The "good old days" weren't that good

[IronBrig4]

Every once in a while, some American politician will wax nostalgic about the 1950s. That seems to be a period that many conservative Americans look back on with affection.

However, the 50s weren't all that great. There were many ways in which that decade was good for the majority of Americans, but it certainly shouldn't be put on a pedestal.

Although the 50s saw the rise of "the affluent society," there was profound inequality within the nation. The economic boom largely missed rural America, including much of the South. Small farms continued to decline and rural poverty remained largely steady.

There was still de jure and de facto racism in much of America. Attempts to desegregate schools resulted in massive protests, intimidation, school shutdowns, and even mobilization of the Arkansas National Guard. Those nice Levittown-style communities were almost exclusively white. I've been trying to find this one photo that we used in a US history class I taught. It showed a neighborhood in Pennsylvania that had just received a black family. The residents were gathered in the street, looking like the typical clean-cut 50s community. But they were all screaming and waving signs, trying to turn away their new neighbors. They looked possessed.

I won't even get started on McCarthyism and Cold War paranoia. I would need another twenty minutes of solid typing to describe how that corrupted American society.

So why is this decade viewed with rose-colored glasses? My guess is it's because most of those political commentators grew up in this decade. They mostly came from the privileged class of people who mostly experienced the benefits of the 50s. Plus, everything seems better when you're a kid. Politicians of the 1950s tended to view the 20s with that same nostalgia. And commentators of the 20s viewed the 1880s and 90s as a most tranquil and more moral time.

Thoughts?

[Admiral Piett]

Every once in a while, some American politician will wax nostalgic about the 1950s. That seems to be a period that many conservative Americans look back on with affection.

However, the 50s weren't all that great. There were many ways in which that decade was good for the majority of Americans, but it certainly shouldn't be put on a pedestal.

Although the 50s saw the rise of "the affluent society," there was profound inequality within the nation. The economic boom largely missed rural America, including much of the South. Small farms continued to decline and rural poverty remained largely steady.

There was still de jure and de facto racism in much of America. Attempts to desegregate schools resulted in massive protests, intimidation, school shutdowns, and even mobilization of the Arkansas National Guard. Those nice Levittown-style communities were almost exclusively white. I've been trying to find this one photo that we used in a US history class I taught. It showed a neighborhood in Pennsylvania that had just received a black family. The residents were gathered in the street, looking like the typical clean-cut 50s community. But they were all screaming and waving signs, trying to turn away their new neighbors. They looked possessed.

I won't even get started on McCarthyism and Cold War paranoia. I would need another twenty minutes of solid typing to describe how that corrupted American society.

So why is this decade viewed with rose-colored glasses? My guess is it's because most of those political commentators grew up in this decade. They mostly came from the privileged class of people who mostly experienced the benefits of the 50s. Plus, everything seems better when you're a kid. Politicians of the 1950s tended to view the 20s with that same nostalgia. And commentators of the 20s viewed the 1880s and 90s as a most tranquil and more moral time.

Thoughts?

It has a lot more to do with older generations reminescing about a time when things made more sense to them. As cultures change and values transform, I'm sure its easy to think Hey, I miss those times, miss the music or miss the "innocence" you say existed. It's not so much saying that those times were innocent, but that they themselves were more innocent and felt more accepted.

Truthfully, I think everyone can be caught saying "Remember back when...".

The film "No Country for Old Men" explains this theme pretty well. The truth about the 'olden days' is that in the west and in the south, most families were struggling to make life better and more comfortable for future generations. In many ways the olden days were ironically more about progressing into the future. Whereas now we found ourselves often feeling stagnant.

[Viking Prince]

Agreed. For this reason the Charles Bronson and Clint Eastwood movies are making more sense to me today. Whatever that is worth.

[manofarms89]

hell I still call the 90s the good ol' days. back when i didn't have to worry about student loans and paper deadlines. still though, i agree with the OP. but the again when wasn't a good time to be a rich white man in America?

