When Polio Triggered and Panic Among Parents in the 1950s

Volker Janssen is a professor of California State University Fullerton who&nbsp;specializes in the social, economic, and institutional history of California.

Volker Janssen

Volker Janssen is a professor of California State University Fullerton who&nbsp;specializes in the social, economic, and institutional history of California.

Volker Janssen Archives | HISTORY

Home

HISTORY

World War II was the biggest and deadliest war in history, involving more than 30 countries. Sparked by the 1939 Nazi invasion of Poland, the war dragged on for six bloody years until the Allies defeated the Axis powers of Nazi Germany, Japan and Italy in 1945. Explore the battles, leaders and atrocities from the war and its impact on geopolitics and humankind.

World War II

The 1950s were a decade marked by the post-World War II boom, the dawn of the Cold War and the civil rights movement in the United States. At this time the U.S. economy was booming and more (mostly white) Americans could afford new cars, suburban houses and other consumer goods. But the 1950s also saw great conflict and division, from the nascent civil rights movement to the crusade against communism at home and abroad in the Korean War.

1950s

Paranormal activity refers to any event or situation outside the scope of modern scientific reasoning, such as UFO sightings, the Roswell crash, the predictions of Nostradamus and other curiosities.

Volker Janssen

Stories

When Polio Triggered Fear and Panic Among Parents in the 1950s

Why Was Dresden So Heavily Bombed?

How the ‘Little Green Men’ Phenomenon Began on a Kentucky Farm

California Wildfires Have Been Fought by Prisoners Since World War II