Key Personality: Betty Friedan

Leaving Cert > The United States and the World > Key Personalities

Friedan is a Key Personality for:

Society in the United States, 1945 - 1989

• Early Life:
  Where did Friedan go to college? What did she earn a degree in? What beliefs did she develop there? What did she do in 1949?

• Friedan and the Feminine Mystique:
  What discovery did she make from the questionnaire she gave at her 15-year reunion? When did Friedan write The Feminine Mystique? How well did it sell? How did she incorporate her findings into the book? What kind of person does the book talk about? What is the "feminine mystique" mentioned in the title?

• Friedan and The Problem That Has No Name:
  What expectations were there on middle-class women in the US at this time? How did Friedan feel this was restricting women? Why did she call it The Problem With No Name? What did she compare the second-class status of women to?

• Friedan and her Critics:
  What did her critics say about her? What did they say about her sources? How did her marriage play in to this? Despite the criticism, what effect did her book have on US society?

• Friedan and NOW:
  When did Friedan found the National Organisation of Women? What was their aim? What other group did she found in 1971, and why? What did she write about in The Second Stage in 1981? What was her opinion of extreme feminism?

Women in early and middle parts of the 20th century suffered an enormous amount of discrimination and were seen as second-class citizens.

Friedan (second from left) with other founders of the National Organisation for Women.

President Jimmy Carter signs an extension for the deadline for the Equal Rights Amendment to be ratified.
Despite the extension, it still failed.

Not all women were united behind Friedan's ideas. Some, such as conservative activist Phyllis Schlafly, saw ERA as an attack on the traditional role of women in society.

Friedan in later years. She died in 2006.

Key Personality: Billy Graham

Leaving Cert > The United States and the World > Key Personalities

Graham is a Key Personality for:
Religion, Mass Media and Higher Education

• Early Life:
  Where was Graham born? Where did he go to university? When was he ordained? What denomination is he?

• Graham the Evangelical:
  What did he found in 1950? How did he develop religion as a form of mass entertainment? How did he use media to his advantage? How many people did he preach to in his 16 week mission in 1957?

• Graham's Beliefs:
  What are the main tenets of Graham's evangelical Protestantism? How did he differ from Christian fundamentalists such as Jerry Falwell? How did he continue to use the media? How influential did he become?

• Graham Over Time:
  What was Graham's attitude to Communism? How had his views changed by the 1980s? What awards has Graham received? Why is he still held in high regard today?

With Dwight Eisenhower, President 1953-61

With John F. Kennedy, President 1961-3

With Lyndon Johnson, President 1963-9

With Richard Nixon, President 1969-74

With Gerald Ford, President 1974-7

With Jimmy Carter, President 1977-81

With Ronald Reagan, President 1981-9

With George HW Bush, President 1989-93

With Bill Clinton, President 1993-2001

With George W. Bush, President 2001-9

With Barack Obama, President 2009 -

Key Personality: Norman Mailer

Leaving Cert > The United States and the World > Key Personalities

Mailer is a Key Personality for:
The Collapse of Consensus, 1968 - 1989

• Early Life:
  Where did Mailer go to university? What was his degree? What did he do during World War II and what did he later write about this? What was the critical reaction to his writing?

• Mailer the Writer:
  How many books did Mailer write? What else did he write? What was Village Voice? What work did he do with Dissent? What is "New Journalism"? Why is Mailer hailed as the "prophet of machismo"? What was his opinion of the US and the USSR? What were his opinions on totalitarianism and conformity?

• Mailer's Writings:
  See the pictures below.

• Mailer's Later Life:
  What awards did Mailer receive? What work did he do besides writing? What political office did he unsuccessfully seek?

The White Negro (1959): He wrote about the hipsters who rebelled against conformity.
These hipsters were around before being a hipster was cool.

Why Are We in Vietnam (1967) and Armies of the Night (1968) both concern US involvement in Vietnam.

Of a Fire on the Moon (1970) was an account of the 1969 moon landing.

Miami and the Siege of Chicago (1968) is an account of the 1968 Democratic and Republican conventions.

The Prisoner of Sex (1971) criticised the women's liberation movement. They didn't like him very much either.

The Fight (1975) was an account of Muhammad Ali's "Rumble in the Jungle" with George Foreman.

