(National Archives and Records Administration)
Few things reshape societies more than wars. Even though the United States escaped World War II with little physical damage, the war shaped the development of American life, society, and culture in numerous ways in the decades that followed. The 1950s is often remembered in an idyllic and nostalgic way. But dig deeper, and this decade also saw radical changes to the way Americans lived.
Allen Pietrobon, a professor of global affairs at Trinity Washington University, explores the ripple effects of the war on how Americans lived, traveled, ate, and grappled with racial issues. He discusses how and why single-family suburban living first arose in America as a result of wartime housing shortages. The suburbs, in turn, fueled the rapid growth of interstate highways in the 1960s and changed the way Americans traveled. Private automobiles replaced trains as the primary means of transportation, leading to an explosion of fast-food restaurants and roadside motels. But even at home, the war radically changed the way that Americans ate. The country transformed from having a relatively wholesome and nourishing food system to favoring a cuisine criticized as laden with fats, sugar, and ultra-processed unhealthy foods.
Meanwhile, longstanding laws allowing segregated restaurants and racial restrictions that barred people of color from living in certain neighborhoods began to crack. The 1950s wave of civil rights activism was often led by Black war veterans who had fought for freedom overseas and, fueled by their formative experiences during the war, decided to fight for freedom at home. Join Pietrobon as he takes a sweeping view of the great changes that American society saw during the 1950s.
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