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First Modern Credit Card Introduced
In 1950, Frank X. McNamara thought of a way for customers to have just one credit card that they could use at multiple stores. McNamara discussed the idea with two colleagues and the three pooled some money and started a new company in 1950 which they called the Diners Club. -
Korean War begins
The war begins when North Korea invades South Korea. The United States acting under the U.N. quickly came to South Korea's defense and fought a frustrating, bloody war for the next 3 years. Over 55,000 Americans were killed. It was the first "hot" war of the Cold War . -
First Peanuts Cartoon Strip
When Schulz sold his first strip to the United Feature Syndicate in 1950, it was the Syndicate that changed the name from Li'l Folks to Peanuts - a name that Schulz himself never liked.
The very first strip was four panels long and showed Charlie Brown walking by two other young children, Shermy and Patty. (Snoopy was the also an early character in the strip, but he did not appear in the very first one.) -
Dwight Eisenhower Becomes U.S. President
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States from 1953 until 1961. He was a five-star general in the United States Army during World War II and served as Supreme Commander . -
First Succesful Kidney Transplant
In 1954 at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston, a special kidney transpant case would succeed and teach medicine a great deal by confirming Medawar's results. Richard and Ronald Herrick were identical twins, but Richard was dying of kidney disease. Ronald donated one of his kidneys, and it was successfully transplanted into Richard. Because they were identical twins, the organ did not appear foreign to Richard's body, which did not reject it. -
Disneyland Opens
Walt Disney had a dream to build an activity park for both children and their parents to enjoy. On July 17, 1955, his dream came true when he opened Disneyland! Disneyland continues to be a place where dreams come true for all ages. -
Elvis Presley
When jazz moved away from swing and big band in favor of be bop, it left a void. For ten years, young people did not have their own music. In 1956, a number of acts changed music, the culture, and the economy. Elvis Presley took the lead. He was younger, prettier, and the most talented of the bunch. This combination led Elvis from extreme poverty to superstardom. In his wake, music changed overnight, companies discovered teenage purchasing power, and young people finally had their own soundtrack -
Interstate Highway Act
The Eisenhower Administration passed the highway act which called for the building of 41,000 miles of interstate highway. Construction ended in the early nineties. Interstate highways facilitated trade and travel. It allowed people to move out of the big cities and into the suburbs. -
Sputnik
The Space Age began in earnest when the Soviets launched Sputnik. This satellite was the first manmade object in orbit. In America, people panicked. They believed the Soviets were incapable of such a technological achievement. Many feared the potential for space weapons. President Eisenhower went on national television to calm nerves. In response, the U.S. entered into the space race and quickly surpassed the Soviets. -
NASA Founded
"An Act to provide for research into the problems of flight within and outside the Earth's atmosphere, and for other purposes." With this simple preamble, Congress and the President of the U.S. created the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) on October 1, 1958. This was directly related to the pressures of national defense and the Soviet’s launching of the first artificial satellite. Space exploration emerged as a major area of contest and became known as the space race.
