World Events 1953-1961

Date

Event

1954	The United States Navy launches the first nuclear-powered submarine, the USS Nautilus.
1954	The U.S. Supreme Court rules in Brown v. Board of Education that segregated schools violate the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
1954	The first polio vaccine, discovered by American physician Jonas Salk, is declared safe.
1956	American clergyman Martin Luther King, Jr., emerges as a leader in the campaign for desegregation during the successful Montgomery Bus Boycott.
1957	The Space Age begins when the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) launches Sputnik I, the first artificial satellite.
1957	The European Economic Community is set up.
1959	Cuban revolutionary Fidel Castro takes control of Cuba and establishes a Communist dictatorship.
1959	The Vietnam War begins when Viet Cong guerrillas begin attacking the South Vietnamese government.