Challenge: 1960-2000, According to the 1950s

The challenge is to, reasonably and without invoking ASB's, make it so that the period after the 50s follows what the 1950s envisioned for their future as closely as possible. This includes, but is not limited to, domestic tranquility, innovation in bringing about greater conveniences (the self cleaning kitchen, and the self driving car), cheap and clean atomic energy powering every city and small town, continued improvement of the middle class and the achievement of the American dream for every family, and a continuation of the social order as it had been previously,
 

MAlexMatt

Banned
About the only way to get something even close is to have the rest of the world never rebuild from the wars, but instead become economic colonies of the US.

Not sure how to bring that about.
 

MAlexMatt

Banned
Not necessarily. America would still need to be top dog, though.

Essentially the entire reason the 50's and early 60's were so nice was because we got to provide all the goods and services necessary to rebuild Europe and Asia after WWII. Keeping the RotW in this 'rebuilding' stage is necessary to keeping things nice.
 
Essentially the entire reason the 50's and early 60's were so nice was because we got to provide all the goods and services necessary to rebuild Europe and Asia after WWII. Keeping the RotW in this 'rebuilding' stage is necessary to keeping things nice.

Europe recovered rather quickly thanks to the Marshall plan. It was not a backward pile of rubble slowly crawling out until some point in the 60s (in which case, it would have become Communist, which is why that plan was put in place to begin with). Western Europe went through an economic miracle thanks to the Marshall plan. The thing is, even when Europe recovered, America was still top dog, not just because it was left untouched by the World War, but because it had always been the Hercules in the Cradle, and was now taking its place as a leader, and using its economic power, workforce potential, industry, infrastructure, and natural resources to make it the worlds leading economy. There were also a few other factors. People who had been saving during the Depression and War years were now free to buy, and buy they did. The Eisenhower years also saw spending and production spent on military production, and national infrastructure (the highway is an instance of this), which lead to economic growth. There's also other factors, but I'm not an economist.
 
Bump:

I think a big thing to overcome is the chaotic transitions of society which changed society. The older generation of the 1950s that were the parents and grandparents at the time wanted peace. They had gone through the Depression and Second World War (and many the First World War), and wanted peace, domestic tranquility, and the American dream. A white picket fence, two children, and a wife in the kitchen with all the latest appliances. That was it. Or at least it for the White Men who dominated society. That's why they put "Leave it to Beaver" and "Father Knows Best" on TV. They knew it was bullshit, and not reality, because they were old enough to know it wasn't true. Their children may have thought it was, and that may have contributed to backlash of those children against the establishment in the 60s and 70s because they felt lied to, but the parents knew those shows were just shows. But, what they were was the ideal they people of the 50s generation wanted to live up to and be. That was their idea of Utopia and how things should be. The Father does his job, and is a great mentor and offers advice and raises his children right, and is king of his home. The Mother is nurturing and does her duties at home and as a wife. The children were good kids who were being raised right. And there was the occasional bully, but it wasn't their kid that was the bully, and there were problems, but they were always resolved in half an hour. Nothing was ever sleazy, and everything was respectful and conservative.

Then stuff rocked the boat. Rock n' Roll came along, with this ragged, tribal beat, and kids were rioting and dancing to this Black music and white artists were singing it. Then everyone wanted equality. There were calls for Black rights, and eventually Womens rights, and gender and racial equality. And this shook the picket fences, and drove parents mad. Elvis was a sex fiend, Rock n' Roll was the Devil's music, and Civil Rights were a Communist plot. The 50s generation that were the parents and grandparents were all about keeping your head low, and not doing anything to shake the boat. And people were mucking around while they were trying to live their Utopia.
That would pale in comparison to the 60s and 70s. Come the mid-to-late 60s and early 70s, there were other movements for peace, criticizing an American war like never before, and social liberalism from the New Left (the New Dealer left that proceeded the New Left focused on Labor rights and economics; not social issues), and people were asking for reefer to be legal. Civil Rights and Womens Rights, and all these progress movements were in full swing, and becoming militant as time went by. Beaver Cleaver was growing up, growing his hair out, and smoking weed, and his girlfriend was burning her bra while he burned his draft card. The youth were being decadent.

So something that needs to be overcome for the "American Dream" world this thread is trying to create are the problems there. Mind you, this does not require the base things to not exist. Just for them not to be so destructive. Rock and Roll can come along and exist, and be fine. And African Americans can get Civil Rights (I'm looking to the Fallout universe for this) and women can even get more rights. But it comes undone if they get militant and not about just shaking the boat, but tipping it over completely.
 
