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Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz comes to power in Cuba
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz is a Cuban communist revolutionary and politician who was Prime Minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976, and President from 1976 to 2008. He also served as the Commander in Chief of the country's armed forces from 1959 to 2008, and as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from 1961 until 2011. -
Korean War Begins
Armed forces from communist North Korea smash into South Korea, setting off the Korean War. The United States, acting under the auspices of the United Nations, quickly sprang to the defense of South Korea and fought a bloody and frustrating war for the next three years. -
Rosenberg Spy Case
Ethel Greenglass Rosenberg and Julius Rosenberg were United States citizens convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage during a time of war, and executed. Their charges were related to the passing of information about the atomic bomb to the Soviet Union. -
John Foster Dulles was appointed Secretary of State
1) John Foster Dulles was appointed Secretary of State by President Dwight Eisenhower on January 21, 1953. Dulles served for much of the decade, leaving an indelible mark upon United States foreign policy that included close cooperation between the Department of State and the Central Intelligence Agency and a focus upon international mutual security agreements to contain communism. -
McCaarthtyism Begins
In February 1950, Senator McCarthy charged that there were over 200 "known communists" in the Department of State. Thus began his dizzying rise to fame as the most famous and feared communist hunter in the United States. -
Colonel Castillo Armas takes power in Guatemala
4) Col. Carlos Castillo Armas is elected president of the junta that overthrew the administration of Guatemalan President Jacobo Arbenz Guzman in late June 1954. The election of Castillo Armas was the culmination of U.S. efforts to remove Arbenz and save Guatemala from what American officials believed to be an attempt by international communism to gain a foothold in the Western Hemisphere. -
Spunik Launched
October 4, 1957, when the Soviet Union successfully launched Sputnik I. The world's first artificial satellite was about the size of a beach ball (58 cm.or 22.8 inches in diameter), weighed only 83.6 kg. or 183.9 pounds, and took about 98 minutes to orbit the Earth on its elliptical path.
