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"Are you now, or have you ever been, a member of the Communist party?"
On February 20, 1950, McCarthy addressed the Senate and made a list of dubious claims against suspected communists. He cited 81 cases that day. He skipped several numbers, and for some cases repeated the same flimsy information. He proved nothing, but the Senate called for a full investigation. McCarthy was in the national spotlight. -
Truman's Decision
President Truman, without the approval of Congress, commits American troops to battle . -
First Cartoon Strip
When Charles M. Schulz's comic strip "Li'l Folks" was finally accepted by United Features Syndicate, re-christened "Peanuts" and debuted in seven newspapers on October 2, 1950, little did he realize that from such humble beginnings would mushroom worldwide popularity and prominence over the next 50 years. Peaking in the 1960's, this wonderfully endearing slice of Americana has become an institution continuing to delight us to this date. "Peanuts" can honestly claim the title of the worlds most s -
First Modern Credit Card Introduced
The first Diners Club credit cards were given out in 1950 to 200 people (most were friends and acquaintances of McNamara) and accepted by 14 restaurants in New York. 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. -
Mercedes-Benz Type 300 Limo
The 1951-1962 Mercedes-Benz Type 300 was the first completely new offering from Daimler-Benz following World War II, with the emphasis mainly on engineering. A big car for big occasions, the 300 featured new running gear from end to end, including an overhead-cam 3.0-liter inline six that would later gain fame in the 300SL racing and road-going sports cars. -
First Hydrogen Bond
First hydrogen bomb is detonated by the U.S. on Eniwetok, an atoll in the Marshall Islands.After the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the United States government did not pursue the development of the hydrogen bomb in the years after World War II. But after the Soviets successfully detonated an atomic bomb in 1949, President Harry S. Truman ordered the creation of a hydrogen bomb project. -
McCarthyism
Senator McCarthy spent almost five years trying in vain to expose communists and other left-wing “loyalty risks” in the U.S. government. In the hyper-suspicious atmosphere of the Cold War, insinuations of disloyalty were enough to convince many Americans that their government was packed with traitors and spies. McCarthy’s accusations were so intimidating that few people dared to speak out against him. It was not until he attacked the Army in 1954 that his actions earned him the censure of the U. -
Public Schools
Racial segregation in public schools is declared unconstitutional by the United States Supreme Court in Brown vs. the Board of Education. The ruling of the court stated that racial segregation violated the 14th Amendment's clause that guaranteed equal protection. The Monroe School in Topeka, Kansas had segregated Linda Brown in its classes. -
Brown v. Board of Education
The Supreme Court rules on the landmark case Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kans., unanimously agreeing that segregation in public schools is unconstitutional. The ruling paves the way for large-scale desegregation. The decision overturns the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson ruling that sanctioned "separate but equal" segregation of the races, ruling that "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal." -
Disney Land
Disneyland opened for a few thousand specially invited visitors; the following day, Disneyland officially opened to the public. Disneyland, located in Anaheim, California on what used to be a 160-acre orange orchard, cost $17 million to build. The original park included Main Street, Adventureland, Frontierland, Fantasyland, and Tomorrowland. -
Emmett Till's Murder Trial
A fourteen-year-old boy, Emmett Till, had been brutally murdered and his body thrown in the Tallahatchie River, but despite clear evidence that two white men committed the crime, an all-white jury returned a "Not Guilty" verdict after just an hour of deliberation. The trial of Roy Bryant and J. W. Milam for the murder of Till shook the conscience of a nation and helped spark the movement for civil rights for black Americans. -
Rosa Park Refuses
Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat at the front of the "colored section" of a bus to a white passenger, defying a southern custom of the time. In response to her arrest the Montgomery black community launches a bus boycott, which will last for more than a year, until the buses are desegregated Dec. 21, 1956. -
Interstate Highway System Begins
Interstate highway system begins with the signing of the Federal-Aid Highway Act. The interstate highway system would enable quick and efficient travel for business and leisure travelers and make destinations like Disneyland and the National Park system more easily connected to the urban population centers of the USA. -
First Transatlantic Telephone Cable
Where the first transatlantic telephone cable was inaugurated on 25 September 1956 it was hailed as a major breakthrough in telecommunications. It was designed to link both the US and Canada to the UK, with facilities for some circuits to be leased to other West European countries, giving them direct communication with US and Canada. It provided 30 telephone circuits to the US and 6 to Canada, as well as a number of telegraph circuits to Canada. -
Eisenhower Doctrine
Under the Eisenhower Doctrine, a country could request American economic assistance and/or aid from U.S. military forces if it was being threatened by armed aggression from another state. Eisenhower singled out the Soviet threat in his doctrine by authorizing the commitment of U.S. forces “to secure and protect the territorial integrity and political independence of such nations, requesting such aid against overt armed aggression from any nation controlled by international communism.” -
Little Rock 9
