1950s timeline

Important Historic and Cultural Events


1950 - President Harry Truman ( 'til 1952) approves production of the hydrogen bomb and Sends air force and navy to Korea in June.

1951 - Transcontinental television begins with a speech by Pres. Truman. Dwight D. Eisenhower is president from 1953 until 1961

1952 - The Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1952 is signed, removing racial and ethnic barriers to becoming a U.S. citizen.

1953 - Julius and Ethel Rosenberg are electrocuted for their part in W.W.II espionage.
1953 - Fighting ends in Korea.

1954 - U. S. Senator Joseph McCarthy begins televised hearings into alleged Communists in the army.
1954 - Racial segregation is ruled unconstitutional in public schools by the U.S. Supreme Court.

1955 - Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat on a public bus in Montgomery, Alabama.
1955 - The American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations merge making the new AFL-CIO an organization with 15 million members. also in 1955 Dr. Jonas Salk developed a vaccine for polio

1956 - The Federal Highway Act is signed, marking the beginning of work on the interstate highway system.

1958 - Explorer I, the first U.S. satellite, successfully orbits the earth. December 10,

1958 - The first domestic jet-airline passenger service is begun by National Airlines between New York City and Miami.

1959 - Alaska and Hawaii become the forty-ninth and fiftieth states.