1950s
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| Centuries: | 19th century - 20th century - 21st century |
| Decades: | 1920s 1930s 1940s - 1950s - 1960s 1970s 1980s |
| Years: | 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 |
The 1950s was the decade spanning from the 1st of January, 1950 to the 31st December, 1959. It is remembered for the dominance of the cold war on global relations, the rebirth of Europe in the aftermath of the Second World War, a period of relative affluence and conformity in the United States and Canada and the beginning of the end of European colonialism in Africa and Asia.
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[edit] Economy
[edit] 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.
[edit] Ascendancy 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, and imperialism 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 radicalism of the 1930s and 1940s. The effect of suppressing social problems in the 1950s would have a significant impact on the rest of the twentieth century.
[edit] Social and political movements
[edit] Trends
In the West, an American generation traumatized by the Great Depression and World War II created a culture with emphasis on normality and conformity. Europeans took a generally different approach to a post-war society, aiming for a greater inclusiveness and social awareness after a global crisis in the preceding decades that many blamed on the failings of Free Market Capitalism, and the fifties were marked by the establishment of a Welfare State in many countries in western Europe.
[edit] Korean War
The Korean War, lasting from June 25, 1950 until a cease-fire on July 27, 1953 (as of 2006, there has been no peace treaty signed), 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 Douglas MacArthur planned a grand strategy to dissect North-Korean-occupied Korea at the city of Incheon (Song Do port) to cut off further invasion by the North Korean army. Within a few days, MacArthur's army took back Seoul (South Korea's capital). The plan succeeded which allowed American and South Korean forces to cut off further expansion by the North Koreans. The war continued until a cease-fire was agreed to 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. It was as if the match had ended 0-0; nothing gained nothing lost. Before the war, the border was a longitudinal line; after the war, it was shifted slightly diagonally.
[edit] 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.
The most American above-ground nuclear test explosions happened during this decade than any other during the Cold War.
The 1950s were also marked with a rapid rise in tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union, 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 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.
In the United States there was a "Red Scare" resulting in the McCarthy Hearings.
[edit] Cuban Revolution
Cuban revolutionaries led by Fidel Castro gained power, ousting the dictatorship of General Fulgencio Batista in 1959.
[edit] Suez Crisis
The Suez Crisis was a war fought on Egyptian territory in 1956. Following the nationalisation of the Suez Canal in by Gamal Abdel Nasser the United Kingdom, France and Israel invaded. The operation was a military success, but after the USA and Soviet Union united in opposition to the invasion, they were forced to withdraw. This was seen as a major humiliation, especially for the two European countries, and has come to symbolise the beginning of the end of colonialism and weakening of European global importance.
[edit] European Common Market
The European Community (or Common Market), the precursor of the European Union, was established with the Treaty of Rome in 1957.
[edit] Civil rights
[edit] Culture
- Brylcreem and other hair tonics had a period of popularity
- Juvenile delinquency was said to be at unprecedented epidemic proportions in the United States, 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.To some, it also may be considered the peak of our modern American civilization The '50s were supposed to be a time of the "Affluent Society". In reality however, more than a fifth of Americans lived in poverty during this time, compared with roughly an eighth at the beginning of the 21st century.citation needed
- The 1950s saw fairly high rates of unionization, government social spending, taxes, and the like in the United States and European countries. Most Western governments were liberal or moderate, though domestic politics were also affected by reactions to communism and the Cold War.
- Optimistic visions of a semi-utopian technological future, including such devices as the flying car, were popular.
- The Day the Earth Stood Still hits movie theaters.
- Along with the appearance of the sentence Kilroy was here 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 arose with military and school desegregation in mostly the southern part of the United States, though major controversy and uproar did not truly erupt until the 1960s.
- Rise of evangelical Christianity including Youth for Christ (1943); the National Association of Evangelicals, the American Council of Christian Churches, the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (1950), and the Campus Crusade for Christ (1951). 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, a religious radio broadcaster, hosted the popular show "The Cowboy Church of the Air".
[edit] Emerging social perspectives in the 1950s.
[edit] Music
[edit] 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.
[edit] The 1950s in cinema
[edit] World cinema
The 1950s represent what many see as the epitome of Japanese cinema, starting in 1950 with Rashomon, the first major success of legendary Japanese director Akira Kurosawa, which is considered to be one of the greatest films of all time. [1] Kurosawa followed this success with a string of classics such as Ikiru (1952), Seven Samurai (1954), Throne of Blood (1957), and The Hidden Fortress (1958).
