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Atomic Bomb
August 6, 1945 - President Harry S. Truman gives the go-ahead for the use of the atomic bomb with the bombing of Hiroshima. Three days later, the second bomb is dropped on Nagasaki, Japan. On August 15, Emperor Hirohito of Japan surrenders. -
Period: to
Background
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WWII Ends
The Cold War began after the end of World War II because of dissagreements over postwar Europe. Each superpower (United States, Britain, France and Russia) had their own idea of how postwar Europe should be rebuilt. The Cold War rose not from one isolated event, but from the different ideologies and interests between the Soviet Union and the West. -
Microwave
Microwave oven invented by American inventor Percy Spencer, while working for the Raytheon Company. -
Communists take over Poland
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Polarid Camera invented in NY
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Jackie Robinson becomes first African-American to play in MLB
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Television Grows
Television grows. President Harry Truman's State of the Union address and the Baseball World Series are televised. "Meet the Press," television's longest running program begins. "Howdy Doody" begins its 13 years on television. With television programming comes the start of commercials. By the end of the year, America had 139 commercial broadcast TV stations, but there were only an estimated 9,000 households with televisions. -
Germany Splits
Germany is split into the German Democratic Republic (East Germany under Soviet Communist rule and the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany). -
Communist Party
October 14, 1949 - Eleven leaders of the United States Communist party are convicted of advocating a violent insurrection and overthrow of the U.S. government. The Supreme Court would uphold the convictions on June 4, 1951. -
Bradbury is published
Bradbury's reputation as a leading science fiction writer was finally established with the publication of The Martian Chronicles in 1950. As much a work of social criticism as of science fiction, The Martian Chronicles reflects America's anxieties in the early 1950's: the threat of nuclear war, the longing for a simpler life, reactions against racism and censorship, and the fear of foreign political powers. -
McCarthyism
Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin took advantage of the nation’s wave of fanatic terror against communism, and emerged on February 9, 1950, claiming he had a list of 205 people in the State Department who were known members of the American Communist Party. He persued these people and many others for four years until he was stripped of government power due to allegations of abusing his congressional power and died of alocholism a few years later. -
Korean War
In the Korean War (1950-53) a U.S.-dominated United Nations coalition came to the aid of South Korea in responding to an invasion by North Korea, which was aided by the USSR and allied with Communist China; the war ended in a military stalemate and the restoration of the political status quo. Concurrently, the United States was assuming increasing leadership of the Western nations against what were perceived as the expansionist intentions of its former ally, the USSR. As this cold war heated up, -
Peanuts
The comic strip by Charles Schultz is first published -
First computer invented
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"I Love Lucy" airs and runs until 1957
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Rosenburgs
March 29, 1951 - Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were found guilty of conspiracy of wartime espionage and sentenced to death. They were executed June 19, 1953. Morton Sobell was also convicted of the crime and sentenced to thirty years in prison. -
J. Andre-Thomas invents the first heart-lung machine, allowing advanced life-support during open-heart surgery.
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"The Pedestrian" is published
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Mr. Potato Head is introduced
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Hydrogen Bomb
November 1, 1952 - At Eniwetok Atoll in the Pacific Ocean, the first hydrogen bomb, named Mike, is exploded. On January 7, President Harry S. Truman announces the development of the H-Bomb. -
DNA Discovered
1953
April 25, 1953 - The description of a double helix DNA molecule is published by British physicist Francis Crick and American scientist James D. Watson. They, along with New Zealand born scientist Maurice Wilkins were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their discovery in 1962. -
Korean War Ends
July 27, 1953 - Fighting ceased in the Korean War. North Korea, South Korea, the United States, and the Republic of China sign an armistice agreement. -
Bradbury's Best Known Work
Bradbury's best-known work, Fahrenheit 451, was released in 1953. -
First Color TV broadcast
December 30, 1953 - The first television shows are broadcast in colors. How does this invention change entertainment in the US? -
McDonalds!
A McDonalds restaurant existed before 1954 but it was the introduction of Ray Kroc to the business in 1954 that began the seemingly endless colonisation of the globe by the McDonalds restaurant chain that ensued. -
Elvis emerges as mega rock star
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Sputnik
USSR (Russia) launches first satellite into space, triggering the Space Race and adding to the tension of the Cold War -
Explorer
The first satellite, Explorer 1, was launched in response to Sputnik's success and propelled the US into the Space Race. -
Transatlantic plane ride-NY to London
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Alaska becomes a state, as does Hawaii later this year
