Why do some people think the 1950's were so fabulous?

[raccoon]

I was there, so I know of the usual suspects. But I'd like to hear your thoughts.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

1. Because lots of people they don't like were miserable.

And the misery of people they don't like is for them like water and air is for you and me.

[av8rdave]

2. Because I was born in them

[Jennicut]

3. I don't know, I grew up in the 80's. My parents tell me that most stuff was swept under the rug

during that time period and it was not as perfect as some people made it out to be.

[raccoon]

8. Your parents are right. nt

[no_hypocrisy]

4. There were some virtues -- if you were white and middle classe and lived in a suburb.

[Hannah Bell]

73. There were some virtues even if you were none of those things.

[Hansel]

98. And male. nt

[randr]

5. Very cool sunglasses

[MissMarple]

114. And the clothes, the cigarette holders, the hats, the cocktails...

And did I mention the clothes? Twin sets and pearls are forever! Properly translated, of course. The poodle skirts...not so much all that.

[Fumesucker]

6. Because the top marginal tax rate was 95% ? n/t

[ipaint]

18. +1. That and insurance companies offered an affordable product without a mandate.

Imagine that.

[randr]

7. Dupe-ignor

[kctim]

9. Smaller population

and less govt control of personal lives.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

49. Yeah, damn Civil Rights Act. That no-good meddling government! -nt

[kctim]

72. And the CRA

has what to do with govt controlling personal lives, how? Yeah, it doesn't. Pathetic attempt there.

Smaller population = less traffic, larger living spaces, less pollution etc...
Govt not controlling personal lives = busy bodies not using govt to dictate how others live their lives.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

82. You think there was less pollution in the fifties?

:rofl:

[kctim]

87. That had a direct affect

on those more than likely to say they were fab? Of course. That's common sense for all who don't have some grand illusion that the world revolves around some shithole city.

[superduperfarleft]

92. DDT? n/t

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

93. Could you rephrase that in the form of a coherent thought, please?

[kctim]

129. Ok

First off, you are correct. It was near the end of the day and I was in a rush. My apologies.

What I was going for is that those most inclined to miss the fab 50s are mainly going to be the ones who were least affected by problems like pollution and overpopulation. You could drive for 5 minutes and leave most of that behind in the 50s, whereas it now takes you about 20 minutes.
In regards to pollution, the plants are larger and there are thousands more of them. They also are no longer found primarily in the industrialized areas of yester-year. Hog plants, powerplants etc... are now in smaller rural areas instead of only large cities.

Our demand grew and the things we thought were great are gone.

[PSzymeczek]

105. No, but

Pollution was a sign of industrial progress.

[HeresyLives]

10. Because they are remembering their own childhood.

They could run and play and have a good time...and if you lived like Beaver Cleaver, it WAS a good time.

Young, innocent and carefree.

They didn't know all the things their parents were worried about. Not just bills, but the Korean war and the Cold War, and the communist witch-hunts and the repression and so on.

So they aren't remembering the '50's' as such...just their childhood.

[Berry Cool]

29. It's true. It's like The Daily Show said.

The vast majority of nostalgia in the world is not actually nostalgia for a past era in all its gritty reality, but nostalgia for the time when one was a child.

[HeresyLives]

39. Ahh well then I agree with them.

Because the 50s was actually a lousy decade, and I never want to go thru one like that again!

[TwilightGardener]

11. I wasn't there, but the cars (and new interstates to drive them on) would have been pretty sweet.

[woo me with science]

83. Yep, without the traffic of today

and some POWERFUL engines.

[PSzymeczek]

106. And REALLY inexpensive gasoline! n/t

[guitar man]

12. The economy

Post war boom, rich paid their fair share of taxes and heavy unionization of industries that produced American made products.

[Sal Minella]

44. The salary of one working parent would cover the mortgage,

insurance and utilities payments, savings for college and vacation expenses while one parent was home with/for the kids.

Employers had some loyalty to their workers and did not treat them like toilet paper.

Edit: On the darker side, I knew women who died from botched (then illegal) abortions.

[Macoy]

47. The Hard Times Were Over

I think a lot of the adults during the 50’s were very happy with their lives. And we get part of our view from that.