Bump:

I think a big thing to overcome is the chaotic transitions of society which changed society. The older generation of the 1950s that were the parents and grandparents at the time wanted peace. They had gone through the Depression and Second World War (and many the First World War), and wanted peace, domestic tranquility, and the American dream. A white picket fence, two children, and a wife in the kitchen with all the latest appliances. That was it. Or at least it for the White Men who dominated society. That's why they put "Leave it to Beaver" and "Father Knows Best" on TV. They knew it was bullshit, and not reality, because they were old enough to know it wasn't true. Their children may have thought it was, and that may have contributed to backlash of those children against the establishment in the 60s and 70s because they felt lied to, but the parents knew those shows were just shows. But, what they were was the ideal they people of the 50s generation wanted to live up to and be. That was their idea of Utopia and how things should be. The Father does his job, and is a great mentor and offers advice and raises his children right, and is king of his home. The Mother is nurturing and does her duties at home and as a wife. The children were good kids who were being raised right. And there was the occasional bully, but it wasn't their kid that was the bully, and there were problems, but they were always resolved in half an hour. Nothing was ever sleazy, and everything was respectful and conservative.

Then stuff rocked the boat. Rock n' Roll came along, with this ragged, tribal beat, and kids were rioting and dancing to this Black music and white artists were singing it. Then everyone wanted equality. There were calls for Black rights, and eventually Womens rights, and gender and racial equality. And this shook the picket fences, and drove parents mad. Elvis was a sex fiend, Rock n' Roll was the Devil's music, and Civil Rights were a Communist plot. The 50s generation that were the parents and grandparents were all about keeping your head low, and not doing anything to shake the boat. And people were mucking around while they were trying to live their Utopia.
That would pale in comparison to the 60s and 70s. Come the mid-to-late 60s and early 70s, there were other movements for peace, criticizing an American war like never before, and social liberalism from the New Left (the New Dealer left that proceeded the New Left focused on Labor rights and economics; not social issues), and people were asking for reefer to be legal. Civil Rights and Womens Rights, and all these progress movements were in full swing, and becoming militant as time went by. Beaver Cleaver was growing up, growing his hair out, and smoking weed, and his girlfriend was burning her bra while he burned his draft card. The youth were being decadent.

So something that needs to be overcome for the "American Dream" world this thread is trying to create are the problems there. Mind you, this does not require the base things to not exist. Just for them not to be so destructive. Rock and Roll can come along and exist, and be fine. And African Americans can get Civil Rights (I'm looking to the Fallout universe for this) and women can even get more rights. But it comes undone if they get militant and not about just shaking the boat, but tipping it over completely.

Atop that, I'll add this. There are two scenarios I see for Rock n' Roll music that doesn't Rock the boat.

Scenario 1:
"Rock n' Roll is Here To Stay": Rock music comes along right on time, just like the OTL. And there's the same backlash as there was in the OTL, along with the same popularity. However, Rock n' Roll doesn't evolve into later Rock, such as Progressive Rock, Acid Rock, Hard Rock, Heavy Metal, Punk, or anything besides that. It remains music primarily to dance to, or for songs about love and girls and lost love.

Scenario 2
Corporate Crooners and Rock Sells Out:
Under this scenario, Rock and Roll eventually gives way to a corporate run version. Singers are bred by the Record labels, bands cobbled together inorganically by the labels, and songs written by in-house, record label song writers for artists to sing. The public is placated by banal songs about love and such from teenage singers. Elvis and co. were there in history, but their time as the First Great Generation of Rock has passed. Elvis went into the movies and had gone to the army in '58 (and when he returned to the US, he would eventually turn from recording more and spend his time focusing on film and Sountrack albums, and it would be some years between certain studio records. It was in 1962 that he record "Pot Luck" and it would be until 1969 when he would record "From Elvis in Memphis", with a gospel album in between in 1967), Jerry Lee Lewis was a pariah for marrying his 13 year old cousin, the Big Bopper, Buddy Holly, and Ritchie Valens were dead, and Little Richard had gone gospel. Rock was becoming increasingly corporatized and feminized.
This is actually what happened in the OTL before the Beatles and the British Invasion brought Beat music, and organic Rock groups to America. The labels were taking over Rock n' Roll and making it corporate. Singers were bred by the labels to sing sappy love ballads written by professional song writers for the teenagers, and bands were cobbled together inorganically from session musicians or from just other people the studio was likewise breeding. Think of Boy Bands; its essentially that principle.

