Welcome to the 1950s, a decade of prosperity and Pontiacs, drive-ins and tail fins, bobby socks and poodle skirts. The decade saw a big swing from big bands to rock’n’roll, from highways to interstates, and two new stars on the American flag.

It was a decade of “happy days” and Hula Hoops — 25 million of which were sold by Wham-O during the first four months of production in 1958. Americans gathered around tiny TV screens each Monday at 9 p.m. to watch CBS’s top show, “I Love Lucy” (1951-1957), sponsored by Philip Morris cigarettes.

In 1951, the irrepressible Betty White received her very first Best Actress Emmy nomination in what would be a seven-decade career. Golfer Arnold Palmer emerged as the sport’s first TV star, and in 1956, Nat King Cole became the first African American to host a nationally broadcast variety show.

Yet behind the facade of youthful joie de vivre, scientific, political and social changes were underway. The decade would bring an intensification of the Cold War, changes in the nation’s infrastructure and the legal end of racial segregation — though that fight had only just begun.

With the postwar manufacturing of consumer goods on the rise, government investment in the nation’s infrastructure, low unemployment (under 5% for most of the decade) and rising wages, Americans welcomed a period of economic growth and the rise of the middle class.

The average family income of $3,300 in 1950 rose to $5,400 in 1959, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, giving families more spending power than in previous generations.

Driven by advertising and other cultural trends, it was a time when the “ownership of goods became equated with success and happiness,” according to author Valerie Forgeard.

One of the most popular purchases of the 1950s was the television.

From the humble 12-15-inch television set found in fewer than 20% of American homes in 1950, both screens and usage grew — to about 19 inches and nearly 90% of American households by the decade’s end. Vice President Richard Nixon touted the industry’s rapid advancements, demonstrating RCA’s new color television technology to Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev at a 1959 exhibition in Moscow.

Americans also were buying cars, boosting their mobility and independence.

The number of registered automobiles surged from about 40 million in 1950 to more than 59 million in 1959 — a nearly 50% increase, according to Federal Highway Administration statistics.

Cars of the 1950s weren’t just vehicles, however. They featured space-age-style tail fins, chrome and vibrant colors — a far cry from their parents’ sober black sedans.

Considered unsafe by today’s standards, those cars carried Americans farther than ever before thanks to the nation’s new 41,000-mile interstate highway system, approved by President Dwight D. Eisenhower. The first section to be completed was a stretch of Interstate 70, opened Nov. 14, 1956, just west of Topeka, Kan.

The 1950s witnessed another significant change: the baby boom. Births exceeded 4 million for the first time in 1954, a trend that continued until 1964.

With more babies, mobility and money to spend, many Americans looked for more space and a better quality of life in the nation’s growing suburbs, complete with recreational facilities, civic organizations and shopping malls. The first enclosed mall, in fact, attracted more than 200,000 visitors in its first week, as reported by the New York Times, in 1956. By 1960, there were 4,500 malls across the U.S., according to World Atlas.

It’s important to note that the prosperity of the 1950s didn’t help everyone. Nearly 40 million Americans, or about 22% of the population, were living in poverty.

African American families were disproportionately part of this group. In fact, researcher Richard B. Freeman found that African American workers of the 1950s made less than 60% of the average U.S. worker, and African American unemployment rates were more than double that of white workers.

With a surge of young people and rising disposable income, the music industry targeted a youth market eager for danceable tunes and a new musical ethos influenced by blues, country and gospel. This blending of cultural traditions reflected or even anticipated other social and political changes.

Teenagers crowded record stores to pick up the latest “bop” on a “45,” a 7-inch vinyl record that rotated on a turntable at 45 RPM.

Although big band legends like Duke Ellington and Count Basie maintained their popularity with performances on television and radio, rock ‘n’ rollers like Elvis Presley (“Jailhouse Rock,” 1957), Sam Cooke (“You Send Me,” 1957) and “American Bandstand” 1958’s “best female vocalist” Connie Francis (“Who’s Sorry Now?” 1957) took danceability and romance to a whole new level.

