Focus On The Fifties (1981)

[Music] On January 1st, 1950, there were only 3 million television sets in America. But in that year, we bought another 7 million and made the big shift from radio to television. The first coast to coast coaxial cable was completed in 1951 and 40 million Americans watched President Truman speak at the Japanese treaty conference in San Francisco. In the first happy days of television, we were hypnotized by old Hop Along Cassidy movies, Friday night fights from New York, Howdy Duty, and Kucla Fran and Ali. But our favorites were the weekly variety shows like the Texico Theater with Milton Burrow, Arthur Godfrey and his friends, Toast of the Town with Ed Sullivan, and your show of shows with Sid Caesar and Imagine Koka. In the 50s, nightly network newscasts became an established part of programming. John Cameron sees, Douglas Edwards, Huntley Brinkley, and Walter Kongite were some of our early TV reporters. And Edward Ar Muro took television news out of the studio and into the world with his See It Now series. The first news event to captivate the whole country was the Senate Investigation of Organized Crime Chaired by Senator Estus Kever. The televised hearings in 1951 presented the first live look at the mafia and government ties with the mob. Things you've done that you can speak off to your credit as an American citizen. If so, what are they? Paid by tax. Television had its own crime investigation when it was discovered that several of the big money network quiz games were rigged. Charles Van Doran was the most famous of the phony contestants. During the 50s, the situation comedy came into its own. Jackie Gleason and Art Carney in the Honeymooners were the biggest hit. The comedy superstar of the 50s was Lucille Ball. Beginning in 1951, I Love Lucy rated high with audiences every year. Most television drama during the decade was presented live. Programs like Actors Studio, Studio 1, Craft Television Theater, Robert Montgomery Presents, and the US Steel Hour pioneered new plays, actors, and directors and gave television some of its finest hours. Some TV dramas were filmed [Music] I delivered the message. Now what? Now let's check the second message. Ready. Mom, the doctor's deodorant discovery now contains M3. Television advertising in the ' 50s was inexpensive. So American business turned away from radio and Madison Avenue began to bombard us with Ajaxinger. B. Get things clean just like a whiz. You'll start paying the elbow tax when you start cleaning with Ajax. So use Ajax. The foaming cleanser floats the dirt right down the drain. I'm a guy who likes to work on my car. I like to take it apart and put it back together. I get to working on it and forget where I am, what time it is. I even forget to eat. You don't forget to smoke, though. I always smoke when I work. They go together. Why Marlber? I like things that are welld designigned. This box is interesting and practical. Would you recommend Marboro to your friends? I already have. New Marboro filter flavor flip top box. Honestly, I hate the way these paper napkins keep sliding off your lap. Madam gracious, now I'm seeing things. Oh, no. I'm Manners the Butler, and I wish you'd try Kleenex table napkins. They won't slide off your lap. Really? Why, it's true. Why? They cling like cloth. And Kleenex table napkins are strong enough to last through the whole meal without shredding. You'll wonder where the yellow went when you brush your teeth with Pepsent. The taste is new. Get some today. You'll wonder where the yellow went when you brush your teeth with Pepsodent. Pepsodent. Pepsodent. [Music] By the end of 1950, movie attendance was down 72%. Sure, we had our superstars like Marilyn Monroe, Marlon Brando, and James Dean, but the biggest box office smashes were low-budget mutation movies. Hi, once again, this is Dick Clark welcoming you back to American Band Stand. This should be about uh part number three of music and fun and frolic and special guest stars leading off with Bobby Helms and Jack Willing. Never in the history of the United States a monster of such size and [Applause] power. This is fantastic. It's unbelievable. Things like this just don't happen. The thing that went wrong in the secret atomic laboratory afflicted him with the most hideous curse ever visited on [Music] man. One touch of the sun's bright rays transformed him into the reptilian jal and hide monstrosity who couldn't control his lust to kill. What I saw you wouldn't believe. Watch men who deal in death meet and fight. The invincible first satellite creature to impregnate man with its chromosomes. It's true. I can feel it inside. If you're driving a lonely road, you're as good as dead. 7 hours and his blood is still alive. Something's wrong. I'm falling too fast. [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] In 1950, American scientists were perfecting color television, tranquilizers, and Xerox copying machines. Amateur inventors all over the world were creating gadgets galore to make our lives easier and more