Imagine growing up in the Great Depression, going off to fight for years in a horric world war (or seeing your sweetheart off to war), you come home, go to college under the GI bill, land a safe white collar job, or one of those high paying manufacturing job…with a strong union of course.

Yea, maybe those colored folks aren’t sharing in the good times as much, and maybe one of the neighbors smacks his wife around a bit, but over all life is good and it is time to enjoy the fruit of all your hard work. Life is good, comfortable, predictable, and above all, safe.


Macoy

[guitar man]

56. yep, there were plenty of negatives

Inequality being the big one. Teenage girls who became pregnant suddenly whisked away out of sight like lepers, death from botched illegal abortions like the poster above said.

But I was just answering the question of why some people think the 50s were so great. Wheter they were or not, I don't know, I wasn't born until '63

[sinkingfeeling]

13. The '50s were good to me. Rock and roll began. Poodle skirts, bobby socks, and those

little scarves we tied around our ponytails. My dad was a farmer and I lived in rural Ohio. School had a total of 200 students in all 12 grades with a couple of black families. We had pot luck dinners and square dances. Big vegetable gardens, 4-H, and county fairs.

[timtom]

14. Cause of the Beaver, man! The Beaver!

Just kidding. As a child, I was bored then. When Kennedy got the presidential vote, I was energized. The sixties were an era to behold. The fifties? Feh! Not so much.

[jaxx]

15. Because it was conservative.

And that's why the GOP wants to take us back in time to the days of crewcuts and bobby sox. They think it was all sweetness and light. In reality it was closed doors and secrets.

[laughingliberal]

94. Really? Cause I'm thinking we have Democrats today who are to the right of

Eisenhower.

[Hansel]

100. It was socially conservative.

Almost Stepford wife conservative. Everything was hidden and there were things you didn't discuss in polite society. Everyone "knew their places" (code for "a lot of people suffered in silence for not being able to be who they want to be.").

[laughingliberal]

104. Ah. I can see that. I was young, born in '55 but I think a lot of that persisted to the middle 60's.

[Jim__]

16. After WWII, the US economy flourished.

And, between the end of WWII and, say 1966 - 67, people tended to be very optimistic about the future of the US. When the Civil Rights marches and Vietnam War protests got big, a lot of that optimism faded.

[DrDan]

17. no 24-hour news coverage

[Hansel]

103. I think that's a big part of it.

I sometimes wonder how much more sanely informed we would be if cable news dropped off the face of the earth and we had to rely on network news again.

Since there would be no need for attracting audiences by pushing infotainment, maybe we would have seen a whole new generation of Edmond R Murals and Walter Conkrites instead of the morons we have now. Buffoons like Bush would not have stood a chance and Palin would not have her juvenile face on my screen every time I channel surf.

The best thing the left could do is for everyone who has cable to cancel it at the exact same time and tell them why.

[DrDan]

117. I am the biggest violator of this (I work from home and a cable "news" NW is constantly on)

but you are correct

imagine the scrambling if the networks were back to cramming all the news of the day back into 30 minutes - to include weather and sports.

Then the cream could rise. Now it just gets plenty of airtime . . . amid the trash.

[RaleighNCDUer]

19. Because the majority of us are boomers, who were children then.

Out childhood memories, reinforced by Andy Griffith and I Love Lucy and Leave it to Beaver, shape a past with little conflict, fun and family. For a great many of us, history starts with JFK.

[pipi_k]

26. I couldn't have said it any better...

Aside from a few unpleasant things, it was a time of innocence for many of us. It was for me. I was born in 1952. The ending of my innocence started in 1969, although I do still have very fond feelings for the 70s, and even the 80s.

Back then, the safest place I knew of was my Meme and Grandpa's house. I never thought I would get to a point in life when the loss of them, and aunts and uncles, would be so painful. I miss them all so much.


Sometimes I wish I could go back in time and forget I know a lot of what I know now. Some of it hurts too much to even talk about.

[Bryn]

20. For me, 1950's was cool

We as kids were creative and we socialized much more with other kids in the neighborhood. We'd often play outside, riding our bikes, ran around freely until dusk. We had better health/dental care and would always have our teeth done. We were below the middle class.

