# What would surprise someone from 1959? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 14, 2009, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-surprise-someone-from-1959/517585 "2009-11-14T20:17:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2009, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-surprise-someone-from-1959/517585/41 "2009-11-15T15:52:06Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > Do your banking, pay your bills. And if you have the where with all, purchase pretty much anything and have it shipped to your house in a day or two. Oh yeah. Buying by mail in the 50’s was **slow**. Fill out a paper order form, mail it with a check (unless the seller required a money order) and then wait 4-6 weeks (or longer) to get the item. But we did have C.O.D., and I’m not sure if C.O.D. exists anymore. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2009, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-surprise-someone-from-1959/517585/42 "2009-11-15T16:00:36Z")
That after going to the moon for a while in the 70’s, we just stopped. The peaceful collapse of the USSR. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2009, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-surprise-someone-from-1959/517585/43 "2009-11-15T16:02:37Z")
I think some of the more mundane close to home stuff would shock them more than a lack of space travel or still having coal fired power plants. A TV in 1959 (if you had one) was usually a huge piece of furniture with a relatively small screen. Today my TV is just a few inches thick. Overall it is larger than '59’s console and except for a small border all screen. It hangs on the wall. Picture the look on someone from 1959’s face when he/she sees this large black rectangle and asks what it is. A TV and I turn it on. No snow, perfect color (color TVs in 1959 SUCKED) and more than 3 channels. Our time traveler would be blown away. Then just for giggles, I pop in a Blu-ray and show them just how good it can be. :eek: Or take cars. Our guest would be blown away by the change in the automobile. No manual choke, seat belts, air bags, nav systems, CD players, rear seat entertainment systems, standard A/C on all but the cheapest cars. Climate control on the more expensive cars. Lane departure warning systems, adaptive cruise control, ABS, service schedules that are so much further apart than was the norm back then jst to name a few of the changes. They don’t fly, but by comparison they are pretty amazing. Oh and self serve gas would probably be a surprise. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2009, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-surprise-someone-from-1959/517585/44 "2009-11-15T16:21:10Z")
> [@AuntiePam](#): > > Oh yeah. Buying by mail in the 50’s was **slow**. Fill out a paper order form, mail it with a check (unless the seller required a money order) and then wait 4-6 weeks (or longer) to get the item. But we did have C.O.D., and I’m not sure if C.O.D. exists anymore. Yes, C.O.D. still exists. It’s pretty rare, though. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2009, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-surprise-someone-from-1959/517585/45 "2009-11-15T16:21:38Z")
What would surprise this person? Plenty. What would _anger_ this person? Probably that you plucked them out just before the sexual revoution erased social constraints, and dropped them back in when career obligations, STD’s, mistrust, etc. replaced them. ---
**Author:** ![Projammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/projammer/32/559_2.png) [@Projammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Projammer)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2009, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-surprise-someone-from-1959/517585/46 "2009-11-15T17:19:59Z")
Economics. The average household [income in 1959](https://www.census.gov/hhes/www/income/histinc/state/state2.html) was $5660 (about 27,632 today) and the wife was a stay at home mom. In 1999 it was $50k with both spouses working by necessity and SAH moms are the exception rather than the rule. [Gas was $.25 a gallon.](http://www.fiftiesweb.com/pop/prices-1959.htm) Milk was a dollar And a nice house was 30k SAH dads would have been the object of pity or ridicule. If our 1959 citizen was knowledgable in finance, the national debt was around [285 billion](http://www.treasurydirect.gov/govt/reports/pd/histdebt/histdebt_histo4.htm). Today it is 11.5 trillion and growing at about a trillion a year. ---
**Author:** ![voguevixen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5ac83/32.png) [@voguevixen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voguevixen)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2009, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-surprise-someone-from-1959/517585/47 "2009-11-15T17:29:35Z")
I was thinking something like the Kindle, or a similar ebook reader. That’s a really “future-y” thing to me. Hundreds of books on a mini-computer (plus the Kindle has rudimentary web surfing. _I_ was surprised to find that out!) How about the fact that most things that would once be a major investment (like a television) are now cheaper to throw away and replace than to have repaired? ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2009, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-surprise-someone-from-1959/517585/48 "2009-11-15T17:53:33Z")
