In this lecture, Dr. Totten argues white Americans were drunk on their own success following the Second World War and entered two decades of affluence that expanded consumer culture in the country. Americans bought more luxury items, ate at fast food restaurants, and took new vacations. While consumerism reigned, a culture of conformity took hold, which dissuaded dissent and uniqueness. Gender norms stagnated and women were pressured to be "good" housewives and mothers. Popular magazines emphasized the submissiveness and obedience of women to male authority, while many women were forced out of the work place. At the same time, religious sentiment increased in this era, in order to contrast against theoretical communist atheism and the fear of nuclear holocaust. The 1950s also saw large population changes, as white Americans left the cities and countryside and moved into the ever expanding suburbs along the Sunbelt. As a result, city services decreased with this white flight. This era also saw a massive increase in the birth rate, as 50 million people were born over two decades. American culture changed as well, with the advent of Rock & Roll. While this cultural flourishing influenced a host of musical productions to this day, upper-class Americans worried that it made their children disobedient communists, while the Soviets worried rock made their children capitalists. Americans also embraced atomic culture, which was an obsession with everything atomic bomb related. People bought atomic trinkets, took atomic vacations, and watched movies that glorified or feared the bomb. Despite the affluence of the decade, Americans also worried about the substantial amount of poverty in the country, as well as reports of growing infidelity among married couples. As such, the decade can be seen as an Age of Anxiety. Lastly, Eisenhower's administration embraced a "New Look" foreign policy, which emphasized massive retaliation and covert operations, that led to numerous coups and assassinations across the globe. This is exemplified in the Iranian Coup, which directly led to the Iranian Revolution and the American Embassy hostage crisis two decades later.

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