American popular culture has long been fascinated with stories of pioneer life on the frontier and tales of the Old West. This phenomenon was especially true in the 1950s and 1960s when Western-themed programs dominated the television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) networks. Bonanza, which ran from 1959 to 1973, was one of the most popular and long-lasting of these programs. The series was one of TV's highest-rated shows of the 1960s. Audiences tuned in each week to see the adventures of the all-male Cartwright clan as they tended to their 1,000-square-mile Ponderosa Ranch outside of Virginia City, Nevada, in the years following the Civil War (1861–65).

Adults of the 1960s had grown up on Western (see entry under 1930s—Film and Theater in volume 2) movies featuring cowboy heroes like John Wayne (1907–1979; see entry under 1930s—Film and Theater in volume 2) and Roy Rogers (1911–1998). They made up...