People from churches would use to go to other people's houses bringing food, offered to help to clean up, etc. if someone was sick or something. They don't do these things today anymore. Mom had been a member of Village Church here for many years yet when she was diagnosed with dementia and came to live with me for me to take care of her, not one of members of that church ever came here with food for Mom or something! Not one! I could use their help with Mom now and then and give me a break.

We were Southerners and had fried chicken, pies, beans, etc. yet none of us were fat! Back then natural cane sugar was used instead of High Fructose Corn Syrup (man made stuff). Much less "additives" were used. We used fresh veggies, shell our own beans.

Christmas time was so much fun and full of spirits. Much much less commercial. We kids got a few things yet we were very happy and enjoyed hot chocolate, cookies, food. Today children get too much stuff they don't need. One child today has a room full of just toys for Christmas! Wow!

Much much less of "The Corporation". People like tellers, servers, clerks, etc. had more courtesy.

Less crowd, less traffic, too. Cars were much more lovely. I still miss my 1965 Mustang. I loved its body and style.

[bedazzled]

112. i had a 67 mustang -- wish i still had it

it was a terrific car!

[lunatica]

21. Because no one but white men had civil rights yet

And Betty Friedan hadn't written The Feminine Mystique yet where she pointed out that women weren't happy staying at home and taking care of hubby and kids. She actually sent out questionnaires to housewives and gathered the information because she was miserable and she wanted to know if other women were too. Her book made a profound difference for women.

http://www.greatwomen.org/women.php?action=viewone&id=62

(snip)

Betty Friedan has been central to the reshaping of American attitudes toward women's lives and rights. Through decades of social activism, strategic thinking and powerful writing, Friedan is one of contemporary society's most effective leaders.

Friedan's l963 book, The Feminine Mystique, detailed the frustrating lives of countless American women who were expected to find fulfillment primarily through the achievements of husbands and children. The book made an enormous impact, triggering a period of change that continues today.

more...

[Romulox]

22. Our country is terrible in the 2000s, regardless of what we remember from the '50s.

I get tired of this "things aren't so bad now!" tripe--apologism for the status quo is not "progressive", "liberal" or any other epithet associated with the left.

[Burma Jones]

23. Because we didn't know smoking would kill you

[slackmaster]

24. They were fabulous for many people

:shrug:

[azmouse]

25. It was the music.

Well I saw the thing comin' out of the sky
It had the one long horn, one big eye
I commenced to shakin' and I said "ooh-eee"
It looks like a purple eater to me

It was a one-eyed, one-horned, flyin' purple people eater
(One-eyed, one-horned, flyin' purple people eater)
A one-eyed, one-horned, flyin' purple people eater
Sure looks strange to me (One eye?)

Well he came down to earth and he lit in a tree
I said Mr. Purple People Eater, don't eat me
I heard him say in a voice so gruff
I wouldn't eat you cuz you're so tough

It was a one-eyed, one-horned, flyin' purple people eater
One-eyed, one-horned flyin' purple people eater
One-eyed, one-horned, flyin' purple people eater
Sure looks strange to me (One horn?)

I said Mr. Purple People Eater, what's your line
He said it's eatin' purple people and it sure is fine
But that's not the reason that I came to land
I wanna get a job in a rock and roll band

Well bless my soul, rock and roll, flyin' purple people eater
Pigeon-toed, undergrowed, flyin' purple people eater
(We wear short shorts)
Flyin' purple people eater
Sure looks strange to me

And then he swung from the tree and he lit on the ground
He started to rock, really rockin' around
It was a crazy ditty with a swingin' tune
Sing a boop boop aboopa lopa lum bam boom

Well bless my soul, rock and roll, flyin' purple people eater
Pigeon-toed, undergrowed, flyin' purple people eater
I like short shorts
Flyin' little people eater
Sure looks strange to me (Purple People?)

And then he went on his way, and then what do ya know
I saw him last night on a TV show
He was blowing it out, a'really knockin' em dead
Playin' rock and roll music through the horn in his head

[leftofcool]

27. Limbaugh and Beck were still sperm?

[Berry Cool]

32. And eggs.

THAT HADN'T YET MET.

