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Twentieth  Century

  • World War I World War II
  • The 1950s

  • TV

  • The Cold War Continues

  • Cold War Continues

    • The United Fruit Company
      http://www.stanford.edu/~mbucheli/arbenz.html  
       Born in 1913 in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala. Son of a Swiss immigrant married to a Guatemalan       woman Arbenz grew as a member of the, by then, tiny Guatemalan middle class.

    • Castro
       http://library.thinkquest.org/18355/fidel_castro.html
       ThinkQuest—Experience Cuba.        Fidel Castro was born on August 13, 1926.  He

    • NASA
       http://history.nasa.gov/brief.html
             October 1, 1958, the official start of the National Aeronautics and Space               Administration (NASA), was the beginning of a rich history of unique scientific             and technological achievements in human space flight.

    • Khrushchev
      http://library.thinkquest.org/11046/people/khrushchev.html 
      ThinkQuest:  Fourteen Days in October--Born in 1894 to a miner in                 Kalinovka, Nikita Khrushchev spent his early years working as a                  shepherd and locksmith. After fighting in World War I, he joined  the Communist party and the Red Army in 1918 and fought in the civil war.

    • Trinity—the Atomic Bomb
      http://www.vce.com/trinity.html 
      On July 16, 1945, at a site called Trinity, a plutonium bomb was assembled and brought to the top of a tower. The bomb was detonated, producing an intense flash and a fireball that expanded to 600 meters in two seconds.

    • When Bomb Shelters Were All the Rage
       http://detnews.com/history/shelters/shelters.htm
       The 1950s were a time of unprecedented propperity and unprecedented anxiety.

    • Civil Defense
      http://www.military.com/Content/MoreContent1/?file=cw_civildefense
       A guide to nuclear survival -- This 1950s film strip will bring back                         memories for those who learned the lessons of nuclear survival in grade                       school.  At the same time, it suggests the cavalier attitudes toward the                         long-term effects of radiation and the devistation nuclear war could                         have.

    • Korean War
      http://korea50.army.mil/
       On behalf of the Secretary of Defense, we welcome you to the                      Korean War Commemoration web site. This is the official, public                      access web site for the Department of Defense commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of the Korean War and is the starting point for all public information regarding events during the commemoration period which runs from June 25, 2000 through November 11, 2003.

    • The Rosenbergs
      http://www.crimelibrary.com/rosen/rosenmain.htm
       A network of spies, gleaning secrets of the atom bomb, a host of                    couriers and traitors, led by an insignificant man, assisted by a loyal                    wife, caught by the testimony of the wife's brother, culminating in the                    unprecedented executions of both husband and wife --- this is the setting for the most sensational espionage case of World War Two and its aftermath: The case of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg.

    • CNN:  Cold War
      http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/cold.war/
       From Yalta to Malta: Experience CNN's landmark documentary series                   in this award-winning Web site:  Navigate interactive maps, See rare archival footage online, Learn more about the key players, Read recently declassified documents,       • Tour Cold War capitals through 3-D images

  • McCarthyism

    • Alger Hiss Spy Case
      http://www.thehistorynet.com/AmericanHistory/articles/1998/0698_cover.htm 
      The headline blared from the front page of the New York                         Times on August 4, 1948: "RED 'UNDERGROUND' IN FEDERAL POSTS ALLEGED BY EDITOR," it read. "IN NEW DEAL ERA. Ex-Communist                         Names Alger Hiss, Then In State Department."

    • Joseph McCarthy
      http://usinfo.state.gov/usa/infousa/facts/democrac/60.htm 
      Periodically American society has been gripped by fear, and its responses have not     done credit to its democratic nature. In this century the Red Scare following World     War I (see Document 43) saw hundreds of innocent aliens rounded up, imprisoned     and deported, for no reason other than fear of their allegedly radical ideas. The Cold     War unleashed another Red Scare in the late 1940s and early 1950s.

    • The Man Who Fought McCarthy
      http://www.detnews.com/history/milo/milo.htm 
      Milo Radulovich, 26, was a WWII veteran, finishing his education at the      University of Michigan on the GI Bill. He was hoping to get a degree in physics so      he could advance in his career as a meteorologist. He lived in Dexter, Mi., with his      wife Nancy and their two daughters. He was doing very well in his junior year and      hoped to obtain a government job after school.

    • Arthur Miller and McCarthy
      http://www.guardianunlimited.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4030326,00.html 
      The McCarthy era's anti-communist trials destroyed                        lives and friendships. Arthur Miller describes the paranoia that swept America - and the moment his then wife Marilyn Monroe became a bargaining chip in                         his own prosecution.

    • McCarthy Record
      http://www.thenewamerican.com/tna/1996/vo12no18/vo12no18_mccarthy.htm
       Nearly 40 years after the death of Senator Joseph R.                          McCarthy, twice-elected United States Senator from Wisconsin, the term "McCarthyism" is still widely used as a convenient epithet for all that is evil and despicable in the world        of politics.

