1. The 1950’s: “Happy Days and the Cold War”

2. Essential Question: What were the events of the 1950’s that impacted North Carolinians and helped shape American culture during the decade?

3. President Harry S. Truman (1945-1953) Native of Missouri FDR’s last Vice- President Truman Doctrine- Contain the Spread of Communism Programs were Called the “Fair Deal” Married Bess Wallace Truman

4. President Truman

5. The Truman Personality

6. The Cold War Icy Relations Between the Soviet Union and the United States between 1945- until the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. Warsaw Pact- Eastern European Countries such as Poland, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, and Yugoslavia that the Soviet Union had invaded NATO-North Atlantic Treaty Organization, USA’s Allies Arms Race- Stockpiling of Nuclear Weapons

7. The Iron Curtain

8. Spread of Communism

9. The Cold War Begins

10. The Korean War (1950-1953)

11. US Joins United Nations Troops to Stop Communist Advancement of the N. Koreans and Chinese

12. The Korean War Highlights Americans became more fearful of communism as Mao Zedong established a communist government in China Japan had held Korea as a colony. Following WWII Soviet troops occupied and established a communist government in Korea north of the 38 th Parallel. American troops controlled south of the 38 th. North Korea also was supported by China.

13. Korean War Highlights Gen. Douglas Macarthur was the commander of US and United Nations troops was fired by President Truman after he kept insisting to invade or bomb the Chinese who were aiding the N. Koreans President Truman believed that he was the commander and chief and that such a plan could take the world into another World War

14. Results of the Korean War 55, 000 Americans Killed No Border Changes The war sent a clear message to China and the Soviet Union the United States was committed to fighting the spread of Communism

15. Witch Hunt in Washington Republican Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin lead Congressional Hearing on possible communists in the military and other areas of American life. The hunt became known as McCarthyism

16. Fidel Castro Brings Communism Close to Home Castro lead a Communist Revolution in Cuba in 1959

17. Television 1949- WBTV: Charlotte, NC’s 1 st TV Station 1954- Channel 13- WLOS: CBS,NBC, ABC-First Networks Popular Shows: I Love Lucy, Leave it to Beaver, Mickey Mouse Club

18. “Rock-n-Roll” Origins in Southern Gospel, Southern Appalachian, and Jazz music Elvis was born in Tupelo, Mississippi and later moved to Memphis, Tennessee Other Rock-n- Rollers: Buddy Holly, Bill Haley, Little Richard, Chuck Berry Popular African American Producer: ”Motown” short for Detroit, “The Motor Town”

19. Baby Boomers Increased Birth Rates following WWII and into the 1950’s The “Boomers were born between 1946- 1964

20. President Dwight Eisenhower (R) Thirty-Fourth President 1953-1961 Born: October 14, 1890 in Denison, Texas. Married to Mamie Dowd Eisenhower West Point Graduate 1956-Created Interstate Highway System 1953- Cease Fire of the Korean War Vice- President Richard Nixon- Calif.

21. Soviets Launch Sputnik-1957 Sputnik “Traveling Companion” in Russian 186 Pounds Circled the earth every 96 minutes The US panicked over this advancement in Soviet Technology and that nuclear weapons could eventually be dropped from space and created NASA (National Air and Space Administration) to compete with the Soviet Union in space.

22. 1954- Brown-vs- Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas 8 year old Linda Brown’s case that her Constitutional Rights were being denied because she had to attend a segregated school reaches the United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court ruled that segregated schools were unconstitutional and order that all public schools be integrated Thurgood Marshall: Lawyer for the NAACP challenged segregation laws. He will eventually be appointed by President Lyndon Johnson as the first Black Justice on the Supreme Court

23. Showdown at Little Rock High School- September 1957 Governor Orval Faubus of Arkansas refuses to integrate Little Rock High School and used the Arkansas National Guard to block African American students from enrolling. On September 24 th President Eisenhower ordered the 101 st Airborne from Fort Bragg to escort 9 Black students to class.

24. Little Rock High School-1957

25. North Carolina’s Response to Forced Integration 1955- North Carolina’s General Assembly adopts resolution opposing school integration 1955- UNC-Chapel Hill enrolls 1 st Black students 1956-NC General Assembly Pershall Plan as law offering North Carolinians alternatives to attending integrated schools 1964- Buncombe County Schools finally integrated its schools

26. The Civil Rights Movement Begins Rosa Parks-1955 Rosa Parks was arrested for not going to the back of a city bus according to Montgomery, Alabama city ordinance.

27. Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr Born in Atlanta, Georgia-1929 Baptist Pastor Organized the Montgomery Bus Boycott following the Rosa Parks incident through his church the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church Practiced Non-Violent Protest

28. Polio is Cured! Dr. Jonas Salk created a vaccination against Polio in 1955

29. Alaska and Hawaii Join the Union Alaska and Hawaii joined the Union in 1959 Alaska- 49 th State Juneau Hawaii-50 th State Honolulu

30. Local History Events Superintendent T.C. Roberson merges the Buncombe County Schools into 6 districts: Reynolds, Enka, Owen, Erwin, and North Buncombe High Schools created and built. TCR High Opens in 1962 as the smallest Buncombe County’s School 1 st McDonalds comes to Asheville ( Present Tunnel Road Location). 4 Lane Highway is completed from Old Fort to Ridgecrest into Buncombe County from the east-Future I-40