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• Harry Truman
Harry S Truman became U.S. President when President Roosevelt died in 1945. -
• Doris Day
She made her first movie in 1948 and soon became a popular movie star and singer. -
• Red China
Communists took control of China after a struggle that started before World War II and renamed the country the People's Republic of China. -
• Johnnie Ray
Partially deaf singer, whose song Cry was a number-one hit -
• South Pacific
South Pacific was a highly popular Broadway musical and hit movie. -
• Walter Winchell
Walter Winchell was a top gossip reporter, whose newspaper column and radio show could make or break a celebrity. -
• Joe DiMaggio
Joe DiMaggio was a popular baseball player for the New York Yankees. -
• Joe McCarthy
Joe McCarthy was a Senator from Wisconsin. -
• Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon was a member of the House of Representatives from California when he became involved in the trial of Alger Hiss, who was accused of being a Communist and a spy. Nixon later became Vice-President under President Dwight Eisenhower. Years later, he became President of the United States. -
Studebaker
Studebaker was a popular car in 1950. The styling consisted of a torpedo front end and read window. -
Television
Television became popular in the late 1940s and early 1950s. -
North Korea / South Korea
Korea was split into north and south after World War II. North Korea became established as a Communist dictatorship by Soviet Union and Red China, after Japan was defeated. -
Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe was a popular "sex symbol" movie star. -
Rosenbergs.
The Rosenbergs were a husband and wife who were arrested and executed for selling secrets of the atomic bomb to the Soviet Union. -
H-Bomb
The hydrogen bomb was developed under the guidance of Dr. Edward Teller. It was many times more powerful than an atomic bomb and in fact required an atomic bomb to detonate. -
Sugar Ray
Sugar Ray Robinson was the middle-weight boxing champion of the world. -
Panmunjom
Panmunjom, Korea is where negotiations between the United Nations—led by the United States—and the Communist North Koreans to end the Korean War took place. -
Brando
Marlon Brando became a top movie actor. -
The King and I
The King and I was a popular Broadway play and later turned into a movie starring Yul Brunner and Deborah Kerr. -
The Catcher in the Rye
The Catcher in the Rye was an extreme popular book among teens, as it epitomized their attitudes and feelings -
Liberace
Liberace was a popular pianist and entertainer, who had his own TV show in the 1950s. -
Eisenhower
Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower ("Ike") had been Supreme Commander in the World War II fight against the Nazis. He later became a popular president of the United States. -
Vaccine
The vaccine to the dreaded disease polio was discovered by Jonas Salk and distributed to the world. -
England's got a new Queen
On February 6, 1952, Queen Elizabeth 2 ascended to the throne upon the death of her father, King George 6. -
Marciano
Rocky Marciano was the heavyweight boxing champion of the world. He retired undefeated. -
Santayana good-bye
Famed philosopher George Santayana died in 1952. -
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin was the dictator of the Soviet Union. -
Malenkov
Georgy Malenkov was a Soviet politician and Communist Party leader, and a close collaborator of Joseph Stalin. -
Nasser
Gamal Abdel Nasser was the second President of Egypt after Muhammad Naguib. He was considered one of the more influential Arab leaders in history. -
Prokofiev
Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev was the most prolific Russian composer, pianist and conductor of the twentieth century. -
Rockefeller
Nelson and Winthrop Rockefeller were the only brothers in U.S. history to serve as governors at the same time until the late 1990s when George W. Bush and Jeb Bush became governors or their states. -
Campanella
Roy Campanella was the all-star catcher for the Brooklyn Dodgers baseball team. His career was cut short by a paralyzing car accident. -
Communist Bloc
USSR and their satellite countries formed what was called the Communist bloc. -
Roy Cohn
Roy Cohn was the advisor to Senator Joseph McCarthy during the McCarthy Hearings on Communists in the movie industry and government. -
