Fear Of Communism In The 1950's

The Fear of Communism’s Abrupt Impact on American Life in the 1950’s

“To many, the 1950s recall an idyllic era when everyone conformed and everyone lived simply and happily. Beneath this conformity, people were stirring and new ideas were simmering; some would not explode until the 1960s,” stated Rick Musser (Musser, “The 1950s”) . Film had a sudden impact on people in the United States because it was a new technology with information citizens demanded. Since gender roles played into how people chose to act, the roles also went on to define the work place. Ads on television defined citizens wants and needs. Opportunities for work depended on the gender of the person applying. Politics played a large role for those citizens watching television.

On page 92, Faber says, “We have mobilized a million men. Quick victory is ours if the war comes…” (Bradbury 92) This quote shows that the decade had people who wanted to lead, most of those who led were doing it to the benefit of themselves. Beatty states in Fahrenheit 451, “Hold a gun on a man and force him to listen to your speech” (Bradbury 119). In the novel Fahrenheit 451, Montag tried to get across the idea that people needed to start thinking. In similarity, McCarthy forced citizens of America to listen to his speech on communism. McCarthy defined communism for the American people as a bad movement that was spreading through American households. “Well, wasn’t there a wall between him and Mildred, when you came down to it? Literally not just one wall but, so far, three! And expensive, too!” (Bradbury 44) McCarthy wanted to make society conform. Yet, there was a group that did not want to see everyone as the exact same person in a conformed society. There was an invisible wall between the conformist and nonconformist. Each did their part to help shape society into the way it is today. Along the way, they did not spare each other’s expense. Beatty explains to Montag, “ You must understand that our civilization is so vast that we can’t have our minorities upset and stirred” (Bradbury 59). Part of conforming, includes that families enjoy the media.

Furthermore, there was an incredible amount of growth in television, with the number of people whom had tvs in their homes from the beginning to the end of the decade going up by nearly 8 times (Shedden, “Early TV Anchors”) . People trusted the new technology of television. As a result, the tv brought everyone into the same world with an identical media. In Fahrenheit 451, Beatty states the description of the decade, “Picture it. Nineteenth-century man with his horses, dogs, carts, slow motion. Then, in the twentieth century, speed up your camera. Books cut shorter. Condensations. Digests. Tabloids. Everything boils down to the gag, the snap ending” (Bradbury 54) . TV changed made people’s thinking move faster, and modernized how people received their information. “Television became a powerful medium selling everything from headache medicine to a president,” stated Rick Musser (Musser) . Despite the cost, people were willing to pay for the service of entertainment that was essential to fit in. The difference of people having a tv turned into a similarity in the end when everyone had one. With people drawn to the high demand of television, other types of media fell behind. “I remember the newspapers dying like huge moths. No one wanted them back. No one missed them. And then the Government, seeing how advantageous it was to have people reading only about passionate