The1950s (pronounced nineteen-fifties; commonly abbreviated as the "Fifties" or the "'50s") (among other variants) was adecade that began on January 1, 1950, and ended on December 31, 1959.
Throughout the decade, the world continued its recovery fromWorld War II, aided by thepost-World War II economic expansion. The period also saw great population growth with increased birth rates and the emergence of thebaby boomer generation.Despite this recovery, theCold War developed from its modest beginnings in the late 1940s to a heated competition between theSoviet Union and theUnited States by the early 1960s. The ideological clash betweencommunism andcapitalism dominated the decade, especially in theNorthern Hemisphere.
The beginning of the Cold War led to the beginning of theSpace Race with the launch ofSputnik 1 in 1957; the United States would createNASA in response in 1958. Along with increased testing ofnuclear weapons (such asRDS-37 andUpshot–Knothole) called thearms race, the tense geopolitical situation created a politically conservative climate.
Television became a common innovation in American homes during the 1950s culminating in theGolden Age of TV. This led many to purchase more products and upgrade whatever they currently had resulting in massconsumerism. While outside of America, it would take a few decades for TV to become commonplace in other countries.
The 1950s saw a turning point forpolio with thesuccessful discovery of thepolio vaccine. Following the widespread use of poliovirus vaccine in the mid-1950s, the incidence of poliomyelitis declined rapidly in manyindustrialized countries while it would gradually decline for the next few decades indeveloping countries reducing the number of death rates from this disease.
During the 1950s, the world population increased from 2.5 to 3.0 billion, with approximately 1 billion births and 500 million deaths.
Korean War (1950–1953) – The war, which lasted from June 25, 1950, until the signing of theKorean Armistice Agreement on July 27, 1953, started as acivil war betweenNorth Korea and the Republic of Korea (South Korea). When it began, North and South Korea existed as provisional governments competing for control over the Korean peninsula, due to thedivision of Korea by outside powers. While originally a civil war, it quickly escalated into a war between the Western powers under theUnited Nations Command led by the United States and its allies and the communist powers of the People's Republic of China and the Soviet Union. On September 15, GeneralDouglas MacArthur conductedOperation Chromite, an amphibious landing at the city of Inchon (Song Do port). The North Korean army collapsed, and within a few days, MacArthur's army retookSeoul (South Korea's capital). He then pushed north, capturing Pyongyang in October. Chinese intervention the following month drove UN forces south again. MacArthur then planned for a full-scale invasion of China, but this was against the wishes of President Truman and others who wanted a limited war. He was dismissed and replaced by General Matthew Ridgway. The war then became a bloody stalemate for the next two and a half years while peace negotiations dragged on. The war left 33,742 American soldiers dead, 92,134 wounded, and 80,000 missing in action (MIA) orprisoner of war (POW). Estimates placeKorean and Chinese casualties at 1,000,000–1,400,000 dead or wounded, and 140,000 MIA or POW.
TheVietnam War began in 1955. Diệm instituted a policy of death penalty against any communist activity in 1956. TheViet Minh began an assassination campaign in early 1957. An article by French scholarBernard Fall published in July 1958 concluded that a new war had begun. The first official large unit military action was on September 26, 1959, when theViet Cong ambushed two ARVN companies.[1]
Israeli troops preparing for combat in the Sinai peninsula during theSuez Crisis.
Suez Crisis (1956) – TheSuez Crisis was a war fought onEgyptian territory in 1956. Following the nationalisation of theSuez Canal in 1956 byGamal Abdel Nasser, the United Kingdom, France andIsrael subsequently invaded. The operation was a military success, but after the United States and Soviet Union united in opposition to the invasion, the invaders were forced to withdraw. This was seen as a major humiliation, especially for the two Western European countries, and symbolizes the beginning of the end of colonialism and the weakening of European global importance, specifically the collapse of theBritish Empire.
Hungarian Revolution of 1956 – A massive, spontaneous popular uprising in the Sovietsatellite state ofHungary against that country's Soviet-backedMarxist-Leninist regime, inspired by political changes in Poland and the Soviet Union. The uprising, fought primarily by students and workers, managed to fight the invading Soviet Army to a standstill, and a new, pro-reform government took power. While the top Soviet leaders even considered withdrawing from Hungary entirely, they soon crushed the Revolution with a massive second invasion, killing thousands of Hungarians and sending hundreds of thousands more into exile. This was the largest act of internal dissent in the history of theSoviet Bloc, and its violent suppression served to further discredit the Soviet Union even among its erstwhile supporters.
