The American Dream in the 1950s

1. Baby Boom: The Baby Boom was during the late 1940's through the early 1960's. During this time the birthrate in the United States soared. At the height of the baby boom one American infant was born every seven seconds. The significance of the baby boom was that it was the largest generation in the nation's history.

2. Dr. Jonas Salk: Dr. Jonas Salk was one of the many doctors that tried to discover drugs to fight and prevent childhood diseases that saved hundreds of thousands of children's lives. However Dr. Jonas Salk created a vaccine for the crippling disease poliomyelitis. This was very important because his discovery had been a breakthrough at the time.

3. Interstate Highway System: The Interstate Highway System authorized the building of a nationwide highway network- 41,000 miles of expressways. This was important because the highway system encouraged the development of new suburbs farther from the cities. Also, the highways made high-speed, long-haul trucking possible which also contributed to a decline in a commercial use of railroads. The system of highways also helped unify and homogenize the nation.

4. Franchise: A Franchise is a company that offers similar products or services in many locations. For example, McDonalds. The larger organizations created "company people." Companies would give personality tests to people applying for jobs. Companies rewarded employees teamwork, cooperation, and loyalty and so contributed to the growth of conformity.

5. In a paragraph, describe in detail how Americans spent their leisure time in the 1950s.
Most Americans in the 1950's had more leisure time than ever before. Employee's worked a 40 hour week and earned several weeks vacation per year. In 1953 American's spent more than 30 billion on leisure goods and activities. Americans also enjoyed a wide variety of recreational pursuits- both active and passive. Millions of people played sports such as fishing, bowling, hunting, boating and golf. More fans than ever attended baseball, basketball, and football games; others watched professional sports on television. American's also started becoming more interested in reading. They enjoyed books about cooking, religion, do it-yourself projects, and homemaking. Also books about romance, mysteries, and and fiction.