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First Modern Credit Card
In 1949, Frank X. McNamara thought of a way for customers to have just one credit card that they could use at multiple stores. -
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. -
Joseph McCarthy
During the late 1940s and early 1950s, the prospect of communist subversion at home and abroad seemed frighteningly real to many people in the United States. These fears came to define–and, in some cases, corrode–the era’s political culture. For many Americans, the most enduring symbol of this “Red Scare” was Republican Senator Joseph P. McCarthy of Wisconsin. Senator McCarthy spent almost five years trying in vain to expose communists and other left-wing “loyalty risks” in the U.S. government. -
Color TV Introduced
On June 25, 1951, CBS broadcast the very first commercial color TV program. Unfortunately, nearly no one could watch it on their black-and-white televisions. -
Disneyland Opens
On July 17, 1955, Disneyland opened for a few thousand specially invited visitors; the following day, Disneyland officially opened to the public. Disneyland, located in Anaheim, California on what used to be a 160-acre orange orchard, cost $17 million to build. The original park included Main Street, Adventureland, Frontierland, Fantasyland, and Tomorrowland. -
Emmett Till Murdered
Emmett Till, a 14-year-old boy from Chicago, was visiting his relatives in Mississippi when he was snatched from his great-uncle's home on the night of August 28. He was then beaten, shot in the head, and then thrown into Tallahatchie River. His body was found three days later. Ostensibly, the murderers killed Till because he whistled at a white woman. -
Rosa Parks Refuses to Give Up Her Seat on a Bus
On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks, a 42-year-old African-American seamstress, refused to give up her seat to a white man while riding on a city bus in Montgomery, Alabama. For doing this, Rosa Parks was arrested and fined for breaking the laws of segregation. Rosa Parks' refusal to leave her seat sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott and is considered the beginning of the modern Civil Rights Movement. -
Elvis Gyrates on Ed Sullivan's Show
Elvis Presley had already appeared on other national television shows (such as on Stage Show, The Milton Berle Show, and on the popular The Steve Allen Show) when Ed Sullivan booked Elvis for three shows. Elvis' pelvic gyrations during his appearances on these other shows had caused much discussion and concern about the suitability of airing such provocative and sensual movements on television. -
Dr. Seuss Publishes The Cat in the Hat
The Cat in the Hat is a children's book written and illustrated by Theodor Geisel under the pen name Dr. Seuss and first published in 1957. The story centers on a tall anthropomorphic cat, who wears a red and white-striped hat and a red bow tie. The Cat shows up at the house of Sally and her brother one rainy day when their mother is away. Ignoring repeated objections from the children's fish, the Cat shows the children a few of his tricks in an attempt to entertain them. In the process he and h -
Soviet Satellite Sputnik Launches Space Age
History changed on October 4, 1957, when the Soviet Union successfully launched Sputnik I. The world's first artificial satellite was about the size of a beach ball (58 cm.or 22.8 inches in diameter), weighed only 83.6 kg. or 183.9 pounds, and took about 98 minutes to orbit the Earth on its elliptical path. That launch ushered in new political, military, technological, and scientific developments. While the Sputnik launch was a single event, it marked the start of the space age and the U.S.-U.S. -
Lasers Invented
In 1960, Theodore Maiman invented the ruby laser considered to be the first successful optical or light laser. -
Soviets Launch First Man in Space
On board Vostok 1, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin made history on April 12, 1961 when he became both the first person in the world to enter space and the first person to orbit the Earth. -
First Wal-Mart Opens
On July 2, 1962, Sam Walton opened the first Walmart store in Rogers, Ark. -
Marilyn Monroe Found Dead
On August 5, 1962, movie actress Marilyn Monroe is found dead in her home in Los Angeles. She was discovered lying nude on her bed, face down, with a telephone in one hand. Empty bottles of pills, prescribed to treat her depression, were littered around the room. After a brief investigation, Los Angeles police concluded that her death was "caused by a self-administered overdose of sedative drugs and that the mode of death is probable suicide." -
First Woman in Space
On June 16, 1963, aboard Vostok 6, Soviet Cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova becomes the first woman to travel into space. After 48 orbits and 71 hours, she returned to earth, having spent more time in space than all U.S. astronauts combined to that date. -
Martin Luther King Jr. Makes His "I Have a Dream" Speech
Martin Luther King’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech, delivered at the 28 August 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, synthesized portions of his previous sermons and speeches, with selected statements by other prominent public figures. -
JFK Assassinated
On November 22, 1963, the youth and idealism of America in the 1960s faltered as its young President, John F. Kennedy, was assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald while riding in a motorcade through Dealey Plaza in Dallas, Texas. Two days later, Oswald was shot and killed by Jack Ruby during a prisoner transfer. -
Civil Rights Act Passes in U.S.
