Status of the American Dream after WWII

American Dreams: Review

The thesis of Brands’ American Dreams, a book about the post-war era and beyond, is that the Dream at the heart of the American experience did not find fulfillment in the euphoric sense of victory following the conclusion of WWII.[footnoteRef:1] Americans continued to dream, and often confronted various issues—such as segregation, poverty, and the best way to spread democracy abroad—but by the 21st century they had also seemingly lost a sense of who they were as Americans. They lacked a coherent, cohesive identity, a sense of unity, a central purpose. The cultural changes of the post-war era had driven many Americans apart, and with the election of Obama, there was a sense of hope among some that unity and identity could be restored, and the all-powerful American Dream restored. [1: Henry William Brands, American Dreams: The United States Since 1945 (New York: Penguin Press, 2010), ix.]

Brands’ purpose in writing the book is to show how various American dreams have come to fruition in the US since 1945—however, he also wants to show that these various dreams have led to conflict among the dreamers, as generation follows generation. For example, he begins his book with a depiction of the atomic bomb being tested in the American Southwest: it is a stunning moment that would change the course of history, as the US would use it twice on Japan in a show of power that could not be matched by any other nation on earth. This helped to secure America’s dominance in the post-war world—but it also affected how Americans saw themselves and what they chose to pursue. Some wanted a return to traditional values—others wanted big changes. The culture began to shift dramatically in the 1960s after the assassination of the Kennedys, MLK Jr., and Malcolm X. For example, following MLK’s assassination, there was the “largest wave of riots to date” and President Johnson, in an attempt to keep the peace, “declared a national day of mourning in King’s honor”—but it was simply too late.[footnoteRef:2] Few people had embodied the kind of Dream that these men embodied—King, especially. His “I Have a Dream Speech” had profoundly touched on a central nerve in America with respect to race relations. His murder saw that nerve now exposed and bleeding profusely. JFK had touched on the Dream of American prosperity and peace with his pledge to get the US to the moon, to face down the Soviet spread of Communism, and to prevent nuclear war. His murder exposed the conflict simmering in the US below the surface. The same can be said of the murders of Bobby Kennedy and Malcolm X. Brands does not go into much detail on Malcolm X’s assassination having as much significance as MLK’s, but it certainly did contribute to the sense of Black Nationalism that arose thereafter. Dreamers were coming into conflict with one another, with the entrenched system of power, and with the past and the future. [2: Henry William Brands, American Dreams: The United States Since 1945 (New York: Penguin Press, 2010), 160.]

Brands also goes into detail on these various conflicts—such as how the Great War never really ended, as it simply bled into the Cold War, and then Vietnam, and so on. This extended conflict troubled many people and pushed dreams in different directions. Some dreamed of peace, some of power, some of technological superiority, some of cultural change, and more. There was no single point of unity to guide the country during this extended period. The latter half of the 20th century was more like a tempest than a peaceful gathering of people happy to have won the Great War and now celebrating the ensuing calm. There simply was no calm. There was only a continuation of fighting. This led, as Brands points out, to the rise of the CIA and its covert activities.[footnoteRef:3] There was conflict with Castro, too close to home for many.[footnoteRef:4] There was the Iran-Contra scandal.[footnoteRef:5] Vietnam and then 9/11—all of it shook the nation so violently that, even though, individual dreams and dreamers did persist—the unifying sense of identity and purpose and how to respond or make sense of all these things seemed missing. That is why by the time Obama came, many Americans bought into his ideals of hope and change for the better. It reminded them of a more hopeful past. [3: Henry William Brands, American Dreams: The United States Since 1945 (New York: Penguin Press, 2010), 62.] [4: Henry William Brands, American Dreams: The United States Since 1945 (New York: Penguin Press, 2010), 187-189.] [5: Henry William Brands, American Dreams: The United States Since 1945 (New York: Penguin Press, 2010), 239.]

To make his points, Brands refers to primary and secondary sources along the way. He uses endnotes to refer the reader to actual documents, such as the R. A. Larkin memo, “My First Impression,” from 1945, to give the reader a first-person sense of the testing of the bomb.[footnoteRef:6] He also relies on secondary sources, i.e., other historians whose works help to give support to the points he makes—such as Randy Shirts’ And the Band Played On: Politics, People, and the AIDS Epidemic when describing the conflict of the AIDS years.[footnoteRef:7] This combination of primary sources and secondary sources is helpful in giving the reader a convincing sense of credibility in the text. Brands is not simply relying on his own opinion or research but on the work of others and on the actual historical documents themselves. [6: Henry William Brands, American Dreams: The United States Since 1945 (New York: Penguin Press, 2010), 389.] [7: Henry William Brands, American Dreams: The United States Since 1945 (New York: Penguin Press, 2010), 396.]

Brands supports his thesis quite well by moving the reader along from decade to decade and showing how the events of the 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, and so on, all touched on the lives and minds and hopes and fears of Americans. It is a kind of overview with periodic laser-focus on certain points that he deems most relevant in the shaping of the American consciousness. The thesis is that the Dream became clouded by nightmares—like the AIDS issue, like Vietnam, like the cultural shift of the 60s and 70s, and like 9/11. These nightmares are all described in enough detail that the reader understands why they were a big problem for the Dreamers and the American Dream. One problem, however, is that there is never really sense given of what the original American Dream actually was or if American was ever really united in its pursuit other than during times of national turmoil—like during WWII. If Brands were to look back beyond the 1940s, would he have to concede that the Dream was really always just a cloudy ideal, something meaning different things to different groups and different people, yet unattainable for all? Thus, in one way, the work is compelling and convincing, i.e., in the sense that it shows how slippery the Dream became after 1945, and how Americans longed for a return to simpler, more equitable times once the terrors of the 21st century arrived. But it is not entirely convincing that the Dream was really anything more than propaganda in the first place.