McCarthy's red scare, rising resistance to the oppressive Hollywood production code, Beat and motorcycle culture, Brown v Board of Education, the pre-1962 NY Ti

McCarthy's red scare, rising resistance to the oppressive Hollywood production code, Beat and motorcycle culture, Brown v Board of Education, the pre-1962 NY Times bestseller lists, etc all suggest deep division through the 1950's that would only crescendo during the Vietnam War and disperse for a while afterwards. Because TV was ripe and widespread at that point, you can also personally survey talk show and comedy/variety show material of the 1950's and early 1960's to experience the state of the culture. While the fairness doctrine did constrain what could stated by whom and with what kind of counterpoint, capitalists and comedians found plenty of ways to reflect the actual cultural tensions, which (like today) were not small and (like today) were on track to get further heightened.