The Affluent Society
Fear, coming from an economically divided society, causes a split in opinions on differences in government systems and directed the U.S. government actions throughout the cold war.
Main Events in the 1950s
The advancements of the 1950s created the affluent society and a culture of confidence, but the fear of communism destroying these technologies led to a time of fear.
Throughout the 1950s, Americans were introduced to many technologies including calculators, smaller radios, the earliest computers, and cures for "incurable" diseases such as Polio, Tuberculosis, Cancer, and Heart disease. Also in the 1950s, television became popular for the first time. All of these advances caused Americans to become fearful that another, unknown government like communism would take control of America and force them to give up these advances, along with their freedom. This started the strong repulsion to communism. Although America was in a time of great prosperity as inventions were created to simplify life, their fears caused uneasiness of all other government systems, especially communism.
The 1950s Affluent Society
The affluent society that defined pre-cold war led to a large economic gap between the rich and the poor, and a fear between the two classes.
SocialPoliticalThe government during the 1950s and throughout the cold war was very conservative and worked to mainly protect the rich. This favoritism created anger between the two classes, as the poor realized the unfair conditions that they had, and the rich worried that the poor would rise up to steal their position in society. Also, the rich feared a communist government taking over their capitalist society and distributing the wealth that was rightfully theirs to the poor.
Economic |
Suburbs of the time caused a social gap between the rich and the poor. This literal gap was created as the rich moved into clean, orderly suburbs while the poor stayed in the dangerous, unsanitary cities. The rich became afraid of these cities, as they became more and more separated from the poor. They also gained a feeling of superiority because they were so separated from everyone else. But, along with this confidence came fears of communism and redistributing the wealth. A large economic gap was created due to a number of causes during the 1950s. The causes included past historical events, the creation of suburbs to bring people out of the dirty cities, and . This created tension between the two groups as they became more and more separated. The rich became afraid that the poor would support communism and that they would lose their social status. Although the gap was underestimated at the time (see illustration at left) because it was hidden by the booming economy, only the rich were consuming the products and the large gap between the rich and poor was an unaddressed problem. |
Historical Connections
Throughout history, economic gaps between the rich and the poor have created differences in opinion, which has always created conflict, resulting in fear in our society.
U.S. as a World PowerProgressive EraDuring the progressive era, the debate was whether or not the government should intervene to stop the problems of America including the poverty of the time. Similarly, in the cold war, international issues were addressed and both times the government decided to step in. During the progressive era, the fear that caused government intervention was of the country collapsing, whereas during the cold war, the fear was of communism.
World War I
The Roaring 20’s were a time of great prosperity, but the poor were unable to pay back the credit they overused at the time because it was so new and no negative consequences had been seen. Also immigrants and other minorities were left out of the prosperity, stuck with lower level factory or farming jobs. This created a larger economic gap than normal. During the cold war, which led to a divide between the rich and the poor during the cold war. This extreme poverty in both instances led the poor to feel afraid that they could never rise up in the economy to gain a better place in society. At the same time, rich Americans were sometimes afraid that the poor would rise up in society and take away their jobs.
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William Jennings Bryan, a presidential candidate as America was coming into power, believed that America should not control the government of the Philippines. But, at the same time, Albert J. Beveridge, a U.S. senator, believed that they should annex the Philippines because he was scared of their “savage ways." The cause of the cold war was also the fear of another government system, and both led to a government takeover of the area. At the start of WWI, when America was not yet involved, people still had opinions on which side was “better,” creating a split between the Triple Alliance and the Triple Entante within the US. Also at the same time, Americans argued over whether or not the US should join in the war or remain neutral. This is similar to during the cold war because the economic gap also caused a difference in opinion of whether or not to step in, but the cold war was about differences in government systems, whereas WWI was from a conflict between countries and alliances stepping in. This split in opinion in both instances caused fear from the government and the American people that the sides would never agree due to their difference in opinion. The fear led the government to cover up the opinion they disagreed with in order to keep peace within the country. During the cold war, many “communists” were convicted by the McCarthyism movement, but many of those that were punished were actually liberal Americans that had supported the radical new deal from a little over a decade earlier. This practice of convicting communists came from the fear of all different types of people, especially people supporting new ideas. Many rich feared that these people supporting new, radical ideas would turn to communism and redistribute the money that the upper class had earned. |
Significance of the Fear of the Cold War
Today, the War on Terror is based on fear of other ideas and governments, building from fears developed during the Cold War of the 1950s.
Today, like during the cold war, Americans are fearful of unknown people and ideas. Today, the War on Terror is based mainly on the fear of Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups after the bombing of the twin towers on 9/11. Likewise, the Cold War was based on fear, but the fear was of communism whereas now, the fear is of terrorism. In both of these instances, the fear has impacted government decisions, so eventually deciding the fate of America. Also, today there is a large economic gap between the rich and the poor (see graph below). This gap has also led to fear between the two classes similar to in the cold war.
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