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Eisenhower Becomes President
On January 20, 1953, Dwight D. Eisenhower became the 34th U.S. President. This five-star general of the United States was President for eight years. -
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The Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia, that spanned from November 1, 1955, to the fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975. It began because of the threat of communist influence in the area, and it ended due to the Paris Peace Accords. -
Rosa Parks and her Arrest
On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat to a white passenger on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama. This act of non-violent resistance sparked the Montgomery bus boycott, a year long protest to abolish segregation on transportation systems. -
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Montgomery Bus Boycott
Sparked by the arrest of Rosa Parks on the first of December in 1955, the Montgomery Bus Boycott was a year long mass protest, that ended with a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that segregation on public buses is unconstitutional. This protest goes to show the power of people. -
The First Use of A Hydrogen Bomb
The first U,S. deployment of a hydrogen bomb happened on May 20th, 1956. It was dropped on the island Eniwetok atoll, in the Pacific. -
The Eisenhower Doctrine
This doctrine was a direct message to Congress on the Middle East and the growing influence of communism. Under the Eisenhower Doctrine, a Middle Eastern country could request economic assistance from U.S. military forces if it was being threatened by armed aggression. Specifically, this threat was communism. -
The Affluent Society by John Kenneth Galbraith
The Affluent Society is a book by Harvard economist John Kenneth Galbraith that was published in 1958 (specific date unknown). The book outlines the post–World War II United States advancements in many different areas, including culture, religion, and technology. -
Kennedy Becomes President
John Fitzgerald Kennedy, often referred to as JFK, was the 35th president of the United States from January 20, 1961, until his assassination in November 1963. -
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Bay of Pigs Invasion
The Bay of Pigs invasion was a U.S. led invasion of Cuba that was based on the assumption that the Cuban people would join the forces to overthrow Fidel Castro. This invasion failed because the assumption was the opposite of what happened--the Cuban people turned against U.S. forces, not with them. -
The Cuban Missile Crisis
The Cuban Missile Crisis was preceded by the discovery of threatening Soviet missiles in Cuba. Being in close proximity to the United States, the positioning of these missiles would give the Soviet Union a strategic advantage, if the Soviet Union were to fire missiles. Fear of ignoring this discovery was prominent in the U.S. government. Instead, President Kennedy chose to set up a naval blockade. Tensions eased as Soviet warships turned away from Cuba. -
Johnson Becomes President
Lyndon B. Johnson was the 36th president of the United States from 1963 to 1969. Formerly the vice president from 1961 to 1963, he became president after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. -
JFK Assasination
On November 22, 1963, at Parkland Memorial Hospital, Dallas, TX, President Kennedy was assassinated during a presidential motorcade. -
The Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr
Martin Luther King Jr, also known as MLK jr, was assassinated on the fourth of April, 1968, by someone known only as Ray, while King was standing on the second-floor balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee -
Nixon Becomes President
Richard Nixon was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 until 1974, when he resigned while being faced with charges of recording Oval office conversations. -
The Watergate Scandal and Nixon's Resignation
The Watergate scandal took place after the arrest of burglars on June 17, 1972, who were connected to President Richard Nixon’s reelection campaign, and had been caught wiretapping phones and stealing documents. President Nixon took aggressive steps to cover up the crimes, but Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein revealed his role in the conspiracy. As a result, Nixon resigned on August 9, 1974. -
Ford Becomes President
Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr. was the 38th president of the United States from August 1974 to January 1977. He became President after the Watergate Scandal and Nixon's resignation in August of 1974.
