04 May 2012

Cold War, children and youth in the 1950’s


American popular culture during the 1950s was the most influential of cultures in the world especially to the younger generation who were called the baby boomers. Many other western countries were actually influenced by America in one way or another. The major threat to the American way of life during this time was from communism. The 1950’s culture is central to the events of the Cold War, where America was in a battle against communism within the country. Radio would have been a popular medium of Cold War popular culture, although the new forms of mediums like Television, music and comic books during this time would have had more influence. Children and youth during the decade of the 1950s was influenced by different forms of popular culture and the technology that bought about changes to the way they lived, which continues until the present day. Television was in its infancy during this time period and was used as a tool for education and entertainment. Reading material like comic books and even some forms of music were subject to harsh scrutiny, which would pave the way to their reinvention and censorship. Events which occurred during this decade shaped the future until the end of the Cold War. America at the time was against communism and this lead to hearings by Senator Joseph McCarthy into communists within the government and the entertainment industry being regulated by HUAC in search for supporters of communism, who were thought to over throw the government, thus the silver screen released anti communist style movies. The Atomic bomb was now possessed by the Soviets, bringing with it the fear the United States and other countries would be attacked, which started with the civil defence movement.  The Korea War occurred, when America started fighting against communist forces of the Chinese that lead to Korea being divided to the north and south. Towards the end of the decade the Soviets caused a stir, when they launched the first satellites before America that entered the Space Race.

Popular culture during the 1950s was heavily influenced by events during the time especially in regards to the Cold War. Important parts of the decade were the McCarthy hearings and the HUAC style inquisitions were influential as they both involved with hunting for communists. While Joseph McCarthy was hunting for communists amongst the government with his list of communists and direct accusations, HUAC was doing the same within the various industries that would eventually lead to the use of popular cultural items that had a slant towards being anti communist when items and people seen to be supportive of communism were blacklisted and nor published. The Russians were very aware of the propaganda that was being used against them through all forms of mass media that was used as popular culture during the 1950s. Spies had reported back home about the use of anti Soviet and anti communist material was being directed towards the middle class American families. The youth of this time started standing up to their peers when a culture of their own had been created.  The Rock and Roll craze bought about hysteria that would continue onto the next decades to follow. Movies about the youth rebel at the time started appearing.

At the start of the decade Senator Joseph McCarthy pointed out there were communists within the government and this lead to hearings to find proof. McCarthy was one of the most famous anti communists during the decade for voicing his opinions publically. This in turned coined the word McCarthyism, which became part of the American culture during this time. HUAC and McCarthy were seen as working together when they here actually two separate inquiries although they were working towards the same goal of stamping out communism within their country. This was in part known as the second Red Scare as a whole new fear of the communist gained ground and Senator McCarthy were actually feeding the fear by attacking those who he thought were the enemy. Joseph McCarthy would go on in 1954 with hearings against the army, where he thought there were communists. This was broadcast live on Television for a short period of time.  Joseph McCarthy was the biggest threat to all forms of communism during the 1950s until the other senators decided to censure him and the hearings vanished.

Early in the 1950s, Hollywood was told they had a positive duty to make anti communist films by one of the people in HUAC by the name of Richard Nixon, who would later become the president on the United States.One of the most active anti communist groups in America during the 1950’s was HUAC also known as the House on Un- American Activities Committee. They had been active in the 1940’s and their aim was to find those who were involved with communist activities that could be used to overthrow the government. They were most active within the entertainment industry and had a reputation for getting people into trouble and out of work. The most famous group that had been blacklisted shortly before the decade started was the Hollywood Ten, a group of men who were not allowed to work within the movie industry in America as they had not answered the questions given to them and opted to remain silent. The 1950’s bought about more people being interviewed by the group and more people were blacklisted with suspected ties to the communist parties or other groups. Other people were listed in the Red Book as being suspected of being involved with communism. There was a view, anything or anyone who showed signs of being un-American would lead to the downfall of America. During the time of HUAC hearings, Hollywood was using the silver screen to portray the communist as evil people. Hollywood used scare tactics of lies and smearing as a strategy to show Communists as those who would take advantage and exploit those in times of need or incite hatred

