1950s in America
Conner Regan
Mrs. Dills
Honors American Literature
Friday, April 26, 2013
American Culture of the 1950s Over the course of American history, many iconic events and movements have taken place that help shape the United States’ role of the past. One decade in particular stands out above the rest as being unique in terms of literature produced and developments that took place. The 1950s harbored the Korean War, Cold War, and the Civil Rights Movement among other things. From the Revolutionary period up until the twenty-first century, one thing has remained constant: the importance and role literature plays in the collective culture of a given era. Many works of literature were introduced to society as a direct result of current events while current fads were formed based on the popular works of the time. This is recognizable in some of the prominent literary themes of the fifties. While literature is vital in establishing the originality of culture during the fifties, monumental events such as the Korean War and the Civil Rights Movement simultaneously affect the literature of the decade. As the decade was beginning, there was significant tension between the United States and the Soviet Union. Although the Soviets were our allies in World War II just five years prior, they were now our most hated and most feared enemies. The ongoing conflict between the US and the Soviet Union from 1947 to 1991 was referred to as the Cold War, as no bullets were actually fired. This being said, the Soviet leader at the time, Joseph Stalin, was showing signs of aggression towards other nations regarding his communistic views. This resulted in the current US president, Harry S. Truman, passing the Truman Doctrine. This was a document that essentially introduced the ideas of containment and the domino theory. Containment was the American campaign to prevent the spread of communism to other countries. The domino theory stated that if the Soviets were to successfully take
Mrs. Dills
Honors American Literature
Friday, April 26, 2013
American Culture of the 1950s Over the course of American history, many iconic events and movements have taken place that help shape the United States’ role of the past. One decade in particular stands out above the rest as being unique in terms of literature produced and developments that took place. The 1950s harbored the Korean War, Cold War, and the Civil Rights Movement among other things. From the Revolutionary period up until the twenty-first century, one thing has remained constant: the importance and role literature plays in the collective culture of a given era. Many works of literature were introduced to society as a direct result of current events while current fads were formed based on the popular works of the time. This is recognizable in some of the prominent literary themes of the fifties. While literature is vital in establishing the originality of culture during the fifties, monumental events such as the Korean War and the Civil Rights Movement simultaneously affect the literature of the decade. As the decade was beginning, there was significant tension between the United States and the Soviet Union. Although the Soviets were our allies in World War II just five years prior, they were now our most hated and most feared enemies. The ongoing conflict between the US and the Soviet Union from 1947 to 1991 was referred to as the Cold War, as no bullets were actually fired. This being said, the Soviet leader at the time, Joseph Stalin, was showing signs of aggression towards other nations regarding his communistic views. This resulted in the current US president, Harry S. Truman, passing the Truman Doctrine. This was a document that essentially introduced the ideas of containment and the domino theory. Containment was the American campaign to prevent the spread of communism to other countries. The domino theory stated that if the Soviets were to successfully take
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