1951President: Harry Truman (Democrat)
Vice President: Alben BarkleyJanuary: Supreme Court rules that the "clear and present danger" of incitement to riot is not protected speech and can be a cause for arrest
January: President Truman creates the Commission on Internal Security and Individual Rights, to monitor the anti-Communist campaign
February: NYC passes a bill prohibiting racism in city-assisted housing
February: FBI director J. Edgar Hoover initiates a secret nationwide program intended to remove politically suspect employees from their jobs
February: The 22nd Amendment to the Constitution, limiting a president to two terms of office, is ratified
March: Julius and Ethel Rosenberg are found guilty of conspiracy of wartime espionage and sentenced to death. They are executed June 19, 1953. Morton Sobell is also convicted of the crime and sentenced to thirty years in prison.
May: Racial segregation in Washington D.C. restaurants is ruled illegal
June: UNIVAC, the first computer built for commercial purposes, is demonstrated in Philadelphia by Dr. John W. Mauchly and J. Prosper Eckert, Jr.
June: The first commercial color telecast takes place as CBS transmitted a one-hour special from New York to four other cities
July: Alice in Wonderland, an American animated film produced by Walt Disney, is released in New York City and London by RKO Radio Pictures
August: The former enemies of the world war reconvene in San Francisco to finalize negotiations on the peace treaty to formally end WW II
September: The United States, Australia, and New Zealand sign a mutual security pact, the ANZUS Treaty
September: The inauguration of trans-continental television occurs with the broadcast of President Truman's speech at the Japanese Peace Treaty Conference in San Francisco
December: Richard Buckminster Fuller files patent for the Geodesic Dome
December: "Shoeless" Joe Jackson, of baseball's "Black Sox" scandal, dies
1952President: Harry Truman (Democrat)
Vice President: Alben BarkleyJanuary: "Dragnet" with Jack Webb premieres on NBC TV
February: New York adopts the three-colored traffic lights
February: Dick Button performs 1st figure skating triple jump in competition
February: The first pedestrian "Walk/Don't Walk" signs are installed at 44th Street and Broadway at Times Square
April: President Truman authorizes the seizure of United States steel mills in order to avert a strike, but his action is ruled illegal by the U.S. Supreme Court on June 2
April: The MGM movie musical "Singin' in the Rain," starring Gene Kelly, is first released
April: An atomic test conducted at Yucca Flat, Nevada, becomes the first nuclear explosion shown on live network television
May: Mr. Potato Head is introduced
May: In San Francisco the first Golden Gate Park Road Race was held with some 60 cars vying for first place
July: Robin Williams, comedian and actor, is born in Chicago
July: Puerto Rico becomes a self-governing commonwealth of the United States
November: At Eniwetok Atoll in the Pacific Ocean, the first hydrogen bomb, named Mike, is exploded
November: General Dwight D. Eisenhower, a newcomer to politics, but popular due to his role in winning World War II as European commander, gains an easy victory over Democratic challenger Adlai E. Stevenson
November: False fingernails are 1st sold
November: President-elect Dwight D. Eisenhower travels to Korea to try and end the conflict
1953President: Dwight D. Eisenhower (Republican)
Vice President: Richard NixonJanuary: GM introduces the first American sports car, the two-seater Corvette at the annual NYC Motorama Show at the Waldorf-Astoria
January: Dwight D. Eisenhower is inaugurated as president
February: US Court of Appeals rules that Organized Baseball is a sport & not a business, affirming the 25-year-old Supreme Court ruling
March: F.M. Adams becomes the 1st US commissioned woman army doctor
March: The Academy Awards ceremony is televised for the first time
April: The first 3-D horror movie "House of Wax," produced by Warner Bros. and starring Vincent Price, premieres in New York City
May: An F5 tornado hits downtown Waco, Texas, killing 114 people with 597 injured
June: John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Bouvier announce their engagement
July: Fighting ceases in the Korean War. North Korea, South Korea, the United States, and the Republic of China sign an armistice agreement
August: The United States CIA assists in the overthrow of the government in Iran, and retains the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi to the throne
