Encyclopedia
The
1950s was the decade spanning the years 1950 to 1959. Some believe in a long Fifties going from the end of
World War II in 1945 to the Kennedy assassination of November 22, 1963.
Economy
Rebirth of Europe
Recovering from World War II and its aftermath, the economic miracle emerged in West Germany and
Italy. Additionally, wartime rationing ended in the
United Kingdom.
Ascendency of the United States
The 1950s in the
United States of America were marked with a sharp rise in the economy for the first time in almost 30 years and a return to the
1920s-type consumer
society built on credit and boom-times, as well as the
baby boom from returning GIs who went to college under the G.I. Bill and settled in suburban America. Most of the internal conflicts that had developed in earlier decades like women's rights,
civil rights,
imperialism, and war were relatively suppressed or neglected during this time as a world returning from the brink hoped to see a more consistent way of life as opposed to the
liberalism and radicalism of the
1930s and
1940s. The effect of suppressing social problems in the '50s would have a significant impact on the rest of the twentieth century.
Social and political movements
Trends
In the West, the generation traumatized by the
Great Depression and
World War II created a culture with emphasis on normality and conformity.
Korean War
The
Korean War, lasting from June 25, 1950 until a
cease-fire on July 27 1953 , started as a civil war between
communist North Korea and
republican
South Korea. When it began, North and South Korea existed as provisional governments competing for control over the Korean peninsula, due to the
division of Korea by outside powers. While originally a civil war, it quickly escalated into a
Cold War-era conflict and served as a proxy war between the capitalist powers of the
United States and its allies and the Communist powers of the
People's Republic of China and the
Soviet Union.
On September 15,
General MacArthur planned grand strategy to dissect North-Korean-occupied Korea on the city of Inchoen to cut off further invasion of North Korean army. Within a few days, MacArthur's army took back
Seoul . The plan succeeded which allowed American and South Korean forces to cut off further expansion of the North Koreans. The war continued until cease-fire was agreed by both sides on July 27, 1953. The war left 33,742 American soldiers dead and 92,134 wounded.
In the end, neither side had won the war. Before the war, the border was a longitudinal line; after the war, it was shifted slightly diagonally.
U.S./USSR tensions result in "Cold War"
The "
Cold War", which began as a geopolitical, ideological, and economic struggle between the
Soviet Union and the
United States, intensified. During this time the
Warsaw pact and
NATO were founded.
Most above-ground
nuclear test explosions happened during this decade.
The 1950s were also marked with a rapid rise in tensions between the
United States and the
Soviet Union that would heighten the
Cold War to an unprecedented level which would touch off the Arms Race, the
Space Race,
McCarthyism, and the
Korean War.
Stalin's death in 1953 left an enormous impact in Eastern Europe that forced the Soviet Union to create more liberal policies internally and externally. The rise of suburbia as well as the growing conflict with the East are the two generally accepted reasons for the
conservative domination of this decade.
The most notable political shift in the Eastern bloc would be the
Hungarian revolution of 1956 which would soon falter due to the
Soviet Union's intervention.
Cuban revolutionaries led by
Fidel Castro gained power ousting the government of General
Fulgencio Batista in 1959.
In the United States there was a "
Red Scare" resulting in the
McCarthy Hearings.
Suez Crisis
The
Suez Crisis is also known as the
Suez War or the 1956 War, and is commonly known in the Arab world as the Tripartite aggression; other names include the Suez-Sinai war,
1956 Arab-Israeli War,
Suez Campaign, Kadesh Operation, and Operation Musketeer, which was a
war fought on Egyptian territory in 1956. The conflict pitted
Egypt against an alliance between the
United Kingdom,
France and
Israel. The
United States also played a crucial role, albeit not a military one.
European Common Market
The
European Community , the precursor of the
European Union, was established.
Civil rights
Culture
- Brylcreem and other hair tonics have a period of popularity
- Juvenile delinquency said to be at unprecedented epidemic proportions in USA, though some see this era as relatively low in crime compared to today.
- Continuing poverty in some regions during recessions later on in this decade. The 1950s is often mistakenly painted as the pinnacle of American prosperity; in reality, more than a fifth of Americans lived in poverty during this time, compared with roughly an eighth at the beginning of the 21st century.
- Fairly high rates of unionization, government social spending, taxes, and the like in the U.S. and European countries. Mostly liberal or moderate Western governments, though communism/Cold War play a role in reaction to, and within, domestic politics.
- Beatnik culture/The Beat Generation
- Optimistic visions of semi-Utopian technological future including such devices as the flying car.
- The Day the Earth Stood Still is a 1951 [i] science fiction film [i] which tells the st ...
hits movie theaters. - Along with the appearance of the sentence Kilroy was here is an American [i] popular culture [i] expression, often seen in graffiti [i] ...
across the United States, graffiti as an art form develops, especially among urban African Americans; graffiti eventually becomes one of the four elements of hip hop culture - Considerable racial tension with military and schools desegregation in the US, though controversy never truly erupts until later on in the 1960s.