During the decade the testing of atomic bombs on American soil; scientists were worried about the long term side effects of using an atomic bomb especially when they knew so little about the radiation and the dangers of it. Popular culture at the time played on the effects of radiation and fallout from the bombs. Books and movies both portrayed what could happen from giant ants in Them! And even On the Beach, where the world was slowly being wiped out by a radioactive cloud and the setting for the end of the world was in Melbourne, Australia. The movie and book of the same name were discredited as being further from the truth by the Eisenhower Administration. Spies during the 1950s, who publicised their exploits through popular culture, drove home through the media the perils of the Red Menace. This was through the different mediums such as books, films, TV shows and radio. This gave a face to the public of the fears of the communist that would use the atomic bomb for war. Popular media turned the understanding of the Russians into a stereotype that the general public believed, why would the government have a reason to lie about the greatest threat to their country.

The world had changed once the Soviets detonated their first atomic bomb in 1949, making the Americans fear they would be the next ones attacked. The Atomic bomb bought about great changes to how people portrayed the world. The Soviets were now seen as a threat greater than the government could understand and the authorities needed something to protect their populace. During the early 1950s the Federal Civil Defence Administration (FCDA) was formed. Their job was to design education programs and propaganda material, which would be used to inform the general public. The reason for anti communist and atomic war civil defence educational movies in education was a genuine fear during the cold war that the Americans would end up in a war with the Soviets. Civil defence was different in countries all over the world during the Cold War, but they usually had the same idea. Civil defence usually had four parts that were to be implemented during at attack. Detection of a possible attack and warn the civilian population, a policy to evacuate urban areas, construction of shelters and survival on a national scale. Children in schools would be educated on what they would do during the detonation of an atomic bomb. At this time few schools had televisions, although it was usually up to the various states to enforce. The shows that were shown were information programs like Bert the turtle in ‘Duck and Cover’. At one point school children were given identity dog tags, so they could be identified in the event nuclear war began.

The civil defence movies like duck and cover were not the only movies shown to school children and teenagers. Educational films like a company called Coronet instructional Films gave advice about how young people were supposed to react in different domestic situations. Many movies including foreign movies depicted the impact of nuclear weapons being used. The civil defence movies showed the Americans were ready for an attack coming from the Russians and had movies about how to spot a communist traitor to their country. Today the series can be viewed on Youtube in the order of when they were made. Many of the old black and white educational films from the 1950s can be found online. The red scare during the 1950’s had an impact on the minds of young people, especially when everything was suspected with having ties to communism including the teachers. Schools were basically the front line, where children could be influenced through the educators and what they taught.  Children were taught that communism was not the correct way of living and it was a threat to modern western society. The western countries like America and the UK used popular media like propaganda to shape the thinking of their countries youth. Books like Biggles pointed out the Soviets were evil people and would do anything to turn countries against each other for their purposes. They also made communism to be a bigger threat as well especially to the western countries like America and the UK. The Era of the Cold War bought about a new way of teaching the youth how to react. The use of censorship on popular mediums like music and books were seen as social control.
 
Television during the early Cold War era was seen as way to use culture as a tool for National Security, national identity, creativity, values of freedom and self realisation as a concept that could be used overseas, by showing their programs that depicted the American way of life.   There were some people within the government that did not want Television to be used as a direct propaganda battle against the Soviet Union communism. Television became popular during the decade especially in the United States as it was available since the early 1950s, although Australia did not get TV until later in the decade. The TV serials shown were not directed at the Cold War, but showing shows about the ideal American lifestyle like family sitcoms, where families were near perfect and every problem was worked out within the time frame of the show. The perfect family was usually a nuclear family consisting of a housewife who was the homemaker, a Working husband who was the bread winner and two children. Gender roles are shown as how the ideal life was meant to be in the suburban household. Children were watching the same shows their parents were watching, so the generation was being influenced by a whole new genre of material.

