Consumer prices rose 1.9% in 1952, down sharply from 1951’s 7.9% as the price and wage controls imposed the year before held the cost of living in check even with the Korean War still underway. Labor strife tested those controls that spring: to head off a strike that could have disrupted war production, President Truman ordered the government to seize the steel industry that April, over the objections of steel companies fighting the price the Office of Price Stabilization had set for their product. The Supreme Court ruled the seizure unconstitutional in Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer that June, a landmark limit on presidential power, and steelworkers then struck for 53 days before a settlement. Politics delivered the year’s biggest change that November: Dwight Eisenhower defeated Adlai Stevenson, promising to “go to Korea” to end the war and returning Republicans to the White House for the first time since 1933. The Cold War’s technological edge sharpened that same month, when the United States tested the first hydrogen bomb at Enewetak Atoll on November 1, a device hundreds of times more powerful than the atomic bombs used against Japan in 1945. Consumer prices finished 1952 167.7% above their 1913 level. First-class postage held at 3 cents, and the minimum wage stayed at 75 cents an hour.
Year in review
Inflation in 1952
The U.S. inflation rate in 1952 was 1.9% (CPI: 26.5). Convert 1952 dollars to today →
1.9% 1952 inflation rate
2.1% 1950s average
4.3% peak month (Jan)
0.8% lowest month (Dec)
What things cost in 1952
| First-class stamp | $0.03 |
|---|---|
| Federal minimum wage | $0.75 |
What $100 from 1952 was worth later
| In 1960 | $112 |
|---|---|
| In 1970 | $146 |
| In 1980 | $311 |
| In 1990 | $493 |
| In 2000 | $650 |
| In 2010 | $823 |
| In 2020 | $977 |
| In 2026 | $1,252 |
Inflation in 1952, month by month
| Month | CPI-U | 12-month rate |
|---|---|---|
| January | 26.5 | 4.3% |
| February | 26.3 | 2.3% |
| March | 26.3 | 1.9% |
| April | 26.4 | 2.3% |
| May | 26.4 | 1.9% |
| June | 26.5 | 2.3% |
| July | 26.7 | 3.1% |
| August | 26.7 | 3.1% |
| September | 26.7 | 2.3% |
| October | 26.7 | 1.9% |
| November | 26.7 | 1.1% |
| December | 26.7 | 0.8% |
Economic events of 1952
- Consumer prices rise 1.9% as wartime controls hold Price and wage controls imposed the year before kept the cost of living rising far slower than 1951's 7.9%, even with the Korean War still underway.
- Truman seizes the steel mills, and the Supreme Court says no To head off a strike during the war, President Truman ordered the government to take over the steel industry that April; the Supreme Court ruled the seizure unconstitutional in Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer that June, and steelworkers then struck for 53 days.
- Eisenhower wins the presidency, ending 20 years of Democratic control Dwight Eisenhower defeated Adlai Stevenson on November 4, promising to "go to Korea" to end the war and returning Republicans to the White House for the first time since 1933.
- The United States tests the first hydrogen bomb The "Ivy Mike" test on November 1 at Enewetak Atoll in the Pacific demonstrated a thermonuclear weapon hundreds of times more powerful than the atomic bombs used in 1945, escalating the arms race with the Soviet Union.
Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Price Index history; Supreme Court of the United States, Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer (1952); National Archives (1952 election); U.S. Department of Energy, Office of History and Heritage Resources (Ivy Mike test).
Inflation figures: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, CPI-U annual averages. See the methodology.