All language subtitles for american in color the1950s

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this is the story of America

seen in color for the first time

the 1950s the American dream comes true

welcome to our rock and roll Jubilee of skies

the country basks in an economic boom

stands at the Pinnacle of world power

it is also a time of fear

of the threat of war

and enemies abroad and at home

even if there are only one communist

in the State Department

that will still be one communist too many

a new battleground emerges

and a civil rights movement is born

for him to have died a hero

would mean more to me than for him just to have died

the impact will be felt for decades to come

I want us to recapture that

January 4th, 1950

a year into his second term

President Harry

Truman delivers his state of the union address

human race has reached the turning point

man has opened the secrets of nature

and mastered new powers

if he uses them wisely

he can reach new heights of civilization

if he uses them foolishly

they may destroy him

Truman is troubled by a nuclear explosion

that took place four months earlier

some 6,000 miles away

The Soviet Union tested its first atomic bomb

shocking the United States

Americans believe they were

the world's only nuclear power

now the country confronts a stunning new threat

other nations look to us for a wise exercise

of our economic and military strength

we will not fail them

the US government suspects that the Russians

use spies to steal America's nuclear secrets

July 17th, 1950 New York City

Thirty two year old communist

and former US Army engineer Julius Rosenberg

is taken into custody by the FBI

a month later his wife Ethel is arrested too

they're accused of running a network of Soviet spies

at the top secret facilities that built the atom bomb

found guilty of betraying their country

they are sentenced to death

some insist that the Rosenbergs are innocent

but most Americans believe that the threat of communism

is not only real but rising

on June 25th, 1950 communist North Korea

supported by the Soviets and China

invades us back South Korea

Truman sends American forces to defend South Korea

determined not to lose

any more territory to the communists

General Douglas MacArthur

a hero of the Pacific during World War 2

is put in charge of 141,000 allied troops in Korea

in mid September

MacArthur delivers a stunning victory

at the battle of Inchon

pushing the North Koreans out of the south

too many MacArthur looks like a man

who can win the war on communism

and possibly even become the next president

October 15th

Truman flies to Wake Island in the Pacific Ocean

to meet with his imperious general

Truman is eager to align

himself with MacArthur's war hero image

plans for the future Korean campaigns were discussed

in a simple Radio Shack

and far reaching decisions were obtained

but their smiles soon give way to a bitter dispute

that will bring one of them down

two weeks later

Communist China enters the war

and pushes the US forces into retreat

to retaliate

MacArthur demands authority from Truman to bomb China

fearing all out nuclear war with the Soviets

Truman refuses

on March 20th, 1951

General MacArthur makes his disagreement with Truman

public in a letter to speaker of the House

Joseph Martin

MacArthur is now publicly challenging the president

his commander in chief

at stake the principal of civilian control of

the military

enshrined in the Constitution

their conflict comes to a head on April 11th, 1951

the president addresses the nation

I believe that we must try to limit the war to Korea

to prevent a Third World War

a number of events have made it evident

that General MacArthur did not agree with that policy

I have therefore

considered it essential to relieve General MacArthur

Truman fires MacArthur

he's gambling that MacArthur's popularity will pass

six days after his dismissal

MacArthur returns to the States

he addresses Congress as an American hero

but I still remember the refrain

of one of the most popular barrack ballads of that day

which proclaimed most proudly

never die they just fade away

but MacArthur has no intention of fading away

on April 20th, 1951

New Yorkers turn out for a parade in his honor

seven and a half million people pack the streets

Truman seen here

taking his daily walk around Washington

is an embattled president

the war in Korea is unpopular

and issues on the home front

all lead to a plummet in its approval rating to 22%

the lowest number since records began

but Truman and his Democratic Party

have an ace up their sleeves

six years after the end of World War 2

America is wealthier than ever

two thirds of Americans now live in urban areas

attracted by booming job markets

but city living space is at a premium

marriage rates among the returning war veterans

are soaring

nearly 4 million baby boomers are being born each year

these new young families

soon start to look for space outside the city

a family named the levets sees a massive opportunity

during World War 2

William Levitt served as lieutenant in the Seabees

the construction arm of the Navy

he returns to the family building business with a plan

use the military method

to mass produce homes on old farmland

