1950's Part 2

Remember, do you remember when.......






1950
Brink's robbery in Boston; almost $3 million stolen (Jan. 17).
Truman orders development of hydrogen bomb (Jan. 31).
Korean War begins when North Korean Communist forces invade South Korea (June 25).
McCarthyism begins.
1951
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg sentenced to death for passing atomic secrets to Russians (March).
Japanese peace treaty signed in San Francisco by 49 nations (Sept. 8).
Color television introduced in U.S. (Dec. 24). Pictured, Zenith Space Commander 600.
1952
George VI dies; his daughter becomes Elizabeth II (Feb. 6).
AEC announces “satisfactory” experiments in hydrogen-weapons research; eyewitnesses tell of blasts near Enewetak (Nov.).
1953
Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower inaugurated president of United States (Jan. 20).
Stalin dies (March 5).
Edmund Hillary of New Zealand and Tenzing Norgay of Nepal reach top of Mt. Everest (May 29).
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg executed in Sing Sing prison (June 19).
Korean armistice signed (July 27).
James Watson, Francis Crick, and Rosalind Franklin discover structure of DNA. Ernest Hemingway wins Pulitzer for The Old Man and the Sea.
1954
First atomic submarine Nautilus launched (Jan. 21).
Soviet Union grants sovereignty to East Germany (March 23).
U.S. Supreme Court (in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka) unanimously bans racial segregation in public schools (May 17).
Dr. Jonas Salk starts inoculating children against polio.
William Faulkner's A Fable wins Pulitzer.
1955
Churchill resigns; Anthony Eden succeeds him (April 6).
West Germany becomes a sovereign state (May 5).
Argentina ousts Perón (Sept. 19).

Rosa Parks refuses to sit at the back of the bus. Martin Luther King, Jr., leads black boycott of Montgomery, Ala., bus system (Dec. 1); desegregated service begins Dec. 21, 1956.
AFL and CIO become one organization—AFL-CIO (Dec. 5)
. Tennessee Williams's Cat on a Hot Tin Roof wins Pulitzer.
1956
Nikita Khrushchev, First Secretary of USSR Communist Party, denounces Stalin's excesses (Feb. 24).
First aerial H-bomb tested over Namu islet, Bikini Atoll : 10 million tons TNT equivalent (May 21).
Workers' uprising against Communist rule in Poznan, Poland, is crushed (June 28–30); rebellion inspires Hungarian students to stage a protest against Communism in Budapest (Oct. 23).
Egypt takes control of Suez Canal (July 26).
Hungarian rebellion forces Soviet troops to withdraw from Budapest (Oct.).
Israel launches attack on Egypt's Sinai peninsula and drives toward Suez Canal (Oct. 29).
Soviet troops enter and reclaim Budapest (Nov. 4).
1957
Eisenhower Doctrine calls for aid to Mideast countries which resist armed aggression from Communist-controlled nations (Jan. 5).
The “Little Rock Nine” integrate Arkansas high school. Eisenhower sends troops to quell mob and protect school integration (Sept. 24).
Russians launch Sputnik I, first Earth-orbiting satellite—the Space Age begins (Oct. 4).
1958
European Economic Community (Common Market) becomes effective (Jan. 1). Army's Jupiter-C rocket fires first U.S. Earth satellite, Explorer I, into orbit (Jan. 31). Egypt and Syria merge into United Arab Republic (Feb. 1).
Khrushchev becomes premier of Soviet Union as Bulganin resigns (Mar. 27).
Gen. Charles de Gaulle becomes French premier (June 1), remaining in power until 1969. New French constitution adopted (Sept. 28), de Gaulle elected president of 5th Republic (Dec. 21).
1959
Cuban President Batista resigns and flees—Castro takes over (Jan. 1).
Tibet's Dalai Lama escapes to India (Mar. 31).
St. Lawrence Seaway opens, allowing ocean ships to reach Midwest (April 25). Alaska and Hawaii become states. Leakeys discover hominid fossils.