naive mid-fifties movie-going audience

i am of course talking about a 50's generation (audience) that is quite accurately portrayed in movies like American Graffiti and TV series' like Happy Days when this movie was released. it is possible for a minority of people in these audiences to not be aware of a seemingly insignificant extermination campaign that nearly wiped out the gray wolf in the continental United States by 1950. i am simply pointing out a moment of dialog in the movie which defended the wolf and which could very easily have been left out but i am guessing that the writer and/or director want it in for educational purposes.

@ Jason Radley, now to address your personal attack. this pampered little pup has the deepest respect for Americans of the Depression Era and World War 2 especially since i have uncles who fought. but i am not one of those naive and ignorant Americans who was expected to believe in the single bullet theory or the communist domino theory my government was proposing at the time. 50's audiences seemed to be preoccupied with atomic age born fears of invasion from outer space and the soviets and communist chinese and not that concerned with animals important to our ecosystem.

"Wolves have been feared, hated, and persecuted for hundreds of years in North America. Before the arrival of Europeans, Native Americans incorporated wolves into their legends and rituals, portraying them as ferocious warriors in some traditions and thieving spirits in others. European Americans, however, simply despised wolves. Many, including celebrated painter and naturalist John James Audubon, believed wolves ought to be eradicated for the threat they posed to valuable livestock. This attitude enabled a centuries-long extermination campaign that nearly wiped out the gray wolf in the continental United States by 1950."

"only one food for the rest of my life? That's easy, cherry-flavored Pez. No question about it."