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Disneyland

Disneyland opened in 1955 in Anaheim, California. It was a theme park, developed by Walt Disney and based around his cartoon characters. It was designated as a place for family entertainment.
An interesting and little-known fact is that although Disney forbade the serving of alcoholic beverages in Disneyland, he had a private suite in the park where bartenders would serve drinks to his personal guests.

Sugar Ray

Sugar Ray Robinson was the middle-weight boxing champion of the world. At the time considered pound-for-pound the best boxer ever. He was also highly personable and popular.

Elvis Presley

Singer Elvis Presley became a national phenomenon with such number 1 hit songs as Heartbreak Hotel, Don't Be Cruel and Hound Dog. He was called "Elvis the Pelvis" because of the way he shook his hips while dancing. Many religious leaders and school officials banned his songs, which only made them more popular. He later went on to be nicknamed "The King" as the most popular singer ever.

H-bomb

The Hydrogen Bomb was developed under the guidance of Dr. William Teller. It was many times more powerful than an Atomic Bomb and in fact required an Atomic Bomb to detonate. The United States exploded the first H-bomb, but a few years later the Soviet Union also exploded their version of the bomb.

Rosenbergs

The Rosenbergs were a husband and wife who were arrested and executed for selling secrets of the Atomic-bomb to the Soviet Union.

Peter Pan

Peter Pan was a top Broadway play starring Mary Martin, who flew through the air as Peter Pan.

Marilyn Monroe

Marilyn Monroe was a popular "sex symbol" movie star. She was married the author Arthur Miller and baseball hero Joe Dimaggio. She also was rumored to have relationships with President John F. Kennedy and Robert Kennedy, as well as mafia boss Joe Gianconna. She died under suspicious circumstances.

Davy Crockett

Actor Fess Parker starred in the highly popular TV series Davy Crockett. A novelty song by that title became the number-1 hit for a short time.

Brooklyn's got a winning team

The Brooklyn Dodgers baseball team finally won the World Series over the New York Yankees. They later moved to Los Angeles.

North Korea / South Korea

Korea was split into north and south after World War II. North Korea became established as a Communist dictatorship by Soviet Union and Red China, after Japan was defeated. In 1950, North Korea attacked South Korea, starting the Korean War. The United Nations entered the war to defend South Korea. The Soviet Union made the mistake of walking out on the U.N. vote, allowing the measure to pass. Since declaring war was not acceptable without the approval of Congress, President Harry S Truman declared the fighting a "police action" to allow the entry of American troops. The war resulted in a stalemate, and Korea is still divided to this day.

James Dean

James Dean was a movie star who became a symbol of young people for his role in the movie Rebel Without a Cause. After completing his next movie Giant, Dean decided to drive his new 1955 Porsche Spyder to Salinas, California to enter in a sports car race there. His mechanic rode with him. On the way there, Dean's car was struck by another vehicle which crossed the centerline. James Dean was the only one killed in the accident. The driver of the other car had minor injuries, while the mechanic was thrown from the car and suffered some broken bones.

Einstein 1955

Albert Einstein developed the Theory of Relativity in 1903 and was considered one the world's smartest scientists. He became a popular figure in the later years of his life. He died in 1955.

Rock Around the Clock

Bill Haley and the Comets came out with what was considered the first rock-and-roll hit song, Rock Around the Clock. It was the theme music for the popular movie Blackboard Jungle.

Television

Television became popular in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Most large cities had only one station. Sets in those days had 10 inch screens and were in black and white. Color was introduced in 1951, but it was years later until color television became universally popular.

Dien Bien Phu falls

The French lose control over Indo-China, now known as Vietnam with the fall of the city Dien Bien Phu

Bridge on the River Kwai (1957-89)

The Bridge on the River Kwai was a 1957 Academy Award winning movie about a World War II Japanese prisoner-of-war camp.

Dacron

A new wonder-material Dacron hit the market.

Toscanini

Arturo Toscanini was a world-famous conductor who died in 1954

Studebaker

Studebaker was a popular car in 1950. The styling consisted of a torpedo front end and read window. People joked that the car looked like it was going backwards. The company went out of business in 1966.

Chou En-Lai (1967-89)

Chou En-Lai (Zhou Enlai) was the Premier and Foreign Minister of the People's Republic of China (also called Red China by Western journalists). He was a popular and practical administrator during the "Great Leap Forward" of 1958 and later pushed for modernization to undo damage caused by the "Cultural Revolution" of 1966 to 1976. Zhou was largely responsible for the re-establishment of contacts with the WestChou En-Lai during the Nixon presidency.

Juan Perón

Juan Perón was a popular leader in Argentina, elected first in 1946 and then again in 1952. Perón pursued social policies aimed at empowering the working class. His wife Evita was known for helping the poor. He was strongly anti-American and anti-British, confiscating much of the British and American-owed assets in Argentina. In 1955, he was overthrown by a military coup. It wasn't until 1973 that he returned to power. He died shortly afterward in 1974.

Richard Nixon

Richard Nixon was a member of the House of Representatives from California when he became involved in the trial of Alger Hiss, who was accused of being a Communist and a spy. Nixon presented evidence that help prove Hiss guilty in 1950. This advanced Nixon's political career, and he soon ran for the Senate and won. Nixon later became Vice-President under President Dwight Eisenhower. Years later, he became President of the United States.

Roy Cohn 1954

Roy Cohn was the advisor to Senator Joseph McCarthy during the McCarthy Hearings on Communists in the movie industry and government.

Communist bloc

USSR and their satellite countries formed what was called the Communist bloc.