The spy in popular culture during the decade of the 1950’s was influenced by events that took place during this time. Spies were seen everywhere during the decade as Senator McCarthy was trying to oust them from the government and the army. HUAC was exploring the communist ideals that were appearing within movies and amongst people who were involved with creating the mediums like the movies. Two spies at the time were executed for treason in the United States was the Rosenbergs. Ian Flemming published his first James Bond Novel in England called Casino Royale. He had moved away from being fully anti communist to a character who was a gentleman. The Bond novels and later the movies became a very popular franchise.  Television shows and movies were becoming popular in exploring the spy during this time especially when people who claimed they were spies for the government appeared. Children watched television shows that centred on the spy and their exploits against the communist threat. Cartoons and live action shows included Rocky and Bullwinkle, Atom Squad and Flying Commando. The characters always triumphed over the communist bad guys in the end. Heroes from radio were adapted into the new format of television.

One of the people who had influence over popular culture in the 1950’s was Walt Disney, who was a founding member for the Motion Picture Alliance (MPA) for the Preservation of American Ideals. This group was active by helping and being involved with HUAC and their hunt for communists with in the entertainment industry. Walt Disney owned the Disney Company that produced animated movies with characters like Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck. Disney movies try to show children an ideal world where happy endings always happen by the end credits.  Disney movies during the 1950 Cold War times showed children an ideal world where conformity was the normal part of life, where the capitalist was the right way to live. Social hierarchy, social norms, family values were all part of the Disney shows informing children subtly about how they should live their lives. Disney had its role in shaping the minds of people especially since it was part of the popular culture that has prevailed across all time.  Disney is seen as the most influential of all popular culture that is directed towards children.

Disney movies during the 1950s showed images of a utopian life that was aimed at the minds of children. These images of perfection were shown amongst the movies and even throughout the theme park when it opened in 1955. Disneyland shows examples of American popular culture along with places of better living. Disneyland in the decades following its opening had expanded and entertained children. The theme park had several fantasy areas like frontierland, which all featured within the opening credits of Disney productions. The atom and its uses were explained to children by Walt Disney through a film called ‘Our friend the atom’. The film was meant to be for education through schools to teach science classes and there was a book published by the same name as well. During this time the Disney studios were involved with bringing space exploration to the masses by using one of the men who was involved with the Space Race, Wernher Von Braun. Walt Disney used Wernher’s expertise in rocketry to make films about how man would be sent into space during the late 1950s. Both men knew the benefits of using the new medium that was television to get the message across and into every house, when asked it was said Von Braun jumped at the chance to help Disney. Wernher Von Braun would later be part of NASA after the Soviets had launched Sputnik in October 1957.

Superheroes in comic books during the Second World War fought the evil Nazis and with the end of the war the humble superhero had found another enemy to battle. The Villains of the Cold War were now the communist often seen as thugs, so they started appearing in the comic books. Various superheroes like Captain America were portrayed battling communist villains.  The 1950s comic books were very popular with young people. It was not until 1954, which the comic book underwent a great and monstrous change that would be felt in the decades to follow afterwards. The story of comic books can be told in two parts, why they were the subject of a McCarthy style investigation and what the industry would do to regulate the offending books. This would mean they would be more sanitised and wholesome for the readers who were usually younger people. During this time the communist threat was actually the comic book themselves and people exploited this by spreading fear and hysteria.

            In 1953, a publication written by psychiatrist Fredric Wertham called ‘Seduction of the innocent’ discussed what forms of mass media would be suitable for children. The book mostly discussed the dangers of the comic books and the mass media that was corrupting children. The publication ended up with the comic book industry being reviewed by a senate inquiry that lead to the comic book code being formed. The senate inquiry not only looked at the contents of the horror comic book, but the superheroes were in the firing line as well. Batman and Robin were two heroes that were viewed upon with suspicion mainly to do with their relationship and their sexuality was actually questioned. The harmful effects of comic books on young people are similar to how violence in computer games today has been placed under the microscope by the media. The comic book industry opted for their own guidelines instead of the government stepping in and making the decision for them. 

