ABSTRACT
The 1950s ushered in a new era that came as a blessing to many working Americans after enduring the dire conditions of the Depression and World War II.When the war ended and prosperity followed, people wanted to just live their lives, so long postponed. Millions of young people rushed to marry, find a home, and have a family, producing the baby boom. Many who could not have afforded a new home in the past bought homes in suburban developments subsidized by veteran mortgages and other federal programs.They settled in with a car, a TV, and rear patio.This expanded middle class became the focus of attention of mass media and of retailers. It was they who were talked about in the 1950s, as if all Americans lived in suburban middle-class families.The poor, minorities, and the excluded were invisible in most news, movies, television and music, and in policy.1
