. 

<http://www.filmsite.org/rebel.html>.

Halberstam, David. The Fifties. New York: Ballantine Books, Inc., 1994.

McKeen, Nate.  “Rebel Without A Cause As Autobiographical Validation.”

<http://www.imagesjournal.com\issue05\features\jamesdean.htm>.

"Presley, Elvis." Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia.  2004.

            <http://encarta.msn.com>. © 1997-2004 Microsoft Corporation.

"The Wild One, 1953." IMDB. 2004: 1. <http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0047677/>.

Nonconformity: The Beats

Elric Chou, Bill Giang, and Quan Voung

            In the 1950s there was a lot of fear among many Americans about living in the Cold War period, and the possibility that the human world would end.  However, a group of young people began to question how society had defined roles in America, a group began to grow in size to counter the current culture of the 50s, there people would begin a new idealism known as Beat.  The Beat generation, spreading from New York City to San Francisco, focused on the idea of non conformity and the desire to be different from the accepted normalcy of the 1950s people.  This generation wished to avoid being victims of things related to conformity such as “rat races”, flannel suits, routine, etc.  In some cases, the conformity made some feel as if a part of them was taken away like men losing their manhood to the corporate world.

            The culture of the 1950s was basically conservative and right-wing while the counter-culture was liberal and left-wing.  With the culture, there was a sense for more economic freedoms.  The counter-culture, on the other hand, supported the personal freedoms of the individual.  This gap was more than political as age was a major factor.  The youth tend to be part of the counter-culture while those that were older were part of the culture.

The beat generation would be influenced by a man who wanted to change the way people saw society.  The name Beat was given to the people involved in the new movements because they felt beat down or held down by society. The name Beatnik, however, would come from those of the current culture.  It was basically the culture’s attempt to shame the Beats by relating them to the Communists.  In this case, the Soviet satellite Sputnik was integrated with the name Beat.  Jack Kerouac wrote a book about his journey with his new friend Neal Casidy on the road traveling west.  His influence through his book On the Road was a collection of events on his trip that he wrote whatever he felt like writing in his own personal way. Jack writes when, "Route 6 came over the river, wound around a traffic circle, and disappeared into the wilderness. Not only was there no traffic but the rain come down in buckets and I had no shelter. I had to run under some pines to take cover; this did no good; I began crying and swearing and socking myself on the head for being such a damn fool," the idea of not following the normal ways and branching out of the ordinary many non-conformist began to act freely. The beatniks used the ideas of On the Road and Jack's ideas to form a counter culture that contradicted the way the American people lived their lives.  Kerouac is an influential part of the idea that non-conformity movement in because the many people felt displaced, and they had an outlet to express themselves from the socially accepted way of life.  All they wish to do was to just go against many qualities of the culture.  Because there was not one distinct thing for the counter-culture to go against, the Beats were basically “rebels without a cause”.

The beat generation had a large impact on the literature during the time. The beats tried to change the style of writing to reflect their views on society. The whole purpose of writing for a beat was to find the highest level of spirituality that once can achieve through the art of writing. Beat works admired friendship, sexuality, drug use, and outcasts while using jazz as its motivation and style. In simpler terms, anything that the culture did not approve or were not “square”, the Beats would enjoy and approve of it.  Among the many writers of the time noteworthy ones included Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac. Allen Ginsberg was very successful and in 1956 his epic poem, Howl, received much attention from society. Many people congratulated him for his break through work while others criticized him for his openness to homosexuality and narcotics. These mixed opinions exemplified the way the 1950’s was. There was such a definite gap between the culture and the counter culture as it soon came into view that they were pure opposites of one another.  With Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac both made a large impact on poetry.

Important figures helped to shape the image of the Beat Generation and the ideas they were trying to express.  The Beatniks showed the American people that non-conformity was a growing trend, acceptable, and it was okay to be abnormal.  The Beatniks changed American society giving new ideals about living free and not yielding to the socially accepted way of life, but also gave a sense from the culture to keep society the way it was.

Works Cited

Brinkley, Alan. American History: A Survey, Tenth Edition. Boston: McGraw-Hill College, 1999.

Literary Kicks.  “From 'On The Road' by Jack Kerouac” http://www.litkicks.com/Texts/RoadRoute6.html

The Beat Page.  RookNet Project.  Copyright 1997-2001.  http://www.rooknet.com/beatpage/writers/index.html

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