Decade - 1950s

One income families,with wife at home supporting as many as five or fewer kids was normal. One income was adequate. It was baby boomer producing time. We had a do nothing President who golfed frequently who helped win World War II. The culture was conservative until Rock and Roll music enter the scene. There was a lot of talk about the Communist threat from Joe McCarty and friends. The Soviet Union was the major concern. We had the worry of the Atomic Bomb with people building bomb shelters. We became the most powerful country on earth the main reason being we were never invaded. It was a happy time for most people.

When WWII was over (after all the rationing of food, clothing, and household goods) there were more jobs, and society as a whole could buy almost anything. Houses were cheaper, cars, electrical appliances, etc. Everyone basically went on a binge of buying. The 1950s was the last age of innocence. Families sat together to eat dinner, and there was peace and harmony for most families. Kids went to church and said prayers and the National Anthem in school. Moms stayed home to look after the kids, and dads went to work. You had homework and chores to do, and if you disrespected a teacher or an adult neighbor (always called them Mr. or Mrs.), you were grounded or severely punished. Spankings were dealt out, and it never hurt one of us kids. There was zero tolerance for misbehaving. Girls didn't live with boyfriends and stayed home until they got married. Although curious about sex, the boys would keep trying and most of the girls were too terrified they would get pregnant (those were the years where birth control wasn't even thought of). There was petting and necking and the odd girl that got pregnant. These girls who slept with boys or got pregnant were ostracized from society (I knew it was unfair back then). They were simply "bad girls." Sundays were special. Some people went to church. Sundays were for mowing the lawn and talking to your neighbors (everyone knew everyone else back then). Kids were safe and could walk the streets in the evening without fear of being accosted or abducted. Parents didn't have to worry about their children's safety as much as they do today. When teens needed money, the girls would volunteer as Candy Stripers and were paid a small wage, or they babysat. Boys worked in burger joints or gas stations. Parents didn't give their kids everything they wanted, and the teens had to work for extra money they wanted. More boys went to college whereas most girls weren't considered college material and would only get married and have children. They had few choices with the exception of being a teacher, nurse, stenographer, or a stewardess.

Kids didn't sit in front of the TV (you got 1 to 2 hours of TV if lucky) and there were no computers back then. Kids were either outside playing (using their imagination) or were out with their groups of friends hanging out at their favorite cafe. There were "hot rods" and "jalopies," and the kids met at the drive-in restaurants where guys would scream around and around showing off their new re-built cars. They popped clutches and did "wheelies" or "donuts" or picked out some other guy with a hot car to drag race to gain attention. There was cruising strips to see if they could pick up girls, and four guys to a car, and you could bet there was a case of beer! Few wanted new cars, and most young guys loved to "cut and chop" old cars and would paint them cool colors (metallic) usually with lightning bolts or other designs on the side of their car. Cars that were in this condition were called simply, "cherry"! Kids did get into a bit of trouble drag-racing the streets so they would build drag strips outside of the city limits, and the races began. Kids also got into drinking beer (making complete fools of themselves) but not as often as the kids do today. They were few drugs around during this time, and it was either cigarettes or alcohol. Kids back then were lucky to get away on a camping trip, and it never entered their minds to go on trips to other countries (only a few did). Teens couldn't afford a trip and parents sure couldn't. Kids got along well in groups, and the peer pressure wasn't so great as today. The right-labeled clothes weren't even thought about. There was fashion, of course. Guys wore their jeans with cuffs rolled up (often used as ashtrays) and T-shirts with one short-sleeve rolled up for their cigarettes, and some of the "greasers" (guys with greasy hair and duck tails) would have a cigarette folded inside the tip of their ear. Girls wore sweaters with scarves around their necks, long pencil-lined skirts with a slit up the side (poodle skirts as well), and usually ponytails or beehive hair-dos. They wore bobby socks with saddle shoes or "white bucks." You were either "cool" or "square."

