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Television
In 1949, a young girl named Kathy Fiscus fell into a Los Angeles area well. Television provided continuous coverage for over 27 hours. This tragedy proved that live television coverage could unite a community. At the beginning of the 1950's over 7 million television sets circulated. -
Korean War
On June 25, 1950, the Korean War began. 75,000 soldiers from the North Korean Army came across the 38th parallel. By July American troops had entered the war on South Korea's behalf. They feared that the alternative would be worse. A war with Russia and China, or even World War III. In July of 1953 the Korean War ended. 5 million soldiers and civilians lost their lived. However, South and North Korea are still divided to this day. -
Rock-N- Roll
There isn't one day or even one year that marks the beginning of Rock-N-Roll. It didn't just suddenly appear with the release of an Elvis Presley song or a social event. However, the generation of Rock-N-Roll started in the 50's after the solid-black electric guitar was introduced. At first it was a private genre. Only teenagers listened to it. They wanted to be different from their parent's genertation. -
Disneyland
In 1954, Walt Disney wanted to build an amusement park, but local officials voted against it because it was associated with carnivals which brought crime to the town, Disney used the show Disneyland to promote its opening. Ronald Reagan was one of three hosts of the 17.5 million dollar park, Disneyland recieved 1 million visitors in its first three months. -
Little Rock Nine
On September 2, 1957 the Governor of Arkansas had the National Guard block any attempts by black students to enter the school. On September 4 nine black students attempted to enter the all white school, but were turned away by the National Guard. On September 23 protestors surrounded the all white school while police snuck the nine students in the side door. On September 25 the nine black students entered through the front entrance. -
NASA
On July 29, 1958, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed an act that created the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). -
JFK
John F. Kennedy was born into a wealthy and politically influenced familly. After graduating from Harvard John served in the Navy in World War II. Following the war, he was elected to the United States Congress for three terms and to the United States Senate twice. He won election to the presidency in 1960, in one of the closest elections in American history. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
Cuban Missle Crisis was known as many different things, but started on October 14th through October 28th 1962. This was a 13 day confrontation, between the Soviet Union and Cuba. The US was thinking about attacking Cuba via air and sea but didn’t. We we’re being suppoerted by NATO while the Soviet Union was being supported by the Warsaw Pact. During these crisis there wasn’t much of a lost, besides one pilot being killed, one aircraft being shot down, one aircraft being highly damaged. -
Civil Rights Act
The civil rights act came entact on July 2nd, 1964. What this act did is outlawed discrimination. All the discrimination that was going on was, women not voting, race, in schools, and in work places. Discromination was over the roof, the civil rights act started when JFK was president. Even though it didn’t go into effect till 1964 a year before it, JFK addressd the nation about Civil Rights on June 11th, 1963. -
Vietnam
When the North Vietnamese fired directly upon two U.S. ships in international waters on August 2 and 4, 1964 Congress responded with the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. This resolution gave the President the authority to escalate U.S. involvement in Vietnam. President Lyndon Johnson used that authority to order the first U.S ground troops to Vietnam. -
First Man on the Moon
At 9:32 am the Kennedy Space Center launched Apollo 11 into space. At 10:28 pm Neil Armstrong turned on the video cameras. The cameras showed images of the moon to over half a billion people watching their television. He climbed down the ladder and became the first man to walk on the moon at 10:56 pm. Armstrong then stated "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." -
The Sears Tower
The constuction of the Sears Tower started in 1970. The building was designed by Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill. The construction was finished and the building opened in 1973. It stands 1454 feet tall and weighs 445,000,000 pounds. The Sears Tower is 110 stories high and the antennas are over 200 feet tall. -
Abortion
Roe vs. Wade decision stated that the right of privacy (14th amendment) is broad enough to let women decide whether or not to keep her baby. The court stated that through the end of the first trimester of the pregnancy only the doctor or mother had the legal right to abort the baby, States can restrict second trimester abortions for the safety of the mother. -
Test Tube Baby
Throughout Lesley's pregnancy she was monitored very carefully. 9 days before her due date, Lesley developed toxemia. The doctor decided to deliver he baby with a C-Section. On July 25, 1978, Louise Brown, the world's first successful test tube baby was born in Great Britain. -
Jonestown Massacre
The first reports out of Guyana on November 18, 1978 were that Congressman Leo J. Ryan and four other members of his party were shot and killed as they attempted to board a plane. A shocking announcement that 408 American citizens had committed suicide at a village they had built in the jungle in Northwest Guyana. The dead were all members of a group known as "The People's Temple" which was lead by Reverand Jim Jones. -
