Remembering 1950's Events
The 1950's Important Historic and Cultural Events
I was growing up when the most influential change in our country came about... TV. Perhaps the most far reaching change in communications worldwide was the advancement in the area of television broadcasting.
During the 1950's, television became the dominant mass media as people brought television into their homes in greater numbers of hours per week than ever before. In the early fifties, young people watched TV more hours than they went to school, a trend which has not changed greatly since that time. What was portrayed on television became accepted as normal.
The ideal family, the ideal schools and neighborhoods, the world, were all seen in a way which had only partial basis in reality. People began to accept what was heard and seen on television because they were " eye witnesses " to events as never before (live TV) .
- 1950 - President Harry Truman ( 'til 1952) approves production of the hydrogen bomb and Sends air force and navy to Korea in June.
- 1951 - Transcontinental television begins with a speech by Pres. Truman. It was an amazing event. Black and white and we didn;t know what "network" TV was. Dwight D. Eisenhower is president from 1953 until 1961 and we saw him on TV like no other president.
- 1952 - The Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1952 is signed, removing racial and ethnic barriers to becoming a U.S. citizen.
- 1953 - Julius and Ethel Rosenberg are electrocuted for their part in W.W.II espionage.
- 1953 - Fighting ends in Korea . All were happy and the boys came home.
- 1954 - U. S. Senator Joseph McCarthy begins televised hearings into alleged Communists in the army.
- 1954 - Racial segregation is ruled unconstitutional in public schools by the U.S. Supreme Court.
- 1955 - Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat on a public bus in Montgomery, Alabama. Conservative we all were ut we believed she was right!
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1955 - The
American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations
merge making the new AFL-CIO an organization with 15 million members.
also in 1955 Dr. Jonas Salk developed a vaccine for polio - 1956 - The Federal Highway Act is signed, marking the beginning of work on the interstate highway system. More to this than met the eye since it was a way of moving mateials and landing aircraft if needed.
- 1958 - Explorer I , the first U.S. satellite, successfully orbits the earth. The race was finally on after Sputnick was launched. December 10, 1958 - The first domestic jet-airline passenger service is begun by National Airlines between New York City and Miami.
- 1959 - Alaska and Hawaii become the forty-ninth and fiftieth states. Did we have Texas jokes or what!
This is the way it was!
The 1950's began to expose us to everything and things like TV became accepted... TV was reality! Today we produce so much garbage on TV and people still accept it as "normal". Reality TV is not real!