You're Wrong About – "Cold War Santa" with Sarah Archer

Date: November 25, 2025
Host: Sarah Marshall
Guest: Sarah Archer

Episode Overview

In this lively and insightful holiday episode, host Sarah Marshall welcomes back journalist, author, and design historian Sarah Archer to explore "Cold War Santa": how postwar America transformed the symbolism, mythology, and aesthetics of Santa Claus and Christmas. Drawing on history, pop culture, visual culture, and wit, the conversation traces how Christmas went from rowdy street festival to sanitized, consumer-oriented domestic ritual—fused with mid-century anxieties, Atomic Age optimism, and, yes, plenty of aluminum Christmas trees.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

Revisiting the Origins of Santa Claus (04:06–14:10)

• Historical Roots: The figure of Santa Claus is a hybrid, its origins spanning the 3rd-century Turkish bishop St. Nicholas, European Yule traditions, and Father Christmas.
  • Archer: "Santa Claus...was woven together from these different traditions." [10:09]
• Commodification: Christmas shifted from an outdoor, rowdy festival for adults (likened to Mardi Gras or St. Patrick’s Day) to an indoor, domesticated, child-focused holiday.
  • Marshall: "It starts off as maybe something a little bit more like Mardi Gras..." [11:18]
• Transformative New Yorkers: Poets like Clement Clarke Moore and writers like Washington Irving shape the modern, domesticated Santa through works such as "A Visit from St. Nicholas" ("Twas the Night Before Christmas").
• Art and Image: The discussion references images from Harper’s Weekly and the Gilded Age, charting the gradual physical transformation of Santa from an elfin figure to today's robust and ritualized icon.
  • Archer: "He kind of craft-washes the whole consumer process." [15:25]

World War II, Patriotism, and DIY Christmas (20:03–29:55)

• Wartime Propaganda: How Santa and Christmas became entangled with national morale and material shortages during WWII.
  • Marshall (reading a 1941 ad): "Santa Claus has gone to war. Give her a war bond and you give her the best." [20:02–25:55]
• DIY and Delayed Gratification: Wartime ads encouraged Americans—especially women—to make do, be crafty, and save for postwar abundance.
  • Archer: "...women’s magazines jumped on this idea that there were kind of workarounds...you could do things like shave bar soap or use powdered Lux soap to make fake snow." [25:55]
• Postwar Shift: The war’s end leaves an industrial manufacturing infrastructure ready to pump out consumer goods—spurring the famous mid-century consumer boom.

Santa and Consumerism in Midcentury America (30:00–38:00)

• Miracle on 34th Street: Clip and analysis of the film, focusing on "citizen consumer" identity and how consumption was framed as patriotic duty.
  • Archer: "The idea that you're spending on things like domesticity...is good, it's not frivolous...it's a form of patriotic spending." [35:39]
  • Marshall: "That was basically the promise of Post-World War II America..." [37:36]
• Santa Baby & Kitchen Appliances: The rise of the sexualized, luxury-oriented Santa, and how this dovetails with "trad wife" and gendered domestic roles.
  • Archer: "Santa baby, for the first time, is kind of...an appliance pimp for wives." [35:58]

Aesthetics of the Atomic Age: Aluminum Trees and Space-Age Santa (43:37–54:32)

• Santa as Science Fiction: Midcentury Santa gains a futuristic, space-age makeover, exemplified by 1950s–60s greeting cards showing Santa in a spaceship.
  • Marshall: "Santa in his little Jetsonian spaceship...looks like a vaguely military aircraft of the Cold War era." [42:25]
• Atomic Design Language: The "space race" aesthetics—starbursts, sputnik lamps, aluminum trees—become integrated into holiday décor.
  • Archer: "Aluminum is kind of an interesting story in American design...it took an outsider to synthesize the aspirational WASP aesthetic." [54:39; 88:22]
• Aluminum Trees: Emblazoned as icons of the era, these artificial trees signaled modernity, disposability, and mass production.

Anti-Consumerism in Christmas Pop Culture (61:32–75:05)

• A Charlie Brown Christmas:
  • Themes: Commercialization, existential sadness, the search for "real" Christmas.
    • Archer: "There's part of me that is very annoyed by the entire premise of Charlie Brown Christmas...But it is endearing." [63:09]
    • Marshall: "This is a cartoon for kids who want the tiny soft spoken Santa." [62:06]
  • Memorable Quote: "Doesn't anyone know what Christmas is all about?" [65:53]
  • Subversion: The network’s initial confusion at the show’s anti-materialist message and overt religiosity (Linus citing the gospels).
    • Archer: "They did not get it—they didn't understand...first of all, really weirdly religious." [66:53]
• How the Grinch Stole Christmas:
  • Marshall (reading): "...He hadn't stopped Christmas from coming. It came. Somehow or other, it came just the same...Maybe Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store. Maybe Christmas...means a little bit more." [72:02]
  • Analysis: Both works critique consumerism and posit deeper meaning—but, as the hosts note, ultimately allow room for sentimentality and consumption.

