Throughout Levittown's suburban history - from World War Two to the Baby Boomers to the post-Soviet world of the Internet - we've lived with terms without considering their curious historical origins.
Here's a sample:
American Century. This was coined in 1940 by Henry Luce, publisher of Time Magazine to describe the state of America's political, economic, and cultural influence on the rest of the world.
Axis Powers. Used in a 1935 speech by Benito Mussolini to describe a treaty of alliance signed with Germany on October 25, 1936. It became an official term with the Tripartite Pact of September 27, 1940 between Germany, Italy, and Japan.
Atomic Age. The term was coined by William L. Lawrence, the only journalist to witness the testing of the first atomic bomb on July 16, 1945, and in the post-War years came to describe not only the new political and military realities posed by nuclear weapons, but the belief that the industrialized world would quickly jettison fossil fuels in favor of nuclear energy.
Cold War. George Orwell first used the term in an October 19, 1945 essay "You and the Atomic Bomb" in the London Tribune but it was popularized in the U.S. by financer and presidential advisor Bernard Baruch in an April 16, 1947 speech.
Cyberspace. Term for the sum total of human activities occurring within the realm of global computer networks has been traced to Sci-Fi writer William Gibson's book Burning Chrome(1983) but didn't become more widespread until the popularity of his book Neuromancer a year later.
Exurbia. Related to "exurbs" and the whole New Urbanism movement of the 1980's and early 90's; Joel Garreau is generally credited with having popularized it in his 1991 book Edge Cities.
Hydrogen Bomb. Called "superbomb" when first theorized by physicists who worked on the Manhattan Project, it was also called "hydrogen bomb" because of its release of enormous energy from the fusing of hydrogen atoms. On January 31, 1946, President Harry Truman announced authorization of the AEC to undertake production and officially employed the words "hydrogen bomb."
Internet. Although the concept of linking global communications networks harks back to the late 19th Century and research on the basic elements of the Internet can be traced to the 1960's, it was in a 1974 paper by Stamford Research Institute researchers Vinton Cerf, Yogen Dalal, and Carl Sunshine called "Specification of Internet Transmission Control Program" that the word gained widespread currency.
Iron Curtain. Term first used by Sir Winston Churchill on March 5, 1946 in a speech at Westminster College in Missouri.
McWorld.Slang for globalization process coined by Benjamin Berber in his 1997 book Jihad vs. McWorld.
Military-Industrial Complex. Concern about the excessive political influence of the military and defense industry lobbyists dates back to the American Civil War but the term was not coined until President Dwight Eisenhower's Farwell Address on January 17, 1961.
Space Age. This was most likely coined by Dr. John P. Hagen, astronomer and director of the Vanguard Program (a precursor to NASA) after the launch of the Soviet Sputnik-I on October 4, 1957.
Third World. This first appeared in the Bandung Conference in April of 1955. It was used to describe former European colonies that had become politically independent in the years following World War Two.
Want to learn more about the history of Levittown and the surrounding communities? Visit www.levittownhistoricalsociety.org
