The 1950’s may have been the last “fun” decade. Little growth, steady and sure. Baseball was about sports and Hollywood was about entertainment. Today our growth is negative, sports have become political rallies and Hollywood has become the center of hate of America.
Eisenhower won the presidency in 1952—yet until he took the GOP nomination, no one knew if he was a Republican or Democrat. In fact, DEMOCRATS asked him to be their candidate for President. He presided over the nation not as a Republican, but a UniParty candidate. Today we see his progeny in Liz Cheney, Mitt Romney and the No Trump movement. Even the Chair of the LAGOP, Tim O’Reilly calls himself an Eisenhower Republican—which explains his promotion of a Democrat Lite Platform for the GOP and his refusal to allow the endorsement of the only Republican running for LA DA.
As for me, when driving I will switch back and forth from Fox News to Music of the 50’s and 60’s on my Sirius radio.
A VERY NICE DECADE
By Richard Colman, Exclusive to the California Political News and Views, 3/15/24 www.capoliticalnewsandviews.com
Dwight Eisenhower, Elvis Presley, Mickey Mantle, Marilyn Monroe, and Mike Todd: They all had something in common. They were an integral part of American culture during the 1950’s.
For most Americans, the decade of the 1950’s was a very good era.
The best book on that decade was “The Fifties” by David Halberstam, a one time a reporter for The New York Times.
The television show that best captured the era was “Happy Days.”
As president, Eisenhower ended the Korean war six months after taking office on Jan. 20, 1953. Until his term ended eight years later, America had no more wars.
During the 1950’s, America, on three occasions, could have gone to war. In 1954, the French were bogged down in a colonial war in Indochina. Eisenhower’s cabinet wanted American troops to bail out the French. Eisenhower refused to help the French.
In July 1956, the Egyptians, under President Gamal Abdel Nasser, nationalized the Suez Canal. In October, the British, the French, and the Israelis invaded Egypt. The invaders wanted help from America. Eisenhower, an opponent of colonialism, wanted no part of the situation and threatened to sink the British pound.
In 1958, a left-wing, pro-communist coup in Iraq overthrew that nation’s monarchy. Eisenhower sent U.S. marines into nearby Lebanon but did nothing militarily about the situation in Iraq. There was no war involving America and Iraq.
Throughout most of the 1950’s, America’s standard of living improved. Television became common in many households. Reflecting the baby boom, schools were being built everywhere. The American dollar was strong. Inflation was low. The stock market soared.
In 1955, the development of a successful polio vaccine was announced. People everywhere rejoiced. The vaccine was developed by a physician, Dr. Jonas Salk.
In 1956, Eisenhower ran for re-election on the slogan: “Peace, Progress, and Prosperity.” The president won overwhelmingly at the ballot box.
Some new cultural phenomena appeared. Perhaps the most famous was rock and roll, led by such entities as Elvis Presley and Bill Haley and the Comets. A very popular hit by the Comets was “Rock around the Clock,” which became the anthem of rock music.
In Hollywood, there was Marilyn Monroe, Gary Cooper, and movies directed by Alfred Hitchcock.
One controversial episode of the fifties was the appearance of Sen. Joseph McCarthy (R-Wisconsin), who said that communists were lurking in many parts of the U.S. Government. During televised hearings in 1954, McCarthy destroyed himself. He died in 1957. Eisenhower hated McCarthy.
In 1949, 1950, 1951, 1952, and 1953, the New York Yankees won the World Series. The Yankees were in the World Series in 1955, 1956, 1957, and 1958. In 1955, the Brooklyn Dodgers won the series, the Dodgers’ only World Series win while in Brooklyn. In 1957, the Dodgers announced that they were moving to Los Angeles.
The Yankees of the 1950’s (as well as before and after that decade) had such baseball greats as Yogi Berra, Mickey Mantle, Allie Reynolds, and Vic Raschi. And don’t forget Phil Rizzuto, Hank Bauer, and Billy Martin. In the 1956 World Series, Yankee pitcher, Don Larsen, pitched a perfect game.
After the 1950’s, America was never quite the same. There were several inconclusive wars (Vietnam, the Persian Gulf, Afghanistan, and Iraq) involving the United States.
However, the era after the 1950’s produced such marvels as the hand-held calculator, the personal computer, the internet, and AI (artificial intelligence). Just think how much easier high-school chemistry would have been if there had been hand-held calculators in the 1950’s.
Today’s America lacks discipline. Many of the players in the 2024 Super Bowl looked more like Hell’s Angels than traditional sportsmen. Crime, according to many Americans, is becoming worse, especially in urban areas. In New York City, the national guard has been called out to patrol the subway system. In Oakland, California, the murder rate is frightening.
In politics in the fifties, America had presidential candidates like Eisenhower and Adlai Stevenson. They were basically centrists in their respective parties.
Today, America has a crude sort of politics, producing sharp divisions between Republicans and Democrats.
Maybe an era like the 1950’s will return. But Americans should not bet their life savings on such a restoration.
McCarthy was correct about communist in our government and they were laying the groundwork for future destruction of our nation. When he was later found to be correct the slogan became “ He was correct but his methods were wrong”. The infiltrated enemies of our nation are in high places still and our destruction is almost complete.