US HISTORY:
1950’S
1. HIGHWAY ACT OF 1956, FEDERAL GOVERNMENT SPENT $32 BILLION
DOLLARS FOR CONSTRUCTION OF 41,000 MILES OF NEW HIGHWAYS
ALLOWING PEOPLE TO COMMUTE FROM SUBURBS TO THEIR JOBS IN
CITIES
2.
SUBURBS, RESIDENTIAL AREAS BUILT OUTSIDE OF CITIES AND
CONNECTED TO THEM BY HIGHWAYS OR TRAINS, MANY PEOPLE BOUGHT
HOUSES AND MOVED THERE IN THE 1950'S
3. LEVITTOWNS, MASS PRODUCED SUBURBS CONTAINING 1000'S OF SMALL
CHEAP HOUSES
4. AMERICAN DREAM, OWNING A HOUSE AND A CAR, MANY PEOPLE REALIZED
THIS DREAM OF BEING IN THE MIDDLE CLASS IN THE 1950'S
5. DISCRIMINATION, THIS KEPT MINORITY OUT OF THE NEW ALL WHITE
SUBURBS
6. THE AFFLUENT SOCIETY, BOOK BY JOHN KENNETH GALBRAITH THAT
SHOWED MILLION OF AMERICANS WERE POOR, IGNORED AND NOT BEING
HELPED
7. SECURITY, WHAT MOST AMERICANS WANTED IN THE 1950'S, A REACTION
TO THE GREAT DEPRESSION OF THE 1930'S
8. LEAVE IT TO BEAVER AND FATHER KNOWS BEST, TWO POPULAR TV SHOWS
OF THE 50'S THAT PICTURED AN IDEAL FAMILY WHERE DAD WORKED
AND MOM STAYED HOME TO TAKE CARE OF THE CHILDREN
9. TELEVISION, STARTED IN THE LATE 1940'S, EARLY TV'S COST ABOUT
$2500 BUT PRICES DROPPED AND TV BECAME THE MOST POPULAR FORM
OF RECREATION
10. MINDLESS ENTERTAINMENT, WHAT CRITICS CALLED TV SHOWS BECAUSE
OF THEIR LOW INTELLECTUAL LEVEL, APPEALING TO THE LOWEST
COMMON DENOMINATOR
11. BILLY GRAHAM, PROTESTANT MINISTER WHO USED TV AND RADIO TO
PREACH, HE WAS A SYMBOL OF THE NEW WIDESPREAD INTEREST IN
RELIGION
12."UNDER GOD", ADDED TO THE PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE IN 1954
13. GOLDEN AGE, WHAT MANY PEOPLE THINK THE 50'S WERE, A GREAT TIME
TO BE ALIVE WITH FEW PROBLEMS AND MUCH PROSPERITY
14. SILENT GENERATION, YOUNG PEOPLE IN THE 50'S SEEMED COMPLACENT
AND DID NOT WANT TO BETTER THE WORLD OR TRY AND FIX THE
PROBLEMS OF THE NATION
15. ROCK 'N' ROLL, NEW POPULAR TEENAGE MUSIC THAT WAS A HYBRID OF
BLACK BLUES, WHITE COUNTRY MUSIC AND BLACK GOSPEL, MANY
ADULTS CONDEMNED IT AS IMMORAL BUT IT GAVE THE TEENAGERS
THROUGHOUT THE NATION A SENSE OF COMMON IDENTITY
16. ELVIS PRESLEY, THE MOST FAMOUS ROCK STAR OF THE 50’S WHO SOLD
MORE THAN A BILLION RECORDS
17. FEAR OF JUVENILE DELINQUENCY” MANY ADULTS BELIEVED THAT TEEN
AGE CRIME WAS ON THE INCREASE ALTHOUGH THERE WAS NO EVIDENCE
18. WILD ONES, 1954 MOVIE STARING MARLON BRANDO, IT SHOWED TEENAGE
REBELS WHO REJECTED THE VALUES OF THE AGE
19.
VALUES OF THE 1950'S, SECURITY, STATUS, RESPECTABILITY,
PATRIOTISM AND ORGANIZED RELIGION
20. MAD MAGAZINE, POPULAR YOUTH HUMOR MAGAZINE THAT MADE FUN OF
AMERICAN SOCIETY
21. BEATNIKS, POETS AND WRITERS WHO WERE CRITICS OF AMERICAN
SOCIETY IN THE 1950'S
22. ALLEN (ALEN) GINSBURG AND JACK KEROUAC, BEAT (BEATNIK) POETS
WHO
PROFESSED
NONCONFORMITY
AND
FREEDOM
FROM
SOCIAL
CONSTRAINTS THEY URGED PEOPLE TO SEARCH FOR SPIRITUAL MEANING
RATHER THAN MATERIAL SUCCESS
23. SPUTNIK, 1957 USSR LAUNCHED THE WORLDS FIRST SPACE SATELLITE,
SHOCKED THE US WHO BELIEVED THEY WERE AHEAD OF THE SOVIET
UNION IN ALL SCIENTIFIC FIELDS
24. NATIONAL DEFENSE EDUCATIONAL ACT, 1958 CONGRESS PASSED THIS TO
GIVE A BILLION DOLLARS TO AID EDUCATION IN SCIENCE, MATH AND
FOREIGN LANGUAGES
25.$64,000 QUESTION, POPULAR TV QUIZ SHOW THAT TURNED OUT TO BE
RIGGED WHERE THE WINNERS WERE SELECTED IN ADVANCE AND GIVEN
THE CORRECT ANSWERS BEFORE THE SHOW
26. PAYOLA, SCANDAL IN THE MUSIC RADIO BUSINESS, WELL KNOWN DISC
JOCKEYS WERE TAKING MONEY FROM RECORD COMPANIES TO PLAY THEIR
RECORDS
27. TEAMSTERS, POWERFUL UNION THAT WAS UNDER THE CONTROL OF
ORGANIZED CRIME (MAFIA)
28. JIMMY HOFFA, ELECTED LEADER OF THE TEAMSTERS EVEN THOUGH HE
WAS KNOWN TO BE A MAFIA ASSOCIATE
29. MILITARY INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX, IN EISENHOWER FAREWELL ADDRESS OF
1961 HE WARNED OF THE DANGER OF THE FRIENDLY RELATIONSHIP
BETWEEN THE MILITARY AND THE GIANT CORP THAT BUILT WEAPONS