Thomas Jefferson High School
Class of 1960
Trivia
1950’s
Historical Events & Facts
1950
·
World population was 2.52 Billion.
·
U.S. population was 150,216,110 in
48 states.
·
U.S. unemployment was 3,288,000.
·
U.S. national debt was
$256,853,000,000.
·
U.S. average annual salary was
$2,992.00.
·
Cost of a loaf of bread was $0.14.
·
U.S. life expectancy was 65.6 years
for men and 71.1 years for women.
·
Total car production was 6,665,800.
·
Bomb shelter plans became widely
available.
·
Postwar era of prosperity was
underway.
·
June 17, Dr. Richard H. Lawler
performed the first kidney transplant.
·
North Korea invaded South Korea.
·
Puerto Rican nationalists killed a
District of Columbia policeman during an attempted assassination of President
Truman.
1951
·
Britain and U.S. imposed sanctions
on IRAN.
·
Computers were sold commercially.
·
TV sets grew to 1,500,000 in the
U.S.
·
June 25, Arthur Godfrey, Faye
Emerson, Sam Levenson and Ed Sullivan stared in the first Color TV program.
1952
·
Still cameras got built-in flash
units.
·
Minnie Minoso was the first black
player for the Chicago White Sox.
·
Illinois Governor Adlai Stevenson
was the Democratic nominee for president and was defeated by Dwight Eisenhower.
·
3-D movies were introduced to movie
fans.
·
Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain
was crowned.
·
Telephone area codes were
introduced.
1953
·
Watson, Crick and Franklin
discovered DNA’s structure.
·
Illinois State Auditor Orville
Hodge was convicted of $1,500,000 theft of state funds.
·
The Korean War ended.
·
Rosa Parks, a black woman, refused
to move to the back of the bus in Montgomery, AL.
·
U.S. overthrew the Iran Mossadeq
government calling its leader “The madman”.
1954
·
Five members of congress were
wounded by gunfire during an attack by Puerto Rican nationalists.
·
Raymond Kroc opened the first in a
chain of McDonald’s restaurants in Des Plaines, IL.
·
Martin Luther King, Jr. accepted
his first pastorate in Montgomery, AL.
·
Hank Aaron hit his first major
league home run.
·
June 10, General Motors announced
completion of the first successful gas-turbine bus.
·
Regular color TV broadcasts began.
·
The government of Guatemala was
overthrown in a United Sates-backed coup.
1955
·
Richard J. Daley was elected to the
first of six terms as Chicago mayor.
·
Martin Luther King, Jr. organized a
boycott of Montgomery, AL segregated public transportation.
·
Music was recorded on tape in
stereo.
·
September 10, Bert Parks began a
25-year career as host of the “Miss America Pageant” on NBC.
1956
·
Libya’s first oil well went into
production.
·
Seat belts were introduced to the
public.
·
Nikita Khrushchev announced,
“History is on our side. We will bury you!”
·
Budweiser Brewery introduced Busch
beer.
·
Ampex Corporation demonstrated the
first successful video tape recorder.
·
May 21, the U.S. exploded the
world’s first airborne hydrogen bomb.
·
June 29, Congress authorized the
construction of a 42,500-mile network of roads linking major U.S. cities.
·
July 30, “In God We Trust” was
adopted as the U.S. national motto.
·
September 9, 54,000,000 people
watched Ed Sullivan introduce Elvis Presley on national television.
1957
·
The nation’s first nuclear power
plant was activated in DuPage County, IL.
·
4.3 million baby boomers were born
– more than any prior year or any year since.
·
August 26, Ford Motor Company
rolled out the first of 110,847 Edsel cars.
·
Barry Gordy, Jr. invested $700.00
to found Motown Records.
·
Doctors began testing the first
birth control pill.
·
For the first time, U.S.
consumption of margarine surpassed that of butter.
·
In October and November, Russia
launched Sputnik I and Sputnik II. Sputnik I weighed 184 pounds and Sputnik II
carried a dog into space.
·
Wham-O Company introduced the
Frisbee.
·
Over 1,000 computers were built –
up 500% from 20 built in 1954.
·
President Eisenhower used federal
troops to control integration demonstrations in Little Rock, AR.
·
The first civil rights bill since
the Civil War passed Congress - establishing the Civil Rights Commission.
·
The International Brotherhood of
Teamsters was thrown out of the AFL-CIO. Jimmy Hoffa became Teamsters chief.
