Key Dates

• May 1945 - Germany surrendered
• April 1945 - Roosevelt died, resulting in Vice President Truman becoming President
• August 1945 - US atomic bombs forced Japanese surrender
• March 1947 - Anti-communist Truman Doctrine speech
• October 1947 - To 'secure the rights' published
• November 1948 - Truman elected president
• February 1950 - McCarthy claimed there were communists in the state department
• June 1950 - Outbreak of the Korean War
• January 1953 - Eisenhower became president
• July 1953 - Korean war ended
• April 1954 - Army-McCarthy hearings
• May 1954 - Supreme Court's Brown ruling
• November 1956 - Eisenhower re-elected
• December 1956 - Montgomery bus boycott ended
• September 1957 - Civil Rights Act and Little Rock Crisis began
• 1960 - Civil Rights Act