Juan Perón
Juan Perón was a popular leader in Argentina, elected first in 1946 and then again in 1952. Perón pursued social policies aimed at empowering the working class. -
Toscanini
Arturo Toscanini was a world-famous conductor, considered to have been one of the greatest classical conductors of all time. -
Dacron
A new wonder-material Dacron hit the market. -
Dien Bien Phu falls
The French lose control over Indo-China—now known as Vietnam—with the fall of the city Dien Bien Phu. -
Rock Around the Clock
Bill Haley and the Comets came out with what was considered the first rock-and-roll hit song, Rock Around the Clock. -
Einstein
Albert Einstein developed the Theory of Relativity in 1903 and was considered one the world's smartest scientists. -
James Dean
James Dean was a movie star who became a symbol of young people for his role in the movie Rebel Without a Cause. -
Brooklyn's got a Winning Team
The Brooklyn Dodgers baseball team finally won the World Series over the New York Yankees. They later moved to Los Angeles. -
Davy Crockett
Actor Fess Parker starred in the highly popular TV series Davy Crockett. -
Peter Pan
Peter Pan was a top Broadway play starring Mary Martin, who flew through the air as Peter Pan. -
Elvis Presley
He was called "Elvis the Pelvis" because of the way he shook his hips while dancing. Many religious leaders and school officials banned his songs, which only made them more popular. -
Disneyland
It was a theme park, developed by Walt Disney and based around his cartoon characters. It was designated as a place for family entertainment. -
Bardot
Brigitte Bardot was a popular French "sex-kitten" movie star. -
Budapest
Anti-communist riots took part in Budapest, Hungary. Soviet troops put down the revolt and arrested many Hungarians, especially students. -
Alabama
In Montgomery, Alabama in 1955, African-American Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat in the "colored section" to a white passenger, after the "white section" was filled, as was the law at that time. -
Khrushchev
Nikita Khrushchev emerged as a leader in the Soviet Union after the death of dictator Josef Stalin. -
Princess Grace
Actress Grace Kelly left Hollywood to marry Prince Ranier of Monaco. She then attained the title of Princess Grace. -
Peyton Place
The book Peyton Place became the number-1 best-seller. Teens often marked the "good parts" in the book, as they passed it among each other. -
Trouble in the Suez
After Britain and the USA withdrew their financial support for the Egyptian Aswan dam project, General Nasser nationalized the important Suez Canal. -
Little Rock
Nine African-American students enrolled at Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. -
Pasternak
Boris Pasternak was a Russian poet and writer. He is best known in the West for his monumental novel on Soviet Russia, Doctor Zhivago. The book was also made into an award-winning movie. -
Mickey Mantle
Mickey Mantle was a great baseball player for the New York Yankee team. He batted both left- and right-handed, hit at a leading batting average, as well as led the league in home runs. -
Kerouac
Jack Kerouac was the author of the best-selling book On the Road, which epitomized the Beat Generation of the late 1940s and early 1950s. -
Sputnik
Sputnik was the name of the first orbiting satellite sent into space by the USSR. Turmoil over its launch in the United States initiated the race for supremacy in space -
Chou En-Lai
Chou En-Lai (Zhou Enlai) was the Premier and Foreign Minister of the People's Republic of China (also called Red China by Western journalists). -
Bridge on the River Kwai
The Bridge on the River Kwai was a 1957 Academy Award winning movie about a World War II Japanese prisoner-of-war camp. 1958 -
California baseball
The Brooklyn Dodgers baseball team moved to Los Angeles Dodgers and the New York Giants moved to San Francisco. -
Lebanon
U.S. President Eisenhower ordered U.S. Marines into Lebanon at the request of Lebanese President Chamoun to help stop riots that were occurring in the country. -
Charles de Gaulle
Charles de Gaulle returned to power as the leader of France. -
Starkweather homicide
Charles Starkweather was a serial killer who made the news 1958 because of his gruesome murders. -
Children of Thalidomide