Our music was better than today (there are some great songs out there today, but many of the groups sing some pretty crappy stuff and it's enough to depress anyone). In the 1950s it was rock & roll, with Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly, The Big Bopper, Jerry Lee Lewis (to name a few). Black groups introduced "doo wop" songs, and they were popular as well. Dances were "jive" or the "stroll." Boys actually danced with girls! There were dance contests and just plain fun. The songs were either love songs or happy songs. It wasn't depressing. You could relate to the music and actually understand it, and if you had a boyfriend or girlfriend you always picked that special song for each other. Usually, just like teen youth today, kids broke off with their boyfriends and often girls would lay around listening to "their song" and crying their eyes out, but it didn't last long; soon they were off and running until they met their next boyfriend. In the early 60s came Diana Ross and the The Supremes, Johnny Rivers, The Beach Boys. By the late 60s there was Jimi Hendrix (one of my favorites), Bob Dylan, etc., and all had a message to say. I loved that music as well.

Were teenagers happy? For the most part they were, but all teenagers have a wild side to become more independent and start to become restless. Teens during this time didn't really realize what they wanted and only knew that their families weren't as perfect as "Leave It To Beaver" and as the TV and magazines would have one believe and the teens weren't accepting the fact that families were that perfect. The first movie that came out to change that was "Rebel Without A Cause" with James Dean, Natalie Wood, and Sal Mineo. For the first time teenagers could relate and figure out what they had been longing for. They wanted their parents to realize they were going through many emotional times in their lives and wanted their parents to ease up and take notice and listen to them. Even today "Rebel Without A Cause" is a cult movie, and even today's teenagers could relate to that movie.

Elvis Presley first appears on black/white TV on "The Ed Sullivan Show" and I can remember the up-roar of society saying that he was the devil himself. There was Elvis swiveling those hips, and parents were in shock. I begged my parents to watch it and they refused but suddenly agreed. The sneaks had found out that the camera would only pan in on the upper part of Elvis. So, my family sat down with me and watched it. We listened to "You Ain't Nothin' But A Hound Dog" to "Blue Suede Shoes." My father was strict and still didn't like it, but lucky for me, Elvis sang "Old Shep" and my father really began to like him and thought he had a good voice. Then Elvis came for a concert in Vancouver, B.C., and I begged and pleaded with my parents to go, but they refused to allow it. I was crushed! It's a good thing I didn't go as the teens went wild and there were girls fainting, people falling over each other, legs and arms broken. Still, I had been willing to risk all that just to go to that concert. When your parents said "NO" it meant just that! They knew that if they loved you, protected you, put a roof over your head, food in your stomach, gave you an education, and quality time, then you had nothing to complain about.

The economy was rich; it was an employees market, and I took advantage of it. If I worked at a job and didn't like it, I would go out on my lunch break and have another job before I had to go back to my old job. Wages weren't bad back then when working, but it comparison to today, it was a not a lot. Still, it paid the bills. When working and living at home, you weren't asked to pay rent--YOU PAID RENT! Not only that, but you had to keep your own room clean, wash/dry and iron your own clothes, help cook meals, mow lawns, or shovel snow. Today if you asked a teen to mow your lawn or shovel snow, they'd look at you like you were crazy! Girls babysat from the age of 12 on to help pay for their school clothes.

Just as 1960 rolled around that's when the innocence of the 50's ended and nothing has been the same since. Teens went wild, ran away from home, joined groups or cults, and hit acid or other drugs. It was still an exciting time and still had a ring of the 50's, but once the 60s were over, everything seemed to go downhill. The old saying goes, "too much of anything is good for nothing." I'll take the 50s and 60s any day!

domestic buying increased

That might depend upon the year and the stadium. I attended Yankee games at Yankee Stadium in the mid 1950s. You could sit in the bleachers for .75 cents. Second tier seats were $1.25, and box seats might go as high as $5 or $10!!

APPETIZERS

Fruit cup

Broiled grapefruit

Melon ball cocktail

Sea food cocktail

Pastry snails

Dried beef rolls

Silver dollar hambugers

Bacon wrap-arounds

Herring-Appleteaser

Dips & chips/crackers: Lobster Newburg spread, Guacamole, Deviled Ham-Cheese Dip, Hollywood dunk

Canapes: Deviled ham, savory mushroom, hot cheese puffs, minature pizzas, hot clam

Cheerios cocktail snacks (something like Chex Mix)

Decorate your appetizer tray with celery trunks, stuffed cucumbers, grape clusters & fruit kabobs.

