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Television is becoming widespread (in black and white format) and becomes the most popular means of advertising.
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Peter Pan is broadcast on TV live and in color from the 1954 version of the stage musical starring Mary Martin on March 7. Disney released an animated version the previous year.
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Disneyland opens on July 17 as Walt Disney's first theme park
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Hula hoops reach 100 million in sales as the latest toy fad.
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Able and Miss Baker return to Earth from space aboard the flight Jupiter AM-18.
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John F. Kennedy beats Richard Nixon in the November 8 general election.
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Adolf Eichmann, a "most wanted" Nazi war criminal, is traced to Argentina and captured by Mossad agents. He is covertly taken to Israel where he is put on trial for crimes against humanity in Germany during World War II, convicted, and hanged
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President John F. Kennedy is assassinated on November 22 while riding in an open convertible through Dallas.
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In the 1980s Ozzy Osbourne and the bands Judas Priest and Metallica were brought to court by parents who accused the musicians of hiding subliminal pro-suicide messages in their music.
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Crack cocaine use surged in the mid-to-late 1980s.