On March 10, 1952,Fulgencio Batista led a bloodlesscoup to topple the democratically elected government inCuba.
1953 Iranian coup d'état: In August 1953, a coup jointly led by the United States and United Kingdom and codenamed Operation Ajax, overthrew Prime MinisterMohammed Mosaddeq.
Large-scale decolonization in Africa first began in the 1950s. In 1951,Libya became the first African country to gain independence from theUnited Kingdom andFrance in the decade, and in 1954 theAlgerian War began. 1956 sawSudan become independent fromBritain andMorocco, andTunisia become independent fromFrance, and the next yearGhana became the firstsub-saharan African nation to gain independence.
On November 1, 1950, two Puerto Rican nationalists staged anattempted assassination on U.S. PresidentHarry S. Truman. The leader of the teamGriselio Torresola had firearm experience andOscar Collazo was his accomplice. They made their assault at theBlair House where President Truman and his family were staying. Torresola mortally wounded a White House policeman,Leslie Coffelt, who shot Torresola dead before expiring himself. Collazo, as a co-conspirator in a felony that turned into a homicide, was found guilty of murder and was sentenced to death in 1952 but then his sentence was later commuted to life in prison.
On July 7, 1950, the firstGroup Areas Act was promulgated by theParliament of South Africa and implemented over a period of several years. The passing of the Act contributed significantly to the period of institutionalisedracial segregation anddiscrimination inSouth Africa known asApartheid, which lasted from 1948 to 1991. One of the most famous uses of the Group Areas Act was the destruction ofSophiatown, a suburb ofJohannesburg, which began on 9 February 1955.
The U.S. ended its occupation of Japan, which became fully independent. Japan held democratic elections and recovered economically.
Within a year of its establishment, the People's Republic of China had reclaimed Tibet and intervened in the Korean War, causing years of hostility and estrangement from the United States. Mao admired Stalin and rejected the changes in Moscow after Stalin's death in 1953, leading to growing tension with the Soviet Union.
In 1950–1953, France tried to contain a growing communist insurgency led byHo Chi Minh. After their defeat in theBattle of Dien Bien Phu in 1954 France granted independence to the nations ofCambodia,Laos, andVietnam. At theGeneva Conference of 1954 France and the Communists agreed to divide Vietnam and hold elections in 1956. The U.S. and South Vietnam rejected the Geneva accords and the division became permanent.
Africa experienced the beginning of large-scale top-down economic interventions in the 1950s that failed to cause improvement and led to charitable exhaustion by theWest as the century went on. The widespread corruption was not dealt with and war, disease, and famine continued to be constant problems in the region.
Egyptian generalGamel Abdel Nasser overthrew the Egyptian monarchy, establishing himself as President ofEgypt. Nasser became an influential leader in the Middle East in the 1950s, leading Arab states into war withIsrael, becoming a major leader of theNon-Aligned Movement and promotingpan-Arab unification.
In 1957,Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, after a series of negotiations with the then British empire, secured the independence of Ghana. Ghana was hitherto referred to as Gold Coast, a colony of theBritish Empire.
In 1957, Dr.François Duvalier came to power in an election inHaiti. He later declared himself president for life, and ruled until his death in 1971.
In 1958, the military dictatorship of Venezuela was overthrown.
In 1959,Alaska (3 January) andHawaii (21 August) became the 49th and 50th states respectively of the United States.
In 1959,Fidel Castro overthrew the regime ofFulgencio Batista inCuba, establishing acommunist government in the country. Although Castro initially sought aid from the US, he was rebuffed and later turned to the Soviet Union.
NORAD signed in 1959 by Canada and the United States creating a unified North American air defense system.
Brasília was built in 41 months, from 1956, and on April 21, 1960, became the capital of Brazil
With the help of theMarshall Plan, post-war reconstruction succeeded, with some countries (including West Germany) adopting free market capitalism while others adopted Keynesian-policy welfare states. Europe continued to be divided intoWestern andSoviet bloc countries. The geographical point of this division came to be called theIron Curtain.
