The Development of Lisa's Political Rebellion -- Part 1

This post follows up my series titled The Development of Baby's Political Rebellion -- Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, and Part 6. That series argued essentially that Baby had been influenced strongly by the political opinions of her father, Dr. Jake Houseman. A key issue for Dr. Houseman was government interference in the medical business -- an interference that the American Medical Association denounced as "socialized medicine". Because of this key issue, her father usually voted Republican. During the 1950s, Baby reflexively had gone along with her father's admiration for President Dwight Eisenhower, a Republican.

During the 1960 Presidential election race, however, Baby found herself supporting John Kennedy in particular and the Democratic Party in general. She was outraged by the Republican candidate Barry Goldwater's seeming acceptance of racial discrimination.

During the Dirty Dancing story, Baby's growing disagreement with her father's political opinions culminated in an open rebellion against him.

Baby's "Declaration of Political Independence" from her father was her angry monologue.

You told me everyone was alike and deserved a fair break. But you meant everyone who is like you. You told me you wanted me to change the world, to make it better, but you meant by becoming a lawyer or an economist and marrying someone from Harvard. ....

There are a lot of things about me that aren't what you thought. But if you love me, you have to love all the things about me.

Baby was 17 years old -- an age when adolescent rebellion against parents is common.

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Lisa was 19 years old.  She had been influenced strongly by her mother, Marjorie Houseman, who was politically very liberal.

According to the July 1986 script, Marjorie was "fortyish" in August 1963, which means she was born a couple years before 1923. Let's say she was born in 1921. During The Great Depression, from about 1929 to 1939, Marjorie was about eight to 18 years old.

In 1940, when Marjorie was 19 years old (Lisa's age), she was so poor that she had to wear the same skirt and blouse every day. In other words, Marjorie's family still had not emerged from The Great Depression in 1940.

After Marjorie graduated from high school (in about 1939), she attended Hunter College, an all-women college in Manhattan. During her college years (about 1939-1942) she was unusually political -- "the one carrying petitions".

Lisa was born in about (1963 - 19 = ) 1944. If Lisa was conceived after Marjorie married Jake, then the marriage happened probably before 1943. It seems that Marjorie married Jake soon after she graduated from Hunter College -- when she was about 21 years old in about 1942 -- and soon became pregnant with Lisa.

After she gave birth to Lisa in 1944, she probably became a stay-at-home mother. Although she had graduated from college, she never established a professional career. Her husband Jake established his doctor career during the post-war years, as the US economy boomed.  By marrying Jake, who became a successful doctor, Marjorie enjoyed financial comfort and security during her twenties and thirties.

Once the youngest daughter, Baby, was in school -- in the mid-1950s -- Marjorie had the free time to take golf lessons and to play golf with her fellow doctors' wives. Marjorie became a better golfer than Jake.

Although Jake's concerns about "socialized medicine" made him politically rather conservative during the 1950s, Marjorie remained in the political liberalism of her youth. As a mother of two children, Marjorie thought that the government should subsidize and require medical services, especially for children.

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Thus the political opinions of Jake and Marjorie diverged during the 1950s. He became an Eisenhower Republican, while she voted stubbornly for the Democrats' loser Adlai Stevenson. Baby loyally admired her father's political opinions, whereas Lisa loyally admired her mother's political opinions.

In 1960, however, Baby found herself agreeing more and more with her mother and sister that John Kennedy was wonderful. After Kennedy actually became President in January 1961, Baby considered herself henceforth to be a Democrat, but she continued to admire her father's political wisdom.

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When Kennedy was inaugurated in January 1961, Lisa was about 17 years old. She graduated from high school and enrolled in college during Kennedy's first year as President.

Since Marjorie had attended an all-women college and since Baby would attend an all-women college, it's likely that Lisa too attended an all-women college.

Lisa's adolescence had been very different, however, from her mother's adolescence. Lisa had grown up in a rather wealthy family in the prosperous 1950s. Lisa was able to acquire a varied, fashionable wardrobe. Lisa never wore the same skirt and blouse two days in a row.

 Lisa enrolled in an all-women college only because her mother encouraged to do so. Lisa did not really care that an all-women college might prepare her for a career better than a mixed-sex school. Lisa did not aspire to a professional career.

Rather, Lisa aspired to marry a doctor, as her mother had done so successfully. It's likely that she majored in art history, because she was interested mostly in physical beauty. She wanted to present herself beautifully in order to attract a successful man. She eventually wanted to decorate her future home and to dress her future children beautifully. Studying art history was Lisa's best available course of higher education to prepare herself for her personal aspirations.

As the Kennedy Administration progressed, Lisa found herself paying much more attention to Jacqueline Kennedy than to John Kennedy.

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Continued in Part 2