Ah, if only...

[humblebum]

28. They were both good and bad. Back then Americans had jobs

and bought American products. Unions were strong and America was strong. Imagine that. And we let it slip away. there were also some very regrettable times - racism, lack of knowledge about harmful practices to the environment, etc. If we were wise we would work to restore the good that existed then and eliminate the bad.

[Echo In Light]

30. Nostalgia for a time that never existed (apropos line from Jello Biafra)

[Thothmes]

97. Sorta like the Camelot syndrom 0f the early sixties.

[PSzymeczek]

109. An excellent book is

"The Way We Never Were" by Stephanie Koontz.

[Ezlivin]

121. Excellent book!

It really pulls back the curtain on the romanticized past.

Highly recommended.

[Old Codger]

31. Easy

Euphoric recall......

[HopeHoops]

33. I don't care for most of the music, but some FUCKING cool cars came out of the 50's!

[Shell Beau]

34. I think celebs were more mysterious then because they

didn't have a paparazzi like we do now. I think it adds to the fascination.


ETA: I thought the post said why were people from the 1950's so great. I read it totally wrong.

[jpljr77]

35. Vast conspiracy started by the hatmaking lobby.n/t

[Stevenmarc]

36. Because people knew their place

all this equality is so damn confusing.

[Nye Bevan]

42. "All this equality"?

Private sector union membership has fallen from 35% in the 1950s to less than 10% today. There is certainly *less* equality today between the workers and the management/CEO types today than there was in the 1950s.

[Stevenmarc]

46. First

let's get this train back on the track. If I was referring to unions I would have mentioned them. My statement was a bit of social commentary not economic commentary, it has to do with white male middle class mythology.

SNL had a great video

http://www.funnyordie.com/embed_videos/30d5df0cdd/snl-a-ladies-guide-to-party-planning

[Nye Bevan]

54. Well, you just said "all this equality"

I don't think in 2010 that many laid-off autoworkers are reading about the Goldman Sachs bonuses and thinking about "all this equality". Obviously gay, minority and women's rights have improved since the 1950s but in many ways "equality" has taken a huge step backwards since then.

[Stevenmarc]

60. Again

this is social commentary not economic and while your point is valid on it's own merit it's an economic response not a social one and therefore has no bearing on my OP but thanks for playing.

[Hannah Bell]

118. economics isn't social? has nothing to do with social distinctions?

that must be why obama's president instead of some guy from east st. louis.

[Stevenmarc]

122. Sometimes I wonder

if people here type just to see themselves type because it's fucking obvious that certain responses have absolutely no relationship to the original topic. OK you appear to be lost, we were discussing the mythology of the 50's and last time I looked Obama wasn't president in the 50's and had he been Constitutionally eligible to be president in the 50's what do you think his chances would have been even if he had more money than God?

So let's be clear, we were talking about the 50's, it would be helpful if you forget your personal agenda and frame your responses with a little more historical perspective which was obviously lacking.

[pipi_k]

37. Lucy!!!!

One of my very favorite clips from "I Love Lucy".... :7


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScLNAVwmjgQ

[Winterblues]

38. Because Democrats controlled Congress and America stayed safe..

Not like when Republicans control government. When Republicans are in charge all Hell breaks loose, and America trembles.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

40. It was a good time to be a child and a good time to be

a working-class white male. I spent my elementary school years in a manufacturing town. Most of my classmates were the children of assembly line workers, and they all lived in single-family houses, the family had a car, and they took vacations. It was the way Michael Moore describes his childhood in Capitalism: A Love Story.

It was a bad time to be dark-skinned or to be out of the sexual mainstream or to be a woman who didn't want to be The Happy Homemaker.

However, we had nearly full employment, prices and wages were in synch, the crime rate was low, public services were of high quality (schools and libraries were open and well-maintained, the streets and sidewalks and parks were kept in repair), and most of our major cities still had vital working-class and middle-class neighborhoods.

So it was the best of times and the worst of times, depending on your situation.