fun. There was the radiocontrolled golf [Music] caddy and the robot lawnmower to make our suburban life even more mobile. One ingenious angler built a flying boat as a way around or over traffic jams on rivers and lakes. And a company in Ohio considered marketing an inflatable plane that could fold up and fit in the trunk of a car. [Music] There were many advances in flying in the early 50s, like the world's largest jet helicopter built by Howard Hughes and radical new turborop fighters that could take off and land [Music] vertically. By mid decade, Boeing was testing our first jetliner, the 707, and our new intercontinental B-52s were in failsafe positions all over the [Music] world. In 1957, Major John Glenn flew a Navy Crusader coast to coast in 3 hours and 23 minutes, reaching speeds of better than a,000 m an hour. In 1959, the Navy X-15 rocket plane flew at 3,000 mph and altitudes of 300,000 ft. The X-15 was designed to carry our first astronauts into space. And at the end of the decade, test pilots were practicing moon landings on the desert. [Music] The most dramatic medical advance of the 50s was the sock vaccine that immunized us against polio. When a bill was presented for Congress to provide free sock vaccine to all children, Mrs. Ovita Kulphabi, Ike's secretary of health was horrified. She called the plan socialized medicine through the back door. [Music] Other medical news was not so good. In 1953, smoking was first linked to cancer and heart disease. Cigarette consumption dipped for two years, but resumed its rise in 55 after the tobacco industry pumped millions into TV advertising for new filter tips. Prominade straight down the pike. It's time right now for a lucky strike. Yes, for a smoking you're bound to like you just can't beat a lucky [Music] strike. The first hydrogen bomb explosion in 1952 opened a new era of deathmanship. Since 1945, when the first A- bomb was exploded, American scientists had argued the morality of developing super bombs, perhaps a thousand times more destructive than those dropped on Japan. The decision to create an arsenal of new nuclear weapons, was made right after Russia exploded her own atom bomb in 1949. High on the Pentagon shopping list was the atomic cannon. An awesome piece of hardware that was semi-retired when groundto ground missiles became operational at the end of the [Music] decade. And in 1954, Mrs. Eisenhower christened the Nautilus, the world's first atomic submarine. The Nautilus could circle the globe underwater. And in 1958, the ship sailed submerged from Hawaii to Great Britain under the North Pole. Not all atomic research of the 50s was military. Since Hiroshima, scientists were experimenting with nuclear energy as an alternative to oil, gas, and coal. In 1957, an atomic power plant, the pilot model for 3M Island, was proudly unveiled to the public. Other visionaries were not so certain that the public would ever accept nuclear power. Fearful of another oil cut off after Iran's refineries were nationalized in 51, scientists began to experiment with solar batteries. [Music] On October 4th, 1957, Soviet scientists shocked the world by orbiting a Sputnik around the Earth. We were worried that if the Russians could launch a baby moon in outer space, they could certainly reach America with intercontinental missiles. President Eisenhower assured us there was no missile gap. Speed of progress in the satellite project cannot be taken as an index of our progress in ballistic missile work. Our satellite program has never been conducted as a race with other nations. I consider our country's satellite program to be welld designed and properly scheduled to achieve the scientific purposes for which it was initiated. [Music] Main stage in 1958, America finally launched a 30 lb satellite into orbit. And as the decade ended, Russia and the US set their sights on the moon. [Music] In 1950, Senator Joe McCarthy charged that our State Department employed 200 known communists. McCarthy couldn't produce a single name, but this irresponsible accusation launched a 4-year witch hunt that ruined hundreds of innocent people. Since the start of the Cold War, many Americans were paranoid about communism at home. The government investigated 3 million federal employees. Teachers in some states were forced to sign loyalty oaths or lose their [Music] jobs. In Indiana, a member of the textbook commission claimed that Robin Hood glorified the Marxist philosophy because he robbed the rich to give to the poor. Senator McCarthy flourished in the cold war atmosphere of suspicion and fear. Without evidence, he accused some of our best artists, entertainers, and government leaders of being communists and convinced many of us that reds in America controlled our minds and our lives. When he attacked the army and their council, Joseph Welch, he went too far. I get the impression that while you are quite an actor, you play for a laugh. I don't think you have any conception of the danger of the Communist Party. Until this moment, Senator, I think I never really