The Greatness Of America In The 1950's

When we talk of American Greatness, we can mean it in multiple ways. We can mean greatness in terms of ideals, or we can mean greatness in terms of successes. The first question we must ask, however, is: “was America ever great?” To answer this question we must determine what greatness means. According to Merriam-Webster, the definition of greatness is “remarkable in degree, magnitude, or effectiveness.” If we can say that America was great at its founding in 1789, and we can also say that it was great in 1950, then how must we change our definition of greatness in order to account for the difference between the country at these two times? America was great at both of these points in history, but it was great for different reasons. By the 20th century, the definition of “American greatness” had changed to place emphasis on military power, wealth, and size. The greatness of America in the 1950’s was understood in America’s economic and military power rather than the ideals upon which the country was founded, which was how American Greatness was understood in 1789. If our
1950’s America was a society in which Black Men and Women were allowed to vote and own property; the same, unfortunately, cannot be said about America in 1789. This equality took a very long time to achieve, and in the case of Black Men’s rights, took a war to achieve. America in 1950 came a very long way from America in 1789 in this regard. At the time of the founding, Blacks were not even viewed as human beings, but rather as property. Additionally, women had next to no role outside of the household. It is easy for us to see, then, that the progress made in our country in our treatment of these groups of people was absolutely needed. Because of this, we can say that in this regard at least, America was much more “great” during the 1950’s than it was in