Smooth harmonies were the trademark sound of trailblazing vocal groups that smashed gender and racial barriers for mainstream success. The Platters gained fame with hits like “Only You” (1955) and “The Great Pretender” (1955), while The Chordettes topped the charts with “Mr. Sandman” (1954) and “Lollipop” (1958).

Shortly thereafter, Berry Gordy Jr. — and the rest of America — struck gold with the 1959 launch of Motown Records, in Detroit, the first Black-owned record label. The “Motown Sound” would launch some of the biggest names in music for decades to come.

However, 1959 marked a grim milestone for the music world when “That’ll Be the Day” singer Charles “Buddy” Holly, 22; “La Bamba” singer Ritchie Valens, 17; and “Chantilly Lace” singer “The Big Bopper” Richardson, 28, died in a plane crash on Feb. 3 — known as the “day the music died.”

The idyllic “happy days” of the 1950s pop culture scene stood in stark contrast to the serious military, technological and political developments of the decade.

World War II had left the future of the Korean peninsula in question, as the U.S.S.R. occupied the northern portion and the U.S. occupied the south, with a border along the 38th parallel north.

Amid rising fears of Soviet expansion, known as the Red Scare, the popular 1947 Truman Doctrine had promised to provide aid to any democratic country under communist threat. So after North Korean forces invaded South Korea in June 1950, the U.S. and its United Nations allies sent troops to “contain” the threat.

The U.S. Department of Defense notes that the war was the first test of Air Force combat capabilities, including the first use of jet fighters in combat, after the new military branch was created in 1947. Korea also was the first conflict fought by fully integrated U.S. military units.

A 1953 armistice ended the conflict but left larger geopolitical conflicts unresolved. It reestablished the border between North and South Korea near its post-World War II position. This agreement also established a roughly 2.5-mile-wide Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) to separate the two nations — ironically, one of the most militarized areas in the world despite its name.

Of nearly 2 million U.S. troops who served in the war, more than 36,000 died and more than 103,000 were wounded. The DOD estimates nearly 7,500 are still unaccounted for as of this year.

Meanwhile, the threat of nuclear war loomed as the U.S. and U.S.S.R. developed advanced atomic weapons.

At home, “duck-and-cover” drills taught schoolchildren how to protect themselves in the event of a nuclear attack.

While many Americans were concerned with overseas threats, African Americans were also confronting issues within their own country.

Segregation was pervasive in the 1950s, with “Colored-only” restrooms, waiting rooms, restaurants, schools and even hospital entrances. While these facilities were often marked by signs in the South, de facto segregation also persisted in the north.

Racial violence also was pervasive. Even though no lynchings were reported in the U.S. in 1952 — the first time since 1882, according to a report from The Tuskegee Institute — plenty of other forms of violence continued. And lynchings would pick up again the next year.

Among the most high-profile cases was the vicious 1955 murder of 14-year-old Emmett Till by two white men in Money, Miss., after he allegedly spoke to a white woman. Emmett’s mother held an open-casket funeral to display the violence inflicted on her son. The tragedy generated widespread media attention.

Three months later, an activist named Rosa Parks, in a planned act of social disobedience, refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white man during a busy Dec. 1, 1955, commute in Montgomery, Ala. The ensuing 13-month boycott led to the desegregation of Montgomery’s public buses, marking an important early victory for the civil rights movement.

Other legal victories followed, including the Supreme Court’s 1954 decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kan. This landmark ruling outlawed segregation by overturning the 1896 “separate-but-equal” doctrine, declaring that segregation was “inherently unequal.”

But legal victories weren’t always enough.

In 1957, three years after the Brown decision, President Eisenhower deployed the National Guard and 1,000 soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division to protect nine African American students enrolling at the formerly all-white Central High School in Little Rock, Ark. — reversing the order of the governor to keep the students out.

Many Americans were caught off-guard when the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1, Earth’s first artificial satellite, on Oct. 4, 1957, followed by Sputnik 2 — carrying a dog named Laika, who did not survive — in November. The missions demonstrated the U.S.S.R.’s superior missile technology — not to mention a credible threat to U.S. security.

