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Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower inaugurated President of United States (Jan. 20).
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Rosalind Franklin (England), Francis Crick (England), and James Watson (US) discover the double-helical structure of DNA. Background: genetic engineering
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First successful open-heart surgery is performed in Philadelphia.
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Joseph Stalin dies (March 5)
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East Berliners rise against Communist rule; quelled by tanks (June 17).
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Korean armistice signed (July 27).
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Felix Wankel (Germany) develops the rotary internal combustion engine.
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Geneva Conference is convened to bring peace to Vietnam (April to July). The country is divided at the 17th parallel, pending democratic elections
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In Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka the Supreme Court unanimously bans racial segregation in public schools (May 17)
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Rosa Parks refuses to sit at the back of the bus, breaking Montgomery, Ala., segregated seating law (Dec. 1).
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Russia launches Sputnik I, first earth-orbiting satellite—the Space Age begins (Oct. 4)
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Alaska (Jan. 3) 49th state
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Hawaii 50th state
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John F. Kennedy defeats Richard Nixon in a closely-fought presidential race.
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1,200 US-sponsored anti-Castro exiles invade Cuba at the Bay of Pigs (April 17); the attackers are all killed or captured by Cuban forces
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East Germany erects the Berlin Wall between East and West Berlin to halt flood of refugees Aug. 13
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The first commercial nuclear reactor goes online at the Jersey Central Power Company.
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France and West Germany sign treaty of cooperation ending four centuries of conflict (Jan. 22).
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Michael E. De Bakey implants artificial heart in human for first time at Houston hospital (April 21)
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"March on Washington," civil rights rally held by 200,000 blacks and whites in Washington, D.C.; Martin Luther King delivers "I have a dream" speech (Aug. 28)
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President Kennedy shot and killed in Dallas, Tex. Lyndon B. Johnson becomes President same day (Nov. 22).
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US Supreme Court rules that Congressional districts should be roughly equal in population (Feb. 17).
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The first US combat troops arrive in Vietnam. By the end of the year, 190,000 American soldiers are in Vietnam.
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The US and USSR propose a nuclear nonproliferation treaty.
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Thurgood Marshall sworn in as first black US Supreme Court justice (Oct. 2
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Martin Luther King, Jr., civil rights leader, is slain in Memphis (April 4)
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The United States, USSR, and about 100 other countries sign the nuclear nonproliferation treaty
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Richard M. Nixon is inaugurated 37th President of the US (Jan. 20).
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Apollo 11 astronauts—Neil A. Armstrong and Edwin E. Aldrin, Jr., —take first walk on the Moon (July 20).
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IBM introduces the floppy disk
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Earthquake kills more than 50,000 in Peru (May 31).
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Anti-war militants attempt to disrupt government business in Washington (May 3)—police and military units arrest as many as 12,000; most are later released.
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Twenty-sixth Amendment to US Constitution lowers voting age to 18. (June 30).
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Electronic mail is introduced. Queen Elizabeth will send her first email in 1976.
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US Supreme Court rules that death penalty is unconstitutional (June 29).
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Five men are apprehended by police in attempt to bug Democratic National Committee headquarters in Washington, D.C.’s Watergate complex—start of the Watergate scandal (June 17).
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A ceasefire is signed, ending involvement of American ground troops in the Vietnam War. (Jan. 28).
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Skylab, the first American space station, is launched (May 14).
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Vice President Gerald R. Ford of Michigan is sworn in as 38th President of the US (Aug. 9).
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Richard M. Nixon announces he will resign the next day, the first President to do so (Aug. 8)
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Home videotape systems (VCRs) are developed in Japan by Sony (Betamax) and Matsushita (VHS).
