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Civil Rights Movement
The civil Rights Movement started in the 1950s when African American veterans returned from war and demanded equal rights.With this, it also saw the rise of Martin Luther King Jr and the non violent movement. -
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Forest Gump Project
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Joseph McCarthy--McCarthyism
McCarthy enthusiastically agreed and took advantage of the nation’s wave of fanatic terror against communism, and emerged on February 9, 1950, claiming he had a list of 205 people in the State Department who were known members of the American Communist Party. The American public went crazy with the thought of seditious communists living within the United States, and roared for the investigation of the underground agitators. -
U.S Population
For the first time, the 1950 census counts a population in the United States over 150 million people. The 14% increase since the last census now showed a count of 150,697,361. The most populous state in the United States was New York, now followed by California. -
Truman seizure of steel mills
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. -
Dwight D. Eisenhower
General Dwight D. Eisenhower, a newcomer to politics, but popular due to his role in winning World War II as European commander, gains an easy victory over Democratic challenger Adlai E. Stevenson. The Electoral College vote was 442 to 89. -
First color TV on sale
By this year the first colored television went on sale. Before this televison was only in black and white, this revolutionize the industry of television. -
Vietnam War
Vietnam War was a conflict between North( Communism) and South( anti-communist) that started in 1954 and lasted all the way to 1975. The U.S involvement began in January 1965 when the south vietnamese signed a treaty of aid with the U.S -
Segregation in Public Schools
Racial segregation in public schools is declared unconstitutional by the United States Supreme Court in Brown vs. the Board of Education. The ruling of the court stated that racial segregation violated the 14th Amendment's clause that guaranteed equal protection. -
Rosa Parks
Rosa Parks, an African American seamstress, refuses to give up her seat on the bus to a white man, prompting a boycott that would lead to the declaration that bus segregation laws were unconstitutional by a federal court. -
Woolworth lunch counter protest
Four black college students from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College in Greensboro, North Carolina stage a sit-in at a segregated Woolworth lunch counter, protesting their denial of service. This action caused a national campaign, waged by seventy-thousand students, both white and black, over the next eight months, in sit-ins across the nation for Civil Rights. -
United States U2 shot down
May 1, 1960 - In the Soviet Union, a United States U-2 reconnaissance plane is shot done by Soviet forces, leading to the capture of U.S. pilot Gary Powers and the eventual cancellation of the Paris summit conference. On August 19, Powers is sentenced by the Soviet Union to ten years in prison for espionage. On February 10, 1962 , he would be exchanged for a captured Soviet spy in Berlin. -
U.S manned sub orbital space flight
The first U.S. manned sub-orbital space flight is completed with Commander Alan B. Shepard Jr. inside a Mercury capsule launched 116.5 miles above the earth from Cape Canaveral, Florida. Twenty days later, President Kennedy announces his intention to place a man on the moon by the end of the decade -
Cuban Missle Crisis
The Cuban Missile Crises begins. In response to the Soviet Union building offensive missiles in Cuba, President John F. Kennedy orders a naval and air blockade of military equipment to the island. An agreement is eventually reached with Soviet Premier Khrushchev on the removal of the missiles, ending the potential conflict after thirty-eight days, in what many think was the closest the Cold War came to breaking into armed conflict. -
'I have a dream speech"
Martin Luther King, Jr., delivers his “I Have a Dream” speech before a crowd of 200,000 during the civil rights march on Washington, DC -
Assassination of John F. Kennedy
At 12:30 on Friday, November 22, 1963, in Dealey Plaza, Dallas, Texas. Kennedy was fatally shot by a sniper while traveling with his wife Jacqueline, Texas Governor John Connally, and Connally's wife Nellie, in a presidential motorcade. Warren Commission concluded that Kennedy was assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald -
New York World's Fair
The New York World's War opens in Queens, New York on the site of the 1939 event. One of the largest world's fairs in United States history, it was not a sanctioned Bureau of International Exhibitions event, due to conflict over the dates of the Seattle fair of 1962. This world's fair would last for two seasons, and included exhibits from eighty nations. Over 50 million visitors would attend. Its theme structure, the Unisphere, is still present, now seen each August outside the -
Civil Rights Act
Civil Rights Act enacted July 2, 1964 is a landmark piece of civil rights legislation in the United States that outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. -
Tonkin Resolution
The Tonkin Resolution is passed by the United States Congress, authorizing broad powers to the president to take action in Vietnam after North Vietnamese boats had attacked two United States destroyers five days earlier. Bombing of the Brinks Hotel by Viet Cong terrorists, December 24, 1964. -
