ENGL C101 Guide for Debilyn Kinzler: The 1950s

1950

• Korean War began when North Korea invaded South Korea.
• Senator McCarthy alleges communists are in the U.S. Government
• Famous physicist Albert Einstein warned the world that a nuclear war would lead to mutual destruction.

1951

• Dwight Eisenhower was elected President
• "I Love Lucy" premieres on television on the CBS network
• DJ Alan Freed coined the term "Rock n' Roll."
• The United States ratified the 22nd Amendment, limiting a president to two terms.

1952

• Elizabeth II became the Queen of England after her father, George VI, died.
• Puerto Rico is named as a self-governing commonwealth of the U.S. 
• The first issue of the comedy-driven MAD Magazine is published. 
• The first hydrogen bomb was successfully detonated by the United States.

1953

• The Double Helix DNA Model was revealed by Francis Crick and James Watson.
• Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay became the first people to successfully climb to the top of Mount Everest, the tallest mountain in the world.
• Jonas Salk developed the first polio vaccine.
• The first James Bond novel, "Casino Royale," was published by British author Ian Fleming.

1954

• The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that racial segregation is unconstitutional in public schools in their unanimous decision of Brown v. Board of Education.
• U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy is censured by the Senate, ending his four-year-long hunt for Communists within the United States government.
• Frozen TV Dinners were introduced by Swanson.
• Ellis Island ceases to be a point of immigration into the U.S. when it officially closes.

1955

• The United States adds "In God We Trust" to all paper currency.
• The McDonald's chain of restaurants was started by Ray Kroc.
• Rosa Parks was arrested in Alabama after she refused to give up her bus seat to a white passenger, sparking the Civil Rights Movement.
• The popular children's television show "The Mickey Mouse Club" premieres. The Disneyland theme park in California also opened during this year.

1956

• The popular musician Elvis Presley has his very first hit song, "Heartbreak Hotel."
• American Actress Grace Kelly marries Prince Rainier of Monaco.
• The Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 became law, allowing for the mass construction of tens of thousands of interstate highways in the U.S.

1957

• The USSR successfully launched Sputnik 1, the very first artificial satellite. They also launched Sputnik 2 later in the year, a satellite that carried the first animal into space.
• The "Baby Boom" peaks during this year.
• Nine African-American students enroll at Little Rock Central High School in Arkansas and are met with resistance by protesters and the state's governor. Federal troops ended up escorting the students into the school at the command of President Eisenhower.
• The European Economic Community was created when West Germany, Italy, Belgium, France, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg signed the Treaty of Rome.

1958

• The microchip was co-invented by Robert Noyce and Jack Kilby.
• NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) was created.
• The popular children's toy the Hula-Hoop is created by Wham-O.
• The Great Chinese Famine begins.

1959

• The Cuban revolution ended and Fidel Castro came to power, creating the first Communist nation in the West.
• Alaska and Hawaii are admitted as the 49th and 50th states in the U.S.
• The Soviet Union's Luna 2 spacecraft became the first man-made object to touch the surface of the Moon after it crashed.
• The first astronauts were introduced by NASA ( John H. Glenn, Jr. and Alan Shepard, Jr. ).

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