Thalidomide was a medication intended for pregnant women to combat morning sickness and as an aid to help them sleep. -
Buddy Holly
Buddy Holly was a popular singer and leader of the Crickets rock group. -
Ben Hur
Ben Hur was a spectacular movie starring Charlton Heston. It was set around the time of Christ. -
Space Monkey
Starting in 1948. a number of monkeys had been sent into space in various rockets, but unfortunately all died during their flights. -
Mafia
Mafia leaders met in upstate New York to get better organized. -
Hula Hoops
Hula Hoops became a national fad. Everywhere, you would see children and even adults trying to spin the large plastic hoop around their waist -
Castro
Fidel Castro had been a wealthy lawyer, advocating social justice and protesting the influence of the United States in Cuba. -
Edsel is a no-go
Ford Motor Company came out with a new car, the Edsel. -
U-2
The United States had been sending the secret U-2 high-flying spy plane over the Soviet Union to take pictures and gather information, when one was shot down by a Russian missile. -
Syngman Rhee
Syngman Rhee was the first President of South Korea, serving from 1948 to 1960. -
Payola
Many disk jockeys were exposed for taking bribes to pay certain songs on the radio, thus biasing the record sales. -
Kennedy
John F. Kennedy was elected President of the United States in 1960. He was assassinated in Dallas, Texas on 22 November 1963. -
Chubby Checker
Singer Chubby Checker came out with the song The Twist, which started a national dance sensation. -
Psycho
Psycho was a thriller movie directed by Alfred Hitchcock. -
Belgians in the Congo
The country of Belgian Congo gained independence from Belgium in 1960 to become simply the Congo. For the next several there was civil strife, resulting in 100,000 deaths, as Congolese political parties fought for power. -
Hemingway
Famous author Ernest Hemingway committed suicide. -
Eichmann
Former Nazi leader Adolf Eichmann was arrested in Argentina and brought to Israel, where he was convicted of war crimes and executed. -
Stranger in a Strange Land
Stranger in a Strange Land was an award-winning fictional book by Robert A. -
Dylan
Singer Bob Dylan led the folk music craze. -
Berlin
The Soviets erected the Berlin Wall, dividing the city into the Russian-controlled part and the area controlled by the U.S., British and French. -
Bay of Pigs Invasion
In 1960, the Eisenhower Administration created a plan to overthrow Fidel Castro in Cuba. -
Lawrence of Arabia
The movie Lawrence of Arabia starring Peter O'Toole won the Academy Awards. -
British Beatle-mania
British rock group the Beatles took over the music scene, with numerous hit records on the Top-40 charts. -
Ole Miss
University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) admitted its first black or African-American student, James Meredith, with U.S. Marshals enforcing the rules to integrate the school. -
John Glenn
John Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth in 1962. -
Liston beats Patterson
Boxer Sonny Liston easily defeated Heavyweight Champion Floyd Patterson to gain the title. -
Pope Paul
Pope Paul VI was pope—or leader—of the Catholic Church from 1963 to 1978. -
Malcolm X
Malcolm X came into the news when he preached separation of the races as part of the Black Muslim teachings. -
British politician sex
A sex scandal rocked British Parliament. -
JFK blown away
President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas in 1963. -
Birth control
Birth Control became an issue with the advent of the birth control pill. Later, abortion was legalized. -
Ho Chi-Minh
Ho Chi-Minh was the leader of the Communist North Vietnamese, who first fought the French and then the Americans. -
Richard Nixon back again
After losing the election for President to John F. Kennedy in 1960 and then losing his bid to be Governor of California in 1962, former Vice President Richard Nixon fought back to regain prominence in national politics. -
Moon Shot
The United States landed the first man on the moon. -
Woodstock
A farmer in the Woodstock area of New York state donated his land for a rock concert. -
Watergate
Supporters and staff of U.S. President Richard Nixon were accused of breaking into the Democratic headquarters in the Watergate hotel. -
Punk Rock
