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Middle-class people had more money to spend than ever–and, because the variety and availability of consumer goods expanded along with the economy, they also had more things to buy. Rates of unemployment and inflation were low, and wages were high. Between 19, the gross national product more than doubled, growing from $200 billion to more than $500 billion, kicking off “the Golden Age of American Capitalism.” Much of this increase came from government spending: The construction of interstate highways and schools, the distribution of veterans’ benefits and most of all the increase in military spending–on goods like airplanes and new technologies like computers–all contributed to the decade’s economic growth. Capitol.Īfter World War II ended, many Americans were eager to have children because they were confident that the future promised peace and prosperity. In all, by the time the boom finally tapered off in 1964, there were almost 77 million “baby boomers.”ĭid you know? When Rosa Parks died in 2005, she was the first woman to lie in honor in the Rotunda of the U.S. About 4 million babies were born each year during the 1950s. Historians use the word “boom” to describe a lot of things about the 1950s: the booming economy, the booming suburbs and most of all the so-called “baby boom.” This boom began in 1946, when a record number of babies–3.4 million–were born in the United States.
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For example, the nascent civil rights movement and the crusade against communism at home and abroad in the Korean War exposed underlying divisions in American society. However, the 1950s were also an era of great conflict. Its economy was booming, and the fruits of this prosperity–new cars, suburban houses and other consumer goods–were available to more people than ever before. The United States was the world’s strongest military power. “America at this moment,” said the former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill in 1945, “stands at the summit of the world.” During the 1950s, it was easy to see what Churchill meant. The 1950s were a decade marked by the post- World War II boom, the dawn of the Cold War and the civil rights movement in the United States.