1950's Misconceptions

The 1950's are often compared to the roaring twenties. It was a time of revolution for America's society. It was not a misconception that could be seen as the highpoint in America's society and culture. It was not a misconception. During World War Two, many businesses produced weapons for the war. In hat easily made America million upon millions. We experienced an increase of growth in economics. There was also an increased expansion of the middle class. Many people started buying bigger homes, not only bugger homes, but home in the suburbs. A lot of people also bought "time saving" appliances for their household. The national income doubled in the 1950's and would soon double again ten years later. It consisted of a popular culture
for working women, which was a traditional feminine movement that was glorified. Other countries focused on fighting, while America took advantage of the war crisis. The US restarted the producing factories to rebuild the depressing economy. With that mindset, America easily and slowly climbed their way up the ladder of the domination of the globe. The Korean War really helped America with its economic upturn in this time period. With millions of military spending, that money was sometimes put into finances of scientific development and research. The US found an alternative way to make the cost of energy very inexpensive to where it was considered cheap. The petroleum was controlled by the European and the American countries. The Middle East kept their prices low. With this, Americas consumption of the oil doubled. After the Korean War, the productivity grew more than three percent each year. There was also an increase in the baby world. This period in time was formerly, known as the postwar baby boom. The US population for babies was like a nuclear explosion of more than fifty million babies. Ever since, Eisenhower's successful televised appeal advertisement was starting to grow. The first plastic credit card was introduced in this time period. It was first introduced by the Diner's Club. Four years prior to that, McDonalds opened its first hamburger stand in Sunnyside California in San Bernardino. There was an increase of a new technology called the television. In 1951, there was seven million TV sets of that were sold. The entertainment also started to emerge and change. In the middle of the 1950's, advertisers started to spend ten billion dollars just to have their products aired on national TV. The TV also captivated sports. While thousands of football fans filled the stadiums, millions of them filled their own homes. Sports also caused the population shift to the south and to the west. Music in the fifties changed dramatically.
Performers like Elvis Presley encouraged Rock and Roll. It mixed the blues and back rhythm with country and white bluegrass styles. Listening to this type of started to become an everyday norm. Movie starts also began to become popular, such as Marilyn Monroe. Her way of life basically made sexuality commercialized and popularized. That's when the Playboy magazines come in. The very first magazine was published in 1955. Americans started to become buyers of advertised goods on their televisions right in their homes. The way the literacy transformed was also a curiosity. World War Two inspired authors to write about certain topics, just like the first World War. There was an up rise in authors, such as Norman Mailer, James Jones, Joseph Heller, and John Cheever. There was also a flow of poetry in the post war. In America, it was said that a life of a poet was a dangerous career that ended in madness, even though it started with sadness. Playwrights also became big. Arthur Murray had a stage play on a story called "The Crucible". This was about the Salem Witch Trials as a warning against the possible danger(s) of McCarthyism. There was a numerous amount of black authors who wrote books that was bestselling. Novel, such as " Native
Son", "Invisible Man", " The Fire Next Time", and etc. were all eye opening. Surprisingly, religion also became big. Pentecostals and Roman Catholics went to the television to spread the gospel of Christianity. Some even earned the name of "Televangelists", like Billy Graham the Baptist. It was also a big break for the Medical industry. On May 4, 1950 the first kidney transplant happened, which was a successful surgery.
In the educational system in 1954, it was ruled that the racial segregation was unconstitutional in the public schools. There was fifteen million African American citizens in America. Sadly, almost two-thirds of them stayed at home. Leading into the 1950s, the Brooklyn Dodgers had made history by signing Jack Roosevelt Robinson or "Jackie". He was openly known as an African American who cracked the racial barriers. There was an organization known as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People or the "NAACP". Its goal was to deplete the legal way of segregation across America. In 1950, in the case of Sweatt vs Painter, it was ruled that having segregation for the colored and whites failed the equality test. Five years later a woman named Rosa Parks made history in Alabama. She had boarded a bus and sat down in the "whites only" section. When she was asked to get up she had refused to do so, by saying no. Even though, she later got arrested, that day showed the braveness of African Americans and how they were not scared to stand up for not only themselves, but also for their race. In the Brown vs Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas they ruled that segregated
public schools was unequal and also unconstitutional in the year of 1954. Another court case that stated that schools may have been separate, but they were also equal in 1896 was called The Plessy vs Ferguson case. That doctrine was now dead and was now useless. Before the 1950s, America only had 48 States, but on January 3rd, 1959 that changed. America had 49 States. A few months later, it increased again to 50 States. In conclusion, the 1950s was a high point for the culture and society of the US. It was not a misconception, because schools were starting to desegregate, there was a revolution in music and advertisements, and etc. This kind of America was now a precedent for the type of living in America for years later on.