50s+-+Happy+Days?


 * Were the 1950s really "Happy Days?" **


 * __Positive__**
 * United Nations
 * NATO
 * Boom in the economy - increased production of consumer goods
 * More marriages, more children
 * Migration to the suburbs
 * Cheap, mass-produced housing
 * Integration of armed forces
 * Truman campaigns for civil rights
 * Space race
 * Interstate highways
 * Pop culture boom
 * Development of the "American dream"
 * __Negative__**
 * Beginning of Cold War - increasing tensions with Soviet Union
 * Spread of communism - China
 * Korean War
 * McCarthyism
 * Mass hysteria at home - fear of communism
 * Loyalty checks
 * House Un-American Activities Committee
 * Soviet Blockade and Berlin Airlift
 * Division of Berlin
 * Labor problems
 * Development of the hydrogen bomb
 * Arms race
 * Brinksmanship