How The Cold War Shaped New Work

The wartime alliance forged by the U.S, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union crumbled, giving the birth to a cold war. The Cold War began because there were different visions of the postwar world. The Soviet Union were trying to gain power and their communism was feared by the United Stated and American citizens. During the 1950s, economic productivity increased abundantly. The Cold War shaped the ideals about family life in America, especially the lives of women. The Cold War helped shape new work, especially for women, living patters such as living in the suburbs, consumption and prosperity, and higher education. The Cold War especially shaped the ideals about the lives of white women because they were seen as a housewife and their domestic roles in the family.
Education in California skyrocketed during the Cold War.
Between 1940 and 1960, college enrollments in the United States doubled, and more than 40% of young Americans attended college by the mid-1960s. The. federal government financially supported the education of more than two million veterans, and the Cold War sent millions of federal dollars to universities for defense related research. The college enrollments surged from 37,000 in 1941 to 90,00 in 1961. There was an educational gap between white men and women grew, even though women’s enrollment increased. Women had earned 40 percent on undergraduate degrees in 1940, but as veterans flocked to college campuses, women’s proportion fell to 25 percent, rising to 30 by 1960 Women were likely to drop collage after marriage so that they could take jobs to keep their husbands in school (729). “Reflecting gender norms, of the 1950’s, most college women agreed that “it is natural for a woman to be satisfied with her husband’s success and not crave personal achievement.”
(729)” In the 1950s, consumption had become a reigning value, vital for economic prosperity. “Between 1950 and 1960, both the gross national product (the value of all goods and services produced) and median family income grew by 25% in constant dollars. (730)” In 1960, 60 percent of Americans had middle-class incomes. Four-fifths of families owned television, had refrigerators, and most owned at least one car. During the 1950’s, a population of 152-180 million- expanded demand for products and boosted industries ranging from housing to baby goods. Many Americans began to use credit cards and consumer borrowing fueled the economic boom. Families explained most women’s employment, a desire to secure the new abundance sent growing numbers of women to work. A woman remarked “My Joe can’t put five kids through college… and the washer had to be replaced, and Ann was ashamed to bring friends home because the living room furniture was such a mess, so I went to work. (730)” This shows that the standards for family happiness imposed by the consumer culture increasingly required a second income (730). Besides married women’s growing employment, there were traditional family life and conventional gender roles. “Both popular culture and public figures defined the ideal family as a male breadwinner, a full-time homemaker, and three or four children. (730)” Betty Friedan, a writer and feminist, wrote a book called Feminine mystique, an I idealization of women’s domestic roles. She criticized health professionals, scholars, advertisers, and public officials assuming that biological differences dictated different role for men and women. According to the feminine mystique, women should be devoted in their homes, families, and serving others. These ideals weren’t really challenged by women., but writer Edith Stern maintained that “many arguments about the joys of housewifery have been advanced, largely by those who have never had to work at it. (730)” The revival of domesticity clashed with women’s employment, American lives did embody the family ideal. Postwar prosperity gave people the opportunity to marry earlier and to have more children. The American birthrate soared between 1945 and 1960, and in 1957, there were 4.3 million births. Mothers were encouraged to devote more attention to care for their children and urged fathers to cultivate family “togetherness” by spending more time with the children (730). Religion offered a respite from Cold War anxieties. In the 1950’s interest in religion surged. Attending church and synagogues rose from 50 to 63 percent of all Americans. According to polls, 95% of the population believed in god. Because of the Cold War anxieties, Religion helped to calm those anxieties in the nuclear age. Minister such as Graham made Cold War a holy war, he labeled communism “a great sinister anti-Christian movement masterminded by Satan. (731)” The Cold War itself gave anxieties. Television transforms culture and politics. “By 1960, nearly 90 percent of American homes boasted a television set, and the average viewer spent more than five hours each day in front of the screen. (731)” The viewers were attracted to comedy, which projected the family ideal and the feminine mystique into millions of homes. Married women didn’t have paying jobs and they deferred to their husbands (731). Overall, The Cold War was a frightening time for the United States and the citizens of America. But it also helped married women’s movement into the labor force, the expansion of the economy and resources, and education subsidies helped sustain the economic boom. Prosperity changed the landscape of the United States. The economy became more service oriented and the appearance of television and new products intensified the growth of a consumer culture.