1946

Ho Chi Minh is elected President of North Vietnam.
Ho Chi Minh signs an agreement with France recognizing North Vietnam as a free and independent.

1947

President Truman gives the first televised address from the White House.
The AK 47 assault rifle is developed by Mikhail Kalashnikov. It has remained through modifications a popular weapon. Inexpensive and easily maintained.
The United States Air Force is created. Elements of the Navy and Army Air elements are combined for it’s creation.
The CIA is created with the passage of the National Security Act.

1948

Total World Population is 2,518,629,000
Mahatma Gandhi is killed.
The Voice of America is jammed by the Soviet Union.
The Soviet Union begins the Berlin Blockade.
For the second time a peacetime draft for the military is activated by President Truman.
Baseball great Babe Ruth dies.
Truman defeats Dewey, despite the press, for his first full term of the Presidency.

1949

The VW Beetle arrives in the US.
The People’s Republic of China is born.
The Berlin Blockade is lifted by the Soviet Union.
1950
In South Africa the Group Areas Act is passed, formalizing Apartheid.
The Korean War begins.
Peanuts, the comic strip, is published in newspapers.
Tibet is invaded by China.

1951

A one kilo-ton nuclear bomb is dropped at a test site in Nevada.
The Twenty Second amendment is past. Presidents are limited to two terms.
In newspapers “Dennis the Menace” is published.
Armistice negotiations for the Korean War begin.
The Tibetan city, Lhasa, is taken by China.
CBS airs “I Love Lucy”.
Coast to coast direct dial telephone service begins.

1952

Elizabeth II becomes Queen.
The first artificial heart is used for a patient.
The first detonation of a hydrogen bomb is detonated in the Marshall Islands.
Traffic lights are installed in New York City.

1953

President Truman announces that we have the hydrogen bomb.
LSD is approved for use by the CIA.
Hostilities in Korea cease. It remains under the armistice agreement today.
The “H Bomb” is tested by the USA.

1954

The USS Nautilus, first nuclear submarine, is launched.
President Eisenhower warns against intervention in Vietnam. He authorizes an additional $350 million for aid to Vietnam.
Senator Joseph McCarthy begins hearings to investigate the Army, claiming that they are soft on communism.
The USSR test an atomic weapon. We are no longer alone.
First “Miss America Pageant” broadcast on television.
The first kidney transplant is performed.

1955

The first US advisors are sent to Vietnam.
Disneyland opens in California.
Guinness World Book of Records is published.
First atomically generated electrical power is commercially available.
Emmett Till is killed in Mississippi.
James Dean dies in a car crash.

1956

Elvis Presley releases “Heartbreak Hotel”. He also release’s his first Gold Album “Elvis Presley”.
“My Fair Lady” opens in New York City.
Pakistan becomes the first Islamic republic.
Grace Kelly marries Prince Rainier of Monaco.
The first Hard Disc drive, 5 MB, is developed by IBM.
Fidel Castro lands in Cuba to begin the overthrow of Batista.
“To Tell The Truth” airs for the first time.
Bob Parker makes his debut as host of “Truth or Consequences”.

1957

The first electric wrist watch is developed by the Hamilton Watch Company.
John Lennon and Paul McCarthy meet for the first time, three years before forming the Beetles.
Elvis Presley’s ‘Loving You” opens in theaters.
President Eisenhower announces a two year moratorium of nuclear testing.
The National Guard is called out on Little Rock, Arkansas.
On The Road, by Jack Kerouac is published.
The Soviet Union launches Sputnik.
“Jailhouse Rock” debuts.

1958

Bobby Fischer becomes the United States Chess Champion at the age of 14.
America launches it’s first satellite, Explorer 1.
First International House of Pancakes opens in California.
An atomic bomb is dropped on a house in Mars Bluff, South Carolina. The house is destroyed by conventional explosion and there is no nuclear reaction.
Nikita Khrushchev becomes the Premier of the Soviet Union.

1959

Alaska and Hawaii become the 49th and 50th state.
Fidel Castro assumes power in Cuba.
The Dali Lama flees to India in exile.
The U-2, piloted by Gary Powers, is shot down over the Soviet Union.
The USS Enterprise becomes the first aircraft carrier to be powered by nuclear reactors.

1960

John F. Kennedy announces his candidacy for President.
France tests its first atomic bomb.
Elvis Presley competes his Army tour and returns from Germany.
3,500 troops are sent to Vietnam.
The first televised debate, between Nixon and Kennedy, is aired.
Sammy Davis marries Swedish actress May Britt. A interracial marriage that is still illegal in 31 states.

1961

The United States severs diplomatic relations with Cuba.
The United States sends Ham, a chimpanzee, into space.
A Freedom Riders bus is burned near Anniston, Alabama.
President Kennedy announces goal to put a man on the Moon.
Roger Maris breaks record held by Babe Ruth with his 61st home run.
The Peace Corps is established.
18,000 military advisors are sent to Vietnam by President Kennedy.
The Vietnam War officially begins.

1962

World Population 3,021,475,000
New York City operates the first subway train without a crew.
U2 pilot Francis Gary Powers is exchanged for Soviet spy Rudolf Abel in Berlin.
John Glenn becomes first American to orbit the Earth. He completes three orbits.
Israel hangs Adolf Eichmann .
Marilyn Monroe is found dead in her home.
John Lennon maries Cynthia Powell.
The Cuban Missile crisis begins.
“Duck and Cover”
Mariner 2 transmits data from it’s fly of Venus. The first space craft to do so from another planet.

1963

The first disco club in the United States opens in California.
Alcatraz Island closes.
Medgar Evers is murdered in Mississippi.
President Kennedy is assassinated.
Jack Ruby kills accused assassin Lee Harvey Oswald.
Beetles release “I Want To Hold Your Hand” and “I Saw Her Standing There”.

1964

War on Poverty is declared by President Johnson.
The Beetles appear on the Ed Sullivan show.
The Rolling Stones release their first album, “The Rolling Stones”.
Nelson Mandela is sent to Robben Island for life imprisonment.
President Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act.
5,000 more military advisors are sent to Vietnam. The total number is now 21,000. The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution is passed by Congress.
“Marry Poppins” opens in Los Angeles.
Lenny Bruce is sentenced to four months in prison for obscenity.

And the next generation begins.