Teenagers in Postwar America

“There are many different opinions aboutjust what is the most exclusive club in America these days,” observed Dick Clark in his 1959 book Your Happiest Years (Document 25.5). But for Clark, the most exclusive and important club was the one he called “Teenagers of America, Inc.” Still, for Clark and most other Americans that club was exclusively white—African American, Latino, and Asian teenagers rarely appear in a positive light. Indeed, Clark’s appraisal of American society in 1959 may have been self-serving—after all, his career hinged largely on appealing to teen audiences—but he was not alone in his belief in the significance of teenagers in postwar American society.

Even now, pop culture often portrays the 1950s as a simpler time when girls wore poodle skirts and swooned over Elvis Presley (Document 25.6), while boys raced hot-rod cars and took their dates to the malt shop. In this vision, teens were concerned with little more than increasing their popularity, “going steady,” and watching American Bandstand. As the following documents illustrate, there is much to support this interpretation of postwar teen culture. Young people made rock ’n’ roll into an enduring and lucrative entertainment industry, shaped the advertising and manufacture of products, and were the focus of numerous television shows and movies.

But there are other, more complicated images of teen life in this era. For one, juvenile delinquency was seen by many as a serious problem. Actor James Dean’s Rebel without a Cause competed with singer Pat Boone’s squeaky-clean haircut and white shoes. In 1959 actor Sandra Dee portrayed both a perky Malibu surfer in Gidget and an unwed pregnant teen in A Summer Place. Teens also grew up under the looming threat of the Cold War, the Korean War, and McCarthyism. African Americans helped popularize rock ’n’ roll, but in Little Rock, Arkansas, and elsewhere in the South, black teenagers risked their lives to desegregate public schools (Document 25.7).

The following sources consider different aspects of teen life and postwar culture in the 1950s. They also illustrate teenagers in the 1950s who had more on their minds than just dating and having a good time (Documents 25.8 and 25.9).