·
The Wankel rotary engine, which
used only two moving parts was introduced in German and Japanese cars.
1958
·
The first section of Illinois toll
highways was opened from O’Hare Airport to the Wisconsin border.
·
A fire at Our Lady of Angels
elementary school in Chicago claimed the lives of 92 children and 3 nuns.
·
The U.S. experienced an economic
recession as unemployment exceeded 5%.
·
The median U.S. family annual
income was just over $5,000.00.
·
For the first time in 26 years,
U.S. postal rates went up to $0.04.
·
VISA and American Express cards
were introduced.
·
Sweet n’ Low was introduced using
saccharin instead of sugar and Cocoa Puffs were introduced containing 43% sugar.
·
The Boeing 707 went into
production.
·
The Brooklyn Dodgers became the Los
Angeles Dodgers.
·
The first Grammy Award was given to
the song, “Volare”.
·
The first Pizza Hut opened in
Kansas City.
·
Shell Oil Company started drilling
in Ogoni.
·
The U.S. intervened in Lebanon when
Pro-Nasser Arabs led a revolution.
·
The U.S. launched it’s first
satellite called Explorer I into space.
·
The Wham-O Company introduced the
Hula Hoop – over 1,000,000 were sold.
·
Elvis Presley was inducted into the
Army.
1959
·
The Chicago White Sox won their
first American League championship since the 1919 Black Sox scandal, but lost
the World Series to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
·
Chicago native Lorraine Hansberry
won the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for “A Raisin in the Sun”, which
was the first play by a black woman to be presented on Broadway.
·
Alaska and Hawaii were admitted to
the U.S.
·
Bell Labs experimented with
artificial intelligence.
·
Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the
Big Bopper died in a plane crash near Clear Lake, IA.
·
Fidel Castro took over the
leadership of Cuba.
·
Japan automakers produced 79,000
automobiles while Ford introduced the Falcon and American Motors the Rambler.
·
Mattel introduced Barbie to
20,000,000 baby boomers.
·
On September 4 (because of teenage
stabbings in New York City), “Mack The Knife” was banned from WCBS Radio.
·
Sony introduced the first
transistorized TV set.
·
The U.S. Nautilus traveled under
the North Pole.
·
Two U.S. engineers invented the
microchip, which led to the founding of Intel Corporation.
·
Vice President Nixon opened an
American exhibit in Moscow and engaged Premier Khrushchev with what became known
as the “Kitchen Debate”.
1960
·
World population was
3.02 billion.
·
U.S. population was
179,325,671 in 50 states.
·
Chicago population was
3,550,404 (2nd only to NYC).
·
U.S. unemployment was
3,852,000.
·
U.S. national debt was
$286.3 Billion.
·
Average US annual
salary was $4,743. For teachers it was $5,174.
·
U.S. minimum wage was
$1.00.
·
U.S. life expectancy
was 66.6 years for men and 73.1 years for women.
·
U.S. auto deaths grew
to 21.3 per 100,000.
·
An estimated 850,000
baby boomers entered college; emergency living quarters were set up in dorm
lounges, hotels and trailer camps.
·
Chester Carlson, a
patent lawyer, invented the machine that revolutionized the business world, the
Xerox 914 copier.
·
The first working laser
was built by Theodore Maiman.
·
The best class ever,
graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School.
