Khrushchev & Eisenhower Meet at Camp David
In September 1959 Soviet Premier Nikita Khruschev made an extended visit to the USA. While visiting Los Angeles, Khrushchev was infuriated when barred from visiting Disneyland because of security concerns. Khruschev and President Eisenhower met at Camp David in...
Uprising in Tibet
https://youtu.be/cxSDhng2PQg Encyclopedia Britannica In March 1959 a revolt erupted in Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, which had been under the effective control of the People's Republic of China since 1951. The uprising occurred amid general Tibetan...
Alaska Becomes 49th State
In January 1959, President Eisenhower signed a special proclamation admitting the territory of Alaska into the Union as the 49th and largest state. Although indigenous peoples inhabited the region for centuries, Europeans first discovered Alaska in 1741. Russian...
1958 Top News and Music
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXIHoO76xpM https://youtu.be/AUnsMuxjIlc
Fidel Castro’s Forces Triumphant
Fidel and Raul Castro formed an underground movement in the early 1950s to overthrow the brutal and corrupt regime of the dictator Fulgencio Batista, under whose rule Cuba had become a haven for organized crime. After an unsuccessful rising against Batista in 1953 the...
Independence Day
https://youtu.be/XRLRKNXVuTY Independence Day (Fourth of July) is a federal holiday commemorating the Declaration of Independence of the United States, which was ratified by the Second Continental Congress on July 4, 1776. Congress declared that the thirteen American...
Loving v. Virginia Landmark Court Case
Loving v. Virginia was a 1958 Supreme Court case that struck down state laws banning interracial marriage in the United States. With the help of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Richard and Mildred Loving, a white man and Black woman whose marriage was...
De Gaulle Returns to Power
In May 1958 during the turmoil of the Algerian War of Independence (1954–1962) Charles de Gaulle returned to power after a twelve-year absence. De Gaulle's newly formed cabinet was approved by the National Assembly by 329 votes against 224,...
Venezuelan Protesters Attack Nixon Cavalcade
In April-May1958, on a goodwill trip to Latin America, Vice President Richard Nixon engaged in angry debates with student groups in Peru and Uruguay. Then, in Caracas, Venezuela, a large crowd pelted his car, smashing the windows. Nixon escaped from the crowd and...
USSR Declares Atomic Testing Halt
https://youtu.be/QrNN5ZhsC1I In March 1958 the Soviet Union declared it was halting tests of atomic and hydrogen bombs. It called on the other nuclear powers, the United States and Britain, to do the same. Moscow warned that it would resume testing if their example...
Syria and Egypt form United Arab Republic
https://youtu.be/0KSXZNpyTfg In February 1958 Syria and Egypt formed the United Arab Republic. Although initially a political union between Egypt (including the occupied Gaza Strip) and Syria, Syria seceded from the union in 1961 after a...
John Birch Society
https://youtu.be/mide9z5q_3c In 1958 the John Birch Society, an American ultraconservative political advocacy group was founded by retired candy manufacturer Robert Welch to promote anti-communism and social conservatism. At its height,...
Eisenhower Warns of Communist Threat
Text of January 1958 address: The threat to our safety, and to the hope of a peaceful world, can be simply stated. It is communist imperialism. This threat is not something imagined by critics of the Soviets. Soviet spokesmen, from the beginning, have publicly and...
Mao’s Great Leap Forward
https://youtu.be/60_Q-kAZbXA The Great Leap Forward in the People's Republic of China was an economic and social campaign from 1958 to 1962 that was launched by Chairman Mao Zedong in an attempt to restructure the country from an...
President Eisenhower Illness
Although Dwight Eisenhower was the first American president to release information about his health while in office, his physicians and staff often misled the public about his condition. Eisenhower began chain smoking cigarettes at West Point. As...
Mao Zedong: Handling of Contradictions
On the Correct Handling of Contradictions Among the People (关于正确处理人民内部矛盾的问题) was a 1957 essay by Mao Zedong that made a distinction between "contradictions amongst the people" and "counter-revolutionary contradictions." The stated policy was to "isolate...
Eisenhower Doctrine
https://youtu.be/1N1_JGG4XX8 In January 1957 President Eisenhower declared that US forces could be deployed to protect the territorial integrity and political independence of nations from overt armed aggression by any nation controlled by international communism....
Hungarian Uprising
https://youtu.be/_Vy5RGJNvGg In October 1956 a countrywide revolution arose against the Stalinist government of the Hungarian People's Republic and the domestic policies imposed by the USSR. In November 1956, after initially agreeing to negotiate the withdrawal of...
The Polish Revolution
The Poznań protests of 1956 (Poznański Czerwiec) were several massive protests against the communist government of the Polish People's Republic. In June 1956 demonstrations by workers demanding better working conditions at Poznań's Cegielski...
Birth of the US Interstate Highway System
https://youtu.be/6xd9cxRtt_k In June 1956, Eisenhower signed the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956 into law. Under the act, the federal government would pay for 90 percent of the cost of construction of Interstate Highways. Each Interstate Highway was required to be a...
Pakistan and Tunisia Granted Independence
https://youtu.be/Usy9TpxQ5tY In 1947 British India was divided into the independent sovereign states of India and Pakistan. From 1947 to 1956 Pakistan was a monarchy within the United Kingdom and the other Dominions in the...
Syngman Rhee Re-elected South Korean President
https://youtu.be/iyWg0ed82bQ This newsreel seems to reflect American support for the virtual dictatorship of this anti-communist strong man. Syngman Rhee Wikipedia In May 1956 81-year-old Syngman Rhee won 70% of the popular South Korean vote with a voter turnout of...
Khrushchev Denounces “Dictator” Stalin
After the death of Josef Stalin in 1953, little criticism regarding his leadership was tolerated until, in a closed session of 1,500 delegates and visitors in 1956 First Secretary of the Communist Party Nikita Khrushchev denounced The Personality Cult of Josef Stalin...
Big Four Meeting in Geneva Reduces International Tension
https://youtu.be/1KURFzVpqm4 The stated mission of the November 1955 Geneva summit was to reduce international tensions between the leaders of "Big Four" nations France, Great Britain, USA and USSR. The world leaders discussed issues on security,...
President Eisenhower Has Heart Attack
At West Point, Dwight Eisenhower began chain smoking three or four packs of cigarettes a day. In September 1955 he suffered a massive heart attack after golfing in Denver, Colorado. Seven weeks later he left the hospital, and in February 1956 doctors...