A look at some of the events that shaped the world during the decade.

President Truman approved the production of the hydrogen bomb

North Korean forces invaded South Korea, precipitating war

Assassination attempt against Truman, by Puerto Rican nationalists, fails.

Rosenbergs found guilty of espionage, and later (1953) executed

General Douglas McArthur fired for insubordination

Transcontinental TV arrives in United States.

Last racial and ethnic barriers to immigration to U.S. removed

First hydrogen bomb test, at Eniwetok Atoll in the South Pacific

China begins forced collectivization.

Soviet dictator Josef Stalin dies

Dwight Eisenhower becomes U.S. President

Korean War ends in truce.

Nautilus, first atomic-powered sub, launched

Landmark Supreme Court decision bans school segregation

Senator Joseph McCarthy's televised hearings into alleged Communist influence in the army backfire, and he is condemned by Senate.

U.S. agreed to train South Vietnamese army

Refusal of Rosa Parks to move to the back of a bus leads to Montgomery bus boycott

Rise of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to national prominence

The author of these lines and future Mountain Times Managing Editor (James Thompson) born

101 Southern congressman (including all of North Carolina's) call for massive resistance to desegregation

Work on U.S. interstate highway system begins

First transatlantic telephone cable goes into service

Soviets crush freedom fighters in Hungary.

Eisenhower uses federal troops to desegregate schools in Little Rock, Arkansas

Soviet satellite Sputnik circles Earth.

Explorer I, first U.S. satellite, launched

First domestic jet airline service starts between New York and Miami

Mao Tse Tung starts "Great Leap Forward" in China.

Alaska and Hawaii admitted as the 49th and 50th states in the United States of America

Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev toured the U.S.

Fidel Castro comes to power in Cuba.