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Period: to
The decade of the 1950s
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First credit card introduced
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McCarthyism
Senator Joseph McCarthy begins his communist witch hunt. -
Korean War Begins
The Korean War begins its three year conflict when troops of North Korea, backed with Soviet weaponry, invade South Korea. -
First Peanut's cartoon published
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Color TV introduced
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The Rosenbergs are guilty of treason.
Ethel and Julius Rosenberg were found guilty of conspiracy of wartime espionage and sentenced to death. -
ANZUS
The U.S., Australia, and New Zealand sign a mutual security pact, the Anzus treaty. -
Polio vaccine created
Jonas Salk creates the polio vaccine which is given as an immunization beginning in 1955. -
Eniwetok H-Bomb test
The U.S. sets off its first hydrogen bomb on the South Pacific island of Eniwetok. -
Dwight D. Eisenhower is elected president
At the time, he was the oldest man to be elected president, at age 62, since James Buchanan. -
DNA discovered
Frances Crick and James Watson accurately discoved the configuration of deoxyribonucleic acid, the blueprints of life. -
Execution of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg
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The Korean war ends.
A cease-fire is agreed to in Korea, ending the war that had started in 1950 and leaving the country divided between the Communist North and the non-Communist south. -
First publication of Playboy magazine
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Publicized reports states that cigarettes cause cancer
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Brown vs. Board of Education in Topeka, Kansas
The Supreme Court, in a unanimous ruling, rules that segreated schols are illegal and that aurhorities must move at "all deliberate speed" to integrate them. -
Little Rock 9
Eisenhower sends federal troops to Little Rock, Arkansas, to enforce the court-ordered desegregation of the city's public schools. As a result, nine black students are allowed to attend classes at Little Rock Central High School. -
Construction begins on the St. Lawrence Seaway
Work begins on the St. Lawrence Seaway, a joint U.S.-Canadian venture that will allow oceangoing ships to reach the heart of the American continent via the Great Lakes. -
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Disneyland opens
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Emmett Till Murdered
Emmett Louis Till (July 25, 1941 – August 28, 1955) was an African-American boy who was murdered in Mississippi at the age of 14 after reportedly flirting with a white woman. -
Rosa Parks gets arrested
In Montgomery, Alabama, the black seamstress, Rosa Parks, refuses to give up her seat on a city bus to a white man and is arrested. -
Elvis performs on Ed Sullivan
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Interstate Highway System
Interstate Freeway System or the Interstate) is a network of limited-access roads including freeways, highways, and expressways forming part of the National Highway System of the United States of America. -
Hungarian uprising against Soviet Domination
A revolt against Soviet domination begins in Hungary and soon spreads throughout the country. On November 6, 1956, Soviet tanks and troops pour into Hungary to suppress the uprising. More than 40,000 Hungarians will die in the fighting -
Eisenhower re-elected
Eisenhower is elected to a second term as president. -
The Cat in the Hat
The Cat in the Hat is a children's book by Dr. Seuss and perhaps the most famous, featuring a tall, anthropomorphic, mischievous cat, wearing a tall, red and white-striped hat and a red bow tie. -
Sputnik is launched by the Soviet Union
Sputnik was the first artificial satellite to be put into Earth's orbit. It was launched into an elliptical low Earth orbit by the Soviet Union on 4 October 1957. The unanticipated announcement of Sputnik 1's success precipitated the Sputnik crisis in the United States and ignited the Space Race, -
Peace symbol created
Peace Symbol Created (1958): In 1958, British artist Gerald Holtom drew a circle with three lines inside, intending the design to be a symbol for the Direct Action Committee Against Nuclear War (DAC) -
US launches satellite
Explorer 1 (1958 Alpha 1)[5] was the first Earth satellite of the United States, launched as part of its participation in the International Geophysical Year. -
US intervention in Lebanon
The 1958 Lebanon crisis was a Lebanese political crisis caused by political and religious tensions in the country. It included a U.S. military intervention. -
NASA is established
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research. -
