The politics and culture of the 1950s were positively affected due to the innovation of the television. It irreversibly changed how the American people lived their day-to-day lives through televised entertainment, commercials, and political events and news.
Although television was not new, beginning as early as the 1920s, it wasn’t until the 1950s that it truly took off and the industry boomed quickly becoming a national pastime. Television provided families, friends, and young people with new sources of entertainment such as college and professional sports and game shows that were being broadcasted across America. A water administrator in Toledo, Ohio reported that water use sometimes surged because of people using their toilets while on commercial breaks. Show such as Leave It to Beaver, Ozzie and Harriet, and Father Knows Best created a common image of American life; a providing husband and a homemaker wife, raising the kids. However, some shows such
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Lastly, it gave the public a new method of receiving national news and political events that was more readily available instead of newspapers or the radio show. Live events including the Army-McCarthy hearings filled the screens during 1954, revealing Senator Joseph McCarthy’s accusations of Communist supporters within the army, bringing awareness to the public and ultimately leading to his decline. Broadcasting companies covered many political activities and speeches as well as aired political ads promoting different candidates. The first presidential campaign to place ads on TV was that of Dwight D. Eisenhower in the 1952 elections. In conclusion, television of the 1950s greatly influenced American culture and politics with its new forms of entertainment, commercials, and it’s broadcasting of news and political