Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
You're saying a highly-trained fighter pilot was thrilled to live a mundane life in a menial job in peacetime, just because they could put the war behind them?
If that was so thrilling, why didn't White combat war vets rush to grab jobs as elevator operators, trash collectors and street sweepers? Most were too busy going to college on the GI Bill. Guess who got left out of the GI Bill?
How easy do you think it is to get married and support a family on an elevator operator's wage, to say nothing of buying a house, like the fresh-out-of-college war vets did, and those who got decent-paying industrial jobs?
Only 2.2 million, 1 out of 8 veterans went to college on the GI Bill. I think there may have been more vets that dropped out of high school than vets that went to college.
Adults worried about unplanned pregnancies. I remember a friend of my parents got pregnant in her 40s, and was embarrassed about her condition at her age. It was before the birth control pill, or legal abortion. I also remember the Catholic mother of a kid in my neighborhood sleeping on the couch because she had 5 kids and was afraid of having more.
A schoolmate of mine was one of 11 kids, reportedly all by cesarean section. We went to a Catholic school, so big families were common.
It must have been strange for someone white from New York taking a trip to one of the old southern Confederate States and having to drink or use a "White only" drinking fountain or toilet. Even eating in a black segregated restaurant could have got that person some unwanted attention. It was a strange world for visitors from the northern states to wander into
It must have been strange for someone white from New York taking a trip to one of the old southern Confederate States and having to drink or use a "White only" drinking fountain or toilet. Even eating in a black segregated restaurant could have got that person some unwanted attention. It was a strange world for visitors from the northern states to wander into
Well, as someone from the northeast it sure was weird in about 1970 when we decided to drive to Florida for a vacation. I think it was when we entered North Carolina that there was this enormous billboard that said, "You are entering Klan Country." I was aghast. It featured a gigantic picture of hooded idiots on horseback holding flaming torches. I couldn't quite figure it out because who would put a sign like that as a welcome to their state? It was almost unbelievable.
To make matters worse, as we drove along that road, I kept seeing signs for Negro motel or Negro drinking fountain. It makes you feel sort of crazy as if you're on some other planet. I never knew such things existed and I would have thought those people would be embarrassed to have people from other states see such things.
After having read the above post, I wonder if maybe we ate in a segregated restaurant. It was Christmas eve that first time we took the drive south and nothing was open. We stopped at a few restaurants and they told us they were closed. This was our first trip so we were dumb enough to think there would be places to eat open on Christmas eve. Funny thing was, we finally got to one restaurant and they actually let us in! It was a black person who told us the kitchen was closed but then they said we could come in and they would make us some sandwiches if we didn't mind that they'd be over on one side of the room having their Christmas party. What a welcome relief! Food! So we happily sat and ate our sandwiches while they opened their presents and, come to think of it, they were all black people. Maybe we ate our sandwiches in a segregated restaurant. Those people sure were nice and they shared the spirit of Christmas. This hasn't occurred to me until now. White people in a black people's restaurant. Unbelievable.
I can never remember all of the positives. I started a post, but I just ran out of steam. Too much to mention and too hard to remember at the spur of the moment. These didn't exist for all people everywhere, but were extremely common.
Tech is great today, including medicine. We have such conveniences.
I will just take a shot at the good of teh 1950s in no particular order. Just what pops into my mind.
- No surveillance state.
The FBI contacted the employers of leftists. What do you think happened?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Igor Blevin
- There were no metal detectors in schools and no prison fences hemming them in
Joe Pepitone was shot in high school in the fifties.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Igor Blevin
- New homes were dirt cheap and plentiful.
Restrictive covenants kept some folks out.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Igor Blevin
- Lifetime employ at one company was common, followed by a pension to pay for retirement.
- Women did not HAVE TO work to make ends meet.
What happened when a breadwinner died? Bill Clinton's mom put him with relatives and went to nursing school.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Igor Blevin
- Schools were the envy of the world. Elementary schools, not just Universities.
You ever heard of the outcry after Sputnik and "Why Johnny Can't Read"?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Igor Blevin
- Cars were affordable. Nobody needed a 7-year auto loan, let alone needed 2 or 3 cars for one family.
Many families did not own a car and few cars made it past 90,000 miles -- they were much more undependable.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Igor Blevin
- TV was wholesome.
Mass media in the fifties was so unrealistic it gave people indelible false ideas. Do you know what Casey Jones' fireman looked like? Not like you saw on TV!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Igor Blevin
- Everyone ate dinner together at the same time around the same table.
Not if the breadwinner worked two jobs, which was common.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Igor Blevin
- Hobos were few and confined to skid row. You never saw a homeless person during the 1950s.
I saw them living under an underpass in my neighborhood.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Igor Blevin
Drug overdoses were rare.
Ask Billie Holliday or Lenny Bruce.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Igor Blevin
Far less shootings despite everyone having guns.
Actually, there were far fewer guns in homes than now.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Igor Blevin
There was no such thing as identity theft.
The thieves were known as conmen.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Igor Blevin
There were no strip clubs. I never saw a strip club until the 1980s.
You don't know what Jack Ruby ran in Dallas? You ever hear of Candy Barr, Gypsy Rose Lee, or Norma Vincent Peel?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Igor Blevin
Low rates of illegitimate pregnancies.
Winthrop Rockefeller, Ronald Reagan, Todd Palin, Jesse Jackson, and Pat Robertson all had their first child less than 8 months after they were married.
- Lifetime employ at one company was common, followed by a pension to pay for retirement.
There were Jewish law firms and non-Jewish law firms. Sandra Day O'Connor was offered a secretary job by lawyers who did not have her law school credentials. Vince Lombardi said that he was not hired for a coaching job because he was Italian. Nino Scalia said he did not get into Harvard as an undergrad because he was Italian. The undocumented workers in the news were Polish and Irish.
I knew the first time a black man got a job as a garbage man in my hometown. It was the early sixties.
Well, as someone from the northeast it sure was weird in about 1970 when we decided to drive to Florida for a vacation. I think it was when we entered North Carolina that there was this enormous billboard that said, "You are entering Klan Country." I was aghast. It featured a gigantic picture of hooded idiots on horseback holding flaming torches. I couldn't quite figure it out because who would put a sign like that as a welcome to their state? It was almost unbelievable.
I think that notorious billboard was outside of Greensboro.
Let me say this: I traveled through the south from NY to visit relatives in Louisiana three times in the fifties before '64. Even after the Civil Rights Bill was passed I still was denied access to public accommodations. Segregation and racial discrimination did not stop on a dime.
- Kids could be kids. There was no big pressure to grow up "too fast".
More than 1 out of 3 dropped out of high school and went to work.
The median age of marriage was only 21 for men and 19 for women.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Igor Blevin
- Low rates of illegitimate pregnancies.
Legitimate, but over 96% of women had their first child when they were still teenagers.
And illegitimate births doubled between 1940 and 1956. Many girls had their pregnancies hidden, children taken away for adoption without their consent, and often having to dropout of school.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
