The "shoe thing" was in 1960.
For me, the fifties ended chronologically on December 31, 1959, a sunny and cold and snowy day in Big Bear Lake, Calif.--the lake was frozen, so we could walk out onto it, and the ground was covered with snow. Politically and culturally, I would say the fifties ended on January 20, 1961, a cold and overcast Friday in Whittier, Calif.
Yes, I hear you.
I was only 8 years old when the fifties chronologically ended, and was still quite politically naive.