Key Personality: Martin Luther King

Leaving Cert > The United States and the World > Key Personalities

King is a Key Personality for:
Problems in US Society, 1945 - 1989

• Early Life:
  Where was King from? What career did he want to pursue? What did his father encourage him to do instead? Where was he appointed a pastor?

• King and Protesting:
  Who was King's main inspiration for protesting? What was his role in the Montgomery Bus Boycotts in 1955 and 1956? What was the outcome? What did King found afterwards and why? How was he able to use the media to his advantage?

• King's Dream:
  What march did King lead in 1963? How many people attended? What was King's dream? (You should be able to quote from his speech!) What was he awarded in 1964? What successes did the civil rights movement enjoy in 1964 and 1965?

• King's Problems:
  What was King's relationship with more radical black leaders like Malcolm X? Why did the FBI investigate King? What was his opinion of the Vietnam War? What happened to him in Memphis in 1968? What was the result?

King leading a protest in Memphis in 1968.

King meeting with President Lyndon Johnson.

King standing behind Johnson as he signs the 1964 Civil Rights Act into law.

King with Malcolm X.

Key Personality: Marilyn Monroe

Leaving Cert > The United States and the World > Key Personalities

Monroe is a Key Personality for:
The Age of Consensus, 1945 - 1968

• Early Life:
  What was Monroe's original name? What was her upbringing like? What did she say about this later in life? What did she experience as a teenager?

• Becoming Marilyn:
  Where was she working in the war years when a photographer spotted her and advised her to become a model? How successful did she become as a model? Why did she change her name to Marilyn Monroe? What was her early movie career like?

• Monroe the Movie Star:
  What films did she star in when her career took off in the 1950s? What controversy from her past encouraged her fame? How did Hollywood exploit this controversy? What kind of roles did she play in her movies?

• Monroe in the "Fish Bowl":
  What was Monroe's private life like after she became famous? Why did her marriage to Joe Di Maggio fail? Who did she marry after him? What did she suffer during this marriage? Who was she rumoured to have have had affairs with?

• Monroe's Death:
  How did Monroe die in August 1962? Why is her death still controversial? What effect has her death had on her fame? What is her legacy?

The future Marilyn Monroe working in a munitions factory during World War II. She was discovered there by a talent scout from the US Army Motion Pictures unit, in charge of producing morale-boosting films for US soldiers. The scout had been sent by his commanding officer, Captain Ronald Reagan.

 

Some Like It Hot: Monroe and her co-stars Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon.

Monroe talks to President John F. Kennedy after famously singing him Happy Birthday at a special celebration.
This is the only (genuine) photo of the two of them together, but they are rumoured to have had an affair.

Monroe's death in 1962 shocked the world.

Key Personality: The Organisation Man

Leaving Cert > The United States and the World > Key Personalities

The "Organisation Man" is a Key Personality for:
Society in the United States, 1945 - 1989

The Man in the Grey Flannel Suit - what the Organisation Man looks like.
All photos on this page © AMC

• William Whyte:
  Who was William Whyte? When did he write about the Organisation Man? What did feel was happening to the individual and the Protestant work ethic? What did he write about the role of corporate culture and its impact?

• Who is the Organisation Man?:
  What kind of person did Whyte describe him as? What is his relationship to the organisation he works in? What three characteristics are important to him, and why?

• The Organisation Man at Work:
  How long would a manager work? What kind of person would he be most likely to promote? How would he link social activities with work? What is a bureaucracy? The Organisation Man would conform to his place in the bureaucracy - what does that mean? What would he not do in order to conform?

• The Organisation Man at Home:
  What is his role in the household? Where does he live and how does he get to work? What did William Whyte write about where he lives? How does he dress for work - he is the man in the what? What does his wife use to aid her in her housework? What does she do to socialise?

The Organisation Man considers the organisation part of his identity. His own well-being is linked to the company's well-being.

The Organisation Man even considered engaged in work-related socialising and entertaining.

The Organisation Man lived in the suburbs and travelled to work in the city by train.
Even his reading was work-related.

His wife used household appliances to help speed the housework, giving her time for coffee mornings with friends.

Key Personality: Muhammad Ali

Leaving Cert > The United States and the World > Key Personalities

Ali is a Key Personality for:
Society in the United States, 1945 - 1989

• Early Life:
  What was Ali's original name? Where was he from? How did his career begin? How did he do in the 1960 Rome Olympics?

• Ali and Discrimination:
  What was life like for Ali in Louisville? Did his status as an Olympic champion make any impact on that? How did he react to this?

