Culture of Consumption During Eisenhower Administration - Essay Example

A CULTURE OF CONSUMPTION DURING THE EISENHOWER ADMINISTRATION ID Number: of of School (University)Word Count: 322Date of Submission: September 09, 2011The Eisenhower administration covered the years 1953-1961 (two terms) and he was the first president subject to the term limits imposed by the 22nd amendment. His administration was blessed by relative domestic and international peace; by virtue of this peace, the economy grew remarkably well such that American citizens rightly have feelings of exuberance and hope for the future, for their country and for themselves.

Americans focused their attention largely on their own domestic affairs except for some hot spots in the international arena caused by the Cold War but this minor bump had not dented their overall feelings of tranquility and abundance. His economic conservatism allowed the economy to grow to unprecedented levels and citizens at that time refer to this period as the “happy days” or the “good old days” to sort of give a characteristic feature of his administration. He cut the defense budget and controlled the budget deficit of the Federal government so private enterprises will not be crowded out of the credit and financial markets.

In other words, private enterprise and individual initiative were in full bloom. American citizens felt good about themselves and at peace with the outside world such that this period saw an economic and also a baby boom when record numbers of babies were born. People felt upbeat in general when they produced record numbers of newborns and this in turn boosted consumer confidence such that people spent their monies in record numbers too. When people have faith in the future, they tend to spend money confidently and consume all the products and services on the market that led to a culture of conspicuous consumption.

There also were profound social and economic changes that encouraged Americans to consume more. They found new affluence, moved to the suburbs in prefabricated houses, got new financial credit and took secure and well-paying jobs giving rise to a strong middle class (Mayer, 2010, p. viii). ReferenceMayer, M. S. (2010). The Eisenhower years. NY, USA: Infobase Publishing.