Baby Boomers - What Happened in 1950?
If you are a baby boomer born in 1950, you will find this information extremely interesting. Hope you enjoy learning more about the year you were born! If you have a friend or a family member born in 1950, send them a link to this page. They will appreciate it!
Major Events
- Harry Truman is president and Alben W. Barkley is vice president of the United States
- Failed assassination attempt on President Truman by Puerto Rican nationalists
- President Harry S. Truman announces a program to develop the hydrogen bomb
- United States Senator Joe McCarthy begins his crusade against suspected Communists in the United States government - era of McCarthyism begins
- Congress passes laws that restrict communists and communist parties in the U.S.
- Korean War begins when North Korean Communist forces invade South Korea
- U.S. leads UN in Korean War
- Communist Chinese forces occupy Tibet
- USSR announces they have developed the atomic bomb
- U.S. Defense Production Act starts wage and price controls
- Accused communist spy Alger Hiss convicted of perjury
- National Council of Churches formed
Business and Economy
- U.S. GDP (1998 dollars): $294.6 billion
- Federal spending: $42.56 billion
- Federal debt: $256.9 billion
- Consumer Price Index: 24.1
- Unemployment: 5.9%
Science and Technology
- Haloid Corporation (later renamed Xerox) develops the first xerographic copy machine
- The first self-service elevator is installed by Otis Elevator in Dallas
- Richard Lawler performs the first successful kidney transplant at Loyola University (first organ transplant)
- First oral contraceptive (the Pill) invented by Luis E. Miramontes
- The Soviet Union launches Sputnik I, the first artificial satellite to orbit the earth
- New York's Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel opens
Sports
- New York Yankees defeats the Philadelphia Phillies to win the World Series (4-0)
- Cleveland Browns win the NFL championship
Famous Baby Boomers Born in 1950
- Bill Murray
- Cybill Shepherd
- David Cassidy
- Gregory Harrison
- Jay Leno
- Karen Carpenter
- Mark Spitz
- Morgan Fairchild
- Peggy Noonan
- Peter Frampton
- Stevie Wonder
Arts and Entertainment
- Books: The Cardinal, Joy Street, Across the River and into the Trees, The Wall, Star Money, The Parasites, Floodtide, Jubilee Trail, The Adventurer, The Disenchanted
- Movies: Sunset Boulevard, All About Eve, Born Yesterday, The Third Man
- Songs: The Fat Man, Please Send Me Someone To Love, Teardrops From My Eyes, Mona Lisa, Tennessee Waltz, Long Gone Lonesome Blues, Mardi Gras In New Orleans, I'm Movin' On, Rollin' Stone, Double Crossing Blues
- Popular Musicians: Fats Domino, Percy Mayfield, Ruth Brown, Nat King Cole, Patti Page, Hank Williams, Professor Longhair, Hank Snow, Muddy Waters, Johnny Otis
- TV Shows: The Texaco Star Theater, Fireside Theatre, Your Show of Shows, Philco Television Playhouse, The Colgate Comedy Hour, Hopalong Cassidy debuted
- Saturday morning children's programming begins
- Phonevision, the first pay-per-view service, becomes available
- Al Jolson, George Orwell, and George Bernard Shaw died
- "Cool Jazz" gains popularity
- "Guys and Dolls" premieres
- TV hero Hopalong Cassidy peaks in popularity
Everyday Life
- U.S. Population: 152,271,417
- Life expectancy: 68.2 years
- Average yearly income: $3,319
- Federal hourly minimum wage: $.75
- Cost of a new home: $8,450
- Cost of a new car: $1,510
- Cost of a first-class stamp: $0.03
Popular Culture
- Charles Schulz introduces the Peanuts comic strip
- Americans buy 100,000 television sets a week
- 14 million television sets sold in U.S., increasing the number in service by ten-fold
- Pyramid Clubs in which participants send each other money in hopes of receiving large amounts of money themselves become a fad
- Silly Putty introduced to the world - actually originated in a scientific laboratory in 1943
- Sugar Pops are introduced
- Tennis admits first black woman, Althea Gibson
- Antihistamines enter popular use for treatment of allergies and head-colds
- The Pillsbury Company launches it's annual Bake-off to promote flour
- Pillsbury and General Mills introduce prepared cake mixes
- CBS receives an FCC license to begin broadcasting in color
- Paul Harvey begins his national radio broadcast
- FBI institutes the 10 Most Wanted list
- Smokey the Bear gains national popularity
- Minute Rice is launched
- PaperMate is the first leak-proof ballpoint pen
- The Open Kettle (a coffee and donut shop in Quincy, MA) is renamed Dunkin' Donuts
- Diner's Club becomes the first credit card
- Dennis the Menace comic strip was created
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