The 1950's

By: Yara H., Micheline G., and Sheila C.

Major World Events (Korean War)

Korean War ( The Forgotten War)

• Starts on June 25, 1950 and ends in July of 1953.
• Lasted 3 years
• Caused when N. Korea, communist country, attacked S. Korea on June 25, 1950.
• S. Korea joined U.S. becoming a democracy and asked America for back up.
• President Truman ordered in troops to defend S. Korea.
• 16 other nations would send in military help, but for the most part the U.S. would provide most military support.

Major World Events

(Korean War)

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• In the beginning of the war S. Korea was actually winning and had pushed N. Korea above the Yalu River.
• When China became involved N. Korea would start winning.
• China gets involved because they could have more communist countries around them.
• Troops fighting for the North were out numbering the troops in the South by 10 to 1.

Major World Events (Korean War)

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• Leader for troops in S. was MacArthur.
• He wanted Truman to initiate nuclear attack on China, but Truman refuses, and MacArthur goes to the press about it.
• Truman fires MacArthur to limit power.
• War ends with South and North Korea being two different countries and both separated by 38th parallel.
• Would increase fear of communists.

Major World Events (Suez Crisis)

Suez Crisis

• Started on October 29, 1956 when Egypt obtained the canal from the British and French.
• Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser would go to nationalize threatening the stock holdings of Britain and France as well as making it harder to access Middle Eastern oil and trade between countries.
• Nationalize means to take recognized ownership over something.

Major World Events (Suez Canal)

• President Gamal Abdel took control of the Suez Canal as revenge because British and French wouldn't aid the construction of the Aswan Dam in the Nile.
• Profits from the canal would provide funds for the Dam.
• British, French, and Israel sent in military forces and marched towards the canal seizing it back within ten days.

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Major World Events (Castro)

Castro

• Becomes the communist leader over Cuba in 1959 through the overthrow of Batista with the use of military.
• During his reign he reduced illiteracy, improved public health care, and would also reduce racism.
• The downside to him becoming the dictator of Cuba was that his economic and political freedoms that the people were allowed to have.

Major World Events (Castro)

• The downside to him becoming the dictator of Cuba was that his economic and political freedoms that the people were allowed to have.
• There was also a strain on the relationship between the U.S. and Cuba due to the fact that some U.S. businesses in Cuba were nationalized without giving the U.S. any compensation.

Major World Events (30 Year Pact)

China and USSR Thirty Year Pact

• Also known as the Sino- Soviet Treaty.
• Essentially this was a friendship treaty that would bring both the Soviets and the Chinese to like one another more making them become allies.
• Brings more trade and economic opportunities for both parties.
• $300 million dollar loan from Soviets to Chinese.
• Eventually starts to come to an end in the late 1950's and early 1960's.
• Treaty expires in 1979 allowing China to be able to attack Vietnam, an ally of the Soviets.

Major World Events (Churchill)

Winston Churchill Becomes Prime Minister Again

• During the 1940's Churchill was selected to be the Prime Minister of great Britain in order to help lead the country during WWII.
• Elections in 1945 failed to reinstate Churchill to being Prime Minister and the Labour Party won.
• In 1951 Churchill ran again for the position of Prime Minister and won because of how he was a big part of WWII.

Major American Events (New States)

Alaska and Hawaii

• Alaska bought in 1867 from Russia for about $7 million.
• Hawaii was annexed by the U.S. in 1898.
• Both Alaska and Hawaii were admitted as U.S. states in 1959.
• Alaska being the 49th state and Hawaii being the 50th state.

Major American Events (Brown V. Board of Education)

• Previously the court case of Plessy V. Ferguson decided to have separate but equal standards.
• Oliver Brown applied his daughter to a school that wasn't far from their home, but it was a "white" school.
• His daughter had to walk very far to go to a school that would accept her.
• Brown took this to court saying that it was indeed separate, but far from being equal.
• Supreme Court rules in favor of Brown.

Linda Brown

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Major American Events (Montgomery Bus Boycott)

• (1955-1956) Rosa Parks initially starts the bus boycott when she refused to get up from her seat so a White man could sit down.
• Bus Boycott starts up shortly after this. Where African-Americans didn't ride public transportation effecting its profit by 80%.
• Eventually desegregation of the buses occurred.

