The 1950s

摘要

It was quite a Journey, wasn't it? In one year, 1946, 3.4 million Americans were born, a jump from 2.8 million just the year before (at the height of World War Ⅱ) and 2.4 million a decade earlier (in the midst of the Depression). Just five days into 1947, The Washington Post heralded the start of the baby boom, a "fruit of demobilization," although it assured readers that it wouldn't last. In fact, Americans, like any species with no natural enemies and a new ecological niche to exploit-suburbia—embarked on a wave of fecundity that lasted 19 years and added 78 million people to the world.