21. The moral panics of the 1940s and 1950s
Following the Second World War, American society changed dramatically with the emergence of the new middle class. The expansion of the suburbs, the emergence of the new medium of television, and the growing affluence of teenagers in the United States combined to create a new fear among American adults. Americans, particularly white Americans, began to experience a fear that the “American Way” faced serious threats from outside sources. The threats included racial tensions in the United States, the godlessness of communism pervading the entertainment industry, perceived as dominated by foreign influences, and a new form of music which grew in popularity in the 1950s. Popular among the young, rock and roll became a threat to American values.
Popular films depicted the degeneration of American youth, including Rebel Without a Cause, High School Confidential, and even the musical West Side Story. Black leather jackets, blue jeans, and switchblade knives became symbolic of teenage rebellion, as parents viewed with alarm the deterioration of society. Parents were supported in their belief by hearings in Congress, televised for the first time, by exhortations from pulpits, radios and televisions screens from “moralist” protectors of the status quo, and by groups of teenagers being depicted as “gangs” gathered to commit crimes of vandalism and worse. Throughout America, the belief that communist entities were behind the corruption of values existed, in varying degrees based on location and political views.