Americans shared a set of three core beliefs in the 1950s known as the Liberal Consensus. Firstly, all social problems can be solved through economic growth under capitalism because everyone will benefit. Secondly, it is the duty of the United States as a democratic society to stop the spread of communism. Finally, pluralism prevents authoritarian government takeover. Several circumstances reinforced these attitudes: The Baby Boom of the 1940s and a subsequent increase in GNP; the spread of McCarthyism; the peaceful protests of the early Civil Rights movement; and the early Kennedy presidency. By the 1960s the consensus had already begun to unravel as Americans started to realize errors in its fundamental assumptions. The Liberal Consensus
…show more content…
From 1945 to 1973, the United States experienced its longest sustained economic growth and the median family income rose. Many believed that this growth was boundless and that American capitalism was the reason why the economy did so well. There were some environmental activists and economists who rejected this idea, recognizing that resources are finite, but they were the minority. This increase in production had two major causes. Firstly, the Baby Boom created a mass targeting audience. Secondly, the popularity of television meant that 80% of American households owned one. As the enormous generation of Baby Boomers grew up, advertisers began to target them through television commercials. For the first time, they had realized a child’s influence on the parents’ purchases, exploited it, and because of this, families spent more money than ever before on nonessentials. Gross National Production soared. Consumption of goods like in the 1950s was unprecedented. Because middle America experienced such wealth, the public had the …show more content…
McCarthy’s popularity severely plummeted when the Senate voted to censure him after the Army-McCarthy hearings of 1954. The Senate found that McCarthy took or was involved in actions that were intended to give a former associate preferential treatment in the army. The greatest reason for the public withdrawing their support was that the hearings were televised and painted McCarthy in a strongly negative light. Without the support of the Senate, McCarthy’s remaining influence dwindled. Only a year later, President Johnson, taking the advice of his military advisors, sent troops to Vietnam to stop the Viet Cong from reuniting the Soviet supported communist North with the South as part of the broader containment campaign. The North was essentially fighting a colonial war with the French when the U.S. stepped in to intervene. The war in Vietnam was the first war to be televised and graphic imagery drew ire from the elite upper class, sparking an anti-war movement that vocally opposed the methods of containment. The longer the war drug on, the greater the opposition grew, until the U.S. withdrew troops in 1975 and Vietnam, including Saigon, was left under communist rule. By that time, anticommunism had become incredibly unpopular with the American
From 1945 to 1973, the United States experienced its longest sustained economic growth and the median family income rose. Many believed that this growth was boundless and that American capitalism was the reason why the economy did so well. There were some environmental activists and economists who rejected this idea, recognizing that resources are finite, but they were the minority. This increase in production had two major causes. Firstly, the Baby Boom created a mass targeting audience. Secondly, the popularity of television meant that 80% of American households owned one. As the enormous generation of Baby Boomers grew up, advertisers began to target them through television commercials. For the first time, they had realized a child’s influence on the parents’ purchases, exploited it, and because of this, families spent more money than ever before on nonessentials. Gross National Production soared. Consumption of goods like in the 1950s was unprecedented. Because middle America experienced such wealth, the public had the …show more content…
McCarthy’s popularity severely plummeted when the Senate voted to censure him after the Army-McCarthy hearings of 1954. The Senate found that McCarthy took or was involved in actions that were intended to give a former associate preferential treatment in the army. The greatest reason for the public withdrawing their support was that the hearings were televised and painted McCarthy in a strongly negative light. Without the support of the Senate, McCarthy’s remaining influence dwindled. Only a year later, President Johnson, taking the advice of his military advisors, sent troops to Vietnam to stop the Viet Cong from reuniting the Soviet supported communist North with the South as part of the broader containment campaign. The North was essentially fighting a colonial war with the French when the U.S. stepped in to intervene. The war in Vietnam was the first war to be televised and graphic imagery drew ire from the elite upper class, sparking an anti-war movement that vocally opposed the methods of containment. The longer the war drug on, the greater the opposition grew, until the U.S. withdrew troops in 1975 and Vietnam, including Saigon, was left under communist rule. By that time, anticommunism had become incredibly unpopular with the American