Nine black students are blocked from entering the school on the orders of Governor Orval Faubus. President Eisenhower sends federal troops and the National Guard to intervene on behalf of the students, who become known as the "Little Rock Nine." -
First U.S. Satellite
The United States first attempt at launching a satellite into orbit failed miserably on December 6, 1957, ending in an explosion. Unfortunately, at launch the rocket rose about 4 feet off the ground, then lost thrust and fell back to the launch pad at Florida’s Cape Canaveral. The fuel tanks then ruptured and exploded, destroying the rocket, severely damaging the launch pad, and throwing the 3 lb satellite and making it unusable. -
Space Act of 1958
President Dwight Eisenhower signs the National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958 into law, establishing NASA. The American program had been delayed in part because Eisenhower insisted that the space program should be a non-military operation, and that it should not reconfigure defense missiles for space exploration. -
New State ALASKA
Alaska becomes the 49th state of America. -
Civil Rights Movement: Sit-In at Nashville, Tennessee
Starting in February of 1960, students began sit-ins in various stores in Nashville, Tennessee, with the goal of desegregation at lunch counters. Students from Fisk University, Baptist Theological Seminary, and Tennessee State University, mainly led by Diane Nash and John Lewis, began the campaign that became a successful component of the Civil Rights Movement in the United States, and was influential in later campaigns. -
"I Have A Dream"
Martin Luther King, Jr., delivers his “I Have a Dream” speech before a crowd of 200,000,during the civil rights march on Washington, DC. "I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood." -
John F. Kennedy' Assassination
President Kennedy is assassinated in Dallas, Texas. A light rain was falling on Friday morning, November 22, but a crowd of several thousand stood in the parking lot outside the Texas Hotel where the Kennedys had spent the night. -
The Civil Rights Act of 1964
The Civil Rights Act of 1964, which ended segregation in public places and banned employment discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin, is considered one of the crowning legislative achievements of the civil rights movement. First proposed by President John F. Kennedy, it survived strong opposition from southern members of Congress and was then signed into law by Kennedy’s successor, Lyndon B. Johnson. In subsequent years, Congress expanded the act and also pas -
The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution (August 7, 1964) gave broad congressional approval for expansion of the Vietnam War. During the spring of 1964, military planners had developed a detailed design for major attacks on the North, but at that time President Lyndon B. Johnson and his advisers feared that the public would not support an expansion of the war. -
first U.S. combat troops
A U.S. Marine Corps Hawk air defense missile battalion is deployed to Da Nang. President Johnson had ordered this deployment to provide protection for the key U.S. airbase there.This was the first commitment of American combat troops in South Vietnam and there was considerable reaction around the world to the new stage of U.S. involvement in the war. Communist China and the Soviet Union threatened to intervene if the United States continued to apply its military might on behalf of the S.V. -
Johnson approves Operation Rolling Thunder
Called Operation Rolling Thunder, the bombing campaign was designed to interdict North Vietnamese transportation routes in the southern part of North Vietnam and slow infiltration of personnel and supplies into South Vietnam. The first Rolling Thunder mission took place on March 2, 1965, when 100 U.S. Air Force and Republic of Vietnam Air Force (VNAF) planes struck the Xom Bang ammunition dump 100 miles southeast of Hanoi. -
Malcolm X's Death and Legacy
On the evening of February 21, 1965, at the Audubon Ballroom in Manhattan, where Malcolm X was about to deliver a speech, three gunmen rushed the stage and shot him 15 times at point blank range. Malcolm X was pronounced dead on arrival at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital shortly thereafter. He was 39 years old. The three men convicted of the assassination of Malcolm X were all members of the Nation of Islam: Talmadge Hayer, Norman 3X Butler and Thomas 15X Johnson. -
Watts Riot Begins
In the predominantly black Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles, racial tension reaches a breaking point after two white policemen scuffle with a black motorist suspected of drunken driving. A crowd of spectators gathered near the corner of Avalon Boulevard and 116th Street to watch the arrest. A riot soon began, spurred on by residents of Watts who were embittered after years of economic and political isolation. -
Flying Gemini 7
American astronauts Frank Borman and Jim Lovell fly Gemini 7 for fourteen days, setting an endurance record that will remain unbroken until 1970. Earlier missions had the astronauts on a sleep cycle where one would try sleeping with the other awake. This proved to be an impossible task and so the mission was changed so that the astronauts would be on the same sleep cycle as the Houston engineers. -
My Lai massacre
On this day in 1968, a platoon of American soldiers brutally kill between 200 and 500 unarmed civilians at My Lai, one of a cluster of small villages located near the northern coast of South Vietnam. During the Vietnam War, U.S. troops frequently bombed and shelled the province of Quang Ngai, believing it to be a stronghold for forces of the National Front for the Liberation of Vietnam, or Viet Cong (VC). -
Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
The Treaty for the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, better known as the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty or NPT, was signed on July 1, 1968, by the United States, Soviet Union, United Kingdom, and 59 other countries. It came into force on March 1, 1970. The treaty defined two categories of nations: Nuclear nations were those who had already tested the atomic bomb and non-nuclear nations were all others. -