1950 Joe McCarthy

Joe McCarthy was a Senator from Wisconsin. He was best known for his work chairing the Senate Committee on Government Operations, which focused on suspected communists in the government. He even investigated the Voice of America,
He was known for his brutal interrogations of suspects, resulting in ruining the lives of both guilty and innocent people. It was later noted that McCarthy would be careful not to interrogate suspects who might resist his efforts. Usually, he picked on people with weak personalities.
While investigating possible communists in the U.S. Army, the Army's attorney general Joseph Welch responded to McCarthy's interrogation of a young soldier. He told McCarthy, "Let us not assassinate this lad further, senator. You've done enough. Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last, have you left no sense of decency?" Since the hearings were broadcast on national television, millions realized that these interrogations were not right. The hearings soon ending and McCarthy was left in disfavor.

Campanella

Roy Campanella was the all-star catcher for the Brooklyn Dodgers baseball team. His career was cut short by a paralyzing car accident.

Sputnik

Sputnik was the name of the first orbiting satellite sent into space by the USSR. Turmoil over its launch in the United States initiated the race for supremacy in space.

Joe Dimaggio

Joe Dimaggio was a popular baseball player for the New York Yankees. In 1941, he set a Major League record of hitting safely in 56 straight games. He was affectionately known as "Joltin' Joe" and "The Yankee Clipper" until he retired in 1952. Dimaggio married actress Marilyn Monroe in 1954, but the marriage only lasted 9 months. In the 1980s, he became known as "Mr. Coffee" because of his TV ads for that brand of coffee maker. He was also mentioned in the song Mrs. Robinson by Simon and Garfunkel.

Rockefeller

Nelson and Winthrop Rockefeller were grandsons of oil tycoon John D. Rockefeller.
In 1953, Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower appointed Nelson as chair of the President's Advisory Committee on Government Organization. He served as Governor of New York from 1959 to 1973. He was the 41st Vice President of the United States of America from December 19, 1974 to January 20, 1977.
Also in 1953, Winthrop Rockefeller--who was known as a playboy and hard drinker--moved from Florida and New York to Arkansas. It was jokingly said he moved there because he loved playing the banjo. Winthrop became Governor of Arkansas in 1966 and was said to be a great influence on future Arkansas Governor and U.S. President Bill Clinton.
Winthrop was probably the Rockefeller that Billy Joel was referring to, since his playboy antics were more in the news than things that Nelson was doing.
Nelson and Winthrop Rockefeller were the only brothers in U.S. history to serve as Governor at the same time.

Walter Winchell

Walter Winchell was a top gossip reporter, whose newspaper column and radio show could make or break a celebrity.

Kerouac (1957-89)

Jack Kerouac was the author of the best-selling book On the Road, which epitomized the Beat Generation of the late 1940s and early 1950s. Upon achieving fame, Kerouac became a serious alcoholic and died at an early age.

Prokofiev

Sergei Sergeevich Prokofiev was a famous Ukrainian composer who died in 1953.

Nasser

Gamal Abdel Nasser was the second President of Egypt after Muhammad Naguib. He was considered one of the more influential Arab leaders in history.

South Pacific

South Pacific was a highly popular Broadway musical and hit movie.

Malenkov

Georgy Malenkov was a Soviet politician and Communist Party leader, and a close collaborator of Joseph Stalin. He briefly became leader of the USSR (March 1953-February 1955) after Stalin's death.

Mickey Mantle (1957-89)

Mickey Mantle was a great baseball player for the New York Yankee team. He batted both left- and right-handed, hit at a leading batting average, as well as led the league in home runs.
Kerouac

Johnnie Ray South Pacific

Partially deaf singer, whose song Cry was a number 1 hit. Ray actually cried in performing the song. He was a top star in 1949 and 1950 with his other hit songs The Little White Cloud that Cried and Walking in the Rain.

Red China

Communists took control of China after a struggle starting before World War II. Red China entered the Korean War in the 1950s, when it looked like the U.N. forces would defeat Communist North Korea.

Joseph Stalin 1953

Joseph Stalin was the dictator of the Soviet Union. He was a harsh leader who had millions of his people executed or sent to labor camps in Siberia. On his way to political power, he changed his name to Stalin, which means steel in Russian.

Pasternak (1949-89)

Boris Pasternak was a Russian poet and writer. He is best known in the West for his monumental novel on Soviet Russia, Doctor Zhivago. The book was also made into an award-winning movie.

Pasternak (1949-89)

Boris Pasternak was a Russian poet and writer. He is best known in the West for his monumental novel on Soviet Russia, Doctor Zhivago. The book was also made into an award-winning movie.

Pasternak (1949-89)

Boris Pasternak was a Russian poet and writer. He is best known in the West for his monumental novel on Soviet Russia, Doctor Zhivago. The book was also made into an award-winning movie.

Doris Day

Doris Day was born in 1924. She started singing and touring with the Les Brown Band at age 16. She made her first movie in 1948 and soon became a popular movie star and singer.

Little Rock 1949-89)

Nine African-American students enrolled at Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. Governor Faubus ordered the Arkansas National Guard to surround Central High School to keep the nine students from entering the school, because he believed black and whites should be segregated, despite Federal laws on integration. President Dwight D. Eisenhower ordered the 101st Airborne Division into Little Rock to insure the safety of the students. The crisis gained world-wide attention.

Harry Truman (1949-1989)

Harry S Truman became U.S. President when President Roosevelt died in 1945. (His middle name was just "S" without the period.) He was responsible for dropping the Atomic Bombs on Japan and ending World War II. Truman started the Marshall Plan to rebuild Europe after the war. He started his second term in 1949, defeating Thomas Dewey. During his second term, the Korean War was fought.