If someone from the 1950s suddenly appeared, what would be the mot difficult thing to explain?

[karynnj]

13. The huge social changes

As they happen slowly and with great struggle, it is easy to forget how much change there has been since 1950.

Just for starters, we have a President Barak Obama, who is black. There are several states where gays, who were very definitely in the closet in 1950 for the most part, can get married - and even have the announcement of it in the NYT. They would also be stunned by the far greater diversity in the people they see.

There are now more woman college graduates than male college graduates. In the mid 60s in Indiana when our high school Health and Guidance class was working on future careers, I was told I could not take the mathematics folder. This in spite of being a top student. (By 1972 when I graduated with a double major in math/economics the world had already changed enough that it was easy to get a job.)

The other thing that would stun them is that in 1950, there were "poor" and "wealthy" and a large range in the middle where most people were. Most of that middle group, owned a home and one car and the wives stayed home. Both the mega mansions and the dilapidated areas of towns would likely stun them.

My guess - even if returned to their home town, they likely would not recognize it and in some places guess they were in another country.