In the years following World War II, American life was dominated by an insatiable desire to conform. To politicians and citizens alike, political stability could be realized only through a carefully maintained status quo. By encouraging the growth of a homogenous society it was believed that radical ideas and movements could be silenced. Citizens were barraged with images of the perfect family, accented by consumerism and a desire for goods. Freedom was seen as the ability to conform and consume, actions which would ultimately lead to happiness and stability. This idea is underscored in Richard Nixon’s speech opening the American Exhibition in Moscow, where the American system is praised as the definitive way of life. Though political propaganda of the day attempted to mold society into a perfect and homogenous ideal, however, many people spoke out and illustrated the weaknesses of this system. In television, particularly The Twilight Zone, screenwriters such as Rod Serling recognized the frailty of this image and demonstrated how easily society could turn to chaos. The Twilight Zone, through a seemingly implausible story, revealed that the idealized American society was not as perfect as it may have seemed.
In many ways, the politics of the 1950s were dominated by a desire to maintain a political and social climate which would reduce restlessness and discontent. America’s postwar boom allowed for an increase in economic prosperity and the production of luxury goods, and the average American had access to a greater variety of products which had previously been unavailable. From this, the societal definition of freedom shifted drastically to an emphasis on the accumulation of material goods. In addition, the image of the stereotypical ‘nuclear family,’ propagated through all levels of society, increasing the desire for a stable and traditional home life. This emphasis on materialism is displayed clearly in Richard Nixon’s speech delivered at the opening of the American exposition in Moscow in 1959. In an attempt to extol the virtues of American society, a display of US products and fragments of daily life were assembled in Moscow to give Soviet citizens a vision America what had to offer. In his opening speech, Nixon praises the consumerist culture, emphasizing the variety of comforts Americans enjoy. He proudly proclaims that “America’s 44 million families own a total of 56 million cars, 50 million television sets and 143 million television sets. And they buy an average of 9 million dresses and suits and 14 pairs of shoes per family per year” (245). Throughout it all, he paints an image of American liberty as the ability to obtain. He also outlines the classic ideas of political participation and social welfare, but presents them as secondary to the bountiful American economy. American wealth becomes a tantalizing luxury; the definitive example of American success. His speech illustrates the prevailing theory that by making the population materialistically satisfied, the resulting social climate will reduce feelings of radicalism. Considering the extreme competition being felt from the USSR, the spread of communist ideas and sentiments was especially feared. In order to maintain this system, however, it was vital to industrial and political figures to maintain a strong hold on working individuals in the industrial sphere.
To many powerful business owners and politicians, a well organized society could only be maintained by placing limitations on the freedoms of workers. This idea is pronounced strongly in Clark Kerr’s 1960 piece “Industrialism and Industrial Man.” Kerr points out that to maintain a stable society, the working man must be content with limited freedom in his place of employment. In essence, his ideas harken back to the colonial idea of “freedom through submission,” claiming that through submission to authority one will ultimately be content. He emphasizes the idea of a society defined by an adoption of common ideas and social norms, claiming that “The industrial society...develops a distinctive consensus which...provides a common body of ideas, beliefs, and value judgments integrated into a whole” (250). To Kerr, a successful country depends on a framework rooted in uniformity, in which a standard set of values become adopted by the entire society. In addition, Kerr emphasizes the relinquishment of freedoms within the workplace, such that the working man “...will be subject to greater conformity imposed not only by the enterprise manager but also the state and by his own occupational association” (251). Yet he also recognizes the weaknesses of the system, stating that a successful industrial society requires that “people must perform as expected or it breaks down” (251). In this, we begin to see the first whispers of doubt as Kerr admits a weakness which Nixon never recognized. The idealized images of the two car garage and nuclear family begin to fade as it ivecomes clear that within every person is the ability to resist the system. In reality, many of Kerr’s contemporaries were already pointing out the foundation of sand which supported this vision for American society.
To many individuals during this period, the idea of a homogenous society ignored one crucial factor: human nature. Perhaps the best example of this criticism is seen in the 1960 episode of The Twilight Zone titled “The Monsters are Due on Maple Street.” In the opening scenes, we enter the perfect suburban neighborhood; the narrator even referring to it as “Maple street, USA.” The standard gender roles are observed: the men are outside mowing lawns, fixing cars, and tending the yard. The women are all within the homes, cooking and cleaning. Men throughout the neighborhood admire their cars, and the homes are clean and new. This neighborhood fits Nixon’s image of America--nothing is lacking, everyone has what they could ever want. Yet things immediately take a turn for the worst after a bright flash is seen in the sky and every electrical device fails. The friendly citizens of Maple Street soon turn to paranoia and fear as they realize that their cars, radios, phones, and lights are dead. The first sign of trouble is when their things, their materialistic lifestyle, fails them. They soon begin to question the identity of their neighbors, wondering if perhaps one of them is an enemy from space. This paranoia acts as a startling criticism of the Cold War obsession with espionage. In many ways, their ruthless search for the deceiver among them can be seen as a reflection of the desperate attempt to root out communist spies and sympathizers manifested by Joseph McCarthy and those like him. By the end, they have lost complete control and the neighborhood has turned to anarchy. As the camera pulls back we are left with screams, gunshots, sounds of broken glass, and images of mayhem and murder. Their desperate attempt to protect themselves from the hidden enemy has destroyed the perfect society. An idyllic neighborhood, within less than a day, has turned into a lawless society. Yet the only unusual thing is that the power has gone out, leaving the scared citizens to invent a fantasy world for themselves. It is soon revealed that a race of extraterrestrial beings has been manipulating their devices as a way of turning them on themselves, finally observing the truth about this society:
Just stop a few of their machines; their radios and telephones and lawnmowers. Throw them into darkness for a few hours and then sit back and watch the pattern....they pick the most dangerous enemy they can find, and its themselves.
To many during the Cold War period, the only hope for America was to encourage the creation of a society in which everyone adhered to the same core beliefs and values. While there is some validity to this idea, the notion that everyone should follow the same status quo is unrealistic. Defining freedom as the ability to consume, as Nixon would, leads society down a rabbit hole of greed. So too does the idea of a world based around the same set of traditional values, championed by Kerr in his view of the industrial society. In The Twilight Zone, we are given a startling reminder of what happens when a society prioritizes material wealth and conformity, and in so doing becomes blinded to different viewpoints and ways of life. In the closing lines of the episode, Rod Serling states that “for the record, prejudices can kill, and suspicion can destroy. And a thoughtless, frightened search for a scapegoat has a fallout all of its own.” This statement challenges future generations to avoid the Cold War era obsession with eliminating subversive ideas. In reality, the ‘frightened search for a scapegoat’ damaged the morale of a nation, leading to numerous6 countercultural movements in the years that followed. Each of these movements, in their own way, were a reaction against these attempts to silence those who illuminated the flaws of the system. As we continue toward an unknown future, it is important to heed these words, and to remember that a society can function only when it is built upon tolerance and cooperation. In no way can we expect to develop successfully if we insist on maintaining the prejudices and biases of the past.
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