- Rise of evangelical Christianity including Youth for Christ ; the National Association of Evangelicals, the American Council of Christian Churches, the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association , and the Campus Crusade for Christ . Christianity Today was first published in 1956. 1956 also marked the beginning of Bethany Fellowship, a small press that would grow to be a leading evangelical press.
- Carl Stuart Hamblen religious radio broadcaster.
Emerging social perspectives in the 1950s
Music
Rock-and-roll music
Traditional pop music such as the bebop era of
jazz hit its peak and climaxed as early rock and roll music led by
Elvis Presley was embraced by teenagers and the emerging
youth culture as the first wave of the
Baby Boom reached its teen years. Rock music was generally dismissed or condemned by older generations. Other prominent rock and roll musicians inclued
Paul Anka,
Chuck Berry,
Bo Diddley,
Buddy Holly,
Jerry Lee Lewis and Little Richard.
The 1950s in cinema
World cinema
Hollywood
Known as the "Golden Age", this era of movie-making could or would see the release of many classics and a slew of talented stars and directors.
Films like
Sunset Boulevard with
William Holden and
Gloria Swanson,
All About Eve is a 1950 [i] movie drama [i] written [i] and directed [i] by ...
with
Bette Davis, and
Ben-Hur with
Charlton Heston, would become instant classics.
Westerns were getting bigger in the 1950s, with films like
High Noon is a 1952 [i] western film [i] which tells the story of a town ...
starring Gary Cooper, and
Cheyenne with
Clint Walker, wrangling moviegoers back to the time of outlaws and wild shoot-outs. There was no shortage of war movies: the 1950s saw the release of
Stalag 17 is a 1953 [i] film which tells the story of a group of American sergeants held in a German [i] ...
, directed by
Billy Wilder,
The Bridge over the River Kwai was an Anglo-American World War II [i] war film [i] based on the novel ...
starring
Alec Guinness, and
Stanley Kubrick's
Paths of Glory, a potent anti-war film that starred
Kirk Douglas as the French Col. Dax, defending three soldiers of cowardice.
Thrillers were also turning into a huge genre in post-war Hollywood.
Alfred Hitchcock directed many big name pictures, including
Rear Window is a motion picture [i] directed by Alfred Hitchcock [i], based on Cornell Woolrich [i]'...
, starring
Jimmy Stewart and
Grace Kelly,
North by Northwest is a 1959 [i] MGM [i] thriller [i] by Alfred Hitchcock [i] and is generally consi ...
with
Cary Grant, and
Vertigo, also with Jimmy Stewart and
Kim Novak.
Comedies are always popular, and the 1950s were no exception.
It Happens Every Spring,
Some Like It Hot is a 1959 [i] comedy [i] film [i] directed by Billy Wilder [i]. ...
with
Marilyn Monroe,
Tony Curtis and
Jack Lemmon, and
The Ladykillers is a 1955 [i] British film [i]. ...
starring
Alec Guinness and
Peter Sellers, would be loved by many. The year 1951 would have an important comedy milestone, the last film of the great comedy duo,
Laurel and Hardy,
Atoll K, released in 1950, was the final film Laurel and Hardy [i] made as a team. ...
, in which the pair starred as the inheritors of an island in the Pacific.
Radio and television
Television replaced
radio as the dominant mass medium in industrialized countries. Popular television programs in the U.S. included
Texaco Star Theater,
Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts was a radio and television [i] variety show [i] which ran on CBS [i] ...
,
I Love Lucy, a CBS [i] television [i] sitcom [i] that aired in the 1950s, was the most popular American [i] ...
,
The $64,000 Question was a popular United States [i] television [i] game show [i] from 1955 to 1958. ...
, and
Gunsmoke was a long-running American [i] old-time radio [i] and television [i] Western [i] ...
.
The Twilight Zone was a television [i] anthology series [i] created by its narrator and host Rod Serling [i] ...
premiered as the first major science-fiction show.
In the United Kingdom
In the United States
Literature
Beatniks and the
beat generation, an anti-materialistic literary movement that began with Kerouac in 1948 and stretched on into the 1960s, was at its zenith in the 1950s. Such groundbreaking literature as
William S. Burroughs'
Naked Lunch is a novel [i] by William S. Burroughs [i]. ...
,
Allen Ginsberg's
Howl, William Golding's
Lord of the Flies is an allegorical [i] novel [i] by Nobel Prize [i]-winn ...
,
Jack Kerouac's
On the Road is a novel by Jack Kerouac [i], published by Viking Press [i] in 1957 [i] ...
, and
J.D. Salinger's
The Catcher in the Rye is a novel [i] by J. D. Salinger [i]. ...
were published.
Architecture
Science and philosophy
...
|common_name = Paris
...
in 1954.
The 1950s in sports
...
nationality = English |
...
...
nationality = English |
...
...
...
The Olympics
...
.gif)
