MAIN EVENTS OF
THE EISENHOWER PRESIDENCY
1953-61
March 5, 1953 Death of Josef Stalin, Premier of the
Soviet Union.
March 12, 1953 The Department of Health, Education and
Welfare is created.
July 27, 1953 U.S. and North Korea sign armistice at
Panmunjon. The 38th parallel is established
as boundary between North and South Korea.
Aug. 19-22, 1953 Leftist government of Premier Mohammed
Mossadegh in Iran is ousted and replaced
with regime loyal to Shah Pahlevi.
Dec. 8, 1953 Eisenhower delivers his "Atoms for Peace"
speech at the United Nations proposing an
international atomic energy agency and
peaceful development of nuclear energy.
1953-54 Senator Joseph McCarthy, chairman of the
Senate Permanent Investigation
Subcommittee, conducts hearings on
communist subversion in America and
investigates communist infiltration of the
Armed Forces.
Apr 26-Jul 21, 1954 Geneva Conference on Indochina results in
Geneva Accords partitioning Vietnam at the
17th Parallel and provides for unifying
elections in two years.
May 7, 1954 French garrison at Dien Bien Phu surrenders
to the Viet Minh.
May 17, 1954 Brown vs. Topeka Board of Education,
Supreme Court rules that segregated schools
are "inherently unequal."
1955 A vaccine developed by Dr. Jonas Salk is
introduced to combat the spread of
poliomyelitis.
July 1955 Eisenhower attends the Geneva Four Power
Conference and submits his "Open Skies"
proposal allowing mutual air reconnaissance
over military installations.
Dec. 5, 1955 A boycott of city buses led by Martin
Luther King, Jr. begins in Montgomery, AL.
It lasts for 54 weeks.
June 29, 1956 Federal highway bill is signed authorizing
funds for the interstate highway system.
Oct.-Nov. 1956 Suez Canal Crisis. Israel invades Gaza
Strip and the Sinai Peninsula, and British
and French forces attack Egyptian bases
around the Suez Canal.
Oct.-Nov. 1956 Armed revolt in Budapest, Hungary is
crushed by Russian armed forces.
Jan. 10-11, 1957 Southern Christian Leadership Conference is
formed by Martin Luther King, Jr. and 60
others.
March 20, 1957 Bermuda Conference is held with British
Prime Minister Harold Macmillan.
July 1, 1957 The opening of the International
Geophysical Year, a joint effort by
scientists of 60 nations.
Sept. 9, 1957 The President signs the 1957 Civil Rights
Act which seeks to protect voting rights.
Sept. 1957 Little Rock, Arkansas desegregation crisis.
Federal troops are sent to enforce
integration of Little Rock High School.
Oct. 4, 1957 Soviet Union launches first earth
satellite, Sputnik, into orbit.
Jan. 31, 1958 First U.S. satellite, Explorer I, is sent
into orbit.
July 15, 1958 Eisenhower orders U.S. Marines into Lebanon
at the request of President Camille
Chamoun.
July 29, 1958 Eisenhower signs bill creating the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration.
Sept. 2, 1958 President Eisenhower signs the National
Defense Education Act, providing loans for
college students and funds to encourage
young people to enter teaching careers.
Nov. 1958 to early 1959 Khrushchev indicates that he plans
to sign an early peace treaty with East
Germany and he calls on the western powers
to withdraw their forces from West Berlin.
The Big Four meet to discuss Berlin and
German reunification.
Jan. 1, 1959 Fidel Castro's guerilla forces overthrow
the Batista regime in Cuba.
Jan. 3, 1959 Alaska becomes the 49th state.
April 25, 1959 St. Lawrence Seaway opens.
Aug. 21, 1959 Hawaii become the 50th state.
Sept. 15-27, 1959 Premier Khrushchev visits the U.S.
May 1, 1960 A U-2 reconnaissance plane piloted by
Francis Gary Powers is shot down over the
U.S.S.R.
May 16, 1960 The Paris Summit meeting collapses when
Khrushchev demands an apology from
President Eisenhower for the U-2 flights.
1960 The Congo (Zaire) becomes independent from
Belgium on June 30, 1960 and widespread
violence leads to intervention by U.N.
troops.
Nov. 8, 1960 Sen. John F. Kennedy defeats Vice President
Richard M. Nixon in presidential election.
January 17, 1961 President Eisenhower delivers Farewell
Address warning the nation of the
"Military-Industrial Complex."
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