[CowBubba]

Originally Posted by Carl in Tampa

I would argue that there were millions of women who did not share your point of view during the 1950s.

Among them would be those women who had been forced out of their preferred feminine roles as housewives and homemakers to work in the various defense industries during the 1940s, building airplanes, tanks, arms and munitions for our military forces engaged in a world-wide armed struggle that we were by no means assured we would win.

During World War II, American women demonstrated their ability to perform in the mechanical crafts and trades which had previously been closed to them, and they developed a new pride and self-confidence in their abilities. But, most of them preferred to removed to the traditional "feminine" roles of the pre-war era; and most did, welcoming home their husbands, and expecting to again be the ruler of their households while their husbands brought home a paycheck.

One of the greatest aspirations of our military men returning to civilian life was to settle down with a wife and family in their own home, working at a good job, and enjoying life.

Technology which was developed in war time found civilian applications which blossomed quickly into "modern conveniences" such as tape recorders, AM/FM transistor radios, and television. The 1950s was also characterized by the introduction of a wide variety of automobiles, and the American romance with cars began a decades-long love affair.

You mention lynchings, but you fail to mention that the Civil Rights Movement took wing in the 1950s, with such events as Brown vs. Board of Education, Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott, and the rise of Martin Luther King, Jr., as leader of the Civil Rights Movement. By the 1950s the Armed Forces had been ordered integrated, and minorities were moving into the supervisory ranks.

I don't know where you lived in the 1950s, but in none of the places where I lived was wife beating legal or accepted.

You properly decry the disparity in moral values between sexual promiscuity of men and women in the 1950s, but seem to feel that lowering the standard for women was the proper solution, while there are those of us who argue that raising the standard for men would have been the proper solution.

In the 1950s, I was a white, male, heterosexual teenager with a beautiful high school sweetheart who I later married, and a nice late model car to ride around in for trips to church, parties, and the beach. I did well in high school, attended church regularly, grew up in a two-parent family, with a younger brother who also did well.

I was aware of alcohol and drugs, but did not use them. I had a part time job in which I worked with a Black male who I considered a friend. I lived in a city in which White, Black, Italian and Spanish influences were all in evidence. I read a weekly newspaper that had articles written in English, Italian and Spanish. I ate "soul food," Italian food, Cuban food, and lots of sea food.

And I was happy.

Clearly, we have very different memories of the 1950s.

your wrong carl, but you sound just like my father so I defer further comment.