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Have we progressed or not?
California in the 1950s featured plenty of hats, gloves and suits, very few drugs or deadbolts
Thursday, May 14, 2009 6:09 AM PDT
When compared to today, were the times better or worse for California during the mid-1950s? I suppose the question is open to debate, but for those of us who remember, here are some of the "better" points of the argument:
1. Dead bolts and alarms did not exist on the average home. Most mothers stayed home, raised their children and watched over their neighborhoods. Illegal drugs in middle-class areas, for the most part, were non-existent. Public schools had some of the best facilities in the country. Streets were constantly being repaired or improved.
2. Justice was swift and sane. If a barbaric criminal received the death penalty, there were no endless appeals. People expected their politicians to be honest and trustworthy. Journalists and attorneys were respected. Physicians had full control over treatment of their patients.
3. At age 18, males had two choices: The military or college. If they chose college, they would enter the service upon graduation. Thus every man, who was physically able, gave something back to his country. Californians took pride in their country's military.
4. Most people were married by age 22. Divorce was rare, with the exception being the Hollywood crowd. Unwed mothers were scorned. Almost every home had two parents. They took full responsibility for the behavior of their children.
5. Manufacturing jobs were plentiful with good pay and benefits. The main worry was war with the Russians. Fears about ozone holes, climate changes and declining populations of spotted owls simply not did not measure up to the threat of thermal nuclear annihilation. Californians were united in patriotism and purpose.
6. Color TVs were new on the market. At a starting price of $495, they were out of reach for the majority of citizens. Television shows were family affairs that could be very entertaining without being crude or vulgar. Rarely were more than four commercials seen during a half-hour program.
7. Cars were colorful, chrome-covered and powerful. Designs changed every year. People anticipated the fall introductions of new models. Manufacturers, (the vast majority being American), promised their products would be, "longer, lower and wider." No one worried about gas supplies or gas prices.
8. The popularity of rock 'n' roll was on the rise. Black "doo-wap" performers and calypso singers outnumbered their white counterparts. Their songs were heard throughout mainstream America. Financial success was the goal for most. People respected those who had "made it." Most wanted to imitate perceived luxury lifestyles, not condemn them. Competitiveness was "in." Victimization was "out." People expressed status by the make of cars they drove, the furs they wore or the color TV sets (with 36 months to pay of course) in their living rooms.
9. Men wore suits and women wore gloves when traveling by airplane. Men removed their hats and never wore them backwards. Outstanding airline service was taken for granted.
10. Cops were good. Criminals were bad. Women were respected and never slandered in popular songs. Allies of the United States were good. Enemies of the U.S. were bad. Movie theaters were quiet places where cell phones did not ring. Kids stayed in their seats and people did not talk during the performances. Respect for others was in vogue, and narcissism was a word rarely heard.
Steve Hansen is a Lodi writer.
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stantaves wrote on May 21, 2009 8:49 PM:
dyan wrote on May 21, 2009 7:24 AM:
dyan wrote on May 21, 2009 7:20 AM:
voter wrote on May 21, 2009 6:56 AM:
http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-1765-Underground-Examiner~y2009m4d28-Georgia-Creationist-Party-Candidate-Neal-Horsley-runs-on-secessionist-platform "
Leonard wrote on May 20, 2009 10:30 PM:
It still angers me that white libs think people like me can't make it without their excuse-making.
And I still can't believe that conservatives think it is OK to have sex with livestock.
I mean, while we are all sitting around making up fictional beliefs for people we don't know.... "
dyan wrote on May 20, 2009 4:16 PM:
dyan wrote on May 20, 2009 3:38 PM:
dyan wrote on May 20, 2009 3:36 PM:
kmg wrote on May 20, 2009 1:37 PM:
dyan wrote on May 17, 2009 9:46 PM:
Leonard wrote on May 17, 2009 7:16 PM:
" I was Navy 1958 to 1962 and Blacks were in all ratings, I was on a Destroyer and on the diving crew on a Destroyer Tender… Working onboard ship or on Shore Patrol I saw almost no racism….
Contrary to Dyan's unfounded insinuations, I don't think anyone here has suggested that the Navy was a bastion of racism in this period.
I believe that Dyan was trying to employ a straw horse in this regards. The whole episode is just another reminder of the hazards of engaging in a battle of wits with an unarmed man. "
Leonard wrote on May 17, 2009 7:11 PM:
" Leonard: Do you want to admit that you see yourself as superior to black people (and everyone else for that matter)
Gee Dyan, now you are telling me how I feel?
