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U.S. President Truman Orders Construction of Hydrogen Bomb
Truman announced that he had directed the Atomic Agency Commission 'to continue with its work on all forms of atomic energy weapons, including the so-called hydrogen or super-bomb'. -
The first credit card
Frank X. McNamara thought of a way for customers to have just one credit card that they could use at multiple stores.The concept of the card grew and by the end of 1950, 20,000 people were using the Diners Club credit card. The Diners Club credit card is considered the first modern credit card. -
McCarthyism
During the McCarthy era, thousands of Americans were accused of being communists or communist sympathizers and became the subject of aggressive investigations and questioning before government or private-industry panels, committees and agencies. The primary targets of such suspicions were government employees, those in the entertainment industry, educators and union activists. -
1st Annual National Book Award
The mission of the National Book Foundation and the National Book Awards is to celebrate the best of American literature, to expand its audience, and to enhance the cultural value of great writing in America. -
Chuck Cooper
Chuck cooper becomes the first b;ack tomplay in the NBA. On April 25, 1950 Cooper broke the color barrier in the National Basketball Association (NBA) when he was drafted by the Boston Celtics. -
76th Kentucky Derby
William Boland on Middleground wins in 2:01.6 . Sixty years ago, on May 6, 1950, the King Ranch colt Middleground won the 76th Kentucky Derby at odds of 7.90-to-1 and paid $17.80. -
Korean War Begins
Armed forces from communist North Korea smash into South Korea, setting off the Korean War. The United States, acting under the auspices of the United Nations, quickly sprang to the defense of South Korea and fought a bloody and frustrating war for the next three years. -
Whites are banned
Police bar white players-Lou Chirban, Stan Mierko, & Frank Dyle, from playing in Negro League. -
The first Peanuts Strip
When Schulz sold his first strip to the United Feature Syndicate in 1950, it was the Syndicate that changed the name from Li'l Folks to Peanuts - a name that Schulz himself never liked. -
First Organ Transplant
The first successful living-related kidney transplant led by Dr. Joseph Murray and Dr. David Hume at Brigham Hospital in Boston: A kidney was transplanted from Ronald Herrick into his identical twin, Richard. -
Walsh and Piccard Become the First to Explore the Deepest Place on Earth
Lieutenant Don Walsh travelled underwater for seven miles to reach the deepest place on Earth, he could never have imagined that his remarkable feat would never be repeated. -
Lunch counter Sit-Ins
In this city, on February 1st, 1960, four African American college students from North Carolina A+T College (an all-black college) went to get served in an all-white restaurant at Woolworth’s. The shop was open to all customers regardless of colour, but the restaurant was for whites only. They asked for food, were refused service and asked to leave -
The Birth Control Pill Is Approved by the FDA
John Rock, a gynecologist at Harvard Medical School, began work on a birth-control pill. Clinical tests of the pill, which used synthetic progesterone and estrogen to repress ovulation in women, were initiated in 1954. On May 9, 1960, the FDA approved the pill, granting greater reproductive freedom to American women. -
Lasers Invented
In 1960, Theodore Maiman invented the ruby laser considered to be the first successful optical or light laser.
Many historians claim that Theodore Maiman invented the first optical laser, however, there is some controversy that Gordon Gould was the first. -
Most Powerful Earthquake Ever Recorded Hits Chile
The most powerful earthquake ever recorded, rating 9.5 on the moment magnitude scale. It occurred in the afternoon (19:11 GMT, 15:11 local time), and the resulting tsunami affected southern Chile, Hawaii, Japan, the Philippines, eastern New Zealand, southeast Australia, and the Aleutian Islands. -
Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho Released
Psycho is a 1960 American horror-thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock starring Anthony Perkins, Vera Miles, John Gavin, and Janet Leigh. The screenplay is by Joseph Stefano, based on the 1959 novel of the same name by Robert Bloch loosely inspired by the crimes of Wisconsin murderer and grave robber Ed Gein. -
First Televised Presidential Debates
The first general election presidential debate was held on September 26, 1960, between U.S. Senator John F. Kennedy, the Democratic nominee, and Vice President Richard Nixon, the Republican nominee, in Chicago at the studios of CBS' WBBM-TV. Historian J.N. Druckman observed “television primes its audience to rely more on their perceptions of candidate image. At the same time, television has also coincided with the world becoming more polarized and ideologically driven. -
Trade Expansion Act
Under the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 Stat. 872, enacted the United States Congress granted the White House unprecedented authority to negotiate tariff reductions of up to 50%. It paved the way for the Kennedy Round of General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade ("GATT") negotiations, concluding on June 30, 1967, the last day before expiration of the Act. It is one aspect for which the JFK administration was known. -
John F. Kennedy becomes the 35th President of the United States.