That we’re fighting overseas but don’t have a standing draft to supply the manpower. “Don’t you love your country?” That the US can lack either the will or the ability to decisively win a war. (ETA: well maybe less surprising since the example of Korea, but still…) That abortion can’t be flatly prohibited, and that teenage girls can get birth control. That whites can actually like and adopt facets of black and hispanic culture. That even the mildest forms of violence such as spanking children are now completely forbidden. That rape and incest are actually talked about out loud. That useful chemicals like Freon and DDT can be banned because of environmental concerns. That people panic over exposure to even tiny quantities of things like mercury and radon. That Islam is a potent force in modern geopolitics, rather than the formerly-important religion of some backward peoples. That fuel economy is the number-one consideration in automobiles. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2009, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-surprise-someone-from-1959/517585/49 "2009-11-15T17:58:27Z")
> [@Projammer](#): > > Milk was a dollar A dollar per what? Could you buy gallon jugs in the store back then? Lately it’s been about $3/gal, so if you meant the gallon price that seems quite expensive for then. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2009, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-surprise-someone-from-1959/517585/50 "2009-11-15T18:23:53Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > That whites can actually like and adopt facets of black and hispanic culture. Because no white people liked jazz, Little Richard, or Latino bands in 1959? A lot of your list was totally valid. Not this. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2009, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-surprise-someone-from-1959/517585/51 "2009-11-15T18:25:23Z")
> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > A dollar per what? Could you buy gallon jugs in the store back then? Lately it’s been about $3/gal, so if you meant the gallon price that seems quite expensive for then. Around here, it’s been $2/gal for months ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2009, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-surprise-someone-from-1959/517585/52 "2009-11-15T18:33:13Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > That abortion can’t be flatly prohibited, and that teenage girls can get birth control. Abortion was by no means universally prohibited prior to _Roe v. Wade_ - some states did permit it, with varying degrees of restriction. And remember - the birth control pill didn’t arrive until 1960. Aside from condoms, birth control options were quite limited for _everyone_. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2009, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-surprise-someone-from-1959/517585/53 "2009-11-15T19:09:01Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > …Smart phones. A long distance phone call was a big deal in 1959. Now we don’t bat an eye. Take a picture and send it to your Aunt Martha and she receives it and views it even though she may be miles from home. And the sender, doesn’t even know where she is. How about the fact that despite having the technology to make videophones widespread they aren’t. People really prefer audio-only communication for the most things and that shows little sign of changing. [QUOTE=Broomstick] …And remember - the birth control pill didn’t arrive until 1960. Aside from condoms, birth control options were quite limited for everyone. [/QUOTE] How about condoms being openly available in nearly every kind of store? In 1959 you could only buy them in pharmacies and had to actually go up to the pharmacist and ask him to get them from behind the counter. Didn’t they still have the warning “For disease prevention only on them” back then? Now days I can find several varieties sitting on the shelf in any supermarket. Diaphrams did exist in 1959, but like other forms of contraception they were something a doctor discussed in private with his married female patients and only prescribed with her husband’s consent. Remember that scene in the pilot of Mad Men when Joan arranges for Peggy to see a gynecologist willing to prescribe BC pills and he very directly warns her not to gthink she has to goo fucking guys left and right to get h"er money’s worth"? ---
**Author:** ![Skylark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Skylark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skylark)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2009, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-surprise-someone-from-1959/517585/54 "2009-11-15T19:20:01Z")
> [@FriarTed](#): > > Because no white people liked jazz, Little Richard, or Latino bands in 1959? > > A lot of your list was totally valid. Not this. Not like today. 1959 wasn’t far from the time it was common practice for popular black songs to be re-recorded by more ‘acceptable’ white singers. ---
**Author:** ![wedgehed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8edcca/32.png) [@wedgehed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wedgehed)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2009, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-surprise-someone-from-1959/517585/55 "2009-11-15T21:24:19Z")
I think digital photography would be an eye opener for them. What? No film? No waiting a week to see your photos? Hell, I was born in 1957 & I think digital cameras are about the coolest thing I’ve ever seen. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2009, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-surprise-someone-from-1959/517585/56 "2009-11-15T21:34:02Z")