Major American Events (Explorer 1)

• Explorer 1 is the first American Satellite to go up into space.
• Launched on January 31, 1958 after the Soviets launched Sputnik In December of 1957.
• Pressure for space exploration because of Sputnik and many became paranoid about soviets spying.
• Explorer 1 was successful in that it brought back data on radiation around Earth (Van Allen radiation belts).

Major American Events (Polio)

• Polio was a crippling disease that became a big issue in the 1950's.
• (1955) Dr. Jonas Salk develops vaccine.
• Did not want to profit from it and has almost gotten rid of the disease.

Presidential Overview

• President Truman (1945-1953) fought the Korean War and gained a lot of publicity, because of his actions on not consulting with Congress.
• He fired General Douglas MacArthur for wanting to attack China without the approval of Congress. It went down as one of the most unpopular decisions of government in U.S. history.

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• Eisenhower (1953-1961) was popular among the people, because he was a former general and he helped win the war in WWII.
• He was undecided as to which political party he should run for, but the Republicans were relentless.
• As soon as he took office he ended the Korean War and some consider it his greatest accomplishment.
• He created the Highway Act of 1956, which created over 41,000 miles of roads.
• Signed the Civil Rights Act of 1957(Bill), first strict movement towards voting rights.

Prominent People

Julius and Ethel Rosenberg:

Sentenced to death for espionage/ aiding Russia with information. Signifies high fear of outsiders.

James Dean:

American actor who became a cultural icon for teens to look up to. Died in a car crash early in life.

Prominent People

Elvis Presley:

Singer/ Actor who is known as the king of rock and roll.

Joseph McCarthy:

Founder of McCarthyism and Senator of Wisconsin, he accused many of being communists, which eventually led to public dislike.

Tenley Albright:

Well known figure skater who competed in the Olympics and became an olympic silver medalist.

Population

• After World War II men were excited to come back to America and rejoin their families.
• Reunion sparked a baby boom as men rejoined their wives and soon began to have more babies.
• During the 1950s the population rose from 150 million to 179 million.

Growth in Population

Suburbia

• Following the communist paranoia of World War II, more and more Americans began to conform into the idealistic 1950s family.
• Man: Provider of the home
• Woman: Caregiver
• Children: Disciplined and studious
• Another way for a family to guarantee their conformist image was to live in suburbia.
• Bill Levitt created Levittown. It was a suburban region where homes all looked identical and were a specified spacing from neighbors. 18 houses could be built in the morning and 18 at night. All same style. Streets alphabetical. 100 dollar down payment. One story home.

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William Levitt (left) and brother

Alfred, who designed Levittown

houses.

Poverty

• While many Americans were thriving in suburbia, around 20 percent of American was still below the poverty line. The poor classes lived in the cities and suffered the neglected system of work and schools.
• Included newly arrived Hispanics, southern blacks, and Native Americans forced off their reservations.

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Counterculture

• As America began to conform, many people began to rebel.
• Rock 'n' Roll: Elvis Presley, Bill Haley
• TV Shows: Dick Clark's American Bandstand
• Magazines: Mad Magazine. Ridicule America.
• Non conformist writers: Beats. Reject materialism, consumerism, militarism, and 1950s conformity. Focused on freedom and spontaneity.

Ex: Allen Ginsberg's Howl

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Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg,

Peter Orlovsky,

Lafcadio Orlovsky, and Gregory

Corso in 1956.

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Micheline Ghanem

Economy and Prices

• There was a growth in consumer culture and military-industrial complex, causing the United States to reach its peak of success of American capitalism.
• The economy overall grew by 37%, and the G.I. Bill, which gave military veterans affordable access to a college education, added a productive pool of highly-educated employees to the work force.
• Americans enjoyed a standard of living that was inconceivable to the rest of the world, by the 1950s, though they made up just 6% of the world's population, Americans consumed a third of all the world's goods and services.
• Though Eisenhower tried mightily to balance the federal budget, consumers did not follow suit when it came to their own family budgets. Americans had traditionally been thrifty by nature, but they were willing to "buy now, pay later."

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Yara Herrera

Economy and Prices Continued...

• The Diner's Club Card, was limited to paying for meals at a limited number of restaurants, but it was quickly followed by other cards, touching off a dramatic growth in borrowing. Private debt more than doubled from $104.8 billion to $263.3 billion.
• A new house cost $8,450.00 and by 1959 was $12,400.00
• A gallon of gas was 18 cents and by 1959 was 25 cents
• The average cost of new car was $1,510.00 and by 1959 was $2,200.00
• Toilet tissue was about 5 cents

Inventions

• 1950:
• Diners club: sparked a rise in consumer buying, but

sometimes led to Americans spending more than what they had.

