1950s

"'50s" redirects here. For decades comprising years 50–59 of other centuries, see List of decades.

Template:Decadebox The 1950s (pronounced nineteen-fifties; commonly abbreviated as the "Fifties" or the "'50s") (among other variants) was a decade that began on January 1, 1950, and ended on December 31, 1959.

Throughout the decade, the world continued its recovery from World War II, aided by the post-World War II economic expansion. The period also saw great population growth with increased birth rates and the emergence of the baby boomer generation. Despite this recovery, the Cold War developed from its modest beginnings in the late 1940s to a heated competition between the Soviet Union and the United States by the early 1960s. The ideological clash between communism and capitalism dominated the decade, especially in the Northern Hemisphere, with conflicts including the Korean War in the early 1950s, the Cuban Revolution, the beginning of the Vietnam War in French Indochina, and the beginning of the Space Race with the launch of Sputnik 1 in 1957. Along with increased testing of nuclear weapons (such as RDS-37 and Upshot–Knothole), the tense geopolitical situation created a politically conservative climate. In the United States, a wave of anti-communist sentiment known as the Second Red Scare resulted in Congressional hearings by both houses in Congress. The beginning of decolonization in Africa and Asia also took place in this decade and accelerated in the following decade.

Politics and Wars

See also: List of sovereign states in the 1950s

Wars

Main article: List of wars 1945–1989 § 1950–1959

File:Koreanwarmontage.jpg

Korean War

• Cold War conflicts involving the influence of the rival superpowers of the Soviet Union and the United States
  • Korean War (1950–1953) – The war, which lasted from June 25, 1950, until the signing of the Korean Armistice Agreement on July 27, 1953, started as a civil war between North 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 the division of Korea by outside powers. While originally a civil war, it quickly escalated into a war between the Western powers under the United 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.Template:Paragraph On September 15, General Douglas MacArthur conducted Operation 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 retook Seoul (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 Ridgeway. The war then became a bloody stalemate for the next two and a half years while peace negotiations dragged on.Template:Paragraph The war left 33,742 American soldiers dead, 92,134 wounded, and 80,000 missing in action (MIA) or prisoner of war (POW). Estimates place Korean and Chinese casualties at 1,000,000–1,400,000 dead or wounded, and 140,000 MIA or POW.
  • First Indochina War (1946-1954).
  • The Vietnam War began in 1955. Diệm instituted a policy of death penalty against any communist activity in 1956. The Viet Minh began an assassination campaign in early 1957. An article by French scholar Bernard 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 the Viet Cong ambushed two ARVN companies.
• Arab–Israeli conflict (from the early 20th century)

Economics

• The United States was the most influential economic power in the world after World War II under the presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower.

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%.

See also

• 1950s in television
• 1950s in literature
• Post-World War II boom
• 1950s American automobile culture
• Silent Generation (the majority of children who had grown up during the Great Depression had matured in this decade).

Timeline

The following articles contain brief timelines which list the most prominent events of the decade:

1950 • 1951 • 1952 • 1953 • 1954 • 1955 • 1956 • 1957 • 1958 • 1959

Further reading

• 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

Great Britain

• Montgomery, John. The Fifties (1960), On Britain.
• Sandbrook, Dominic. Never had it so good: a history of Britain from Suez to the Beatles Hachette UK, (2015).
  • Bering, Henrik. "Taking the great out of Britain." Policy Review, no. 133, (2005), p. 88+. online review
• Wybrow, Robert J. "Britain Speaks Out, 1937-87" (1989), Summaries of public opinion polls in Britain

United States

• Dunar, Andrew J. America in the fifties (2006)
• Halberstam, David. The Fifties (1993) excerpt and text search
• Levine, Alan J. The Myth of the 1950s (2008) excerpt and text search
• Marling, Karal Ann. As Seen on TV: The Visual Culture of Everyday Life in the 1950s (Harvard University Press, 1996) 328 pp.
• Miller, Douglas T. and Marion Nowak. The fifties: the way we really were (1977)
• Stoner, John C., and Alice L. George. Social History of the United States: The 1950s (2008)
• Wills, Charles. America in the 1950s (Decades of American History) (2005)

External links

• Heroes of the 1950s – slideshow by Life magazine
• "The Golden Age of Couture: Paris and London 1947–57, exhibition about 1950s fashion". Victoria and Albert Museum.
• Footage from the 1950s
• 1950s Video Timeline