The 24/7/365 society. Back in 1959, TV went off the air and stores were closed after a certain hour and on certain days. That cancer is now discussed in open society, never mind abortion and AIDS. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2009, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-surprise-someone-from-1959/517585/57 "2009-11-15T21:52:02Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > The 24/7/365 society. Back in 1959, TV went off the air and stores were closed after a certain hour and on certain days… Good point. My mother’s told me how hard it was buying even basic staples like milk or bread on Sunday as late as the 1970s in this state. My grandparents owned a general store and they cover at least half the shelves in their store with tarps, rope off an entire section, and keep written lists of what they could sell people at the register (no barcodes). They could only open for a few hours, but were always swamped (what with being one of the only places in the county open). It wasn’t until the 21st century that our liquor stores could open (even now we only have a 5 hr window). ---
**Author:** ![MLS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2009, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-surprise-someone-from-1959/517585/58 "2009-11-15T23:14:07Z")
I was 13 in 1959, so I guess I count as being “from” then. I am still pleasantly amazed that kids get vaccinations for measles, mumps, and especially polio and don’t have to worry about that. Actually a boatload of medical improvements since then would have me cheering. Every time I go to the dentist now I cannot help thinking of the comparative horrors of 1959 dentistry, and we had a \*good \*dentist then. The ubiquity of computers, for sure, as others have mentioned. The very idea that a woman – wearing pants! – was considered a credible option for president, and that instead the U.S. selected a black man would be a shock to your instantaneous time-traveler. No, wait, a man who was the result of **horrors** miscegenation! His white mother voluntarily married a black man! ---
**Author:** ![gravitycrash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@gravitycrash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gravitycrash)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2009, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-surprise-someone-from-1959/517585/59 "2009-11-15T23:37:52Z")
Gotta gripe? Lawsuit! Child under performing in school? ADD, ADHD, SAD, or some other acronym. Spanking? At the very least emotional distress and probably physical abuse which will take years of therapy to get over. No dodge ball and no jungle gyms? More lawsuits probably or little Susie accidentally hits little Johnny in the nuts while playing dodge ball causing undo embarrassment and probable emotional scarring to little Johnny. No picking teams? It sucks being picked last. Don’t say anything that could cause someone to be offended? Best to just shut up. The pussification of America. It’s okay, the world likes us better now. Yes I am having a bad day, if you were curious. Maybe I have SAD. And **Lumpy** started it so blame him. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![dhkendall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a9adbd/32.png) [@dhkendall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dhkendall)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2009, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-surprise-someone-from-1959/517585/60 "2009-11-15T23:37:58Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > Political shifts would probably be surprising in the 1950s the south was mostly democratic and the northeast and west were more republican. Now the south is almost pure republican and the west and northeast are almost pure democratic. It’d be like going to 2059 and finding New England and California are GOP strongholds and Alabama the heart of the democratic party. For some reason, this surprises me too even though I’m Canadian and was born in the early 70s, for some reason I always think of the South as a Democratic stronghold. Why? The Soviet Union falling peacefully seemed to be one of the biggest shock for the characters in [Blast from the Past](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0124298/), who were in a nuclear fallout shelter from 1964 to 1999. (That, and I think the permissiveness of society and its sexual mores) > [@MLS](#): > > The very idea that a woman – wearing pants! – was considered a credible option for president, and that instead the U.S. selected a black man would be a shock to your instantaneous time-traveler. No, wait, a man who was the result of **horrors** miscegenation! His white mother voluntarily married a black man! Keep in mind his mother voluntarily married a black man just over a year after 1959, it may not have been common, but it wasn’t really uncommon either I’m guessing. (Were Obama’s parents married in secret in February 1961?) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-surprise-someone-from-1959/517585.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-surprise-someone-from-1959/517585.md?page=4)