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history 10 chapter 27
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• Harry Truman becomes the first president
Truman's White House took other steps to limit the power of labor unions as well. When John L. Lewis and his United Mine Workers defied a court order against a strike, the Truman administration asked a judge to serve Lewis with a contempt of court citation. The court fined Lewis $10,000 and his union $3.5 million.Truman agreed with FDR that government needed to play an active role in securing economic justice for all American citizens. One measure that passed was the Employment Act of 1946. -
• Transistor is invented, spurring growth in computers and electronics.
In 1947, scientists at Bell Telephone Laboratories invented the first transistor, a tiny circuit device that amplifies, controls, and generates electrical signals. The transistor could do the work of a much larger vacuum tube, but took up less space and generated less heat. The transistor could be used in radios, computers, and other electronic devices, and greatly changed the electronics industry. Because of the transistor, giant machines that once filled whole rooms could now fit on a desk. -
“Under God” to the Pledge of Allegiance.
In 1954, in response to the Communist threat of the times, President Eisenhower encouraged Congress to add the words "under God," creating the 31-word pledge we say today.Bellamy's daughter objected to this alteration. Today it reads:"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all." it was different untile he change in the under god. -
• Polio vaccine by Dr. Jonas Salk and Dr. Thomas Francis.
In 1952 his vaccine was developed; he and his family including his staff and volunteers were first inoculated to test its effectiveness.The vaccine proved successful as everybody who received the test vaccine started producing anti-bodies against the virus so that nobody else became inflicted with polio and no side effect was observed.It was Salk's former mentor Thomas Francis Jr. that helped and directed the mass vaccination of schoolchildren. -
The first nuclear power plant in the U.S. goes online at Shippingport, Pa.
"the world’s first full-scale atomic electric power plant devoted exclusively to peacetime uses,," (though the British Magnox reactor at Calder Hall was first connected to the grid on 27 August 1956, it also produced plutonium for military uses).
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 Chicago Pile-1 veteran Walter Zinn had created. -
• NASA is established.
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.The same year, Congress passed and President Eisenhower signed into law the National Defense Education Act.