American politician who served as the 35th President of the United States from January 1961 until he was assassinated in November 1963. Kennedy defeated vice president and Republican candidate Richard Nixon in the 1960 U.S. presidential election. At age 43, he was the youngest to have been elected to the office, the second-youngest president (after Theodore Roosevelt), and the first person born in the 20th century to serve as president. -
John.F Kennedy Assasinated
the 35th President of the United States, was assassinated at 12:30 p.m. Central Standard Time (18:30 UTC) on Friday, November 22, 1963, in Dealey Plaza, Dallas, Texas.[1][2] 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. A ten-month investigation from November 1963 to September 1964 by the Warren Commission concluded that Kennedy was assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald, acting al -
Ford Motors introduces the "Mustang".
The 1965 Mustang was the automaker's most successful launch since the Model A. The Mustang has undergone several transformations to its current fifth generation. The Mustang created the "pony car" class of American automobiles—sports-car like coupes with long hoods and short rear decks—and gave rise to competitors such as the Chevrolet Camaro, and Pontiac Firebird, AMC Javelin as well as Chrysler's revamped Plymouth Barracuda and the first generation Dodge Challenger. -
Civil Rights Act of 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. It ended unequal application of voter registration requirements and racial segregation in schools, at the workplace and by facilities that served the general public . -
Beatles Break Up
The break-up itself was a cumulative process throughout 1969–70, marked by rumours of a split and ambiguous comments by the Beatles themselves regarding the future of the group. Although John Lennon privately informed the other Beatles that he was leaving the group in September 1969, there was no public acknowledgement of the break-up until Paul McCartney announced on 10 April 1970 he was quitting the Beatles. -
Earth Day
Earth Day is an annual event, celebrated on April 22, on which day events worldwide are held to demonstrate support for environmental protection. It was first celebrated in 1970, and is now coordinated globally by the Earth Day Network and celebrated in more than 192 countries each year. -
Kent State Shootings
Ohio National Guardsmen were on the Kent State college campus to maintain order during a student protest against the Vietnam War. For a still unknown reason, the National Guard suddenly fired upon the already dispersing crowd of student protesters, killing four and wounding nine others. -
Computer Floppy Disks Introduced
When introduced by IBM in 1971, the floppy disk made it possible to easily load software and updates onto mainframe computers. -
Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty signed with USSR
In the Treaty on the Limitation of Anti-Ballistic Missile Systems the United States and the Soviet Union agree that each may have only two ABM deployment areas, so restricted and so located that they cannot provide a nationwide ABM defense or become the basis for developing one. Each country thus leaves unchallenged the penetration capability of the others retaliatory missile forces. Precise quantitative and qualitative limits are imposed on the ABM systems that may be deployed. -
Apollo 17
Apollo 17 was the final mission of the United States' Apollo lunar landing program, and was the sixth and last landing of humans on the Moon. Launched at 12:33 AM Eastern Standard Time (EST) on December 7, 1972, with a three-member crew consisting of Commander Eugene Cernan, Command Module Pilot Ronald Evans, and Lunar Module Pilot Harrison Schmitt, It was the last use of Apollo hardware for its original mission. -
The Super Outbreak
The Super Outbreak was the second-largest tornado outbreak on record for a single 24-hour period, just behind the April 25–28, 2011 tornado outbreak. It was also the most violent tornado outbreak ever recorded, with 30 F4/F5 tornadoes reported. From April 3 to April 4, 1974, there were 148 tornadoes confirmed in 13 U.S. states and the Canadian province of Ontario -
Watergate scandal
The House Judiciary Committee votes to impeach the President. The Watergate scandal was a major political scandal that occurred in the United States in the 1970s as a result of the June 17, 1972 break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C., and the Nixon administration's attempted cover-up of its involvement. -
Wheel of Fortune
Wheel of Fortune is an American television game show created by Merv Griffin. The show features a competition in which contestants solve word puzzles, similar to those used in Hangman, to win cash and prizes determined by spinning a giant carnival wheel. -
Bill Gates
Bill Gates founds Microsoft, which in time will dominate the home computer operating system market.is a multinational computer technology corporation. The history of Microsoft began on April 4, 1975, when it was founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen in Albuquerque. Its current best-selling products are the Microsoft Windows operating system and the Microsoft Office suite of productivity software. -
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 attempting to prevent the spread of communism. -
Fall of Saigon