gauged your cruelty or your recklessness. If it were in my power to forgive you for your reckless cruelty, I would do so. I like to think I'm a gentle man, but your forgiveness will have to come from someone other than me. Uh, may may I say that uh, Mr. Welsh talks about Following the Army hearings, McCarthy was condemned by the Senate and became a national embarrassment. By 1954, most Americans were trying hard to disown him. [Music] My name is Jimmy Stewart. Before I came home, I heard a lot of things that made me worry a little as to whether this was still the same America I grew up in. Of course, I wondered when I heard about a couple of crackpots here and there that wanted to make things different. Then I heard from During the McCarthy era, white Americans experienced violation of their civil liberties for the first time. They didn't like it. As soon as it was safe, many whites joined liberal causes and campaigned for political freedom. I joined because I'm pretty grateful for the kind of country that gave me my break. And I've learned that all Americans are the same kind of people. Charlie Temple. At school, we were all taught the value of teamwork. Well, good grief. America was built by all of us working together. And our whole future depends on you helping him and you helping her and all of us helping each other. I'm for it. Eddie Caner, you know, the most wonderful sound in the world is the laughter of a free people. No tyrant in history ever had a sense of humor or a sense of tolerance. Here in America, we have both. Let's keep them. Let's join the Brotherhood. Jennifer Jones. One nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. That's America. And I love America. I know you do too, Katherine Heburn. Hate is a disease. People who talk hate and people who organize for hate are worse than typhoid carriers. If we want to keep our democracy healthy, we must wipe out this disease. And here's Edward G. Robinson, who will read you the pledge. I pledge allegiance to this basic ideal of my country. Fair play for all. I pledge myself to keep America free from the disease of hate that destroyed Europe. In good heart, I pledge unto my fellow Americans all of the rights and the dignities I desire for myself. For black Americans in the early 50s, there were few enforced rights and even fewer dignities. At the start of the decade, blacks still didn't exist as people for many white Americans. But in 1954, the Supreme Court ruled that blacks must be treated as equals, starting with public education. The nine justices ruled unanimously that racial segregation in classrooms was unconstitutional and that all states must proceed with deliberate speed to integrate their public schools. The decision caused a furer, especially in the deep south. But the next year, the justices extended their desegregation orders even further to include public golf courses, swimming pools, playgrounds, and public [Music] parks. In 1957, Governor Orville Fobas sent the Arkansas National Guard to stop the first blacks from entering Central High School in Little Rock. President Eisenhower federalized the Arkansas Guard and sent in the 101st Airborne to make sure integration kept moving. By 1958, many educators felt that the only people who cared about what went on in classrooms were southern blacks trying to get in and southern whites trying to keep them out. At liberal arts colleges, at least, students were more into campus life than calculus. and being a big man on campus and popular with peers had a much higher priority than getting good grades. The success of the Soviets in space changed our easygoing attitudes toward learning only a little. Most of us didn't worry about the science gap or Russia's superior education system. We were an overindulged, underpoliticized, apathetic generation of undergraduates. And so passive, one university president said of his 1959 graduating class, "Employers will love this group. They will be easy to handle. There won't be any riots." We listened to the learned educator. And we were very glad to know that our children would continue to be quiet. I remember in the dark days of the His case, some of the same columnists, some of the same radio commentators who were attacking me now and misrepresenting my position were violently opposing me at the time I was after Algeria hits. But I continued to fight because I knew I was right. And I can say to this great television and radio audience that I have no apologies to the American people for my part in putting Alger where he is today. And as far as this is concerned, I intend to continue to fight. Why do I feel so deeply? Why do I feel that in spite of the smears, the misunderstanding, the necessity for a man to come up here and bear his soul as I have, why is it necessary for me to continue this fight? And I want to tell you why. Because you see, I love my country. And I think my country is in danger. And I think the only man that can save America at this time is the man that's running for president on my ticket. Right. Eisenhower.