American Decades

Important Events in Lifestyles and Social Trends, 1950–1959

Levittown, near Hicksville, Long Island, adds a new suburban home every fifteen minutes. The community's rules require homeowners to cut their lawns at least once a week and assign a specific day for doing the laundry.
The average price nationally for a single-family home is $10,050. A two-bedroom, two-bath brick home in Bayside Hills, New York, can be had for $12,900.
About 3.8 million households—9 percent of the nation's homes—have televisions. American children average twenty-seven hours a week watching TV, according to a national survey—only forty-five minutes less than they spend in school. Daniel Marsh, president of Boston University, warns, "We are destined to have a nation of morons."
The Henry J, a domestically produced compact car, is introduced by the automaker Henry J. Kaiser.
Prevention magazine, which champions folk remedies over established medical...

[The entire page is 2364 words long]