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Chapter 27
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• Harry Truman becomes the first president to address the nation on TV from the White House
On this day in 1947, President Harry S. Truman delivered the first televised presidential address from the White House. he was not the first president to appear on television. In 1948, Truman also became the first presidential candidate to air a paid political ad on TV. -
• Transistor is invented, spurring growth in computers and electronics.
Americans also found hope in developments made in medicine. In 1954, Dr. Jonas Salk and Dr. Thomas Francis conducted a successful field test of a vaccine to prevent one of the most feared diseases—poliomyelitis. Before the vaccine, the disease, known commonly as polio, had killed or disabled more than 20,000 children in the United States every year. As you have read, Franklin D. Roosevelt suffered the effects of polio throughout much of his life. -
• President Eisenhower and Congress add the words “Under God” to the Pledge of Allegiance.
The Pledge of Allegiance was first written in 1892 for a magazine contest, and it read: "I Pledge Allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands; one nation indivisible, with liberty and justice for all." The Pledge became part of the US Flag Code in 1942, and in 1954 President Eisenhower and Congress added the phrase "under God” into the Pledge. -
• Polio vaccine announced to the world by Dr. Jonas Salk and Dr. Thomas Francis.
Americans also found hope in developments made in medicine. In 1954, Dr. Jonas Salk and Dr. Thomas Francis conducted a successful field test of a vaccine to prevent one of the most feared diseases—poliomyelitis. Before the vaccine, the disease, known commonly as polio, had killed or disabled more than 20,000 children in the United States every year. As you have read, Franklin D. Roosevelt suffered the effects of polio throughout much of his life. -
• The first nuclear power plant in the U.S. goes online at Shippingport, Pa.
The light-water breeder reactor at Shippingport, Pennsylvania — the first in the United States — goes to full power on the anniversary of Chicago Pile-1. An experimental breeder reactor devised by veteran Walter Zinn had created the first nuclear-generated electricity in 1951. President Dwight D. Eisenhower broke ground for the first commercial plant, to be operated by Pittsburgh's Duquesne Light Company, in 1954. -
• NASA is established.
Challenge When the Soviet Union launched Sputnik in 1957, as described in the previous chapter, many Americans grew concerned that the United States was losing its competitive edge. Others feared a nuclear attack would soon follow. In 1958, the United States government responded by creating the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), as an independent agency for space exploration.