---Betty Crocker's Picture Cook Book, revised and enlarged, 2nd edition [McGraw-Hill:New York] 1956 (p. 57-66)

[NOTE: This 1950's classic cookbook was reprinted in facsimile edition in 1998 by the same publisher and is easy to obtain. Ask your librarian for help.]

Stuffed pecans or walnuts

Salted almonds

Filled Celery (with Roquefort and cream cheese)

Tidbits in blankets (surround cooked shrimp, oysters, stuffed olives, pickled onions, watermelon pickle, sauteed chicken livers, skinned grapefruit sections, dates stuffed with pineapple with thin strips of bacon, secure them with toothpicks. Broil them under moderate heat until the bacon is crisp.)

Glazed shrimp

Garlic olives

Sardine and bacon rolls

Marinated mushrooms

Cheese balls

Sausage and potato rolls

Ham and egg balls

Pineapple fingers and bacon

Broiled stuffed mushrooms (stuff with bread crumbs, shad roe, shrimp)

Shrimp puffs

Deviled eggs

Cheese for dipping potato chips

---The Joy of Cooking, Irma S. Rombauer [Bobbs-Merrill:Indianapolis] 1953 (p. 28-39)

[NOTE: there is a separate section devoted to canapes and sandwiches]

Barbecued short ribs

Toasted Tuna

Cocktail kabobs (button mushrooms and cocktail franks cut in half marinated in French dressing)

Broiled shrimp

Mix Trix (like Chex Mix)

Pumpernickel squares (crab meat, chili sauce, curry powder, mustard on pump)

Deviled almond rolls

Party pinwheels (dough, leftover meat, moistened with chili sauce, baked)

Cocktail knishes

Filled cream puffs (store-bought puffs filled with hot chicken salad, creamed shrimp, creamed turkey, served in a chafing dish)

Broiled mushroom caps

Baby pizzas (use English muffins!)

Sea-food celery (stuff flaked crab & mayo into cut celery. Garnish with paprika.)

Stuffed eggs (deviled eggs)

Sardine surprise (sardines mashed with hard cooked egg yolks, anchovy paste, dry mustard, butter, & spices. Served on squares on pumpernickel)

Ham rolls (boiled ham & liverwurst)

Dunks (aka dips): sour cream, shrimp, chive, horseradish, guacamole, pimiento, tuna

---Martha Deane's Cooking for Compliments, Martha Young Taylor [M. Barrows:New York] 1954 (p. 13-35)

SOUP & SALAD

Split pea soup

Easy chicken gumbo

Oxtail soup

Spicy tomato soup, Cream of tomato soup

Chicken and corn chowder

Pineapple fruit plate

Tomato stuffed with perfection salad

Bean (three-bean) salad

Orange-and-Bermuda onion salad

Melon boat salad

---Betty Crocker's Picture Cook Book, revised and enlarged, 2nd edition [McGraw-Hill:New York] 1956 (p. 377)

Mushroom or clam broth

Onion soup

Chicken (or beef, shrimp, crab) gumbo

Cream of celery soup

Cheese soup

Cole slaw

Chilled canned tomatoes

Lettuce or mixed salad with sour cream

Salad Caesar

Cucumber salad with French dressing

---The Joy of Cooking, Irma S. Rombauer [Bobbs-Merrill:Indianapolis] 1953

Consomme

Clam chowder

Cream of chicken

Asparagus soup

Cream of mushroom soup

Mixed green salad (French dressing or mayonnaise)

Stuffed tomatoes ravigote

Vegetables in sour cream

Potato salad (both hot and cold)

Gelatin & fruit salad molds (raspberry ring, grapefruit intrigue, sea siren salad)

---Martha Deane's Cooking for Compliments, Martha Young Taylor [M. Barrows:New York] 1954