Other Japanese directors who were at the top of their game at this period in time were Yasujiro Ozu and Kenji Mizoguchi. Ozu made Tokyo Story in 1953, which is widely considered one of the best films ever made, as well as the best Japanese film ever made. [2] [3] Ozu followed this success with a remake of his earlier A Story of Floating Weeds, only this time in color and sound, which are both regarded as some of Ozu's best work.
In 1953 and 1954, Mizoguchi made the two films that are widely considered to be his masterpieces, Ugetsu and Sansho the Bailiff.
In addition to Japanese cinema receiving vast success worldwide, European cinema was experiencing a reboot after World War II. In 1953, renowned Italian director Federico Fellini made what is widely considered to be his first masterpiece, I Vitelloni. Although it did not achieve significant success at the time, Fellini followed it up with his international breakthrough, La Strada, which went on to win the first competitive foreign language film Oscar. Fellini followed the success of La Strada with another huge success, Nights of Cabiria. Nights of Cabiria was lauded worldwide and earned Fellini another Oscar.
Meanwhile, in Sweden, a young Ingmar Bergman was starting to leave his indelible stamp in cinema. In 1955, after a string of financial flops, Bergman achieved his first international success, Smiles of a Summer Night. Smiles of a Summer Night received international acclaim and earned Bergman a Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival. Bergman followed up the success of Smiles with what remains his most famous film to this day, The Seventh Seal (1957).
The Seventh Seal was an ambitious project in which Antonious Block, after returning from the Crusades plays chess with Death in the hope that Death will allow him to live. The Seventh Seal earned unanimous praise worldwide and established Bergman as one of cinema's most promising, young directors and is still considered to be one of his best films, and some even consider it to be his masterpiece.
That same year, Bergman decided to follow The Seventh Seal with a more personal project on a much smaller scale, Wild Strawberries. Wild Strawberries is the story of an old man (played by Victor Sjöström) who goes on a trip to receive an honorary degree with his daughter in law (Ingrid Thulin). During the trip, she tells him he is cold and unfeeling and he thinks over all the failures of his life. Bergman explores such trademark themes as the existence of God and mortality in this film. Wild Strawberries also received enormous acclaim and only further emphasized his talent. It is now considered one of his greatest films, and 1957 is considered a year of prodigious output for the young Bergman.
Meanwhile, over in France, young critics such as Jean-Luc Godard, François Truffaut, Claude Chabrol, and Éric Rohmer, who worked for the influential magazine Cahiers du Cinéma were starting to make their stamp in film. In 1958, Chabrol made Le Beau Serge, the film that is widely considered to be the first film of the French New Wave. But the New Wave only started receiving recognition in 1959, when Truffaut released his debut feature, The 400 Blows. The 400 Blows struck a chord in audiences worldwide and praise was lavished upon it. Today it is considered one of Truffaut's two best films, along with 1961's Jules and Jim.
Later that year, Godard released his first film, Breathless. It received attention for its radical storytelling methods and mocking of American gangster clichés. It is now regarded as a masterpiece, and one of Godard's best films. It remains Godard's only box office success to date.
[edit] Hollywood
Known as the "Golden Age", this era of movie-making saw 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 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 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, directed by Billy Wilder, The Bridge over the River Kwai 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 accused of cowardice.
Thrillers were also turning into a huge genre in post-war Hollywood. Alfred Hitchcock directed many big name pictures, including Rear Window, starring Jimmy Stewart and Grace Kelly, North by Northwest with Cary Grant, and Vertigo, with Jimmy Stewart and Kim Novak.
Comedies are always popular, and the 1950s were no exception. It Happens Every Spring, Some Like It Hot with Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon, and The Ladykillers 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, in which the pair starred as the inheritors of an island in the Pacific.
[edit] 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, I Love Lucy, The $64,000 Question, and Gunsmoke. The Twilight Zone premiered as the first major science fiction show.
[edit] In the United Kingdom
[edit] In the United States
Reading Lord of the Flies by William Golding.
[edit] Literature
Beatniks and the beat generation, an anti-materialistic literary movement that began with Jack Kerouac in 1948 and stretched on into the 1960s, was at its zenith in the 1950s. Such groundbreaking literature as William S. Burroughs's Naked Lunch, Allen Ginsberg's Howl, William Golding's Lord of the Flies, Jack Kerouac's On the Road, and J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye were published.
