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The 1950's: A Deacde of Progress and Change in America Essay

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World War II had just ended. Women that were working because their husbands were out fighting in the war came back home when the war ended. The 1940’s ended and it was time for a new decade. The 1950’s were looked as a state of mind or a way of living instead of another time in American history. The 1950’s were the most influential decade in American history because the civil rights act began, fashion was completely new and trendy there were more much advancement in entertainment and medicine, and suburban life was much more functional than any other decade in America. The 1950’s were a great time and one main reason was because most people were happy with their lives because everything was going well. In the 1950’s most men had …show more content…

The television gave much of the country something to do. It reflected the homogenization of the United States. People began to envision a futuristic nuclear world after the start of the Space Race between the United States and Russia to land on the moon. The United States launched Alan Shepard into space after the Soviets launched “Sputnik” in 1957 as we launched our first man in 1961. Meanwhile, computers were developed into large room size machines to do simple computations and made things portable. One of the characteristics of the mass media during the 1950’s, as the T.V., was that the sitcoms was directed to make viewers think about the idea of the perfect family living the American dream. The only problem with those T.V sitcoms was that not every American family fitted into that mold. For example, Jews, Hispanics, African-Americans, Asians, and other minorities were not portrayed as part of that image that most people wanted to imitate because these T.V. families were white-collar, middle class, and Caucasian. Medicine played an important role in happier living. One of the major advancements in medicine happened in 1952 when polio came out. This disease was killing many young men and women all over the United States. John Stalk, as a medical student at The University of Michigan, studied viruses and soon came to the conclusion that there was no cure for polio but there was a way to prevent it. Stalk discovered a way to vaccinate people so

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