[Nye Bevan]

41. I thought it was because non-highly educated manual workers could earn a good living

That factory workers could afford to buy houses and take vacations and generally had good health care and pensions that enabled them to enjoy their retirement. Thanks largely to unions being much stronger than they are today.

Also: "banksters" pretty much did not exist, so neither did CDO's, subprime mortgages and predatory lending; if you wanted a mortgage you went to the bank in your local town where you knew the loans officer and he would only lend you what you could afford to repay. CEOs did *not* earn $100mm per year; they earned a much more reasonable multiple of the average worker's salary, compared to today.

I was not around during the 50s so those who were, please feel free to correct or educate me.

[raccoon]

43. Great point in your second paragraph: more regulation of banks. nt

[FarCenter]

58. The reason that CEOs didn't make $10 mm / year was that the owners did

Today's $100 mm was $10 mm or less back in the '50s, adjusting for inflation.

More companies were still directly controlled by the founders or the founding families. The Ford family wouldn't have paid the CEO of Ford a lot, since they were the principle owners of the company. Same for the Duponts, who still owned much of Dupont Chemical and part of General Motors.

[laughingliberal]

95. +1 nt

[Kievan Rus]

45. Because straight white Protestant old men were in charge of everything

That's what it all boils down to. That's all the modern "conservative" movement cares about.

No wonder they loved the Fifties...when it was still legal to beat your wife, burn crosses on black people's lawns, make blacks sit at the back of the bus, beat your children, beat up gay people, so forth and so on.

I hope most people here would agree the Fifties sucked.

[hayu_lol]

57. Seems obvious that many here did not enjoy the freedoms...

and the joys that many of us had growing up pre-TV in the 30s, 40s, and 50s. Those were for most people, pretty good times. Moms were at home for the most part. Most families had plenty to eat. We all entertained ourselves.

Grew up in Hollywood. We left the cross burnings, the back of the bus routines, and the like to the south. Beating kids...hmmm...seems like people are still doing that.

Overall, despite WWII and the start of Korea, those were good times for most people most of the time.

[Hansel]

102. Except for the Moms who were at home for the most part.

There were a lot of women who did not like being homemakers. It was good for the kids and Dad, but not so good for Mom in, I would wager, most cases.

My Mom was bored to death, literally. She saw none of her dreams or her family again after my Dad moved across country to pursue his career. There were many many women in our neighborhood who were bored silly and depressed at being so limited in life experiences. And they dare not complain because the woman's place in the home, preferably in the kitchen barefoot and pregnant.

[Blue_Tires]

48. THREE baseball teams in New York??

[EFerrari]

63. LOL!

That must have been great. :)

[Blue_Tires]

64. I was talking with a transplanted New Yorker during the holidays

and he could never understand my fascination with his childhood in the 50s...I was all like "YOU actually went to games at the Polo Grounds!!?!" and to him is was no big deal at all...

[EFerrari]

67. When my family came here, the men started taking their wives

to games at Candlestick. Huge mistake. The ladies became by far the bigger fans and pretty soon, it was just us girls at those games. My mom used to dress my little brother up as a girl to get into Ladies Day.

Willie Mays, McCovy, the Alou Bros, Juan Marichal, Gaylord Perry, Tito Fuentes, Orlando Cepeda. They got to the Stick in 1960. I don't remember Seals Stadium where they played for a few years before that but you never forget the COLD at Candlestick. lol

[Thothmes]

101. Until 1957, when that rat Omalley moved the Dodgers to LA

[FarCenter]

50. In rural areas, prices were low, farmers failed, farms were consolidated

This was between the Korean War and the recession of 1958.

And rock and roll was the work of the devil.

[renie408]

51. They watched too many Leave It To Beaver reruns as kids. n/t

[JVS]

52. I think it might help to consider just how unpleasant the 30s and early 40s were.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

53. The best thing about the stifling '50s is that they led to '60s revolution.

[tonysam]

55. Prosperity for most families

Strong unions, strong manufacturing, great television, great music, and great, great cars.

[daa]

61. BINGO Two people did NIT have to work to get by and

they had this thing called uh defined benefit pension.

