Were the Fifties Really Fabulous?: The Inside Scoop About America’s Golden Age

By Ann Freedlander Hunt

Do you ever wish for safer times? Is the world simpler now? Was our country safer in the 1950s? Was that decade really fabulous? Were you happy then? If you hadn't been born yet, what do you know about the fifties? Did your parents tell you about it? For some, it was a happier and an easier time. For others, the opposite is true. The average price of gasoline in 1950 was about a quarter and White Castle Hamburgers cost a dime. Car designs were at their peak. Families dressed up to go shopping. Kids made up games and played outside all day until it got dark. Elvis Presley and Pat Boone were very cool back then. Or were they way cool? Teenagers danced to the new sound of rock and roll. The Golden Age of Television began in the fifties. The Cold War and a period of unprecedented economic growth were a large part of the decade as well. It was a different world. Step into the past and experience it again or for the first time. You'll feel swell!

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Sep 26, 2023
• ISBN: 9798350908640

Book preview

Introduction

I chose to write about the fifties because it was a kinder and gentler time. It was a different life than the earlier and later decades. You will notice that there are portions of the book that revert back to the forties. I felt that this was necessary in order to give you a better understanding of this important history.

I was thinking about respect. Times were more peaceful. Americans respected their country, the flag that proudly waved throughout our country, churches, synagogues, and each other.

The pace was slower, and it was a safer time, according to this author. There were problems, but they were minor compared to those today. Many of us remember those carefree days. We knew our neighbors. We only locked our doors when we went out of town. When I mentioned this decade to others, their eyes lit up, and they smiled.

The family unit was strong, and divorce was a dirty word. Jobs were plentiful, and the economy was booming. People worked hard for the American Dream. Young couples dreamed of owning their first home.

I grew up in Wooster, Ohio. It was much smaller than it is today and is about an hour’s drive from Cleveland. West University Street was constructed of bricks in a quiet part of town. There were lots of children in our neighborhood. Our rented house was small, with a tiny yard. There was a jungle gym on one side and a sliding board and sandbox on the other. I remember the house fondly. A single-car garage was attached to it. There was no remote control for the garage door.

We played outside at our house or at a friend’s house. Our mothers always knew where we were. We felt safe.

My best friend, Karen, lived a few doors down the street. We climbed a large tree in her parents’ yard and pretended that it was a horse on a merry-go-round. My friend Peggy lived across the street from us and often yelled, Can you come over here? We weren’t allowed to cross the street without supervision until we understood how to look up and down the street both ways to see if a car was coming. I always answered, No, can you come over here? This dialogue went back and forth for some time until one of our mothers came out of the house to give us permission to walk across the street.

My mother punched holes in the lid of a glass jar. I distinctly remember catching lightning bugs during the summer when it got dark. Then I ran around the yard, gently scooping the bugs up, putting them in the jar, and quickly screwing the lid on. Those magic lights were so pretty.

I’m going to take you back to those days when we were young. We didn’t have all of today’s conveniences.

Fasten your seat belts and travel back in time with me to those fabulous years. And don’t forget to take your seat belts off when you get to 1950. They weren’t installed in many cars yet.

Ann Freedlander Hunt

Chapter 1

Better Times Ahead

I wasn’t extremely interested in history when I was young, but as I grew older, I realized how important it was to understand and learn from it. I asked Dad to enlighten me about world and American history. I left for my parents’ house early in the mornings so he and I could spend time together before we went to work at Freedlander’s.

He began by explaining that in the mid-1930s, Adolph Hitler secretly began the rearmament of Germany, a violation of the Versailles Treaty. By 1933 he was named chancellor and leader or führer of the National Socialist German Workers Party (or Nazi Party), by President Paul von Hindenburg in 1933. Obsessed with the idea of the superiority of the pure German race, which he called Aryan, Hitler believed that war was the only way to gain the necessary Lebensraum, or living space, for the German race to expand. He signed agreements with Italy and Japan against the Union. Then he sent troops to occupy Austria in 1938 and the following year captured Czechoslovakia. The United States and Soviet Union were concentrating on internal politics at the time, and neither France nor Britain (the two other nations most devastated by World War I) were eager for confrontation. Hitler’s open invasion went unchecked.¹

In late August 1939, Hitler and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin signed the German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact, which caused hysteria in London and Paris. Hitler had planned an invasion of Poland for some time. Great Britain and France had guaranteed its military support if it were attacked by Germany. The pact with Stalin meant that Hitler wouldn’t face a war on two fronts once he invaded Poland. He would have Soviet support in capturing and dividing Poland. On September 1, 1939, Hitler invaded it; two days later, France and Britain declared war on Germany. It was the beginning of World War II.

