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Harry Truman
President of the United Staes -
Colored T.V.
CBS broadcast the very first commercial color TV program. Unfortunately, nearly no one could watch it on their black-and-white televisions. -
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Took office as the United States 34 President -
Playboy
27-year-old Hugh Hefner published the very first Playboy magazine. This first edition of Playboy was 44-pages long and had no date on its cover because Hefner wasn't sure there would be a second edition. -
Desegregation of School
Racial segregation in public schools is declared unconstitutional by the United States Supreme Court in Brown vs. the Board of Education. The ruling of the court stated that racial segregation violated the 14th Amendment's clause that guaranteed equal protection. The Monroe School in Topeka, Kansas had segregated Linda Brown in its classes. -
McCarthyism
the United States Senate voted 65 to 22 to condemn Joseph McCarthy for "conduct that tends to bring the Senate into dishonor and disrepute". -
Disneyland
Disneyland opened for a few thousand specially invited visitors; the following day, Disneyland officially opened to the public. Disneyland, located in Anaheim, California on what used to be a 160-acre orange orchard, cost $17 million to build. The original park included Main Street, Adventureland, Frontierland, Fantasyland, and Tomorrowland. -
Rosa Parks
Rosa Parks, a 42-year-old African-American seamstress, refused to give up her seat to a white man while riding on a city bus in Montgomery, Alabama. Her refusal to leave her seat sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott and is considered the beginning of the modern Civil Rights Movement. -
Explorer 1
The first U.S. satellite, successfully orbits the earth -
Alaska
Alaska is admitted to the United States as the 49th state -
Hawaii
Hawaii was admitted as the 50th state of the United States -
United States Flag
The fifty star flag of the United States is debuted in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, reflecting the admission of Hawaii into the union in 1959. -
John F. Kennedy
Elected as the 35 preisdent of the Unted States -
"I Have a Dream"
The Civil Rights march on Washington, D.C. for Jobs and Freedom culminates with Dr. Martin Luther King's famous "I Have a Dream" speech from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. Over 200,000 people participated in the march for equal rights. -
Lyndon B. Johnson
Became the 36th president after the assasination of John F. Kennedy -
John F. Kennedy Assasination
President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas -
Thurgood Marshall
Thurgood Marshall is sworn into office as the first black Supreme Court Justice. -
Death of Martin Luther King
Civil Rights leader Martin Luther King is assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee while standing on a motel balcony by James Earl Ray. -
Vietnam
Four-party Vietnam war peace talks begin. -
Richard Nixon
Elected as the 37th president of the United States -
Neil Armstrong
The Apollo program completes its mission. Neil Armstrong, United States astronaut, becomes the first man to set foot on the moon four days after launch from Cape Canaveral. -
Earth Day
The first Earth day was celebrated -
26 Amendmnet
26th Amendment ratified, allowing 18-year-olds to vote. -
Disney World
Walt Disney World opens in Orlando, Florida, expanding the Disney empire to the east coast of the United States. -
Watergate scandal
a major political scandal that occurred in the United States in the 1970s as a result of the June 17, 1972 break in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C., and the Nixon administration's attempted cover-up of its involvement. -
Apollo 17
Apollo 17 was the final mission of the United States' Apollo lunar landing program, and was the sixth and last landing of humans on the Moon. -
Gerald Ford
He became the 38th became president upon Richard Nixon's resignation on August 9, 1974 -
Wheel of fortune
The television show Wheel of Fortune premiers. -
Jimmy Carter
Elected as the 39th president of the United States -
Star Wars
The movie Star Wars premieres on the big screen and becomes the highest grossing film at the time. -
Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley the king of rock and roll dies in Membis, Tennessee -
Mt. St. Helens Volcano
The Mt. St. Helens volcano, in Washington State, erupts, killing fifty-seven people and economic devastation to the area with losses near $3 billion. -
Ronald Reagan
Elected as the 40th president of the United States -
Hiv/Aids
MMWR reports 26 cases of Kaposi's sarcoma (KS), a rare cancer, in homosexual men in both New York and California -
Vietnam Veterans
The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is dedicated in Washington, D.C., holding the names of the more than 58,000 killed or missing in action during the conflict. -
Sally Ride
Astronaut Sally Ride becomes the first American woman to travel into space. -
Terrorist Attack
A terrorist truck bomb kills two hundred and forty-one United States peacekeeping troops in Lebanon at Beirut International Airport. A second bomb destroyed a French barracks two miles away, killing forty there. -
Martin Luther King Day
Martin Luther King Day is officially observed for the first time as a federal holiday in the United States. -
Challenger Space Shuttle
The Challenger Space Shuttle explodes after lift off at Cape Canaveral, Florida, killing seven people, including Christa McAuliffe, a New Hampshire school teacher. -
Black Monday
The stock market crash known as Black Monday occurs on the New York Stock Exchange, recording a record 22.6% drop in one day. Stock markets around the world would mirror the crash with drops of their own. -
George H. W. Bush
Elected as the 41th president of the United States -
Hubble Space Telescope
Hubble Space Telescope launched during Space Shuttle Discovery mission.