[Redbear]

59. I think it was because the middle class actually grew more prosperous

Unlike the the past 30 years

[SOS]

62. Maybe because the Great Depression and WWII were hell

After 20 years of suffering and death, the economic expansion of the 1950s was a welcome relief.
People who lived through all of it may be remembering it in this context.

[StarlightGold]

65. Fab '50's

Many things were great about those times for those who were white and middle class. Good economy,an abundance of food, the wealthy payed much more of their share of taxes, cool fashions, etc. I'm glad that is was like that for them; I wouldn't ever want to take that away from them, but it would've been that much better if things could be like that for everyone, no matter what gender, color, religion, or sexual orientation. That's a wonderful goal to be striving for in this country. (Yes, I know, the cool fashions are frivolous, but nice to have).

[SoCalDem]

66. People "identify" with the time in their lives when they were young and carefree

People tend to reflect, as they age and find more time behind them, than in front..It's only natural to fear the future (especially when it's the end of your lifetime), and to want to look back to when you were young, healthy and things were simpler.

The people who are "old" now, are Boomers & their parents, so their "young lives" just happen to be the 50's & 60's..

The Boomer Gen is HUGE, so there are a lot of people for whom that was their carefree time..

In a decade , those "good old days" will become the 70's & 80's:)

[Pithlet]

85. I agree. I think that's human nature. But I think it's just that we tend to forget the bad stuff.

I'm not so sure that things really were more carefree and simpler. We just forget how tough youth was. I mean, obviously, it differs individually but generally speaking I think adulthood is easier in many ways. We have more control over our personal destinies. It may seem that things were more carefree, but when you think about it, they weren't. You lived wherever your parents lived. You went to school where they told you to. Everything basically revolved around how they set things up for you and you had to deal with it whether you liked it or not. And if those circumstances were less than ideal, it could be really rough. But even if it were idealic, things were still pretty much out of your control. My childhood was pretty happy, and even I can remember some pretty tough bumps in the road if I really think about it. And there weren't a whole lot of things I could do about them at the time. Just a lot of feelings of helplessness at those times. But we gloss over those bumps in our memories. I tend to think about the happy moments more, so those are the memories that are more solid. And there's nothing wrong with that; it just is. Then of course the problems that we face as adults are more fresh and immediate in our minds and so they take precedence overall in our minds. So childhood and youth look better by comparison. That's my theory, anyway :)

[Nye Bevan]

68. Many posters in this thread seem to think that the 50s weren't so good after all.

But one aspect of the 50s is undeniable:-



http://www.demographia.com/lm-unn99.htm

[Mari333]

69. the 50s are why the 60s Happened. nt

[upi402]

70. Whatever decade you were in while in childhood

is the best. So childhood during was best.

[Jennicut]

74. I remember my childhood fondly but looking back, Reagan and HW Bush were in charge and

it was not the best time. The 80's seemed good until we entered the 90's and realized what a huge sham it had been.

[NoGOPZone]

71. As Ned Flanders once said

"I wish we lived in a place more like the America of yesteryear that only exists in the brains of us Republicans"

[Bluebear]

75. Smoking did not cause cancer back then. And I Love Lucy.

:)

[Odin2005]

76. Youth nostalgia and a strong economy.

Most of those people seem to be older Boomers and younger members of the Silent Generation.

I was born in 1986 and I know I suffer from 90s nostalgia even though I know intellectually that Clinton was a corporatist hack.

[Zoeisright]

77. Because it's in the past and we know what happened.

[raccoon]

123. And we know what didn't happen--a nuclear war between the US and the Soviets. nt

[Toasterlad]

78. Short Answer: They Were Good Times To Be a Straight White Male

Longer answer: the Daily Show did a piece on this not all that long ago. People who were children in the 50's are nostalgic for the 50's BECAUSE THEY WERE CHILDREN. Children in America generally have a much better time as children than they do as adults. They're ALWAYS going to think things were "better" when they were young, because things WERE better...for THEM. They didn't have jobs, they had limited responsibilities, they were largely unaware of societal problems. The 1950's were a good time to be a child because EVERY time is a good time to be a child.