that way he can create new communities overnight

we have to build houses for people living

we have to build a water system the sources

we have to set up a police department put in roads

direct street lights so that people could feel secure

farmhouses are burnt down and bulldozed

to make way for thousands of new affordable homes

built in orderly lots

Williams brother Alfred is the designer

his method is to break down the building of each home

into 27 uniform stages

stop motion footage

shows an entire house being put up in a single day

construction workers are each trained

to do just one stage

these are the 36 men who built this house

another day another 40 houses

William Levitt calls the developments levertowns

this is Levertown Pennsylvania

around the country

the Levitts build nearly 38,000 houses by 1958

the mass produced dwellings

sell for just under $10,000 each

young families

flock to buy a piece of the American dream

it's the good life in the suburbs

but the shadows of communism and the atomic bomb

are never far away

Las Vegas Nevada March 1953

and then

newspaper reporter Louis Harris from Augusta

Georgia is assigned to cover a unique event

staged by the US government

Harris brings his own home movie camera

at Las Vegas newsman

and photographers arrive from all over the nation

to cover an event that has a direct bearing

on the welfare of every American family

they're taken 75 miles into the desert

where an atomic bomb is to be detonated

for the first time on live TV

the test will record the effects of an a bomb

on the average American home

50 cars and two wooden frame houses

are placed within the blast zone

within the house

seems typical of the American family at home

first floor living room

first floor dining room

children at play

unaware of approaching disaster

March 17th 8 million viewers

tune in to the unprecedented broadcast 3 2 1 0

and witness the terrifying power of an atomic bomb

Paris captures this rare amateur footage

of the devastating blast

house No. 1 first floor disintegrated

second floor collapsed in house No. 2

a cracked beam above the basement box type shelter

but within this family which was prepared

was neither moved nor harmed

Americans everywhere want to know

how to survive this kind of terrifying attack

drills in schools become routine

public shelters are identified in every city

and Bert the turtle prepares everyone to duck and cover

calming the nation's fears

is a new and very popular leader

January 20th, 1953

the victorious World War 2 general Dwight D Eisenhower

is inaugurated as president of the United States

I like the ice power

do solemnly swear

that you will faithfully execute the office

he promises to end the war in Korea

conflict strikes directly at the fate of our fathers

and at the lives of our sons

we wish our friends the world over to know this

above all we face the threat

not with dread and confusion

but with confidence and conviction

seven months later

with Soviet leader Joseph Stalin dead

an enemy forces in Korea exhausted

Eisenhower forces an armistice

and brings the troops home

Americans are happy to have their soldiers back

the Eisenhower is held off

the threat of communism overseas

fear of the Reds inside America

is growing steadily worse

one communist of one universe today

is one communist humanity

since 1950 Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy

has been accusing the government

and leading universities of harboring communists

one communist among the American American advisers at

the

at the 1952 Republican National Convention

he in flames

fear that domestic communists

are secretly plotting to betray America

even if there are only one communist mistake department

that will still be one communist 2 minutes

McCarthy is ambitious and ruthless

his sensational but often baseless

charges will have attention and power

in January 1953

as Republicans take control of the Senate

he becomes chairman of a committee

that can compel people to testify

McCarthy runs his investigations in parallel

with the house on American Activities Committee

which has been hunting for communist since the 1930s

have you ever been a member of the Communist Party

I'm framing my answer in the only way in which

any American

its most celebrated targets are a group of actors

writers and directors called the Hollywood 10

used to answer that question

is that correct

stars come east to stand up to the committee

including actors Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall

one of the first to speak is Ronald Reagan

I do not believe that the communist has ever

at any time been able to use the motion picture screen

as a founding board for his philosophy or ideology

the American public

and they will know where I stand

as they do for what I have written

but the stain of accusation

ends countless Hollywood careers

in early 1954

with his power at its peak Senator McCarthy takes again

armed with the flimsiest of evidence

he takes on a respected institution the US Army

he claims it is infiltrated by communists

that senior officers are turning a blind eye

if a stupid

arrogant or whipless man in a position of power

appears before our committee

and is found aiding the Communist Party

