1950-1959

     The 50's was the beginning of a new life after WWII.  Since WWII had gotten us out of the depression our economy had begun to boom.  Large corporations created new jobs, and new technologies such as the transistor and the color television transformed the way people lived. People also began to work in white-collar jobs more than ever, and the baby boom coupled with the GI Bill laid the groundwork for newly developed communities and suburbs.  Plus, the end of WWII and growing consumer finances led to the ability for people to buy more things that they wanted, but couldn't get during WWII.  The fifties was also the beginning of the great space race with the launching of the Sputnik and the beginning of the Cold War.

     Some of the ways the fifties are still with us today lie in its long lasting effects.  These include the aforementioned launching of the Sputnik, which caused a boost in funding for the space program that led to the landing on the moon in 1969.  Also, experiments in space still continue today.  The fast food industry started in the 50's with the origin of Ray Kroc's McDonald's restaurant.  The Civil Rights Movement with the desegregation of schools, the NAACP, and the famous Rosa Parks incident also paved the way for the rights of black Americans everywhere.  Because of the Red Scare, there was Senator Joseph McCarthy and HUAC.  Their communist accusations made many people's lives ruined whether they were true or not.  That is why the main theme of theme of the 50's was a new life for America after WWII and a changing country during the Cold War.

Events of This Decade
*Starred Events relate to the main theme.

    January 31, 1950-President Truman authorizes the production of the H-bomb.
    1950-Einstein develops his "General Field Theory."
  *1950-A computer was first used to tally a census.
  *1950-Senator Joseph McCarthy begins anti-communist charges.
    June 25, 1950-The Korean War begins.
    June 27, 1950-The United Nations officially declares war on North Korea.

  *1951-The color television is introduced in the U.S.
  *March 29, 1951-Julius Rosenberg and his wife Ethel were found guilty of conspiracy to commit wartime espionage.  They were thought to have given atomic secrets to the Soviets.

    1951-J.D. Salinger publishes his classic novel, The Catcher in the Rye.
    1951-The U.S. presidency is restricted down to eight years.
    1951-The United States occupation of Japan and its islands ends.
    September 8, 1951-Japanese Peace Treaty signed in San Francisco by Japan, the U.S., and 47 other nations.
    November 1, 1952-The United States detonates the first thermo-nuclear device on the Pacific island of Eniwetok.
    1953-An American company develops the first microwave oven.
  *1953-Over half of all families in the U.S. own televisions.
    1953-The Rosenbergs are executed for traitorous espionage.
  *1954-The Nationally televised McCarthy hearings lead to Senator Joseph McCarthy's downfall.

  *May 17, 1954-Segregation by race in schools is declared unanimously unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.
    1954-congress adds the words "under God" to the Pledge of Allegiance and requires "In God We Trust" to appear on all American currency the next year.
  *1954-President Dwight D. Eisenhower forms a plan to protect the Middle East from the communist threat.
  *1955-Ray Kroc opens the first McDonald's.

    1955-The film, Rebel Withouta Cause captures the feelings of many young people at that time.
    1955-The two largest labor unions, the AFL and CIO merge as one union.
  *December 1, 1955-Rosa Parks refuses to give her seat to a white man on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama.

    1956-The Montgomery bus boycott begins.
    September 25, 1956-The first transatlantic telephone cable begins operation.
    1957-The first commercial American light water nuclear power plant opens in Shippingport, Pennsylvania.
  *1957-The Sputnik is launched by the Soviets and is the first artificial satellite to orbit the earth.  This marks the beginning of the great space race between the Soviet Union and the U.S.
    1957-President Eisenhower sends soldiers to integrate a Little Rock, Arkansas high school.
  *1958-The first U.S. satellite to go into orbit, the Explore 1, is launched.
  *1959-The U.S. severs its diplomatic with Cuba after Fidel Castro rises to power and Cuba becomes communist.

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