MAIN COURSE

Grilled kabobs

Scalloped chicken supreme

Beef and corn casserole

American lasagne

Tuna-potato chip casserole

Savory meat pie

Welsh rarebit with tomato slices and little sausages

Swedish meat balls

Fluffy meat loaf

Baked ham with glaze

---Betty Crocker's Picture Cook Book, revised and enlarged, 2nd edition [McGraw-Hill:New York] 1956

Sukiyaki

Chicken a la king

Oysters baked in the half shell

Spaghetti with meat sauce

Turkey or chicken casserole with vegetables

Chicken pot pie

Hamburger-olive loaf

Chicken or veal croquettes

Baked fish

Souffle

---The Joy of Cooking, Irma S. Rombauer [Bobbs-Merrill:Indianapolis] 1953

Ham and vegetable casserole

Salmon steak

Orange sole

Corn-crust chicken

Sweet ham patties

Curried veal chops

Eggs foo young

Fricasseed trukey with wild rice

Lobster in patty shells

Salmon casserole

---Martha Deane's Cooking for Compliments, Martha Young Taylor [M. Barrows:New York] 1954

VEGETABLES

often served with butter, cream sauce, sour cream sauce, canned soup; topped with bread crumbs, dried onion flakes

Buttered vegetables (canned or frozen)

Creamed asparagus

Lima beans in sour cream

Broccoli-mushroom casserole

Mexican corn saute

---Betty Crocker's Picture Cook Book, revised and enlarged, 2nd edition [McGraw-Hill:New York] 1956

Mushrooms au gratin

Creamed onions (mushrooms, peas)

Baked zucchini

Potato volcano with cheese (mashed potato volcano!)

Baked beans

---The Joy of Cooking, Irma S. Rombauer [Bobbs-Merrill:Indianapolis] 1953

Green peas with sour cream

Baked acorn squash

Baked stuffed onions

Wax beans oriental (sweet and sour sauce)

Ginger-honey carrots

---Martha Deane's Cooking for Compliments, Martha Young Taylor [M. Barrows:New York] 1954

DESSERTS

Chiffon pie (lime, orange, pineapple, strawberry, chocolate)

Little pies (tart-sized portions of standard pies)

Coconut cake

Peppermint candy cake

Maraschino cherry cake

Chocolate cherry cake

Angel food

Banana chiffon cake

Easy caramel corn (made with General Mills cereals)

Marshmallow bars (made with General Mills cereals)

---Betty Crocker's Picture Cook Book, revised and enlarged, 2nd edition [McGraw-Hill:New York] 1956

Chocolate cake with white icing

Velvet spice cake

Ice cream with cherries

Apricot souffle

Baked apples

Gold layer cake with caramel icing

Banana chocolate cake

Butterscotch brownies

German cherry cake

Peppermint ice cream with chocolate sauce

---The Joy of Cooking, Irma S. Rombauer [Bobbs-Merrill:Indianapolis] 1953

Angel food custard

Quick butterscotch-chocolate pie

Maraschino cherry pudding

Broiled or baked grapefruit

Cherries jubilee

Peppermint pie

Devil's cream cake

Baked Alaska

Melon balls and sherbert

Orange snow balls (hollowed orange halves packed with lemon sherbert)

---Martha Deane's Cooking for Compliments, Martha Young Taylor [M. Barrows:New York] 1954

BEVERAGES

Soda pop [in bottles if you can get it], Tang [this space drink is VERY 50s], fruit punch, fruit smoothies, milk shakes, hot cocoa, iced tea, coffee.

SIMPLE HOME MENUS: 1952 (all include "a beverage.")

