Timeline of the history of the United States (1950–1969)
This section of the Timeline of United States history concerns events from 1950 to 1969.
- 1950 - Senator Joseph McCarthy gains power, and McCarthyism (1950-1954) begins
- 1950 - McCarron Internal Security Act
- 1950 - Korean War begins
- 1950 - National Security Council Memo 68
- 1951 - 22nd Amendment
- 1951 - Mutual Security Act
- 1951 - General Douglas MacArthur fired by Truman for invading China
- 1952 - ANZUS Treaty
- 1952 - Immigration and Naturalization Act
- 1953 - Dwight D. Eisenhower becomes President
- 1953 - Rosenbergs executed
- 1953 - Armistice in Korea
- 1953 - Shah of Iran returns to power in CIA-assisted coup
- 1954 - Joseph McCarthy discredited in Army-McCarthy hearings
- 1954 - Saint Lawrence Seaway Act
- 1954 - Baghdad Pact
- 1954 - Brown v. Board of Education
- 1954 - SEATO alliance
- 1954 - Fall of Dien Bien Phu; French lose control of Vietnam
- 1954 - Geneva Conference
- 1954 - The People's Republic of China lays seige on Quemoy and Matsu Islands; Eisenhower sends in navy
- 1955 - Rosa Parks incites Montgomery bus boycott
- 1955 - AFL and CIO merge in America's largest labor union
- 1955 - Warsaw Pact
- 1956 - Interstate Highway Act
- 1956 - US refuses to support the Hungarian Revolution
- 1956 - US installs Diem as leader of South Vietnam
- 1957 - Eisenhower Doctrine
- 1957 - Civil Rights Act of 1957
- 1957 - Russians launch Sputnik; "space race" begins
- 1957 - First nuclear power plant goes into service
- 1957 - Little Rock, Arkansas school desegregation
- 1958 - National Defense Education Act
- 1958 - NASA formed
- 1959 - Cuban Revolution
- 1959 - Landrum-Griffin Act
- 1959 - Alaska and Hawaii become states
- 1960 - U-2 incident
- 1960 - Greensboro sit-in
- 1960 - Civil Rights Act of 1960
- 1960 - Viet Cong formed
- 1961 - John F. Kennedy becomes President
- 1961 - 23rd Amendment
- 1961 - Peace Corps
- 1961 - Alliance for Progress
- 1961 - Bay of Pigs
- 1961 - Trade embargo on Cuba
- 1961 - Berlin Crisis
- 1961 - Diem assassinated
- 1961 - OPEC formed
- 1962 - Trade Expansion Act
- 1962 - Cuban Missile Crisis
- 1962 - Baker v. Carr
- 1962 - Engel v. Vitale
- 1962 - Students for a Democratic Society (SDS)
- 1963 - John F. Kennedy assassinated
- 1963 - Lyndon Johnson becomes President
- 1963 - Atomic Test Ban Treaty
- 1963 - March on Washington; Martin Luther King, Jr. "I have a dream" speech
- 1964 - Tonkin Gulf incident; Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
- 1964 - War Powers Act
- 1964 - 24th Amendment
- 1964 - Great Society proposed
- 1964 - Economic Opportunity Act
- 1964 - Civil Rights Act of 1964
- 1964 - Full Employment Act
- 1965 - Immigration Act of 1965
- 1965 - Voting Rights Act
- 1965 - Medicaid and Medicare enacted
- 1965 - Higher Education Act - Federal Scholarships
- 1965 - Watts Riot; Detroit race riot; "long hot summer"
- 1966 - Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) established
- 1966 - Department of Transportation created
- 1966 - National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act
- 1966 - Miranda v. Arizona establishes "Miranda rights"
- 1966 - Feminist group National Organization for Women (NOW) formed
- 1967 - 25th Amendment
- 1968 - Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy assassinated
- 1968 - Viet Cong launch Tet Offensive
- 1968 - Civil Rights Act of 1968
- 1969 - Richard Nixon becomes President
- 1969 - "Vietnamization" begins
- 1969 - Neil Armstrong walks on the moon, Earth's only natural satellite
- 1969 - Conservative Warren E. Burger appointed Chief Justice of the Supreme Court to replace Earl Warren
- 1969 - U.S. bombs North Vietnamese positions in Cambodia and Laos
| 1930-1949 | 1950-1969
History of the United States |
1970-present |