I was taking a quick look online about this, so evidently circumcision was a routine operation in the US during the fifties (I always assumed it to be an exclusively religious thing). I don't think that's the case anywhere else in the world.

Apparently it initially became popular in the US as a means of inhibiting the corrupting dangers of "self abuse" or masturbation in young boys, but later gained currency as a means to prevent all kinds of supposed health problems from epilepsy to bed-wetting!