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.