I hadn't realized that you were omniscient. Do you have any other god like powers that you would like to share with us before we proceed? "
Mrs. S. wrote on May 17, 2009 6:24 PM:
Dyan, I'm glad that your father is proud to be an American. There's no other country that offers her citizens such rich opportunities. However, if your parents lived in Lodi, especially in the 1970s, they'd raise many an eyebrow, I'm afraid. I think (and hope) things are getting better, however. "
dyan wrote on May 17, 2009 4:30 PM:
Gator wrote on May 17, 2009 2:31 PM:
It’s far worse.. "
Gator wrote on May 17, 2009 2:28 PM:
(Black)went through Dive school on the east coast when I was in school in San Diego. Chief Brashear retired as a Master Chief petty Officer. Working onboard ship or on Shore Patrol I saw almost no racism…. "
Leonard wrote on May 17, 2009 12:55 PM:
What I do believe in is change. As a greater wit than I once said, it is the one constant. "
Gator wrote on May 17, 2009 11:41 AM:
wouldn’t say that, point taken.. Some things we can call progress but at what cost?? Blacks
have it a lot better, while I’m at it the “Okies” had it just as bad as the Blacks only their miss
treatment didn’t last as long!! Morals have gone down the Drain big time and as for Crime
Gang warfare is 10-20 times worse.. Work ethic was far better then than now…Kids had it better back then now, we played outside all day in the summer and ranged 10 or 15 blocks
from home. When I was 8 years old I would ride my bike 2 miles down to the piers and fished all day!! So as it goes I’m better off than my Father and progress has been made but better It’s a crap-shoot at best!! "
Leonard wrote on May 17, 2009 11:38 AM:
My father served proudly on a nuc sub in the 50s and 60s, something that couldn't have happened according to liberal revisionist history.
Can you provide a specific citation to support this allegation or do you just want to come clean and admit that you are making this up as you go along? "
Leonard wrote on May 17, 2009 11:32 AM:
" Leonard you're a genius. My father was black and my mother was white, but being the good lib that you are, you know much more about growing up in a mixed family in southern California than I do. You guys are unbelievable in your blind dogma.
Actually, Dyan, I didn't, mention mixed marriages BUT since you brought them up, I will point out that the California Supreme Court (that bastion of wrong headed liberalism) only overturned California's anti miscegenation laws in 1947. Even so, in the 1950's, your parents would have been virtual prisoners within California's borders since travel to many of the other states in the Union would have resulted in their arrest and imprisonment.
Of course, if your father happened to be the darker of the two, many states would have skipped imprisonment and simply hung him from a tree.
The good old days, you say? "
jramagic wrote on May 17, 2009 7:23 AM:
jramagic wrote on May 17, 2009 7:22 AM:
Gather and label everything that is "bad" as being caused by "Libs" or "Neocons".
If one group refuses to see the point of the other, well then, tough. "We'll just secede and run things OUR way", etc...
Geeze...that solves everything. Why didn't we think of that sooner? Hmmmm, seems that we studied something similar back in grade school...I think it was called the "Civil War"..... "
dyan wrote on May 17, 2009 6:26 AM:
Cogito wrote on May 16, 2009 10:04 PM:
dyan wrote on May 16, 2009 9:21 PM:
Leonard wrote on May 16, 2009 9:14 PM:
" Three things crying white liberals forget about blacks in the 1950s: Less crime
Again, the hatred you feel for facts is evident. The FBI statistics clearly show that crime is only marginally worse today than it was fifty years ago.
To argue that blacks were better off under Jim Crow is not just dishonest, it is disgusting. "
Leonard wrote on May 16, 2009 9:09 PM:
" "Blacks were beaten and hosed." You guys sound like an old Hollywood movie.
I wonder how many blacks were "beaten and hosed" in California?
Dyan, the last lynching of a black man in California occurred in 1947. You can be assured that blacks in California knew damn well what the consequences were if they stepped out of their roles in Mr. Hansen's version of Father Knows Best. "
dyan wrote on May 16, 2009 3:54 PM:
dyan wrote on May 16, 2009 3:49 PM:
I wonder how many blacks were "beaten and hosed" in California? The story is about California, but liberals just can't let go of their blacks as victims game. "
stantaves wrote on May 16, 2009 11:47 AM:
Lodian wrote on May 15, 2009 10:15 AM:
Lodisafeway: You wrote this as if you respect, and are understanding of, peoples differences and just know people may have opposing viewpoints.