The Space Race was on.

The U.S. immediately accelerated its military and scientific space program. Following a failed U.S. Navy launch attempt in December, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory-designed Explorer 1 successfully reached space from Cape Canaveral in Florida on Jan. 31, 1958. The 30-pound satellite carried a variety of scientific instrumentation and generated data for nearly three months.

The Space Race also prompted Congress, in 1958, to create the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to coordinate the nation’s efforts.

Human space exploration was one of the priorities of the new agency.

In April 1959, NASA introduced its first group of astronauts, the Mercury Seven. These experienced pilots trained for spaceflight by working on spacecraft, conducting simulations and contributing their expertise in areas such as navigation, electronics and control systems. Alan Shepard would become the first American in space in 1961.

With shopping malls, hot rods and space-age toys, the 1950s was the perfect time to launch a new way to pay.

Introduced in 1950, a cardboard Diners Club Card allowed its initial 200 New York users to purchase meals and hotel rooms at a grand total of 14 local merchants without cash, according to Diners Club International. The balance was to be paid monthly.

The handy “charge card” was a hit, expanding astronomically to 20,000 users by year’s end. In 1951, the card was accepted in other U.S. cities and even in Canada, Cuba, Mexico and the U.K., surging to 42,000 users, according to an article by Capital One.

American Express and Bank of America joined the race in 1958. American Express issued the first plastic cards in 1959, and the BankAmericard later became Visa.

From Frank Loesser’s 1950 urban tale about New York City’s streetwise “Guys and Dolls” to Alfred Hitchcock’s 1959 spy thriller “North by Northwest,” audiences of the 1950s were treated to a “golden age” of theater and film.

In an era marked by exceptional talent in front and behind the curtain, some of Broadway’s most memorable hits, like Leonard Bernstein’s 1957 “West Side Story” and Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein’s 1951 “The King and I,” focused on the meeting of cultures.

At the cinema, grandiose productions drove the box office. Several, including the decade’s most profitable film, “The Ten Commandments” (1956), directed by Cecil B. DeMille and starring Charlton Heston, reimagined classic stories. Other top performers included 1959’s sweeping “Ben Hur,” showcasing advancements in filmmaking techniques in the areas of special effects, sound design and cinematography.

Speaking of new techniques, Disney produced four of the decade’s top 10 grossing movies, including “Cinderella” (1950) and “Peter Pan” (1953).

In an era obsessed with pop culture and image, celebrities were constantly in the headlines.

Love was in the air. Sen. John F. Kennedy married Jacqueline Bouvier on Sept. 12, 1953. Actress Marilyn Monroe married New York Yankees slugger Joe DiMaggio Jan. 14, 1954 — just 274 days before their Oct. 15 divorce. And “Rear Window” actress Grace Kelly married Prince Ranier III of Monaco in a fairy-tale wedding on April 19, 1956, an event watched live on television by more than 30 million people worldwide.

Among celebrity deaths was influential country music figure Hiram “Hank” Williams, 29, who died of heart failure Jan. 1, 1953, on his way to a show in Canton, Ohio. Iconic jazz bandleader and saxophonist Charlie “Yardbird” Parker, 34, died March 12, 1955, from pneumonia. Later that year, “Rebel Without a Cause” actor James Dean, 24, died Sept. 30, when his Porsche 550 Spyder collided head-on with another car.

Also in the 1950s, America said its first hello to Charles Schultz’s Peanuts gang (1950) and Mattel’s Barbie (1959). Disneyland opened in 1955, with a construction price tag of $17 million. And the first McDonald’s opened in 1955 in Des Plaines, Ill., where hungry customers could snag a burger and fries for just $0.25.

Katrina Jesick Quinn is a contributing writer for the Butler Eagle and a professor at Slippery Rock University. She is an editor of “From the Arctic to the Orient: Adventure Journalism in the Gilded Age” (McFarland) and “The Civil War Soldier and the Press” (Routledge).