Breakfast

1. Orange juice, sauteed eggs and bacon, cinnamon toast

2. Apple jucie, sausage-meat cakes, popovers, jelly.

3. Chilled grapefruit, waffles, hone cream

4. Sliced peaches, omelet or scrambled eggs, drop biscuits, marmelade

5. Tomato juice, French toast with applesauce

Lunch

1. Broiled hamburger sandwiches, wilted lettuce, sanned or stewed fruit

2. Cold sliced ham, hot potato salad, toast, applesauce

3. Pan-fried fish, broiled potates, tossed green salad with French dressing, muffins, grapefruit jelly

4. Chili con carne, creamed spinach, sweet muffins with nuts 5. French ham toast, avocado on lettuce with French dressing, gingersnaps

Dinner

1. Meat balls with spaghetti, green peas, sliced oranges, peanut-butter cookies

2. Pigs in blankets, baked tomatoes with cheese, banana sherbet, butterscotch brownies

3. Salmon in casserole, potato chips, green salad with French dressing, lemon milk sherbet, chocolate-chip drop cookies

4. Eggplant filled with leftover foods, boiled carrots, hot rolls, preserves, quick method white cake with lemon icing

5. Pork chops with scalloped potatoes, French bread, Harvard beets, apple crunch"

---A Cookbook for Girls and Boys, Irma S. Rombauer [Bobbs-Merrill:Indianapolis] 1952 (p. 223-228)

SUGGESTED DINNER PARTY MENUS: 1955

Chilled Melon, Lobster Newberg in Croustades, Crown Roast of Lamb, Potatoes with Parsley Butter, Peas with Mint Cream, Chestnut Cream, Coffee

Hors d'oeuvres Tray, Relishes, Roast Turkey, Cranberry Jelly, Potato Puff, Spinach Ring with Baby Lima Beans, Grapefruit and Endive Salad, Vanilla Ice Cream with Tutti Fruitti, Small Cakes, Coffee

Consomme Bellevue, Relishes, Filet Migning, Bordelaise Sauce, Chestnut Puree, String Beans with Celery, Mixed Green Salad, Chocolate Souffle, Coffee

Littleneck Clams, Relishes, Roast Duck, Orange Sauce, Wild Rice with Mushrooms, Buttered Asparagus, Bombe of raspberry Ice and Vanilla Ice Cream, Small Cakes, Coffee

Oysters in the Half Shell, Roast Chicken, Whole Hominy with Sherry, Broccoli with Brown Crumbs, Macaroon Cream with Sliced Peaches, Coffee

Fish Fillets with Normandie Sauce, Roast Beef, Yorkshire Pudding, Braised Celery, Mixed Vegetable Salad, Mincemeat Turnovers, Coffee

Consomme Madrilene, Relishes, Baked Virginia Ham, Grilled Sweet Potatoes, Cauliflour with Lemon Butter, Romaine with Roquefort Dressing, Wine Jelly with Whipped Cream, Coffee"

---Silver Jubilee Super Market Cook Book, Edith Barber [Super Market Publishing:New York] 1955 (p. 37-8)

"THEME" DINNERS WERE POPULAR IN THE 1950ssamples here:

"Hawaiian buffet luncheon or supper

For table decorations, use lemon leaves, ferns, pineapple, bananas. Flowers (including lei for each guest) would be everywhere. Soft strains of Hawaiian music lend atmosphere: Tropical fruit salad, (avocado sections, orange slices, whole ripe olives...on bed of shredded lettuce) with lime or lemon dressing, http://www.foodtimeline.org/fooddecades....

hope this is a good answer!

Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarty accused George C. Marshall, Truman's Secretary of Defense, of allowing China to become a communist nation. Marshall had been involved in American foreign policy with China, and McCarthy charged that Marshall was directly responsible for the loss of China to Communism

President Ngo Dinh Diem.

Ngo is last name.

Dinh is middle name.

Diem is first name.

woodland and silver

However, any patents issued prior to 1995 have long-since expired.

The Africa Star is a campaign decoration, (technically NOT a medal) and not worth much.

White flight

Many people confuse the Nation of Islam with Islam, which is incorrect. The Nation of Islam is a specific African-American religion founded by Wallace Fard Muhammad. While Islam is not a racist religion, i.e. it does not discriminate on the basis of race, the Nation of Islam is a racist religion, holding Blacks to be a Superior Race and Whites and Jews to be Inferior Races. It makes sense that when the leadership of a religion makes openly racist statements that the religion is perceived as racist.