[edit] Architecture
[edit] Science and philosophy
- The Miller-Urey experiment showed in 1953 that under simulated conditions resembling those thought to have existed shortly after Earth was first created, many of the basic organic molecules that form the building blocks of life are able to spontaneously form.
- Francis Crick and James D. Watson discovered the helical structure of DNA at the Cavendish Laboratory at the University of Cambridge in 1953.
- Bruce C. Heezen discovered the Mid-Atlantic Ridge.
- The first polio vaccine, developed by Jonas Salk, was introduced to the general public in 1955.
- The first organ transplants were done in Boston and Paris in 1954.
[edit] Prizes
Albert Schweitzer is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1952. In 1953 Churchill is given the Nobel Prize for literature. In 1955 Laxness is awarded the Nobel Prize for literature for his work with Icelandic literature.
[edit] The 1950s in sports
- Alberto Ascari (Italian racing driver)
- Roger Bannister (English track and field athlete)
- Yogi Berra (American baseball player)
- Maureen Connolly (American tennis player)
- Colin Cowdrey (English cricketer)
- Juan Manuel Fangio (Argentinian racing driver)
- Neil Harvey (Australian cricketer)
- Gordie Howe (Canadian ice hockey player)
- Len Hutton (England cricketer)
- Mickey Mantle (American baseball player)
- Rocky Marciano (American boxer)
- Stanley Matthews (English soccer player)
- Willie Mays (American baseball player)
- Ferenc Puskás (Hungarian soccer player)
- Maurice Richard (Canadian ice hockey player)
- Sugar Ray Robinson (American boxer)
- Bill Russell (American basketball player)
- Gary Sobers (West Indies cricketer)
- Brian Statham (England cricketer)
- Eduard Streltsov (Russian Soccer player)
- Frank Tyson (England cricketer)
- Frank Worrell (West Indies cricketer)
- Lev Yashin (Russian soccer player)
- Jackie Robinson (American baseball player)
- Pelé (Brazilian soccer player)
- Raj Tennis player
[edit] The Olympics
- 1952 Summer Olympics held in Helsinki, Finland
- 1952 Winter Olympics held in Oslo, Norway
- 1956 Summer Olympics held in Melbourne, Australia
- 1956 Winter Olympics held in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy
[edit] The 1950s in technology
- Sputnik 1 was launched in 1957.
- Fortran, perhaps the single most important milestone in the development of programming languages, was developed at IBM.
[edit] National issues
[edit] In the Middle East
Most of the countries of the Middle East continued in the national divisions created by their former European occupiers. However, with the growing importance of their abundance of oil, the otherwise mostly impoverished states experienced an increase of wealth to mostly the elite aristocratic or later theocratic regimes.
The growth of the state of Israel continued.
Mahmoud Abbas became involved in Palestinian politics in Qatar.
In 1958 American troops entered Lebanon to restore order. This was just the beginning of problems for this nation.
[edit] In Africa
Decolonization was occurring in Africa in the 1950s. In 1952 Ghana became the first African colony to become independent. In 1956 Sudan, Tunisia, and Morocco became independent. In 1954 guerrillas started the Algerian War of Independence. France continued its occupation and extensively used torture and death squads in a attempt to win the war. They were later forced out, but not until after training through example some of the most skilled torturers of the late 20th century.
The Mau Mau began their terrorist attacks against the British in Kenya. This led to concentration camps in Kenya, the retreat of the British, and the election of former terrorist Kenyatta as leader of Kenya.
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 the West as the century went on. The widespread corruption was not dealt with and war, disease, and famine continue to be constant problems in this region.
[edit] In Asia
The nations of the People's Republic of China and Indonesia began their history after their establishment in the late 1940s. Mao Tse-Tung began to rise in prominence in China as he helped lead a revolution against the Nationalist government. In 1953 the French occupiers of Indochina tried to contain a growing communist insurgency against their rule led by Ho Chi Minh. After their defeat at Dien Bien Phu in 1953 they were forced to cede independence the nations of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam. Vietnam however was divided between the communist north and American-influence south, and conflict continued. By 1953 the three-year war between North Korea, supported by China, and South Korea, supported by the United States, had ended. This war resulted in a permanent border between the north and south sections of this country.
