USA History (1950-1960)

January 31, 1950-President Truman authorizes the production of the H-bomb.

1950-Einstein develops his "General Field Theory."

1950-A computer was first used to tally a census.

1950-Senator Joseph McCarthy begins anti-communist charges.

June 25, 1950-The Korean War begins.

June 27, 1950-The United Nations officially declares war on North Korea.

1951-The color television is introduced in the U.S.

March 29, 1951-Julius Rosenberg and his wife Ethel were found guilty of conspiracy to commit wartime espionage.  They were thought to have given atomic secrets to the Soviets.

1951-J.D. Salinger publishes his classic novel, The Catcher in the Rye.

1951-The U.S. presidency is restricted down to eight years.

1951-The United States occupation of Japan and its islands ends.

September 8, 1951-Japanese Peace Treaty signed in San Francisco by Japan, the U.S., and 47 other nations.

November 1, 1952-The United States detonates the first thermo-nuclear device on the Pacific island of Eniwetok.

1953-An American company develops the first microwave oven.

1953-Over half of all families in the U.S. own televisions.

1953-The Rosenbergs are executed for traitorous espionage.

1954-The Nationally televised McCarthy hearings lead to Senator Joseph McCarthy's downfall.

May 17, 1954-Segregation by race in schools is declared unanimously unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.

1954-congress adds the words "under God" to the Pledge of Allegiance and requires "In God We Trust" to appear on all American currency the next year.

1954-President Dwight D. Eisenhower forms a plan to protect the Middle East from the communist threat.

1955-Ray Kroc opens the first McDonald's.

1955-The film, Rebel Withouta Cause captures the feelings of many young people at that time.

1955-The two largest labor unions, the AFL and CIO merge as one union.

December 1, 1955-Rosa Parks refuses to give her seat to a white man on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama.

1956-The Montgomery bus boycott begins.

September 25, 1956-The first transatlantic telephone cable begins operation.

1957-The first commercial American light water nuclear power plant opens in Shippingport, Pennsylvania.

1957-The Sputnik is launched by the Soviets and is the first artificial satellite to orbit the earth.  This marks the beginning of the great space race between the Soviet Union and the U.S.

1957-President Eisenhower sends soldiers to integrate a Little Rock, Arkansas high school.

1958-The first U.S. satellite to go into orbit, the Explore 1, is launched.

1959-The U.S. severs its diplomatic with Cuba after Fidel Castro rises to power and Cuba becomes communist.