The Decades: 1950
Current Events
World population approx. 2.3 billion (1950)
Korean War begins (1950)
First colour television (1951)
Michigan defeats California in Rose Bowl (1951)
The African Queen, film, Humphrey Bogart, Katharine Hepburn
(1951)
A Street Car Named Desire, film, Marlon Brando (1951)
Elizabeth II becomes Queen of England (1952)
Korean War contiues (1952)
First contraceptive pills (1952)
Nobel Peace Prize, Albert Schweitzer (1952)
Queen Elizabeth crowned (1953)
DNA discovered (1953)
The Seven Samuri, film, Kurosawa (1953)
Lung cancer attributed to cigarette smoke (1953)
St. Lawrence Seaway Project begins (1954)
Roger Bannister runs mile in 3 min 59.4 sec (1954)
Arnold Palmer wins US amateur golf (1954)
Michigan wins Rosebowl over UCLA (1954)
Blacks in Montgomery Alabama boycott segregated buses (1955)
First nuclear power generation in US (1955)
Albert Einstein died (1955)
Alexander Fleming died (1955)
Prince Rainier of Monaco marries Grace Kelly (1956)
Japan admitted to the U.N. (1956)
Martin Luther King becomes a leader of desegregation movement
(1956)
Transatlantic telephone cable established (1956)
Queen Elizabeth visits Canada (1957)
USSR launches Sputnik I and II (1957)
World's longest suspension bridge between Lower and Upper peninsulas
of Michigan (1957)
Popular song "Seventy Six Trombones" (1957)
Alaska becomes the 49th State (1958)
First U.S. satellite (1958)
Fidel Castro takes over Cuba (1959)
USSR launches 2 monkeys into space (1959)
"Lady Chatterley's Lover" banned from US mail (1959)
Literature
The Martian Chronicles, Ray Bradbury (1950)
Across the River and into the Trees, Ernest Hemingway (1950)
Kon-Tiki, Thor Heyerdayl (1950)
The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger (1951)
The Caine Mutiny, Herman Wouk (1951)
Requiem for a Nun, William Faulkner (1951)
The End of the Affair, Graham Greene (1951)
From Here to Eternity, James Jones (1951)
The Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison (1952)
The Old Man and the Sea, Ernest Hemingway (1952)
The Grass Harp, Truman Capote (1952)
Men at Arms, Evelyn Waugh (1952)
The Mouse Trap, Agatha Christie (1952)
East of Eden, John Steinbeck (1952) Oprah's selection of the best
book ever.
Waiting for Godot, Samuel Beckett (1952)
Casino Royale, Ian Fleming (1953)
The Confidential Clerk, T.S. Eliot (1953)
The Crucible, Arthur Miller (1953)
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Tennessee Williams (1953)
The Seven Year Itch, George Axelrod, (1953)
Sweet Thursday, John Steinbeck (1953)
Battle Cry, Leon Uris (1953)
Witness for the Prosecution, Agatha Christie (1955)
The Quiet American, Graham Greene (1955)
Inherit the Wind, (J. Lawrence and R.E. Lee (1955)
Bus Stop, William Inge (1955)
The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit, Sloan Wilson (1955)
Marjorie Morningstar, Herman Wouk (1955)
Peyton Place, Grace Metalious (1956)
Auntie Mame, Patrick Dennis (1956)
The World of Susie Wong (1957)
On the Beach, Nevil Shute (1957)
A Visit to a Small Planet, Gore Vidal (1957)
The Cat in the Hat, Dr. Seuss (1957)
Breakfast at Tiffany's, Truman Capote (1958)
Dr. Zhivago, Boris Pastermak (1958)
Exodus, Leon Uris (1958)
The Mansion, William Faulkner (1959)
The Miracle Worker, William Gibson (1959)
Hawaii, James Michener (1959)
Goldfinger, Ian Fleming (1959)
The Tin Drum, Gunter Grass (1959)