he will be exposed

the fact that he might be a general

places him in no special class as far as I'm concerned

the explosive charges trigger public hearings

in the Senate

live TV coverage provides millions of Americans

with their first sustained look

at the crusading senator and his bare knuckle methods

in this committee

activities may well determine

for this nation will live or die

I wanna make it clear

that the United States Army does not follow communists

this committee knows that

the American people know that

for over a month

McCarthy and his team

exchange fire with the army's council

you shouldn't do that Mr Simon

that's just dishonest

that's that's the

that's the main thing that they come in

anybody says anything against

anybody working for Santa McCarthy

what is that

he runs away he won't answer the question

June 9th, 1954

a lawyer for the Army

Joseph Welch

demands that McCarthy's staff

release its secret list of alleged army subversives

McCarthy responds by dredging up a past link

between a young lawyer in Welsh's firm

and the Communist Party

I don't think you have any confession of the

danger of the Communist person

after years of bullying his victims

McCarthy is smug and confident

but Welsh counterattacks

until this moment

senator I think I never really engaged your cruelty

are 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 gentleman

but your

forgiveness

will have to come from someone other than the German

millions of Americans watch

he was just bathing his amazing senator

let us not assassinate this lab further senator

you've done enough

have you no sense of sir at long last

have you left no sense of decency

McCarthy's gamble taking on the army backfires

Mr Wealth here has been

his charges don't stick

many in his own party turn against him

six months later

the Senate officially censures him

his reign of terror is over

and his reputation in taters

he falls into the grip of alcoholism

which in 1957 kills him at the age of 48

McCarthy in many ways

was destroyed by the power of television

a power that in the 1950s will only continue to grow

by 1954 over half of American homes

contain a television set

creating an enormous new audience for advertising

2 1 and we're on the air

I dreamed I went riding in my very favorite convertible

with my very favorite boyfriend

Chevy's Bel Air convertible is released in 1953

with its iconic curved windshield and chrome interiors

it soon becomes a bestseller

Americans are simply car crazy

these Futura cars are on display in New York in 1956

Americans now own over three quarters of the world's

automobiles

they help transform the nation

The New Jersey Turnpike

is one of America's first four lane highways

all 118 miles of it are built in just 23 months

opening in 1952

the New Jersey turn fight

can face any new trials by traffic

with confidence that it has paved the way

to a new age in road building

the road is designed with as few curves as possible

and lanes two feet wider than usual

to allow speeds of up to 75 miles per hour

this high speed road

changes the face of American transportation

the pressing need today

is to extend the Turnpike from the state of New Jersey

throughout the country

in a national network of super highways

speed and comfort

President Eisenhower champions plans to spend

$27 billion on 40,000 miles of new interstate highways

that will take 35 years to complete

the network continues to expand today

this vast new road network

enables people to drive further

and faster than ever before

but these roads may also be good for military use

many overpasses are 17 feet high

which allows clearance for nuclear missile transporters

Eisenhower is preparing America for a foreign attack

but danger also looms from a bitter battle here at home

over civil rights

in 1954 in the south

racial segregation is still mandated by law

blacks must use separate facilities

which whites say are still equal

but African Americans

in fact are treated as second class citizens

in Kansas the families of 20 black school children

are fighting a class action

lawsuit against the Topeka Board of education

segregated schools

they take their battle to the Supreme Court

prominent black attorney

Thurgood Marshall speaks for the families

we believe that

the proper place for the issue of segregation

and anything connected with it

isn't of court

on May 17th, 1954 they win the case

the Supreme Court outlaws segregation in schools

the legal underpinnings of racism are swept away

but this victory for the civil rights movement

infuriates a group determined to uphold white supremacy

the KU Klux Klan

I for 100 God will die before I evil 1 8

over the next three years

more than 15 African American homes

will be bombed in racist attacks

and in 1955

an ugly racial incident in the south shocks the nation

fourteen year old Emmett Till from Chicago

is visiting relatives in Money

Mississippi

on August 24th a 21 year old white woman

Carolyn Bryant accuses Emmett of whistling at her

it might not have meant much in Chicago

but in Mississippi there is rage

two white men kidnap Emmett

they take him to a Riverbank where he is beaten

shot and killed

September 3rd, 1955 Chicago

Emmett's mother Mamie holds his funeral

