Harry S. Truman became U.S. President when President Roosevelt died in 1945. He was responsible for dropping the atomic bombs on Japan and ending World War II. Truman started the Marshall Plan to rebuild Europe after the war.
He started his second term in 1949, defeating Thomas Dewey. A famous picture shows him smiling and holding up a newspaper with the headline "Dewey Wins!" During his second term, he brought the United States into the Korean War.
Red China
Communists took control of China after a struggle starting before World War II. Red China entered the Korean War in the 1950s, when it looked like the U.N. forces would defeat Communist North Korea.
South Pacific
South Pacific was a highly popular Broadway musical and hit movie.
Joe DiMaggio
Joe Dimaggio was a popular baseball player for the New York Yankees. In 1941, he set a Major League record of hitting safely in 56 straight games. He was affectionately known as "Joltin' Joe" and "The Yankee Clipper" until he retired in 1952. Dimaggio married actress Marilyn Monroe in 1954, but the marriage lasted only 9 months.
In the 1980s, he became known as "Mr. Coffee" because of his TV ads for that brand of coffee maker. He was also mentioned in the song Mrs. Robinson by Simon and Garfunkel.
Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon was a member of the House of Representatives from California when he became involved in the trial of Alger Hiss, who was accused of being a Communist and a spy. Nixon presented evidence that help prove Hiss guilty in 1950. This advanced Nixon's political career, and he soon ran for the Senate and won. Nixon later became Vice-President under President Dwight Eisenhower. Years later, he became President of the United States.
Television
Television became popular in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Most large cities had only one station. Sets in those days had 10 inch screens and were in black and white. Color was introduced in 1951, but it was years later until color television became universally popular.
Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe was a popular "sex symbol" movie star. She was married to baseball hero Joe Dimaggio and later author Arthur Miller. She also was rumored to have relationships with President John F. Kennedy and Robert Kennedy, as well as mafia boss Joe Gianconna. She died under suspicious circumstances.
H-Bomb
The hydrogen bomb was developed under the guidance of Dr. William Teller. It was many times more powerful than an atomic bomb and in fact required an atomic bomb to detonate. The United States exploded the first H-bomb and a few years later the Soviet Union then exploded their version of the bomb.
Sugar Ray
Sugar Ray Robinson was the middle-weight boxing champion of the world. At the time considered pound-for-pound the best boxer ever. He was also highly personable and popular.
Brando
Marlon Brando became a top movie actor. He was famous for his brooding and mumbling acting style. He received an Academy Award for his role in "On the Waterfront" that brought him to be a top box-office draw. Many years later, he starred in the "Godfather" movie.
The Catcher in the Rye
The Catcher in the Rye was an extreme popular book among teens, as it epitomized their attitudes and feelings.
Doris Day
Doris Day was born in 1924. She started singing and touring with the Les Brown Band at age 16. She made her first movie in 1948 and soon became a popular movie star and singer.
Johnnie Ray
Partially deaf singer, whose song Cry was a number 1 hit. Ray actually cried in performing the song. He was a top star in 1949 and 1950 with his other hit songs The Little White Cloud that Cried and Walking in the Rain.
Walter Winchell
Walter Winchell was a top gossip reporter, whose newspaper column and radio show could make or break a celebrity.
1950
Joe McCarthy
Joe McCarthy was a Senator from Wisconsin. He was best known for his work chairing the Senate Committee on Government Operations, which focused on suspected communists in the government. He even investigated the Voice of America, He was known for his brutal interrogations of suspects, resulting in ruining the lives of both guilty and innocent people. It was later noted that McCarthy would be careful not to interrogate suspects who might resist his efforts. Usually, he picked on people with weak personalities.
While investigating possible communists in the U.S. Army, the Army's attorney general Joseph Welch responded to McCarthy's interrogation of a young soldier. He told McCarthy, "Let us not assassinate this lad further, senator. You've done enough. Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last, have you left no sense of decency?" Since the hearings were broadcast on national television, millions realized that these interrogations were not right. The hearings soon ending and McCarthy was left in disfavor.
Studebaker
Studebaker was a popular car in 1950. The styling consisted of a torpedo front end and read window. People joked that the car looked like it was going backwards. The company went out of business in 1966.
North Korea
SouthKorea
Korea was split into north and south after World War II. North Korea became established as a Communist dictatorship by Soviet Union and Red China, after Japan was defeated.In 1950, North Korea attacked South Korea, starting the Korean War. The United Nations entered the war to defend South Korea. The Soviet Union made the mistake of walking out on the U.N. vote, allowing the measure to pass. Since declaring war was not acceptable without the approval of Congress, President Harry S. Truman declared the fighting a "police action" to allow the entry of American troops. The war resulted in a stalemate, and Korea is still divided to this day.
1951
Rosenbergs
The Rosenbergs were a husband and wife who were arrested and executed for selling secrets of the atomic bomb to the Soviet Union.
Panmunjom
Panmunjom, Korea is where negotiations between the United Nations—led by the United States—and the Communist North Koreans to end the Korean War took place. The separation between North Korea and South Korea was originally the 38th Parallel, but the new truce decided on a boundary between the countries that was more defensible. The countries also exchanged prisoners-of-war as a result of the Panmunjom negotiations.
Panmunjom
Panmunjom, Korea is where negotiations between the United Nations—led by the United States—and the Communist North Koreans to end the Korean War took place. The separation between North Korea and South Korea was originally the 38th Parallel, but the new truce decided on a boundary between the countries that was more defensible. The countries also exchanged prisoners-of-war as a result of the Panmunjom negotiations.
The King and I
The King and I was a popular Broadway play and later turned into a movie starring Yul Brunner and Deborah Kerr.