Because previous attempts for a unified state failed, Germany remained divided into two states: the capitalistFederal Republic of Germany in the west and the socialistGerman Democratic Republic in the east. The Federal Republic identified itself as the legal successor to thefascist dictatorship and was obliged in paying war reparations. The GDR, however, denounced the fascist past completely and did not recognize itself as responsible for paying reparations on behalf of the Nazi regime. The GDR's more harsh attitude in suppressinganti-communist andRussophobic sentiment lingering in the post-Nazi society resulted in increased emigration to the west.
While the United States military maintained its bases in western Europe, the Soviet Union maintained its bases in the east. In 1953,Joseph Stalin, the leader of the Soviet Union, died. This led to the rise ofNikita Khrushchev, who denounced Stalin and pursued a more liberal domestic and foreign policy, stressing peaceful competition with the West rather than overt hostility. There were anti-Stalinist uprisings in East Germany and Poland in 1953 and Hungary in 1956.
On January 31, 1953, theNorth Sea flood of 1953 killed 1,835 people in the southwestern Netherlands (especiallyZeeland) and 307 in the United Kingdom[4]
Typhoon Vera hit centralHonshū on September 26, 1959, killing an estimated 5,098, injuring another 38,921, and leaving 1,533,000 homeless. Most of the damage was centered in theNagoya area.
On December 2, 1959,Malpasset Dam in southern France collapsed and water flowed over the town ofFréjus, killing 412.
In early December 1952, theGreat Smog of London caused major disruption by reducing visibility and even penetrating indoor areas, far more severely than previous smog events, called "pea-soupers". Government medical reports in the weeks following the event estimated that up to 4,000 people had died as a direct result of the smog and 100,000 more were made ill by the smog's effects on the humanrespiratory tract.
On January 10, 1954,BOAC Flight 781, a newde Havilland Comet jetliner, disintegrated in mid-air due to structural failure and crashed off the Italian coast, killing all 35 on board.
On July 25, 1956, the Italian ocean linerSS Andrea Doria collided with the Swedish ocean linerMSStockholm off theNantucket, Massachusetts, coastline. 51 people were killed and theAndrea Doria sank the next morning.
The United States was the most influential economic power in the world after World War II under the presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower.
In the 1950s, the median age of newlyweds declined to its lowest point, a level not seen since.[5] By 1954, nearly half of American brides were teenagers, often marrying men just a few years older. These brides sought husbands who were stable providers. A strong economy and low unemployment rates supported widespread prosperity, expanding the middle class and making affordable housing accessible. This economic environment enabled young couples to marry early, granting teenage brides notable purchasing power that marketers actively targeted.[6]
During this period, a gap in educational attainment emerged, with college degrees yielding higher earning potential than high school diplomas.[7] Given prevailing cultural norms, more men pursued higher education while their wives contributed financially by entering the workforce. Recognizing this support, some schools even awarded the "PhT" (Putting Husband Through) diploma to acknowledge wives who helped their husbands complete their degrees.[8]
Credit cards gained widespread popularity in the 1950s starting with the Diners Club Card in New York and soon after expanded to multiple countries.[9]
Inflation was moderate during the decade of the 1950s. The first few months had a deflationary hangover from the 1940s but the first full year ended with what looked like the beginnings of massive inflation with annual inflation rates ranging from 8% to 9% a year. By 1952 inflation subsided. 1954 and 1955 flirted with deflation again but the remainder of the decade had moderate inflation ranging from 1% to 3.7%. The average annual inflation for the entire decade was only 2.04%.[10]
Trình Minh Thế, Vietnamese nationalist andCao Daimilitary leader during the end of theFirst Indochina War and the beginning of theVietnam War. While standing near his military jeep, Thế was shot in the back of the head by a sniper. The murder was unsolved.
The recently inventedbipolar transistor, though initially quite feeble, had clear potential and was rapidly improved and developed at the beginning of the 1950s by companies such asGE,RCA, andPhilco. The first commercial transistor production started at the Western Electric plant in Allentown, Pennsylvania, in October, 1951 with the point contact germanium transistor. It was not until around 1954 that transistor products began to achieve real commercial success with small portableradios.
Television, which first reached the marketplace in the 1940s, attained maturity during the 1950s and by the end of the decade, most American households owned a TV set. A rush to produce larger screens than the tiny ones found on 1940s models occurred during 1950–52. In 1954,RCA introBell Telephone Labs produced the first Solar battery. In 1954, a yard ofcontact paper could be purchased for only 59 cents.Polypropylene was invented in 1954. In 1955,Jonas Salk invented apolio vaccine which was given to more than seven million American students. In 1956, a solar powered wrist watch was invented.