    • Roy Cohn
      http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAcohn.htm
       Roy Marcus Cohn was born in New York City on 20th February, 1927. His father, Albert Cohn, was a New York State       judge and an important figure in the Democratic Party.

    • The Hollywood 10
      http://www.hollywood10.com/
       The 1947 House on Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) hearings targeted a core group of Hollywood screenwriters and one director, known as the 'Hollywood 10'. Below is a list of some of the key players involved. For more on the events leading to the creation of HUAC and the 1947 hearings go to the history section.

  • Rock and Roll

    • Banned Music in the 50s
      http://ericnuzum.com/banned/fifties.html 
      Radio stations ban Dottie O'Brien's "Four or                               Five Times" and Dean Martin's "Wham Bam, Thank You Ma'am" fearing they are                               suggestive.

    • Alan Freed
       http://www.alanfreed.com/
       ALAN FREED, the disc jockey credited with naming rock & roll, was born Albert   James Freed on December 21, 1921,    near Johnstown, PA. In 1933 the Freed family moved to Salem, Ohio.

    • Graceland
      http://www.elvis.com/default.asp
       Welcome to Elvis Presley's Graceland! This is the only world wide web site                   exclusively authorized and maintained by Elvis Presley Enterprises, Inc. 

    • The Blue Highway
      http://www.thebluehighway.com/tbh.html
       . . where you will find a tribute to 20 great bluesmakers. You might call this The Blue Highway's Hall of Fame or just a gathering place for some of my all-time favorites.      Regardless, I think these folks represent the essence of the blues. They're of the first generation of the blues. They created the blues. They are the blues.

    • Chuck Berry
      http://departments.colgate.edu/diw/Pegg/Chuck.html
       Charles Edward Anderson Berry was born on October 18, 1926 at 2520 Goode Avenue(now Annie Malone Drive) in St. Louis, MO.

    • Rave On:  Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
      http://www.rockhall.com/exhibitions/featured.asp?id=508
       A new permanent exhibit in the Ahmet Ertegun Exhibit Hall, Rave On pays tribute    to the pioneers who created the sound and style of rock and roll, including Little             Richard, Chuck Berry, Fats Domino, the Everly Brothers, the Coasters, Buddy Holly.

    • The Day the Music Died
      http://www.fiftiesweb.com/crash.htm
       February 3, 1959

  • Social Issues of the 50s

    • Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka
      http://www.digisys.net/users/hootie/brown/
       In the Midwest town of Topeka, Kansas, a little girl named Linda Brown had to ride the bus five miles to school each day although a public school was located only four blocks from her house.  The school wasn't full and the little girl met all of the requirements to attend — all but one that is. Linda Brown was black.  And blacks weren't allowed to go to white children's schools.

    • The Invisible Man
      http://www.english.upenn.edu/~afilreis/50s/howe-on-ellison.html
       This novel is a soaring and exalted record of a Negro's journey through contemporary America in search of success, companionship, and, finally, himself; like all our fictions devoted to the idea of       experience, it moves from province to city, from naive faith to disenchantment; and despite its structural incoherence and occasional pretentiousness of manner, it is one of the few remarkable first novels we have had in some years.

    • Painters and Poets
      http://www.npg.si.edu/exh/rebels/index2.htm 
      "America demands a poetry that is bold, modern and all-surrounding and kosmical, as she is herself." Although Walt Whitman wrote that prescription shortly after the Civil War, it also vividly describes the generation of American poets who came of age after World War II.

    • Literary Kicks:  The Beat Generation
      http://www.litkicks.com/BeatPages/page.jsp?what=BeatGen
       Like the French Impressionist artists of Paris, the Beat writers were a small   group of close friends first, and a movement later. The term "Beat   Generation" gradually came to represent an entire period in time, but the   entire original Beat Generation in literature was small enough to have fit   into a couple of cars. At times this nearly happened.

    • The Beat Page
      http://www.rooknet.com/beatpage/index.html
       The history of literature has been "landmarked" by countless movements of varying styles and direction. The Beat Page is dedicated to the movement that                    began in the early 1950's with a small and tightly connected group of young writers who demonstrated a care-free, often wreckless and unquestionably fresh                    approach to literature as well as a demonstrative social  stance toward what was sometimes referred to as "The Establishment". 

    • Bop and Cool Jazz
      http://www.worldbook.com/fun/aamusic/html/bopandcool.htm
       In the early 1940's, a group of young musicians began experimenting with more complicated chord patterns and melodic ideas in a combo setting. The group                   included trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie, alto saxophonist Charlie Parker, pianists Bud Powell and Thelonious Monk, and drummers Kenny Clarke and Max Roach. The style they developed became known as bebop or bop.

    • Eisenhower Farewell Address
      http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/ike.htm
       Good evening, my fellow Americans: First, I should like to express my gratitude to the radio and television networks for the opportunity they have given me over the years to bring reports and messages to our nation. My special thanks go to them for the opportunity of addressing you this evening.

  • Vietnam Links
 
This page was updated on:  04/10/02