The Fall of Saigon was the capture of Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam, by the People's Army of Vietnam and the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam (also known as the Viet Cong) on April 30, 1975. The event marked the end of the Vietnam War and the start of a transition period leading to the formal reunification of Vietnam into a Socialist Republic governed by the Communist Party. -
Bicentennial
In the Winter of 1976, America was still hurting from the wounds of the Viet Nam War. Officially it was over. The boys had come home. Not to ticker tape, but to tortured second-guessing. Those who had avoided the war, fared little better. In truth, we were still at war… with ourselves. -
The Copyright Act of 1976
The Copyright Act of 1976 is a United States copyright law and remains the primary basis of copyright law in the United States, as amended by several later enacted copyright provisions. The Act spells out the basic rights of copyright holders, codified the doctrine of "fair use," and for most new copyrights adopted a unitary term based on the date of the author's death rather than the prior scheme of fixed initial and renewal terms. -
Elvis Presley dies
Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) was an American singer, musician, and actor. Regarded as one of the most significant cultural icons of the 20th century, he is often referred to as "the King of Rock and Roll", or simply, "the King". -
The first home personal computer
The Commodore PET (Personal Electronic Transactor) is a home/personal computer produced in 1977 by Commodore International.A top-seller in the Canadian and United States educational markets, it was Commodore's first full-featured computer, and formed the basis for their entire 8-bit product line. -
Volkswagen
Volkswagen becomes the second (after Rolls-Royce) non-American automobile manufacturer to open a plant in the United States, commencing production of the Rabbit -
Humphrey Hawkins Full Employment Act
The Full Employment and Balanced Growth Act (known informally as the Humphrey–Hawkins Full Employment Act), is an act of legislation by the United States government. The Act's sponsors embraced conventional Keynesian economic theory, which advocates aggressive government spending to increase economic demand -
American Airlines Flight 191
Flight 191 was a regularly scheduled passenger flight from O'Hare International Airport in Chicago to Los Angeles International Airport. The McDonnell Douglas DC-10-10 crashed on May 25, 1979, moments after takeoff from Chicago. All 258 passengers and 13 crew on board were killed, along with two people on the ground. It is the deadliest aviation accident to occur on U.S. soil -
Failed U.S. Rescue Attempt to Save Hostages in Tehran
With the Iran Hostage Crisis stretching into its sixth month and all diplomatic appeals to the Iranian government ending in failure, President Jimmy Carter ordered the military mission as a last ditch attempt to save the hostages. During the operation, three of eight helicopters failed, crippling the crucial airborne plans. The mission was then canceled at the staging area in Iran, but during the withdrawal one of the retreating helicopters collided with one of six C-130 transport planes, killin -
Mount St. Helen Erupts
The eruption of Mt. St. Helens in 1980 was the worst volcanic disaster in U.S. history; however, it offered scientists an exceptional opportunity to examine and study a large volcanic eruption, which has enriched scientific knowledge of volcanoes. -
Pac-Man Released
On May 22, 1980, the Pac-Man video game was released in Japan and by October of the same year it was released in the United States. The yellow, pie-shaped Pac-Man character, who travels around a maze trying to eat dots and avoid four mean ghosts, quickly became an icon of the 1980s. To this day, Pac-Man remains one of the most popular video games in history. -
John Lennon Assasinated
Lennon was pronounced dead on arrival at Roosevelt Hospital, where it was stated that nobody could have lived for more than a few minutes after sustaining such injuries. Shortly after local news stations reported Lennon's death, crowds gathered at Roosevelt Hospital and in front of the Dakota -
First launch of the Space Shuttle
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. -
HIV/AIDS
Human immunodeficiency virus infection / acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a disease of the human immune system caused by infection with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). During the initial infection, a person may experience a brief period of influenza-like illness. -
The Knoxville World's Fair
The Knoxville World's Fair opens on the topic of energy by President Reagan. A special category exposition sanctioned by the Bureau of International Exhibitions, the Knoxville event would draw over eleven million people to the Tennessee valley over the next six months. -
The Louisiana World Exposition of 1984
- The Louisiana World Exposition of 1984 opens along the Mississippi River waterfront in New Orleans. The event, the last world's fair held in the United States, was plagued with financial trouble, and drew significantly fewer visitors than predicted over the next six months, 7.3 million, although it was regarded as the catalyst in the recovery of the waterfront and warehouse district to public use.
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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.
