| 1952 | Dwight D. Eisenhower elected president. |
| 1953 | CIA-organized coup against Iranian government. |
| 1954 | CIA coup against Guatemalan government. Geneva accords. United States begins aid to South Vietnam. Operation Wetback. Hernandez v. Texas. Brown v. Board of Education. Senate condemns Senator Joseph McCarthy. |
| 1955 | Eisenhower and Khrushchev meet in Geneva. |
| 1955–1956 | Montgomery, Alabama, bus boycott. |
| 1956 | Interstate Highway and Defense System Act. Eisenhower reelected. |
| 1957 | Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) founded. Soviets launch Sputnik. Civil Rights Act of 1957. |
| 1958 | National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) established. National Defense Education Act. |
| 1959 | Kitchen debate between Nixon and Khrushchev. |
| 1960 | Soviets shoot down U.S. U-2 spy plane. One-quarter of Americans live in suburbs. Thirty-five percent of women work outside the home. |