5 - Staging social rebellion in the 1960s

Summary

Following the Second World War, various political and social forces came together to reinforce an orthodox attitude towards national identity. Notably the House Committee on un-American Activities and Senator Joseph McCarthy's Committees in the Senate clarified the danger of contesting a spirit of national consensus. To be labeled un-American in the late 1940s was to be considered a Communist, a subversive and potentially a spy for the Soviet Union. The conviction and execution of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg in 1953 (for allegedly sending information about American nuclear technology to the Soviet Union) emphasized the danger of being accused of un-American activities. The American values that were sanctioned under this Cold War culture of containment privileged the position of white heterosexual males who were to be supported by women in domestic roles. Ethnic minorities were expected to remain subservient or invisible, and divergent political ideologies or lifestyles were discouraged. During the 1950s, American family life as represented in advertisements and in television shows such as Ozzie and Harriet and Leave It to Beaver suggested an ideal sense of security, conformity and homogeneity. As Elaine Tyler May has written, “it was the values of the white middle class that shaped the dominant political and economic institutions that affected all Americans. Those who did not conform to them were likely to be marginalized, stigmatized, and disadvantaged as a result.”