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Chapter 27: The Postwar Years at Home
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First President to Address Nation on TV
Harry Truman becomes the first president to address the nation on TV from the White House. In this speach he asks Americans to cut back on their use of grain in order to help starving Europeans becasue Europe was still recovering form WWII. Truman was afraid if the US didn't provide food to Europe, his Marshall Plan would fall apart.
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Transistor is Invented
In 1947, scientists at Bell Telephone Laboratories invented the first transistor. A transistor is a tiny circuit device that amplifies, controls, and generates electrical signals. The transistor could do the work of a much larger vacuum tube, but took up less space and generated less heat. It couldbe used in radios, computers, and other electronic devices changing the electronics industry.
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Polio vaccine is announced to the world
Dr. Jonas Salk and Dr. Thomas Francis conducted a successful field test of a vaccine to prevent the disease Polio. The term Polio is short for poliomyelitis. This was a major breakthrough becasue the disease Polio had killed or disabled more than 20,000 children in the United States every year.
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Words "Under God" are added to the Pledge of Allagiance
On April 12, 1955 President Eisenhower and Congress add the words “Under God” to the Pledge of Allegiance. The words "Under God" were put in the place of the word "indivisible" in the Pledge of Allegiance. This was done becasue of the many Communist threats that were taken place during this time.
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The first nuclear power plant in the U.S
The first nuclear power plant in the U.S was in Shippingport, PA. It was also the first nuclear power plant to be on land. Prerviously in 1954, he Navy produced the first nuclear-powered submarine, which had a small reactor in the hull. The submarine's technology provided a model for the power plant built in Shippingport, PA.
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NASA is established
In response to the Soviet Union launched of Sputnik in 1957, the United States created NASA as an independent agency for space exploration. NASA stands for National Aeronautics and Space Administration. This was created becasue after the launch of Sputnik, many Americans feared a nuclear war was on its way and the US was losing its competative edge.
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