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Dwight Eisenhower Elected
Eisenhower is elected the 34th President of the United States and remains in office until 1961. -
Polio Vaccine
American medical researcher Dr. Jonas Salk announces on a national radio show that he has successfully tested a vaccine against polio. His vaccine was later distributed to millions in 1955 and polio cases went down to below 6,000 the next year. -
Brown v. Board of Education
The justices ruled that segregation the public schools was inherently unequal and unconstitutional. This case overruled the Plessy v. Ferguson case. -
Operation Wetback
Operation Wetback was created to prevent illegal immigration coming from Mexico and catch the the illegal immigrants - mostly in the states of California, Arizona, and Texas. Many illegal immigrants were captured and then sent back to Mexico. -
Disneyland Opens
Walt Disney's Disneyland opens in Anaheim, California and today attracts approximately 14 million visitors a year. It is the only theme park designed and built under the direct supervision of Walt Disney. -
Hurricane Diane
Hurricane Diane hit North Carolina and then moved northward and caused massive floods in the NE United States. It killed around 200 people and caused almost $1 billion in damages. -
Rosa Parks refuses to give up her bus seat
This sparked the yearlong Montgomery Bus Boycott and began the modern Civil Rights Movement. -
Eisenhower Doctrine
Under the Eisenhower Doctrine, a country could request American economic assistance and/or aid from U.S. military forces if it was being threatened by armed aggression from another state. -
U.S. Admits Refugees
The United States admits approximately 35,000 refugees from Hungary after the 1956 Hungarian revolt. -
NASA Created
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration was created in response to the Soviet Union's creation of Sputnik and was America's way of getting ahead in the Space Race.