to the death of my son can mean something

to the other unfortunate people all over the world

then for him to have died a hero

would mean more to me than for him just to have died

it takes three days for all who have come

to make their way through the church

made me till insist that Emmett's coffin remain open

she wants the world to see

just what was done to her son

one in every five mourners mania is told

needs help to leave the building

the shocking scenes are shown on national television

and nine days later

Emmett's beaten face

is shown in the African American press

in jet magazine

in the Chicago Defender newspaper

the image horrifies America

September 19th Sumner Mississippi

the two men accused of murdering Emmett

are Carolyn Bryant's husband Roy

and his friend JW Milam

the trial is covered on national television

for the first time

millions of Americans will see southern justice

for themselves

the trial last for only five days

the all white jury deliberates for 67 minutes

and finds the man not guilty

let's go

four months later

in a look magazine interview

for which they are paid $4,000

Bryant and Millam both admit to the murder

but the double jeopardy rule

means they cannot be tried again

they are never punished for their crime

one hundred days after Emmett Till's murder

42 year old Rosa Parks

is riding in the black section of a bus in Montgomery

Alabama when a white man boards

all the white seats are taken

the driver demanded that I give this seat up

for a white man

I didn't feel that I was being treated as a human being

I refused to give up this seat

I said no and I wouldn't give it up

park says later I thought of them at till

I just couldn't move

she is arrested

found guilty of violating segregation laws

and fined $10

her defied action inspires black people

to protest segregation on the buses

by refusing to ride them

many blacks in Montgomery walk miles to work each day

images of empty buses

and peaceful protesters on national TV

recruit many to the cause of equal rights

the bus boycott continues for more than a year

the Montgomery bus lines face bankruptcy

the leaders of the protest

also take their battle to the courts

on November 13th, 1956

the US Supreme Court rules

that segregation on Alabama buses is unconstitutional

but for the civil rights movement

the struggle is far from over

by 1955 Americans are experiencing a golden decade

America is the richest country in the world

employment is high wages are rising

families like the NYS from Columbia

South Carolina

have cash to splash on air travel and vacations

their children Douglas and Nel reap the benefits

they're part of a new generation

flooding the market teenagers

teen girls spend $8.2 million a year on lipstick

so while their parents worry about the a bomb

most teenagers just wanna have a blast

dancing becomes so popular

that most local urban television stations

have a weekly teen dance show

like this one in Iowa

local teens

get the chance to try out the latest dance moves

and be on television

and here he is in person Alan Free

Cleveland radio DJ Alan Freed rockets to fame and movie

starting by playing rhythm and blues

traditionally African American music

freed popularizes a name for this new sound

rock and roll

now hail down the Roof Gang

because here's a new act to get bored right off

freed brings rock and roll to a young white audience

but to make the big bucks

music producers want a white face

to front the new African American sound

in 1954 producer Sam Phillips

introduces a 19 year old singer from Tupelo

Mississippi

whose name is Elvis Presley

by 1956 his Heartbreak Hotel sells a million records

and stays at No. 1 for seven weeks

the power of rock and roll becomes unstoppable

Ed Sullivan hosts the most popular show on television

his musical taste

middle of the road

good evening

ladies and gentlemen

your Mercury dealer

but on September 9th, 1956

he puts rock and roll's biggest new face

in front of America

No. 1 TV variety show

starring the nationally syndicated columnist

of the New York Daily News and Sullivan

Elvis Presley simply cannot be denied

this is the first time this footage

has ever been seen in color

thank you Mr Lawton ladies and gentlemen wow

this is probably the greatest honor

that I've ever had in my life

there's not much I can say except

it makes you feel good

this is the most watched show of the decade

bringing in 60 million viewers

the popularity of Elvis and rock n roll explodes

the new teenage music upsets many American parents

but some teenagers

are rebelling in a more idealistic way

bearing to confront bigotry and violence

it's 1957 three years since the Supreme Court ordered

that black and white students should be taught together

but in the south

the vast majority of schools are still segregated

in the summer of 1957

the NAACP selects nine black students

to enroll at the all white Central High School

in Little Rock Arkansas

on September 4th

the start of the school semester

segregationist governor Orville Faubus

stations the Arkansas National Guard

outside the high school

to stop the nine students from entering

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the guardsmen are joined by an angry

