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50 years since its debut, what “All in the Family” can teach us about bridging America’s political and cultural divides
Archie Bunker was a bigot. Whether bemoaning the Black family who lived next door or refusing to accept his friend is gay or his casual misogyny or his frequent attempts at — to borrow a phrase from the modern right — “own the libs,” he was a deeply flawed and prejudiced man. Yet, half a century since he first appeared on our screens, singing an off-key ode to Herbert Hoover and life before the New Deal, he remains a crucial and iconic pop culture figure.
Through Archie, series creator Norman Lear managed to provide a humorous and insightful glimpse into the id of white America during a time of massive cultural and political upheaval. As opposed to the middle-class ideals presented in Leave it to Beaver, Father Knows Best, and other American sitcoms of the 1950s and 1960s, Norman Lear’s magnum opus focuses on the working-class Bunker family and tackled weighty and topical issues in ways not done before on television. For that reason, All in the Family, which premiered 50 years ago this Tuesday, is a landmark television event.
Led by the cantankerous and bigoted Archie (Carroll O’Connor) and his “dingbat” wife Edith (Jean Stapleton), the Bunkers are your typical American family: content but not happy, hardworking but low-earning, comfortable but only just. Joined by daughter Gloria (Sally Struthers) and hippy son-in-law Mike Stivic, whom Archie derisively calls “Meathead,” the Bunkers spent nearly a decade helping Americans unpack their cultural baggage at a time when the weight was wearing the nation down.
Running from 1971 through 1979, All in the Family is a snapshot of America during a time of immense change and strife. Integration accelerated, the women’s liberation movement hit its stride, and the gay rights movement began to gather steam. All of this, of course, occurred against the backdrop of civil discord. The Vietnam War raged, with a sustained anti-war movement taking to the streets. An energy crisis hobbled the nation, leading to a recession in 1973 and causing economic hardship for millions of workaday Americans. Meanwhile, Watergate exposed corruption at the highest levels of the US government, prompting the resignation of President Richard M Nixon.
