1950s
Centuries: 19th century - 20th century - 21st centuryDecades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s - 1950s - 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s
Years: 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959
The United States in the 1950s
The 1950s are noted in United States history as a time of both compliance and conformity and also of rebellion. Major U.S. events during the decade included:
- The Korean War (1950-1953);
- The election of Second World War hero and retired Army Gen Dwight D. Eisenhower as President in 1952 and his subsequent re-election in 1956;
- The Red Scare and anti-Communist hysteria of the McCarthy era;
- The U.S. reaction to the 1957 launch by the Soviet Union of the Sputnik satellite, a major milepost of the Cold War.
One of the most influential and most highly critically-acclaimed of the many books about the era is The Fifties by journalist and author David Halberstam.
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