The 1950s Lifestyles and Social Trends: Headline Makers

Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel (1883–1971) Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel was one of the most influential fashion designers of the twentieth century. Just after World War I, she designed the first in a series of simple, comfortable dresses and skirts that released women from the era's tight corsets. In 1922, she created her famous Chanel No. 5 perfume. Thirty-two years later, she emerged from a fifteen-year retirement to design a line of clothing that was dubbed the "New Look": casual, shaped women's wear that proved to be immediately popular.

Mamie Doud Eisenhower (1896–1979) Mamie Doud Eisenhower was the perfect first lady for the 1950s. It was a time when home and family were considered to be of paramount importance in American society. During the eight years that her husband, Dwight Eisenhower, was in office, Mamie represented the ideal American wife by radiating quiet strength, supporting her husband unfailingly, and becoming involved in charitable causes. She also found satisfaction in domestic responsibilities. "Ike took care of the office," she explained. "I ran the house."

R. Buckminster Fuller (1895–1983) R. Buckminster Fuller was an inventor, philosopher, mathematician, engineer, architect, cartographer, scientist, environmentalist, poet, author, and educator. One of his many accomplishments was the invention of the geodesic dome, a honeycombed, triangular structure that utilized maximum space while being constructed with a minimum of materials. The domes gained wide acceptance in 1953, after Fuller employed the concept in the design of a 93-foot enclosure for the Ford Motor Company's Dearborn, Michigan, auto plant rotunda.

John Kenneth Galbraith (1908–) In 1958, John Kenneth Galbraith published The Affluent Society, a scholarly book on economics that became a best-seller. In it, he offered a cutting indictment of what America had become: a materialistic society that championed private wealth over public need. As a society becomes more affluent, many unnecessary goods are manufactured, which help maintain the country's high level of production and employment. Demand then follows production, with consumers purchasing goods because they are persuaded to do so by advertising.

Billy Graham (1918–) During the 1950s, Billy Graham became the world's most famous revivalist. In his "crusades," he eloquently and persuasively preached the tenets of evangelical Christianity. At the core of his preaching was that faith in Jesus brought salvation. He also warned of the dangers that communism presented to Christians and Americans. Late in the decade, he acknowledged the civil rights movement by condemning racism as un-Christian. In 1957, Graham filled New York's Madison Square Garden to capacity with a series of spectacular revival meetings.

Hugh Hefner (1926–) Whether you view him as a liberator or a male chauvinist, one point is undeniable: Hugh Hefner was a purveyor of the concept that the pursuit of pleasure and material gain was the new American way. When Playboy magazine, Hefner's brainchild, first hit newsstands in 1953, it represented a new openness about sexuality. Playboy combined female nudity with stories and articles penned by the nation's top writers. It was an immediate sensation, partially because Hefner had the foresight to run as the magazine's first centerfold, a nude photo of Marilyn Monroe taken before she became a movie star.

Reinhold Niebuhr (1892–1971) Throughout the 1950s, Protestant theologian Reinhold Niebuhr was an influential figure in American religious thought. In the 1930s, Niebuhr had been a socialist, but by the early 1950s he had returned to traditional Protestant values. In particular, he was concerned with how they related to modern society. Niebuhr emphasized what he believed to be man's sinful nature and distance from God, and the need for the mediating presence of Jesus.

Francis Spellman (1889–1967) Francis Spellman was the leading American Roman Catholic clergyman of the mid-twentieth century. He was a controversial figure who readily engaged in public quarrels with those he opposed. They included figures as revered as former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, with whom he disagreed over government aid to parochial schools. Two of Spellman's pet concerns were establishing diplomatic relations with Vatican City and motion picture censorship. He often linked his religion with patriotism, and accused his opponents of being anti-Catholic. Meanwhile, his enemies sarcastically dubbed him "the American Pope."