The Evolution & Enduring Messiness of Christmas (75:05–97:00)

• Nostalgia & Collecting: People collect vintage Christmas items in an attempt to "glimpse echoes of this time and place when...a lot of people who are probably not around anymore were still around." [77:53]
• Christmas as Cultural Battleground: Each era wrestles with the tension between genuine celebration, nostalgia, and marketing—Christmas is both a portal to childhood and a consumerist ritual.
• Era Definitions:
  • Cold War Christmas: Runs roughly from 1945 (end of WWII) to the 1973 oil crisis; marked by prosperity and consumerism—a distinct, patriotic, nuclear-familial, and technophilic holiday.
    • Archer: "My rubric...is the end of World War II to the oil embargo in the 1970s...a streak of unfettered prosperity and consumption." [80:54]
  • Post-60s Shift: Aluminum trees fall out of favor, the hippie movement and critique of conformity, Vietnam, and economic crisis reshape the holiday.

Notable Quotes & Moments

• On Nostalgia:

  "It’s easier to be nostalgic about something that never was because you can’t recreate it." – Sarah Archer [17:14]

• On the "Citizen Consumer":

  "If you’re spending on things like domesticity...that kind of spending is good...you’re investing in the future, and you’re spending money on all the things you need to have a household that also happens to more or less trap women at home." – Sarah Archer [35:39]

• Atomic Age Santa:

  "Santa in his little Jetsonian spaceship. It looks like a B52 bomber, honestly...it could bomb Russia inside of three hours, is my point." – Sarah Marshall [42:25]
  "We've pivoted from imagining Santa in a vague, candlelit, cozy past to imagining him like a figure from science fiction or the future— a complete about face." – Sarah Archer [44:04]

• On Christmas and Collecting:

  "Collecting impulse is chasing something that is forever receding further into the past...part of why grownups collect stuff, especially things from their childhood." – Sarah Archer [77:50]

Cultural & Visual References

Key Films/Cultural Touchstones Discussed:

• Miracle on 34th Street — The postwar "Santa as savior, consumer, and patriarch" [30:00+]
• A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965) — Existential angst & anti-consumerist critique [61:32–67:54]
• How the Grinch Stole Christmas — Dr. Seuss’s anti-materialist parable [69:32–74:07]
• Santa Claus Conquers the Martians — 1960s space-age Christmas camp
• The aluminum Christmas tree and Atomic Age décor

Historical Figures:

• Haddon Sundblom (Coca-Cola Santa artist)
• Clement Clarke Moore & Washington Irving (Santa mythmakers)

Modern Holiday Dilemmas (83:32–96:02)

On Christmas 2025:

• The "Ralph Lauren Christmas" aesthetic—a retro, WASPy, Reaganesque fantasy—proliferates on TikTok, but both hosts push back on feeling obligated to keep up with trends, spend extravagantly, or perform normativity.

  • Marshall: "I am tired and whatever I bother with is great...that’s the aesthetic for 2025 I believe in." [91:06]
  • Archer: "Truly, do less, have a better time. Because people don’t care. And if they do care, it’s weird." [92:46]

• Defiance Against Judgment:

  "Let’s try to the best of our ability to stop treating Christmas...as an event that we’re being judged on...let's try to ignore it and just do less, have a better time." – Sarah Marshall [92:29]

Conclusion & Unsolicited Advice

• Reinvent the Holiday:

  "All of this stuff is made up...All of it is invented and cultivated and shifted and changed and tweaked over time by people. And you can do that too." – Sarah Archer [95:20]

• Boundaries and Self-Care: Christmas is not about obligation—it's about taking care of oneself, finding genuine joy, and being kind, even (or especially) if that means saying no.

Useful Timestamps

• [04:06] – Recap of Santa origins and 19th c. commodification
• [20:02] – Wartime Santa & Hoover war bond ad
• [30:00] – Miracle on 34th Street discussion and "citizen consumer"
• [42:25] – Cold War Santa imagery and the rise of aluminum trees
• [61:32] – A Charlie Brown Christmas and holiday anti-commercialism
• [69:32] – The Grinch and the endurance of anti-consumerist messages
• [80:54] – Defining "Cold War Christmas" and its end
• [83:32] – Critique of modern Christmas aesthetics and fascist nostalgia
• [91:06] – Hosts' practical, permissive approach to celebrating Christmas

Further Reading & Resources

• Sarah Archer’s Books:
  • Mid-Century Christmas: Examines the aesthetics, history, and culture of holiday celebrations in mid-20th century America.
  • The Mid-century Kitchen: On design, innovation, and gender in domestic spaces.
  • Catland: Cat culture in Japan and beyond.

Find her at:

• Instagram & Bluesky: @archerize
• Architectural Digest contributions

Final Takeaway

Christmas—in all its forms—is a palimpsest of changed rituals, shifting consumer needs, and ever-adapting mythologies, from ancient saints to Cold War cosmonauts. Archer and Marshall encourage listeners to celebrate the holiday in ways that work for them, reject perfectionism and performative consumption, and invent their own "Middle Ages" traditions if they wish. As always, do less, enjoy more—and perhaps acquire a small cat or a slightly smaller Santa for good measure.

"You can invent your own Christmas tradition randomly, out of nowhere. Because if there’s one eternal Christmas tradition, it’s making stuff up and pretending we’ve always done it." – Sarah Marshall [95:47]