• Ali the Heavyweight Champion
  How did Ali maintain his success? What's meant about him when people say "he floated like a butterfly and stung like a bee"? What is the Ali Shuffle? Why did he earn the nickname "The Louisville Lip"? Who did he defeat to become Heavyweight Champion of the World? How well did he maintain his championship in the years ahead?

• Ali and the Nation of Islam:
  Who was the Black Muslim leader Ali came under the influence of? What did he announce after his defeat of Liston? Why did he change his name? How did Ali's relationship with that leader end?

• Ali and Vietnam:
  What was Ali's reaction to being drafted? Why? How did this impact his career? What other consequences did he suffer? How did he react?

• Ali's Comeback:
  What circumstances allowed Ali to make a comeback? Who did he defeat in 1970? Who did he lose to? What good news came to him from the Supreme Court? What was the Rumble in the Jungle? How did the last matches of his career go? When did he retire? What involvement did he have in politics in the 1970s? What was he diagnosed with in the 1980s?

Ali defeating Sonny Liston in 1964.

Ali with Malcolm X.

Ali at the opening ceremony of the 2012 London Olympics.

Key Personality: Joe McCarthy

Leaving Cert > The United States and the World > Key Personalities

McCarthy is a Key Personality for:
Domestic Factors on US Foreign Policy, 1945 - 1972

• Early Career:
  Where was McCarthy from? What did he do during World War II? What did he achieve in 1946?

• McCarthy in the Senate:
  What was McCarthy's record and reputation in the Senate? What were his prospects in the next congressional election? What did he need to do to ensure he was re-elected?

• McCarthy and the "Reds":
  Why did McCarthy choose to go after suspected Communists? What governement department did he claim was full of Communists? How did his growing fame influence the "Red Scare"? How was McCarthy able to stir up peoples' fears about Communism? What other groups did he target? Why?

• McCarthy and the Eastern Establishment:
  What did McCarthy refer to as the "Eastern Establishment"? Why was he opposed to them? How did he link them with Communism? Why did the Republican Party support him? What was his relationship with President Eisenhower? How did he influence Eisenhower?

• McCarthy's Hearings:
  What committee did McCarthy become chairman of? What US institution did he target? His hearings were televised - what impact did this have? How did it contribute to his downfall? How did his career end?

McCarthy on the cover of Time magazine in 1954.

President Eisenhower (left) shakes McCarthy's hand after making his speech in which he had to leave out a section defending George Marshall, the Secretary of State and Eisenhower's friend, who McCarthy had been attacking. Time magazine wrote: "Standing so far from Joe that they looked like two men reaching toward each other across a trout stream, Ike (Eisenhower) grabbed the Wisconsin senator's hand, pumped it once and abruptly let it go."

McCarthy is still remembered in US politics today, but not in a good way. This cartoon from the 2012 presidential election shows Michele Bachmann, who wanted to become the Republican presidential candidate against Barack Obama. She called some of her opponents anti-American. What comparison is the cartoon making between Bachmann and Joe McCarthy?

Key Personality: Lyndon Johnson

Leaving Cert > The United States and the World > Key Personalities

Johnson is a Key Personality for:
US Foreign Policy, 1945 - 1972

• Early Career:
  What did Johnson do before entering politics? When did he begin his political career? What did he rise up to before 1960? What kind of reputation did he have?

• Johnson as President:
  What was Vice President Johnson's relationship with President Kennedy like? How did Johnson become President? Who did he take on in the 1964 presidential election?

• Johnson and the Great Society:
  What social issues did Johnson want to address? What legislation did he pass in 1964 and 1965? How were his domestic policies helped by the 1964 elections? What was the Great Society? What was Medicare and Medicaid?

• Johnson and Vietnam:
  How did Vietnam come to dominate Johnson's presidency after 1964? He believed in the Domino Theory - what is that? How did the events at Tonkin Bay change the war? How did Johnson use the Tonkin Resolution? How many troops did he send to Vietnam by 1968?

• Johnson and the Unwinnable War:
  How did the Tet Offensive impact the war? Why did public opinion begin to turn against Johnson and the war? What happened to Johnson in the 1968 New Hampshire primary? What big political decision did he make afterwards? What measures did he take to try to end the war? Were these measures continued by his successor?

President Johnson signs Medicare into law, with former President Harry Truman and his wife Bess next to him.

President Johnson with Richard Nixon, the man who succeeded him as President.