Baby Boom.

The 1950s was a decade of unprecedented economic and population growth for the United States. The baby boom that had begun in the years immediately following World War II continued well into the decade. From 1948 to 1953 more children were born than in the previous thirty years, and in 1954 the country experienced the largest one-year population gain in history. Some experts worried about society's ability to handle the added burden of so many new Americans. But each new American was also a new consumer, and most people thought optimistically that the high birthrate would help to support the expanding economy.

Immigration.

Adding to the burgeoning population was a steady flow of immigrants, including war refugees from World War II and war brides from Korea. In the fifteen years after the Korean War, seventeen thousand Koreans immigrated to the country, many the wives and children of American soldiers...