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In 1954, one million children with polio were given a new vaccine for polio that Dr. Salk had invented. After finding the vaccine was safe and effective, Dr.Salk announced this breakthrough to the rest of the world. Within 8 years the number of polio cases went down from 45,000 to 910.
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On December 1st, 1955, Rosa Parks was on her way home from work on a bus in Montgomery Alabama when she refused to give up her bus seat to a white passenger. This led to her arrest which then led to the successful Montgomery bus boycott which lasted 381 days.
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Incumbent president Eisenhower defeated Democrat Adlai E. Stevenson for the second time in a row for the presidency.
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In 1959 the United States made two territories states. These two new states are still the last ones to join the United States to this day.
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Democrat John F. Kennedy barely beat Republican vice president, Richard Nixon for the presidency. This made President Kennedy the youngest person to ever be elected president.
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The Civil Rights Act of 1964 made it illegal for separation of any kind on the basis of race in public places. This bill caused a 75 day filibuster in the Senate where Democrats opposed the bill.
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Democrat Lyndon B. Johnson defeated Republican candidate Barry Goldwater in what is still one of the largest landslides in a presidential election.
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In the election of 1968, Republican Richerd Nixon defeated Democrat Hubert Humphrey.
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President Nixon was re-elected for a second term beating off Democrat George McGovern.