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The Good the Bad and the Ugly of the 1950s.

 

The Good

We might be better off materialistically now but people in the 1950s coped without entertainment gadgets and time saving devices because they never had them.

Thousands of tract subdivisions were built on the perimeter of the urban America, typically offering quality detached homes $10,000.

Miniature golf became a family fun activity.

People had pride and standards  in everything.

Life seemed to be easier safer and more innocent in the ‘50s.

The economic boom was increased by government spending.

The nationwide birth rate increased. The “Baby Boomers” arrived.

In 1955 Dr. Jonas Salk developed the vaccine for polio.

Federal Highway Act was signed marking the beginning of the interstate highway system.

In 1958 the Explorer I, the first U.S. satellite successfully orbited the earth.

Alaska and Hawaii become the 49th and 50th states.

The top five favorite foods of the 1950s were meat loaf, deviled eggs, baked Alaska, tuna noodle casserole and a Swanson frozen dinner.

The 1950s’ Civil Rights movement was marked by leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X and Rosa Parks.

The economic boom was increased by government spending.

Teachers were much stricter in the ‘50s and corporal punishment was acceptable and suspension and expulsions were far more common.

The life of women was much different in the 1950s. Women were content to become good wives and good mothers.

In 1950 the national average price of a gallon of regular gasoline was 27 cents.

The nationwide birth rate increased.

The word teenager was invented in 1958.

Cocktail parties were a great way to gather friends together for food and drinks.

 

The Bad

The Korean War started. North Korea invaded South Korea and U.S. troops were sent to help.

Cuban Missile Crisis made us afraid that Cuba would launch nuclear missiles toward the U.S. and we would die a horrible death.

Anti-Communist paranoia, commonly known as the “Red Scare” was led by Senator Joseph Mc Carthy and started the “witch hunts.”

An ICBM, an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile, is a missile with a long range typically designed for nuclear weapons delivery.

Practice drills were held in schools by hiding under desks with books over our heads.

Fallout shelters were built in back yards. A fallout shelter is an enclosed space specially designed to protect occupants from radioactive debris or fallout resulting from a nuclear explosion. Many such shelters were constructed as civil defense measures during the Cold War. Survival literature was written primarily for a suburban audience, since it was assumed that cities would be targets and most urban dwellers would not survive.

Officials at the FCDA stated that if people were educated and prepared for a nuclear attack, they could survive an atomic bomb and avoid the wholesale death and destruction that had occurred at Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

 

The Ugly

Nylon stockings with seams up the back and the girdle or garter belt that one needed to wear hose.

The one-piece bathing suits.

Movies were often in black and white.

No trousers in public and white gloves were required.

Hairstyles of the 1950s were a ponytail or a movie star look like Audrey Hepburn or Shirley Maclaine.

Girls and ladies wore aprons for most household chores.

Your favorite food might have been Frosted Flakes.

Many white Americans left the cities, called “white flight,” and moved to the suburbs.

Schools were segregated in the 1950s.

You may not agree with my categories. You may consider some to be too liberal or too conservative and that’s OK.

You make your own judgment. Are we better off today? Think about it.

 

Witches on the Porch

Witches on the Porch will be at the Edwardsburg History Museum from 6 to 7 p.m. Friday.

The witches and museum members donate the candy that is given away. They request that only children in costume come to the museum.

 

Jo-Ann Boepple works at the Edwardsburg Area History Museum.