When John McCain Was 20 Years Old. Can you relate ?

1956 the increase in living standards and the focus on education helped to fuel the increase in college education with 1 in 3 high school graduates now going off to college. TV shows included "As The World Turns" and "The Price is Right". Mothers could now buy disposable diapers and tefal non stick Frying Pans. Elvis Presley appears on the Ed Sullivan show and enters the music charts for the first time, with "Heartbreak Hotel".

Cost Of Living 1956

How Much things cost in 1956
Yearly Inflation Rate USA 1.52%
Yearly Inflation Rate UK 4.7% 4.7%
Average Cost of new house $11.700.00
Average Monthly Rent $88.00
Average Yearly Wages $4.450.00
Cost of a gallon of Gas 22 cents
Average Cost of a new car $2,050.00$2,050.00
Ground Coffee per LB 85 Cents
Below are some Prices for UK guides in Pounds Stirling

Average House Price 2,280

What Events Happened In 1956

Suez Crisis caused by the Egyptian Nationalization of the Suez Canal
Suez Crisis causes petrol rationing in Britain.
The First C.N.D. Marches take place at Aldermarston
Rock and Roll Dance Craze sweeps the World
Prince Ranier of Monaco marries Grace Kelly
Pakistan becomes Islamic Republic
Alabama Bus segregation laws declared illegal by US Supreme Court
Continued independence granted for colonies in Africa from Britain and France
US Carries Out H Bomb Tests Bikini Atoll
Warsaw Pact troops invade Hungary during the The Hungarian October Revolution .
Elvis Presley releases his first hit
Premium Bonds introduced in England to encourage saving
British naval diver "Buster" Crabb Found Dead following covert diving operation on Russian Cruiser
The Summer Olympics are held in Melbourne, Australia
Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 signed into law on 29th June for the construction of 41,000 miles of interstate highways over a 20-year period
16 year old Pelejoins Brazil's Santos team
Eight ***** students refused entry to Sturgis High School in Sturgis Kentucky,
52 people die when the Italian passenger liner S.S. Andrea Doria collides on July 25th off Nantucket Island, Mass. with the Swedish liner S.S. Stockholm.
The Winter Olympic Games are held in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy

Popular Culture

Rocky Marciano retires as the only undefeated Heavyweight Champion of the world with a perfect record
Elvis Presley enters the US music charts for the first time, with " Heartbreak Hotel. " the first of 170 hit singles
Elvis Presley appears on The Ed Sullivan Show for the first time
Elvis Presley's first movie, "Love Me Tender" opens in New York
Diamonds Are Forever is published by Ian Fleming
"My Fair Lady" opens on Broadway starring Julie Andrews as Eliza Doolittle and Rex Harrison as Professor Higgins.
The first half-hour serial "As the World Turns" begins on CBS.
Popular Films

Guys and Dolls
The King and I
Trapeze
High Society
Around the World in Eighty Days
Popular Musicians

Elvis Presley
Bill Haley and the Comets
Chuck Berry
Jerry Lee Lewis
Johnny Cash
Ella Fitzgerald
Dean Martin

Technology 1956

First hard disk (5MB) invented by IBM.


Black-and-white portable TV sets hit the market


The first Transatlantic Telephone Cable goes in operation


The first commercial videotape recorder the VR-1000 from Ampex Corp goes on sale.


Tefal starts producing non stick Frying Pans


Oral Vaccine developed against Polio by Albert Sabin


Sony exports it's first products to Canada a Transistor Radio


Inventions Invented by Inventors and Country ( or attributed to First Use )
Nuclear Power England first power station at Calder Hall
Video Tape USA
Video Recorder USA

I was sweet sixteen that year....oh how i remember everything you had on your question.
we had a coal heater, no running water, but we did have electric and TV. There were 11 of us kids and we had the best life. we may have not had lots of money but we had great Christmas's and play with each other all day..today kids don't play out side together.
and dinner was at 6 PM with everyone sitting at the table.

Yeah, I think that was the last year my father had to go on strike, because we had 8 years of Democratic prosperity after Ike's term was up.

wat the heck?

Can I relate to that, of course not, it's not my reality and never was.
Are you trying to imply that since I cannot relate to the way things were when he was young that he cannot relate to what people of today go through? Because if that is the case you would be correct.