Punk rock hits the music scene with such groups as the Sex Pistols, who would spit at the audience. -
Palestine
Palestinians protested unfair treatment by the Israelis. -
Terror on the airlines
Numerous airline hijackings were in the news. -
Begin
Begin was Prime Minister of Israel. -
Reagan
Former movie actor Ronald Reagan became President of the United States. -
Ayatollah's in Iran
The Shah of Iran—who was supported by the United States—was overthrown and Ayatollah Khomeini took over the country. -
Russians in Afghanistan
The Soviet Union entered Afghanistan to "protect" Communist interests in the country. -
The Wheel of Fortune
The Wheel of Fortune TV show became a favorite. -
Sally Ride
Sally Ride became the first American woman in space as a member of the Space Shuttle crew in 1983. -
Foreign debts
Foreign debts were causing an increase in inflation, as well as a burden on American taxpayers. -
Homeless Vets
Many veterans of the Vietnam conflict became homeless. A major problem with them was drug addiction or alcoholism. -
AIDS
AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) disease started to spread throughout the world. -
Crack
A potent form of the highly addictive drug cocaine called "crack" or "rock" had been rapidly spreading in the United States, especially in troubled neighborhoods. -
Heavy metal, suicide
One viewpoint is that Billy Joel had two topics here: Heavy Metal, where heavy metal rock comes on the music scene, and Suicide, where the suicide rate among young people seemed to be rising. -
Bernie Goetz
Bernie Goetz was a New Yorker who was concerned about crime in the city. -
Hypodermics on the shore
News reports showed how hundreds of carelessly discarded hypodermic needles had washed up on the New Jersey shoreline. -
China's Under Martial Law
In June 1989, thousands of protesters marched in Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China. Many were killed and China went under martial law until order was restored. -
Rock and Roller Cola Wars
Pepsi and Coke battle for supremacy in the marketplace. Each hired musicians to promote their drink. -
Hubble Space Telescope
The Hubble Space Telescope launched during space shuttle discovery mission. -
Hurricane Andrew
Hurricane Andrew, a category 5 hurricane killed 65 people and causes $26 billion and damage to Florida and other areas of the U.S. -
Oklahoma City Bombing
Oklahoma City Bombing kills 168 and wounds 800. The bombing is the worst domestic terrorist incident in U.S. history. -
Violent Tornado Outbreak
A violent tornado outbreak in Oklahoma kills 50 people and becomes the first to produce a tornado that causes $1 billion in damage. -
EgyptAir Flight 990
The first officer deliberately crashes EgyptAir Flight 990 south of Nantucket, Massachusetts, killing 217 people. -
U.S. Election
2000 U.S. presidential election George Walker Busch is elected president. -
September 11th Terrorist Attacks
19 terrorists highjacked 4 planes and crashed them into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and a fleild in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, killing nearly 3,000 people and injuring over 6,000. -
Space Shuttle Columbia
Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrates upon re-entry to the earth's atmosphere killing all 7 astronauts and resulting to a 29 months suspension of the space shuttle program. -
Facebook
The social networking website, Facebook is launched. -
Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina devastates the Louisianan, Mississippi, and Alabama Coastlines killing at least 1,836 people and causing $81 billion in damage making it the costliest natural disaster in U.S. history. -
The Super Tuesday Tornado Outbreak
The Super Tuesday tornado outbreak kills over 60 people and produces $1 billion in damage across Arkansas, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Alabama. -
Independence of Countries
Independence of South Sudan, Arab Spring Egypt and Lybia. -
The Death of Osama Bin Laden
Osama Bin Laden, the founder and head of the militant group al-Qaeda was killed in Pakistan by Navy SEALS. -
The Worst Ebola Virus
The Worst Ebola Virus, the worst Ebola epidemic, and recorded history begins in West Africa. -
Zika Virus
An outbreak of the Zika virus is linked to a cluster of cases of microscopically. -
Donald Trump
Donald Trump was elected president and inaugurated.