I don't say this to say that what existed in that gap between when Elvis went to the army and films and when the Beatles hit America was all bad and heinous. In fact, a lot of it was good, and maybe even most of it was fine. But it was what it was. And for the purposes of this scenario, maybe we can expand it and just say the corporations took over popular Rock n' Roll music and held on.
 
The challenge is to, reasonably and without invoking ASB's, make it so that the period after the 50s follows what the 1950s envisioned for their future as closely as possible. This includes, but is not limited to, domestic tranquility, innovation in bringing about greater conveniences (the self cleaning kitchen, and the self driving car), cheap and clean atomic energy powering every city and small town, continued improvement of the middle class and the achievement of the American dream for every family, and a continuation of the social order as it had been previously,

Well,
1-Cuba not become communist: (the Castro brothers die in 1953 during the Moncada barracks attack and Che Guevara during a motorcycle trek in 1951.

2-Nothing war in Vietnam: Ho Chi Min died in 1919,in London for Spanish flu, Nguyên Giáp is killed by Japanese.
Vietnam peacefully become indipendent in 1960.

3-Cardinal Siri become Pope in 1958,with the name of Gregorio XVII, nothing Vatican council II,strong anticommunism.

4-Richard Nixon become President of United States in November 1960,is reelect in 1964,and his vice Cabot Lodge become President in 1968.

5-Alan Shepard is the first man in space March 31-1961 (even in a suborbital flight).
Immediately after the Shepard flight,President Nixon announces next goals: After the Mercury program,orbital Apollo,Saturn derived space station,an Apollo flight around the moon in 1970,a reusable space plane for the end of the decade.

6-Conscription is not abolished in UK until late 60s, British young men like a certain John Lennon,Paul Mc Cartney,Mick Jagger,and others, lose their chance and their life take others roads.
In 1966 the most famous UK singers are Cliff Richards, and the Shadows.
The sophisticated Bossa Nova is the music of 60s.

7-In 70s the western economies are strong and prosperous,nothing inflation or oil crisis.

8-In 1979 in USA is discovered the cold fusion.
 

RousseauX

Donor
Avoiding Vietnam is absolutely essential, but on the long run "domestic tranquility" is an impossibility (indeed, the tranquility of the 50s automatically carry the implication "for white, preferably male, people").
 
Avoiding Vietnam is absolutely essential, but on the long run "domestic tranquility" is an impossibility (indeed, the tranquility of the 50s automatically carry the implication "for white, preferably male, people").

Avoid Vietnam is the most important thing.
I think that is important also avoid a communst Cuba,because is cause of tensions and is a dangerous source of inspiration.
Again,i said no JFK (sorry Norton),because his promises (unlikely promises) have aroused disillusioned hopes,and his death have marked a terrible schock for America and western world.
Another important thing is avoid the "British invasion".
The magic word should be "continuity" with 50s.
Remember that the source of change is in several key figures,the mass of peoples is conformist.
If you delete these key figures you avoid the change.
 
Well,
1-Cuba not become communist: (the Castro brothers die in 1953 during the Moncada barracks attack and Che Guevara during a motorcycle trek in 1951.

2-Nothing war in Vietnam: Ho Chi Min died in 1919,in London for Spanish flu, Nguyên Giáp is killed by Japanese.
Vietnam peacefully become indipendent in 1960.

3-Cardinal Siri become Pope in 1958,with the name of Gregorio XVII, nothing Vatican council II,strong anticommunism.

4-Richard Nixon become President of United States in November 1960,is reelect in 1964,and his vice Cabot Lodge become President in 1968.

5-Alan Shepard is the first man in space March 31-1961 (even in a suborbital flight).
Immediately after the Shepard flight,President Nixon announces next goals: After the Mercury program,orbital Apollo,Saturn derived space station,an Apollo flight around the moon in 1970,a reusable space plane for the end of the decade.

6-Conscription is not abolished in UK until late 60s, British young men like a certain John Lennon,Paul Mc Cartney,Mick Jagger,and others, lose their chance and their life take others roads.
In 1966 the most famous UK singers are Cliff Richards, and the Shadows.
The sophisticated Bossa Nova is the music of 60s.

7-In 70s the western economies are strong and prosperous,nothing inflation or oil crisis.

8-In 1979 in USA is discovered the cold fusion.

I don't know if you'd need to totally avoid Vietnam, though it would certainly help to avoid it. You could perhaps turn it into a star spangled war, keeping the media on a very tight leash, and having at it.

I don't know if you'd need to make the US first in space to keep the space race alive. Indeed, it helps to show that the Soviets are neck and neck.