This monster’s real objective was an invasion of the Soviet Union, whose vast territory would give the German master race the Lebensraum it needed. The other half of Hitler’s strategy was the extermination of the Jews from throughout German-occupied Europe. Plans for the Final Solution were introduced around the time of the Soviet offensive, and over the next three years more than four million Jews would perish in numerous death camps established in occupied Poland.²

In order to understand the 1950s better, it’s necessary to briefly review the 1940s.

Dad recalled that December 7, 1941, is remembered as a very dark day in the history of the American naval fleet and Pearl Harbor. He said, On a Sunday morning, when the navy units were busy doing their routine chores, the Japanese Navy stunned the world with a surprise attack. It was so unexpected that the entire American Navy went into deep shock. All the staff and ships that were at Pearl Harbor suffered a massive loss. Pearl Harbor looked like a battlefield, with fire and smoke emerging from every corner. The Americans had been certain that the naval base was safe from attacks. They were dead wrong.

He discussed the horror with me. Dad continued, The attack was expensive and risky and failed to achieve its targets. The aircraft carriers were the main targets for the Japanese. Fortunately, they weren’t at Pearl Harbor. The rest of the harbor was untouched and safe.

World War II had begun. I asked Dad why Pearl Harbor was attacked. He explained that the most important reason was the ban that was enforced by President Roosevelt on trading with Japan, especially the export of steel, oil, and scrap iron. It hurt the Japanese economy badly. Their trade and military were severely affected.

Congress declared war on Germany on December 11, 1941, hours after Germany confirmed war on our country following the Pearl Harbor attack.³

I’d forgotten that vital information. I’m sure I learned it when I took world history.

Dad clarified that Japan was on its way to becoming the world’s strongest naval power, but America stood in its way. Japan tried to destroy our country, and the only options it had were either to fight for control or do nothing.

President Roosevelt addressed our citizens over the radio. He assured all Americans that our navy would re-establish the power it had lost and fight against our new enemy. He passed a declaration from Congress on December 8 to declare war against Japan.

On January 3, 1943 Dad was one of fifty-three young men from Wooster’s forty-fifth US Army contingent to march to the Pennsylvania Depot from city hall.

Many of the recruits were shipped overseas to face the enemy. Dad loved his country and was extremely patriotic.

He fought in the European theater in the Battle of the Bulge. Because it raged on from December 16, 1945, to January 16, 1946, I have no idea when my dad saw action. It was fought in The Ardennes, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Germany. It was the largest battle fought by the United States Army. Ever. Dad helped liberate the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in Germany, where Anne Frank died of typhus.

My dad, Harold Freedlander, served for three years during World War II. In one of his first letters to my mom, he wrote, I’m just doing my part to protect our future.⁴

Dad rarely talked about his stint in the army. He wanted to forget the atrocities. I often wondered how my dad slept at all and if he had PTSD. How does anyone who has witnessed carnage in any war sleep?

Dad owned a book written by William E. Leuchtenberg about President Roosevelt. He told me to read the last chapter. I learned that the president died at the beginning of his fourth term, on April 12, 1945.

His health was bad, and I imagine incredible stress contributed to it. I was right. The author wrote, His doctors examined him the year before he died and discovered a variety of heart ailments, high blood pressure, and bronchitis. He went on to say that those close to the president and even those who saw him speak in public were saddened and shocked to see how haggard and weak he looked. He was exhausted, and his concentration and memory were failing. Most of the American public was unaware of the strain he was under. Roosevelt’s election victory over Dewey in 1944, in addition to the Yalta conference the following February, was too much. FDR traveled to Warm Springs, Georgia, in April of 1945. It was his favorite retreat for decades. While sitting for a portrait, he collapsed and died of a cerebral hemorrhage.⁵

Vice President Harry Truman took the oath of office that day. Mr. Truman had been a county judge. He’d only held his office for a short time and wasn’t privy to much. He was only involved with matters in the Senate.

Dad said, Roosevelt’s death shocked the world. Winston Churchill was heartsick. Even Stalin was upset! That shocked me. Stalin and Roosevelt had a mutual trust and got along well. Hundreds of thousands lined up to pay their last respects along the train route that carried his body from Georgia to Washington, D.C., and then to Hyde Park, New York where he was buried on April 15, 1945.

