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Joseph McCarthy - McCarthyism
McCarthyism is the practice of making accusations of disloyalty, subversion, or treason without proper regard for evidence. "Are you now, or have you ever been, a member of the Communist party?" This was a question many Americans at that time faced. -
Period: to
1950-1990
This is a timeline representing historical, social, economic and politial events in American history. -
First Modern Credit Card Introduced
The first credit card was introduced. Frank X. McNamara thought of a way for customers to have just one credit card that they could use at multiple stores. McNamara discussed the idea with two colleagues and the three pooled some money and started a new company in 1950 which they called the Diners Club. -
First "Peanut" Catton Strip
The very first comic strip of the later world known peanut was published. It had such bad graphics and really low resolution compared to today but everyone loved it. -
Color TV introduced
On June 25, 1951, CBS broadcast the very first commercial color TV program. Unfortunately, nearly no one could watch it on their black-and-white televisions. This first color program was a variety show simply called, "Premiere." -
Polio Vaccine Created
The first was developed by Jonas Salk and first tested in 1952. Announced to the world by Salk on April 12, 1955, it consists of an injected dose of inactivated (dead) poliovirus. An oral vaccine was developed by Albert Sabin using attenuated poliovirus. -
Cival RIghts Movement
The civil rights movement was a series of worldwide political movements for equality before the law that peaked in the 1960s. In many situations it took the form of campaigns of civil resistance aimed at achieving change by nonviolent forms of resistance. -
Segergation claimed Illegal in the U.S
In the landmark Supreme Court decision of Brown v. Board of Education, the Supreme Court overturned the Plessy v. Ferguson decision by ruling that segregation was "inherently unequal." Although the Brown v. Board of Education was specifically for the field of education, the decision had a much broader scope. -
Disneyland Opens
, Disneyland opened for a few thousand specially invited visitors; the following day, Disneyland officially opened to the public. Disneyland, located in Anaheim, California on what used to be a 160-acre orange orchard, cost $17 million to build. The original park included Main Street, Adventureland, Frontierland, Fantasyland, and Tomorrowland. -
Emmett Till was murdered
-year-old boy from Chicago, was visiting his relatives in Mississippi when he was snatched from his great-uncle's home on the night of August 28. He was then beaten, shot in the head, and then thrown into Tallahatchie River. His body was found three days later. Ostensibly, the murderers killed Till because he whistled at a white woman. -
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (Vietnamese: Chiến tranh Việt Nam) was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955[A 1] to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. The war was between north and south. The Communist north and the democratic south. -
Rosa Parks Refuses White Man A Seat
42-year-old African-American seamstress, refused to give up her seat to a white man while riding on a city bus in Montgomery, Alabama. For doing this, Rosa Parks was arrested and fined for breaking the laws of segregation. Rosa Parks' refusal to leave her seat sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott and is considered the beginning of the modern Civil Rights Movement. -
Dr. Sesus Plublishes Cat in The Hat
The Cat in the Hat is a children's book by Dr. Seuss. It features a tall, anthropomorphic, mischievous cat, wearing a tall, red and white-striped hat and a red bow tie. With the series of Beginner Books that The Cat inaugurated, Seuss promoted both his name and the cause of elementary literacy in the United States of America. -
President John F. Kennedy's Man on the Moon Speech
"Special Message to the Congress on Urgent National Needs," on May 25, 1961 before a joint session of Congress. In this speech, JFK stated that the United States should set as a goal the "landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth" by the end of the decade. Acknowledging that the Soviets had a head start in their space program, Kennedy urged the U.S. to work diligently to lead the achievements of space travel because "in many ways [it] may hold the key to our future on earth -
Assasination of John F. Kennedy
Shortly after noon on November 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated as he rode in a motorcade through Dealey Plaza in downtown Dallas, Texas. No final conclusion has been made about his death still to this day, but of course many conspiracies lie at hand. -
U.S. Sends Troops to Vietnam
In response to the Gulf of Tonkin Incident of August 2 and 4, 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson, per the authority given to him by Congress in the subsequent Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, decided to escalate the Vietnam Conflict by sending U.S. ground troops to Vietnam. On March 8, 1965, 3,500 U.S. Marines landed near Da Nang in South Vietnam; they are the first U.S. troops arrive in Vietnam. -
Kent State Shooting
On May 4, 1970, Ohio National Guardsmen were on the Kent State college campus to maintain order during a student protest against the Vietnam War. For a still unknown reason, the National Guard suddenly fired upon the already dispersing crowd of student protesters, killing four and wounding nine others. -
Terrorists Attack at the Olympic Games in Munich
Early in the morning on September 5, 1972, eight members of the Palestinian terrorist organization, Black September, snuck into the Olympic Village at the XXth Olympic Games which were held in Munich, Germany. -
First Test-Tube Baby Born
On November 10, 1977, Lesley Brown underwent the very experimental in vitro ("in glass") fertilization procedure. This time, the doctors implanted the fertilized egg back into Brown in a shorter time period than they had previously tried. At 11:47 p.m. on July 25, 1978, Lesley Brown delivered a five-pound 12-ounce baby girl via Cesarean section. They baby girl was named Louise Joy Brown. -
Jonestown Massacre
On November 18, 1978, Peoples Temple cult leader Jim Jones instructed his followers to commit "revolutionary suicide" by drinking cyanide-laced fruit punch. At the Jonestown compound in Guyana, 912 Peoples Temple members (276 of whom were children) drank the punch and died. Jim Jones died the same day from a gunshot wound to the head. -
Eruption of Mt St Helens
The eruption of Mt. St. Helens in 1980 was the worst volcanic disaster in U.S. history; however, it offered scientists an exceptional opportunity to examine and study a large volcanic eruption, which has enriched scientific knowledge of volcanoes. -
HIV/AIDS Epidemic
The initial cases were a cluster of injecting drug users and homosexual men.Both HIV-1 and HIV-2 are believed to have originated in non-human primates in West-central Africa and were transferred to humans in the early 20th century. -
First Woman Appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court
On July 7, 1981, President Ronald Reagan nominated Sandra Day O'Connor to be the first woman on the U.S. Supreme Court. On September 21, the United States Senate confirmed O'Connor in a vote of 99 for and zero against. Sandra Day O'Connor was officially sworn in and took her seat on the U.S. Supreme Court on September 25, 1981. -
E.T. Movie Released
The movie E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial was a hit from the day it was released (June 11, 1982) and quickly became one of the most beloved movies of all time. -
Rwanda Genocide
Hutus began slaughtering the Tutsis in the African country of Rwanda. As the brutal killings continued, the world stood idly by and just watched the slaughter. Lasting 100 days, the Rwanda genocide left approximately 800,000 Tutsis and Hutu sympathizers dead.