mob of white parents and students

eight black students approach the school together

the guardsmen push them back

the ninth student

Elizabeth Eckford

unaware of the other's plans

arrives later and alone

she is followed by an angry crowd

as she retreats will counts

the photographer for the Arkansas Democrat newspaper

takes these iconic photographs

six days later

Governor Fabus

reiterates his refusal to integrate the school

if the federal government moves into Arkansas

by force or in any other manner

then we would have lost

our last right of local self government

angry protest continue outside Central High School

if blood is in chance

my conscience will be cleared by a week

for three weeks the nine students stay at home

going to school is too dangerous

the scenes of racist abuse continue

and are seen around the world

by September 24th President Eisenhower has seen enough

mob rule can not be allowed

to override the decisions of our courts

Eisenhower federalizes the Arkansas National Guard

taking control away from the governor

and that evening

the president sends 12 paratroopers

from the Army's 100 and First Airborne Division

to Little Rock

at 7 the next morning

the nine students are transported

to Central High School in an army vehicle

the mob is held back

and black and white Little Rock students

go to school together for the first time

escorted by US soldiers

for their safety

the nine students are accompanied by troops every day

for the rest of the school year

it is a huge victory for the civil rights movement

but it is short lived

a year later Governor Fabus with the voter support

closes all public high schools in Little Rock

I would mind going to school with him

but if you go to school with him

and I got to start coming to our dances

and things like that now

and one thing

I see how you feel

I definitely do not want to go to school

to integrated classes

and I think get my education for two or three months

though it takes until 1959

the high schools do reopen

for black and white students together

as the decade nears its end

Americans face a very different challenge in space

October 4th, 1957

News broadcast lead with the sound of a distant beep

a beacon from a beach ball sized object

weighing just 183 pounds

that sends shockwave through America

The Soviet Union has launched

the first ever artificial satellite

Sputnik into space

science has broken the chains that for centuries

shackled humans to the planet earth

just one month later

the Soviets launch a second satellite

this is the dog Lanka

it had been trained to live in a special container

this latest Russian space vehicle

is some 50 times bigger

than the satellite America's developing

and capable of carrying not just a dog

but a nuclear warhead

Ramsbutnik 2 160 miles above the earth

listen for the heartbeat of IGA

Americans feel more vulnerable than ever

every city and town is within striking range

of Soviet missiles

after 10 years of rivalry with the Russians

America is humiliated

exposed as being technologically behind

America seems is losing the Cold War

a month after Sputnik 2

the US rushes to launch its own satellites

on unproven rocket

the press calls the attempt flopnik and kapuknik

even if it didn't get up into warming

it was a darn good picture

in January 1958

America finally launches a satellite into Space

Explorer 1 seen in color for the first time

this is the first American spacecraft

the American space age has arrived

with it a new government agency

the National Aeronautics and Space Administration NASA

it is determined to catch and surpass the Soviets

first NASA has to find Americans

with the courage and talent to go into space

the nation's test pilots push the limits of technology

in human bravery every day

on average one dies every week

propelling these daredevils to test the limits of speed

is the X15 the fastest plane ever built

okay here we go with the countdown

508 test pilots are screened

for NASA's newly invented job of astronaut

36 are chosen to compete for a handful of coveted slots

they face medical and psychological evaluations

physical tests to see how they cope with pressure

65,000 feet and stress under a force of AGS

if you don't like it

on April 9th, 1959

NASA Administrator Doctor Keith Glennon

introduces the world to seven men

which of these men will be first to orbit the earth

I cannot tell you

he won't know himself until the day of the flight

they are Malcolm Scott Carpenter

Leroy Gordon Cooper

Virgil Grissom

Walter Shara

Alan Shepherd

Donald Deke Slayton and John Glenn

I'm John Glenn

I'm the lonesome Marine on this outfit and I'm a 37

in three years

Glenn will become the first American to orbit the earth

my feelings are that this whole project

with regard to space

sort of stands with us now

as you want to look at it one way

like the Wright brothers stood at Kitty Hawk

about 50 years ago

they are seven all American heroes

ready to compete with communism on a new battlefront

for 10 years

the nation has been pushing the limits

of the American dream

prosperity has enabled people to build

travel and dance their way to the future

and those long left out are now demanding justice

despite fearful conflicts at home and abroad

millions of Americans will remember the 1950s

as the glory years