I was amazed that Dad recalled so much. He continued. "Harry Truman had an overflowing plate when he took over as the leader of the free world. After President Roosevelt died, Truman had a huge decision to make. As president of the United States, he would be forced to use atomic warfare at the end of World War II. The thought of invading Japan didn’t sit well with him and his advisors. The Japanese were fighting for the emperor, who was convinced that it was better to die than surrender. Women and children were taught how to kill with basic weapons. Kamikaze pilots could turn planes into guided missiles; the cost of invasion would be extremely high.

When the president learned about the Manhattan Project, a secret scientific effort to create an atomic bomb, he knew he must make an exceedingly difficult decision. After the bomb was tested successfully, he issued the Potsdam Declaration. It stipulated the absolute surrender of the Japanese government and warned it would otherwise be quick and complete destruction. The government never responded, so eleven days later, on August 6, 1945, an American bomber called the Enola Gay left Tinian, a tiny island in the western Pacific, en route toward Japan. An atomic bomb called Little Boy was in the belly of the bomber. It was dropped over Hiroshima. Nearly 80,000 citizens perished in the first few minutes. Three days later, another bomber was en route to Japan. This time, it headed for Nagasaki with Fat Man. It killed and injured thousands more. Both cities were leveled and Japan was forced to surrender to the United States. The war in the pacific was over!"

President Truman ran for reelection. Dad chuckled when he told me about the hundreds of campaign speeches he made as his train crossed the country. He said that Harry Truman fought hard to win against Thomas Dewey. Truman’s run became known as the whistle stop campaign, because it stopped at some of the smallest towns and villages in the nation. He gave speeches from the back of his train. He spoke to farmers and discussed issues with small groups of people who came to visit his train when it stopped in rural areas of Montana and Idaho.

It was clear to me that Dad didn’t like Mr. Dewey who also campaigned across the country by train but showed little of the fire and emotion in his speeches that made Truman’s campaign so exciting. Dad shook his head and laughed saying, almost every political expert in the country believed that Truman had no chance of winning. The Wall Street Journal printed a story about what Dewey would do in the White House after the election. And the New York Times reported that Dewey would win by a large majority.

I realized that Truman was feisty and refused to believe the experts. Instead, he spoke with increased emotion against Dewey. Most Americans still believed that Truman would lose. But they liked his courage in fighting to the end. One supporter shouted, Give ‘em hell, Harry! Soon supporters across the country were shouting ‘Give ‘em hell, Harry!’" Dad loved it!

The newspapers were wrong. Everyone was wrong except Harry Truman and the Americans who gave him their votes. Truman went to bed on election night before all of the votes were counted. He told his assistant that he’d win.⁶

I can see Dad smiling. He loved to teach and was good at it. He stood up and said, Harry Truman won! It was a big victory and the Democrats won both houses of Congress.

When I was four, President Truman’s train stopped in Wooster on September 27, 1952, to campaign for Adlai Stevenson.

I remember that Dad told me that I caught my foot in the railroad track as we heard the train approach! He was terrified that the train would run over me. He quickly pulled my foot out of my shoe, picked me up, then removed the shoe from the track.

It was a thrilling day for everyone! Thousands of people were waiting at the old train depot to see him.

Frank Hoover was only seventeen when his boss, Nihlen Black, owner of the Lincoln Mercury dealership, asked him to drive the president to church on Sunday. Mr. Black told me, I was just a grease monkey at the time. When the day arrived, Frank got into a new Lincoln. He was full of anticipation at not only meeting President Truman, but also having the privilege of driving him to Bethany Baptist Church downtown. His excitement waned when he learned that he would transport Wooster’s mayor and the police chief instead. President Truman’s car was directly in front of the one Frank was driving. He was close enough to touch him, but because he was so young, he didn’t feel that it was right to shake his hand. He noted that Truman wasn’t a large man and was probably no more than five foot six inches tall. I asked him if there were sharpshooters in the area. You bet, he replied. Secret Service agents were everywhere.

I also talked to Cliff Elliot about his memories of that extraordinary day. He recalled how excited he and his best friend were as they walked to the church to see the president.

Those gentlemen, whom I had the pleasure of getting to know a bit, had other stories to share with me.

Dad reminded me that World War II was over on September 2, 1945. He and thousands of soldiers returned home to their loved ones and life began to return to normal after many years of fighting in Europe and Japan. Many were married. More men got married shortly after they returned