In reality, when people disagree with you, respect and understanding is the last thing they can expect from you. "
lodisafeway wrote on May 15, 2009 9:42 AM:
I would submit that if polled, there would not be an overwhelming agreement; people see things through different types of lenses. This is but one reason why we all won't ever be able to get along. "
jramagic wrote on May 15, 2009 8:53 AM:
Leonard wrote on May 14, 2009 6:23 PM:
I blame the if it bleeds, it leads media for this phenomenon. Many a local news station owner has made their fortune exploiting the suffering of crime victims and instilling fear in the hearts of citizens. "
Leonard wrote on May 14, 2009 6:20 PM:
According to the FBI, the homicide rate in 1959 was 4.9 (per 100,000). That rate steadily increased over the next 20 years before peaking in 1980 at 10.0. Since 1980 that rate steadily decreased until 2000 when it was 5.5.
While the last 8 years have seen a slight resurgence in the numbers the rate for 2007 was only 5.9, a great improvement over the numbers from the 1970s "
Leonard wrote on May 14, 2009 6:14 PM:
lodisafeway wrote on May 14, 2009 4:42 PM:
Of course, this innate forgetfulness could very well serve as a survival technique that if eliminated by artificial means, may make our golden years far less enjoyable. "
Trackback wrote on May 14, 2009 3:15 PM:
Leonard wrote on May 14, 2009 1:50 PM:
I am speaking about the conduct of men regardless of race and the moral decline.
I would say that the fact that we no longer keep millions of Americans in a state of legally enforced inequality represents a moral improvement, not a decline.
If you feel otherwise, I would love to hear an explanation of your beliefs. "
lodi boy wrote on May 14, 2009 1:49 PM:
Didn't segregation exist? And Sexism? "
Bry wrote on May 14, 2009 1:06 PM:
Leonard wrote on May 14, 2009 12:49 PM:
" Mr Hansen forgot to mention that blacks were jailed, beaten with hoses or savaged by police dogs if they "forgot their place".
Perhaps that is what he was referring to when he said that "Justice was swift". "
Ivan Dixon wrote on May 14, 2009 12:28 PM:
Bry wrote on May 14, 2009 12:26 PM:
Nowdays, bad conduct is blamed on ADD, ADHD, Autism and an array of other so called "mental disorders" etc. Consequently, it is not the parents fault for their child's bad behavior. So they can continue to be self absorbed doing what gratifys themselves, rather than spending time teaching their children life's lesson, goodness, values, self-discipline and love for fellowman. Yes, it is not the parents fault and not my child's fault. They were born that way.
This world is in dire straits due to this attitude of entitlement and a turning away from God and his righteousness. "
Ivan Dixon wrote on May 14, 2009 11:48 AM:
You didn't have any uppity Mexicans demanding their rights either. If a "#*($" (to use the vernacular of the day) stepped out of line he ended up dead at the bottom of an irrigation canal with a sack full of bricks tied to his leg.
As for us Jews, we didn't have it so bad just as long as we stuck to the jobs that we were "allowed" to hold and lived outside of the subdivisions that the gentiles had deeded us out of.
Yeah, I'm sure the 1950's seemed like a regular paradise to a white fellow like Mr. Hansen. He will have to forgive me if I don't share his nostalgia. "
lodisafeway wrote on May 14, 2009 11:28 AM:
Credit cards got their start in the 50s, which led to personal debt that now literally strangles many households and the people who live in them. True home "ownership" ended in the 50s due to the "buy now pay later" mentality that swept the nation to the point now where almost no one really "owns" their homes.
But still, there are others who might point to the 20s or early 1900s as the most desirous era to have lived. I simply believe that each have had their ups and downs with little differences from one to another. "
Bry wrote on May 14, 2009 9:59 AM:
There is no personal accountability any longer but there are medical excuses for bad behavior of children and adults. Things will not turn around as their is a reason for everything under the sun. That's why everything is upside down nowadays. Me, me, me, me, me! "
lodidian wrote on May 14, 2009 9:21 AM:
Agreed---we need to be more concerned about today and the days ahead, than days gone by. That said, Lodidians were safer when Safeway was located on School Street (in the 50's).
I believe it was a safer time, not just here in Lodi but all over the country because people respected the one another and the law, and because it was the right thing to do.
Who knows, maybe respect for others and for the law will return to America one day. "
lodisafeway wrote on May 14, 2009 7:53 AM:
Regardless, as much as many of us might want to return to those yester-years, Doc Brown's or HG Wells' Time Machines haven't yet been invented and even if it were possible to go back, I think we'd be terribly disappointed.
While some obsess with the past, a better use of our time and efforts would be to make today a better place. After all, in 50 years someone will probably write an identical article lamenting about just how wonderful the Turn of the Century years were; and hopefully the time machine will not yet be built by then either. "
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