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Brinks robbery in Boston occurs when eleven masked bandits stole $2.8 million from an armored car outside their office.
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For thr first time the 1920 census indicate a population in the United States over 100 million people, 15% increase from last time.
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Korean War begins, North Korea invades South Korea.
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Preliminary report from the Senator Estes Kefauver investigation that had begun on May 11, 1950 into organized crime issued, stating that gambling take was in excess of $20 billion per year.
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Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were found guilty of conspiracy of wartime espionage and sentenced to death.
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The United States, Australia, and New Zealand sign a mutual security pact, the ANZUS Treaty.
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The 1952 Winter Olympics games open in Helsinki, Finland with thirty participating nations.
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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.
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At Eniwetok Atoll in the Pacific Ocean, the first hydrogen bomb, named Mike, is exploded.
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The description of a double helix DNA molecule is published by British physicist Francis Crick and American scientist James D. Watson. They, along with New Zealand born scientist Maurice Wilkins were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their discovery in 1962.
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Fighting ceased in the Korean War. North Korea, South Korea, the United States, and the Republic of China sign an armistice agreement.
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First colored televisions go on sale
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Ray Kroc founds the idea for the McDonald's corporation, agreeing to franchise the idea of Dick and Mac McDonald, who had started the first McDonald's restaurant in 1940 and had eight restaurants by 1954.
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Racial segregation in public schools is declared unconstitutional by the United States Supreme Court in Brown vs. the Board of Education.
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Joseph McCarthy begins televised Senate hearings into alleged Communist influence in the United States Army.
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The United States government agrees to train South Vietnamese troops.
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The Supreme Court of the United States orders that all public school be integrated with "deliberate speed."
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The brainchild of Walt Disney, whose father had worked at previous world's fair and inspired his son, Disneyland, opens in Anaheim, California, with the backing of the new television network, ABC.
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Rosa Parks got arrested for not giving her seat up on the bus to a white man.
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One hundred and one congressmen from Southern states call for massive resistance to the Supreme Court ruling on desegregation.
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Interstate highway system begins with the signing of the Federal-Aid Highway Act.
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The first transatlantic telephone cable began operation.
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President Dwight D. Eisenhower is inaugurated for his second term in office.
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The Federal Bureau of Investigation arrest labor leader Jimmy Hoffa under a bribery charge.
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U.S. Congress approves the first civil rights bill since reconstruction with additional protection of voting rights.
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Explorer I, the first U.S. space satellite, is launched by the Army at Cape Canaveral. It would discover the Van Allen radiation belt.
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The Lituya Bay, Alaska earthquake registers 7.5 on the Richter scale, producing a landslide that caused a megatsunami with a 520 meter high wave.
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Jet airline passenger service inaugurated in the United States by National Airlines with a flight between New York City and Miami, Florida.
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Alaska is admitted to the United States as the 49th state to be followed on August 21 by Hawaii.
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The United States recognizes the new Cuban government under rebel leader Fidel Castro. Castro becomes the Premier of Cuba on February 16.
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NASA selects the first seven military pilots to become the Mercury Seven, first astronauts of the United States.