[dionysus]

79. cause i hear it was great for white males... others.. not so much..

[TexasObserver]

80. Birth of Rock n Roll, Elvis, big cars with fins, the emergence of TV.

Nostalgia is about those things. Not segregation. Not all the other ills.

[Greyhound]

81. It was the fulfillment of the delusion and cultural turning point.

A fundamental shift in how "Americans" viewed the large and powerful.

[Ardent15]

84. Because the 60s hadn't happened yet.nt

[JerseygirlCT]

86. They're white, heterosexual men? nt

[Cleita]

88. Two things that were better.

We weren't at war between the times of the Korean War and the Vietnam War. There was the cold War, but the Cold War didn't cause deaths except maybe to spies. If you were poor, most likely you weren't homeless. There was always some assistance that provided you with shelter.

[raccoon]

124. And very low inflation. nt

[undeterred]

89. Ecomically it was better.

I remember one of my professors talked about going to graduate school in the 50s. He didn't have to work a part time job, not even in the summer. He spent a few hours a day studying and the rest of the day at the beach. Sounds idyllic compared to what most people go through now to put themselves through school.

[Yehonala]

90. Seemingly Simpler Things

Perhaps it's because things seemed so much simpler. While roles were stifling, it created a lot of stability. I don't think people understand that in that time, there was a ton of damage and even a lot of abuse, but people didn't face things. People romanticize the ideal of a mother being home, a dad bringing home the bacon, and the kids not having any stress. It's a time when everyone lived up to ideals, however constricting or stifling or however much it denied a lot of negative things.

The fundamental problem comes at when women needed a man rather than a job ot make their own way in the world. Each time people I hear a woman wanting to be just a wife and mother, I wonder if it is because they want to be taken care of, rather than actually be a mother. One article recently stated that a feminist had a daughter who wanted to just marry a wealthy man. Not a decent, hardworking, honorable man, but a WEALTHY man. A rather funny response by a poster said that if women want wealthy men, then they better go to some charm school and graduate with a certificate in virginity.

I think poeple idealize the idea that life back then was easy, when it wasn't. It never has been, that being what life is about. Back then, class divisions were more difficult to scale, mainly because a woman did only so well as her husband. If her husband was rich, so was she. If he was poor, so was she. Women weren't allowed to make their own way in the world.

[anonymous171]

91. For white middle class Americans the 1950s were a time of extreme prosperity

Nothing wrong with that part of it. Unions were strong and pay was good. What's not to love?

[The Genealogist]

96. For some, the 50's were the best time they ever had that never was

My parents came of age in the 1950s. They were white, middle class people, and it is for such people that the 50's were best. Even then, the two of them had selective memories of the decade. In my mother's sanitized version, her greatest worry was whether she would have to skate alone tonight at the skating rink.

For my father, it was whether he would have someone to park with. The earliest parts of their lives were spent in the death throes of the depression and in WWII. Dad's family was poor enough before the 1950s that it was sometimes worried if there was to be food, and often food meant just enough to assuage hunger for a few hours. Mom had it a bit easier, but still I think her folks spent no small amount of time wringing blood from turnips.

For many folks coming out of the 30s and 40s, the fifties seemed very bright. My paternal grandfather went from hustling for any work he could get to a steady letter carrier job. My maternal grandfather went from small steady income as carpenter to moderate steady income as small time construction contractor.

There was no global warming, though there was a fear of being nuked into the hearafter. Non-whites "kept their place." LGBTQ folk were laughable people to smack on and shuffle off to mental hospitals. Childbirth happened in some room some place in a hospital while Dad chain-smoked in the waiting room. The problems of the era get swept under the rug, while the good things (and there were good things) to come out of the decade get magnified.

[texanwitch]

99. I remember very little of the 50's, I was a small child.

It was all good for me.

I think it is like everything else, there is good and bad to deal with.

[kgnu_fan]

107. Because everyone felt that the War was "righteous and good"

[WonderGrunion]

108. I think they were great because we had a 90% top tax rate.

Imagine the social programs we could enact with that kind of tax revenue.

[TrogL]

110. You were encouraged to beat your wife and kids

If you didn't the cops were on your doorstep asking why you weren't keeping them under control.

