Member-only story
Let’s Stop Glorifying the 1950s, When Women Had to Drug Themselves to Cope
My grandmother spent most of the decade on Valium and she was in what would be considered a good marriage.
The 1950s are often hailed as the Golden Age of perfect marriages, the height of capitalism, and how we as a society should get back to things if we want America to be great again. I don’t know about you, but as a person who’s had benzos prescribed to them for severe anxiety disorder, I can’t say being in any situation where I needed to take that particular drug was great. So, I don’t think an entire decade where I would feel the need to regularly be gorked out on it would qualify as being any kind of golden age.
My grandfather was attending the United States Naval Academy when Pearl Harbor was attacked. They graduated his class early, in December 1941 instead of April 1942. Instead of graduating in April, my grandparents got married then in Maryland, while my grandfather finished submariner school. He was then sent to the Atlantic Theater to serve on an aircraft carrier, the USS Ranger (CV-4), for a time while he awaited orders to serve on his first submarine. During his time at sea and throughout the war, my grandmother lived in D.C. with her mother and worked for the government.
