Significant Historical Events in the US from 1950-2013

By adara.thomson
  • Cold War

    Cold War

    The Cold War was a sustained state of political and military tension
  • Period: to

    USA Significant Events

  • Broadway Open House airs

    Broadway Open House airs

    Serves as a prototype for The Tonight Show
  • Start of the Korean War

    Start of the Korean War

  • Peanuts by Charles M.Shulz first published

    Peanuts by Charles M.Shulz first published

  • The Catcher in the Rye is published

    Invigorates the rebellious youth of the period, eventually earning the title of a Classic with its profound impact.

  • I Love Lucy airs on television

    Sparks the rise of television in the American home and the Golden Age of Television.

  • Eisenhower elected President

  • Brown VS Board of Education

    A landmark decision of the Supreme Court, declares state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students and denying black children equal educational opportunities unconstitutional.

  • Rock and Roll

    Enters the mainstream with "Rock Around the Clock" by Bill Hayley and His Comets becoming the first record to top Billboard magazine pop charts, Elvis Presley also begins his rise to fame.

  • James Dean killed

    in highway accident

  • Elvis Presley appears on the Ed Sullivan Show

  • Soviets launch Sputnik, 'space race begins'

  • Alaska and Hawaii added to the United States

    They become the 49th and 50th U.S. states

  • Civil Rights Act

  • John F. Kennedy becomes President

  • Marilyn Monroe Dies

    dies of an apparent overdose from acute barbiturate poisoning at 36. She was citied as a pop and cultural icon and a quintessential sex symbol of America.

  • 'The Feminine Mystique' by Betty Friedan

    sparking the women's liberation movement.

  • Bob Dylan releases 'The Freewheelin''

    (his second studio album), which becomes a classic

  • The Beatles arrive in the US

    Marks the start of the 'Britsh Invasion' .

  • Immigration Act of 1965

  • Feminist group 'National Organisation for Women (NOW)' formed

  • Shirley Chisholm, first black woman elected to Congress

  • Seseame Street premiers on National Educational Television

  • Neil Armstrong walks on the moon

  • Kent State and Jackson State shootings

    occur during student protests which grow violent.

  • Ban on cigarette ads on radio and tv

  • President Nixon re-elected

  • Skylab launched as the first US spacestation

  • Bill Gates creates Microsoft

    In time will dominate the home computer operating system market

  • The Copyright Act of 1976

    makes sweeping changes to United States copyright law

  • Elvis Presley Dies

    the king of rock and roll dies in his home in Graceland at age 42. 75,000 fans lined the streets of Memphis for this funeral

  • American Airlines Flight 191 Crashes

    killing all 271 aboard and 2 on the ground, making it the deadliest aviation incident on U.S. soil

  • Mount St Helens erupts in Washington DC, kills 57

  • John Lennon killed

  • MTV

    becoming the first 24-hour cable network dedicated to airing music videos.

  • 241 U.S. Marines killed in suicide bomb in Lebanon

  • 'We Are The World'

    World awareness of famine in Third World countries spark

  • George W. Bush elected President

  • Los Angeles riots

  • Hurricane Andrew

    kills 65 people and causes $26 billion in damage

  • The Storm of the Century hits

    Kills 300 people, causes $6 billion in damage

  • Oklahoma City Bombing

    Kills 168 and injures 800

  • OJ Simpson Case

  • TWA Flight 800 explodes off Long Island, kills all 230 aboard.

  • Matthew Shepard mudered.

    He becomes a symbol of gay-bashing victims and sparks reflection of homophobia in the US.

  • The Y2K Bug

  • 9/11 Terrorist Attack, killing 3.000 and injuring over 6.000

  • Operation Iraqi Freedom

  • Facebook is launched

  • Barack Obama elected president

  • Michael Jackson dies

  • Osama Bin Laden is killed