In 1957, a 184-pound (83 kg) satellite namedSputnik 1 was launched by the Soviets. The space race began four months later as the United States launched a smaller satellite.
Castle Bravo: A 15 megaton hydrogen bomb experiment conducted by the United States in 1954. Photographed 78 miles (125 kilometers) from the explosion epicenter.
PresidentHarry S. Truman inaugurated transcontinental television service on September 4, 1951, when he made a speech to the nation. AT&T carried his address from San Francisco and it was viewed from the west coast to the east coast at the same time.
Luna 2 touched down on the surface ofthe Moon, making it the first spacecraft to land on lunar surface, and the first to make contact with another celestial body on September 13, 1959.
Motorcycle clubs became more prominent in the 1950s. Pictured is a vintage 1950s motorcycle toy.
The 1950s was the beginning period of rapid television ownership. In their infancy, television screens existed in many forms, including round.
The creation and expansion of many multinational restaurant chains still in existence today, including the likes ofMcDonald's,IHOP,Pizza Hut,Denny's andBurger King, all occurred in the 1950s.
Elvis Presley was the best-selling musical artist of the decade. He is considered as the leading figure of therock and roll androckabilly movement of the 1950s.
The middle of the decade saw a change in the popular music landscape asclassic pop was swept off the charts by rock-and-roll. Crooners such asEddie Fisher,Perry Como, andPatti Page, who had dominated the first half of the decade, found their access to the pop charts significantly curtailed by the decade's end.[18]Doo-wop entered the pop charts in the 1950s. Its popularity soon spawns the parody "Who Put the Bomp (in the Bomp, Bomp, Bomp)".
Harry Belafonte in 1954, whose breakthrough albumCalypso (1956) was the first million-selling LP by a single artist.
The new music differed from previous styles in that it was primarily targeted at the teenager market, which became a distinct entity for the first time in the 1950s as growing prosperity meant that young people did not have to grow up as quickly or be expected to support a family. Rock-and-roll proved to be a difficult phenomenon for older Americans to accept and there were widespread accusations of its being a communist-orchestrated scheme to corrupt the youth, although rock and roll was extremely market-based and capitalistic.
An American family watching television together in 1958.
The 1950s are known as theGolden Age of Television by some people. Sales of TV sets rose tremendously in the 1950s and by 1950 4.4 million families in America had a television set. Americans devoted most of their free time to watching television broadcasts. People spent so much time watching TV, that movie attendance dropped and so did the number of radio listeners.[20] Television revolutionized the way Americans see themselves and the world around them. TV affects all aspects of American culture. "Television affects what we wear, the music we listen to, what we eat, and the news we receive."[21]
Similarly with the mid-1950s rush ofRock and Roll and teenage rebellion, the films ofMarlon Brando,James Dean and films such asBlackboard Jungle, which introduced rock and roll music to the national consciousness,[22] had a profound effect on American culture.
The long-running comic stripPeanuts made its debut in this decade, becoming the most successful comic strip of all time, until its end in 2000, along with the death of creatorCharles M. Schulz.
Pop art used theiconography of television, photography, comics, cinema and advertising. With its roots indadaism, it started to take form towards the end of the 1950s when some European artists started to make the symbols and products of the world ofadvertising andpropaganda the main subject of their artistic work. This return offigurative art, in opposition to the abstract expressionism that dominated the aesthetic scene since the end of World War II was dominated by Great Britain until the early 1960s whenAndy Warhol, the most known artist of this movement began to show Pop Art in galleries in the United States.
Marilyn Monroe andJane Russell in 1953, showing American fashions and popular hairstyles of the eraLiz Taylor in the 1950s, a fashion icon of the era
The 1950s saw the birth of theteenager and with itrock n roll and youth fashion dominating the fashion industry. In the UK theTeddy boy became both style icons and anti-authoritarian figures. While in AmericaGreasers had a similar social position. Previously teenagers dressed similarly to their parents but now a rebellious and different youth style was being developed. This was particularly noticeable in the overtly sexual nature of their dress. Men wore tight trousers, leather jackets and emphasis was on slicked, greasy hair.