For example, Wallace Fard Muhammad would preach in the 1950s that the original humans were all black until an evil scientist Yakub created "white devil children" on the island of Patmos and proceeded to kill all Blacks until the White Devils were in power. Before Malcolm X left the Nation of Islam to become a Sunni Muslim, he said: "Thoughtful white people know they are inferior to Black people. Even [Senator] Eastland knows it. Anyone who has studied the genetic phase of biology knows that white is considered recessive and black is considered dominant." On the charges of Anti-Semitism, these come from absurd claims that the Jews were overwhelmingly responsible for African enslavement and that Hitler was a great man for murdering Jews in the Holocaust.

NEW YORK CiTY GANGS OF THE 1950'S.The New York City Gangs Of 1950's were Chicago's first gangs developed along ethnic lines out of the volunteer fire departments during the antebellum period. With names like "Fire Kings," these outfits of young, often single working-class men competed against one another in departmental reviews, brawled in the streets, and conducted social events. "Running with the machine" was celebrated in the dime novels of the day as part of the culture of manly bravado. When the professionalization of fire fighting departments forced volunteer companies to disband, the locus of gang life shifted into saloons, where "political fixers" harnessed the energies of these men. Just Chicago?? No. This was also in England. Gang violence of the 1950's was found in America + England. Search it up if you dont believe me!! (: ThAnKs fOr rEaDiNg.

The Air Force Association publishes a magazine called "Air Force" and each year they publish a special edition that covers the history of the Air Force. It would have a list of commanders and aces and every bit of info you can imagine. It included the list of the Chief Master Sergeant.

In the 1950s, women were beginning to question their roles and realize the depths of their unrealized potential. Many had returned home after serving in the workforce during WWII. Betty Friedan's book, the Feminine Mystique, documented this and spurred discussion about it.

Domestic Buying Increased -APEX

1. Find a mate.

2. Have a child.

3. Breed your child.

Although Bill Clinton received only about 43% of the popular votes in 1992 and about 49% in 1996, in both cases he clearly received more than any other candidate. In '92, the votes for George Bush and Ross Perot totaled about 56%, which is why many people believe Bush would have won reelection if Perot hadn't split the Republican votes.

In 1992, Bill Clinton beat George H. W. Bush 370 to 168, and in 1996 he beat Bob Dole 379 to 159.

OBJECTIVES:

To investigate the circumstances since the 1950s in which people who were attracted to members of the same sex received treatments to change their sexual orientation, the referral pathway and the process of therapy, and its aftermath.

DESIGN:

A nationwide study based on qualitative interviews.

PARTICIPANTS:

29 people who had received treatments to change their sexual orientation in the United Kingdom and two relatives of former patients.

RESULTS:

Most participants had been distressed by their attraction to their own sex and people in whom they confided thought they needed treatment. Although some participants chose to undergo treatments instead of imprisonment or were encouraged through some form of medical coercion, most were responding to complex personal and social pressures that discouraged any expression of their sexuality. While many participants found happiness in same sex relationships after their treatment, most were left feeling emotionally distressed to some degree.

CONCLUSION:

The definition of same sex attraction as an illness and the development of treatments to eradicate such attraction have had a negative long term impact on individuals.

Kimeyatta A Shaw was born at 10:52 am in Chicago, Il. to Donald R Johnson and Janice Shaw

The 33rd President of the United States was Harry S. Truman from April 12, 1945 to January 20, 1953. The 34th President of the United States was Dwight D. Eisenhower from January 20, 1953 to January 20, 1961

There are some who say that television had a negative impact on 1950s culture. They say it turned people in to passive consumers and ruined how people socialized. Families watching television together became a favorite activity in the 1950s. It was a free activity for everyone to enjoy.

To prepare people for a possible atomic bomb attack

The Gadsden Purchase was the United States' land acquisition from Mexico in 1853. The U.S. paid $15,000,000 (including $3,000,000 in claims of American citizens) for the 45,535 square miles of land that became the southern parts of Arizona and New Mexico. The purchase was made by James Gadsden, for who the purchase was named after.

Hopscotch, football, skipping, hide - and - seek, dolls, British bulldog, building blocks for younger children, climbing trees.

No, it was still unacceptable to most people. It didn't really become the norm until the 70s.