Cool Jazz 1949 – 1955
1949
China Becomes Communist
First Non-Stop Flight Around the World
George Orwell Publishes Nineteen Eight-Four
NATO Established
Soviet Union Has Atomic Bomb
1950s
First Modern Credit Card Introduced
First Organ Transplant
First "Peanuts" Cartoon Strip
Korean War Begins
Senator Joseph McCarthy Begins Communist Witch Hunt
U.S. President Truman Orders Construction of Hydrogen Bomb
1951
Color TV Introduced
South Africans Forced to Carry ID Cards Identifying Race
Truman Signs Peace Treaty With Japan, Officially Ending WWII
Winston Churchill Again Prime Minister of Great Britain
1952
Car Seat Belts Introduced
The Great Smog of 1952
Jacques Cousteau Discovers Ancient Greek Ship
Polio Vaccine Created
Princess Elizabeth Becomes Queen at Age 25
1953
DNA Discovered
First Playboy Magazine
Hillary and Norgay Climb Mt. Everest
Joseph Stalin Dies
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg Executed for Espionage
1954
Britain Sponsors an Expedition to Search for the Abominable Snowman
First Atomic Submarine Launched
Report Says Cigarettes Cause Cancer
Roger Bannister Breaks the Four-Minute Mile
Segregation Ruled Illegal in U.S.
1955
Disneyland Opens
Emmett Till Murdered
James Dean Dies in Car Accident
McDonald's Corporation Founded
Rosa Parks Refuses to Give Up Her Seat on a Bus
Warsaw Pact Signed
Hard Bop Jazz 1951 – 1958
1956
Elvis Gyrates on Ed Sullivan's Show
Grace Kelly Marries Prince Rainier III of Monaco
Hungarian Revolution
Khrushchev Denounces Stalin
Suez Crisis
T.V. Remote Control Invented
Velcro Introduced
1957
Dr. Seuss Publishes The Cat in the Hat
European Economic Community Established
Soviet Satellite Sputnik Launches Space Age
Laika Becomes the First Living Animal to Enter Orbit
1958
Boris Pasternak Refuses Nobel Prize
Chinese Leader Mao Zedong Launches the "Great Leap Forward"
Hope Diamond is Donated to the Smithsonian
Hula Hoops Become Popular
LEGO Toy Bricks First Introduced
NASA Founded
Peace Symbol Created
Free Jazz 1960-1970
1960
Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho Released
Brazil's Capital Moves to Brand New City
First Televised Presidential Debates
Lasers Invented
Lunch Counter Sit-In at Woolworth's in Greenboro, NC
Most Powerful Earthquake Ever Recorded Hits Chile
Sharpeville Massacre in South Africa
The Birth Control Pill Is Approved by the FDA
Walsh and Piccard Become the First to Explore the Deepest Place on Earth
1961
Adolf Eichmann on Trial for Role in Holocaust
Bay of Pigs Invasion
Berlin Wall Built
Freedom Riders Challenge Segregation on Interstate Buses
JFK Gives "Man on the Moon" Speech
Peace Corps Founded
Soviets Launch First Man in Space
Stalin's Body Removed From Lenin's Mausoleum
The Antarctic Treaty Goes Into Force
Tsar Bomba, the Largest Nuclear Weapon to Ever Be Exploded
1962
Andy Warhol Exhibits His Campbell's Soup Can
Cuban Missile Crisis
Famous Escape From Alcatraz
First James Bond Movie
First Person Killed Trying to Cross the Berlin Wall
First Wal-Mart Opens
James Meredith Admitted Into the Segregated University of Mississippi
Johnny Carson Takes Over the Tonight Show
Marilyn Monroe Found Dead
Rachel Carson Publishes Silent Spring
1963
16th Street Baptist Church Bombing
Betty Friedan Publishes The Feminine Mystique
Buddhist Monk Sets Himself on Fire in Protest
First Dr. Who Episode Airs
First Woman in Space
Great Train Robbery in England
"Hot Line" Established Between U.S. and U.S.S.R.
JFK Assassinated
March on Washington
Martin Luther King Jr. Makes His "I Have a Dream" Speech
Medgar Evers Is Murdered
1964
Beatles Become Popular in U.S.
Cassius Clay (a.k.a. Muhammad Ali) Becomes World Heavyweight Champion
Civil Rights Act Passes in U.S.
Hasbro Launches GI Joe Action Figure
Italy Asks for Help to Stabilize the Leaning Tower of Pisa
Japan's First Bullet Train Line Opens
Nelson Mandela Sentenced to Life in Prison
Warren Report on JFK's Assassination Issued
1965
British Sea Gem Oil Rig Collapses
Los