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| My parents in or about 1957 with their car |
I decided to look up what happened the day I arrived. Here is what I found.
Aug 26th - USSR announces successful test of intercontinental ballistic missile (OTHER DATES)
1957 was the peak of the Baby Boomer years
Definition of Baby Boomer By US Government: Demographic birth boom between 1946 and 1964 due mostly because of the end of World War II and soldiers coming home to set up home and family.
What it cost in 1957
- Car: $2,100
- Gasoline: 31 cents/gal
- House: $18,000
- Bread: 19 cents/loaf
- Milk: $1.00/gal
- Postage Stamp: 3 cents
- Stock Market: 436
- Average Annual Salary: $5,500
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Minimum Wage: $1.00 per hour
.
- The Mackinac suspension bridge opens connecting the Upper and Lower peninsulas of the U.S. state of Michigan.
- Portable Radar Devices Used To Enforce Speed Limits
- Elvis Presley purchases a mansion in Memphis, Tennessee and calls it Graceland
- The Cavern Club opens in Liverpool ( Where the Beetle's started )
- Elvis Presley emerges as one of the world's first rock stars. The gyrating rocker enjoys fame on the stages of the Milton Berle, Steve Allen and Ed Sullivan shows, as well as in the first of his many movies, Love Me Tender. The film Jailhouse Rock premiers with Elvis Presley
- "American Bandstand" the teenagers chart music show makes its network debut on ABC on August 5, 1957 with Dick Clark as the host.
- Ultrasound scanning pioneered in Scotland
- First Nuclear Reactor plant opens for production of electricity in Pennsylvania US
- The Soviet Union launches Sputnik I, on October 4th the first artificial satellite to orbit the earth.
- Soviets test H Bomb
- Great Britain tests first hydrogen bomb on the Christmas Island
- The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 2. On board is the first animal to enter space - a dog named Laika.
- Martin Luther King Jr heads nationwide resistance to racial segregation and discrimination in the US
- Eveready produces "AA" size alkaline batteries for use in "personal transistor radios."
- Tidal Wave follows Hurricane Audrey into coasts of Texas and Louisiana
- Federal Troops sent to Arkansas to enforce anti segregation laws. The National Guard on the order of Governor Orval Faubus is used to prevent nine African American students from entering Central High School in Little Rock on September 4th and shortly after Federal troops charge defiant protesters with fixed bayonets to ensure nine African American Students can attend Little Rock Central High School in Arkansas
- The Frisbee is renamed and nationally marketed!
- General Foods Corp. introduces TANG breakfast beverage crystals.
- Barry Gordy, Jr. invests $700 to fund 'Motown Records.'
- Velcro is patented by George de Mestral of Switzerland.
- First round-the-world nonstop jet plane flight. Maj. Gen. Archie J. Old, Jr. (USAF) led a flight of three Boeing B-52 bombers around the world in 45 hours, 19 minutes (completed Jan. 18).
- Major John Glenn, Jr. sets an air speed record by traveling from California to New York in a jet in 3 hours, 23 minutes, and 8.4 seconds.
- The first large scale American nuclear power plant goes into operation in Shippensport, PA and will service Pittsburgh.
- Theodore Geisel writes Cat in the Hat as Dr. Seuss!
- NYC ends trolley car service
- MORE...
- The Ten Commandments
- Around the World in Eighty Days
- 12 Angry men
- Jailhouse Rock by Elvis Presley
- The Bridge on the River Kwai
- The Three Faces of Eve
- The Cat in the Hat - Dr. Seuss
- From Russia with Love - Ian Fleming
- The Guns of Navarone - Alistair MacLean
- The continued growth of bigger taller tail fins on new cars and more lights, bigger with more powerful engines and an average car sold for $2,749.
- The Soviet Union launched the first space satellite Sputnik 1.
- Movies included "Twelve Angry Men" and "The Bridge Over the River Kwai", and TV showed "Perry Mason" and "Maverick" for the first time.
- The music continued to be Rock and Roll with artists like "Little Richard".
- The popular toys were Slinkys and Hula Hoops.
- The continued growth of the use of credit was shown by the fact that 2/3 of all new cars were bought on credit.
- Some of the areas that would cause problems later were starting to show. South Vietnam is attacked by Viet Cong Guerrillas and Troops are sent to Arkansas to enforce anti segregation laws.
U.S. Statistics
 |
| Glass Soda Bottles |
Vice President: Richard M. Nixon
Population: 171,984,130
Life expectancy: 69.5 years
Homicide Rate (per 100,000): 4.5
Economics
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| Candy Cigarettes |
Federal debt: $272.3 billion
US GDP (1998 dollars): $461 billionFederal spending: $76.58 billion
Consumer Price Index: 28.1
Unemployment: 4.1%
Cost of a first-class stamp: $0.03
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