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Cold War
Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union, a rivalry that lasted for much of the second half of the 20th century. United Staes first used the atomic bomb. -
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Forrest Gump Living History
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The Korean War
Korean War, conflict between Communist and non-Communist forces in Korea end of World War II, Korea was divided at the 38th parallel into Soviet (North Korean) and U.S.(South Korean) zones of occupation. -
Joseph McCarthy- McCarthyism
McCarthyism is the practice of making accusations of disloyalty, subversion, or treason without proper regard for evidence. -
Lasers Invented
In 1954, Charles Townes and Arthur Schawlow invented the maser (microwave amplification by stimulated emission of radiation), using ammonia gas and microwave radiation - the maser was invented before the (optical) laser -
Vietnam War
The 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. -
Disneyland Open
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. -
Emmett Till’s murder
In 1955, 14-year old Emmett Till was taken from his relatives home, beaten, and then shot in the head. His body was then thrown in the river. -
Rosa Parks
•Rosa Parks is arrested for refusing to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery, AL. Martin Luther King Jr. leads a boycott of Montgomery buses that lasts over a year. -
The “Little Rock Nine”
The Little Rock Nine were the nine African-American students involved in the desegregation of Little Rock Central High School -
Earthquake hit Chile
Approximately 1,655 killed, 3,000 injured, 2,000,000 homeless, and $550 million damage in southern Chile; -
The Space Race
The Space Race grew out of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union, the most powerful nations after World War II. -
First Wal-Mart Opens
On July 2, 1962, Sam Walton opened the first Walmart store in Rogers, Ark. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
During the Cuban Missile Crisis, leaders of the U.S. and the Soviet Union engaged in a tense, 13-day political and military standoff over the installation of nuclear-armed Soviet missiles on Cuba, just 90 miles from U.S. shores. -
Medgar Evers Is Murdered
Medgar Evers, 37, civil rights activist and field secretary for the NAACP in Mississippi, was shot in the back while walking up to his house -
Sixteenth Street Baptist Church
On Sunday a white man was seen getting out of a turquoise Chevrolet car and placing a box under the steps of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church. Soon afterwards, at 10.22 a.m., the bomb exploded killing Denise McNair (11), Addie Mae Collins (14), Carole Robertson (14) and Cynthia Wesley (14). The four girls had been attending Sunday school classes at the church. Twenty-three other people were also hurt by the blast -
Assassination of John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the 35th President of the United States, was assassinated at 12:30 p.m. Central Standard Time on Friday, November 22, 1963, in Dealey Plaza, Dallas, Texas. -
Malcolm X
Malcolm X, born Malcolm Little and also known as El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz, was an African-American Muslim minister and human rights activist -
War Protests
The movement against U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War began small--among peace activists and leftist intellectuals on college campuses--but gained national prominence in 1965, after the United States began bombing North Vietnam in earnest -
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr. was an American clergyman, activist, and leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement. He is best known for his role in the advancement of civil rights using nonviolent civil disobedience -
Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy
Robert Francis "Bobby" Kennedy, also referred to by his initials RFK, was an American politician, a Democratic senator from New York, and a noted civil-rights activist -
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974, when he became the only president to resign the office. -
Woodstock, 1969
The Woodstock Festival was a three-day concert that involved lots of sex, drugs, and rock 'n roll - plus a lot of mud. The Woodstock Music Festival of 1969 has become an icon of the 1960s hippie counterculture. -
Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon Baines Johnson, often referred to as LBJ, was the 36th President of the United States, a position he assumed after his service as the 37th Vice President of the United States -
Paul Getty Kidnapped
Paul Getty was kidnapped by a gang of Italian petty criminals who blindfolded him and chained him to a stake for five months. Eventually they cut off his right ear as evidence of their willingness to kill him unless a ransom was paid. -
Jimmy Carter/ Iran Hostage Crisis
James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was awarded the 2002 Nobel Peace PrizeOn November 4, 1979, Iranian militants stormed the United States Embassy in Tehran and took approximately seventy Americans captive. This terrorist act triggered the most profound crisis of the Carter presidency and began a personal ordeal for Jimmy Carter and the American people that lasted 444 days -
Assassination attempt of Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States. Prior to that, he was the 33rd Governor of California, and a radio, film and television actor. On March 31, 1981, John W. Hinckley shot President Ronald Reagan and several others in a failed assassination attempt -
HIV / AIDS
On June 16, the first AIDS patient seen at the NIH was admitted under Dr. Thomas Waldmann’s National Cancer Institute (NCI) Omnibus Metabolism Branch protocol. -
First Woman in Space
Sally Kristen Ride was an American physicist and astronaut. Ride joined NASA in 1978 and at the age of 32, became the first American woman to enter into low Earth orbit in 1983 -
Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster
The Space Shuttle Challenger launched from the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Florida.exploded just 73 seconds after take-off. All seven members of the crew died in the disaster. The O-rings of the right solid rocket booster had malfunctioned. -
The Falling of the Berlin Wall/Fall of Communism/ Breakup of Soviet Union
9 November 1989 marks the infamous fall of the Berlin Wall. On midnight of that day, East Germany's Communist rulers gave permission for gates along the Wall to be opened as a result of days of mass protest