3 Mile Island
The three mile island unit 2 reactor partially melted on March 28, 1979. This was the most serious accident in U.S. nuclear power plant operating history. The aftermath brought numerous changes involving emergency response planning, reactor operator training, and many other areas. -
Mt. Saint Helen
On May 18, 1980 Mt. Saint Helen erupted. A huge debris avalanche came with this eruption. The eruption caused mud flows and volcanic ash which covered the United States. Two months before the eruption there had been 10,000 earthquakes. The earthquakes struct beneath the volcano and started the eruption. -
Crack Cocaine
Crack is cheap, easy to get, and addictive. It became a popular drug in the 1980's because it was so inexpensive. In 1986, Americans listed crack cocaine as the most derious problem in American society. -
Aids
Since the first AIDS cases were reported in the United States in June 1981, the number of deaths have increased rapidly. At first only men were receiving this HIV. All the doctors that took care of these strange diseases thought they were all gay. -
Berlin Wall
New exodus points were opened up to the Eastern Germans who wanted to go to the West. Some people began chipping at the wall with hammers and others would celebrate. After the Berlin Wall came down, Eastern and Western Germany united as one. -
1990's Rap Music
In the 1990s rap music had so pretty amazing artist, including Jay-Z, Will Smith, Beyoncé, Wu-Tang Clan, and Sean Combs. But how it all started was a rap group named “Gangsta” and they became a major part of rap. Even though that rap group started it, MC Hammer was highly successful. MC Hammers first single “Can’t touch this” charted on the top ten billboard and his music was one of the first rappers to be played in households. But he wasn’t the only popular rapper out there, Eminem started to b -
OJ Simpson
OJ Simpson was born in July of 1947 in California. Some people remember him as a huge NFL star but most people remember his arrest and trial in 1994 of the murder of his former wife and her friend, but he was found not guilty. As this case went on about OJ he was getting more popular because this whole trial was over excessive in social media/ and media coverage. -
Oklahoma City Bombing
The Oklahoma City bombing happened in April in 1995 by Alfred P. Murrah building; this was known as a terrorist attack. 168 people died, which is including at least 19 children and 650 people were injured. Another thing that was destroyed was over 300 buildings in the area. This bombing was brought up again this year, 2013, because of the Boston Marathon bombing. -
Dolly
Dolly (6LL3-code name) was born on July 5th, 1996. She died at 6 years of age from lung disease. Not only was she the first cloned sheep, she was also the first cloned mammal. The cell that actually clones is from the mammary gland and it’s healthy enough to clone a whole individual. As Dolly lived, she spent most of her life at the Roslin Institute in Edinburgh. While she was there she was bred with Welsh Mountain ram and produced 5 lambs, two were twins and the other three were triplets. But -
Columbine
The Oklahoma City bombing happened in April in 1999 by Alfred P. Murrah building; this was known as a terrorist attack. 168 people died, which is including at least 19 children and 650 people were injured. Another thing that was destroyed was over 300 buildings in the area. This bombing was brought up again this year, 2013, because of the Boston Marathon bombing. -
9/11
On September 9th 2001, a terrorist attack happened. They ended up hijacking 4 planes while they were on flight. Two of the four planes hit the World Trade Center, the third plane did some damage to the US Pentagon, but surprisingly the last plane landed in a field in Pennsylvania. That last plane was headed towards the white house to kill the president, but passengers on that plane got up and took over the plane before it did too much harm. All together it was 19 terrorists that hijacked the fou -
Katrina
Hurricane Katrina was one of the most destructive and deadliest hurricanes we’ve had here in the US and had cost us the most, $108 billon. At least a minimum of 1,833 people died during the storm along the coastal area. This hurricane started over the Bahamas in 2005. But it finally dissipated on August 30th, 2005 and when it finally hit a major city that got hit out of the area was Northern New Orleans. -
Hudson River Plane Crash
US Airways Flight 1549 crashed into the Hudson River on January 15th, 2009. The plane crashed because of the bird striking and controlled dodging, but luckily when the plane crashed they were a couple injuries but no deaths. This accident/incident was known as the “Miracle of the Hudson”. Later on after everything was cleaned up and everyone was rescued the entire flight crew of this plane got Master's Medal of the Guild of Air Pilots and Air Navigators. -
Sandy Hook Shooting
Sandy hook was a major tragedy that happened on December 14th 2012. At the police station dispatchers started taking calls at 9:30 saying the shooting had begun, but when the law enforcement got to the same room as the shooter he shot himself and took his own life. 26 innocent bystanders were killed, 20 students (ages 6 & 7) and 6 adults. -
Same-Sex Marriage
There are only 9 states that have gay marriage legalized; Connecticut, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Vermont, Washington and the District of Columbia. Some states don’t have this legalized because it goes against the religion views, but the federal law hasn’t caught on to that aspect yet. If you get a gay marriage in a legalized state for it and go to a state which doesn’t you will not be considered married by their state constitution.