New ideas meant new designers who had a concept of what was fashion. Fashion started gaining a voice and style when Christian Dior created "The New Look" collection. The 1950s was not only about spending on luxurious brands but also the idea of being comfortable was created. It was a time when resources were available and it was a new type of fashion. Designers were creating collections with different materials such as: taffeta, nylon, rayon, wool and leather that allowed different colors and patterns. People started wearing artificial fibers because it was easier to take care of and it was price effective.[23] It was a time where shopping was part of a lifestyle.
Different designers emerged or made a comeback on the 1950s because, as mentioned before, it was a time for fashion and ideas. The most important designers from the time were:
Christian Dior: everything started in 1947 after World War II was over. Christian Dior found that there were a lot of resources in the market. He created the famous and inspirational collection named"The New Look." This consisted on the idea of creating voluminous dresses that would not only represent wealth but also show power on women. This collection was the first collection to use 80 yards of fabric.[23] He introduced the idea of the hourglass shape for women; wide shoulders, tight waistline and then voluminous full skirts. Dior was a revolutionary and he was the major influence for the next collections. He is known for always developing new ideas and designs, which led to a rapid expansion and becoming worldwide known.[24] He had pressure to create innovative designs for each collection and Dior did manage to provide that to the consumers. He not only made the hourglass shape very famous but he also developed the H-line as well as the A and Y-Lines. Dior was a very important designer, he changed the way fashion was looked on the world but most importantly he reestablished Paris as a fashion capital.[24]
Cristobal Balenciaga: Cristobal Balenciaga a Spanish designer who opened his first couture house in 1915. In 1936, he went to Paris in order to avoid the Spanish Civil War, there he had inspiration for his fashion collections. His designs were an inspiration for emerging designers of the time. His legacy is as important as the one from Dior, revolutionaries.[24] He was known for creating sack dresses, heavy volumes and balloon skirts.[25] For him everything started when he worked for Marquesa de Casa Torre who became his patron and main source of inspiration. Marquesa de Casa Torre helped Balenciaga enter the world of couture.[24] His first suit was very dramatic. The suit consisted on cutout and cut-ins the waist over a slim skirt, something not seen before.[24] Balenciaga was a revolutionary designer who was not afraid to cut and let loose because he had everything under control. In the 1950s and 1960s his designs were well known for attention to color and texture. He was creating different silhouettes for women, in 1955 he created the tunic, 1957 the sack dress and 1958 the Empire styles.[26] He was known for moving from tailored designs to shapeless allowing him to show portion and balance on the bodies.[24] Showing that his designs evolved with time and maintained his ideologies.
Coco Chanel: Her style was well known over the world and her idea of having functional luxurious clothing influenced other designers from the era. Chanel believed that luxurious should come from being comfortable that is why her designers were so unique and different from the time period, she also achieved her looks by adding accessories such as pearl necklaces.[27] Chanel believed that even though Dior designs were revolutionary for the time period they did not managed to represent the women of the time. She believed women had to wear something to represent their survival to another war and their active roles in society.[28] Coming back from a closed house of fashion was not easy for Chanel and competing against younger designers.[28] The Chanel suit was known as a status symbol for wealthy and powerful women.[28] Chanel influenced over the years and her brand is still one of the most influential brands for fashion.
^abcdefStevenson, N. J. (2012).Fashion: A Visual History from Regency & Romance to Retro & Revolution: A Complete Illustrated Chronology of Fashion from the 1800s to the Present Day. New York City: St. Martin's Griffin.
Bessel, Richard and Dirk Schumann, eds.Life after Death: Approaches to a Cultural and Social History of Europe During the 1940s and 1950s (2003), essays by scholars on recovery from the war
Judt, Tony.Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945 (2005)
London Institute of World Affairs,The Year Book of World Affairs 1957 (London 1957), comprehensive reference book covering 1956 in diplomacy, international affairs and politics for major nations and regions
Hart, John Fraser. “The 1950s.”Annals of the Association of American Geographers 69, no. 1[1] (1979): 109–14.
Khanin, G. I. “The 1950s: The Triumph of the Soviet Economy.”Europe-Asia Studies 55, no. 8 (2003): 1187–1211.[2]
Barnosky, Jason. “The Violent Years: Responses to Juvenile Crime in the 1950s.”Polity 38, no. 3 (2006): 314–44.[3]
McKinney, Ross E., and Gary DeKock. “The 1950s.”Water Environment & Technology 15, no. 4 (2003): 46–51.[4]
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