What were the socio political events occuring in New York during the 1940s and 50s?
I was able to find the following website link which details the issues in New York for the years mentioned above, so I hope you will find it helps. Since the 2nd World War had just ended (1945) the aftermath was affecting many countries, as the Cold War had caused a great deal of spy-networks to be formed. Since you didn’t specify New York City in your question, the link below covers the State of New York, which would cover a much wider area. I hope you find the link of use, I didn’t really cover this period, so I can’t really say a lot about it.