~~~~~~~~~~
TOP SONG HITS
1956
Heartbreak Hotel
|
Elvis Presley
|
Don’t Be Cruel
|
Elvis Presley
|
Whatever
Will Be Will Be (Que Sera Sera) |
Doris Day
|
My Prayer
|
The Platters
|
The Wayward Wind
|
Gogi Grant
|
The Poor People of
Paris
|
Les Baxter
|
Lisbon Antiqua
|
Nelson Riddle
|
Hound Dog
|
Elvis Presley
|
Moonglow & Theme
from Picnic
|
Morris Stoloff
|
Rock & Roll
Waltz
|
Kay Starr
|
Memories Are Made of
This
|
Dean Martin
|
Love Me Tender
|
Elvis Presley
|
I Almost Lost My
Mind
|
Pat Boone
|
I Want You, I Need
You, I Love You
|
Elvis Presley
|
The Great Pretender
|
The Platters
|
Hot Diggity
|
Perry Como
|
Canadian Sunset
|
Eddie Heywood & Hugo
Winterhalter
|
No, Not Much
|
The Four Lads
|
The Green Door
|
Jim Lowe
|
Blue Suede Shoes
|
Elvis Presley
|
1957
All Shook Up
|
Elvis Presley
|
Bye Bye Love
|
The Everly Brothers
|
Little Darlin’
|
The Diamonds
|
Round and Round
|
Perry Como
|
So Rare
|
Jimmy Dorsey
|
Don’t Forbid Me
|
Pat Boone
|
Singing the Blues
|
Guy Mitchell
|
Young Love
|
Sonny James
|
Too Much
|
Elvis Presley
|
Young Love
|
Tab Hunter
|
Love Letters in the
Sand
|
Pat Boone
|
Tammy
|
Debbie Reynolds
|
Party Doll
|
Buddy Knox
|
Teddy Bear / Loving
You
|
Elvis Presley
|
Banana
Boat (Day-O) |
Harry Belafonte
|
You Send Me
|
Sam Cooke
|
A White Sport Coat
|
Marty Robbins
|
Come Go With Me
|
The Del Vikings
|
Wake Up Little Suzie
|
The Everly Brothers
|
Jailhouse Rock
|
Elvis Presley
|
1958
Volare
|
Domenico Modugno
|
Don’t
|
Elvis Presley
|
All I Have To Do Is
Dream
|
The Everly Brothers
|
Witch Doctor
|
David Seville
|
Patricia
|
Perez Prado |
Sail Along Silvery
Moon / Raunchy
|
Billy Vaughn
|
Catch A Falling Star
/ Magic Moments
|
Perry Como
|
Tequila
|
The Champs
|
It’s All In The
Game
|
Tommy Edwards
|
Return To Me
|
Dean Martin
|
It’s Only Make
Believe
|
Conway Twitty
|
The Purple People
Eater
|
Sheb Wooley
|
Bird Dog / Devoted
To You
|
The Everly Brothers
|
He’s Got The Whole
World In His Hands
|
Laurie London
|
Little Star
|
The Elegants
|
Stood Up / Waitin’
In School
|
Ricky Nelson
|
Get A Job
|
The Silhouettes
|
Twilight Time
|
The Platters
|
Secretly
|
Jimmie Rodgers
|
1959
Mack The Knife
|
Bobby Darin
|
The Battle Of New
Orleans
|
Johnny Horton
|
Personality
|
Lloyd Price
|
Venus
|
Frankie Avalon
|
Lonely Boy
|
Paul Anka
|
Mr. Blue
|
The Fleetwoods
|
The Three Bells
|
The Browns
|
Come Softly To Me
|
The Fleetwoods
|
Kansas City
|
Wilbert Harrison
|
Dream Lover
|
Bobby Darin
|
Sleep Walk
|
Santo & Johnny
|
Put Your Head On My
Shoulder
|
Paul Anka
|
Stagger Lee
|
Lloyd Price
|
Donna
|
Ritchie Valens
|
(‘Til)
I Kissed You |
The Everly Brothers
|
Smoke Gets In Your
Eyes
|
The Platters
|
Charuk Brown
|
The Coasters
|
Quiet Village
|
Martin Denny
|
My Heart Is An Open
Book
|
Carl Dobkins, Jr. |
Pink Shoelaces
|
Dodie Stevens
|
1960
Cathy’s Clown
|
The Everly Brothers
|
He’ll Have To Go
|
Jim Reeves
|
Theme From “A
Summer Place”
|
Percy Faith
|
It’s Now Or Never
|
Elvis Presley
|
Teen Angel
|
Mark Dinning
|
I’m Sorry
|
Brenda Lee
|
Running Bear
|
Johnny Preston
|
Handy Man
|
Jimmy Jones
|
Stuck On You
|
Elvis Presley
|
The Twist
|
Chubby Checker
|
Everbody’s
Somebody’s Fool
|
Connie Francis
|
Alley-oop
|
The Hollywood Argyles
|
Greenfields
|
The Brothers Four
|
What In The
World’s Come Over You
|
Jack Scott
|
El Paso
|
Marty Robbins
|
Wild One
|
Bobby Rydell
|
My Heart Has A Mind
Of It’s Own
|
Connie Francis
|
Sweet Nothin’s
|
Brenda Lee
|
Only The Lonely
|
Roy Orbison
|
Itsy
Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polkadot Bikini |
Brian Hyland
|