U.S Bombing Raids over Vietnam
United States warplanes begin their bombing raids of Hanoi and Haiphong, North Vietnam. By December of this year, the United States had 385,300 troops stationed in South Vietnam with sixty thousand additional troops offshore and thirty-three thousand in Thailand. -
The Outer Space Treaty
The Outer Space Treaty is signed into force by the United States, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union, to take effect on October 10, 1967. -
Ford's Theatre re-opens
Ford's Theatre, the site of the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln in 1865 in Washington, D.C., reopens to the public. It had been restored to its original appearance and use as a theatre, now comprising the Ford's Theatre National Historic Site. -
The Apollo Program
The Apollo program completes its mission. Neil Armstrong, United States astronaut, becomes the first man to set foot on the moon four days after launch from Cape Canaveral. His Apollo 11 colleague, Edwin E. Aldrin, Jr. accompanies him. -
First Earth Day
The first Earth Day celebration is held with millions of Americans participating in anti-pollution demonstrations. These demonstrations included school children walking to school instead of riding the bus. -
Walt Disney World- Olrando
Walt Disney World opens in Orlando, Florida, expanding the Disney empire to the east coast of the United States. -
Watergate Crisis
The Watergate crisis begins when four men are arrested for breaking into the Democratic National Committee headquarters in the Watergate office building in Washington, D.C. on the same day that Okinawa is returned from U.S. control back to Japan. -
President Nixon Resigns
President Richard M. Nixon resigns the office of the presidency, avoiding the impeachment process and admitting his role in the Watergate affair. He was replaced by Vice President Gerald R. Ford, who, on September 8, 1974, pardoned Nixon for his role. Nixon was the first president to ever resign from office. -
The Viking 1
The Viking 1 space probe successfully lands on Mars. It would be followed by a second unmanned Viking II on the Utopia Plains on September 3. The first color photos of the surface of Mars are taken on these flights. -
Microsoft
Microsoft becomes a registered trademark, one year after its name for microcomputer software is first mentioned by Bill Gates to Paul Allen in a letter. -
Panama Canal treaty
The United States Senate votes to return the Panama Canal back to Panama on December 31, 1999. A treaty for the return had been signed on September 7 of the previous year, pending approval by the U.S. Congress. -
HIV/ AIDS
The origin of AIDS and HIV has puzzled scientists ever since the illness first came to light in the early 1980s.The virus compromises the body’s ability to handle disease and causes AIDS. -
Winter Olympics
The opening ceremonies of the 1980 Winter Olympics Games are held in Lake Placid, New York. One of the most thrilling moments include the Miracle on Ice when a team of U.S. amateur ice hockey players defeated the vaunted Soviet Union professional all-star team in the semi-final game, then won the gold medal over Finland. U.S. speed skater Eric Heiden also concluded one of the most amazing feats in sports history when he won all five speed skating medals from the sprint at 500 -
John Lennon's Death
He was shot by Mark David Chapman at the entrance to the building where he lived, The Dakota, in New York City on 8 December 1980. Lennon had just returned from Record Plant Studio with his wife, Yoko Ono. -
Ronald Reagen shot
President Ronald Reagan withstands an assassination attempt, shot in the chest while walking to his limousine in Washington, D.C. -
First Space Shuttle Launch
The first launch of the Space Shuttle from Cape Canaveral and the Kennedy Space Center occurs as Columbia begins its STS-1 mission. The Space Shuttle is the first reusable spacecraft to be flown into orbit, and it returned to earth for a traditional touch down landing two days later. -
Highest unemployment rate since 1940
The highest unemployment rate since 1940 is recorded at 10.4%. By the end of November, over eleven million people would be unemployed. -
U.S Grenada invasion
U.S. invades Caribbean island of Grenada after a coup by Marxist faction in the government (Oct. 25). -
Pete Rose
Pete Rose breaks Ty Cobb's record for most career hits in Major League Baseball history. He would be banned from baseball in 1989 for gambling, thus making him ineligible for election into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. -
Martin Luther King Day
Martin Luther King Day is officially observed for the first time as a federal holiday in the United States. Photo (Below, Right) Crowds of the Civil Rights March in Washington, D.C. surround the Washington Monument. August 28, 1963. -
Challenger Space Shuttle Explodes
The Challenger Space Shuttle explodes after lift off at Cape Canaveral, Florida, killing seven people, including Christa McAuliffe, a New Hampshire school teacher. -
U.S and Soviet Nuclear weapon dismantling
The United States and the Soviet Union sign an agreement, the Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, to dismantle all 1,752 U.S. and 859 Soviet missiles in the 300-3,400 mile range. -
Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall, after thirty-eight years of restricting traffic between the East and West German sides of the city, begins to crumble when German citizens are allowed to travel freely between East and West Germany for the first time. One day later, the influx of crowds around and onto the wall begin to dismantle it, thus ending its existence.
