The Year 1950
MAJOR EVENTS:
  • President Truman orders the AEC to develop the hydrogen bomb.
  • North Korea invades South Korea
  • U.N. forces arrive to counter the invasion, but are forced to withdraw.
  • President Truman declares state of emergency after Communist China becomes involved in the conflict.
  • Communist Chinese forces occupy Tibet
  • Senator Joseph McCarthy warns of communist infiltration of State Department
  • Failed assassination attempt on President Truman by Puerto Rican nationalists
  • Congress passes laws that restrict communists and communist parties in the U.S.
  • Accused communist spy Alger Hiss convicted of perjury
  • National Council of Churches formed
  • The FBI issues its first list of Ten Most Wanted Criminals.
  • U.S. Postmaster General cuts mail delivery from twice to once a day.
  • First human kidney transplant performed (49 year old woman in Chicago)
  • North Korea invades South Korea.
  • U.N. forces under General Douglas MacArthur join South Korea in the war.


    • SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY:
  • Antihistamines become popular as cold relief medications
  • New York's Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel opens


    • SPORTS:
  • World Series: New York Yankees over Philadelphia, 4-0
  • Ted Williams of the Boston Red Sox becomes the highest paid baseball player at $125,000 a year.


    • ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT:
  • Movies: Sunset Boulevard, All About Eve
  • Songs: A Bushel and a Peck, Good Night Irene, Mona Lisa, C'est Si Bon
  • TV Shows: Arthur Godfrey and Friends, Lux Video Theatre, Fred Waring Show, Your Show of Shows, Your Hit Parade, Fireside Theatre
  • New TV shows: Jack Benny, What's My Line, You Bet Your Life (Grocho) and Sid Ceasar's Your Show of Shows.
  • Books: The Martian Chronicles, Ray Bradbury; Across the River and Into the Trees, Ernest Hemmingway; Darkness at Noon, Sidney Kingsley; The Way West, A.B. Guthrie, Jr.
  • "Cool jazz" gains popularity
  • Guys and Dolls premieres
  • George Bernard Shaw dies
  • Best Picture: All About Eve
  • Best Actor: Jose Ferrer in Cyrano deBererac
  • Best Actress: Judy Holiday in Born Yesterday


    • EVERYDAY LIFE:
  • TV hero Hopalong Cassidy peaks in popularity
  • New products: Miss Clairol Hair Coloring, Minute Rice, Diners Club credit card, the Xerox copy machine.


    • FUN FACTS:
  • 14 million television sets sold in U.S., increasing the number in service by ten-fold
  • Betty Crocker's picture cook book issued.
  • Smokey the Bear becomes living symbol of the U.S. Forest Service.
  • Charles M. Schulz's comic strip "Peanuts" debuted in eight newspapers.