1950 - President  Harry Truman  ( 'til 1952) approves production of the hydrogen bomb and Sends air force and navy to Korea in June.
1951 - Transcontinental television begins with a speech by Pres. Truman. 
Dwight D. Eisenhower  is president  from 1953 until 1961
1952 - The Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1952 is signed, removing racial and ethnic barriers to becoming a U.S. citizen. 
1953 -  Julius and Ethel Rosenberg are electrocuted for their part in W.W.II espionage. 
1953 - Fighting ends in Korea. 
1954 -  U. S. Senator Joseph McCarthy begins televised hearings into alleged Communists in the army. 
1954 - Racial segregation is ruled unconstitutional in public schools by the U.S. Supreme Court. 
1955 -  Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat on a public bus in Montgomery, Alabama. 
1955 - The American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations merge making the new AFL-CIO an organization with 15 million members. 
also in 1955  Dr. Jonas Salk developed a vaccine for  polio
1956 - The Federal Highway Act is signed, marking the beginning of work on the interstate highway system. 
1958 - Explorer I, the first U.S. satellite, successfully orbits the earth. 
December 10, 1958 - The first domestic jet-airline passenger service is begun by National Airlines between New York City and Miami. 
1959 - Alaska and Hawaii become the forty-ninth and fiftieth states.