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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 .
1960 – U-2 incident, wherein a CIA U-2 spy plane was shot down while flying a reconnaissance mission over Soviet Union airspace 1960 – Greensboro sit-ins, sparked by four African American college students refusing to move from a segregated lunch counter, and the Nashville sit-ins, spur similar actions and increases sentiment in the Civil Rights Movement.
By the end of the 1950s, it was well into decline and by the 1970s became completely bankrupt, necessitating a takeover by the federal government. Smaller automobile manufacturers such as Nash, Studebaker, and Packard were unable to compete with the Big Three in the new postwar world and gradually declined into oblivion over the next fifteen ...
For most of the history of television in the United States, the Big Three dominated, controlling the vast majority of television broadcasting. [8] DuMont ceased regular programming in 1955; the NTA Film Network, unusual in that its programming, all pre-recorded, was distributed by mail instead of through communications wires, signed on in 1956 and lasted until 1961.
The automobiles sold for less than $1000, could exceed 50 miles per hour (80 km/h), and achieved up to 50 miles per gallon. In 1952, the company was sold to the General Tire and Rubber Company, which liquidated the assets and ended production of all Crosley automobiles. [81] Muntz Car Company produced cars from 1950 through 1954 in Chicago. [82]
Popular music, or "classic pop," dominated the charts for the first half of the 1950s.Vocal-driven classic pop replaced Big Band/Swing at the end of World War II, although it often used orchestras to back the vocalists. 1940s style Crooners vied with a new generation of big voiced singers, many drawing on Italian bel canto traditions.
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Elvis Presley, 1957 Connie Francis—called the "First Lady of Rock & Roll" Rock and roll dominated popular music in the mid and late 1950s, and quickly spread to much of the rest of the world. Its immediate origins lay in a mixing together of various black musical genres of the time, including rhythm and blues and gospel music , with country ...