Hef did not cause consumerism. The post-war generation demanded it and capitalists were more than happy to provide. Washers, driers, TVs, AC and the modern refrigerator made all of our lives easier, both housewives and single men. Consumerism is what makes continued capitalism without revolution possible, and during the Great Depression, many flirted with revolution. Unionism and consumerism took the pressure off, along with governmental Social Security and unemployment.

The Depression and the War were a time of stoicism, into which moral stoicism naturally was magnified, especially in the expanded role of the Catholic Church in securing that morality. It was not to last, nor should it have. Hef helped bring back Epicureanism, as did the Beat Poets and many others. His movement was not amoral, although it was hedonistic and humanism is hedonistic. American culture had experienced enough pietism. If Hef had not come forward, we would have had to invent him.