• Color TV
• 1951:
• Super glue: Originally discovered in 1942 when searching

for materials to make guns. It was rejected for its ability to

stick to everything. Reintroduced in 1951 and researchers

Harry Coover and Fred Joyner sold it commercially in 1958.

• First Video Tape Recorder (Charles Ginsburg)
• 1952:
• Mr. Potato Head
• Barcode (led to UPC, Uniform Product Code). Helped created faster customer service, better track of products, increased check-out, and assist customer self-checkout.
• 1953:
• Radial tires: Michelin(: Tire Corporation. Revolutionized world tire market. Minimize tread wear and belts of steel fibers around the circumference help stabilize the tire.

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Inventions cont.

• 1954:
• McDonalds (First time franchised outside of California by Ray Kroc). Led to rise in fast food companies such as Burger King and Pizza Hut.
• Swanson TV Dinners: Gerry Thomas. Time saving. Less time in kitchen more time for TV!!!
• 1956:
• Mistake Out: Invented by Nesmith Graham. She was an artist turned secretary after the war. She saw how expensive ink was trying to fix mistakes. She created Mistake Out to correct errors. By 1967 she owned her own multi-million dollar business. Cost saver for typists.
• 1958:
• Hula Hoop (Richard Knerr and Arthur "Spud" Melin): Used as a hobby but also as a form of competition. Lead to the World Hula Hoop Championships in 1968
• 1959:
• Barbie Doll: Invented by Mattel. Full fictional name is Barbara Milicent Roberts. In a relationship with Ken Carson (1961). Novels published by Random House. Became most beloved dolls of all time.

1959 Barbie Commercial

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Music

• Rock n’ Roll was created as a counterculture event to

the conformity of the 1950s. It developed from a blend

of style’s such as the Southern blues and gospel music.

Popular with teenagers.

• Occurred in relevance to the Great Migration as 6 million African American came to the North and West from 1916 to 1970 bringing southern blues with them.
• Memphis record producer Sam Phillips found Elvis Presley.
• Elvis Presley became known as the King of Rock 'n' Roll with his hip thrusts and ducktail hairstyle. Showed that Americans weren't afraid to be different. Music banned from radio stations and schools.
• Jerry Lee Lewis: Great Balls of Fire. Christian boy turned rock 'n' roller. Career hit a downfall when he married his 13 year old cousin
• Bill Haley and the Comets' Rock Around the Clock

Elvis Live

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Music

• Frank Sinatra: Gained ears of parents. Contract with

Capitol Records 1953. Mature jazz sound.

• The Way You Look Tonight
• Rock and roll is the most brutal, ugly, degenerate, vicious form of expression — lewd, sly, in plain fact, dirty — a rancid-smelling aphrodisiac and the martial music of every sideburned delinquent on the face of the earth.

– Frank Sinatra (1957)

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Movies

• The 1950s were, in some ways, years of innocence. The Saturday movie matinee was only 35 cents on the West Coast.

Lone Ranger:

Based on the T.V. show it portrays the old Western life. Kilgore to mine silver on Indian land. The mountain he wants is sacred to the Indians.

La Bamba:

Movie that follows the life of a rock and roll star Luis Valdez. Would be nominated for 1 Golden Globe Award.

Singin in the Rain:

A musical comedy and was nominated for 2 Oscars.

Rock Around the Clock:

A musical that portrays the way in which rock and roll was found.

Food, Food, Food, Oh My!

Food and Beverage

Tv Dinners:

• Packaged food that is frozen
• Easy to heat up
• Easy to eat anywhere

Peanut Butter:

• Made by Smucker in 1958
• “Jif is never dry; a touch of honey tells you why.”

Tang

• Popular space drink
• Powder
• Developed by William Mitchell in 1957

Eggo Waffles

• First introduced in 1953
• Invented by three brothers: Tony, Sam, and Frank Dorsa
• Didn't need a waffle iron to heat it up.

Television

• The 1950s was named the "Golden Age" of television.
• TVs were usually expensive so mostly the upper class could afford them.
• The number of homes with TVs increased from 0.4 percent in 1948 to 55.7 percent in 1954 and to 83.2 percent four years later.
• 1952- Republican and Democratic conventions for Dwight D. Eisenhower and Adlai Stevenson could be broadcasted live from Philadelphia.
• Shared national Experiences: Sports, news, shows. Everyone talked about similar topics.

