The Year was 1953.

President Dwight D Eisenhower (R) 1953-1961

The Korean war ended and thousands of men and women came home. The north sea flooded the Netherlands and many lives were lost. The United states took delivery of the first color televisions and the first Corvette went on sale. In other firsts, the first James Bond Book went on sale.

On the up side, inflation in the US was at 0.82 percent.

A new home would cost you about $9550 and if you were renting a place the cost was about 89 dollars a month for 2 bedrooms.

New York adopted a new and controversial 3 colored traffic light and the rest of the country watched to see how well it worked.

Politics – The President –a new president—Dwight David Eisenhower was inaugurated..

Population – The US population was about 166,000,000 and our life expectancy was about 68.5 years.

Crime – The murder rate was just 4 murders per 100,000.

Money – The Median Household Income was about 4,000 dollars for the average laborer.

The Minimum Wage in 1953 was $0.75 per hour, the equivalent of $7.05 per hour in 2018.

Cost of Living – Groceries were much lower in price and usually much fresher. Bacon was 44 cents a pound and eggs cost 19 cents for a dozen. A gallon of milk cost about 99 cents and a loaf of bread was approximately 18 cents. A pound of burger was 51 cents.

Postage – Sending a letter across the country would cost you $.03 in postage.

Travel – A gallon of gas cost about 20 cents.

Transportation – The top selling car in the United States was the Chevy (for nearly 20 years) and it cost about 1800 dollar for a brand new model.

Joseph Stalin died, Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay performed the first successful ascent to the summit of Mount Everest.

James D. Watson and Francis H.C. Crick announce discovery of the double-helix structure of DNA. F5 Tornado strikes Waco in Texas on May 11^th leaving 114 dead and 597 injured, The Tornado was one of the many storm disasters that showed us the need for the development of a nationwide severe weather warning system