[Viking Prince]

I know I have had it easier than most and not just because of parents, being white, and male. Getting a good start on education and having developed contacts that work help tremendously. Still I am not as successful as most of my relatives. My relatives are not as successful as many freinds and associates.

So what? The good old days are still there. Many of us have fond memories of simpler times. Quiet summer days perhaps at a beach or cabin or maybe just hanging in da hood. Times when food and shelter were not a concern.

To say such times were not so good because another person was suffering or in some manner suffered an injustice is condeming the good for the lack of global perfection. I do not buy it. Those that declare the good ol' days are making a personal statment just like when I state that the USA is a wealthy nation.

[Bovril]

The pledge of allegiance, originally written by a socialist minister (lolz), had the words 'under god' added in 54. I love the 50s.

[Scar Face]

The 50's saw the time with the greatest purchasing power in American history. We have never been as prosperous since, and we never will be. That is why its looked at in a positive manner. Prosperity, good family values. Who cares if there was racism? There always was and always will be. Education and healthcare were good, lynchings were drastically down...people were largely nice so long as they were left alone from those they did not like. Hell, even blacks were better off in this decade. Truly a golden age.

[VALIS]

The 50's saw the time with the greatest purchasing power in American history. We have never been as prosperous since, and we never will be. That is why its looked at in a positive manner. Prosperity, good family values. Who cares if there was racism? There always was and always will be. Education and healthcare were good, lynchings were drastically down...people were largely nice so long as they were left alone from those they did not like. Hell, even blacks were better off in this decade. Truly a golden age.

*Mega Facepalm Montage*

[Scar Face]

*Mega Facepalm Montage*

Not really. You think racism was worse than the ghetto's, gangs, and drugs blacks have to contend with now? Most blacks don't even have fathers for God sakes. They have gone downhill since their "liberation" and they know it. Ask them.

[mongrel]

N Most blacks don't even have fathers for God sakes.

They breed by parthenogenesis? Love to see the scientific proof of that one.

[Da Skinna]

They breed by parthenogenesis? Love to see the scientific proof of that one.

Hey wait a sec... no no this doesn't add up at all!

Of course his argument is that blacks make lousy parents with the father a rolling stone and the mother too lethargic or perhaps, in Scar Face's world, too crack-whorish to care about the direction their kids' lives take.

Any discussion with an African American that isn't beyond looking at them from the car window standing on the street, or taking what's seen in a public school would refute resolutely that argument.

[Bovril]

Not really. You think racism was worse than the ghetto's, gangs, and drugs blacks have to contend with now? Most blacks don't even have fathers for God sakes. They have gone downhill since their "liberation" and they know it. Ask them.

The 'happy slave' cliche is not really in touch with historical reality. Black Ghettos prior to the cities were full of violence and other criminal activities. It just wasn't so much part of the popular consciousness. There's never been a time in American history were black communities were stable. Just as with all minorities, blacks integrated into the mainstream are the only ones who enjoy a quality of life similar to the national median. This, of course, can only happen on any large scale once racism in both law and practice is reduced or done away with.

[mongrel]

The 'happy slave' cliche is not really in touch with historical reality. Black Ghettos prior to the cities were full of violence and other criminal activities. It just wasn't so much part of the popular consciousness. There's never been a time in American history were black communities were stable. Just as with all minorities, blacks integrated into the mainstream are the only ones who enjoy a quality of life similar to the national median. This, of course, can only happen on any large scale once racism in both law and practice is reduced or done away with.

Aah nice soothing Bovril....

I think you have lived a very sheltered life and continue to live a life of delusion if you really believe all that.

I have seen holocaust denial, but Civil Rights Movement denial is a new thing to me. I guess when someone supports the paedophile terrorist BNP anything is possible.

You mention that there were only a "few" lynchings. I think the technical term is murder, not really something to be tolerated. Take for example the murder of Emmet Till. Is this the kind of behaviour you encourage white people to emulate?


