Volu m e II - Purdue University Calumet

endangering society and being exiled, and finally towards writing the individual out of society entirely. In
twenty-three short years the world had become a dramatically different place; no longer were old world
heroes necessary. American society had shifted away from glorifying the individual who builds societies, and
had begun to fear those who might question the authority of the community.
With the rise of communism grew a fear in Americans of anything that was different. Ironically, the
desire for security from communism led Americans to question those who questioned popular opinion, or
sought their own, individual path. Americans had “become increasingly concerned with security, the safe
and the sure, the certain and the known… it was unwise to voice an unpopular opinion… for it could cost a
man his job and his good name.” (Playboy January 1963) Individuals came increasingly to be viewed as
outsiders posing a threat to the peacetime hegemony and were demonized. This pressure for conformity
was governed in a variety of ways such as loyalty oaths, or conformity investigations of the house
Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) and Joseph McCarthy’s senate hearings. In these instances,
any challenge to the accepted norms might lead to sanction. This could also be seen in attempts to stop
juvenile delinquency by banning rock and roll music or regulating comic books. Any “other” in Cold War
America was considered dangerous, whereas a few decades before the individual had been prized as an
innovative leader necessary for our county’s expansion and success.
Reisman writes that in this era men wanted to be loved rather than esteemed. Americans became
“other directed”, placing their values and ideals with the collective mindset of the time to fit into
mainstream society. People wanted to “keep up with the Joneses” rather than stand above them. As the
policy of containing communism grew abroad so to did the idea of containment on the home front.
Americans came to see containing domestic “deviance” as important as containing communism abroad; it
was the “only key to security” (May 29). This clearly expresses a shift in American society from the idealized
version of the rugged individual to an idealized group mentality. Any distinctive individual would detract
from the group mindset endangering culture at large.
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