The comic book Industry in 1954 created the Comics Code Authority (CCA) as a form of self censorship due to the senate inquiry that was to investigate juvenile delinquency, which was held around April to June. The main aim of the Comics code was to restrict the sale of comic books containing sex, crime, horror and violence set out in the guidelines. To be approved by the CCA comics had to have good triumphing evil.  The bad guys punished by the law for their misdeeds and show moral decency, which included not showing current issues like drug use. This meant the horror comic books that contained excessive use of bloodshed and various uses of horror were now out of business. The comics that bore the code on their covers promised the young readers were now safe to read the books. Shops that sold comic books would not sell the ones that had no comics code stamped on the front cover.Over the next few decades comics would change with the different times until the CCA approval was actually dropped by many publishers after the end of the Cold War when new forms distribution opened up. 

America was not the only country looking to ban horror comics as the UK had started doing the same thing when one of their own researchers had said the comic book could influence young people to commit crimes they had seen being glorified in the popular medium. In Australia during 1954, the comic industry was being publically scrutinised, when one of the comic artists was on trial for rape and the media pointed out his work contained violence of a graphical nature. Queensland at the same time had formed a literature board of review that had banned one comic, called The Lone Avenger. Australia didn’t have a comic’s code like America, although censorship of some comics were seen as being similar in nature to what was being banned overseas. Towards the end of the decade the Australian comics were in direct competition with the American comic books and had suffered from the bad press, which had ended up with regulation of the Comic book industry in America.

Music during the decade for youth had changed to something the adults actually feared. Rock and Roll first came into being when Bill Hailey and his Comets played ‘Rock around the Clock’ in 1954 for the movie Blackboard Jungle. Older people thought of this music as gangster rebellion and communist infiltration. This actually bought about bans across America from radio stations of the music, which had bought about a Rock and Roll scare just like the comic books. There were groups that were anti Rock and Roll as people was the music as disruptive especially when it encouraged the youth to dance and sing to the music. During this time there were some radio stations and groups which actively destroyed the records either on air or strangely enough as a publicity stunt in one case one of the disk jockey’s borrowed a hearse to dump records into the ocean by a mock funeral service. Towards the late 1950s, one person that became very popular within Rock and Roll, Elvis Presley appeared on the scene. Elvis became popular for his music with youth of the day for his music. Rock music was viewed as black music and it horrified people, when young white Americans were singing and dancing to the music especially to Elvis who had became an instant icon of the age. Studios like Ed Sullivan at first ignored him and even censured the songs, but it was not long before he was shown on Television. The Rock and Roll movement would become more distinguished during the decades following for its popularity and the bands playing in the genre.

By analysing the Cold War period of the 1950’s popular Culture, researchers can understand what was happening during this time where the fear of threats abroad and within their country thrown into their laps and fed to them by the mass media, especially from Television that showed social norms being upheld. Unlike other decades in the future, the Cold War and its threat of being swallowed up by the atomic bomb wielding communist beast that was seen slowly taking over the world. Youth of the 1950’s were subject to intense pressure to conform to what adults thought was to be right and outsiders who said differently were thought to be unpatriotic with the possibility they were communists. All parts of popular culture directed towards the young people from Comic books to Television showed them the idea of communism was the difference between freedom and government based slave labour. They were shown images of a perfect society which was the perfect nuclear family, a mother in the kitchen, the household breadwinner being the father and two children. At the end of the day the mother had dinner on the table when her husband got home from work. Other western countries adopted this style and format for shows of their own or repeated from recordings. The atomic bomb was a threat that was seen throughout the entire Cold War, although during the 1950s this was seen as an event that could lead to the end of the world or War against the Soviets.  Not all popular culture was directed towards the anti communist as Rock and Roll music appeared giving the youth of the time something they could identify much to the displeasure of their peers who had thought of the music as disruptive and planting the seed to rebellion. People of authority identified something as different as being a communist threat when the new culture was harmless.



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