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Popular Shows

• Kids Shows
• Howdy Doody: Buffalo Bob and Clarabelle
• Captain Kangaroo: Mr. Green Jeans, Mr. Moose, and

Mr. Rabbit, among others. Taught kids lessons in morality.

• Lassie: 1954. American Midwest.
• Friendship between young boy and Lassie. Theme of boy getting in trouble, Lassie saving boy, and boy learning moral lesson.
• Leave it to Beaver: 1950s All-American Family show. Theodore (Beaver) gets into trouble and the situation is easily resolved where the parents leave him with parental advice and moralistic words.
• I Love Lucy: I Love Lucy Scene
• 1951. Cast includes redheaded Lucy Ricardo, Cuban bandleader Ricky Ricardo, and landlords/friends Ethel and Fred Mertz. Centers on average situations that go awry thanks to the nonsense Lucy gets into.
• The Mickey Mouse Club: Mickey Mouse Club Cast

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Sports

• Baseball-
• The Jet Age took baseball from being a popular sport to being the national pastime
• The game became the symbolic image of American pride
• Basketball-
• Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell revolutionized the college game
• Russell helped the Celtics win the 1956-57 NBA title
• Football-
• “The Greatest Game Ever” the Baltimore Colts beat the New York Giants in the 1958 championship game in overtime with a score of 23-17
• Boxing-
• Rocky Marciano retired with the leading record of the only heavyweight champion with an undefeated (49-0)
• Sugar Ray Robinson won unprecedented five middleweight championships

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Fashion Among Young Men

• Tailored, British-influence Teddy Boy style of dress- high waisted, narrow trousers, long jackets, slim ties and large, shiny pointy shoes was more popular with the upper and middle classes.
• j
• l
• k
• k
• k

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• Elvis Presley inspired the slicked back 'duck tail' hair and long sideburns

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• Actors, Marlon Brando and James Dean, inspired the jeans, black leather jackets, white t-shirts, and leather boots look among the young men.

Fashion Among Young Women

• Influenced by rock n’ roll, full skirts in bright colors, pants were pinched in at the waist to emphasise the waist and bust

• Also wore tight-fitting blouses tucked into slimline calf-length trousers, capris, or pedal pushers

Fashion Among Men and Women

• Men mostly wore conservative plain fabrics in dark, muted shades like blue, brown and grey.

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• Marilyn Monroe and Grace Kelly inspired waistlines and full skirts and busts. Slim pencil-line skirts, and stiletto-heeled shoes also came out in his era.

Dance

• In 1954, Bill Hailey and the Comets unleashed “rock ‘n roll,” derived from rhythm and blues, rockabilly, and gospel, with their song “Rock Around the Clock.”
• A hybrid of Rumba and Swing, Mambo was the most esteemed Latin dance of the 1950s. It had the seductive qualities of all the popular Latin dances, and the freshness of the mambo rhythm emerged as a platform for artistic creativity in American and Latin music, becoming a television showcase for rock and its teenage fans.

Vocabulary and Slang

1950s Vocabulary and Slang <<<link

Some of the Top Words Used:

• Word From the Bird: The truth
• Knuckle Sandwich: fist in the face
• Cloud Nine: Happy
• Greaser: A guy with a lot of grease in his hair
• Split: Leave
• Cat: Cool person
• Soc: Popular kids
• Heat: Police
• Lay a Path: To accelerate rapidly
• Peepers: Glasses

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Summary of The 1950's

Altogether the 1950's was a time in which fashions, values, morals, and entertainment was transforming from conservative to more liberal especially with the Civil Rights Movement. Many people would start to create inventions that would make things easier to do and would allow for more free time in which people were able to explore new things and that's what brought about the counter culture, as well as the violence many would witness.

Resources

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Bradley, B. (1998). 1950-1959. American Cultural History. Lone Star College-

Kingwood Library, Kingwood, TX. Retrieved from http://wwwappskc.lonestar.edu/

popculture/decade50.html

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Resources

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(n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.history.com/topics/suez-crisis

History of super glue. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.supergluecorp.com/history.html

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America rocks and rolls. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.wisegeek.org/what-are-radial-tires.htm

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popculture/decade50.html

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popculture/decade50.html

Resources

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