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Harry Truman becomes the first president to address the nation on TV from the White House.
On this day President Truman asked the American people to cut back on their use of grain in order to help starving Europeans. Europeans were still recovering from WWII and had little food. Truman was worried if the United States didn't send food to Europe that the Marshall Plan would fall. -
President Eisenhower and Congress add the words “Under God” to the Pledge of Allegiance.
On June 14th 1954 President Dwight D. Eisenhower added the phrase "Under God" to the Pledge of Allegiance. This was the last change made to the Pledge of Allegiance which is still the same today. He said "In this way we are reaffirming the transcendence of religious faith in America's heritage and future; in this way we shall constantly strengthen those spiritual weapons which forever will be our country's most powerful resource in peace and war." -
Polio vaccine announced to the world by Dr. Jonas Salk and Dr. Thomas Francis.
Dr. Francis was a director of the Poliomyelitis Vaccine Evaluation Center at the University of Michigan School of Public Health. He laid out the sceintific evidence gathered from more than 1,829,916 children that the vaccine one of his former students, Dr. Jonas Salk, created was 90% effective in preventing polio. -
The first nuclear power plant in the U.S. goes online at Shippingport, Pa.
The world’s first full-scale atomic electric power plant devoted exclusively to peacetime uses. The reactor went online December 2, 1957, and was in operation until October, 1982. It was an experimental, light water moderated, thermal breeder reactor and is notable for its ability to transmute (inexpensive) Thorium 232 to Uranium 233. -
NASA is established
Congressed passed legislation establishing National Aeronautics and Space Administration which is responsible for coordinating America's space activities. It was created in response to the Soviet Union's launch of Sputnik.