In the 1950's some parts of the US denied the vote to black people, those who managed to somehow overcome the barriers put before them faced persecution, even death. Nowadays anyone apart from felons may vote, and black people have reached the highest and indeed the ultimate office. This is indisputable fact.
Black people were denied equal education facilities until Brown vs Board of Education in 1954.

http://www.watson.org/~lisa/blackhis...hts/brown.html

Even then, places like Little Rock didn't get it.



The simple act of catching a bus was fraught with peril. In Montgomery, Black people were prosecuted for not using a bus service that treated them like dross and for some reason the bus company was prepared to accept losses rather than provide a proper service to it's paying customers.

http://www.watson.org/~lisa/blackhis...5/montbus.html

A Woolworth's store (of all places) refuse to serve paying customers

http://afroamhistory.about.com/od/sitins/a/sitins.htm



I could go on but the point is made I think.

[Barry Goldwater]

I love the 50's. Good family values (I can understand if others disagree with me here, but it's just my personal opinion ), epic purchasing power...even the anti-Communist madness was almost excusable, it was after all the beginning of the Cold War...however, the considerable racism present in the era was unexcusable, if only I could go back in time and erase that black stain from one of my favorite periods in American history...

[Da Skinna]

I love the 50's. Good family values (I can understand if others disagree with me here, but it's just my personal opinion ), epic purchasing power...even the anti-Communist madness was almost excusable, it was after all the beginning of the Cold War...however, the considerable racism present in the era was unexcusable, if only I could go back in time and erase that black stain from one of my favorite periods in American history...

Some 600,000 miles of railroad were destroyed in the Soviet Union, over 20 million casualties, I don't think the Russians were in position to invade America... It's real gall to say the madness was excusable. You've proven yourself to be a victim to "good old days" nostalgia.



Oh and life is sheltered.

[Ulyaoth]

I love the 50's. Good family values (I can understand if others disagree with me here, but it's just my personal opinion ), epic purchasing power...even the anti-Communist madness was almost excusable, it was after all the beginning of the Cold War...however, the considerable racism present in the era was unexcusable, if only I could go back in time and erase that black stainfrom one of my favorite periods in American history...

How racist.




Besides, everyone knows the 1890s were the greatest time in history, ah the good old days where anarchists killed our presidents and we falsified reasons to go to war.

[Justice and Mercy]

The 50's saw the time with the greatest purchasing power in American history. We have never been as prosperous since, and we never will be. That is why its looked at in a positive manner. Prosperity, good family values. Who cares if there was racism? There always was and always will be. Education and healthcare were good, lynchings were drastically down...people were largely nice so long as they were left alone from those they did not like. Hell, even blacks were better off in this decade. Truly a golden age.

Excellent post.

[Dr. Croccer]

It wasn't that good because of ignorance. Apart from the obvious racism, you've got the rabid anti-Communist hype. You could call anyone a Communist if you had enough dubious info and it would ruin the rest of their lives. Like Robert Oppenheimer, ''the father of the A-bomb'' and signficant helper of the H-bomb, was branded a Communist by a concurrent on the grounds of his pacifist tendencies and his wife subscribing to Socialist magazines. It ruined his career. And the Korean War, the entire Elvis controversy, the CIA's shady practises, etc. It's a wet dream for Republicans.

[Da Skinna]

In the economic turmoil of the 1970s we saw "Grease" and "Happy Days" and all those nostalgic shows come on television.

Memory is a funny thing, and nostalgia, being the sentimental recall of a good memory brought on by some sense, feel, smell, sight etc, has actually done a lot more harm than good.

The days when women couldn't talk back to me if I cat-called are nostalgic. So are the days I can hop on a bus and say, "hey , that's my seat".

The good old days never existed.


EDIT:

What about those duck and cover propaganda movies from the '5os? Anyone remember those? "If a nuclear weapon goes off outside your classroom window... duck and cover!"

[Thorn777]

The 70s and 80s where certainly "the good old days" for the working class.