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50's In The News====================================================================== ====================================================================== ====================================================================== | ||
Top Stories he becomes a she In 1950, George Jorgensen sailed to Denmark, and in 1952 he (she) returned as Christine. This was the world's first publicized sex change operation. A Changed Man ======================================== ========================================  We like Ike (and Dick) in '52 ======================================== ======================================== 24 Hours In Tyrantland In the late 50's, the cast of the popular TV show Father Knows Best appeared in a special film that was shown to youth groups and school children. 24 Hours In Tyrantland showed the Anderson family attempting to live for 24 hours in a mock dictatorship, demonstrating the need to keep America strong and free. 24 Hours In Tyrantland | ----- |  Julius & Ethel Rosenberg The Manhattan Project was the code name given to the development of the atomic bomb during World War II. In 1950, it was discovered that several people working on the project were part of an espionage ring that passed atomic secrets to the Russians in 1945. In 1950, the Rosenbergs were arrested as part of this ring. The trial took place in 1951, and the couple was found guilty of conspiracy to commit espionage. After 2 years of denied appeals, they were executed in 1953. The Trial Of Ethel & Julius Rosenberg ======================================== ========================================  paranoia & McCarthyismAfter World War II, several people were tried and convicted of passing military secrets to the communists during the war years. Alger Hiss, Klaus Fuchs, Harry Gold, and the Rosenbergs were the most famous cases. This, combined with an increasingly tense atmosphere overseas, made many Americans uneasy, suspicious, and paranoid. Anyone with a different viewpoint was accused of being a subversive influence or communist sympathizer. In 1950, Wisconsin Senator Joseph R. McCarthy was mounting his re-election campaign, and he needed a "hot issue" to put his name in the headlines. He formed the House Un-American Activities Committee, and began accusing federal employees of communist actions. Private citizens were next, including writers and people who worked in the movie industry. Anti-communist hearings were held, and although nothing was proved, many people were "blacklisted" and their careers were ruined. In 1954, McCarthy took things too far when he accused the U.S. Army of illegal actions. The televised Army/McCarthy Hearings were a farce, McCarthy's credibility was destroyed, and the anti-communist "witch hunts" came to an end. Senator Joseph McCarthy The Army/McCarthy Hearings Army/McCarthy Hearings: A Review Anti-Communist Blacklist | ||
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 duck & coverAfter World War II, hostile feelings arose between the free west and the communist east. This was known as the cold war. In 1949, the Soviet Union detonated their first atomic bomb. In one fell swoop, the sense of security and superiority that the United States had cultivated after the war was shattered. In 1951, President Truman created the Federal Civil Defense Administration. This agency was designed to help Americans prepare for and protect themselves during an atomic war. Civil defense publications were distributed, and all radio and TV stations became part of the Emergency Broadcast System. At school, children participated in "duck and cover" drills. In 1952, the United States detonated the first hydrogen bomb. More tests were conducted by the United States and the Soviet Union in 1953 and 1954. The tremendous power and devastation of an H-bomb explosion rendered duck-and-cover drills useless. Civil defense measures began to focus on city evacuation plans and underground bomb shelters.  In 1957, the intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) was invented. This new weapon carried a nuclear warhead, and could travel 5,000 miles in 30 minutes. This made city evacuation plans useless, and panic-stricken Americans began to turn to their own homes for protection. It was at this time that many Americans began to build or purchase bomb shelters for their houses. "Bomb shelter mania" reached its peak in 1961. Certain public buildings were designated as fallout shelters, and were stocked with provisions. | Will You Be Prepared When The Bomb Falls?  Duck and cover!  Civil Defense film: Duck & Cover With Bert The Turtle The History Of Bert The Turtle  2 sound clips from a Civil Defense film, in .wav format: It's a bomb! Duck and cover! We interrupt this program... Blast-Proof Brick Houses Fallout, The Silent Killer Nuke Pop Civil Defense Archive Duck & Cover: Fear Of The Bomb CBC Pre-Recorded Emergency Broadcast | |||
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