The 1950’s In The USA
The Red Scare—kinda like the 1920’s
1. HUAC-House Unamerican Activities Committee
2. McCarthyism- After Senator McCarthy made
accusations of treason not founded in fact
3. The Hollywood 10! Blacklisted
Spies among us?
1. Alger Hiss-trial
2. Julius and Ethel Rosenberg-executed in 1953
Suburbs and Baby Boomers!
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Average age of men to marry: 22
Women:19
Divorce rate:10 percent
1946-1964 Baby Boomers
30 million children born
GI Bill
Levittown
William Levitt-standardized
low cost houses
721 square feet-7000
dollars
Down payment 90 deposit
Monthly payment 58$
In 1950 2 million new homes were built
1948-1958 11 million new homes
located in suburbs of 13 million built
Cold War Hot Spots Mini Lecture #2
• 1. Korea N and South Still divided today
• 2. Hydrogen Bomb USA 1952
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USSR 1953
• 3. Berlin
Berlin airlift 327 days , 277 000 Flights
The Two sides in the Cold War
• Berlin leads to…
NATO- North Atlantic Treaty organization
-USA is the superpower power
- France, Belgium, Denmark, Great Britain,
West Germany, Italy, Norway, Portugal, Luxemborg,
the Netherlands
Warsaw PactUSSR is the superpower.
East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Hungary,
Romania, Bulgaria
NATO and WARSAW and Weapons
delivery systems
• Sputnik 1957- USSR in space first!
• The USA madly rushes to catch up
• Bombers
• ICBM—Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles
Submarines
THE ARMS RACE!!!!!!!!!!! Deterrence,
Brinkmanship
Bikini atoll
Marshall Plan
$$ to rebuild
Europe after
1948
12.5 billion to
the West.
ContainmentRestrict soviet
influence
Trident missile
1950’s Culture and art year by year
The Golden Age of Television
1946 7000 tv sets
1950 4.4 million
1960 50 million 90 percent of Americans have
a t.v. in 1960
Fast Food—1st McDonalds on
E street in San Bernardino 1948
1950 Popular Culture
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Hokey Pokey
Cinderella in theaters
Sci Fi
Smokey the Bear
Roman Holiday
African Queen
1951
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I Love Lucy Debuts
Jackson Pollack
Tupperware parties
Topps baseball cards
Dennis the Menace
1st Jack in the box San Diego
1952-unemployment at 3.1%
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Mr. Potato Head
Mad Magazine
Frosted Flakes
1st Holiday Inn
UFO sightings
Diary of Anne Frank
was published
1953 Unemployment at 2.9%
• Big News…… Stalin dies
• Chevy Corvette
• 1st 3d movie
• Cheese Whiz
• Peter Pan released
• 70 % of America watches
Lucy have Little Ricky
1954
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McCarthy hearings televised
World Series in color Yankees win
MM peanuts
Lord of the Rings published
Trix-46.6% Sugar!!
Playdoh
1st kidney transplant
1955 firsts
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Disneyland opens
Volkswagen Beetle
Don’t walk signs in NY
Crest toothpastes
McDonalds start franchising
Ford Thunderbird
Einstein dies
KFC
Birdseye frozen food
First Burger King
1956
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Elvis!
Yatzhee
As the World Turns
Jiff peanut butter
Certs breath mints
1957
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Polio vaccine more available
Sputnik
The Cat in the Hat
The Grinch
JFK Profiles in courage
Frisbee
Dodgers move to LA
1958
• Hula hoop
• 1st skateboard Bill and Mark
Richards Dana Point California
• 1st TV dinners
• Drive in movies
• First Grammy awards
1959
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Barbie
Denny’s
Jiffy Pop
Bic Ball point pen
Aluminum cans invented
Design a 1950’s suburb- 50 points
Scenario- You are the architect/city planner hired to compete with Levittown in the
1950’s. Your target market is returning GI’s who want to own their own homes using
the GI Bill. The land you are going is near Los Angeles, California. Your boss want the
following included in your suburb plan:
Name for the suburb community:
3 house types with three different floor plans(I bedroom, 2 bedroom, 3 bedroom)
100 houses (Minimum)
15 streets with street names. (Minimum)
1 Community park
1Club house
1post office
1 Elementary school, Middle School and High school
2 Churches
Ouside of your suburb, near the new interstate highway system instituted by President
Eisen hower insterstate10) you may add any of the innovations of the 1950’s, motels,
drivein,, fast food, etc.