The 1950s - A Rare Golden Age Indeed
By David Bellm
Over the years it's become extremely common to view the postwar period- the 1950s in particular - as America's Classic Era, a utopia to beadmired and emulated forever more. With its innovative spirit, boundlessenergy, and seemingly limitless possibilities, many Americans haveadopted this unique, colorful era as the touchstone for the course of thenation. They see this as a time when "everything was right" in America,a period in which the United States really fulfilled its destiny as theleader of the world in all respects that mattered.We were after all, the technological leaders of the entire planet. Noone produced more cars, airplanes, locomotives, medicines, bombs, orbridges than America during the 1950s. And we were also the culturalleaders of the time. This was where Jackson Pollock stunned the art worldwith his audacious breakthroughs in modern painting, while Elvis Presleyand Chuck Berry employed a daring new musical form called rock & rollto induce hysterical, frenzied excitement among the masses. Theseexemplary pursuits were framed by political and military initiatives thatstrived with remarkable efficiency to raise the rest of the world toalmost our level and bolster them against the oppressive forces that stillremained in power in Europe.Ours was a nation of seemingly all things good and admirable. We wereconfident, powerful, smart, and ambitious. Why shouldn't we forever holdthe era up as an ideal to aspire to, a halcyon period in which wefinally "got it right," the kind of America we should compare all otherlater iterations of our culture to?But no matter how hard we try, we could probably never duplicate the rareconvergence of circumstances that produced the magic of the era anyway.Much of the reason there was so much abundance in the 1950s, is thatthe excess production of our war-inflated industrial base was by thattime chasing such a small number of consumers. Population growth inAmerica had been flat for a number of years. Families during the GreatDepression simply couldn't afford large families. Then, America enteredWorld War II, which severely limited the opportunities to start families.And then there's the matter of America's unflagging optimism in the1950s. Unlike almost any era except the 1980s, America in the 1950s wasdesperate to be optimistic again. By 1946 we had lived under the blanketof a general glumness for nearly two decades, first with theDepression, then WWII. When those obstacles were finally removed, Americanscouldn't help but be consumed by an almost unstoppable longing to lead "TheGood Life."At the same time, how could the United States not be the technologicalleader of the world? There was, in fact, little of "The World" leftstanding after it had been bombed into rubble the previous decade. Americafound it easy pickings to dominate the world industrial scene - ourswas among the only significant industrial infrastructure left in anylarge capacity.And these are just a few simple examples of the many ways in which thejoys of 1950s America could really be best characterized as a being afluke -- an anomaly.Now, don't get me wrong. I don't point out these things to make less ofthe 1950s. It will forever be my favorite of all eras in Americanhistory. It was the climactic moment when our nation was poised at thesummit, astride the world with a benevolent smile and a youthful energythat still holds an obvious, immediate magic when studied decades later.Rather, I say these things to point out that this was a rare aligningof the planets - a one-in-a-million moment that produced spectacularresults that reverberated throughout the world, forever imprinting ourcollective psyche in how things could be.And that only makes the 1950s more special. This was a cherished epoch,one which America will likely never see the likes of again.
By David Bellm
Over the years it's become extremely common to view the postwar period- the 1950s in particular - as America's Classic Era, a utopia to beadmired and emulated forever more. With its innovative spirit, boundlessenergy, and seemingly limitless possibilities, many Americans haveadopted this unique, colorful era as the touchstone for the course of thenation. They see this as a time when "everything was right" in America,a period in which the United States really fulfilled its destiny as theleader of the world in all respects that mattered.We were after all, the technological leaders of the entire planet. Noone produced more cars, airplanes, locomotives, medicines, bombs, orbridges than America during the 1950s. And we were also the culturalleaders of the time. This was where Jackson Pollock stunned the art worldwith his audacious breakthroughs in modern painting, while Elvis Presleyand Chuck Berry employed a daring new musical form called rock & rollto induce hysterical, frenzied excitement among the masses. Theseexemplary pursuits were framed by political and military initiatives thatstrived with remarkable efficiency to raise the rest of the world toalmost our level and bolster them against the oppressive forces that stillremained in power in Europe.Ours was a nation of seemingly all things good and admirable. We wereconfident, powerful, smart, and ambitious. Why shouldn't we forever holdthe era up as an ideal to aspire to, a halcyon period in which wefinally "got it right," the kind of America we should compare all otherlater iterations of our culture to?But no matter how hard we try, we could probably never duplicate the rareconvergence of circumstances that produced the magic of the era anyway.Much of the reason there was so much abundance in the 1950s, is thatthe excess production of our war-inflated industrial base was by thattime chasing such a small number of consumers. Population growth inAmerica had been flat for a number of years. Families during the GreatDepression simply couldn't afford large families. Then, America enteredWorld War II, which severely limited the opportunities to start families.And then there's the matter of America's unflagging optimism in the1950s. Unlike almost any era except the 1980s, America in the 1950s wasdesperate to be optimistic again. By 1946 we had lived under the blanketof a general glumness for nearly two decades, first with theDepression, then WWII. When those obstacles were finally removed, Americanscouldn't help but be consumed by an almost unstoppable longing to lead "TheGood Life."At the same time, how could the United States not be the technologicalleader of the world? There was, in fact, little of "The World" leftstanding after it had been bombed into rubble the previous decade. Americafound it easy pickings to dominate the world industrial scene - ourswas among the only significant industrial infrastructure left in anylarge capacity.And these are just a few simple examples of the many ways in which thejoys of 1950s America could really be best characterized as a being afluke -- an anomaly.Now, don't get me wrong. I don't point out these things to make less ofthe 1950s. It will forever be my favorite of all eras in Americanhistory. It was the climactic moment when our nation was poised at thesummit, astride the world with a benevolent smile and a youthful energythat still holds an obvious, immediate magic when studied decades later.Rather, I say these things to point out that this was a rare aligningof the planets - a one-in-a-million moment that produced spectacularresults that reverberated throughout the world, forever imprinting ourcollective psyche in how things could be.And that only makes the 1950s more special. This was a cherished epoch,one which America will likely never see the likes of again.
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