The 1950’s

The arms race between the United States and the Soviet Union began in 1949 with the first test of a Soviet atomic bomb, and continued into the early 1950’s with the development of the thermonuclear, or “H-bomb”. Advances such as nuclear power, the transistor, and the automated assembly line, changed the lives of many Americans.

Along with the “nuclear age” of missile development, nuclear power plants were also in development. The creation and testing of the thermonuclear bomb was a key advancement which brought the realization that these atoms could create enormous amounts of energy, more than 750 times more energetic than the original atomic bombs(660). This energy was captured by slowing down fission, or splitting of the atoms, if fission happens quickly there will be and explosion, but if it is controlled at a certain speed, the process can produce heat, which can be used to make steam, and in turn energy(671). In 1954 the Navy created a nuclear powered submarine, which was the start to the the nuclear power plants on land(671). Nuclear power was a strong advancement in technology that lessened the dependence of fossil fuels, that was directly created out of the development of nuclear bombs.

With the rising fear of an atomic attack, it was inevitable that communication had to improve. Probably one of the biggest advances of the time period was the television. Originally developed as a means to teach, the television evolved into a major source of news and entertainment(670). It became so popular that by 1960 nearly 50 million households had at least one television, and in some cases more. Another major advancement in communication was the portable radio. Earlier, portable radios were not possible because of the lack of a means to power them(671). In 1947, Bell Telephone Laboratories produced the first transistor(671). With the development of the transistor it would be possible to power small radios by means of simple batteries.

Quick high-quality goods are mandatory if you plan on having any chance of surviving a war. Starting in the 1950’s automated assembly lines were taking over more and more physically demanding jobs. In order to keep many workers from getting laid of businesses created white collar jobs, such as a desk job, managing the output of a certain area of the business(672). With these new jobs available, and the less demand for manual labor on farms, many people moved from rural areas to suburban environments(Doc1). To counteract the housing shortages from the mass migration, William J. Levitt began building houses that all looked very similar, which was essentially mass produced housing(Doc5). This technique diminished the building time of a house from months to mere weeks(673). This custom of uniformity transferred throughout the rest of the 1950’s.

Each advancement of technology pushed the United States ahead of the Soviet Union. If nuclear power plants had not been formed the electricity needed to power super-computers and automated assembly lines would not have been as easily accessible, and it could have possibly been our economy that collapsed as opposed to the Soviets.