Bossa Nova is a good move.

Avoiding Vietnam is absolutely essential, but on the long run "domestic tranquility" is an impossibility (indeed, the tranquility of the 50s automatically carry the implication "for white, preferably male, people").

You could go a slow, moderate pace to transformation of society. Things can always bubble under the surface, but so long as they don't explode onto the scene, it's fine for tranquility.

Avoid Vietnam is the most important thing.
I think that is important also avoid a communst Cuba,because is cause of tensions and is a dangerous source of inspiration.
Again,i said no JFK (sorry Norton),because his promises (unlikely promises) have aroused disillusioned hopes,and his death have marked a terrible schock for America and western world.
Another important thing is avoid the "British invasion".
The magic word should be "continuity" with 50s.
Remember that the source of change is in several key figures,the mass of peoples is conformist.
If you delete these key figures you avoid the change.

You can still have optimism and nonconformity. Just so long as the ideal and view of things in the broader spectrum are the same.

Something you need to tackle beyond Kennedy (and his promises were not unlikely, btw. They were basic things we've achieved by now, pretty much) is the New Left. Previous Liberalism was associated with Labor and Economics. The New Left brought up Social issues as something to focus on. They were already set into motion in 1959. They were the Kennedy Kids, the ones that looked to changing society and working for changes. This lead to people who took part in social activism, not just the Hippies and all that, but just normal people in the middle of the political spectrum. You don't necessarily need to get rid of this, just temper it perhaps, so we don't get abortion as an issue, or militant hippies or anything.
 
Avoiding Vietnam is absolutely essential, but on the long run "domestic tranquility" is an impossibility (indeed, the tranquility of the 50s automatically carry the implication "for white, preferably male, people").
How about simply having America win Vietnam. Maybe some idiot in the north decides to launch a full scale invasion of the south and the thing pans out in a conventional Korean style conflict.
 
Just a quick addition:

The 50s, even non-stereotypically, are not Leave it to Beaver with everyone a man in a suit or a mom in the kitchen or a kid in the suburbs. There was room, lots of room, to be other things, and assorted weirdos. I'll point to the Beatniks, Greasers, the Surf/Hot Rod scene, and Ed Roth.
 
IIRC the Fallout (video game) world was like that (before their WW3). Can't remember if there was a proper POD...
 
Here are some PODs that would have to happen in the ATL:

A) Nikita Khruschev doesn't come to power after 1953 - Consider that the 1956 Secret Speech, the Sino-Soviet rift of the 1960s, Sputnik, and the Cuban Revolution can be attributed to Khrushchev's policies...

B) Seduction of the Innocent by Wertham is taken seriously- The sad thing is that Seduction of the Innocent was part and parcel of the 1950s. Comics and science fiction has to be seen as being "low-brow" or "nigh-pornographic". Remember things like the Comics Code, the U.S. Congresional Hearings, contrasted with the cultural rebellion of EC Comics (MAD, Tales From the Crypt, et al.), served as a springboard for future stars of the field as well (e.g. Wally Wood, William Gaines, Basil Wolverton, Frank Frazetta, et al.).

C) Martin Luther King Jr. killed in 1958- In OTL, Martin Luther King Jr. narowly survived being stabbed by a mentally-disturbed woman in Harlem, during a speech in 1958. Consider that Martin Luther King Jr. would nit receive the iconic status that he has achieved until 1962 with the "I Have a Dream" speech....

D) Japan remains economically stagnant - Throughout the 1950s, Japan was seen as being only as the producer of cheap and inferior products. Just remember the shock of Dr. Emmett Brown in Back to the Future III when he learned that Japanese parts were used for the time machine...

E) Smoking and drinking is socially acceptable- As seen by Mad Men (AMC-TV), the health concerns over smoking and drinking were simply not issues. It wasn't until 1962, when Days of Wine & Roses, was alcoholism even portrayed as a problem or addiction. Alcoholics Anonymous ddin't become popular until 1976, after the third printing of its "twelve-step program". Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) of 1980, can't be formed as well.....

F) Loving v. Virginia upholds anti-miscegenation laws of 1967 - Consider that up until this point, interracial relationships were considered extremely taboo. Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens were considered shocking because of their interracial relationships...

G) Immigration reforms of 1965-1968 don't take place- The influx of Latino/Chicano, Asian, Middle Eastern and Eastern European immigrants, served to change the demographics of the country completely. Consider that the 1960s/1970s would not have happened as they did, without figures such as Cesar Chavez, Dolores Huerta, Amy Tam, Al Robles, et al.
 
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