September: Senator John Fitzgerald Kennedy (36) of Massachusetts marries Jacqueline Lee Bouvier (24)
October: America's first ever non-stop transcontinental service begin with flights by American Airlines using DC-7 aircraft
October: The Cold War continues in earnest when President Dwight D. Eisenhower approves a top secret document stating that the U.S. nuclear arsenal must be expanded to combat the communist threat around the world
March: "Gentleman’s Agreement" wins the Academy Award for best picture of 1947
December: Eisenhower holds the 1st White House Press Conference before 161 reporters
December: The first color televisions go on sale
December: Swanson and Sons introduces the TV Dinner
1954President: Dwight D. Eisenhower (Republican)
Vice President: Richard NixonJanuary: Elvis Presley records a 10 minute demo in Nashville
January: Oprah Winfrey, actress and TV host, is born in Mississippi
February: The first large scale vaccination of children against polio begins in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
March: Puerto Rican nationalists open fire from the gallery of the U.S. House of Representatives, wounding five congressmen
March: The 1st shopping mall opens in Southfield, Mich
March: RCA manufacturs its first color TV set and began mass production
April: Joseph McCarthy begins televised Senate hearings into alleged Communist influence in the United States Army
April: U.S. Air Force Academy is founded in Colorado
May: Racial segregation in public schools is declared unconstitutional by the United States Supreme Court in Brown vs. the Board of Education
June: The 1st microbiology laboratory is dedicated in New Brunswick, NJ
June: Americans take part in the first nation-wide civil defense test against atomic attack
July: Elvis Presley’s first commercial recording session takes place at Sun Records in Memphis
September: Integration of public schools begins in Washington DC and Maryland
September: In Bangkok, Thailand, the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization is formed by the U.S., Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand, France, the Philippines, Pakistan, and Thailand, creating a mutual defense pact
October: Marilyn Monroe divorces Joe DiMaggio
October: Chevrolet introduces the V-8 engine
November: Ellis Island closes after processing more than 20 million immigrants since opening in New York Harbor in 1892
December: U.S. Congress votes to condemn Senator McCarthy for his conduct during the Army investigation hearings
1955President: Dwight D. Eisenhower (Republican)
Vice President: Richard NixonJanuary: A presidential news conference is filmed for television for the first time, with permission from President Eisenhower
January: "Scrabble" debuts in the board game market
February: The United States government agrees to train South Vietnamese troops
March: The SF Chronicle reports that a Univ. of California survey found that Americans spend more money on comic books that all the country’s elementary schools and high schools spend on textbooks
March: 1st radio facsimile transmission (fax) is sent across the continent
March: The U.S. Air Force unveils a self-guided missile
April: Ray Kroc acquires the McDonald’s chain of fast food restaurants
April: Albert Einstein, physicist, dies in Princeton New Jersey
May: The Supreme Court of the United States orders that all public schools be integrated with deliberate speed
June: Eisenhower becomes the 1st president to appear on color TV
June: The U.S. House of Representatives votes to extend Selective Service until 1959
July: Disneyland, the brainchild of Walt Disney, whose fatherhad worked at previous world's fairs and inspired his son to build the iconic Magic Castle and other exhibits opens in Anaheim, California
September: The Brooklyn Dodgers win the National League pennant
October: A United Airlines plane bound for SF crashes in Wyoming killing 66 people
October: Tappan sells its 1st home microwave oven for $1,295
November: An Alabama woman is bruised by a meteor
December: Rosa Parks, an African American seamstress, refuses to give up her seat on the bus to a white man, prompting a boycott that would lead to the declaration that bus segregation laws were unconstitutional by a federal court
December: The two largest American labor unions, the American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations, merge to form the AFL-CIO, boasting membership of fifteen million
For more information, check out
this and
thiswebsite.