Creedence Clearwater Revival
Creedence Clearwater Revival was one of the all-time greatest American rock and roll bands. During their short heyday in the years 1968-1972, they cut a bunch of three-minute hit singles which have easily stood the test of time and become true classics. The group combined elements of rock and roll, rhythmn and blues, blues, country, gospel and various bayou styles - despite the fact that they emerged in El Cerrito, a suburb in San Francisco Bay Area. -
First Man on the Moon
On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong became the first human to step on the moon. He and Aldrin walked around for three hours. They did experiments. They picked up bits of moon dirt and rocks. -
United States Census
For the first time, the 1970 census counted over 200 million people living in the United States. The 13.4% increase since the last census indicated that a 203,302,031 population now called the U.S.A. home. It had taken only fifty years to go from the first 100 million census in 1920 to the second. Once again, the geographic center of the United States population was in Illinois, five miles east southeast of Mascoutah. -
First Earth Day Celebration
The first Earth Day celebration is held with millions of Americans participating in anti-pollution demonstrations. These demonstrations included school children walking to school instead of riding the bus. -
War Protest Against Vietnam War
Four students are shot to death by National Guardsmen during an antiwar protest at Kent State University. Four students died and nine others were wounded on May 4, 1970, when members of the Ohio National Guard opened fire on students protesting the Vietnam War at Kent State University in Ohio. In this Pulitzer Prize-winning photo, taken by Kent State photojournalism student John Filo, Mary Ann Vecchio can be seen screaming as she kneels by the body of a slain student. -
Adverstisement of Cigarettes
President Richard Nixon signs legislation officially banning cigarette ads on television and radio. A ban on the television advertisement of cigarettes goes into affect in the United States.The last televised cigarette ad ran at 11:50 p.m. during The Johnny Carson Show on January 1, 1971. -
Last U.S. ground combat unit departs South Vietnam
The last U.S. ground combat unit in South Vietnam, the Third Battalion, Twenty-First Infantry, departs for the United States. The unit had been guarding the U.S. air base at Da Nang. This left only 43,500 advisors, airmen, and support troops left in-country. This number did not include the sailors of the Seventh Fleet on station in the South China Sea or the air force personnel in Thailand and Guam. -
Roe v. Wade Case
The U.S. Supreme Court, in the famous Roe v. Wade decision, stated that the ``right of privacy...founded in the Fourteenth Amendment's concept of personal liberty...is broad enough to encompass a woman's decision whether or not to terminate her pregnancy.'' The Court held that through the end of the first trimester of pregnancy, only a pregnant woman and her doctor have the legal right to make the decision about an abortion. -
American Graffiti Opens
On this day in 1973, the nostalgic teenage coming-of-age movie American Graffiti, directed and co-written by George Lucas, opens in theaters across the United States. Set in California in the summer of 1962, American Graffiti was nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Director and Best Picture, and helped launch the big-screen careers of Richard Dreyfuss and Harrison Ford, as well as the former child actor and future Oscar-winning filmmaker Ron Howard. -
Hip Hop Is Born
Like any style of music, hip hop has roots in other forms, and its evolution was shaped by many different artists, but there's a case to be made that it came to life precisely on this day in 1973, at a birthday party in the recreation room of an apartment building in the west Bronx, New York City. The location of that birthplace was 1520 Sedgwick Avenue, and the man who presided over that historic party was the birthday girl's brother, Clive Campbell—better known to history as DJ Kool Herc. -
Assassination Attempt of Ronald Reagan
Reagan only had to walk about 30 feet from the hotel door to his awaiting car, so the Secret Service had not thought a bullet-proof vest to be necessary. Outside, waiting for Reagan, were a number of newspapermen, members of the public, and John Hinckley Jr..When Reagan got close to his car, Hinckley pulled out his .22-caliber revolver and fired six shots in quick succession. The entire shooting took only two to three seconds. -
First Case of Aids/HIV
The first recognised cases of AIDS occurred in the USA in the early 1980s (more about this period can be found on our History of AIDS page). A number of gay men in New York and California suddenly began to develop rare opportunistic infections and cancers that seemed stubbornly resistant to any treatment. At this time, AIDS did not yet have a name, but it quickly became obvious that all the men were suffering from a common syndrome. -
Reagan jokes about bombing Russia
On this day in 1984, President Ronald Reagan makes a joking but controversial off-the-cuff remark about bombing Russia while testing a microphone before a scheduled radio address. While warming up for the speech, Reagan said "My fellow Americans, I am pleased to tell you today that I've signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes." -
Emmy Liberace dies of HIV/AIDS
The film depicts the life and death of the gay pianist and his love affair with a younger man named Scott Thorson, played by Matt Damon. Liberace died of AIDS-related complications in 1987. -
Robert dies of AIDS
Photographer Robert Mapplethorpe dies of AIDS-related illness on March 9. He was 42 years old and lived in Manhattan. Mr. Mapplethorpe was first diagnosed as having AIDS two and a half years ago, according to Howard Read of the Robert Miller Gallery in New York, which represents his work. Since then, the artist had become for many a symbol of courage and resistance to the disease; his willingness to publicize his illness helped focus attention on AIDS throughout the art world and nationwide.
