essay #1

Some instances where technology has played a major role in the 1950’s and the 1960’s could be for example WFPL-FM has its first broadcast on February 18, 1950. Louisville Free Public Library became the first public library to own and operate a radio station. So that would be a big thing that helped people in the 50’s. Also, Subscriber trunk dialing (STD) was introduced in the mid-1960s, allowing people to directly dial long-distance areas. This replaced the previous system where the phone user would dial the operator, who would then place the call they wanted to make. Also in 1956 the television brought a moving picture into peoples homes. Which was a huge improvement from what people had to use to entertainment or news. For one example that goes along with what we’ve done in class would be television in the Vietnam War, it all started between communist North Vietnam and democratic South Vietnam after the end of French occupation in 1959. The United States and its allies, including Australia, were afraid of the outbreak of communism and wanted to make sure it would be a victory. Along with America, Australia put thousands of military soldiers into Vietnam. Altogether, around 50,000 Australians served in the conflict between 1965 and 1972. For the first time in history, the technology of television brought images of the war directly into people's homes. Television news showed sometimes horrifying events of the conflict night after night, it caused major talk about the war. As a result though, many people liked the idea of the whole seeing everything that’s going on in the war because that way even though it was scary they all knew it was fake or rumors of what they were hearing.