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The Korean War began, presenting the United States and the United Nations with the first military conflict of the Cold War. ![]()
Sen. Joseph McCarthy began his campaign against government employees suspected of communism. ![]()
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were convicted of espionage following intelligence that marked them as Soviet agents who compromised the Manhattan Project. A 1950 bill which increased the penalties for espionage foreshadowed their 1953 execution. ![]()
War hero Dwight D. Eisenhower campaigned successfully against Democratic rival Adlai Stevenson, winning the presidency. ![]()
Federal funds for highways were released following 1952 appropriations, spurring a boom in highway construction and the spread of the suburban lifestyles. ![]()
Brown v. Board of Education declared racial segregation in schools unconstitutional. Three years later, President Eisenhower sent National Guard troops to Little Rock, Arkansas, in order to implement school integration. ![]()
Jonas Salk's polio vaccine is declared safe and becomes widely available to the public, stemming the mass epidemics which had previously plagued America. ![]()
The Soviet Union launched Sputnik, initiating the space race with the United States. Congress passed the National Aeronautics and Space Act the following year. |
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