In the 1960s, Americans who knew only the potential of "equal protection of the laws" expected the president, the Congress, and the courts to fulfill the promise of the 14th Amendment. In response, all three branches of the federal government--as well as the public at large--debated a fundamental constitutional question: Does the Constitution's prohibition of denying equal protection always ban the use of racial, ethnic, or gender criteria in an attempt to bring social justice and social benefit -
Malcolm X Assassinated
On Feb. 21, 1965, the former Nation of Islam leader Malcolm X was shot and killed by assassins identified as Black Muslims as he was about to address the Organization of Afro-American Unity at the Audubon Ballroom in Harlem. He was 39. -
First Super Bowl
On January 15, 1967, the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League (NFL) smash the American Football League (AFL)’s Kansas City Chiefs, 35-10, in the first-ever AFL-NFL World Championship, later known as Super Bowl I, at Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles. -
Neil Armstrong Becomes the First Man on the Moon
On July 20, 1969, as part of the Apollo 11 mission, astronaut Neil Armstrong opened the hatch of the lunar module (nicknamed Eagle) and stepped out onto the ladder. Once at the bottom of the ladder, Armstrong stepped onto the surface of the moon and became the very first man on the moon. A few minutes later, Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin followed him. -
VCRs Introduced
The main purpose of the video recorder is recording and replaying video and audio signals. Although built-in tuners and timers have become integral parts of the average video recorder, they are not prerequisites for reaching the main goal: audio and video registration and playback. -
Vietnam War
he Vietnam War was the prolonged struggle between nationalist forces attempting to unify the country of Vietnam under a communist government and the United States (with the aid of the South Vietnamese) attempting to prevent the spread of communism. Engaged in a war that many viewed as having no way to win, U.S. leaders lost the American public's support for the war. Since the end of the war, the Vietnam War has become a benchmark for what not to do in all future U.S. foreign conflicts. -
Elvis Found Dead
Graceland mansion is located at 3764 Elvis Presley Boulevard, in Memphis Tennessee. Convenient. Imagine buying a home on a street that was named after you. Elvis entertained friends on the evening August 15, 1977. He played the piano and sang through the next morning when he played racquetball. He finally went to bed around 8am. His fianc�e, Ginger Alden, was staying with him, but sleeping in a different room. She was the last person to see him alive. Most stories conclude that Elvis was -
Sony Introduces the Walkman
Sony's first truly portable cassette player, the Walkman, was originally developed for a company chairman who wanted to be able to listen to music on long plane rides. He was impressed, and less than a year later, the revolutionary device hit the market. Sales soon exploded, cementing the Walkman's place in pop culture. It remained popular throughout the 1990s, before CDs and mp3s supplanted cassettes. -
Mount St. Helens Erupts
The eruption of Mt. St. Helens in 1980 was the worst volcanic disaster in U.S. history; however, it offered scientists an exceptional opportunity to examine and study a large volcanic eruption, which has enriched scientific knowledge of volcanoes. -
Pac-Man Video Game Released
On May 22, 1980, the Pac-Man video game was released in Japan and by October of the same year it was released in the United States. The yellow, pie-shaped Pac-Man character, who travels around a maze trying to eat dots and avoid four mean ghosts, quickly became an icon of the 1980s. To this day, Pac-Man remains one of the most popular video games in history. -
HIV/AIDS
On June 5, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) publish a Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), describing cases of a rare lung infection, Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP), in five young, previously healthy, gay men in Los Angeles. All the men have other unusual infections as well, indicating that their immune systems are not working; two have already died by the time the report is published. This edition of the MMWR marks the first official reporting of what wil -
E.T. Movie Released
The movie E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial was a hit from the day it was released (June 11, 1982) and quickly became one of the most beloved movies of all time. -
Michael Jackson Releases Thriller
On November 30, 1982, 24-year-old singer Michael Jackson released his album Thriller, which, in addition to the title track of the same name, included such popular singles as “Beat It,” “Billie Jean,” and “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’.” Thriller remains the best-selling album of all time and has sold over 104 million copies to date; 65 million of those copies were within the United States. -
Wreck of the Titanic Found
After the sinking of the Titanic on April 15, 1912, the great ship slumbered on the floor of the Atlantic Ocean for over 70 years before its wreckage was discovered. On September 1, 1985, a joint American-French expedition, headed by famous American oceanographer Dr. Robert Ballard, found the Titanic over two miles below the ocean’s surface by using an unmanned submersible called Argo. This discovery gave new meaning to the Titanic’s sinking and gave birth to new dreams in ocean exploration. -
Space Shuttle Challenger Explodes
At 11:38 a.m. on Tuesday, January 28, 1986, the Space Shuttle Challenger launched from the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Florida. As the world watched on TV, the Challenger soared into the sky and then, shockingly, exploded just 73 seconds after take-off. All seven members of the crew, including social studies teacher Sharon "Christa" McAuliffe, died in the disaster. An investigation of the accident discovered that the O-rings of the right solid rocket booster had malfunctioned. -
U.S. Bombs Libya
The 1986 United States bombing of Libya, code-named Operation El Dorado Canyon, comprised air strikes by the United States against Libya on Tuesday, 15 April 1986. The attack was carried out by the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps via air strikes, in response to the 1986 Berlin discotheque bombing. There were 40 reported Libyan casualties, and one US plane was shot down, resulting in the death of two airmen. -
Berlin Wall Falls
In the evening of November 9, 1989, East German government official Günter Schabowski stated during a press conference that travel through the border to the West was open. -
Nelson Mandela Freed
On this day, 23 years ago, Nelson Mandela was released from the South African prison where he'd been held for nearly 27 years. In August of 1962 Mandela was arrested, jailed and convicted of leaving the country illegally and inciting workers to strike. He was sentenced to five years in prison, where he remained through June 1964 when he was sentenced to life for his anti-apartheid engagement through the African National Congress (ANC) and the Umkhonto we Sizwe or "MK," the ANC's armed wing. He