[Uzybone]

111. some white folks do...everybody else...not so much

[Maru Kitteh]

113. Because they're white?

[gimama]

115. all these replies & no recs?!?

what the heck?
goood discussion tho, thanks for starting it!
ps KnR

[The Midway Rebel]

116. ROCK-A-BILLY!!!

http://rockabillydj.mypodcast.com/

[saltpoint]

119. I don't particularly care for the haircuts of that era, nor for a lot of the

pop music. Neither haircuts nor pop music started to get all that interesting, IMO, until the 60s. Interestingly, the Beatles embodied what was felt to be striking change in both categories.

I harbor doubts about our culture during the 1950s in part because when you scan the social and political landscape of that decade you have a sneaking feeling that Norman Rockwell is directing a movie and you have inadvertently wandered onto the set, surprised to find that you know your lines. It's eery. David Lynch kind of gets at this eeriness in BLUE VELVET, in scenes such as the little kid waving innocently to the fire truck as it drives down the street.

In the 1950s this country built gas-sucking hulks for cars and legally discriminated against just about any unsanctioned group of people. Immorally, we fled the communities of the cities for all-white suburbs with big lawns.

Politically, it was a largely dull and mostly unexamined decade. For eight of its ten years Richard Nixon was the Vice President of the United States.

[old mark]

120. What I remember of the '50's -except for the beginnings of rock n roll - is completely

awful. Most people today would not be able to stand it.
Everything was authoritarian to a degree that would not be tolerated now. Bigotry, racism, every other -ism you can name not only flourished, in most cases they were THE LAW. The FBI was the national police force, and Hoover was at his most insane, infiltrating leftist groups-unions, black voter registration organizations, etc, and spying on US citizens for political blackmail. Police regularly beat "confessions" out of suspects, and some people "disappeared" while in prison.
People with "personal problems" were told to not mention them to others, gays were arrested.
Most popular music was awful, most food was boring as were most movies. TV was primitive, and while some was absolutely great, most was not.
A man making over $100 a week was well off. Most working women were waitresses or clerks.
I might occasionally look back fondly on parts of the '60's or '70's, but almost never on anything from the '50's.

mark

[raccoon]

126. Good post. I agree with you on many things, but not on this:

"Most popular music was awful," Most, but there was some good stuff. Hank Williams, Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly, Elvis.

" most food was boring " Man, to me one of the good things was the food! Fried chicken, rice and gravy, fried squash, fried okra, biscuits, divinity fudge, caramel cakes...lots of good home cooking that is hard to find now.

"as were most movies." I liked the Disney movies of the era, Rebel Without A Cause, some of the horror movies, which weren't great but now I enjoy because they're campy.

" TV was primitive, and while some was absolutely great, most was not." Well, yeah. I think most TV of any decade isn't great.

But the main drawback of the era, for those of us in the Southeast:

No effing air conditioning!

[old mark]

132. I loved the rock n roll and rockabilly, even a lot of the C&W, but that

"Doggy in the Window" shit stuck in my mind....
I think I should have been born in the south - I missed food like that...fried chicken is one of my all time favorite things.

A really agree about the A/C....even here in PA, the humidity in summer makes it hard to breathe, and sleeping was pretty tough in July and August.

mark

[salguine]

125. Because if you were white, straight, Christian and male, they WERE great.

[conscious evolution]

127. They were Happy Days because

no one had jumped the shark yet.

[PassingFair]

128. It's the FURNITURE, Luv!

Loves me some Mid-Century Modern!

[Myrina]

130. Its mythology turned into collective (false) memory ....

Read this book/saw this author while in college: she researched and summed it up well.

"The Way We Never Were: American Families and the Nostalgia Trap" (Paperback) - Stephanie Coontz

[verges]

131. Leave It to Beaver,

Ozzie and Harriet, I Love Lucy etc. If this is what you know of the fifties, it can seem pretty great. Not to mention the post-war growning economy. Birth of R&R, Elvis. Tail Fins (and chrome!).

Tha bad stuff is easily forgotten. And that is a general trend of the human condition. Not just applicable to the 1950's.