University/Organization
History Department, Vancouver Island University
British Columbia, Canada
Title
“Justice Through Strength and Courage!” Television and North American Cold War Childhoods in the 1950s
Synopsis
The 1950s was Canada’s first televised decade: a period during which the majority of Canadian families became television consumers and watched programs produced both by the country’s national broadcaster, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, and by private networks across the border in the United States. It was also the height of the Baby Boom, when the country’s largest generation was born and grew up watching television. The expansion of mass culture on the small screen caused significant anxiety among Canadian adults who worried about television’s disruption of family life and its long-term consequences for children’s education, health, and identities.