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22nd Amendement to the Constitution is ratified, limiting the president to two terms
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President Truman speaks in first coast-to-coast live television broadcast
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Puerto Rico becomes a U.S. commonwealth
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First hydrogen bomb is detonated by the U.S. on Eniwetok, an atoll in the Marshall Islands
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Dwight Eisenhower is inaugurated as the 34th president
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Julius and Ethel Rosenberg are executed for passing secret information about U.S. atomic weaponry to the Soviets
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Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy accuses army officials, members of the media, and other public figures of being Communists during highly publicized hearings
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Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kans.: Landmark Supreme Court decision declares that racial segregation in schools is unconstitutional
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Eisenhower's second inauguration
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President sends federal troops to Central High School in Little Rock, Ark., to enforce integration of black students
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Explorer I, first American satellite, is launched
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Alaska becomes the 49th state
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Hawaii becomes the 50th state
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U.S. severs diplomatic relations with Cuba