The spirit of '56: liberal baby boomers cherish the notion that 1968 was the year that America got interesting and weird. Nonsense--1956 had it all, man.(CULTURE)

AMERICA TURNS 50 THIS YEAR--the America, that is, that we recognize as ours. It was half a century ago that our new founding fathers made their debut on the national stage: Martin Luther King Jr., John F. Kennedy, Elvis Presley. The latter, per Life's August 27, 1956, issue, was "Elvis--A Different Kind of Idol": a different idol for a different America.

The chronicler--or maybe even the Tom Paine--of this new New World was the 31-year-old Swiss-born photographer Robert Frank. "I am photographing how Americans live, have fun, eat, drive cars, work, etc.," ...

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