After World War II the United States occupied Japan and assisted in its rebuilding. Social changes took place, including a move toward democratic elections, universal suffrage, emphasis on rebuilding of industry, as well as secure lifetime employment.
[edit] In South America
In the 1950s South America was the center of covert and overt conflict between the CIA and the KGB. Their varying collusion with national, populist, and elitist interests destabilized the region. However, the intervention of the CIA allowed future exploitation of South American mineral and natural resources with no or minimal repayment to the general population. The United States CIA orchestrated the overthrow of the Guatemalan government in 1952. In 1957 the military dictatorship of Venezuela was overthrown. This continued a pattern of regional revolution and warfare making extensive use of ground forces.
[edit] In Europe
Post-war reconstruction succeeded, thanks to mostly non-corrupt implementation of the Marshall Plan. Europe continued to be divided into "free" and "Soviet bloc" countries. The geographical point of this division came to be called the Iron Curtain. It divided Germany into East and West Germany. In 1955 West Germany joined NATO. This alliance was formed out of fear to defend against a theoretical Russian ground invasion that never took place. The leaders of East Germany were equally afraid of this. In 1956 Soviet troops marched into Hungary.
In 1957 the Treaty of Rome was part of the beginning of the process that led to the European Union. This union from the beginning was based on regulation and trade, and the weakness of basing a union on mercantile principles was not seen until into the 21st century.
[edit] In the Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc
The Soviet Union continued its domination of the territories it conquered during World War II. Life was economically harsh and persecution of native religions intense. (See the Black Book of Communism.) In 1953 Joseph Stalin, the leader of the Soviet Union, died. This enabled the future leadership of Russia to scapegoat him for the problems caused by the Communist Revolution. Popular rebellions in East Germany in 1953 and Hungary in 1956 were brutally put down.
[edit] In the United States
The United States, thanks to the GI Bill, low-entry-cost housing, and a booming economy, experienced a cultural shift as people acquired spacious housing, kitchens, and washing technologies that gave a higher quality of life. The Salk polio vaccine was introduced to the general public in 1955. This was one of the major advances in vaccinations in the 20th century.
[edit] In the Caribbean
In 1957, Dr. François Duvalier came to power in an election in Haiti. He later declared himself president for life, and ruled until his death in 1971.
in 1959 Fidel Castro overthrew the corrupt Batista regime in Cuba, inititing widespread social reform on the island. The romance and popularity of the revolution, and such leader as the Argentinian Che Guevara gave it global appeal and recognition. The United States was, however, now unable to meddle with either its social or economic development and was angered when Castro redistribuated land that had been owned by American companies. It would thus become involved in an embargo and clumsy attempts to overthrow Castro, with Cuba as a result moving closer to the Soviet Union.
[edit] In the United Kingdom
After World War II the United Kingdom made a slow return from post-war rationing of food. The economy was also rebuilt slowly but thanks to abundant oil fields as well as geographical separation from the European continent it experienced more post-war prosperity then the rest of Europe. Following the landslide victory of the Labour Party in the 1945 general election, a Welfare State was established, with the creation of the National Health Service, better assistance to families and schools and nationalisation of key industries.
[edit] In the Commonwealth
In the 1950s Australia experienced a slow growth in prosperity thanks to a lack of damage to the national infrastructure after World War II. White Australia immigration policies began to be relaxed, though they are not considered to have ended completely until 1973. The portable beer cooler or esky was invented in Australia in this decade.
New Zealand started to build its more distinctive characteristics relating to environmental protection, developed social and political rights and diversity in its primary production industries. It was this post-war trend that would see it become one of the more progressive nations in the 21st Century when issues it had started to address decades before would come to dominate the world agenda, not least being global warming, regional conflict related to resources such as oil and water and international terrorist activity.
The 1950s also saw the start of a greater divergence between New Zealand and Australia. Two nations that until the later 1950s had a great deal in common. By the end of the century this divergence, that was established in the mid-1950s, would see Australia becoming tied closer to the only major superpower USA, while the stronger minded "Kiwi" nation firstly broke the ANZUS treaty and then refused to become involved in the 2nd Iraqi war and declared all its sovereign territories Nuclear Free. It is also interesting to note that it was in the 1950s that it was first mooted that New Zealand should give up its air force and concentrate on building a technologically advanced army and navy. By the 21st Century this was indeed the direction it had taken and it stands as the only Western nation that has no attack wing airforce, and perhaps the only one that can given the fact that it is the most isolated (geographically).
